Once in a Blue Moon (COMPLETE)

A/N: Please note this chapter is unchecked by my beta due to e-mail problems. Will make amendments later but didn't want to keep people waiting any longer than two weeks for it.

iGlow - Glad you can appreciate the slow building up of the relationship. I know a lot of people have probably got bored by now but I hope those that stick with the story will enjoy the way I handle the friendship to romance part of the story.

----------------------------
This Journey’s Over
----------------------------

Sirius felt that the day had passed all too quickly. He’d left Remus in the care of Firenze, promising to visit again during the week. He wished he could spend the Sunday with him too, but he knew he had too much homework to do. The last thing he wanted to do was raise the suspicions of the teachers as to how he was spending his free time.

Sirius didn’t like leaving his friend alone in the Forbidden Forest. He knew that whilst Remus might be a dangerous monster one night each month the rest of the time he was still a boy…and a scared and lonely one at that.

He was still worrying about Remus when he walked through the main doors to the castle. The crowd of students milling about told him that he’d arrived just in time for dinner. Sirius didn’t go into the Great Hall though; instead he slipped down towards the kitchens, hoping to eat somewhere away from the other Gryffindors, somewhere where he could read Rita’s article alone.

“Mister Black isn’t eating in the Great Hall?” the house elf that greeted him asked.

“I’d rather eat in here,” Sirius asked. “Just for today.”

“Very good, Sir.” The house elf guided him to one of the stools next to the long counter that stretched the length of the far wall. “What would Mister Black like to eat?”

“Whatever the other kids are having,” Sirius replied with a shrug. He had a sneaking suspicion he wouldn’t have much of an appetite left after reading Rita’s story anyway. His stomach was already churning at the thought of what she’d written.

“Dinner is bangers and mash, and blueberry pie for dessert.”

Sirius nodded and waited for the meal to be served.

“Will Mister Black be wanting anything else?”

Sirius shook his head. “No, thanks.”

The house elf disappeared into the throng of elves that were scurrying around, getting dinner served to the rest of the school. Sirius ate a few forks of potato and then pulled the newsletter from his pocket.

He wasn’t surprised to see that Rita’s story had been allocated most of space on the front page.

Hufflepuff Prefect Sent to Azkaban

Sirius closed his eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad?

Five minutes later and he knew just how bad it was.

Although Rita had been unable to write the name Remus, she had been able to write Romulus’s name in full and simply referred to Remus as ‘the younger Lupin brother’. She had written a full account of the trial and there was no mistaking the identity of the werewolf at the centre of the scandal.

Then, as if that wasn’t enough, she’d somehow managed to find a photograph of Romulus from his days at Hogwarts. On the one hand, Romulus had grown up rather a lot since the photograph had been taken, and there might have been a faint chance that James wouldn’t recognise the young man he’d seen in the Hog’s Head. Unfortunately, on the other hand, the younger Romulus looked a great deal like Remus.

“So, now they know,” Sirius whispered, tossing the newsletter into the nearby fireplace. He wondered what the reaction of the other boys had been, and whether they’d had enough time to think about things, and maybe calm down.

When he could put it off no longer, he left his barely touched dinner on the counter, and slowly made his way to Gryffindor Tower.

The common room was crowded, as it was wont to be after dinner. Sirius half expected the other students question him about Remus, but no one approached him. Lily Evans waved a casual hello from a chair near the fire, but nothing was said to him about Rita’s article.

Sirius glanced at the pile of newsletters and saw there were still quite a few left. A surreptitious glance around the room revealed that the newsletter wasn’t preying on the minds of everyone else. Other than a couple of seventh year students, who were complaining about the additional potion being added to their workload, no one seemed to be talking about the newsletter at all.

But Sirius knew that there was still James and Peter to face, and both boys were notably absent from the common room. He made his way up to the dormitory, opening the door as quietly as he could manage. He wasn’t surprised to see both boys sitting on Peter’s bed, a copy of the newsletter lying nearby.

He could see James watching him out of the corner of his eye. He closed the door behind him; the last thing he wanted was for the rest of the Gryffindors to hear what he had to say.

“Professor Spion’s the best teacher, isn’t he?” James stated loudly, still not quite turning to Sirius.

“Best Defence teacher yet,” Peter agreed.

“He really knows all about the monsters out there,” James replied. Sirius snorted briefly and turned towards his bed. “Got something to say, Sirius?”

“No,” Sirius snapped, belatedly realising that James had called him Sirius, when he normally simply called him Black. He wondered briefly what had brought about the change.

