Chapter 25: Hospital

The walk back to Hogwarts was quiet and awkward. Tsume was very obviously still stewing about how the entire meet-and-greet with Moony had gone down, but there was nothing to do about that except to let him fizzle out. Toboe kept trying to make conversation but they were all so tired and sore that not even Toboe could find the desire to reply unless a question was directed to him. Talking made Ashi's throat hurt, so he didn't really feel the need to contribute; not that he would have even if he was perfectly fine.

So the entire trip back to Hogarth a filled with nothing but the soft crunch of snow and the occasional whisper from one of the boys.

Half an eternity later, they reached Hogsmeade, then another half an eternity had them at Hogwarts' front gates. Ironically, the front was the quietest part of the school, with all the students either inside studying or hanging out at the lake behind Hogwarts.

There, the rest of the pack left Ashi and Remus to continue on to the nurse's office by themselves. Remus was reluctant to let them go so easily, but there was really nothing he could do; they weren't going to press charges and Remus had no intention of telling anyone what had really happened that day.

As he watched them stride around the side of the castle to the forest, a sudden chill ran down his spine. "Hey, Ashi?" he asked.

Ashi grunted as he pulled open the door.

"Did they…Are they…Am I on their hit list now?"

Ashi glanced back at Remus and looked him up and down appraisingly. Then he shrugged. "Probably not," he said simply. His voice was hoarse as he spoke and the bobble of blood hanging off his neck wiggled every once in a while. It took a bit of willpower for Remus not to stare at it when it moved.

"Probably not," grumbled Remus. "Great." He scrambled to slip into the castle before the door closed after Ashi. "Is there anything I can do to get off their hit list?"

Ashi paused mid-step and considered the werewolf. "I bet if you made some progress in communicating with Moony, they'd be happier."

Remus sighed and slipped past Ashi to continue toward the infirmary. "Moony doesn't want to communicate with me. Trust me."

"How do you know? Have you ever tried? Maybe he wants to come out more often, and he certainly seemed self-conscious of the way he talked. You could teach him proper grammar or something and how to not be a vicious werewolf when he does come out."

"He…can talk? As in, actual words?" That tidbit shocked Remus a little. He had only ever gotten impressions of strong emotions with the occasional growl or snarl to accompany them. He had never even considered Moony sentient enough to have the ability of language, let alone already be able to speak.

Ashi eyed him contemptuously. "Of course he can speak. Nearly all animals can speak. You just need to learn how to understand them."

Remus blinked. "How?"

Ashi shrugged.

"Well, how did you learn to understand them?"

Ashi shrugged again. "I just sort of…do."

"Because of your magic?"

"No. Because I'm a wolf." He paused to think about it. "At least, I don't think it's my magic. Toboe and Kiba and Tsume and Hige never mentioned having to learn all sorts of different languages either."

Remus tripped over his own feet and gaped at the boy. "What…did you just say?"

Ashi looked at him as if he had grown a second head for a moment, then realization spread across his face. "Oh, yeah. We never told you what we are, did we? We're wolves."

Remus stopped and Ashi had to step around him to avoid bumping into him. "What?" asked Remus. He stood dumbfounded for a moment. "What…but…that's not possible," he spluttered.

Ashi tilted his head imperiously. "Why not? There are other animals that have magic in them. Why can't wolves?"

"But none of the other animals are able to…look like humans."

Ashi sighed and began climbing the stairs again.

Remus scrambled after him, mind brimming with questions.

It took him a few seconds to get them all sorted out in a coherent order, but once he had, he started rattling off questions and observations, much to Ashi's chagrin.

How is he able to control the changes?

Are there more wolves that can look like humans?

Where are they?

Do they live in packs or villages? Or cities?

By the time they made it to the Hospital Wing, Remus was practically drunk on euphoria and Ashi was gnashing his teeth in annoyance. Ashi managed to screech Remus's interrogation to a halt once they reached the top of the final set of stairs.

"What about—" said Remus on the tail of another question.

"What about what we're going to tell the nurse about what happened?" growled Ashi.

"What? Oh. Just tell her about Moony. She knows."

