Too Much Trouble COMPLETE

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Chapter 2
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“Padfoot! Wake up!”

Remus woke up to the sound of James Potter hissing through the drapes surrounding his bed in the Gryffindor dormitory. He turned to look over his shoulder, and wasn’t surprised to see that Sirius was still sound asleep.

“Padfoot!” James whispered again.

“He’s asleep,” Remus replied in his normal voice. He knew that nothing short of an explosion would wake up Sirius right now, though he didn’t voice that thought out loud – it never paid to give James ideas of that nature.

James poked his head through the curtains, looking like he was trying to look anywhere but at the two boys lying entwined in the sheets. “Moony, wake him up would you?”

“What’s so important it can’t wait until morning?” Remus asked instead.

“The last of the ingredients arrived this afternoon. We need to get down to the Potions lab tonight or it’ll be too late. You have to take it in the week up to the full moon.”

At that Remus sprang out of bed and grabbed his robes. “Why didn’t you say so earlier?”

“Couldn’t find you. Then I had detention again, didn’t I?”

“Oh.” Remus slipped into his shoes and made his way towards his trunk.

“Got it right here,” Peter announced before Remus could begin his search for the Marauders’ Map.

“Padfoot!” James called, much louder this time.

“Keep your voice down,” Remus begged. “You know what happened last time you yelled too loud in here at night. The stressed out seventh years heard you and went to McGonagall.”

“He won’t wake up,” James muttered, leaning across the bed to poke Sirius in the ribs.

Remus watched as Sirius’s arm flew up to grab at the boy who’d dared to disturb his sleep. “Moony,” he moaned slightly, tugging James down onto the bed. James let out a very unmanly squeak as he stumbled and fell onto the bed, the sleepy Sirius pulling him into his arms and curled around him. “Moony,” he murmured again as he snuggled closer.

James wriggled around on the bed, trying to pull himself free from Sirius’s iron grasp. “Don’t just stand there grinning you gits,” he ordered.

“Shall we help him?” Peter asked with a smirk. “They do look quite cosy.”

“Padfoot, wake up!” James pleaded.

Remus grinned back at Peter as he approached the bed. “You’re going about this all wrong, Prongs.”

Remus climbed onto the bed on the opposite side of Sirius to where James was trapped. “Sirius,” he breathed into the other boy’s ear.

“Hmm?” Sirius mumbled, turning away towards James. “I’m too tired to get it up again just yet. Just want to cuddle.”

James squeaked again and he looked at Remus in horror. Remus couldn’t help grinning at the sight of Sirius’s wandering hands as he pulled James towards him again.

“You’re restless tonight, Moony,” Sirius mumbled, snuggling nearer to James, blindly pulling him closer for a kiss.

Remus watched in amusement as a wide-eyed James struggled in Sirius’s arms. Their lips were locked together for only a few seconds when Sirius let out a squeal of pain.

“Remus, what the hell?” Sirius looked at the boy who had bitten his lip hard enough to draw blood and he finally woke up completely.

“Over here,” Remus chuckled, tapping Sirius on the shoulder.

“You bit me,” Sirius accused James.

“You kissed me,” James shot back. “Not to mention putting your hands where no bloke’s hands were ever meant to go.”

“You shouldn’t have been in my bed,” Sirius countered.

“Technically, it’s Moony’s bed.”

“Moony doesn’t complain about where I put my hands.”

Peter thankfully chose this moment to remind the rest of the boys about the reason they were all awake. “The Wolfsbane potion won’t make itself you know.”

“The last of the ingredients came?” Sirius asked as he climbed out of bed.

“This afternoon,” James confirmed. “Now, come on. We didn’t sneak the recipe for potion back from the other world just to read it.”

“’Course not,” Sirius agreed, swinging an arm around Remus’s shoulders. “We brought it back for Moony.”

“Thanks again for doing this for me,” Remus whispered as they crept out of the dormitory.

“It’s the least we can do,” Sirius replied. “Especially considering how rubbish you are at Potions. I’ll make this for you every month. Promise.”