“Don’t you agree that Spion really knows his stuff?” Peter asked. “I bet he’d have recognised Remus Lupin as a werewolf right away.”

“Not like the rest of us,” James laughed. “We were totally clueless, weren’t we?”

Peter nodded in agreement. “Guess it was a bit of a shock for you,” he commented. “Hearing all about your friend at the trial.”

“Yeah,” James turned round to face Sirius at last. “No wonder you’ve been in a temper all week. You should have just said something.”

Sirius frowned in confusion at the two boys. “Said something?” he echoed.

“We wouldn’t have thought any worse of you for not knowing your friend was really a monster. It’s not like we figured it out either.”

“Wait a minute.” Sirius held up his hands to slow down the babbling boy. “You think I’m in a bad mood because I’m ashamed I didn’t realise Remus was a werewolf?”

“Well, yeah,” James answered, rubbing the back of his neck and glancing at Peter for support. “It’s nothing to be embarrassed about…we didn’t guess either. We know he’s your friend, but it’s like Professon Spion said in class…werewolves are really sly, and they can appear almost human when it isn’t a full moon.”

“Almost human?” Sirius asked, rolling his eyes. “Potter, you’re an idiot!”

“What?” James gasped, his mouth opening and closing a time or two, before he finally found his voice again. “We’re saying we don’t blame you for not knowing.”

“I’ve known since last March!” Sirius shouted.

“But, you were sneaking out to see him after that.”

“You think I’d stop being his friend because he got attacked by a werewolf?”

“He’s a werewolf!”

“I don’t care!”

“Is that where you’ve been today?” Peter suddenly interrupted. “Have you been with the werewolf all day?”

Sirius merely glared at the other boy, knowing it would be pointless to deny it.

“You have, haven’t you?” James sneered. “And here we were, believing you when you said you weren’t like the rest of the Blacks. And all the time you’re hanging out with a bloody werewolf!”

“You think the rest of my family hangs out with werewolves?” Sirius asked with a bark of laughter. He shook his head in stunned wonder at the ignorance of the other boy.

“They’re dark creatures, aren’t they?”

“They’re also half-breeds,” Sirius sneered. “And the Black family don’t associate with half-breeds.”

“Apart from you.”

“Apart from me,” Sirius confirmed. “Remus is my friend, and I don’t care if he’s a werewolf, a vampire or the devil himself.”

“You can’t just hang out with a werewolf,” James stated coldly. “They’re not like the rest of us, they’re dangerous. He’s probably already plotting how to bite you and turn you into one.”

“Rubbish.”

“Professor Spion says…”

“I don’t give a toss what Professor Spion says,” Sirius interrupted. “He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

“Dumbledore must think he does, else he wouldn’t have hired him.”

“I don’t care,” Sirius snapped. He suspected that Dumbledore had had no other choice but to hire the teacher, however he had no intention of confiding those suspicions in the other boys.

“You’re going to carry on seeing him, aren’t you?” James asked. “I’ll bet he’s hiding out in the forest.”

“That’s really close to the school,” said Peter, shivering slightly and looking out of the window at the moon hanging in the night sky.

“Full moon was last night,” Sirius sighed, sitting down on the edge of his bed. “There isn’t a werewolf running round the forest tonight, just a thirteen year old boy who’s cold, hungry and scared, and still weak from a transformation that’s more painful than we can imagine.”

“Have you seen it?” James asked curiously.

“The transformation?”

James nodded.

“Once. Remus doesn’t like people watching him change.”

“What’s it like?”

“Awful,” Sirius whispered. “My friend was in horrible pain, and there wasn’t anything I could do to help him.”

“Professor Spion could help him,” Peter suggested. “If we went to him, I’m sure he’d be able to help.”

“No!” Sirius shouted jumping to his feet again.

“He’s a teacher, he’ll know what to do,” James reasoned.

“Did you read Rita’s story?” Sirius asked impatiently. “There’s a warrant of execution issued for Remus. If the Ministry catches him, they’ll kill him!”

“Now you’re being over-dramatic.”

“Over-dramatic?” Sirius shouted. “What do you think a warrant of execution means? They’ll kill him.”

Sirius was shaking so hard he had to sit down on the bed again.

“Professor Spion told us we can approach him any time if we need his help with dark creatures,” James commented. “I’m sure if we…”

“Spion’s here to find Remus, you flaming idiot!” Sirius yelled. “That’s why he’s here, that’s why he’s asking us to go to him, so he can find Remus.”

“Now you’re just being paranoid.”

“You’re not going to tell Spion anything,” Sirius declared, pulling out his wand and pointing it at James.

