Hey guys! This was written for the 'Every Wolf Deserves A Star Comp' on HPFC.
My prompts were - 'Embrace', 'vampire!Sirius' and '1750 minimum word count'
More Right Than Wrong
Sirius Black and Remus Lupin were more wrong than they were right. That much was the clearest part of their relationship, without a doubt. What was never a question was how much they loved each other. It was inevitably going to happen, and when it did, it was obvious that nothing could break them apart. Nothing.
Until something did.
Sirius Orion Black was a vampire. Not just any vampire, but a Black vampire. He came from a long line of noble ancients who took pride in continuing the vampire race in their family by keeping the blood magically pure. It was supposed to be some sort of honour, but Sirius could never manage to see it that way.
Sure, he enjoyed being a vampire, but sometimes he wished he could just be a normal person who came from a normal family. When he was born, he was turned into a vampire at the hands of his father. After his mother had given birth to her second child – Sirius's younger brother, Regulus – she decided that two was enough and asked her husband to turn her.
Being a vampire entailed heading out every so often to hunt. Sirius abhorred it, but it was essential for his survival. Black vampires would venture into wizarding communities, draining the blood from witches and wizards so that they could survive. Drinking Muggle blood was forbidden in the Black family. A drop of Muggle blood in your system, and you may as well be dead according to Walburga and Orion Black.
As a vampire, Sirius Black didn't sleep; he spent most nights playing games with Regulus. They could go out in the sunlight but they always came down with a very severe case of 'hayfever'. Well, that's what they liked to tell people. Apparently 'hayfever' was a genetic trait in their family.
When Sirius started Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he was irrationally terrified that somebody would figure out his secret. If people got wind that there was a vampire at Hogwarts, there would be sheer chaos. Furthermore, if people discovered the secret of the mysteriously prestige and beautiful Noble House of Black, Sirius would have hell to pay for. No amount of obliviations would counter that bombshell.
Remus Lupin was a werewolf. He hadn't always been a werewolf; at the age of seven he was out playing in the garden. It had been a pleasantly warm evening and it was still light outside. His parents were inside cooking dinner, when he heard a noise coming from the hedge separating their garden from the street.
Remus had hesitantly ventured towards the hedge and caught a glimpse of a pair of red, blood-thirsty eyes. His breath had caught in his throat and his feet had forgotten how to run like his brain was screaming at him. A painful slash across his chest and a nasty bite on his left shoulder left Remus a lycanthrope.
This meant that every month he would turn into a blood-thirsty wolf like the one that had attacked him on that horrific evening. Remus hated himself for what he had becoming, and every full moon would end with him ripping himself to shreds because he locked himself up with nobody to attack but himself. He almost killed himself every single month, but the real torture was continuing on knowing what pain he had yet to endure every full moon for the rest of his life. Sometimes Remus wanted to die. Maybe dying would be better.
When Remus started Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he was utterly petrified that somebody would discover his secret. If the wrong people were to find out about Remus's lycanthropy, not only would Remus be shunned but he would be expelled and face possibly life-threatening charges from the Ministry.
There was one rule that was evident in both werewolves and vampires. They were sworn enemies.
So it was, on Sirius's and Remus's first day at Hogwarts, both boys acted like normal human beings with normal lives. But they were anything but ordinary.
Remus and Sirius clicked instantly. If was as though they were just meant to become friends. Remus just got Sirius's sense of humour, while Sirius just understood Remus's feelings. It soon became a thing that if Remus wondered something about Sirius and Sirius shook his head, that meant 'don't ask. I won't tell'. The same worked the other way round. It worked relatively well for both of them.
Remus's cover story was that once a month he would 'head home' to visit his 'sick mother'. He despised himself for lying to his friends but it was better than the alternative. Lies were always more interesting that the truth. Remus's friends were both empathetic and sympathetic with his story. He loved them for that, even if it was all a lie.
Sirius's cover story was that he was sickly. He was an insomniac with a very bad immune system. It helped explain the sunlight thing. Since Sirius always hunted during the night, nobody noticed his regular nightly disappearances.
By third year, Sirius and Remus were best friends. They'd do anything for each other. They'd tell each other anything. And so they did.
"I have a confession to make," Remus said softly, staring deep into Sirius's stormy grey eyes that were filled with curiosity and warmth.
"What's up?" Sirius asked, curious.
"First, you must promise me that you won't hate me," Remus said quickly. "Because I can't handle if you hate me."
"I could never hate you."
Sirius Black hated werewolves with a passion. He spent large amounts of time during his childhood learning about werewolves and the dangers they posed to vampires. If he was ever to run into a werewolf, he'd put a silver axe through him.
One of the most ancient and prestigious heirlooms of the Black family was the silver axe. Legend had it that the first Black had used it against one of the most deadly werewolves that ever lived. It had cut through him and killed him in an instant.