-o-xXx-o-

Sirius looked around the other prisoners, noting both similarities and differences in the appearances of the other Sirius Blacks. One had shorter hair than the rest, while another had a scar running down the side of his face. Sirius wondered how he’d got it, but not enough to ask.

“How come you’ve not escaped?” he asked casually. “Eleven wizards should have been able to think of something.”

“Nine wizards,” corrected one of the Siriuses who hadn’t spoken before. This one was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt as he lounged on one of the threadbare sofas. “I’m a muggle, as you call us, and he’s a squib.” He pointed towards where another Sirius was standing near the fireplace.

“Well, there’s ten of us now, and I don’t intend to wait around here for number thirteen to show up.”

“Great, another one of those,” commented muggle-Sirius. “You think any of us would still be here, if there was a way out?”

“There’s always a way out,” Sirius snapped. “This isn’t the first time I’ve been to another world, in the last one the Sirius Black in that world had escaped from Azkaban…if he can do that, we can do this.”

“Azkaban? Really?” another Sirius asked.

“Yeah, really.” Sirius stalked to the fireplace and poked his head under it. He was disappointed to notice that it was thoroughly blocked.

“You can’t get out that way,” a tired sounding Sirius muttered.

“Then we’ll find another way,” Sirius barked. “Are we Gryffindors or are we Gryffindors?”

“Slytherin actually.”

“I’m not, I was in Hufflepuff.”

“Ravenclaw for me.”

“Me too.”

“I was in Gryffindor.”

“I’m another Slytherin.”

“Me too.”

“Hold it, hold it!” Sirius yelled. “How many Gryffindors do we actually have here?”

Three hands were raised into the air and Sirius gave the owners a cursory glance. Two looked very similar to himself, though one was still in his Hogwart’s uniform, betraying the fact that he was younger than the rest. The third looked, quite bluntly, sick as a dog. Sirius turned to the third one. “You all right, mate?”

Sick-Sirius shrugged. “Just a bit under the weather.”

“He’s been saying that for days,” Hufflepuff-Sirius said. “And he’s been getting worse the last few days.”

“How long has he been here?” Sirius asked.

“Three weeks.”

Sirius nodded thoughtfully and wished there was a window in the room, so that he could see the night sky. “Something you want to tell us?” he asked casually. “Because if there is, I’d rather know now, than say a minute after moonrise in a weeks time.”

“How’d you know?”

“I live with one,” Sirius replied with a casual shrug. “I recognise the signs.”

“Live with what?” muggle-Sirius asked.

“A werewolf.”

“W-werewolf?” muggle-Sirius stammered. “There’s no such thing. Right?”

“Sorry,” werewolf-Sirius apologised. “I wish there wasn’t too.”

“What the hell are we going to do?” one of the Ravenclaws asked. “He’ll kill us all.”

“You sure you were in Ravenclaw?” Sirius asked scornfully. “We’ll manage. Are the dorms accessible?”

“Yeah, but they’re a bit of a mess.”

“Can they be barricaded shut?”

“Probably.”

“Then go sort that out,” Sirius ordered.

“Who put you in charge?” the first of the Slytherins asked.

“You got any better ideas?”

“No!”

“Then shut the hell up. How many of you have an animagus form?”

One solitary Gryffindor raised his hand.

“For Remus, right?” Sirius asked.

“Yeah.”

“Dog?”

“Yeah.”

“Between the two of us, we should manage to keep him from biting us all.”

“Pity the rest of my mates aren’t here,” werewolf-Sirius commented sadly. “They know how to keep me under control.”

“So do we,” Sirius told him. “How long until full moon?”

“Five or six days, I think. It’s had to tell. I was expecting it a week ago, but it never came.”

“Different worlds, different moon cycle,” Sirius replied. “Be thankful your body has had time to get ready for the full moon. It’d be a lot worse if you hadn’t…believe me.”

-o-xXx-o-

Remus woke up to an empty bed, and the coolness of the sheets told him that Sirius had been gone for quite a while. It was still quite dark outside, only the briefest trace of red on the horizon told him of the coming dawn.

