Tales > Sickness and Revenge

Sirius walked slowly down the stairs into the Great Hall. He spotted the Gryffindor table, and sluggishly made his way over there. He ignored the snigger he heard from Lucious Malfoy. Coughing, he plopped down into the seat in between two of his friends: James Potter, and a slightly pale faced Remus Lupin. Peter was on the opposite side of the table, eating quickly.

James looked over at his n normally talkative friend inquisitively. "Hey Sirius," he said in a happy greeting.

Sirius just let out a cough and nodded in return. "Hey James, Remus, Peter," he said sluggishly, his words slightly slurred together. He said no more, and laid his head into his hand slowly. He let out a couple of coughs that shook his slim frame roughly.

James exchanged a worried look with Remus before grabbing a plate of doughnuts that lay in front of him. Grabbing a heavily chocolate smothered one, he stuck it under Sirius' nose. "Check it out, Padfoot," he remarked, they finally went back to making these."

"Yea, I'm surprised they did," piped up Remus, trying to get the unusually quiet Sirius to talk. "Considering that you mutated one of the doughnuts to grow about the size of a troll, and the set it off on Snape."

Remus, Peter and James laughed heartily, the memory of Snape screaming and running down the halls as a giant doughnut flew after him still hilarious.

But Sirius only smiled weakly, and said nothing, pushing aside the doughnut gently. This worried his friends greatly. Normally Sirius would be laughing harder than any of them, and devising new ways to prank people. Not to mention that he normally would be eating twice as much as anyone else. But now he just sat there, slumped in his chair, ignoring the food in front of him.

Remus passed a concerned look to James as Sirius' head slumped into his hands, and he stayed still. Lily, turned her head from across the table, raising her slim eyebrow at the sight of Sirius. "What wrong with him?" She whispered to Peter, who was sitting two seats away from her. He shrugged his shoulders and shook his head. She stared at Sirius, watching his unmoving form, abandoning her food.

James looked over at Sirius, whose head was still in his hands. "Padfoot," he said softly, "what's wrong, Padfoot? This isn't funny, man."

Sirius didn't respond, and James grew even more worried. Throwing down his food, he turned to Sirius, By now, the whole table was watching them. "Sirius, talk to me here, what's wrong?" He pushed away the boy's hands, trying to see his face. He pushed up Sirius' head, in an attempt to look him in the face. The boy's eyes were closed, and his lips were firmly pressed together. James' hands accidentally touched Sirius' forehead. James pulled his hand back quickly, feeling a scorching heat coming off his friends' forehead in waves.

With the support from his hands gone, Sirius began to fall backwards off his chair. Lily screamed as Remus and James dove off their chairs to catch their friend before he hit the ground. Everyone in the Great Hall was now staring at where Sirius lay unconscious held by his two friends.

James glared at Peter, who was looking horrified. "Tell Madam Pomfrey that we're on our way with Sirius. Tell her there's something really wrong with him. Now!" He snarled when Peter didn't move. The short boy looked surprised, and then rushed through the hall towards the Healers Wing. People were starting to get up now, trying to look at Sirius.

James and Remus started to slowly get up, the light boy held gently in their hands. A small crowd started to form around them, but James and Remus shoved there way quickly, their speed enhanced with worry for their friend. Once they had gotten through the crowd in the Great Hall, they sprinted down all the hallways, and up the stairs.

They had to stop reluctantly to wait for the stairs to change course. While they waited, James looked down at his friend. "Sirius," he whispered, pushing a lock of the boy's dark hair from his face. "You'll be alright, I promise."

Remus sadly looked at his friend who was still motionless. "Its okay, Padfoot. You'll be just fine," he repeated. "Just fine. We're getting you help. Just hold on, buddy."

Sirius let out a rough cough, signifying that he was at least alive. The two boys heard a thud, and the raced up the stairs that had placed itself before their feet. Racing through all the hallways, they blundered through people without a second thought. Finally they reached the Healers Wing after what seemed like years.

