He knew he wasn't alone anymore, he just didn't know who it was exactly who had entered the room and broken his solitude.
Sirius stood in the darkness of the Astronomy Tower, having just butted out his cigarette, and looking out into the area of the room lit by the half-moon light, attempting to spot the intruder. Then into the moonlit space stepped a beautiful sight.
His skin was sickly, and his eyes bright, his sandy hair falling over his forehead and his face marked with the scars of a painful past… It was Remus Lupin, and he looked rather unhappy.
Sirius watched quietly from the shadows as Remus stepped up to the railing and ran a hand along it, looking out over the Black Lake. His gaze went down and he sighed. He leaned over the edge, as if testing how far he could lean until gravity took over and he fell. Sirius watched anxiously as Remus pulled himself on to the railing and took balance. He looked ever so graceful, precariously perched on the railing, his balance perfect. "I'm just a monster…" Sirius heard Remus whispering to himself. It was then that Sirius stepped from the shadows to say, "Monsters aren't real, Moony."
Remus turned quickly, almost falling and sending Sirius's heart into double speed with fright. Their gazes met and Remus's eyes were cold and lifeless.
"Monsters are real. Ghosts are real too. They live inside us… And sometimes they win."
And with that, Remus let himself fall backwards, and time seemed to stop as Sirius felt his breath knocked from him like a punch to the gut.
With a burst of energy he didn't know he had, Sirius raced down the stairs, but when he reached the ground floor, ran out of the doors and the bottom of Astronomy Tower, it was too late.
In a matter of minutes, teachers had flocked, and Madam Pomfrey was at the scene. She huddled over Remus's limp body, examining him as teachers and a handful of students including Sirius watched on. Sirius felt every bone in him turn to jelly as Madam Pomfrey stood up and said, "There's nothing I can do. He will have to go to Saint Mungos."
The dreams Sirius had after Remus had left were all the same. Sirius would be standing in shadows, when a full moon would rise behind him and light up the area around him so brightly it all became whiteness. Then from the whiteness erupted a cliff, and on the edge of the cliff materialised a dreamy Remus, looking as graceful and beautiful as an Japanese Geisha Girl, his hair soft and blowing in the slight breeze. He wore nothing but the Saint Mungos robes, and his face was sorrowful. As Sirius walked nearer, he would speak. Always in the same serene and peaceful voice, with an undertone of pure hatred, disgust and pain.
"Have you ever really danced on the edge?" Dream Remus would ask, and slowly he would begin to lean backwards, over the edge. He would then hold out his hand, as though wanting Sirius to save him, and as Sirius grabbed his cold hand, Dream Remus would say, "Just hold my hand, and jump."
And then Dream Remus would drag Sirius over the edge of the cliff and they would fall into what could only be eternity.
When Sirius awoke, he was always covered in a sheen of cold sweat, his heart thumping and images of the beautiful Dream Remus's disturbingly content face as they fell.