“Sirius?” he called. “Put the kettle on, will you?”

No sound came from the kitchen and Remus finally crawled out of bed himself. He tugged on his robe and picked up his wand from the bedside table. “Sirius?” he called again, goosebumps breaking out on his skin as he made his way through to the living area of their flat.

The reason for the lack of a reply became apparent as soon as he stepped into the room. Sirius was fast asleep on the sofa, tangled in the spare bedding from the airing cupboard.

He stepped closer to the sofa and sat down on the edge. His movements were careful, but not careful enough, and Sirius opened his eyes and yawned.

“You didn’t have to sleep through here,” Remus said with a smile as he put down his wand on the table.

“Was just a bit restless,” Sirius muttered, swinging his legs down to the floor, and away from Remus. “Didn’t want to disturb you.”

“Are you all right?” Remus asked cautiously. “You sure you didn’t get in trouble at work yesterday?”

“I said I didn’t,” Sirius snapped.

“Sorry, but you’ve been acting odd ever since you came home yesterday.”

“Odd?” Sirius asked with a frown. “Odd how?”

“Well, for one thing, you’ve not touched me once.” Remus ducked his head as he waited for Sirius’s response, trying not to sound too petulant.

“Sorry Moony,” Sirius said, as he moved closer and slowly took hold of one his hands. “I was just tired last night.”

“Are you tired now?” Remus asked as he rubbed his thumb over Sirius’s hand.

“Um.”

“I’ll take that as a no,” Remus laughed as he twisted around and straddled Sirius with the ease that came from practice. “So, how would you like to spend your day off?” he whispered into his ear, nipping the lobe lightly before planting kisses on his neck.

“That feels nice,” Sirius rasped.

“You sound surprised?” Remus chuckled. “You think I don’t know by now just what you like, and just how you like it?” He shifted his position slightly to emphasise his point. He was about to lean in to capture Sirius’s lips in a kiss when the other man pushed him away and scrambled to his feet.

“S-sorry, Moony,” Sirius stammered. “Got to go into work after all. Lost my day off. The boss says I’ve not been pulling my weight and there’s been some snitch tampering in Yorkshire and…”

Remus held up his hands to stem the flow of Sirius’s rambling apology and explanations. “It’s okay. You go in to work. I’ve got some stuff to sort out anyway. I’ll be here when you get back.”

“You will?” Sirius asked as he headed for the bathroom.

“Well, yeah,” Remus chuckled. “Where else would I be?”

“Oh, right.” Sirius nodded and disappeared out of sight. Remus watched him go with a frown on his face. He wasn’t sure what it was, but the feeling that something wasn’t right had been lingering since Sirius had returned from work the previous day…and it was growing stronger.

-o-xXx-o-

Remus finished his lunch a few hours later and grimaced as he glared at the door to the poky Potions lab that Sirius had set up in their flat. He shouldn’t put it off any longer, not if he wanted to keep his mind during the full moon next week.

Gritting his teeth and rising to his feet, Remus slowly made his way to the laboratory.

He lit the lamps and looked at the workbench with a frown. The cauldron was empty and as clean as it had been after Sirius had washed away the remnants of the last potion he’d brewed. There was no sign of the potion that he needed to take before the sun set for the day.

Remus thoroughly disliked the taste of the Wolfsbane potion, but he had never missed a single dose. Ever since the first night that they had slipped from Gryffindor Tower and into the Potions lab, Sirius had brewed him the Wolfsbane. He hadn’t missed a single month, not even during the holidays. Remus had sometimes wondered how he had found the time to make it, but when he’d asked Sirius had merely smiled and distracted him with kisses.

“Guess I’m going to have to make it myself this month,” Remus muttered as he started to rifle through the papers on the desk, searching and finally finding the recipe. If only he felt more confident about his potion making abilities.

Two exploded cauldrons later and Remus remembered exactly why he hated Potions. But he pulled a third cauldron from the cupboard rather than dwell on Sirius’s broken promise.