This one feels long for some reason, but I couldn't find anything to delete in it, everything seemed a little bit important at least, so everything's here. Anyways, this is (somewhat) a bit of closure and sibling angst. Have fun. Leave comments!

The 20th of October brought Luna to the Hospital Wing before the sun was up and Remus' met her there not more than two hours after breakfast.

Luna was lying in the hospital bed, waiting for the potion to take its effects as she shivered and trembled, teeth chattering against one another. The fever was so high that she had already been put in one of the metal tubs that Madame Pomfrey had for persistent patients in the back of the Hospital Wing; it had gone down some, but now she was right back where she started – sweating, shaking and begging for another blanket, which Madame Pomfrey refused to give her.

That was when Remus walked into the Hospital Wing. Well, perhaps 'walked' was far too strong of a word. He was dragged into the Hospital Wing by Sirius Black and James Potter, one arm over each of their shoulders, with Peter Pettigrew right behind them, twisting his hands nervously as he watched, closing the door once they were inside.

"Madame?" James called out.

Remus had his head down; pale and exhausted, but conscious. He looked up once they stopped walking, almost looking surprised that they had finally gotten to the Hospital Wing. He looked to the side and made a little noise.

"Ha!" he tried to do, breathlessly. "You're here, too?" Remus teased.

Luna forced herself to raise her head.

"Got here first," she tried to tease back. She shivered so strongly that she locked her jaw, but once she was done she took a deep breath. James, Sirius and Peter were already looking at her. "Flu," she lied.

James cringed. "Fever?" he guessed.

She nodded.

Peter made a noise for sympathy.

But Sirius knew the truth, so he looked away from her shivering form under the one blanket that Madame had given her.

Sirius' reaction to her scars once she had taken her clothes off for the first time had been devastating. He had seen it and tried to ignore it, but once they were done and she was happily cradled to his side, his hand travelling up and down her back, he had asked. Luna had frozen on the spot, he had insisted that she didn't need to fear to tell him anything, because he knew of Remus' condition – it would be alright if she, too, was a werewolf. It had taken a lot of her to explain to him that she wasn't. She was infected, yes, but she could not infect others. She was sick, but she couldn't make others sick. From them on, he mostly ignored the ugly scars on her chest, only giving them attention in peppering kisses every now and then. It didn't take long for him to put her several trips to the Hospital Wing in the account of her infection and, from that moment on, he too had kept an eye out near the full moon for her (not that she had noticed that last bit, of course).

Madame Pomfrey came through the back doors where she was writing down everything that she had given Luna already and putting it on her file.

"Oh, Mister Lupin, yes. I was expecting you at some point of today," the matron said, walking closer. "Help him to the bed beside Miss Lupin's. This way I can keep an eye on them at the same time."

Madame Pomfrey watched the boys put Remus on the bed as he walked closer and pulled back the curtain between the two beds, leaving the siblings together in their illness.

"Aren't you quite the pair," Peter said, seeing Luna forcing herself to turn around to look at Remus.

Luna ignored him, closing her eyes for a moment.

"Madame, my chest hurts," she whispered.

While Remus had just gotten there, a sudden complaint from Luna was a lot more worrisome. Though she did got to Madame Pomfrey for potions and care more often than Remus, a complain out loud (and in front of everybody else) was beyond rare, it was unheard of.

"Where?" the matron asked, immediately beside her bed.

Luna's shaky hand rested on the left of her sternum.

Madame Pomfrey whispered a curse, already feeling nervous. It was with a movement of her wand that the curtain was closed around Luna's bed once more and she took the moment to open the girl's shirt. Had she been anybody else, she wouldn't flinched, but Madame Pomfrey was a healer for a long time at that point and the angry red scars (suddenly uglier than many of times that Luna had gone there) didn't scare her.

"Your fever's going up again. If this continues, you'll have to go to St. Mungus, Miss Lupin," she said, concerned.

"No hospital, please," she whispered.

