Title: Beauty Sleep
Author: Daria
Category: General
Rating: PG-13 (for language)
Spoilers: PoA
Summary: The obvious nightmares going on in a neighboring four-poster sends twelve-year-old Sirius Black into a daring rescue. Or so he thinks.
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made from this, and no copyright infringements were intended.

Beauty Sleep

A whimper.

A cry, though a quiet one.

This had been the fourth night in a row - something had to be done!

The dark-headed boy rolled over on his back, pulling his pillow - long since removed from the proper position behind his head - over his face. Sighing, Sirius Black attempted to ignore the muffled sobs and thrashing of covers a four-poster away. Somehow the smallest boy's snoring (it could rival the Hogwarts Express engine, sometimes) had not lulled him to sleep. The bespectacled prat in the nearest four-poster was probably dreaming of Lily Evans now, lightly snoring, as well. There would be no relief - Sirius 'By Jove I'll Take Action' Black removed the pillow from his tired eyes and sat up.

Parting the heavy crimson curtains, the handsome twelve-year-old squinted in the darkness and wondered what his plan of attack would be. Moony and his damned dreams, he thought, leaning backward to part the curtains with his, tartan socks the first to appear as the wiry teen slid secret-agent style from his four-poster. Landing almost soundlessly, he crept along the clothes-littered floor. Much like Snivellus, he thought. Wonder if this is what they do in their free time? The slimy bastards. Though Sirius usually delighted in spending his free time scheming up ways to at least make those of his rival house feel mildly uncomfortable, the task at hand was important. His beauty sleep was at stake, here!

Sirius had found out late the previous year that their good friend, Remus Lupin, was a werewolf. It was terribly surprising, of course, but since he had been the first to truly put the pieces together, the normally air-headed prankster had felt particularly responsible for Lupin's well-being. Sometimes it seemed useless, as Remus hadn't freshly became a werewolf or anything. Hell, at times Sirius thought his poker-faced friend should be up there teaching instead of a good number of the professors! Remus was a good friend, book-wormy werewolf or not, but had recently distanced himself from the quartet of Gryffindor boys. The soft-spoken wolf-boy hadn't exactly voiced his opinions in front of the group - outside a few questions that simply had to be answered - but Sirius had an idea that Remus was still a bit squeamish about the fact that they Knew. Silly git. Not even I would freely toss that secret around, he decided, now at the foot of said werewolf's bed.

"No," a soft, sleep-slurred voice pleaded. "Leave her... Me."

Carefully sitting up on his knees, the infamous sneak made sure not to startle any of his friend's things in the assorted pile of items kept there. My, was Remus tidy! He and Peter had a preoccupation with order that often sickened Sirius beyond the thought of Madam Pomfrey starkers. Eeww! Okay, he couldn't avoid a shudder at the mere mental mention of that, but quickly he regained composure and remembered his mission. Balanced atop his friend's trunk, leaning over so he imagined not even the top of his ebony head could be seen, Sirius cautiously lifted the hem of his friend's bed curtains to peer inside. Lowering his head to properly slip under them, he positioned his hands on the footboard and began to crawl forward. Lifting his gaze as the unsettling feeling of attention fell upon him, the brave Black was suddenly at a loss for words.

There was Moony. The skinny, terribly dignified teenager was coiled in a near fetal position against the headboard, eyes squeezed shut as he visibly trembled, mouthing soundless words. He was mostly asleep and half-covered, but Sirius felt a twinge of red in his cheeks as he noticed Remus was shirtless. Male nudity didn't bother the second year in the least, but the light crimson scar, vulnerable now with Moony so asleep, was startling. It wasn't just a scar - it was the scar; the obvious brand of lycanthropy. One of those would outcast you from any community, alienate you from your family, generally make your life extremely shitty, to say the least. The mark itself wasn't so large - about the size of a galleon. It wasn't the pale color of Remus' skin, but instead a rather fleshy pink. There were other scars surrounding it that branched various directions, but the main one was the mother of them all. It was vaguely crescent-shaped, from what he could tell. Sirius, now guilty for right out staring, suddenly looked away, embarrassed despite the fact that Remus was only there in body, right?

As if on cue, the shaggy head lolled to the side, thin cheek pressing against his bony, muscled shoulder as he relaxed for the moment. His hand shakily lifted from his side to the scar, and slid a bit but remained there. Though a mess of wavy, sandy-brown locks covered most of the lithe teenager's face, Remus' strange light-dark eyes were very awake. At least they looked like it. Looking away as best he could, the scrawny werewolf made a very meek noise and sat up, long legs curled beneath him as he effectively turned from Sirius and removed the scar from view. The bones in his vertebra looked sharp and far too numerous from the other boy's vantage point, but decidedly not making a larger ass of himself, Sirius crawled completely onto the bed.

"You don't have to hide, Wolf-boy. You know I only came to see if you-," Sirius began.

"I'm fine. D-dreams just - I didn't mean to wake you," even so startled, Remus' shrill voice radiated his usual composure, as if he hadn't been in the midst of a horrid dream.

"I don't buy that, Moony. Look, I was w-" the larger boy found himself trailing off as the thinly-muscled back before him began shaking.

Remus was crying?

Moving closer on his hands and knees, Sirius sat on his legs and inched as close to his friend as possible. In a frenzied need to soothe his friend, the wily teen saw a corner of something sky-blue and terribly faded sticking from the contrasting red and gold sheets. Remus wasn't on that section of the covers, so Black had no trouble in removing it. The worn blue blanket had been lovingly crafted by Mrs. Lupin, and Sirius was sure of this without ever learning the truth from Remus. Something about it just radiated security, and he resisted the urge to nuzzle it against his cheek - an idea that would have ordinarily seemed completely wrong - and instead found himself draping it across the trembling Moony.

Remus rolled on his side, taking the blanket with him and simultaneously - instinctively, Sirius thought - covering the scar, as well as his face. The dark-headed boy began again: "It's, well, okay, Moony. You.. you shouldn't be embarrassed around me," he whispered, feeling the other boy sense the closeness and try to recoil. "C-calm down. I won't let you have bad dreams," Sirius heard himself saying, gravely.

The werewolf had relaxed considerably, but couldn't help in being startled at the usually rowdy Sirius' gentle movements. The initial shock of being comforted by another person - a boy, not Mum or Poppy - was immense, but the relief of human contact was so soothing. He wanted to say something in return, a small 'Thanks' or maybe a little chuckle, but nothing came.

Sirius, meanwhile, had turned his legs at such an angle to where he could sit there comfortably all night if need be. One of his hands rested lightly on Remus's bony shoulder. Cautiously - for Moony could probably bite his arm off if he wanted to - the larger boy wiggled his toes beneath the covers and slipped his hand behind his friend's neck. There wasn't anything sexual about this, of course, only the human instinct to comfort. Or maybe it wasn't human; Moony wasn't exactly a crying baby, but he was a wounded animal all the same and Sirius would comfort him as much as he needed it. Had Remus finally fallen asleep? The dark-headed boy's tartan toes were under the covers already, so it only took a slight bit of work (removing that arm from behind Remusto get beneath the covers. Thoroughly exhausted, as well as triumphant that he had ended the nightmares, Sirius pulled the covers the rest of the way over he and Remus with his free hand.

Explaining this in the morning will be such a bitch, he realized, before drifting off to sleep, not at all bothered when the smaller boy, so piteously thin in comparison, scooted near him a bit, attracted to the warmth.