The pattering rain didn't bother him when he awoke. The bloody handprint on his window did. His eyes widening within an instant, Sirius Black scrambled out of his bed to look at the crimson painted window. It hadn't been there long, or the rain would have totally washed it away. Running from his room in a flash, he was glad he didn't have to make it down a set of stairs. He would have slipped and broken his head open. In any case, he barely had time to slip on a pair of shoes before throwing open the door, swiftly plunging into the rainy haze. Running around the side of the house, Sirius stopped abruptly at the sight that lay crumpled beneath his window. It was Remus, his tattered clothes soaked through with blood. He was sobbing in silence, his tears eerily mixing with rain and blood.

"...Re...."

The other boy's head snapped up before Sirius could finish, his eyes feral for an instant before fading into their usual soft gaze. The werewolf's eyes also held torment and horror.

"...I...didn't mean to..I didn't mean to, Sirius. He shouldn't have come. And...it's all because inside...inside I'm so jealous..."

Sirius shook his head, unbelieving, mind flooded with questions. All he could do was stare. Remus laughed quietly, the sound disturbing and disturbed.

"And you lied...you lied to me. Told me they shouldn't call me a monster, because I wasn't one. Because I wasn't a monster..." He shuddered, fingernails slipping down one arm, then the next hand down the opposite arm, alternating, tearing the skin. "Romulus came in. I told him to let me out. He did...he did, and I...and I..." Laughing. He started laughing again.

"Remus...stop..y-you're cutting your arms..." That was all he seemed to be able to say in a meek voice, his thought patterns having come to an abrupt end. He could guess what had happened.

The bleeding boy stood, still crying, still smoothly slicing his arms, still smiling a bit. "...I'm so sick." He glanced to the window, where his handprint was slipping down the glass, diluted. He gingerly touched it. "...sick..."

Remus turned and disappeared into the pouring rain, sheets of the liquid obscuring any far-off views.

Sirius stood, staring at the blood tracing the side of his house.