Work Text:
Hot water bottles aren't for sissy's
“Sirius just take the fricking water bottle” James demanded, shoving the floppy rubber thing at him.
“No!” Sirius exclaimed, hitting the offensive item away and coughing weakly into his pillow. “Hot water bottles are for sissy’s” the thirteen year old mumbled into the cotton, then proceeded to sniff pathetically.
“I have hot water bottles all the time at home” Peter called brightly from his bed.
“Exactly” Sirius hiccuped, and Peter stuck out his tongue at him. Smirking, James flopped onto the end of Sirius’ bed, and feeling slightly more sympathetic, reached out to pat his sick friend on the shoulder.
“Careful” Peter reminded as he glanced up from his homework, “he’s got the lergi and you have quidditch tomorrow. Don’t want to be exploding from both ends in the middle of the match”. James grimaced and retracted his hand, no he most certainly did not want that. Evans would be watching, so keeping all bodily fluids inside him was an essential. An essential his best friend was not currently achieving James noted as he looked down at Sirius. He now had snot running freely from his nose and was shivering violently.
“I really think maybe we should take you to Madame Pomfrey Sirius” James tried, as much fun as it was seeing his usually immaculate friend looking so snotty and dishevelled, James was getting increasingly concerned for Sirius.
“No James” Sirius grumbled, “I’m obviously at least dying, therefore I want to be amongst friends”. James rolled his eyes and looked around the room.
“Speaking of friends where is Remus?” James asked, he hadn’t seen the tawny haired boy since last lesson with Professor Flitwick, and that was over three hours ago. Sirius immediately perked up, lifting his head and scanning the room with red rimmed eyes.
Peter also looked up with an anxious expression, and biting his lip said “He did look awfully tired today”. Sirius nodded, and struggled to sit up. “We need to find him” Sirius said croakily, “He should be here by now”. The sick boy swatted aside his sweaty fringe and swung his long legs out of the bed with a look of determination on his face, though his set features quickly morphed from determined to a sickly green as he tried to stand. James stood, and grabbing Sirius by the shoulders, forced the boy back onto the bed.
“You sure as hell ain’t going Padfoot” James said, “You’ll be sick after three steps”. Peter nodded in agreement and turned to James “Maybe you should go look for him Prongs, it isn’t all that long since full moon. I’ll keep Sirius in bed”. Hearing the worry in Peter’s voice and the clear anxiety on Sirius’ pale features caused James’ own unease to increase, and nodding he stood to go. However there was no need, for just in that moment the werewolf walked in.
“Remus!” James and Peter cried, and the tensed Sirius visibly sagged with relief. Looking surprised Remus walked further into their cosy dorm. “Hi” he said smiling, and then frowned “Were you guys worried?”
A chorus of “Of course we were!” and “Obviously you idiot!” and “Where the hell were you?!” was returned and the freckled boy grinned. “I was fine, honestly, I was just doing some extra...” But he trailed off and looked alarmingly at Sirius, his eyes widening at the boy’s fever flushed cheeks, red eyes and otherwise paper white skin. In a few quick steps he was by Sirius’ side.
“Hells bells Padfoot, you look awful” He said worriedly, eyes raking over Sirius’ body. Sirius flushed slightly and looked away from his friends intense gaze.
“Feel it” he admitted, as another shudder ran through his body. Remus frowned sympathetically and looked at James. “Shouldn’t he be in the infirmary?” Remus mouthed.
“Stubborn bugger won’t go” James mouthed back.
Sirius glared at both of them,“I can see you arses” he said reproachfully. Chuckling, Remus perched on the bed besides his stubborn friend.
“Sirius let me take you to Madame Pomfrey”
“No”
“You’re sick”
“Yes”
“A spell will make you feel better”
“So?”
“Padfoot, come on”
“No”
Remus sighed and glanced at James.
“Hey don’t look at me Moons, I’ve been trying to make him take a flipping hot water bottle for over an hour”. The two boys looked at the object of their discussion, who promptly buried his head under the covers. “You’re acting like a child Sirius” Remus murmured, shifting on the blankets, but got no response from the aforementioned boy. “We are children Moony” Peter said, frowning in confusion, and James rolled his eyes.
Eventually the boys gave up, Remus helped the struggling Peter with his homework and James launched into another lecture about the conditioner Lily must use. Still, Sirius did not emerge from the bedclothes, so giving each other worried glances the other marauders climbed into their respective beds.
“Night Wormtail” James called.
“Night Prongsie” Peter said contentedly, snuggling down under his covers, and to James’ amusement, curling up much like a rodent.
