March 7: Take Good Care Of Me: Potpin, Hospital Wing

[James Potter]

▶︎ all my friends take good care of me
wherever i go, they bring me home

when i got no place to be

Just ditch Astronomy tonight. McGonagall will understand. Back-to-back mornings of Quidditch, following a full moon? Can't do it all, can I?

    No, you can't. But you had better do the things that matter.

James couldn't believe how stupid he'd been. And selfish. And for what? The deer in the Forest knew he didn't belong, why did he have to waste time trying to curry favor with them? It wasn't like he was about to go head-to-head with the buck in charge, or run off with one of the does. It wasn't like they had useful information to give him, for even if they did know the best spots to graze, having grass in his stomach after a transformation never ended pleasantly. 

So why did he leave his own pack for them? Even when things seemed fine, he should've known better than to leave a werewolf, a dog, and a rat to fend for themselves in a forest full of creatures that weren't as forgiving as the deer. Not when, as Prongs, he was literally built to protect them. Sure, Mooney could handle a lot, Padfoot too, and Wormtail's claws were nothing to be trifled with - but besides the canines's warning howls, he could keep attackers from getting close enough where they all had to step in. That was the true benefit of his antlers finally growing in, much more than admiring looks from the does.

You...like being Prongs. Enough to forget why you learned how to become him in the first place.

Little more than a year ago, James wouldn't have thought that another feeling could come close to comparing to flying. But as Prongs, he could run. Sure, only about half as fast as he could fly on a broom, but they were his legs propelling him forward. It was like an out of body experience happening inside his body, and he'd never felt so badly about enjoying it, or the other perks of being an animagus. 

Well...yeah. Never landed your mate in the hospital because of it before.

James yawned and entered the Hospital Wing, covering it with a stiff smile to Poppy as she nodded him towards Remus's bed. Thankfully the matron was well accustomed to their group's tradition of bringing class notes after dinner on days like today, but James's bag held more than catch-up notes this time around. Although now that he was here, he was second-guessing the ability of the photograph to act as an I'm Sorry And Promise Not To Do It Again card. He had come up with the plan for it in the wee hours of the morning, woken Sirius up to borrow the camera before practice, parted with a fair bit of coin to get some of the members of the Potions club to develop it...

He'll appreciate it. Which of us hasn't messed up?

"Is this seat taken?" James asked with a bit of a grin as he took the chair at his friend's bedside. He hefted his bag to his lap and began pulling out the day's work. "Missed you in Potions, Sluggy made me partner with Vanderhyde. We're still on cheeses, so at least I got to witness him running for his dorm smelling like a ripe Limburger. How're - er - d'you think you'll be back tomorrow?"

[Remus Lupin]

Remus hated being stuck in the Hospital Wing. It hadn’t been so bad yesterday, seeing as he’d had company as much as Pompfrey allowed it. But Monday meant that classes were back in session, and that his friends were busy. Ever since last year, he’d been spending less and less time here after the full moon. He didn’t know if it was the potion, or the dedication of his friends, but he knew that whatever it was he was thankful for. Less missed classes, which mean less catching up to do. And in sixth year, he felt that he couldn’t afford to miss too many days of classes due to their full moon activities. He especially couldn’t afford them next year, when he was hoping to be Head Boy. He knew it was crazy, but he thought he really stood a chance, just as Lily did to be Head Girl. But so far, he’d only shared his ideas about it with Lily, not sure how to bring it up with his friends. He’d been thinking about bringing it up to James, but now it felt weird with his mate feeling all sorry.

You see, it had all started when they’d lost James. No one was quite sure how they had lost him, and as communication wasn’t the easiest when they were all in their animal forms, no one was quite sure when they had lost him. And in the Forbidden Forest, of all places. The plan, at least in his mind, had been to make sure the three of them stuck together and hope that wandering around the forest would lead to them finding him. Instead, there was an altercation with the creatures of the forest, and very luckily that had also led to finding James. So no harm was really done, was there? They’d all survived their excursion in one piece, and the damage done wasn’t any different than anything he’d ever done to himself while transforming.

He was pulled from his book - and mostly, his thoughts - as the door to the Hospital Wing opened and James strolled in. Remus was thankful for the distraction, grinning at his friend as James sunk down in the chair next to his bed. “Vanderhyde? Well I suppose it could have been worse, but I’ll store the image of him running to his dorm for a laugh later,” he joked, reaching out to take the schoolwork from James. This would at least keep him busy after Pompfrey decided it was time he needed more rest and less friend time. “I should be out of here by tomorrow, just a few cuts and bruises. Nothing too serious, I’m sure I’ll convince Pompfrey to let me out of here by breakfast.”

