Once in a Blue Moon (COMPLETE)

A/N: My wonderful beta LostAndAwaiting is on a mission this week - I think she wants to catch me up with where I have written to - and so you have another chapter already. If you have not checked into this site recently then please make sure you have read the last two chapters too, as this is the third one posted this week. Louisa

-------------
Now I Know
-------------

The grey stone floor was stained with a horrendous amount of blood.

Moony was pacing the cage and didn’t even seem to have noticed the additional presence in the basement. He sat back on his haunches and let loose an ear-splitting howl.

“Moony,” Sirius called out, hoping that his voice would calm down the werewolf.

It seemed that something had got through to the werewolf and the animal turned to look at him. Sirius thought he could sense accusation in the golden gaze and he knelt down on the floor to bring him on a level with him.

Moony made his way towards him and Sirius could tell that there was something wrong with his front right leg. The werewolf was limping badly and the smell of blood grew stronger as he approached the edge of the cage.

“I think he dislocated his shoulder when he threw himself at the barrier,” Romulus explained.

“Will it go back into place when he transforms back?”

“I doubt it,” Romulus replied with a grimace. “I think the best we can hope for is that the transformation doesn’t do even more damage to it.”

“He seems to be calmer now,” Sirius said, just before Moony proved him wrong by charging at the barrier in an attempt to get at him.

The werewolf howled in pain as his shoulder made contact with the barrier.

“There’s so much blood,” Sirius whispered.

“He’s been tearing himself up for hours. I think he’s hit several blood vessels. I don’t think he’s hit an artery though.”

“How can you tell?”

“He’d be dead already if he had.”

“But you said he’d hit an artery before?”

“He has, twice, but both times were when the transformation back to human was close enough that I could treat him in time. He’s losing blood, but not quick enough for it to be an artery.”

“But won’t he have lost too much blood by morning anyway?”

“I don’t know.”

“We have to do something! We can’t just wait.”

“Waiting is all we can do. The barrier won’t let a spell through.”

“Can’t you bring the barrier down?”

“No.”

“But it’s your spell, surely you can…” Sirius frowned slightly as something occurred to him about continuous spells and the few ways they could be stopped. He opened his mouth to say something, but Romulus spoke first.

“I can’t do anything.”

Sirius could tell from his tone that his arguments would get nowhere, and all he could do was wait until the morning.

Moony remained calm after that, either through Sirius’s presence or plain exhaustion, but Sirius couldn’t help but focus on the pool of blood that was growing increasingly wide with every minute.

“Maybe someone should get Madam Pomfrey to come down here?” Sirius suggested and Romulus nodded before he reluctantly left the basement.

Madam Pomfrey arrived with Professor Sprout following close at her heels. Sirius was surprised that Professor McGonagall wasn’t there, too, but then recalled that Remus had told him the head of Gryffindor house was away this summer giving lectures on the procedures that were required to become an animagus.

Madam Pomfrey set out her potions and conjured up several chairs in order for them to sit down and wait.

“Will he be okay?” Sirius asked, the guilt at his late arrival tonight making his voice waver slightly as he questioned the Healer.

Madam Pomfrey replied that she was sure he would be fine, but she didn’t sound very convincing to the increasingly worried Sirius.

The minutes passed, each one seeming to last even longer than the previous one, until finally a pitiful whine from inside the cage warned the watchers that Moony was about to relinquish control back to Remus.

Sirius sprang to his feet and rushed to the edge of the cage. He watched Moony writhe in pain as the bones stretched and popped, the movements causing even more blood to spill onto the floor.

“I think most of the blood is coming from that scratch across his chest,” Madam Pomfrey commented as she struggled to see it. Romulus drifted through the barrier so that he could see to the other side of his brother and he nodded in agreement of her assessment.

“How long until the barrier comes down?” Madam Pomfrey asked impatiently.

“Sunrise,” Romulus replied.

“Not long now then,” she replied. “Thank goodness it’s summer.”