They were met with Madam Pomfrey who was prepared for their arrival, and Peter who was standing awkwardly next to her. She whisked the slim boy from their hands, and hurried him to a room. The three friends made as if to follow, but Madam Pomfrey closed the shades to the room in their faces. "You can visit Mr. Black after, boys." She called out, knowing their intentions.

James glared at the curtains as if angry at them, but obediently sat down on a bed, sighing. He felt his other two friends sit down next to him. They sat in silence for a long time, hardly moving, trying to listen for any sound that Sirius was okay.

Loud coughs erupted from the room, and the sound rebounded off the walls throughout the whole room. The coughs were heavy, and the sounded painful.

Finally, James couldn't take it anymore, and let his head fall into his hands in defeat. His shoulders shook slightly. Remus put his shoulder around hid friend comfortingly. "Padfoot will be fine, Prongs. He's tougher than all of us put together." James raised his head slowly at that thought. "If anyone would come out of whatever he has alive, it would be our old Padfoot." James finished, a small smile playing around his lips.

James smiled back at him. "You're right Moony. If anyone could recover, its Padfoot." That thought comforted him for while.

A few minutes later, Madam Pomfrey walked out of the curtained room. The three friends jumped up, assuming that they were now allowed in the room. She raised a hand firmly. "You can't go in there yet, boys. You may visit your friend later. And," she said, catching the look between the three troublemakers, "there is no way out of there. I've placed a spell on the curtains and the room. There is no way to get in until I take it off. And if you do try, there is a little alarm that will alert me off it. If I catch you three trying to sneak in there, I will remove you from here and not allow you to see him until Mr. Black has fully recovered." She gave them a smile, and walked off.

Remus groaned, and the three friends sank back down into the bed. " I only wish that Sirius was here, he'd know how to get in that room." Peter said softly.

"Yeah," smiled James, "Padfoot could've gotten his way into that room easily. No sweat for our Padfoot." Everyone smiled ruefully, imagining the broad smile that would be on their friend's face as Sirius would have tried to sneak his way into the curtained room.

"I wonder what's wrong with him?" Peter asked quietly, looking at his two friends fearfully.

"He probably was trying to prank someone, and the spell backfired on him." Remus laughed half-heartily, trying to lighten the situation. But he really did wonder what was wrong with his friend.

The three boys sat in relative silence for half an hour, listening to Sirius cough and wheeze behind the curtain. A small whimper was heard. Finally, from listening to Sirius cough so much, James jumped up from the bed, walking quickly over to the curtain. "I can't take this anymore! My friend is in pain, I just can't sit out here and wait!" Remus and Peter jumped up, pulling James back before he had a chance to pull back the curtain. Before any of them could speak, they heard Madam Pomfrey's voice.

She was walking down the room, past all the beds, towards the three boys. She was checking her watch. "You can go in now, boys. Just be careful, and don't be too loud," she said with a slight frown on her face. She pulled out her wand and said a spell softly under her breath to raise the spell on the curtains. Someone entered the Healers Wing, and Madam Pomfrey whisked off to attend to him or her.

James lurched out of Remus and Peter's arms, and ran into the room. The two friends followed just as quickly. As they reached pushed aside the curtains, they all stopped in mid track. Sirius was deathly pale, save for his cheeks, which were a dark red.

James walked slowly over to the bed, and sat down on the side, next to Sirius. Remus did the same, on the other side. Peter sat at the end of the bed.

"Hey Padfoot. How are you, buddy?" James asked, his voice trembling. Sirius remained motionless, and his eyes were still closed tightly.

"Tonight is another full moon, Padfoot. You up for another run through the forest? Wouldn't be the same without you. We can do whatever you want tonight. Really!" Remus tried to talk to Sirius. He knew that his mischievous friend always looked forward to full moons when he would change into a dog, James into a stag, Peter into a rat, and Remus transformed into a werewolf.

The three friends gave up, and they all lowered their heads. Silence reigned for a few minutes before a cough was heard from Sirius. "Anything?" He rasped out, his voice scratchy and hoarse. "Well then, can we lay off chasing those raccoons? I never understood your fascination with them, Moony."

