Under The Weather Under The Full Moon

Remus sounded tired and looked terrible. Concern creased her brow and colored her face, changing her demeanor in an instant. It kicked her out of 'visiting friend' mode (they were friends now, right? They'd pretty much settled everything between them when he came to their aid. Or at least managed to set it aside) and into Healer mode. Mali unshouldered her bag to set it down on the floor beside her. The Healer turned Medi-Witch grabbed his arm and turned it over in her hands, chewing on her lower lip as she examined the splotches. "How long've you had these?" There was a slight streak of offense that cut through her chest, unhappy with the fact that he immediately jumped to her and Eoin's potion as the culprit. She ran through a quick mental list of afflictions that affected the skin.

Mali let go of his arm and took his face in both hands, looking him in the eye with a critical one of her own, turning his head this way and that. She hummed a 'Hmm' as she slid her hands down to his neck to palpate for any lumps or swollen lymph nodes. "How long's this been going on? Was it gradual or sudden?" Satisfied with her physical exam, Mali crossed her arms over her chest with her eyes narrowed in thought. "No sparks from your nose? Any difficulty speaking?" It was very curious. Purple pustules were surprisingly a symptom of a myriad of magical illnesses but they didn't look quite right for dragon pox or.. "Have you ever had spattergroit?"

She leaned forward again to study the itchy purple patches, tapping a thoughtful finger against her cheek. "I don't think they'll leave a scar or anything.. Not that you'd really notice, would you?" She straightened up, biting on her lower lip and shaking her head. Maybe she should go get Theo, he'd know what it was. While she had a working knowledge of various magical bugs, spell damage was her specialty. If it got severe enough then Mali would figure out a way to consult Ashley Avery, wasn't this her specialty? "Are you.. Maybe you're allergic to something?" Oh, she could've slapped herself for not asking that before she started plying him with potions with various new ingredients. "The last dose had a few things added to it to try and make the night easier."

Maybe it was the Wolfsbane. What would that mean for them? After worrying her lower lip some more, Mali took Remus by the arm to gently urge him back into the chair he occupied before she arrived. "Maybe you should sit down." Once he was seated, Mali stood up. It was automatic, without thinking like her hand acted on her own accord but her fingers found their way up to run through his hair to try and soothe away some feelings of discomfort. "I'll see what I've got to try and help. Maybe some Pepper Up potion, you think?"

She glanced up at Lupin as he spoke, nodding her understanding before she went back to scrutinizing the marks on his arms. It was sort've funny how differently magical diseases manifested. You'd never see anything show up in quite this shade of purple in the muggle world, but then the magical one was far more colorful in almost every aspect. "Try not to scratch them." she instructed absently, wrinkling her nose in thought. "If it's a skin infection that can spread it around." Although it didn't sound like a skin infection. Sure, the skin involvement was a big part of it but it wouldn't leave him looking so tired.

Remus didn't look at her much as she was examining him. There was a note of discomfort when she looked him straight in the eye and she noted that along with the fact that his eyes looked healthy, no sign of jaundice and the pupils looked reactive. Mali wrote his discomfort off as just feeling sick and itchy and tired, something silly for someone usually so perceptive. It was a little bit of willful ignorance, she had to think of him clinically to touch him without her heart buzzing or skipping a beat. It was hard for him, but it was hard for her too. She cared for Remus deeply and in a way unlike normal friendships. There was definitely something there, she just had to reject that something in favor of Theo. She loved Remus, but Theo was her soulmate, she was pretty sure. At one point she thought the answer was distance, but that made them both miserable. Now she had to ignore the closeness.

Mister Lupin was a problem to treat. They were friends.

Mali tilted her head as Remus tried to answer her questions, the wheels turning in her brain. "Did it come on before or after the potion, d'you know?" She didn't want to believe it was the potion, that meant that she and Eoin'd caused harm. There was enough of her causing harm to last a life time. "I hope not too." she said, cracking the slightest of grins. "It's very contagious." She'd just had her hands all over him and she lifted one up, wiggling the her fingers. "No gloves." For half a moment, they were both grinning at each other. Mali's persisted through her examination and Remus found one of her comments funny but then he looked up to the ceiling and her own smile fell away. "Why do you keep doing that?"