James looked over at his werewolf friend, “Sleep well Moons” he chuckled.
“Goodnight Prongs” Remus replied, smiling back, and letting down his bed curtains with a final glance at Sirius’s huddled form. James looked over at Sirius. “Feel better Padfoot” he tried, not expecting a response, surprisingly there was a form of reply that sounded as much like a mumbled cough as anything else, but James took it.
Soon three of the four marauders slept, but one, one did not.
Later that night Remus awoke to stifled sobs, and sitting up in alarm he cast his amber eyes across the dorm. The crying was coming from Sirius’ bed, and as quiet and muffled as it was, the young werewolf’s sensitive hearing had picked it up. Remus pulled back his covers and padded across the room to his friend, and gently moved aside the bed curtains.
Sirius was curled on his side with his arm thrown over his face, he was shaking violently and tears slid down over his pale cheeks, he looked as if he was I the after-daze of a nightmare. Remus wasted no time in climbing into the bed of his friend, slowly sliding in beside him, sickness be damned. “Padfoot” Remus murmured, not wanting to force Sirius to tell him what he didn’t want to. Sirius removed his arm from his face and looked at Remus with fever glazed eyes that were welling with tears, he was not afraid to cry in front of Moony. “What is it?” Remus tried, reaching forward and moving a stray lock of dark hair from Sirius’ face.
“When I’m sick at home Moony” Sirius gulped “No one pays any attention. Ever since we were small Regulus and I have been shunned for being ill, my parents think to show sickness is weakness. They used to do.. things to us when were sick, they would douse us in ice water or lock us in our rooms until we recovered our selves… They would leave us alone for so long Moony, scarcely able to breathe and throwing up every five minutes with nothing to clean up ourselves.” The animagus continued to look at Remus as he spoke, and Remus could practically see the memories clouding Sirius’ young face.
“When Reg was four he got the flu, it was ok for a while, I tried to look after him as best I could, but my parents said we must learn to recover from these things by ourselves, they say it makes us stronger to be alone in times of need. They believed in the old methods of recovery, so when Reg didn’t get better, they refused to call for a healer…” Sirius stopped in an effort to calm his shaking voice, and Remus placed a hand on his shoulder.
Suddenly Sirius bit out “They gave him mercury Rem! Powdered mercury! And he got so sick… He almost died Moony, because of my parents.”
The anger on Sirius’ face mirrored Remus’, who sensed his friends emotions as clearly as if they were his own. “Sirius” Remus breathed, trying to keep his voice steady “Did they give you mercury too? Did they poison you as well?”. Sirius met the boy’s compassionate eyes and nodded once in assent. He still remembered the dark rooms, the iced water, the forced “medicine” which made him feel as if he was dying inside, his cold parents with their cold hearts, and most terrible, being shut off from his sick brother, who’s pitching wails had called out to him long into the night.
Being sick at Hogwarts was a wonderland compared to what it was at home, but his friends attentions had overwhelmed Sirius, kind voices and laughter and warmth in the midst of a fever had startled the 13 year old. In the past in the midst of illness he had always been alone, cold, and drenched in his own sweat and sick; and it had always been the same for Reg too.
Sirius had felt warmed by his friend’s presence, yet swamped with too many emotions which he could not identify. Then the night had brought with it flashbacks of his life in the Black family house, and it petrified Sirius.
Sirius was pulled from his thoughts by a squeeze of his hand, which Remus had taken in his own, and was now stroking gently. “Sirius you’re not alone any more” Remus whispered “And neither is Regulus. He has his friends in Slytherin, and you have yours here. You never have to stay at that house again, it’s over, I promise.”
Sirius felt his heart lift as his mind cleared, listening to Remus’ reassuring voice, and realising what he said was true.
“And Padfoot if you’re ever sick, and I mean even have the sniffles” his friend murmured, smiling, “Floo to my house, and I’ll look after you”
Sirius smiled at his friend gratefully, and squeezed his hand in return. “Thanks Moony” he said, knowing that Remus could never begin to realise how much he meant to him. Remus grinned, and clasped his hand, grateful beyond words to have Sirius smiling again. Suddenly, the werewolf reached down the side of the bed and picked up the abandoned hot water bottle, and muttering a quick spell to heat it up, pressed the object to his friends chest. Sirius rolled his eyes but held onto the water bottle with his free hand all the same, and soon his shivering subsided. His body and heart warmed by the constant presence of the tawny haired boy beside him.
And that’s how the two boys stayed for a long time, soon both drifting into sleep, with their hands clasped, and fingers intertwined.
Sirius was not alone anymore.