Chapter Text
June 9th 2018
Remus lay on top of the hospital bed, internally cursing his bad luck, his roommate and the incompetent doctor who decided to keep him here overnight. He didn't have time to waste lying in a hospital. Exams were coming up and he needed to be at home or even better at the library studying and revising for that. But instead he was in the hospital for observation for a possible concussion that he was sure he didn't have. It was just a small cut at his temple. Sure there had been a lot of blood but that's normal with head wounds. He hadn't even passed out and only got two stitches.
And worst of all, he was sure if it hadn't been for his condition the doctor would never have kept him here.
This was all Peter's fault, Remus decided. First he had to go out Friday night only to come home drunk of his ass and leaving his shoes lying around for Remus to fall over. And then after he hit his head at the kitchen door frame he had to stumble out of his room (still drunk) only to panic at the sight of blood and call an ambulance. Luckily Remus had been able to dissuade Peter from calling his Mum or she would surely have overreacted and already been on the way here.
Peter had endlessly apologized. Not for calling the ambulance and getting him stuck here in hospital like he should have. But for leaving his things lying around for Remus to fall over, which okay, was at least something.
Remus had send him home an hour ago to sleep off the rest of the alcohol.
At least now it was quiet. But quiet meant boring and since he didn't know what to do with himself he kept internally cursing his bad luck, incompetent doctors, and Peter until he dozed off.
------
“Fucking slave driver.” Sirius cursed as he entered his hospital room after seeing his physiotherapist in the morning. At least he had the afternoon and Sunday off from the torture they called therapy. He would need it after he got pushed to his limits earlier. Luckily it was his last time with this physio from hell. Tomorrow after a final exam with his newly adjusted prosthesis he would finally leave this goddamn hospital, even when it was just to be moved to another rehab facility where his physio would start back up on Monday.
He groaned as he awkwardly lifted himself from the wheelchair to his bed with aching muscles. For a moment he wished a nurse would help him but he was too proud to call for one after he finally annoyed them into leaving him alone. God, he couldn't wait to leave the fucking hospital.
When he had settled as comfortably as possible (which wasn't comfortable at all) on the cheap hard mattress he noticed there was a new patient dozing in the other bed in the room. The guy looked to be around his age so Sirius hoped they could have a nice chat or something. It simply had to be better than with the snoring old grump he had to share with until yesterday.
He crumbled a piece of paper together and threw it at the new guy. “Oy Mate! Roomie!” Sirius called as the other one stirred. “What are you in for?”
The other guy seemed a bit disoriented, he looked in Sirius general direction but not directly at him: “What? Who are you?” the guy lay back down on his pillow and stared at the ceiling.
“My name's Sirius. Your fellow inmate.”, he grinned, “So what are you in for?”
“This is a hospital, not jail.”
“Same difference. Or are you here voluntarily?”
“I'm here because the doctor is an even bigger moron than my roommate.”
“That sounds like an interesting story...”
“It's not. Peter left his junk lying around, I fell over it and now the doctor decided to keep me here to make sure I don't have a concussion when I should be studying for exams.”
“Well, when you tell it like that it really does sound boring. What are you studying that you already have exams coming up? Isn't it like four more weeks of the semester?”
“Just three. And I'm doing philosophy.”
“So when your finished you're going to be a well educated taxi driver?”
The guy (Sirius had to find out his name) laughed at that as if he had never heard this lame joke before. Or worse, found it genuinely funny. “That would be a sight. I don't really know yet. What do you do? Are you also studying?”
“In theory.”
“What does that mean?”
“That means that I've been in here for so long that my studies are on hold for the semester. And probably also for the next.”
“Oh... What are you here for?”
Sirius was momentarily speechless. His wheelchair was right next to his bed and he lay on top of the covers with his stump clearly visible. He leaned on his elbow to better look over at the other bed. “Are you serious right now?”
“No, you're Sirius. I'm Remus.”