Nevermind. She shook her head, chasing out the uncomfortable thoughts that had started to settle in there. Turns out he was allergic to something, maybe it was the potion. "No, I should've asked." Flobberworm mucous. Such a simple answer. "That's literally one of the most basic protocol. Don't give someone something that could kill them. I can't believe I didn't ask before." Mali was irritated at herself, both for the fact that Remus couldn't really look at her and the fact she'd made such a careless mistake. "Eoin uses flobberworm mucous to thicken up the potion a bit. Are you allergic to anything else? We've put..." she trailed off with another head tilt, trying to recall what exactly was in this batch versus what they had for the next. "Runespoor egg. I dunno that we'll use them again, though. They're dead hard to get but they're s'posed to be really good at sharpening your mind." While Mali didn't exactly brew the potion herself, she knew almost everything about it. What ingredients they were using and why. It was half her brain child too, and she was very invested in it.

Scratchy throat. "Sounds a bit more like spattergroit there, but I doubt that's what this is." Not when he was literally allergic to something they'd put in the potion. He consented to the Pepper Up Potion and Mali went to retrieve it, pulling out a vial of the stuff. "Normally Pepper Up's not so good for scratchy throats on their own, but I've added some bitterroot too it. It's going to feel warm, but it should feel warm in the good way." She uncorked the vial and handed it off, returning to Remus to press a hand against his forehead. Mali was almost sure he was having a reaction but there was still a small glimmer of not so much hope, that it was something else. Nope, his temperature was pretty normal and Mali couldn't resist running her fingers through her hair. It seemed that he found it comforting and even she wanted to soothe away any discomfort, even if she was the one causing it.

"So.." The tips of her fingers trailed through his bangs, brushing them aside. "Who's Peter?" There seemed to be a sort've fondness to him when he spoke the name earlier and Mali was very curious about Remus' past. She wanted to know all about him, just like she wanted to know all about Theo. "Is he one of your Order members? Have I met him?" The faces of the people at Harry's house that one morning were still sort've fuzzy, honestly. That whole week was one she wanted to block out.

Mali wrinkled her nose at the implication that she should wear gloves, like the very thought offended her. It was one thing she shared with the eccentric Luna Lovegood. "Gloves make everything feel so impersonal." The way she made every patient feel like she was personally invested in their care and recovery was what gave her an edge. It was what made her bedside manner hers, and not just the standard across the board. Little touches, personal warmth. It was second nature to her to touch and to soothe. "It takes the finesse out of it." That's what made everything so hard. Things were awkward, and they needed space and boundaries, not her hands all over him but she didn't know any other way to function. "Oh, right. I've read that pamphlet." She teased in an effort to keep things light and even. "Maybe I shouldn't be standing so close, either. You sneeze wrong and I'll catch your lycanthropy. I'd look terrible in fur."

Remus didn't answer her question and in the interest of not making the situation anymore uncomfortable, she let it go. It was added to the pile of things that were irritating her right this moment. The fact her potion, her form of redemption had made Remus sick sat at the very top of it. He was very kind, trying to play it off like it was no big deal. "That makes it worse, honestly." Oh, she could kick herself! This little hiccup should have been foreseen, maybe not this specific one but things had been going far too well. "Your condition is complicated, we should be taking extra care not to aggravate it. We change up the potion to try and make it better, but it's a risk." He'd taken their potion before, hadn't he? Why the reaction now? Maybe there was more flobberworm in it then last time due to the different ingredients. "And if I would've been thinking properly, we could've minimized that risk by not poisoning you with something you're allergic to."

There was no use worrying about it now, what was done was done. Mali needed to focus on treating the actual splotches, she had a few things in her bag that might be useful but first she could mitigate the uncomfortable symptoms. Pepper Up potion and a little bit of tenderness to take the scratchiness out of everything and perk him up. There was a very marked difference in Remus now, he seemed more serious and he was even able to look at her when she asked about his friend. She laid her hand on his shoulder to give it an affectionate squeeze. "I'm sorry to hear that."

She was unsure if she should press the issue, ask about how he died or something. Some people liked talking about their dead loved ones, remembering them helped them feel closer to the one they lost but Remus hesitated. There was something more. The name made her flinch. Most didn't dare use that name when the man was alive, and even though he was long dead his followers weren't. The mere name still held power and tried to dig up memories of registration committees and hiding. Still, there was something comforting in the way that Remus said the name, like it was an ordinary everyday name like William or Ted. He wasn't afraid of it, even though he had every reason to be. Voldemort killed people he loved, right? Every wizard around his age had stories of loss from one or both wars.