Oh, how Sirius longed to use it.
"Sirius… I'm a, uh, a w-w-werewolf."
The silence following Remus's stammered words was deafening and never-ending. Sirius didn't know what to say. He didn't know what to do.
Remus was a werewolf.
Remus was a werewolf.
Remus was a werewolf.
No matter how many times and ways he repeated it in his head he couldn't believe what he'd heard. How could it be? One of his best friends in the world – the boy he trusted with his life…
"I… need… some time."
"Oh."
He watched as Remus's face fell at Sirius's words. He wanted to reach out and pull him into an embrace. He wanted to say that he was sorry for not acting more enthusiastically about Remus's revelation.
But he couldn't.
He couldn't deal with Remus being a werewolf. It made his heart ache.
It wasn't until a month or two later that Sirius realised that he was being idiotic. He hated himself for not speaking to Remus, and he could see how miserable Remus was.
He sighed and stood up one day, heading over to where Remus was sitting.
Remus looked up on Sirius's approach and his face fell.
"I've come to say that I'm sorry," Sirius said softly. "I acted dumb. I'm okay with you being a-" he glanced around cautiously, "-werewolf," he whispered.
"You don't have to lie," Remus said sadly. "I understand. I'm disgusting."
"You're not," Sirius said. He sat down on the sofa next to Remus and took a deep breath. "Actually, the reason it took me so long to… you know… talk to you about it is because I'm not exactly normal either."
"You're not?"
"I'm a vampire," Sirius mumbled. He watched the apprehension dawn on Remus's face.
"Oh," Remus said. "Um, I understand now, I guess."
"Yeah. You don't hate me do you?"
"Never," Remus smiled.
Sirius knew in that moment that their friendship was something that was real.
Sirius had always known that he was gay. From the age of four, he'd imagined himself growing up and marrying a man instead of a woman. He'd never seen it as weird or wrong or abnormal. It was just who he was.
He vowed to never get into a relationship with somebody that he couldn't see a future with, and he stuck to his vow. He hadn't even had as much as his first kiss till fifth year.
Remus discovered he was gay in his fourth year. He was in denial for weeks afterwards but when he kept waking up after recurring steamy dreams about a certain Gryffindor boy, he gave in and realised that he was in love.
Sirius's and Remus's first kiss could be described as nothing less than magical. Simply and wonderfully magical. It was perfect. It didn't include the cliché nose-bump or trail of saliva down the chin.
It was amazing.
They fell deeply in love despite everything. They loved each other's eyes, each other's smiles, each other's laughs, each other's minds. They fell in love with each other's personalities and each other's flaws and every tiny thing – good or bad – about one another.
It was pure and it was true and it was oh so good.
They were in bliss.
When Sirius and Remus left Hogwarts, they moved in together straight away. Sirius proposed to Remus within the first year and they were happily engaged and planning their lives together.
All up until that dreaded day.
Sirius heard news that somebody close to him was a spy for Lord Voldemort.
With great annoyance, his mind went straight to his beloved, who wouldn't hurt a fly, but was a werewolf underneath it all. It nagged at him and nagged at him, and he hated himself for suspecting Remus of something so dreadful.
When Sirius realised he was wrong, it was already too late. James and Lily were dead, Wormtail was gone and Remus would hate him forever.
Sirius laughed and laughed and laughed as he was dragged away to Azkaban prison. Oh, what a wonderful way to spend all of eternity.
When Sirius escaped from Azkaban, Remus was tense. He wasn't sure what to expect. He'd forced himself to hate Sirius over the years of being alone. He'd forced himself to fall out of love with Sirius.
Still, he wasn't sure how he'd react if they ended up meeting once more.
And they did.
But Sirius was innocent and all was forgiven.
A long embrace that lingered on both of them for hours afterwards was all that Remus needed to finally smile again.
A real smile.
The veil was made from dark magic. Sirius suspected it could kill him from the moment he set eyes on it. He was wary, but not wary enough.
As he fell paralysed through the veil, the only person he could latch his eyes onto was Remus.
Remus, who was staring at him in a mixture of horror and pain and fear.
Remus, who had been there for him since the very beginning.
Remus, who had accepted him for who he was.
Remus, who had loved him forever.
Remus, who was a werewolf.
Remus. The love of his life.
He was gone.
Remus was alone without Sirius, again. They were meant to be a pair. They weren't enough without one another. How was Remus to go on without him?
And he decided not to.
When Remus's hand touched Sirius's, and he floated into the light and realised that they were in heaven, he knew everything would be okay.
For the first time ever, Remus realised that he and Sirius were much more right than they were wrong. He just wished he'd figured it out sooner.
~The End~
