Saturday came, and with it loads of excitement about the Hogsmeade visit. The Marauders had all decided to go. Well, all except for Remus. It had taken a lot of convincing to get them to leave him by himself, but Lily had taken his side, and James was physically incapable of saying no to her.

So, on Saturday morning, Remus bid goodbye to his friends and went off to the library with Lily. They were supposed to be meeting Regulus there. Unfortunately, when they reached their usual table, Regulus was not alone.

"Come on, Reg, you're so boring." Barty Crouch Jr. had draped himself across Regulus's lap.

"Yeah, c'mon, Reggie, leave the books and come with us!" Evan Rosier sat on the table twirling his wand in his fingers. His sister Pandora sat in the seat next to Regulus with her nose in a book, clearly ignoring her friends

Regulus glared at Barty, annoyed. "Get off, Crouch."

"Oh, stop, you know you love me."

Regulus shoved him out of the chair and Barty landed on the ground.

"Whether or not I love you is irrelevant. I have work to do." Regulus looked up and noticed Lily and Remus. "Good. You're here. Barty, Evan, leave."

"What?" Barty complained. "You're letting Panda stay!"

"That's because Pandora is civilized."

Evan rolled his eyes and jumped off the table. "Blowing us off to study with a bunch of Gryffindors. You traitor." he joked.

Lily ignored him and sat down. Remus followed her lead.

"Why aren't you in Hogsmeade?" he asked.

"Detention," Evan answered simply.

"Which we're skipping," Barty added.

Evan elbowed him, reminding Barty that Lily and Remus were Prefects. "Why aren't you two in Hogsmeade?"

Lily picked up a book from the center of the table. "It's like Regulus said. We have work to do."

Barty and Evan weren't happy about it, but they left.

"Finally," Pandora said. "I love them, but they were giving me a headache."

Remus was confused. "Regulus, why is she...?"

"Why is she here? I didn't tell her, if that's what you're worried about. She saw me reading about Hanahaki disease and recognized it."

Pandora nodded. "My aunt had it, that's how she and my uncle fell in love."

"That's... sweet?" Remus said. "So... are you here to help?"

"Yes. You're the one who has it, right?"

"How did you?"

"Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure," Pandora quoted. "I used my superior intellect." She laughed. "I'm joking. I just used context clues. I heard Sirius say you were sick the other day, and you've been acting strange."

"Oh. Is it that obvious?"

"I don't think so."

"Okay, yes, we all know Pandora's smart." Regulus interrupted. "But we need to find a way to slow the progression of the disease because Remus is too stubborn to just get medical attention. He doesn't even know who he's in love with."

Lily was about to say something, but Remus nudged her and shook his head.

"I think it might be too late to slow it down..." He muttered.

"What do you mean?"

"The other day I almost choked to death on an entire rose. Then yesterday I started the vomiting bit."

Regulus stared at him, dumbfounded. "And you didn't think that was a good time to go to the hospital wing?!"

Lily shushed him, worried that Pince would hear and kick them out. "Regulus is right, Remus, you have to see Madam Pomfrey."

"I will! Just not today. I'll go tomorrow."

Pandora looked confused. "Why?"

"I've got work to do! Besides, I have to go see her tomorrow anyways, so..." He realized what he said. The others looked at him weirdly. "Um, you know how I get sick a lot? Well Madam Pomfrey has me do monthly visits because health is important, so yeah, I'll just ask her for help tomorrow."

"Okay, fine, but no excuses this time," Lily told him sternly. "If you have to miss class, then you'll miss class. I'll bring you the work and teach you myself if I have to."

"Thanks, Lily."

"This is sweet, but Remus, do you have any idea why the symptoms worsened?" Pandora asked him.

Remus had a suspicion as to why, but he didn't really want to share it. He had spoken with Lily the day before, and she agreed that it might have gotten worse because he realized who he was in love with.

"Yeah, I have an idea..."

"Spit it out, then," Regulus said, clearly getting tired of the conversation.

"I realized who it is."

Regulus processed that for a second. "Wait... you realized who the mystery dream guy is?"

Remus nodded.

"Well, who is it?"

Remus stared at his hands in his lap.