[James Potter]

Remus seemed pleased to see him, and not like he was harboring any resentment - none of them were any good at hiding that anyway - about the weekend, and James breathed in a little relief. He was glad to see that Remus seemed like himself, easily jesting with him and taking the schoolwork as was routine. He gave a nod and a smile at his friend's assertion that he was alright, and he really did seem it - there had been worse moons, before the potion, before they could all be together. Maybe you are blowing this out of proportion. This indecision is what you get for ignoring your conscience...

One more apology won't hurt.

"Good, that's good," James said in distraction, head nearly inside his schoolbag as he rifled about for the photograph. After a few tense moments - Gone completely batty now, have you? Made the whole thing up? - he'd located it between his Charms text and Creatures scrolls and found himself smoothing it out on the side of his leg. As accustomed as he was to speaking quietly and coded in the Hospital, for they never knew exactly who'd be spending the night there besides their own, James felt himself fall into it more awkwardly than usual, but nevertheless continued with his plan. "Before we go over class stuff from today, I just wanted to say again that I'm really sorry. I forgot what was important, and I - I solemnly swear," he went on with the hint of a smile, "it won't happen again. I - er - I went out and took this for you."

He handed the photograph over, hoping it could go into an It's The Thought That Counts category of gifting. "Sunrise this morning," he babbled unnecessarily. "I know you - er - I've noticed you enjoy them, thought it'd be cool to capture one best I could. Not that you need it much here, can see it whenever you like, but thought maybe it'd be nice to take home over the holidays..."

[Remus Lupin]

It’s probably nothing, he’s just fine.

                James isn’t fine, he seems distracted.

James seemed off, and Remus was trying to decide if he was going to let it go. Remus was sure that James was still feeling guilty - which he didn’t need to - and Remus didn’t want to bring it up. Because what if James wasn’t feeling guilty, and then feels guilty for not feeling guilty because Remus brought it up! Or maybe it was just because James had had a busy couple of days, and that’s why he seemed so distracted. Remus decided that the best bet was to not bring it up, and busied himself looking over the schoolwork he had been handed while James was digging about in his bag. If James wanted to talk about it, they would talk about it. So Remus wasn’t too surprised that James was apologizing again, even though it was necessary. Sometimes this kind of thing just happened, and none of them were severely hurt.

Remus took the photograph he was handed, a smile across his face as he looked at it. It was a wonderful picture of a beautiful sunrise, and James had taken it for him. It was incredibly thoughtful, and Remus looked up to his mate with a laugh, “It’s a great picture Prongs, thank you.” Remus knew it had taken a lot of effort on the part of his friend to get this picture to him, and it was one of those things that just made him appreciate his friends even more. “A sunrise means the night is over, and that all is good again. You can stop apologizing, you know. We’re all okay,” he said, admiring the picture as he spoke. They’d made it through much worse situations as friends, this was nothing to be mad over. Gently setting the picture down on the table next to his bed, turning to face James. “How was Quidditch practice, everything still going good?” Hopefully talk of something he was passionate about would get James out of his awkwardness that Remus was feeling from him.

[James Potter]

Looking from the photograph to Remus's smiling face - and his insistence that apologies were over and done with - took the burden of guilt away from James, for the moment. Sure, there was still the thought in him that he should be guilty for liking being Prongs when Mooney had spent so long unable to enjoy his transformed form, but if Remus was ready to let it go, he should too. And so James grinned, settling back into the stiff hospital chair and into the knowledge that they all were okay. It wasn't long before that grin turned into a weary chuckle, and the boy rubbed his eyes with his knuckles before he answered.

"Don't tell anyone," he started quietly, knowing his mate wouldn't, "but if it wasn't for the match coming up, I'd cancel tomorrow night's practice." The best thing about Tuesday's scheduled time was that it was the last one on his calendar for the week. James could hardly believe he could even stomach thinking that - this was his first year as Captain! he couldn't slack! - but he was tired. What he wouldn't give for a long weekend with no responsibilities! And it wasn't just the time that could've been spent sleeping. So much of his energy was devoted to trying to ensure that his team was cohesive, which he hadn't done well in safeguarding them against in deciding to enter a doomed relationship with their Seeker...

"Not that anything's bad, they're the best players in the school," James assured, "I could just use a breather, that's all. I get why McGonagall didn't take me seriously when I said I could run the team during our O.W.L. year now, get to overthinking all the little things when I'm tired. So you know what - I'll just have to make tomorrow night's more fun," he decided. "During the warm-up, at least, before we focus. Always wanted to see if anybody can pull off the Dionysus Dive like the Arrows Chasers can." He grinned, knowing his teammates would rise to the tricky challenge and hopefully get some laughs out of it together. Now he just needed Hooch's approval to set up a safety net before practice and all would be fine!

The boy briefly considered bringing up Lily as his thoughts turned to her - as happened more with his knowledge since Doe called him on it - but it felt weird when she was such a close friend of Remus's too. Could give you a clue on how she's feeling about you these days... "But while I've got your ear to myself - any requests for your party? We've still got plenty of time for a Hogsmeade run."