"If this continues, I'll have no other option, Miss Lupin," Madame said. "Your brother has to go to the Shack soon enough, so as soon as I come back, I'll tend to you through the night. This fever isn't going down even with the potions, but it doesn't come down by the morning, you're going to the hospital."

"Something for my chest?" Luna asked.

"What hurts? Breathing?"

Luna nodded.

"Madame –" Sirius started.

"Don't open the bloody curtain, Pads!" Peter said.

Madame held the curtain in place at the right time, for it moved slightly.

"Mister Black, you leave the privacy curtain in place," Madame said sharply. "Miss Lupin is unable to be seen at the moment."

"My hand, Madame," he said, shoving his hand through the small space that he had made by pulling the curtain. "You gave this to me when I caught pneumonia, maybe this will help her breathe?"

Luna turned her head slightly, seeing the Breathe-Well Potion. It took just a few hours to brew, and its shelf-life was longer than most potions.

On the other side of the curtain, Remus whined and groaned as he moved on the bed, trying to see what was happening, but gave up, lying back down with his head on the pillow. Carefully, James put a second thin pillow under his head to help him see everything without having to force himself to push himself up.

"What's happening?" Remus asked.

Madame Pomfrey took the potion from Sirius' hand, tested it and quickly gave it to Luna once she realised it was in a good state still. She didn't even stop herself when Luna choked it down, swallowing as much as she could without spitting anything out.

"Your sister's fever is very high, Mister Lupin, and we need to get it to come down before something worse happens," Madame Pomfrey explained.

Remus pushed himself again.

"I can help," he said.

"No, you'll stay where you are. Mister Pettigrew, you know where Remus' potions are; you are more than welcome to get it for him," she said, dismissing the smaller boy. "Mister Potter, you will stay with Mister Lupin and make sure he's resting. But you, Mister Black, will help me."

Luna struggled to open her eyes, but she could feel Madame Pomfrey closing a few of the buttons of her clothes, protecting her chest from view.

Sirius opened the curtains.

"What do you need?" he asked.

"I won't move her with magic, I don't know her body's reaction to it at the moment. She never had such a bad fever before," she told the boy. "You will carry her for me, we need to lower her temperature with a cold bath."

With a wave of her wand, the door to the small room with the bathtub and other objects of healing less used in common school children opened – the bathtub was filling itself, cold water and ice cubes.

"How bad is it?" Remus asked.

"She just got to 41 degrees," Madame Pomfrey announced, looking at the small monitor connected to Luna's magical core and body. "If this doesn't go down with this bath, she's going to the hospital."

She waited for Luna's response to be 'no hospitals', and she usually did, but nothing came. She turned to look at the girl. Her eyes were open, but unseeing and flying around the room, eyes fluttering and threatening to close whenever she blinked. This was getting a lot worse than Madame Pomfrey had wished.

Madame Pomfrey watched Sirius go to the side of the bed, tearing the sheets of Luna's body and carefully put an arm under Luna's back and the other under her legs, lifting her off the bed and cradling her near to his body. He hissed at the temperature.

"She's burning up," he said to himself, frowning in fear.

"I'm sorry, Mister Lupin, but your sister is the priority at the moment," she warned him, leading Sirius through the room.

Luna was limp, but awake. Her lips moved and tried to form words, but nothing that any of them could understand. Sirius was becoming more and more concerned, knowing fully well that her illness was too similar to Remus' for the fever to come down on its own during the full moon and knowing that it was far too high for them to just wait it pass.

"She's not shivering anymore," Sirius warned her.

Once he was inside with the girl in the small room, Madame Pomfrey closed the door.

"They can't hear us in here, and I know that you know," she said. "I cannot use magic, it'll only make it worse. Listen to me well. Help me undress her –"

"Madame –"

"I'm quite aware that it's nothing that you haven't seen before, and I'd ask her consent before doing this, but she's too confused and I cannot do this on my own," Madame Pomfrey said. "A cold bath is not good for a normal fever, especially after the person stops shivering, but in Luna's case is necessary. Can you understand?" Sirius nodded. "This bathtub is filled with potions as well. I need to tend to your friend before tonight, so you will stay and keep her head above water."