Sirius chewed on his nail as he paced the floor, breathing a huge sigh of relief when the barrier finally flashed red and disappeared for the day.

Sirius was the first through the barrier, with Madam Pomfrey right behind him. He wanted to ask the Healer if there was anything he could do to help, but he could tell that this was no time for him to practice what he had learned during his lessons with her. Remus’s life was in the balance and he knew any help he tried to give would only interfere.

The chest wound was sealed, eliciting a sharp hiss from Remus who had slowly regained consciousness.

“Well, what have you done to yourself?” Professor Sprout asked as she hovered nearby. “Surely you aren’t missing your lessons so much you have to do this to yourself?”

Remus gave a small smile at her weak joke and turned to Sirius. “Your parents let you come?”

“Like they could stop me,” Sirius replied with a snort.

Professor Sprout raised an eyebrow at the implied meaning behind the words, but declined to comment.

Madam Pomfrey meanwhile thrust a large vial of Blood-Replenishing Potion into Remus’s hand and turned to examine his injured shoulder. “You’ve dislocated it good and proper,” she stated.

Remus finished the potion with a grimace at the taste and passed the empty vial to Sirius. “It isn’t hurting much,” he said.

“It will when I put it back into place,” she told him as she gently turned him around so that he was in a better position for what she had to do. “Brace yourself.”

Remus grimaced and looked away from the limb. Sirius reached out to grab his other hand in his own and squeezed tightly. He couldn’t look as Madam Pomfrey fixed Remus’s shoulder. Remus didn’t cry out, but he turned a pasty white as the bone popped back into place.

“I’m sorry, dear,” said Madam Pomfrey as she began to strap it up. “But it’s the only way to do it. With all the spells for fixing bones, growing bones and everything else… you’d think someone would have invented a painless way of putting them back into place. The only other way would be to remove the bone and re-grow it, and I promise that is just as painful.”

“It’s all right,” Remus replied. “It can’t be helped.”

“I’ll go make a start on some breakfast for you,” Professor Sprout said. “Are you staying to eat, Sirius?”

Sirius nodded as he helped Remus to his feet. “If its not too much trouble?”

“Not at all.”

Professor Sprout made her way back upstairs as Madam Pomfrey continued to fuss over Remus.

“Um, Ma’am?” Remus mumbled several minutes later.

“Hmm?”

“I’d really like to put some clothes on, if you don’t mind.”

Sirius tried to hide his grin at Remus’s obvious discomfort. He had seen Remus naked after so many full moons he had forgotten that initially he had been rather shy about such things.

Madam Pomfrey wasn’t phased in the slightest and stepped aside so that Remus could go and get his clothes. Sirius supposed that as a Healer she had seen plenty of students in a similar state of undress and this was nothing new.

“I’ll be upstairs in the kitchen,” she said, leaving the two boys and the ever-watchful ghost in the basement.

“Can you manage?” Sirius asked as Remus struggled into his pyjamas.

“Yeah,” Remus replied. He groaned slightly as he continued to struggle and Sirius stepped forward to offer his support.

With Sirius’s help Remus was finally dressed and they headed upstairs to where Professor Sprout was cooking a full English breakfast for them.

“There you are,” Professor Sprout said as they sat down at the table. She placed two heaped plates in front of them, and they began to tuck in.

The two boys sang their praises of the food until Professor Sprout explained that she had to get back to the castle. After checking that they were going to be all right, and giving Remus numerous instructions about taking care of his shoulder, Madam Pomfrey decided to go with her, leaving the two of them to finish their meal.

“You really scared me last night,” Sirius said quietly. “I thought I might have lost you.”

“Can’t say it’s been the best full moon, but there’ve been worse,” Remus replied.

“Not many,” Romulus interrupted.

“I’ll make sure I’m here for the next full moon before you change,” Sirius promised. “Even if I have to sneak out in the morning or the day before.”