At that Sirius didn't know what to do with his indignation. Should he laugh? Should he be pissed? He settled on a pretty good impression of a gaping fish before he spluttered: “That's my joke! You know me for all of five minutes and you're already stealing my joke!”
“To be honest it's not very original.”
“Now you wound me Remus. I'll have you know as a Premier League Jokester that it's a timeless classic. You laughed at the cabbie-is-the-only-job-prospect-for-philosophy-students joke, so you clearly have no taste.”
“I laughed at the situational comedy not because the joke itself is funny. And you're the one that made it.”
The delivery was so deadpan and Remus was still looking at the ceiling, Sirius wasn't sure if he was being made fun off or if Remus really didn't have any humour. Also he didn't see anything in the situation that would make that old joke funny. Funnier?
“Anyway, you still haven't told me why you're here.” Remus prompted still staring at the ceiling. “Or don't you want to talk about it? You don't have to tell me if you don't want to.”
“Are you blind man? If you would just would quit staring at the ceiling for one moment and look at me, you could easily see with your own eyes that I lost a leg.” he countered exasperated.
When Sirius saw Remus chuckling and hiding his face in his hands he was just about done. How could anybody be so inconsiderate! “Oy! What's so funny! Watch out or I'll hit you!”
Remus snorted another laugh before he got himself back under control.
“I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I know that's nothing to laugh about. In fact it's terrible. It's just… So many references to seeing in one sentence to a blind guy. That has to be some kind of record!”
That left Sirius speechless – again. Before he also started cackling and soon the room was filled with both their laughter.
They talked, joked and laughed all the way through lunchtime until around two there was a knock and Sirius best mate James came to visit him.
“Remus this is my best mate James. Prongs meet Remus my new Roomie” Sirius enthusiastically introduced them to each other. James held his hand out for Remus to shake. “James wants to shake your hand.” Sirius immediately told Remus who grinned a bit and held his hand out in turn, a good foot from James'. James grabbed it and shook it without hesitating even when he looked surprised.
“Get this: Remus full name is Remus J. Lupin – he wont tell me what the J stands for. And he grew up in…Wolfsdale! I bet the J. also stands for something wolfish. Isn't that epic?! Now I just need to find a cool wolfish codename for him and then I'll make him the third Marauder!”
“Wow, I haven't seen you this exited since that prank you pulled on the head-nurse that got you relocated to this ward. And I never heard you propose another Marauder.”
“Yeah well, if he'd had gone to Hogwarts with us we would have been three back then. He could have been our lookout.” James looked a bit unsure at that but Remus seemed to find it funny.
“I'm sure I would have been a marvelous lookout. But what's Hogwarts? And the Marauders?”
“Marauders is what we called ourselves back when we were the biggest troublemakers at Hogwarts Preparatory School for Higher Learning.” James explained.
“Actually it was Minnie – one of the Teachers – who first came up with the name after we stole and hid all the toilet paper in the castle.”
“Ah the good old times...” James sighed.
“All the toilet paper?!” Remus raised his eyebrows.
“Yep! And the paper-towels. Every last piece of it, even in the teachers private toilets”
“That's genius! And you didn't get thrown out?”
“Rich parents.” Sirius shrugged uncomfortably.
“When my parents wanted to send me to a school for the blind they already threw me out when I only put old frying fat on a few doorknobs and the directors car.”
“Well that sounds a bit harsh. But nice prank.”
“Yeah, but I didn't want to go there anyway so I made sure to get caught. Insofar it was a thorough success. Only my Ma didn't see it that way.”
“See Prongs? Total Marauder material.”
“Ha! I know the perfect codename for you!” Sirius suddenly exclaimed a bit later, when Remus had to get up to use the bathroom. Remus stopped in the doorway, wanting to hear what Sirius had so suddenly thought of.
“I hereby christen you to the name of Moony! For your arse is so round and pale it could trigger a werewolf's transformation!”, he declared in a sanctimonious voice.