"But Remus –"

"Can do without you for a moment, or would you rather I asked Mister Potter to stay with her?" she asked.

James Potter, who had never seen a naked woman in real life, would most likely refuse the opportunity. Though Luna was sick and her body was no important and her nakedness was nothing more than a necessity, he knew that James would be even more uncomfortable than Luna – and Luna would hate it once she woke up and found out about this, because Madame Pomfrey would never hide something like that from her. Besides, to someone that knew Remus and Moony (and studied enough about werewolves to go on for an hour or so), James wouldn't take more than a few second to put things together; the secret that Luna and her parents had kept even from Remus himself would be clear that James Potter, who didn't know how to keep a secret even if his life depended on it.

Peter was the one that they designated to learn every healing thing that Madame Pomfrey was willing to teach in the hopes of learning Remus sooner or later, being the one with the most easiness with such difficult spells.

Sirius was, indeed, the best option.

"Alright," he said.

They undressed the girl quickly and put her in the bathtub together.

Luna gave an agonising scream, kicking. Madame Pomfrey held her legs, shushing her as she pushed her limbs into the water.

"Hold her around the clavicles or under her arms so she won't slip down," the matron said. She stepped away. "I need to check on Mister Lupin."

Sirius nodded, not looking away from Luna's contorting figure and face, not watching as the matron walked out of the small room with a few special potions that she had yet to teach Peter about.

Luna whined and moaned, little sobs as her eyes forced themselves open.

"Mum?" she whispered.

"Luna, it's alright. You're alright. Madame Pomfrey will be back soon, alright?" Sirius said.

"Rem?" she asked, eyes searching.

It took Sirius a moment to realise that 'Rem' was most likely 'Remus'. He had never seen anyone call Remus that; he had refused any nickname that came from his real name, which was the very reason 'Moony' came into play.

"Remus is right in the next room, Luna. He'll be alright, James and Peter are with him," Sirius said.

For a moment, he thought that Luna had come back to normal, because she looked right at him.

"And Sirius? Where is Sirius?" she slurred. "Is he with him? Rem needs Sirius."

Sirius locked his jaw, not understanding why he felt so guilty when she simply said those words and looked at him like that. She looked so vulnerable, so honest.

"He will be soon," he said. "You need him more."

Luna's eyes fluttered closed again.

"No," she whispered, so slurred that he barely understood. "No, I don't."

The morning sun hit Luna's face through the Hospital Wing's windows, burning her eyes and waking her up even though she wished she could go back to sleep as soon as she regained conscious. Her limbs, chest, throat and eyes hurt.

A suffering moan escaped her lips before she could even fully understand what was happening.

"Oh, you're awake, Miss Lupin. Finally!" Madame Pomfrey said, appearing by her side in the very next second, eyes slightly wide. "You worried me. I even had to contact your father. He'll come later in the day to see you."

"Fever's gone down?" she asked, voice still slurred.

"Yes, it did during the night," Madame Pomfrey said. "The fever broke this morning as the sun came up."

"Remus?"

"Alright and asleep," she said, reaching for the curtain, pulling it slightly to show the sleeping boy on the bed beside hers. "Not a single wound beside a cut in his leg done by wood, not himself. In comparison, he's in a better state than you. Only he's not waking up; I suppose he must be exhausted."

She blinked a couple of times, taking a moment for a deep breath, trying to force her memory.

"What happened yesterday?" she asked. "I remember Remus coming and then – nothing."

"The fever went up suddenly, I needed to bathe you again in cold water, but this time I had to use sun-water and silver extract to keep you from going into convulsion," Madame Pomfrey said, sitting on the far too low chair beside the hospital bed. There was a book in the bedside – she had been there for the whole night, Luna realised. "I had to ask Mister Black to help me bathe you."

Luna's mind seemed to wake a bit more.

"Regulus?" she asked, confused and scared.