“You don’t have to do that. Moony will have to learn to get by without you.”

“Not if it means losing you in the process.”

Sirius waved his fork in Remus’s face and told him in no uncertain terms that he was going to be there for every full moon and he’d brook no arguments to the contrary.

“I’m too tired to argue,” Remus said with a wide yawn. “It’s been a long night.”

“You should get some sleep,” Sirius agreed.

“You, too,” Remus pointed out. “You’ve been up all night as well.”

Sirius laughed. “I can just imagine my parents’ faces if I said I wanted to go back to bed after I got home. I’ll be doing chores for a week as it is.”

“You want to get some sleep here before you head back?” Remus asked.

“That’d be great. I can get some kip on the couch, you won’t even know I’m here.”

“You won’t get any sleep on that thing, it’s all lumpy,” Remus argued. “Come on, my bed has plenty of room.”

“Er…” Sirius looked cautiously at Romulus.

“I know it’s not normal,” Remus muttered. “But I don’t think anyone would mind, just this once. The spare bedroom is a mess and Romulus’s room is…well…”

“It’s okay,” Sirius said. He knew that Remus still hadn’t plucked up the courage to sort out his brother’s room, especially with his brother still lurking around to oversee the whole procedure. “I don’t mind bunking with you. I never did.”

Remus shrugged, cringing slightly at the pain the movement caused, and led the way to his bedroom.

“Do you mind taking the side next to the wall?” Remus asked. “I don’t like feeling trapped.”

Sirius nodded in understanding as he toed off his shoes and placed his wand on the bedside table. He pulled back the covers and climbed into the bed with a yawn of his own. A moment later Remus crawled in beside him and he pulled the blanket up over the two of them.

Sirius smiled as Remus snuggled closer, clearly trying to find a comfortable position that didn’t involve him lying on his tender shoulder.

“What?” Remus asked sleepily.

“Just thinking.”

“About what?”

“Nothing much, just thinking how long it’s been since we did this.”

“Nearly a year.”

“Yeah.”

“I missed this,” Remus whispered sleepily as he closed his eyes.

“Me, too,” Sirius admitted before he, too, succumbed to sleep.

The sun made its way through the sky unnoticed by the two boys who were dead to the world. Some time during the course of the morning their positions changed so that Remus was resting his head on Sirius’s chest, and Sirius’s arms were wrapped around Remus’s waist, and that was how Alphard Black found them when he arrived to fetch Sirius back home.

“Uncle Alphard?” Sirius mumbled sleepily, his eyes still half closed. “How did you get here?”

“Same as you did. I overheard you sneaking out and took the floo to Rosmerta’s after you didn’t come home. Didn’t take long to track you down, Hogsmeade isn’t that big and everyone knows everyone else’s business round here, always have done.”

“Was too tired to come straight home,” Sirius explained sheepishly.

“Your mother’s livid and you’ve been grounded until the end of the holidays.”

“No!” Sirius shot up at that, waking Remus in the process. “I can’t be grounded all the rest of the holidays. I have to be here next full moon, I have to!”

Remus, dislodged by Sirius’s movement, woke up disgruntled and glared at Sirius. “You could have woken me up better than that,” he muttered.

“Sorry,” Sirius said. “I didn’t hurt your shoulder any more did I?”

“No, it’s the other one that got banged that time.”

Alphard watched the exchange with a degree of amusement. “Come along, Sirius,” he ordered. “I promised I’d have you home in time for afternoon tea with Cherie and her mother.”

“What?” Sirius spluttered. “I thought she’d have done a runner after Kreacher spilled food all over her.”

“No such luck,” Alphard replied. “Her mother and yours have spent most of the morning discussing various forms of discipline for wayward boys and clumsy house elves.”

“Ten minutes in the company of Cherie of the Wandering Hands is punishment enough,” Sirius muttered.

“Who’s that?” Remus asked as he sat up so that Sirius could crawl around him and out of the bed.

