Disclaimer: if I had written the Harry Potter books Sirius and Remus would spend most of their time snogging their brains out and um...well have you read the books?
A/N: contains slash, don't like don't read. Please review, this is the first fanfic I've uploaded.
You Wake Up Screaming
You wake up screaming, in a cold sweat in the middle of the night, the gloomy Black bedroom forbidding in the dark. It's a familiar nightmare – one you've returned to often over the years – but that doesn't make it any less terrifying.
But there's something different tonight. Tonight, you see, you're not alone when you wake up. A figure kneeling beside your bed comes into sharper focus as you clear your eyes a little and you realise with a jolt who it is.
'You still have that dream,' he whispers to you, his voice low and tender. You don't answer him, instead scrunching your face and closing your eyes so you don't have to see that gaunt – once beautiful – face looming over you. You feel a trembling hand reach out to brush some hair from your face. You know it's not lost on him that it's the first time you and him have touched since that hug in the Shrieking Shack. A hug that promised so much at the time but delivered little as his brooding silences and your distant conversation drove you further apart than either of you would care to admit.
'Do- do you want me to stay with you?' he asks hesitantly, his fear of your rejection clear in his voice. Slowly you open your eyes, trying to decide what course to take. You realise that allowing him in your bed in no simple action – it would mean much more than that. And you have your doubts about becoming Sirius's lover once more. You've been informed by Molly that Tonks has a thing for you. You know you'd have to hide being Sirius's lover from Harry. You should tell Sirius to leave immediately. You know that you should tell him to fuck off back to his room and leave well enough alone.
But you love him.
Still.
'Ok,' you croak and it's worth it alone for the gratitude and utter relief that are evident in his face. You shut your eyes again and you can hear him circle your double bed. He reaches the other side of the bed, the cold side that you avoid sleeping in, and you feel a small tug on the blankets as he pulls them up and slides in beside you.
He's close to you, but not so close that you're actually touching. You curl up in the foetal position on your side facing away from him. The bed is still quite cold despite it being July and your nightmare is still haunting your mind; that's why you shiver. Or that's what you tell yourself. Really you know that you shivered because Sirius is closer to you than he has been in months.
He must have noticed your shiver; why else would he wrap his arm around you? You hesitate, feeling his hot breath on your neck and his still-frighteningly thin arm on your waist.
But then you snuggle back into his body and you and him can both forget your past tensions and fall asleep in each others' arms.