"Sirius," Madame Pomfrey said. "Remus was in no condition of helping –"

"Even if he was. Never ask my brother for help in this matter, never," Luna said, cutting her off. "With all due respect, Madame, but never ask my brother this, please."

"And Mister Black?"

"He was a necessity in this case, I'd guess, otherwise you wouldn't have asked a student to help you undress another," she said. "Am I too heavy for you?"

Madame Pomfrey nodded.

"I'm not very strong, Remus is also heavy for me. However, in your case, I could not use magic to move you, it had to be physically. Your magical core was overresponsive, and I didn't want to entice it too much," she explained. "A convulsion with you in that state could lead you into a worse situation. Besides, your lungs weren't in that great condition."

Luna nodded to show that she understood, but she felt dizzy, so she stopped moving her head.

It took her a moment to realise that her body was sweaty and glued to the sheets put over her body. Body which had not a stitch of clothing covering her, just the sheets of the bed.

"I'm naked," Luna whispered once she realised.

Madame Pomfrey nodded.

"Now that you're awake, I'll help you get dressed," she told the girl.

Gently, Poppy Pomfrey put a hand on Luna's back and helped her lean forward, sitting her up. The sheet slipped, exposing her naked chest – she looked down. The scars were not as puffy or red as the day before.

"The extract of silver helps the swelling and the itching, but it does leave you weak," Madame explained once she saw the girl looking.

Luna sighed.

"At least I can think without wanting to claw my skin off," she answered.

The matron took a shirt that was most certainly not Luna's and helped her arms through the holes before buttoning the white cloth, covering her without her underwear. It wasn't too bad or uncomfortable, but the shirt was thin enough for her to look down to make sure nothing was showing – it wasn't. With a tug on her arms, Luna was put sitting over the edge of the bed, legs almost touching the ground, so the matron kneeled with her underwear, putting it on her legs before pulling it up to her knees.

"If you hang onto me, do you think you can stand?" Madame Pomfrey asked.

Luna hummed in agreement and leaned forward, allowing Madame Pomfrey to help her stand and then balancing with her hands on her shoulders, letting the woman dress her underwear on her lower body.

"I'll cover you again, but I won't put anything else on you, is that alright?" Madame Pomfrey said.

"Yeah," Luna said.

Her mouth was full of saliva. She was nauseous and her head was hurting.

"So..." the woman said, sitting on the edge of her bed. "I've heard about you and Mister Black, Regulus, I mean."

Luna knew Madame Pomfrey enough to know that she wasn't a gossip and that she didn't ask many things to students, often giving a warning beforehand that if she had asked something, she needed honest for the student's own sake. Asking about their relationships just wasn't something that she did.

"Oh, yes. We are... talking," Luna said, confused. "Are you trying to keep me awake?"

Poppy Pomfrey blushed a bit and nodded.

"It's almost lunch, you would do good if you kept yourself awake to eat something," she explained to Luna. "Besides, Mister Black did come by before classes, but you were asleep, so I sent him away. He said he'd be back during lunch."

Luna glanced at the window.

"I thought it was morning by the sun," she said.

"Hardly, it's past eleven," the woman said. "Now, on the bed. You need to cover those legs of yours before your sweetheart comes to see you."

The girl sighed, but sat down, letting the woman cover her legs with the thin blanket, resting her back against the pillow against the wall. She felt a bit uncomfortable, but her legs were covered and her scar was under the shirt that she had been given, so she was begging to relax when the Hospital Wing doors opened.

"Afternoon, Madame!" said an excited voice.

"Mister Pettigrew, lower your voice this is a Hospital Wing!" Madame Pomfrey said, giving Luna a last glance before walking to the corridor between the two lines of beds. "Mister Black, Mister Potter. Hello and good afternoon, but I fear that you cannot stay. Mister Lupin is still asleep, and I'd like to keep it like that."

Sirius groaned loudly.

"Oh, Madame Pomfrey, please, let us stay with him while –" he had started to whine.

The door opened again.

Silence.

Luna slowly moved her head, trying to hear better what was happening and why nobody was saying anything.