“Cherie De something or other,” Sirius replied. “Annoying little cow who can’t keep her hands to herself at the dinner table.”

Remus snickered, earning himself a glare from Sirius. “So, where was she putting her hands?” he asked.

“Everywhere she could manage,” Sirius replied.

Remus laughed again and Sirius restrained himself from giving Remus a friendly punch, he didn’t want to hurt his friend’s shoulder and was still feeling guilty about sitting up so suddenly.

“Come on,” Alphard urged. “Your mother was threatening to come get you herself, and I don’t think you’d want that, would you?”

Sirius shook his head rapidly and hurriedly pulled on his shoes. The thought of his mother walking into the room right now was enough to spur him into action.

“Sorry, Sirius,” Remus offered quietly. “I didn’t mean to get you into trouble.”

“Don’t be daft,” Sirius replied. “I promised to be here for the full moons and if I hadn’t been so late Moony wouldn’t have been so violent. I should be the one apologising.”

“You can both apologise as much as you like,” Alphard interrupted. “Just so long as you don’t leave me in the position of having to apologise to your mother.”

“I’ll see you next full moon,” Sirius said as he gingerly pulled Remus into a one-armed hug.

Remus nodded and after seeing the Blacks out of the house he grabbed some lunch and settled down on the sofa with a stack of Quidditch magazines.

-o-xXx-o-

Grimmauld Place was in an uproar when Sirius and Alphard arrived back, and it didn’t take a genius to realise who was at the centre of the chaos.

Regulus stood at the bottom of the stairs with a guilty expression on his face whilst Walburga Black yelled and shouted her disapproval.

Sirius wondered what his brother had done, surely he hadn’t brought any more magical creatures into the house?

“How dare you show your face down here amongst respectable witches!” Walburga yelled.

Sirius looked to the entrance to the sitting room, where Cherie was sneering in the doorway.

Regulus looked like he was trying to say something, but unfortunately Walburga wasn’t giving him a chance to get so much as a word in. “A disgrace to the family, that’s what you are!” she continued.

“Now, what’s going on here?” Alphard asked as he breezed his way across the hallway. “I’m sure that whatever young Regulus has done, it’s probably just a case of a young boy letting off a bit of steam.”

“I haven’t done anything,” Regulus interrupted. “I just wanted something to eat.”

“You know that Kreacher would have brought you food as soon as he’d finished serving luncheon,” Walburga snapped. “You were told to stay in your room until the guests had left, one simple thing like that and you couldn’t even manage it. Useless squib!”

“Now, really,” said Alphard calmly. “You can’t punish the boy for wanting to get a snack.”

“Just get out of my sight!” Walburga yelled. “And don’t think that Kreacher will be bringing you anything today. You can wait until tomorrow and use the time to reflect on your behaviour.”

Sirius cringed as his mother continued to rage against her youngest son. He caught his brother’s eye and mouthed ‘I’ll sneak food up to you later’. Regulus shot him a brief glance of gratitude, which unfortunately Walburga caught.

“And you!” She turned on Sirius with a look of fury. “Where have you been? Sneaking out and showing me up when you aren’t here to help me entertain our guests.”

“I’ll just be going up to my room then, shall I?” Sirius asked meekly, hoping his mother didn’t pick up on how much he would rather do that than help her entertain her guests.

“Certainly not,” Walburga snapped. “Go change into your best robes and be back down here in ten minutes.” She looked at him a little more closely and fingered the edge of his robes curiously. “What is this? It looks like blood.”

“Blood?” Cherie squeaked, her nose wrinkling in disgust.

“Just go and change,” Walburga ordered. “Cherie dear, I’m so sorry you had to witness this.” She glided over to the young girl and guided her back into the sitting room, casting one last glare at her sons before she closed the door behind them.

“Why are you covered in blood?” Regulus asked. “It’s not yours, is it?”

“No, it’s not mine,” Sirius replied. “Let me get you something from the kitchen before I get changed and go back to face the lions.”