“You going to hex me?” James asked with a smirk.

“I’ll obliviate you if I have to,” Sirius replied, the cold tone of his voice making it clear that he wasn’t joking.

“You wouldn’t.”

“Try me.”

“Fine,” James raised his hands in surrender. “Go hang out with the werewolf, but if I see one scratch on you that looks like a bite, I’ll report you to Professor Spion without a second thought.”

Sirius looked at James sceptically. He didn’t entirely trust that the other boy would simply let him carry on sneaking out of the school, but unless he was prepared to carry out his threat of obliviating him – a spell he wasn’t even sure he could manage – he had no choice.

Finally he gave an abrupt nod and lowered his wand. He’d just have to make sure he was especially careful not to draw attention to his jaunts out of the grounds.

-o-xXx-o-

Over the next few months Sirius made sure that when he visited Remus he wasn’t followed. He never went on the same day each week, nor did he take the same route into the forest. He also made every effort to try to make his visits coincide with James’s Quidditch practices. He found himself especially grateful for the early morning practices the new Gryffindor Chaser was being subjected to on the opposite side of the school to the forest. He also knew that Remus was moving about the forest with Firenze, and he hoped that between the two of them, they were covering their tracks sufficiently enough.

James and Peter were still cool towards him, and had made it more than clear that they didn’t approve of his associating with a werewolf. They also raved incessantly about Professor Spion, a man who Sirius was beginning to despise. They’d spent all of September studying werewolves before finally moving onto vampires, but the Professor still casually dropped comments about werewolves into the lessons. He did it frequently enough that even some of the other students had noticed and commented on their teacher’s obsession with the creatures.

Sirius would have been scornful of the teacher’s obsession himself, were it not for the fact that he knew he was equally obsessed with werewolves, and one in particular.

Sirius continued to sneak out not only food and healing potions, but more clothes, books and anything else that he thought might be useful for the young werewolf.

Sirius worried constantly about Remus. He was sure his friend was losing weight, and there was a tiredness about him that he’d never seen before. He’d also started to notice that Remus’s wounds from the full moons weren’t healing quite as quickly as they used to.

The simple truth was that life in the forest was difficult…too difficult for a young boy who was not quite fourteen.

It was becoming harder and harder for Sirius to leave Remus after his visits, and he was terrified of what would happen once Scotland was truly in the grip of winter.

“I’m going to miss you after the next full moon,” Remus said wistfully.

“What do you mean?” Sirius asked with a frown.

“It falls between Christmas and New Year,” Remus explained. “I won’t see you until the new term starts.”

“Sure you will,” Sirius grinned. “Didn’t I tell you? I’m staying at school for Christmases from now on.”

“Because of me?” Remus asked suspiciously. “I’ve told you, I’m doing okay.”

Sirius shook his head, successfully stalling what he was sure would have been another argument. “Because of my brother,” he explained. “You remember I told you about how he goes to a school for squibs in Australia.” Remus nodded. “Well, Mother and Father say it’s too expensive to bring him back over Christmas, but people will talk if I go back and he doesn’t. So I get to stay at Hogwarts for the holidays.”

“That doesn’t sound like much fun.”

“Better than having to sit through my parents’ dinner parties,” Sirius muttered. “And it means I’ll be here for the full moon.”

Remus smiled at the news, and Sirius felt his own face breaking into a wide grin. It was like a reflex action: Whenever Remus smiled so did he, no matter how dire the situation they were in.

“So you’re warm enough out here?” Sirius asked. “The first snow of the year wasn’t too bad?”

“Cold and wet, like snow always is.” Remus grimaced.

“I can try and smuggle you some more blankets out, if you like?”

“Nah.” Remus shook his head. “Firenze got plenty from the camp.”

“They just let him take the stuff for you?”

“Well, he’s practically living there now, so they don’t mind so much.”

“He’s been leaving you alone even more?” Sirius asked, grabbing hold of Remus’s arm and pulling him round to look him in the eye. The knowledge that Firenze was with Remus was the one thing keeping him from truly panicking over the wellbeing of his friend. He glared at Remus, noticing his friend’s flushed face, and realising that he’d not meant to let that bit of information slip out.

“Not for more than a day or two at a time, and he’s always with me for the full moons.”

“You can’t live in the forest on your own!”

“He’s got responsibilities to the other centaurs,” Remus explained quietly. “If he doesn’t do as they ask, they’ll tell the Ministry where I am.”

Sirius scowled. He didn’t like the idea of Remus being out in the forest on his own, not one little bit.