Remus, James and Peter laughed in relief, and all flung themselves on their friend, giving him huge hugs. A heavy cough from Sirius made them all move back. Sirius' midnight blue eyes were slightly glazed over, and his cheeks were still beet red from his fever.

"We were worried about you, Padfoot. Real worried." James confessed softly. "Are you alright? What happened?"

Sirius smiled thinly. "Don't worry about me, Prongs. I'm tough, I'll live." He winked roguishly, being his normal carefree self. "It was that damn Malfoy," Sirius said angrily.

"What exactly happened, Sirius?" Remus prodded, feeling that his friend wasn't telling the complete truth.

Sirius looked up reluctantly, but he spoke. "Well, remember yesterday when Malfoy was making fun of you, Prongs?" James nodded, urging Sirius to continue with his tale. "Well, erm, remember when you told me to leave it alone? I really didn't. If you recall, I told you guys that I was cold, and said I went back for my cloak. Well, I did, and then I circled back to meet Malfoy. I jinxed his evil pet rat to talk, and made it talk trash about Malfoy." He gave a triumphant grin, and looked up to his friends, who were smiling also.

"But what did Malfoy do to you to get you so sick?" James asked as Sirius let out another loud cough. Remus handed him some water from the table next to the bed. Sirius took a sip, and continued with his story. "Well, he figured it out right away that it was me. I'm thinking he slipped the potion in my drink last night at dinner."

"Potion?" Peter asked fearfully. "What potion?"

"Pomfrey told me that I had Trolotium in my system. Apparently I'm seriously allergic to it." He let out a weak laugh. "I doubt Malfoy knew that. Trolotium is used as a sort of... entertainment potion. It, er, when you drink it, it makes you... sing. Horribly."

His three friends snickered. Sirius continued with his tale. "Well, with me being allergic, it didn't affect me, just made me sick. Thank goodness. Pomfs over there told me I should be better by tonight, and I can get out of here by then."

James heaved out a sigh, relieved that his friend was going to be all right. "Don't worry, we'll get Malfoy back for what he did for you."

"Oh no, don't bother. I'll do it myself," Sirius grinned evilly, shifting in the bed.

Remus glared at him. "You're not supposed to get out of bed until tonight, remember genius?"

Sirius shoved him off the side of the bed playfully as he got off the bed. He grabbed James for support as he wavered weakly on his feet. "Don't be silly, Moony. You didn't really expect me to stay in bed until tonight, did you?"

Remus grinned, "Nah, I knew that Padfoot would never stay in a bed if he could help it."

Grabbing his friends for support, Sirius staggered out of the room. They stopped suddenly as they heard Madam Pomfrey's footsteps coming down the hall. Sirius reached into James' pocket and grabbed the wand that was there. Muttering a curse under his breath, he flicked the wand. A loud crash was heard, and the footsteps hurried off into the other direction. Sirius placed the wand back into James' pocket.

Remus was shaking his head. "Nice one. You know once she finds out that you're not in your room, she'll put two and two together, and figuring it was you who broke something. You'll surely get detention."

Sirius gave a lopsided grin, "What else is new?"

James laughed, "That's the Padfoot we know!" The four boys staggered out of the room, three of them supporting Sirius around his waist and shoulders.

They reached a hallway, and Sirius saw Malfoy at one end of the corridor, talking with some large friends of his. Pulling out his wand, Sirius muttered a spell that no one could hear. "Come on," Sirius muttered, trying to turn around. "Let's get out of here before anyone saw us. The four friends hobbled away, out of sight.

A few minutes later, a horrible noise followed them down the hallway they were walking. Sirius grinned, his handsome face creased into a smile. "Did I mention that Trolotium can also be used as a curse?"

James almost collapsed in hysterics as it finally sank in. "You mean... that horrible noise is Malfoy? Sing... singing?" He said between bouts of laughter.

Sirius joined his friends in laughter, and nodded his head. "Yeah. Revenge is sweet. So, still up for a little moon-chasing tonight, guys?" He grinned, tossing his head back to get the hair out of his eyes.

James sighed happily, it was great to have Sirius back.