“They aren’t the lions,” Regulus muttered. “Pure snakes, and venomous ones, too.”

Sirius smiled to himself. It seemed that even without having to suffer through their company, Regulus had their guests pegged with remarkable accuracy.

When Sirius returned downstairs and entered the sitting room it was with great annoyance that he saw not only Cherie and her mother, but also his cousins Narcissa and Bellatrix.

Narcissa looked at him coldly and picked up a cream cake from the tray on the coffee table. Sirius wondered if he should make a comment about her putting on weight, but in light of how his mother’s temper was still simmering he restrained himself. Instead he turned to Bellatrix and asked why she wasn’t partaking of the cake herself. Bellatrix looked as if she would like to throw it at him and Sirius knew that she was thinking about the wedding cake of the previous summer. He had a feeling his mother might suspect that his comment wasn’t made out of politeness, but it was subtle enough that she couldn’t reprimand him for it. Even so, it was going to be a long afternoon.

-o-xXx-o-

Remus paced back and forth in the kitchen as the minutes towards the next full moon ebbed away.

“You should be getting down to the basement,” Romulus advised.

“Just a few more minutes,” Remus replied distractedly.

“You leave it much longer and you won’t get down there in time, and what if Sirius shows up whilst you’re tearing up the house?”

“He said he’d be here.”

“You know what his family’s like. As much as he’d like to be here, you know he might not be able to get away.”

“He’ll be here,” Remus snapped.

Romulus sighed impatiently. “At least wait in the basement,” he asked.

“Fine,” Remus muttered and he made his way down the stairs, resuming his pacing in the basement cage.

A few minutes later he heard the sound of running footsteps from the floor above him and Sirius half ran, half fell, down the flight of stairs. “Made it!” he panted, grinning widely at Remus.

“How did you get away?” Remus asked as he threw himself at Sirius and hugged him with evident relief.

“Uncle Alphard,” Sirius replied. “He borrowed me for a week to help him move into his new place. I’d have been here earlier, but my bloody mother was hanging around, making sure I was working. I thought she’d never leave.”

“I didn’t know your uncle was moving house?”

“Me, neither.” Sirius smiled again. “Apparently he thinks he’s getting too old for all the travelling and wants to settle down in one place. He’s bought a place in Cornwall, right on the coast. It’s so great; you’ve got to come and visit.”

“I don’t think your family would like that,” Remus pointed out. “But thanks for thinking of me.”

Sirius snorted. “I’m always thinking of you, Remus,” he said with another smile. “And Uncle Alphard won’t mind you visiting, he’s upstairs right now clearing it with Romulus.”

“He’s here?” Remus looked nervously towards the stairs.

“He won’t come down here, not if you don’t want him to.”

“It’s okay. I don’t mind.”

“How’s your shoulder?” Sirius asked as Remus shrugged out of his shirt.

“Still a bit sore,” Remus replied. “I doubt the transformation’s going to help it heal any either.”

“We’ll take care of you,” Sirius promised as he took the shirt and placed it on top of the cupboard. “You can relax down on the beach with me for the rest of the holidays. You can even travel back to school on the Hogwart’s Express again.”

“I don’t have a ticket,” Remus pointed out.

Sirius dismissed this detail with a wave of his hand.

“Professor Dumbledore might not like it.”

“Uncle Alphard will talk him into it. Other kids visit their friends in the holidays, why not you?”

“What about Greyback? He’s my guardian and he might have to give his permission as well? And James wanted me to set up some pranks at school in the holidays.”

“If you don’t want to come visit me, just say so,” Sirius snapped. “I just thought you might like to spend some time with me, you know, just the two of us?”

Remus was about to reply that of course he wanted to spend time with Sirius, but in that moment the cage activated and the transformation began.

