A/N: I got the idea for this from a post on Tumblr by a-very-dapper-perry and fell in love. I may not be able to update too often but I'll do my best. This is an AU, there is no second war, Voldemort has been defeated, Peter was never a traitor, and Sirius and Remus are happily in love. I hope I do the characters justice.
No matter how many times he went through it, Sirius would never get used to this wait. Since becoming full grown, Remus had to go to St. Mungo's after most transformations. St. Mungo's was much kinder about his condition than the ministry, waiving all hospital fees so long as Remus remained moral outside of transformations and took appropriate steps to prevent harm to anyone else during transformations. Still, they had found out early on that Sirius was an overbearing husband, and kept him out of the room until they had healed the worst of Remus's wounds were healed. And so Sirius was left most months to pace outside of the room Remus was always put in, nodding and smiling to the staff he now knew by name. As always, after a few hours of this hell a Healer walked out and smiled kindly at him.
"Everything is fine now, Mr. Lupin," she informed him, Sirius grinning at the use of Remus's surname, which he had hastily taken after their wedding. "He's still quite exhausted, understandably, but his wounds are completely under control. It wasn't awful this month," she assured him, opening the door for him. Sirius thanked her, hurrying in and repressing the urge to jump on top of his husband. Instead he sat in the chair next to Remus, taking his hand and smiling reassuringly.
"Hey Moonster," he murmured, kissing the back of the hand lightly. Remus gave him a wan smile in return.
"Hi, love," he mumbled, clearly on the verge of sleep. "I wanna nap. Do me a favor? Find out about that girl. No visitors at all." With that he dropped off, his deep, even breaths marking his sleep. Sirius looked up and across the room, puzzled. Sure enough, there was a young girl there, maybe 3 or 4, with a huge bump in her gown where her thigh was. Sirius wondered what had happened to her that she needed a bandage and couldn't simply be healed. Curiosity and the request of his love worked together to put Remus's hand down and cross the room, sitting down next to her.
"Hey there," he greeted her gently. "My name is Sirius. Sirius Lupin. What's yours?" the tiny girl looked over at him, a bit startled and confused. She hesitated before speaking.
"Accalia…" she whispered, appearing confused. Sirius nodded, trying to be encouraging.
"Very nice to meet you, young lady!" he exclaimed, his usual exuberant self. "That handsome gentleman right there is my husband, Remus. What brought you here?" At this question the tiny girl's eyes welled up and her lip began to quiver. Sirius immediately wanted to backpedal, but the Accalia began speaking anyhow.
"I… I got bitten. By a big dog, on my leg," she explained, pointing to the huge bandage on her thigh. "It won't heal. My mommy and daddy said it would be ok, but I haven't seen them for 3 whole days. I miss them," she continued, the tears trailing down her face. Sirius felt his heart rip in two. He immediately knew what had bitten her, and had a theory about her parents too. He tried to smile through the pain he felt for this tiny child.
"Yeah? That must've hurt a lot. You're a very brave little girl!" He told her, patting her hand. "My husband got bitten by a big dog when he was a kid too. He's really sleepy now, but when he wakes up maybe you two can talk about it," he told her gently. "For right now, I'm going to go talk to a Healer, ok?" The little girl nodded, though fear showed in her eyes.
"Will… Will you come back?" she asked timidly, tears forming again. Sirius couldn't help himself. He reached down and gently hugged the girl.
"Of course I'll come back. I'll be back for you," he promised in a whisper, before setting the girl down and leaving to find a Healer.
"How could they just leave her like that?" Sirius raged at the Healer who always took care of Remus. "So their daughter becomes a werewolf, through no fault of her own, and they just bail? What will happen to her now? Can we track them down, force them to take her back?" He asked, becoming quite worked up. The Healer sighed, looking weary.
"Calm down, Mr. Lupin. You know as well as I do how the Ministry deal with these types of… cases. We cannot force the parents to accept the girl, nor will the Ministry put her into foster care. This isn't entirely uncommon… Most likely once she is sufficiently treated, she will end up on the streets. It's sad, it's cruel, but it's what happens to infected children. I would've thought with the Wolfsbane potion discovery…" he trailed off, shaking his head and looking devastated. Sirius, however, perked up at the unfamiliar word.
"Wolfsbane potion? What's that? Can it help them?" He asked eagerly, trying to keep professional.
"I would've thought you would know, Mr. Lupin, given your partner's condition. Leave it to the Ministry to neglect to inform you. It is a potion, complicated in nature, but if brewed properly can allow a werewolf to maintain control during a full moon. The wolf will not take over, so they can remain calm in wolf form until the full moon is over. It is extremely difficult to make…"
"I don't care!" Sirius cut him off, nearly bouncing in excitement. "I was brilliant in potions! Could've become a potions master if I had wanted, but I was always more interested in law enforcement. Please tell me you have the instructions!" Sirius paused, realizing that taking care of Remus would take very little effort from now on. Which meant that taking care of that little girl would only be mildly more effort than any other child. The words tumbled out of his mouth before he could even fully process the idea.
"Accalia. The little girl. I want to adopt her. Remus and I, we'll take her in." Sirius said firmly, knowing in his heart that he wanted nothing more.
"I don't know about that, Mr. Lupin…" The healer said hesitantly, fearing for more yelling from the rather intimidating young man. "You know yourself that a werewolf is a lot of work. This potion is extremely difficult too, you may find it beyond your abilities or your financial capabilities, as it's expensive too. I'm not sure that sending you home with not one, but two-"
"There are people we're talking about here!" Sirius exclaimed, once again cutting the man off. "Do you know who I am? Before I married Remus my name was Sirius Black. Black. As in heir to the great Pureblood Black family? I may not hold their ideals but I do hold their money, in addition to being an auror after helping my best friend defeat the Dark Lord himself! If I can't make the bloody potion I can pay someone to do it. This child is going to go cold, hungry, and alone if nobody takes her in. I am here, ready, willing, and able to take care of her as my own and you are going to deny me?" He practically screamed, making the Healer cringe in fear.
"A-ah yes, of course Mr. Black, I mean Mr. Lupin, I mean ah… I will go begin the necessary arrangements…" He stammered, quickly scampering off. Sirius huffed, beginning to stalk off to the room with Remus and Accalia when the weight of what he'd just done hit him. He now had a daughter. He and Remus just had a daughter. Remus. He had done all of this without consulting Remus. He walked as quickly as he could to the room, finding the situations reversed, Remus awake and Accalia asleep. Remus smiled, but it fell off his face when he saw Sirius's expression.
"What did you do?" He asked warily, reconizing the guilty look on his husband's face all too well. Sirius went and sat down on the edge of the bed, taking Remus's hand in his own.
"Er, well…" Sirius began, not sure how to explain to Remus what he had decided in his passion. "How exactly do you feel about adopting a daughter?"
