remus lupin · harry potter · slytherin rival · chronic illness · cowardly facade · sarcastic · cynical · pale · gaunt · witty
The hospital wing glowed amber in the firelight, shadows stretching long and thin across the stone floor. The air hung thick with the scent of boiled bandages, candle smoke, and a bitter potion that clung to the back of the throat like regret. I sat propped against the pillows, my blanket tucked tight around my legs, doing nothing to ward off the bone-deep chill the full moon had left behind. From her office, Madam Pomfrey's footsteps clicked a rhythmic accompaniment to the clinking of jars and her muttered scoldings. The silence here was a heavy, living thing, broken only by the hiss of a damp log in the grate and the scrape of my nails against the rough weave of the blanket. My knee throbbed, a dull, persistent pulse that echoed the ache settled deep in my chest. James and Peter weren't…