The second full moon of the holidays was far less violent than the first, much to the relief of everyone who kept up the vigil through the night. That isn’t to say that the night didn’t drag just as dreadfully as every other full moon night, but at least this time Moony didn’t punish Remus for the absence of Sirius.

Finally the sun rose and Remus changed back into himself again. Sirius rushed to his side as soon as the barrier was down and helped his friend to sit up.

“How you feeling?” Sirius asked as he tenderly examined Remus’s shoulder.

“Like every bone in my body has been compacted and stretched and pulled out of their sockets,” Remus muttered.

“You can’t be doing too badly, not if you can joke about it.”

“I’ll live,” Remus said as he let Sirius help him to his feet. “Where’s your uncle?”

“Snoring away on your sofa,” Sirius replied with a chuckle.

“Um.” Remus faltered and felt his face flushing slightly. “You know what you said before, about visiting you at your uncle’s house?”

“It’s okay, just forget about it.”

“I’d like to,” Remus blurted out.

“You would?”

“Of course I would.”

“Good.” Sirius grinned. “Because Uncle Alphard talked Romulus into going to speak with Dumbledore, and he says you can visit until the end of the holidays.”

“Really?”

“If you want to; we can leave right after breakfast.”

“Thanks,” Remus said as he hurried to dress and decide what to take with him.

-o-xXx-o-

Sirius stretched out on the secluded beach and watched Remus flying above him.

“You think I’ll make it?” Remus called down to him.

“Depends which position you plan on trying out for,” Sirius yelled back, though he suspected it wouldn’t make much difference. Remus was determined to try out for the Gryffindor Quidditch team this year, and Sirius knew that once he had set his mind to something, there was nothing that could stop him.

Remus swooped down and reached out to ruffle Sirius’s hair as he passed.

“Hey!” Sirius growled as he straightened the long black locks back to their normal style.

“Hey, boys!” Alphard called from the house. “You finished packing for tomorrow?”

“Nearly!” Sirius yelled back.

“Nearly isn’t good enough,” Alphard replied. “Come on in and finish, you can lark about on your brooms later.”

Sirius stood up and brushed the sand off his robes while Remus came in to land.

Sirius hadn’t lied about the packing; it was nearly done, although there was still quite a jumble of items lying around the room he and Remus were sharing.

“You got all your school books?” Remus asked as he searched through various scraps of parchment for the book list.

“I think so. Uncle Alphard got them for me a couple of weeks ago, and he at least read the list properly, unlike my mother.”

“We’d better check it anyway,” Remus advised as he rifled through various letters from James and Peter before finally finding the book list attached to another letter.

“I’ll check it,” Sirius said as he quickly grabbed the parchment from Remus.

“What’s the matter?” Remus asked. “It’s only a book list.”

“I just want to make sure it’s…”

But it was too late; Remus had grabbed the parchment back and seen the covering letter that Sirius had been trying to hide.

“You’re a prefect?” Remus asked, his jaw dropping. “After all the detentions and stuff, McGonagall chose you to be a prefect?”

Sirius sat down on his bed with a groan. “Don’t laugh. She probably didn’t have much choice. James and Peter have been chalking up detentions since first year and…”

“And too many students are scared of the school’s resident werewolf,” Remus concluded. “My best friend, a prefect. Do James and Peter know?”

“Merlin, no!” Sirius shook his head. “I haven’t told anyone. I don’t want everyone thinking I’m some sort of swot or teacher’s pet.”

“I don’t think anyone would think that as long as I’m at the school,” Remus pointed out. “Between Madam Pomfrey and Sprout and McGonagall, it’s like having three mothers hovering over me. If anyone’s a teacher’s pet, I’m pretty sure it’s me.”

“In that case, why not you?” Sirius asked. “Dumbledore wants you to be seen like any other student, so why not make you a prefect and show how well you’re doing?”

“There could be loads of reasons. I’m still catching up on all the subjects and this year is going to be O.W.L. year, I don’t think I’d have time to be a prefect anyway.”

“You’d be a better one than me.”

