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The ring finally rang and Sirius started to pack his textbooks. From the corner of his eye he could see Remus shaking his right hand before gathering all pieces of parchment into his bag. James stood up before them and stared across the classroom at Lily.
Sirius took his time, putting his quills in the right place and the ink into the correct pocket. He hoped none of his friends would find it odd, considering he rarely did it, but if he wanted to be sure about his suspicion, he needed to stay behind a little.
Still crouched down next to his bag, he watched Remus flinch ever so slightly as he got up. This lesson was the last one for today, but it was also on the other end of the castle from the Gryffindor common room. On their way back Sirius could see clearly Remus avoided putting full weight on his right leg.
He was also quieter than usual and so they walked in silence most of the way back. On the corner near the common room, Sirius heard James and Peter go in and close the door. He decided this was the right time.
“You’re limping again.”
“No, I’m fine.” Remus didn’t stop walking, instead he changed his walk noticeably in a doomed attempt to hide the pain.
“You are not and we both know it. Why don’t you just go to Madam Pomfrey, she’ll help you.”
Remus stopped and slowly turned around to face Sirius. His expression was rigid and neutral as if he had drained it of all possible emotion.
“Go to Madam Pomfrey? I am already there at least once a month, don’t you think she would have helped me a long time ago?” His eyes lined with dark circles looked directly at Sirius.
“”Have a potion, she said.”” A potion for everything! Or a spell, perhaps, that will ruin your limb if you mess up?”
Sirius opened his mouth to reply, but Remus continued.
“And you know the thing about potions? They taste terrible. And most of the time, it’s not even worth it. The last one made me so tired I almost fell asleep standing up, the one before that made me dizzy for an hour. All that because my hip hurts a little?”
Emotion was seeping back into his face, into the clenching jaw and furrowed eyebrows and downturned lips. Sirius stood there, not knowing what to think let alone what to say. Then an idea struck him.
“What about a muggle doctor? They don’t have potions, right?”
“Ha! Of course they do, but they won’t give them to me! Too expensive, too strong for a child, we don’t even know if it’ll help, blah, blah, blah. And then they say: “You are a growing young boy, it will go away…” It didn’t. It only got worse, I am slowly disintegrating and my body struggles to keep up. One day I’ll no longer be young and I’ll probably just crumble to the ground.”
He followed the last few sentences with gestures. Tears of anger glistened in his eyes, but didn’t yet touch his cheeks. Sirius bit the inside of his mouth.
“I- I don’t-“ He was quickly cut out by Remus.
“You can’t help me.”
The only thing Sirius wanted as much as to help was to run away. To just turn around and walk to the end of the world. But he couldn’t do that. He had to do something.
“We won’t let you crumble away. One day we’ll all be old men sitting on a bench in a park. And there will be four of us, even if we have to roll you there in a chair or any other way, believe me.”
Remus pursed his lips, although his face softened. It no longer looked blank or angry, just tired.
“I don’t believe it.” His voice was soft and a little rough. “But I want to.” A soft smile appeared on his lips before he took Sirius’s hand. They came into the common room, smiling as if nothing had happened.