"That's it? Just tell her the werewolf came out and attacked me? No. Werewolves have a bad enough reputation without us telling some made-up story and making it worse. No one in Hogwarts will ever trust you again." Ashi paused and turned away before he continued. "And I get the feeling my…parents…will never let you anywhere near me ever again."

Remus felt his heart start to swell with pride. This kid was really something if he was already thinking of others like that.

Ashi turned back to him and smirked. "Then I wouldn't be able to prove you wrong about being able to communicate with Moony."

Remus smiled back. "I look forward to it, then. But that still leaves us empty-handed when it comes to a story to tell Poppy."

"A rabid dog."

"A rabid dog?"

"Yeah. It's a disease in muggle dogs that—"

"I know what rabies is, I'm just…surprised you would choose that one so fast. If anyone else knows how rabies is spread, we could be starting a huge manhunt for the dog and anything or anyone it's bitten."

"Fine. Don't say it's rabid then, just crazy."

"A crazy dog."

"Yeah. Simple enough. It attacked, Moony attacked, it's dead, you and I were injured."

"Okay. Were you injured in the initial attack?"

Ashi nodded. "That's what made Moony come out. He was protecting his pack's pup."

Remus had to refrain from actually reaching up and scratching his head in puzzlement. Instead, he had to sprint a few steps to catch up with Ashi at the doorway to Poppy's portion of the castle. Ashi hesitated before turning the doorknob, though.

"One more thing," he said slowly. "Don't let her call…my parents yet."

"Why not?"

Ashi grimaced. "I'd just rather not have an audience when they find out."

"Oh. Because of the…wolf thing?"

Ashi glared at him as it hit Remus that he had just blurted out his secret for anyone to hear. Oops. He didn't give Remus a chance to apologize before he shoved the door open and stepped into the hospital area.

None of the beds were occupied yet, thank goodness. It was early enough in the semester that none of the students wanted to pull pranks complicated enough to land them in a hospital bed for the weekend. As it was, their footsteps echoed as they walked past bed after bed after bed.

Even though Remus had been out of the school for more than a decade, he still felt that familiar feeling of being sent to the Headmaster's office for a lecture and a punishment. He knew that Poppy would do nothing to punish either of them; according to the story they would tell her, they had done nothing to warrant punishment. They were just protecting themselves. That knowledge did nothing to settle his nerves. He could only imagine what Ashi was feeling. Judging by his face, he was feeling absolutely nothing, but Remus had come to realize that all of the wolves—at least the ones he had met—were very good at hiding their feelings. Which made sense. Showing your fear, excitement, or happiness could give an enemy access to a chip in your armor; a very bad idea in the wild world of animals.

There was only slight hesitation from Ashi as they stood before Poppy's office door, so Remus took it upon himself and knock with his good arm before either of them lost their nerve.

They heard a muffled shout, probably Poppy telling them she was coming, before it was followed by some shuffling of chairs and papers. A few seconds later, the door opened.

Poppy had her mouth open before the door was. "Now what could you—Goodness gracious, Remus! What happened?!"

Remus could imagine what she was seeing. Both of them were covered in scratches and bruises and in need of a good bath. Remus himself was holding a badly broken arm and had a slight limp while Ashi had a veritable football of blood hanging off his neck.

Ashi started to explain but Poppy cut him off before he could get a single word out.

"Never mind that. We'll get to that later." She started pushing them both back toward the bed and shoved them both down on one. "Is your arm the only thing wrong, Remus?"

He only had time to nod before she rattled on again.

"Good, good, then that can wait a moment. What is this here?" One hand held Ashi's shoulder tightly as if the boy might faint while the other poked delicately at the bulbous bubble on his neck.

"Dog bite," Ashi muttered.

"Dog bite? Where on earth did you find a dog to bite you? It was one of the muggles' dogs, wasn't it? Honestly, I've told Albus that his wards need to include their animals. They're just as dangerous as their owners." She continued muttering to herself as she gathered gauze, a few potion bottles, bandages, and towels. She never stopped speaking as she popped the bubble, examined the wound, poured a potion over it, and forced the rest of it, as well as two others, down Ashi's throat before she wrapped the bandages several times around Ashi's neck.