“Rubbish, you’ll be a great prefect.”

“Maybe.”

“Definitely,” Remus amended. “Sirius Black, Gryffindor Prefect.”

“I don’t know which shocked me the most, being sorted into Gryffindor or being made a prefect.”

“Where’s your badge?”

“In my trunk.”

“Let’s see it.”

Sirius stood up and went to dig the badge out of his belongings. “Here it is.”

Remus reached out to take the badge from Sirius’s outstretched hand and Sirius drew a ragged breath as their fingers brushed.

“You were right,” Sirius said as Remus polished the badge on the sleeve of his shirt.

“About what?” Remus replied distractedly.

“You’ve overtaken me,” Sirius replied. He held up his hand to demonstrate what he was talking about. Remus wasn’t much taller than he was, but he was taller.

“Told you so,” Remus said with a smug smile.

Sirius thought back to the morning they had been talking about this and realised that they were standing as close now as they had been then. In the last year Sirius had avoided thinking about just how close he had come to kissing Remus. He had spent a year lying to himself and trying to deny his own blossoming feelings. He’d tried to look at any number of the Hogwart’s girls as potential girlfriends, but none had captured his interest. He didn’t want to spend his time with them; he only wanted to be with Remus.

He was a Black and they didn’t shy away from anything unpleasant. Okay, they did cause most of the unpleasantness, but the point was still there.

He was a Gryffindor and he had the courage within him to be different, he just had to find it.

There was no point in lying to himself, he was only making himself miserable. He just didn’t like girls, at least not in the way that other boys seemed to.

He liked Remus.

He liked the enthusiasm and joy he had seen so much of since Remus had been invited to go to Hogwarts. He liked his quiet sense of humour and the way he teased him without malice. He liked his reckless daring and brave determination.

More than that, he liked the feel of Remus’s hand when it was held within his own. He liked the feeling of warmth that came from sharing a bed with the other boy, and he knew he wanted that every night. It had taken him months to get used to sleeping without Remus curled up beside him, and now, since that one morning earlier in the summer, he was craving his presence once more. He didn’t want to have to get used to sleeping on his own, he wanted Remus with him, no matter what Romulus or anyone else said about it.

He wanted to know what it would feel like to kiss Remus, but he knew he didn’t have the courage to discover that just yet.

“You okay?” Remus asked, dragging him out of his thoughts.

“Yeah.” Sirius nodded. “Just thinking.”

“Knut for them?”

“They’re not worth that much,” Sirius replied with a laugh and he turned back to his packing.

That night he lay awake, listening to the sound of Remus breathing across the room. “You still awake?” he whispered.

“Yeah,” Remus replied. “Why can’t you sleep?”

“Don’t know. I think I’m just a bit cold.”

Remus laughed. “Today was the hottest day of the year,” he pointed out.

“I’m still cold,” Sirius muttered.

He listened as he heard the bedsprings creaking and Remus padded across the room. “Budge over,” Remus ordered as he poked Sirius in the ribs.

Sirius smiled and shifted across the mattress so that Remus could climb in beside him.

“Better?” Remus asked as he curled up beside him and pulled the blankets over the two of them.

“Much,” Sirius replied, trying not to feel guilty at how he had manipulated Remus into joining him in his bed. He told himself that it wasn’t like they hadn’t done this before. They had shared a bed every night for the better part of a year after all. The only difference was that this time Sirius knew that on his part it wasn’t entirely innocent. He wondered whether Remus would have been quite so quick to climb under the covers with him had he known just how much Sirius liked the idea of the other boy’s body pressing up against his own.

He felt Remus’s breathing change as he drifted off to sleep, but Sirius was awake for a long time after the rest of the household had fallen asleep. As he shifted to find a more comfortable position, hoping he didn’t wake Remus, he wondered if maybe this hadn’t been such a good idea after all. It wasn’t that he didn’t like Remus curling up with him; the problem was his body liked it far too much.