Mali patted his shoulder and withdrew her hand. "Why was he?" It was hard to reconcile the fact that someone who once called Lupin a friend could align with someone who conflicted with everything the man stood for. It didn't compute. But then, Theo didn't align with Death Eaters either and he was forced to do their dirty work back at the hospital. "Was it on his own, or was he cursed into it?" She pulled over a chair to sit next to him, hands folded in her lap. "We can talk about him if you'd like, but we don't have too if you don't want too."

The awkwardness was so exhausting that Mali desperately clung to whatever bit of normalcy she could get. The one off comment about his blood being dangerous was like a life line and she would white knuckle it for as long as she could. The witch raised her eyebrows while the faintest of smiles tugged at the corner of her lips. "Fleas?" she asked with feigned incredulous edge. "You can get fleas? I thought your blood was too toxic for them?" She crossed her arms over her chest with a full on grin. "Next thing you know the Ministry'll be claiming that your condition can be spread just like the Black Plague. The cats of the world are doomed." Mali gave a one shouldered shrug. "I guess it's good Eoin and I can brew the potion then, yeah? We've got three." It was a regular menagerie in their apartment, surely it was only a matter of time before a lycanthropic flea made it's home in one of the cats or the niffler.

The awkardness couldn't stay away for long. She could have pushed it, argued as to why it was wrong and why her own negligence bothered her so much but it was exhausting. Mali didn't want the awkwardness to hang over them, it was heavy and it threatened to smother out the last little light of their friendship. That friendship was too precious for that so she set aside her stubborness and nodded. It was rather obvious that she was reluctantly surrendering her argument in the interest of keeping the peace and moving on. Her face was still creased with frown and agitation lines as she chewed on the inside of her cheek. Next time they would do better and Remus wouldn't have to take risks. Their goal was to help him, not to make him sicker. It was odd to think of it as him being 'sick' in the first place. Lycanthropy was a weird thing, it wasn't like he was diseased but at the same time it was. All of it was unfair, though.

The silence, somehow, didn't feel awkward. They were treading over a personal subject for Remus and he seemed to be processing that, maybe he was somewhere else or sometime else. Whatever it was, Mali wasn't sure she liked this 'Peter'. He didn't sound like someone who deserved to have Remus as a friend. She listened to him talk, hands curling into fists that sat stiffly in her own lap in an effort to resist reaching out to take his hand. She didn't know how to comfort someone without touching them and it went totally against her nature. Once he was done, Mali didn't know what to say. "I don't think someone can be brave and selfish." she said finally. It might not be the brightest thing she could say, given the fact that Peter had been his friend, but she was desperate to let him know that she was listening, not just sitting there and letting him talk. He would never convince a former Hufflepuff that those two traits could coexist, not when Badgers prided themselves on being the opposite of selfish. "To be brave you've got to care about doing what's right or what's helpful more than you care about the fact that you're afraid. Selfish people don't do what's right, they just do what's right for them. Good people are brave. You know that, Mister Gryffindor."

The word 'betrayed' stuck in her mind. Badgers were loyal, and it sealed the fact that she did not like this Peter one bit. "Do you miss him?" Mali cared for almost everyone she met, and for those that she didn't particularly care for she managed to stir up compassion for. Sometimes, late at night, she even felt sorry for the Death Eaters who did terrible things, but she wasn't sure she could miss a friend that betrayed her in such a deep way. Not when they sided with such a terrible person while the people one was supposed to care about fought against that evil person.

"Dunno." Mali shrugged, the ghost of a smile still lingering on her lips as they joked back and forth. Things like this were an echo of a time when they were friends. Just friends, not plagued by tension without bloody feelings and such getting in the way. "I don't think I'd qualify for a position where the requirement is 'Must be an insufferable.....witch'" She wasn't one to insult people normally, but the woman who held the current position of Minister certainly didn't invoke any warm feelings from her. Anything she could say, and Mali had plenty of opinions on the woman, was deserved. "I'm far too cheerful. Have you met Minister Bennett? The woman acts like she's got her wand shoved up her bum." Downright grumpy, she was. Then again, who would protect the cats? "Next thing you know, they'll be writing an act banning you from within a hundred feet of a cat... You know, just in case. To protect the were-kittens."