"Oh, come on, Remus, don't be a child." Regulus was getting annoyed now. "It's just a crush-"

"No, it's not." Pandora cut him off. "Having a crush and being in love are two very different things, Reg. This is love, obviously, because he wouldn't get Hanahaki disease over a schoolboy's crush." she turned to Remus. "Take your time."

He nodded and took a deep breath. It didn't fill his lungs all the way, though. The roses were occupying more and more space by the day, making breathing a labor in itself.

"It's Sirius. That's who I'm in love with."

Regulus stared at him blankly. Pandora gasped. Lily placed her hand on Remus's arm for support.

"I'm sorry, what?" Regulus was still staring, and Remus was getting nervous.

"I'm in love with your brother."

"You have got to be fucking kidding. Ha-ha, hilarious, Remus, funny prank."

"It's not a prank. It's pathetic, but it's not a prank."

"You're serious?"

"No, he is." Remus cracked a grin. Regulus was not amused.

"I fucking hate you."

Lily and Pandora were looking back and forth between the two boys like they were watching a match of muggle tennis. Everyone ended up just staring at each other.

"Oh, that actually makes quite a lot of sense," Pandora said at last, breaking the awkward silence. "What kind of flowers are growing inside you, Remus?"

"Black roses."

"That makes perfect sense. Usually, when someone has Hanahaki disease, the flowers that grow in their lungs are the favorite flower of the person they are in love with. Sirius seems like the kind of person who likes black roses."

"He does," Regulus murmured. "They're his favorite."

"See? I told you,"

Regulus looked at Remus. "You have terrible taste, Lupin."

Pandora laughed. "You're one to talk-"

Regulus glared at her and she stuck her tongue out at him, but she didn't elaborate.

"Can we focus, please?" Lily sighed. "We can talk about Remus's questionable taste later, right now we have to figure out what we're going to do about this."

"Lils, we've already got a plan. I try not to die until tomorrow, and then I'll go talk to Madam Pomfrey." Remus reminded her.

"Yes, but what are you going to tell her? What are you going to do? Are you going to get the surgery?"

Remus thought about that for a moment. "I don't want to get the surgery."

"Are you mental?!" Regulus shouted. All three of them shushed him. "You've actually lost it, haven't you? If you don't get the surgery, you'll die."

"You don't know that!" Lily protested.

"Yes, I do! He's my brother! There's no way he's going to love you back, so you should just cut your losses and get the surgery!"

Remus felt like he'd been slapped. It felt like Regulus was confirming his worst fears.

Madam Pince rounded the corner. "Out, all of you! Honestly. I would have expected you to know not to shout in the library!"

Remus got up and was about to storm out when a hand grabbed his sleeve. He turned, expecting it to be Lily, but it was Pandora. One of her hands grabbed Remus's sleeve, the other Regulus's.

"Neither of you are running off. You're going to come with me and talking out like big boys."

Lily followed them out, and they found a deserted corridor to talk in. Remus wished he had the Map, so he could see if anyone was coming to eavesdrop.

Pandora let go of the boys and shoved them into the corner. "Talk. Now."

Regulus was turned away from him, facing the wall with his arms crossed. Remus decided to be the bigger person and talk first.

"Regulus, he's one of my best friends. I don't want to risk losing all my memories of him or any of the other side effects. What if I do lose the ability to love? What if that applies to platonic love too, and I have to live the rest of my life as a cold, heartless monster? I'm already enough of a monster without losing my heart. I would rather just die and get it over with."

Lily took a deep breath. "For now, I'm going to pretend that wasn't incredibly concerning, but we;re coming back to that later. Regulus, it's your turn."

"You can't make a straight boy fall in love with you, Remus. It's not going to happen. If you want to kill yourself, then I won't stop you." Regulus didn't even turn around as he said this.

"Do we know that he's straight, though?" Pandora wondered.

The Slytherin boy rolled his eyes. "Yes. Have you met him?"

Pandora shrugged. "You never know."

"Are we done yet? I have work to do." Remus was eager to get away from all of them. He needed some time to himself.

"Can I come with you?" Lily asked. "I don't think it's safe for you to be alone."

"Fine."

As they walked back to the common room, Remus wondered how long it would take for the disease to finally kill him.