"And your parents!" she suddenly screeched. "Goodness, I forgot they were here. We have to tell them what happened."

"No!" blurted Ashi.

Both Madame Pomphrey and Remus turned to look at him. "Excuse me?" asked Madame Pomphrey aghast.

A faint red tinged Ashi's cheeks, but his expression didn't change. "I mean, can't you just wait until you're finished treating us before you go find them?"

"And why in the world would I want to do that? Do you know how much grief Lily will give me for not telling her that her son was injured?"

Remus hummed in agreement. "But I can guarantee you, she'll give me so much more for letting her son get injured in the first place."

"Yes, so wouldn't it be more prudent to have me present so I can put you back together when she's done?"

Remus almost conceded at that. Lily could be scary when she wanted to be. But he had promised Ashi that he would help keep the Potters away until he and Ashi could explain what happened in a private setting. "I'm sure she won't be that bad," he muttered unconvincingly.

Poppy squinted at him for a moment. "Fine. But only if you promise to go straight to her rooms and tell them what happened. However, I have to call the Headmaster down."

"Oh, please, Poppy, no," pleaded Remus.

"No buts. It's school policy for him to know about such horrible injuries."

Remus tilted his head back in exasperation. That was all they needed: to tell Dumbledore their made-up story. If they didn't play it just right, the headmaster would be able to tell they were lying. Remus should have thought of this earlier. There was no way a school nurse anywhere would let her students pass off injuries like this without telling someone. "Fine. Let's get this over with."

Remus nodded. Ashi stared out the window, scowling.

Poppy eyed him suspiciously before she sent her Patronus to the fetch Dumbledore while she finished treating their wounds. With more distracted muttering about muggles and their dogs, Poppy set to work setting Remus's arm. A snap, a loud screech, and several potions later, Remus's arm was in a sling and Remus himself was moaning under his breath.

A couple of minutes later, Dumbledore accompanied by Professor Snape and Hagrid strode into the room.

"Well, well, well," said Dumbledore, the twinkle that Remus was so used to seeing in his eye gone. "What happened here?"

"Mr. Lupin has obviously gotten Mr. Potter into some sort of trouble," sneered Snape.

Remus had to resist the urge to stick his tongue out like an elementary schooler. "I did no such thing. That dog came out of nowhere."

"Dog? Thar's a dog?" asked Hagrid.

"Not anymore," growled Ashi.

Dumbledore glanced at Ashi—who ignored him and everyone else—before he turned back to Remus. "Mr. Lupin, kindly tell us what exactly happened that would have the both of you in the infirmary on such a fine day with such grievous injuries."

Remus rubbed the back of his neck with his good hand uncertainly. He hoped this worked. He didn't want to risk jeopardizing the growing relationship between Ashi and himself by not being able to tell a simple white lie. "I'm not really certain, sir. It all happened so fast. Ashi and I went down to Hogsmeade to walk around and get to know each other. I was taking him to the top of that hill where that great view is and this dog—at least, I think it was a dog—attacked us on the trail. It pounced on Ashi first. The next thing I remember, I was waking up covered in scratches and with a broken arm."

"A typical story," muttered Snape. "Of course, you can't remember anything. I doubt there was a dog anywhere near you."

"Now, Severus. It does us no good to accuse each other with no proof," Dumbledore chided. "Let us hear what young Mr. Potter has to say."

They all turned to Ashi, who continued to stare out the window. After a few seconds, he spoke. "It was a dog. Big dog. Haven't seen it before. Jumped off a bunch of rocks. Tore out my neck. Then there was this weird noise and a…another dog, except it was misshapen—its legs were too long and it was really skinny. It killed the first dog, then collapsed and turned into Remus."

Dumbledore looked to Poppy. She shrugged and mouthed 'shock.' Immediately, everyone's attitude toward Ashi softened.

"Yes, well," said Dumbledore awkwardly. "Perhaps now that we've got coinciding stories for the moment, we should let you two get some rest. Hagrid—" the groundskeeper snapped to attention with a clink of his belt and a rustle of fabric, "why don't you go down and see if you can find the body of this dog."

"Yessir," barked Hagrid and marched out of the room.