The lightness didn't last. It never did. She didn't mind so much as the jokes died off and they started talking about far heavier subjects. Remus' past was an interesting part of the man, one she didn't know much about but wanted too. He was still one of the more important people in her life. That never changed through any of the emotional uproar. She didn't really think that people could be brave sometimes and selfish others. To her, both bravery and selfishness were pretty defining traits that didn't often leave room for each other, but Remus was so wise. Maybe he was right. She certainly wasn't going to disparage someone he still managed to hang on to fond feelings for. Especially not while he was sick.

Something he said caught her off guard. In school? Somehow, she imagined Remus having a normal childhood and getting bitten sometime after he'd grown up. "How long have you been a werewolf?" The thought of a child werewolf was tragic and heartbreaking and it made keeping her hands to herself very very difficult. It was uncomfortable, she wanted to reach out and hold his splotchy hand because that's what Mali did, it was how she made people feel better. Instead, her own hands were held stiffly in her lap as she shifted uncomfortably with the conversation. Damned lines. "Were you born one?" The alternative was too awful for her to entertain.. That he was bitten as a young boy. Children should be exempt from such awful things like wars and werewolf bites.

"It's lovely you had people to take care of you." Especially since he was a child, sweet Merlin. "Where are your other roommates now?" The answer was likely obvious, but when you took Mali out of her comforting element she often asked thoughtless questions. "Did they join Peter as well?" Unlikely. One bad egg was one thing, but a whole slew of them? Remus didn't strike her as someone who went around befriending turn coats who fought on the wrong side of wars. Then again, he did say people changed.

"You think?" Mali asked, chewing thoughtfully on her lower lip. The raise in eyebrows and surprise from the poor werewolf left her feeling slightly self conscious about her earlier insult. "It was a bit mean, I s'pose." It was frustrating more than anything, the past year had changed her in a way that she didn't necessarily like and her less than kind words illustrated that perfectly. "That woman just brings out the worst in me... In everyone, really." It was sort of the contrary. The woman's actions made an activist out of Mali, someone who was clever enough to position herself within the Ministry and bold enough to acknowledge right and legal weren't the same thing. The departure from the carefree, rule following teenager to the young woman who made back alley deals and brewed illegal potions was a jarring one. "It's strange, isn't it? Cats and dogs don't normally get along, and since wolves are related to dogs, you'd think they'd steer clear of people who turned into a wolf.. But I guess cats are extraordinary judges of character, aren't they?"

Four. Remus was four when he was bitten. An innocent little boy who'd known a normal life and then had it all snatched from him. "Why?" she asked, heart broken for baby Remus and old Remus alike. No one deserved to be bitten, of course, but a child even less so. "Why were you bitten?" It was terrible to ask the victim of violence why they were a victim, but it was so hard to wrap her head around it. "Was it only you? They didn't have wolfsbane back then, did they?" Mali had done a lot of research on the potion and it was a rather new creation, given how long the affliction had been around. "What did you do for transformations?" Her tender little heart squeezed at the idea of a four year old tearing themselves to shreds once a month.

The witch mangled the hem of her shirt as they spoke, twisting it up in an effort to keep her hands within the lines and completely to herself because it was hard not to reach out and comfort him. To wrap him up in a hug that told him how sorry she was for his past and how strong he was as a person... To apologize for further complicating an already hard life by getting confused and needy and unsure. She listened with a frown. James Potter, everyone'd heard of him when the story of how a baby defeated the dark wizard Voldemort was retold. James and Lily Potter, who made the ultimate sacrifice for their son... Remus' daughter's name suddenly made sense. It was preciously cute, but a tribute to those he lost. The second name knit her eyebrows in confusion. "Sirius.. I've heard that name before. Probably not the same one.. Oh, what was his whole name?" She had to dig back through her memories of Hogwarts and the man that terrorized the school for a year. "The one I'm thinking about was a Death Eater who escaped Azkaban... Sirius something or another. He was the reason there were dementors that year." It was a wonder anyone came back after those terrifying things lurked through the grounds of Hogwarts. "It's an unusual name, I didn't realize it was so common."