Remus blushed a deep red and hastily closed the bathroom door behind him as Sirius broke into laughter soon followed by James. When he finally came back out after a way longer time then he needed for his business, he made extra sure that the back part of his hospital-gown stayed firmly closed.
But when that only led to renewed laughter from the other two he decided to own it and intentionally flashed them his backside again as he got back in his bed. That got him a round of applause, a wolf-whistle from James and even more laughter, which prompted a fat nurse to look in and reprimand them for disturbing the other patients. She even threatened to throw James out.
When James finally really left he promised Sirius to come back tomorrow morning to help him pack and move to the rehab center.
------
The next morning Remus friend and neighbour Lilly came with a change of clothes for him and to take him home. Peter didn't own a car or a license and obviously neither did Remus so she often ended up driving them around when public transport would be too cumbersome.
Sirius was currently at his release exam but Remus wanted to wait for him to say goodbye in person before he left.
They had already exchanged numbers. It wasn't often that Remus immediately clicked with somebody new like he had yesterday. Most people found it awkward to be around him and either walked on eggshells around him, asked too many invasive questions or tried to disregard his blindness completely (or just simply ignored him altogether). With Sirius it had been different, they had pretty much immediately joked about it together, but Sirius still was never inconsiderate and helped in little ways, like telling him that James wanted to shake hands, that made Remus wonder if he had prior experience with blind people.
So even when it was completely unrealistic that after only one day they were already fast friends and their contact would probably fade with time when they both left the hospital and got on with life, he wanted to give it a try.
He and Lily were softly talking with each other as Sirius came back, James pushing the wheelchair.
“Hiya Moony!” James greeted him with a broad grin, then he registered Lily and suddenly stopped wide-eyed making Sirius jolt in the wheelchair.
Lily didn't seem to notice. “Moony?” she asked Remus with a tilt to her head.
“Ugh. I'll tell you later.” then he turned to address Sirius: “I just wanted to say goodbye in person before I leave. Write me when you're settled in your cell, or are prisoners not allowed phones?”
“I already have a plan for that. I'll smuggle my mobile in in a hidden compartment in my prosthesis.” Sirius retorted. “Prongs here and I are going for pizza on the way. Finally some real food instead of the hospital muck. You two want to join us?”
“Sounds nice, but I have a thing in a bit, so we don't have time.” Lily said “But enjoy your pizza.”
“Okay, perhaps another time then. See ya Moony!”
“Not if I see you first.”
------
While Sirius devoured his greasy monstrosity of a pizza, James was only pecking at his, totally in his own world.
“What's up James? Aren't you hungry?” Sirius asked with his mouth full. When he got no answer he kicked him under the table with his good leg (he couldn't control his prosthesis good enough yet to kick James with it, it was hard enough walking from the car to the restaurant with his prosthesis and crutches, the wheelchair had remained at the hospital.)
“Ow! Padfoot! What was that for?”
“I asked you a question.”
“You did?”
“Yes! What's got you so distracted?”
“The girl at the hospital with Remus. Was that his girlfriend?”
“I don't know. Perhaps? Why?”
“It's just… I know her, she's in one of my classes.”
Sirius shoved another piece of pizza in his mouth. “So?”
“How do you not know if she's his girlfriend? You talked with him all the time.”
“Yeah but girlfriends or romantic interests didn't really come up.” He slowly put his bitten into slice back down on the plate. “Wait, Prongs. That's not possible, is it? Was that your `fiery redheaded Goddess´ from your genetics course?” He could see James blushing despite his darker complexion. “It really is her! I have to tell Moony!” Sirius was giddy like a little child on Christmas.
“No! You can't tell him! What if she's really his girlfriend?”
“Don't worry I'm pretty sure he said his friend would pick him up, not girlfriend. And now that you both know Moony you finally have an excuse to talk to her. By the way are you still eating your pizza or can I have a slice or two?”