“I’m doing okay,” Remus assured him. “You worry too much.”

“I can’t help it,” Sirius admitted. “I hate to think of you out here on your own.”

“Are the Ministry still snooping around?” Remus asked, and Sirius could tell that he was trying his best to change the subject. The last thing he wanted to do was argue with his friend, so he pushed his worries aside again.

“Just Professor Spion,” Sirius muttered in reply to Remus’s question. “He tested us on werewolves again last week. Said our marks were too low last time.”

“Think you passed?” Remus smirked at him.

“Probably not,” Sirius replied with a small grin of his own. “How do you recognise a werewolf?” he recited. “Well, he’s about my height, maybe an inch or two taller, brown hair, brown eyes, cute smile…what?”

Remus was looking back at him chuckling.

“What’s so funny?”

“You think I have a cute smile?” Remus grinned back at him.

“Erm…” Sirius felt his face flushing red as he realised what he’d said. Cute smile? Where in the world had that come from? Then he looked at that very smile once more and realised that it was cute. He gave a small, mildly embarrassed shrug, causing Remus to laugh and nudge him in the arm with his elbow. He nudged back and grinned.

“Cute smile,” Remus repeated with a smirk.

Sirius smiled back, wondering briefly when it was he’d first realised that he liked Remus’s smile.

He laughed and joked with Remus for the rest of the afternoon, trying not to dwell on the one thought that kept creeping back into his mind at unexpected moments.

Remus was his best friend; it was only natural that he liked him. Just because he thought he had a cute smile, it didn’t mean anything, did it? It wasn’t like he fancied him or anything. He fancied girls, just like every other fourteen year old boy he knew. Okay, there wasn’t any particular girl he had his eye on right now, or any that had ever really caught his eye at all…it didn’t mean he liked other boys.

He laughed with Remus as they walked back through the forest, trying not to think of how much he enjoyed listening to his friend’s laughter. He tried not to notice how Remus’s brown hair looked lighter, almost golden in the winter sun, or how his eyes sparkled with mischief.

And he certainly did his best to stop thinking of the lips, slightly chapped from the cold weather, that formed the cutest smile he’d ever seen.

-o-xXx-o-

Remus shivered, colder than he’d ever been. He tried to sit up but was too dizzy to make it into an upright position.

“Drink this.” He vaguely recognised Sirius’s voice but he couldn’t manage to open his eyes to see his friend. He could taste the potion in his mouth and felt it spilling down his chin.

“S-s-so c-cold,” he whispered.

“Can you stand?” Sirius asked.

Remus tried to shake his head.

“You can’t stay here, not tonight,” Sirius said. “There’s a storm coming.”

“N-no choice,” Remus replied.

“You’re coming to Hogwarts.”

Remus tried to shake his head.

“No arguments, Remus. You’re not well, and if you stay out here tonight, you’ll die.”

“But…”

“The other boys are home for the holidays, no one will know you’re there.”

Remus felt strong hands pulling him to his feet, but a moment later his knees buckled beneath him.

“You’ve got to try to walk, Remus. I can’t carry you all the way to the castle.”

Remus nodded and Sirius pulled him to his feet once more. It was a struggle to stay upright and he leaned into Sirius, relying on him to get him to Hogwarts in one piece. He stumbled frequently, but Sirius never let him fall. He was so tired he couldn’t keep his eyes open, but he trusted that Sirius wouldn’t lead him wrong.

He barely noticed when the soft grass beneath his feet became hard stone.

He could hear the sounds of voices as they made their way up the stairs. “Who?” he whispered, trying to open his eyes to see who it was that was talking.

“It’s just the portraits,” Sirius whispered back. “They won’t tell anyone. Come on, there’s not far to go now.”

At one point he felt the staircase beneath him moving and he clung to Sirius as they waited for the stairs to settle back into place.

Remus did manage to open his eyes long enough to glimpse the Fat Lady, guarding the entrance to the Gryffindor Common Room.

“Mistletoe,” Sirius said firmly in response to her request for the password.

Then the portrait swung open and Sirius was helping him to climb through the portrait hole.

“The dorm’s just up the stairs,” Sirius said. “Come on, there’re a few other Gryffindors here for the holidays, we need to get you upstairs before they come back.”

“Tired.”

“I know, just a few more stairs, then you can sleep, I promise.”

Then he felt himself falling back onto a soft mattress, a comfortable pillow beneath his head. He sighed contentedly and snuggled under the covers, vaguely aware of the warm presence he was clinging to.