"Professor Snape, if you would be so kind as to escort Mr. Potter back to his room to rest."

Snape nodded and stepped forward to place his hand on Ashi's shoulder. Funny, Remus didn't think he'd ever seen Snape as soft-spoken as he was right then. Ashi nodded to whatever his Head of House had said and hopped off the bed. He kept his face downcast and covered with a stoic expression, but Remus could swear he saw the boy give him a small wink as he passed by.

Ah. So he was only pretending to be in shock. Cheeky twerp.

Once the door had shut behind Snape and Ashi, Dumbledore turned to Remus again. "What an exciting day for you, hm? It sounds as though your…alter ego has lost some of the vigors of its youth, eh?"

Remus shrugged. "I've been taking the Wolfsbane Potion regularly. Must've weakened it."

"Indeed. Well, We'd best let you rest while I inform Mr. and Mrs. Potter of today's events."

"Um, Headmaster," interrupted Remus. "About that, I think I'd prefer if I told them."

Dumbledore nodded, smiling

"Myself."

Dumbledore nodded again, still smiling.

"Alone."

"Ah, that's what you were getting at. Is there some reason for that, my boy? Some secret you don't want me to know about?"

Remus tried to swallow but the dryness of his throat made it hurt.

Suddenly, Dumbledore chuckled softly. "Yes, I understand. I know how close the three of you are. I'm sure they would much prefer to hear of the incident from your lips than mine."

Remus just barely managed to keep the sigh of relief from exploding out of his mouth. "Yeah. That's right." He smiled at the headmaster, ignoring the suspicious look he could see Poppy was giving him out of the corner of his eye.

"Very well, then," said Dumbledore. "I shall bid you adieu. Good day, Madame Pomphrey, and thank you for treating them in such a timely manner." With that, he turned on his heel and strode stately out of the room.

Remus took a few moments to calm his racing heart before he gathered up his coat. "Yes, well, I'd better be on my way as well. Thank you, Poppy. As the muggles say, I owe you one."

Poppy glared at him. "You can pay me back by keeping yourself and that boy out of trouble."

"I shall do that."

Just as he was passing the last bed, Poppy shouted after him. "And go straight to Lily's rooms to tell her!"

Remus paused and threw a cheeky grin at the nurse. "Actually, I was thinking of taking a nap before I went to get my head chewed off."

A roll of bandages hit the door a split second after Remus shut it.

I'm so sorry for leaving you all hanging for so long. I started college, then I just got swamped (and rather depressed, I'll admit) and let the dreaded writer's block overcome me for a long time. But over winter break, I was able to pull myself together and gather my thoughts (and attempt to remember where I was going with each of my stories) and write another chapter. I had intended this chapter to include the confrontation/discussion with Lily (she's got that fiery red hair for a reason :P) and James, but while I was writing, I kept thinking of different things that needed to be included or bits of fluff and conversation that could be included.

So I ended up with this: something that's got a little fluff, a little comedy, a little bonding, and an anticlimactic revelation. I'm a little disappointed with it, but I'm still working on overcoming writer's block. Honestly, I can hardly remember where I was going with this after the next chapter. I'm trying to remedy that by rereading (and proofreading) all my previous chapters and rereading Kurinoone's The Darkness Within. So expect it to be a while before another update to either of my chapters. BUT I'm taking a writing course this semester that I'm hoping will give me inspiration for how to get in the groove of writing more easily.

If you want something to read in the meantime, I wrote a kind of horror story for one of my classes last semester and posted it. It's called Monsters Under the Bed. Tumblr user writing-prompt-s posted a prompt a while ago that has since blown up across the internet. I've seen a couple of stories and a comic about it and I decided to write my own take on it. My story is very similar to everyone else's but I've included an extra chapter as a continuation that I rather enjoyed writing (and reading).

And, of course, thank you to everyone who reads, favorites, follows, and reviews (especially you, Wolf11. Honestly, your comments showing up randomly in my inbox have guilt-tripped me into opening up Word and trying to add a few more paragraphs to each chapter so I can post it earlier). I hope you all enjoyed it!

-GH

Words in Chapter: 2,991

Words in Story: 90,268

Favorites: 60

Follows: 84

Reviews: 65