James, Sirius, and Remus sat together is one of the exam rooms at St. Mungo's. Sirius lay dramatically across the bed as James perched against the window sill, clutching his side, and Remus sat on the edge of his seat, jiggling his knee with pent up anxious energy. Sirius's feet were on the wrong end of the bed, his head hanging off the side James and Remus were on.

The mediwitch that had seen them had quickly given James a dose of potion that would repair the bruising in his ribs. The potion had a peculiar feeling; it was as though a thousand tiny needles were stitching together something deep in his chest. James's face was puckered into a wince. 

Sirius, however, had been a harder nut to crack for the poor mediwitch. Remus had described the sparks that he'd seen  strike Sirius, and given details about how he'd reacted - falling to his knees in the street and staring blankly ahead for some time after the spell had struck him, coupled with the short term memory issues and the even-more-reckless-than-usual behavior he'd been exhibiting. The mediwitch had given Sirius a full examination, using her wand to check his eyes and a spell which made a sort of ribbon of wispy smoke that she drew from his ear, like a muggle magician with the colorful scarves from his sleeves. She'd hummed as she'd looked the strand over, then bottled it up, and declared she would return.

Near to twenty minutes had passed since she'd left.

Sirius looked between James and Remus. "Can we leave yet? I'm bloody bored."

"You're staying until that witch comes back with your results," Remus said firmly.

Sirius's eyes flashed to Remus, then looked to James for support, but James's eyes were closed as his ribs felt even more squirmy and stitchy than they had the moment before. Sirius looked back at Remus. "I've already told you, I'm fine."

"Then why is the fact that you told me you're fine the only thing you seem to remember for longer than five seconds?" Remus demanded. He felt bad being cross at Sirius, but he was exhausted - from having gotten no sleep, from the fight and the emotions of walking through the aftermath, and from the aggressively reckless display of behavior from Sirius. Sirius was exhausting on a normal day, but this version was near to thrice as tiring as the usual Sirius was.

Sirius didn't answer the question, instead he continued his refrain. "Bored, bored out of my mind, I tell you. We could go and have a bit of fun now the fight's over. We could go and get breakfast some place. There's a really groovy little haunt that ol' Bil and I went to, not far from here, and they have the most brilliant --"

"Sirius." Remus's voice was firm.

Sirius sighed heavily and moved so that his head was on the bed properly and he was staring up at the ceiling instead of Remus. He pursed his lips in frustration.

"We can get breakfast after they've gotten your results, Padfoot," James spoke up, "Right, Remus?" James's voice was a bit pinched. 

"Yes," Remus agreed, "But we've got to get the results first."

"Fuck the results," Sirius said. "How about we go now and get breaky and then after we've stuffed ourselves good and full of bacon and toast we can come back for the results."

"'fraid it doesn't work that way," James grunted.

Remus nodded, "Besides, I know you, Sirius, and the moment you've gotten your belly full of bacon and toast you'd refuse to come back here as stubborn as anything."

Sirius had indeed been thinking that Remus might just forget about coming back, being so caught up in the fun of being out and about with his mates, and then by the time he remembered, Sirius would have proven to him that everything was alright... Sirius didn't reply to Remus, his guess was too dead on the mark to have much of an argument anyhow.

"It's important," Remus reminded Sirius, "Your results are important."

Sirius rolled his eyes, "Why are they important? What do you think they'll tell you? That I'm a bloody mad man? That I'm certifiably insane?"

"We already know you're insane, Padfoot," James intoned as Remus's face flushed. "You've always been a mad man. It's just that up until now, you've been a bit of an amateur at it, and if they declare you certifiable, well, blimey, you'll be a professional at it then, won't you?"

Sirius's eyes glittered with amusement as he looked at James, a smirk twisting across his lips. "Fuck you, Prongs."

"It isn't Tuesday, nor a bank holiday, love," James answered, the shadow of a grin creeping through the pained expression on his face.

Remus stood up suddenly. "I'm going to go for a walk," he announced.

"You alright, Moony?" James asked.

Sirius sat up on the bed. "Wait. Is there something the matter with my Moon-Moon?" Sirius asked, eyes wide. "Is that why we're at Mungo's?"

"You're at Mungo's because -- Merlin's beard why even bother trying to tell you again!" Remus snapped, suddenly quite irritated by Sirius. He'd been trying to talk sense into Sirius all morning and he hadn't listened and now James made one stupid joke and suddenly Sirius has no arguments left? "I'll be back."

Sirius watched Remus stomp out of the exam room, then he turned to look at James. "What's wrong with my Moony?"

James sighed. "He's worried about you, mate."