“Sleep now,” whispered Sirius, close to his ear. “I won’t let anyone find you.”

Then Remus drifted off into a deep sleep, one plagued with fitful dreams that were more like nightmares. The only stable presence in his dreams was Sirius, standing between him and the faceless hunters that were trying to track him down.

-o-xXx-o-

He was so tired, and he ached all over. Remus was dimly aware of the fact that he was ill, but couldn’t seem to find his way back to full consciousness.

Through the darkness he heard voices.

First there was Sirius, calm, caring, and urging him to get better. A strong presence, promising that he’d keep him safe.

Then, there was a second voice, even more familiar, whispering to him through the darkness.

“I’m here, Rem. I’m not leaving you this time. I’m here as long as you need me.”

“Rom?” rasped Remus in confusion. He tried to reach out towards the voice, but could only find chillingly cold air. His hand fell back to the mattress, and he winced at the pain the movement had caused him.

“Don’t try to move. You’ve re-opened the wound on your arm.”

“Sirius…”

“He’ll be back soon. Don’t try to move again.”

“Rom?”

“I’m here, Rem.”

“Missed you.”

“Me too.”

“Don’t leave me.”

“I’m not going anywhere. Try not to move.”

“Where…?” Remus whispered, trying to raise his hand again.

“Don’t try to move.”

“Can’t…” Remus groaned, struggling not only to finish his sentence, but to stay awake at all.

-o-xXx-o-

The sound of a strangled scream woke Remus, and this time when he opened his eyes he found that he could keep them open properly.

He turned his head to survey his surroundings, but saw nothing more than the inside of the bed curtains, shielding him from the rest of the room.

He tried to sit up, but he was too weak to manage it. Nor could he call out, his throat hurt too much to force any sound from it.

“You can’t tell him,” a voice whispered loudly.

“But you’re…” he heard Sirius reply.

“He doesn’t need to know, not right now.”

“He’d want to know!”

“It’d kill him.”

Rom?

Remus frowned, recalling that he thought he’d heard his brother’s voice before. He’d put it down to a wishful dream, but he was more awake now than he’d been at any time since the last full moon.

Had his brother been released from Azkaban?

He tried again to sit up, but failed miserably. He reached out to the curtain, stretching as far as he could reach, in order to pull back the drapes.

Standing near the window was Sirius with his back to the bed. He watched as he ran a frustrated hand through his hair. “He’ll find out sooner or later.”

“I’ll let him know when he’s well.”

It was Rom. Remus tugged at the curtain, trying to pull it back further in order to see his brother.

He turned onto his side and gave the material as hard a tug as he could manage.

Then he saw his brother and the smile of greeting froze on his face.

“No,” he whispered, shaking his head. Then the world went black once more.

-o-xXx-o-

“Remus?”

Remus opened his eyes and looked into the stormy grey ones of Sirius.

“What happened?” Remus whispered.

“You fainted,” Sirius explained. “Understandable really.” He turned and shot a glare across the other side of the bed.

Remus turned his head towards see who Sirius was scowling at. “Rom?” he whispered, his vision blurring again, this time with tears.

Standing, or more accurately, hovering on the other side of the bed was the pearly white form of a ghost.

“No!” Remus screamed. “NO!”

“It’s okay, Remus,” Sirius assured him, pulling him into his arms and trying to soothe him.

Remus shook his head, his eyes never leaving his brother’s face. “No,” he whispered.

“It’ll be alright,” Sirius promised. “It’ll be alright.”

But, looking at his brother’s ghostly visage, Remus couldn’t believe the words of his friend, no matter how sincere they sounded.

---------------------------

A/N: For iGlow - not sure if you will be reading this again but since it may be a couple of weeks before the next chapter is online I thought I would put this here for the moment in case you do. Does anyone else find not being able to reply to reviewers very frustrating? If you want to contact me I can be contacted over at the regular fanfiction.net via PM or e-mail if you have an account, just so you know.

wont - which I am guessing is the word you thought might be a typo - means accustomed.

The part you were confused about - I am not sure what caused the confusion so will run down quickly what happened.

Sirius smuggled Remus into the school.

Sirius disappeared from his side at some point (kitchen run) and Rom appeared as a ghost. Remus too ill and weak to even open his eyes could only hear him and wasn't sure he was really there.

Sirius sees Rom - screams slightly, waking Remus who hears part of their whispered conversation. He then sees Rom and faints.

Then he comes round at the end and the reader gets to see why he fainted, the reason he could find only coldness when he reached out for him etc.

The explanation as to why he is a ghost etc will be later on.

Hope that all made sense.