"Mister Black, hello and good afternoon," Madame Pomfrey greeted, voice firmer than probably needed. She was certainly glaring at someone. "Miss Lupin is already awake and waiting for you."

"Good afternoon, Madame Pomfrey. How do you do?" he greeted back. "Excuse me."

Another second of silence.

"Why can he stay?" Peter asked.

"Because Miss Lupin is already awake and was informed of his visit. However, Mister Lupin is still asleep and should continue to sleep after such a long night," she took a deep breath, loud enough for Luna to heard. "And so should Mister Potter, since I can see his eye-bags from where I stand."

Before the conversation could continue, Regulus was walking into the privacy curtains that were halfway pulled with a hesitant look, carrying a wooden box with him. He was as put together as ever. Hair slightly pulled apart and back, curls contained and well groomed; uniform impeccable.

"Good afternoon," he greeted. "Pandora mentioned you have been sick."

"A withstanding fever that costed to go away," she answered. "I'm better."

"Oh," he said. He cleared his throat, raising the box in his arms. "I brought you lunch. I asked Madame what you could eat this morning when I stopped by to inquire after your health. I was ever so worried."

She smiled.

"Enough for two?" she asked, raising her eyebrows.

He shifted in his feet nervously.

"If you allow me to stay, I'd like to eat with you, yes," he said.

"You're more than welcome to," she said, gently. "I might not be the best company today, Regulus."

"Thank you for the warning, but I'll take my chances," he said, putting the box at the foot of the bed and waving his wand at the chair besides the bed that grew taller. He sat beside her and glanced at the privacy curtain – the boys were still conversing with Madame Pomfrey in a lower voice, but there was a shadow very near the curtain. "After such a long night, worrying and missing you, I fear I cannot go without your company."

Her lips twitched as she tried to hold back a laugh, but she smiled at him nonetheless, raising her eyebrows in silent teasing. He rolled his eyes, but did not blush, clearly not all that ashamed of being romantic and overheard.

"I missed you, too. But I'm glad you weren't here. It wasn't a pretty sight last night," she said.

"I wouldn't mind stay with you while you were sick," he said.

Luna pressed her lips together.

"Regulus, I get sick a lot," she said, shifting uncomfortably as she forced herself to sit up a bit straighter. "I might spend a bit of time here; more than most people would."

He shrugged.

"I spend most of my time reading in the shadow of the tree near the Black Lake, you spend most of your time in the Hospital Wing," he said nonchalantly. "Maybe I might spend some time reading in the Hospital Wing from now on, to keep you company."

She smiled at him, noticing that – though he was exaggerating in his words – his meaning was genuine.

"I'd be grateful for company," she said. She pushed her hair over her shoulder.

"Oh," he made suddenly.

She turned to him.

"What is it?" she asked.

But he looked away, face blushing.

"You have your hair down," he said. "I've never seen you with your hair down before. It took me by surprise once I noticed it."

She smiled.

"It's just hair," she said, confused by his reaction.

But Regulus eyes glanced down to where her hair ended, right under her bust. Her hair was not wavy for the first time in a long time, going back to its naturally straight condition; still as blonde and long as it always was.

Regulus looked at the box and opened it, moving a bit to face away from her for a second as he took a deep breath.

"I've got you some fruits with honey and broths," he said. "So..." he turned to look at her, "what do you want to eat?"

The conversation as they ate was superficial and awkward, neither knew each other well and the idea of being alone with the other was somewhat anxiety-inducing for the both of them.

As Luna ate strawberries with honey, the sweet paste like substance dirtying her fingers and making her lick them once she was done, Regulus cursed her own body and his hormones that made him almost choke. They were so lost in polite conversation that they did not notice that Madame Pomfrey allowed James Potter to stay right beside them, who listened to their awkward courtship the whole time and blushed alongside them whenever anything remotely cringy would come up, but that allowed himself to calm down; after all, everything seemed innocent enough.

I hope you all liked it. It was not the most fun one to write, but the next one is one of my favourites and very Regulus focused, so I hope to make up for this one.