"Why? There's nothing wrong with me... I'm perfectly fine!" Sirius declared.

Remus walked back to Lily's room, frustrated and annoyed, and feeling a bit guilty for being frustrated and annoyed. It wasn't particularly Sirius's fault he was acting like he was - it was the spell, after all. What bothered Remus more than anything else was that James seemed to be able to tame his wild thing of a husband better than Remus himself could do. 

He was halfway up the stairs when the door banged open ahead of him and the blonde mediwitch that had passed them in the hall - the one who'd given James an odd look - appeared a mere three steps above him. She tripped on the stairs and fell, catching the bannister, but it wasn't quite enough. She tumbled into Remus's chest and the pair of them went backwards to the landing, the witch landing on top of Remus. 

While the fall hurt, it was nothing compared to the shock of the mediwitch's arrival and the fall. Remus stared up at her with shock. "Whoa! Are you alr---" he started, but she cut him off by heaving herself up off of him, and launched herself pell-mell down the stairs. "Where are you --?" he started, but again was cut off. This time by the door slamming opened above him and Marlene Mackinnon stepped through, wand raised, her eyes flashing with anger. "Marlene?" Remus asked as she ran down the steps towards him.

"Was she here?" Marlene demanded as she approached.

"What? Who?"

"That bleeding mediwitch bitch!" Marlene answered.

"The blonde one with the --" 

"WHERE'D SHE GO?" 

"Down!" Remus replied, and Marlene leaped over him and continued on down the steps.

"What's going on?" Remus asked, pushing himself up and trying to hurry after Marlene, leaning over the bannister to see where she was. Below, the echo of the mediwitch's running carried up to him, and so did Marlene's voice as she leaned and shot spells down the stairwell, her blonde hair flying behind her as she ran.

"She attacked Lily!" 

Remus's heart skipped a beat, he could've sworn it, and he hurried to follow Marlene, the shouts of the mediwitch still in the well below them. There was no way they were going to catch up this way, he realized, and disapparation was not possible within Mungo's. If Sirius were there, he could've ordered Kreacher, but the elf probably wouldn't have been much help, either, really.

The thought of Sirius made a thought run through his mind. What would Sirius do? Something wild. Something unexpected. Something like --

"Marlene, do you know the arresto momentum?" he asked.

"I think so," she cried, "But I can't get a good angle to get --"

"Not for her! For me!" he cried.

"For you?" she glanced back as she ran down the steps, confused, and just in time to see Remus launch himself over the bannister. Marlene screamed as Remus fell past her and she stopped running to lean over the bannister herself. It was obvious that he'd done something similar to this - in fact he'd done quite a bit of this off the train bridge the summer he and Sirius had lived in the woods, but Marlene didn't know that, of course - and he had his wand drawn and ready as he fell one... two... three stories...

"NOW!" he yelled.

"ARRESTO MOMENTUM!" Marlene cried, sparks shooting from her wand, falling after Remus.

Remus aimed as he was near level with the mediwitch, his wand pointed a couple steps ahead of where she was, "Petrificus Totalus!" he cried. His spell hit the witch's back, making her stumble and fall to the floor of the landing just as Marlene's spell caught him in the back as well, suspending him as though from a bungee cord in the center of the stairwell. He hung there, frozen, staring at the mediwitch, who lay on her stomach, frozen as well.

Marlene came panting down the steps. "Accio," she said, drawing Remus nearer and pulling him over the stairs before releasing the spell. "You bloody idiot," she gasped, tears in her eyes from the anxiety of watching him drop through the air as she'd just done. "You bleeding bloody motherfucking --"

"Love you too, Marlene," Remus said, and he ducked 'round her to approach the mediwitch, staring down at her as he neared. "Wait... I know you from somewhere. You were at Hogwarts. Slytherin, aren't you?"

"Lyra Greengrass," said Marlene, recognizing her.

The mediwitch, of course, didn't move or reply, she was still frozen in exactly the position she'd been when Remus had struck her with his spell. Her eyes glimmered with the rage that was stewing up inside of her. 

"What'd you attack Evans for?" Remus mused.

"Because she's a bleeding Death Eater," Marlene supplied. "She should be in her fifth year, I suppose... I dunno what the hell she'd be attacking Lily for," Marlene added. "But she's always been hanging about with the nastiest Slytherins at school, and her whole family's in tow with You Know Who. She's always treated Em and I like rubbish. The way Rosier was with you and Sirius."

Remus frowned. "Well, we'll get to the bottom of this," he said, and he flicked his wand, a silent binding spell wrapping the Lyra Greengrass in cords.