The Wolf and the Raven

Ch 15 - A Furry Little Problem

Branwen and the other boys had to leave their friend early the next morning so they could attend classes. Though dishevelled and yawning, James, Sirius, and Peter took the most-detailed notes they possibly could. Their professors were surprised, and a bit suspicious, but decided not to question a good thing. Though Peter nodded off at the lunch table, he made sure to pay close attention in their afternoon Transfiguration lesson, and Sirius was even able to hold himself still long enough to take note of their Potions ingredients.

Branwen joined them at the dinner table before they trooped upstairs to the Gryffindor common room. None of them were sure how long it would take Remus to rejoin them. Sometimes he was gone a few days at a time, sometimes only a few hours. Every time the door opened, they held their breaths. Branwen tried to start on her Astronomy essay, but glanced at the door so often that she wrote the same sentence six times over before realising her mistake.

As she raised her wand to wipe out the offending sentence, the portrait hole creaked open once more. Remus stumbled in, bleary-eyed and bruised. He shuffled over to the small alcove where his friends waited.

"Remus! Are you alright?" Branwen ran to him. She went to wrap him in a hug, then thought twice about squeezing his bruised and broken body. She settled for a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"As well as can be expected, I suppose." He eased himself onto the plush window seat.

They all sat down and an awkward silence stole over them.

"So," Remus scratched the back of neck, "have you guys changed your minds yet? I mean, about outing me to the school?"

They blinked in surprise, then Sirius dove into his school bag, yanking out a sheaf of paper. "After taking all these bloody notes for you? I've never written so much in my life! My hand may never be the same again!" He held up his right hand in an affected claw.

"Yeah, and that was my chocolate Branwen gave you last night," Peter pouted. "You think I'm going to let you leave before you pay me back?"

James threw an arm around Remus' shoulder. "Face it, mate. You're stuck with us."

The silence settled over them once more, and Remus turned his face away so his friends couldn't the tears shining in his eyes.

"I do have a question though," James cleared his throat. "What exactly were you doing at the Shack last night, Bran? Sirius and I saw you and Remus leaving together in the afternoon. Did you know about his, uh....furry....little....problem?"

"First, that's a stupid name for a serious problem. Second, of course I knew." Branwen lifted her head and threw her hair over her shoulder. "I'm not oblivious to the troubles of my friends. Unlike some people."

Sirius grinned. "Maybe we didn't catch on because we don't fancy Remus. Unlike some people."

Branwen grabbed a textbook and smashed it into Sirius' shoulder. "Shut up! You don't know anything!"

"Ouch!" He held a hand over his shoulder and his heart, feigning physical and emotionl pain.

James punched him on his other shoulder. "You know that's not true, Siri, because all of you know that, as my sister, Bran is off-limits and if I catch any of you with her, I'll curse your arses until you wish you were never born."

The three boys gaped at each other in surprise, but Branwen rolled her eyes and tried to hide the flush that came to her face. "Whatever. The main thing is that we need to make a better plan for next time."

"What? Next time?" Remus jerked away. "What are you talking about? I can't let you guys go through that again."

"I think you mean we can't let you go through that again," James insisted. "No one should be alone during something like that."

"What if something goes wrong? What if I kill you?"

"Yeah, but what if you don't?" Sirius raised his brows.

Remus rolled his eyes, but suppressed a small smile. "Bloody gits. There's no convincing you is there?"

"'Fraid not! You're stuck with these gits for life," Sirius smiled, puffing out his chest.

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The next three months followed the same repetitive pattern. On the night of the full moon, Branwen, James, Sirius, and Peter would follow Remus through the tunnel beneath the Whomping Willow to the Shrieking Shack (as Hogsmeade residents had dubbed it, after the horrible noises that issued from it once a month). While they waited, they would sometimes sleep, sometimes eat, sometimes play games. Once, Branwen convinced them to actually do some homework.

No matter what they did though, the hardest part was ignoring the sounds of agony from their friend above. One more than one occasion, Peter vomited after hearing a gush of blood spill from a particularly nasty rending of Remus' internal organs.

Branwen was always the first to run into the room when Remus was himself again. She did her best to staunch any bleeding and wipe away sweat and tears until Madam Pomfrey could arrive and work her healing magic. Then they followed Pomfrey and Remus back to the hospital wing.

At first, Madam Pomfrey resented the intrusion of the children into her work space, but she soon realised that the morale boost they provided did more for her patient than any potion in her arsenal. Branwen, she noticed, was especially helpful. The girl followed the healer closely, observing silently or asking quiet, timid questions about certain spells or salves. Pomfrey watched her gentle manners and soothing tones and murmured to herself, "I wonder...."

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The full moon of May was late in the month that year. Remus was still in the hospital after the rough April transformation of a few days before. Leaving him with a heaping helping of tea and chocolate, Branwen took the opportunity to corner the other boys during one of their rare visits to the library.

She stalked to their table and slammed down a heavy stack of books. The resounding bang earned her the glare of a few nearby students, but she stared them down until they all returned to their studies.

"Um, everything okay Bon-Bon?" James leaned away from his sister, not wanting to further ignite her mood.

"No, it's not, Jamie," she shot his nickname back at him. "Our friend is sick. He goes through a near death experience every month and what are we doing about it? Picking up the pieces, that's what!" she snapped at Peter when he opened his mouth to answer the rhetorical question.

James huffed. "What do you except us to do, genius?"

"Well, that's the question, isn't it? We all need to work together to come up with an idea that will help."

"Are you giving us homework?!" Sirius leaned across the table, his loud exclamation earning another few dirty looks.

"Look, you guys are clever. Really clever. Look at all the pranks you've pulled off. That takes some real skill and planning! Surely we can come up with something together. At this point, nothing's too extreme to consider."

They pondered this for a moment. Then James' jaw firmed and his eyes glinted. He stuck his hand across the table toward his sister. "Challenge accepted."