A/N: I posted a one-shot story about Remus/Tonks that applies here... So if you're interested in more of what happened between them, back when they shagged (and see how differently Remus responds to her and Sirius), you can see it here: s/9444042/1/After-the-Super-Moon . Thanks for reading.

Remus spent most of the day answering messages from Dumbledore, Kingsley, Arthur Weasley, Hestia Jones, and a few others. Only Dumbledore ever had anything new to say—the rest were simple reactions to Dumbledore's messages, that the others needed to say to someone, and they all seemed to pick Remus. Finally, around two o'clock it seemed either Tonks or Dumbledore had reminded the others of the day, because the messages abruptly stopped. Remus was grateful.

He took a nap while Sirius stretched out with a book. The change would start at nine o'clock, but Remus liked to get to the wood early, so they hooked arms and Disapparated at eight. He carried a backpack with clothes and water, and he set it on the ground by the same tree he always set it by. It was dark in the wood, but they didn't light their wands. Neither of them were afraid of the dark. At eight-thirty, Remus took off his robes, leaving his underpants.

He knelt on the ground, missing the Wolfsbane potion and how it kept him feeling fine up to the change itself. His entire body had been itchy all day, his joints burning, his bones aching, and it was getting worse. He ran his hands through his hair, resisting the urge to pull at it, which would only worry Sirius.

Sirius knelt next to him and put his arm around his shoulders. They had a certain comfortable way between them, considering their years apart and the fact they hadn't talked much since their reunion. Talking made things more awkward; Remus didn't know what to say to him a lot of the time; but physically, they were comfortable together. Remus melted into his touch. Sirius couldn't make the pain go away, but Remus had missed the precious human contact just before and after changing that only his friends at school had really provided. It did help. It made the pain seem less real, like it was a delusion or a trick. It made him feel more human.

When they were young and James and Peter couldn't be there, Sirius would give Remus a blowjob just before the change. The endorphins released would help him fight the pain and give him energy for changing. Remus knew Sirius was thinking about that, too, but, as comfortable as they were, Sirius wasn't ready for that yet.

Any kind of touch helped.

Sirius held Remus in his arms, sitting on the ground, waiting for the moon to appear.

With fifteen minutes left, Remus's breath grew labored. He let out a groan every few seconds and Sirius held him tighter. He had gone through this every month, for as long as he could remember. Hundreds of times. But that didn't help when the change was so close. His tolerance for the pain had not increased; in fact, it seemed to be getting worse with age.

Sirius kissed his cheek, his chin, then his lips, and Remus didn't care that it was selfish—he kissed back, hard, desperately. He clung to Sirius's robes, one hand in Sirius's long hair, holding them together.

If Sirius was uncomfortable, he didn't let it show. His hands pressed into Remus's bare back, massaging him, rubbing his neck. After a minute, Remus broke away, doubling over as sharp pain shot through his chest. Sirius pulled him back up.

Remus had an erection and as they raised on their knees to better embrace, he felt that Sirius did too. Sirius's hand wrapped itself around Remus's cock and stroked him and Remus moaned loudly, a combination of pain and pleasure he hadn't experienced in years. His fingers curled against Sirius's scalp, scratching him, drawing blood. His heart literally skipped a beat, shooting pain though his chest and arm, and it was too late for sex. He pushed away and fell onto his side.

Remus curled up as his body essentially died—all his organs stopped working, even his heart, even his skin, even his brain, as they warped into the proper shape for a wolf. His bones shattered. He was not able to scream. He was not able to think, to wonder if Sirius had transformed or gotten out of the way. He was pain incarnate and it felt like hours before the transformation was complete.

He should have been dead. That was the curse—not letting him die from the heart attack. As a wolf, he lay on the ground, shaking, panting, trying to recover.

Then he smelled it, the big dog he hadn't seen in years. He opened his eyes and saw Padfoot lying next to him, watching him sadly, but when their eyes met, Padfoot's tail started to wag. Moony pushed himself up and pounced.

Remus woke up on the hard ground, naked and hurting and bleeding. For a wild moment, he was startled by the arm draped across his stomach, but then he remembered his companion for the night. He ran his hand over his chest, where a cut hadn't quite scabbed over, but it didn't seem deep. It would heal quickly enough. He turned his head to look at Sirius, who was sleeping and also naked. They were under enough trees that it was still dark.

"Sirius," Remus whispered. "It's morning."

Sirius opened his eyes slowly and squinted at him. Then he moved closer, tightening his hold on Remus, until his head rested on Remus's shoulder.

"Are you okay?" Sirius muttered.

"As well as I could expect," he replied.

Sirius raised himself onto his elbow and looked down at Remus. He brushed Remus's hair back off his forehead and trailed his fingers down his cheek, to his lips. He leaned down and kissed him softly.

Sirius tasted of dirt and blood—there was no telling what they had eaten during the night—and Remus pulled him on top of him so their legs tangled together. Remus knew Sirius was only doing this to make him feel better. He didn't care. He let Sirius stroke him, pump his flaccid cock as his erection slowly grew. Their tongues moved together languidly.

But they broke apart quickly when something crashed in the wood not far from them.

"Shit," a voice said and they both recognized it. They jumped up, aching bodies forgotten, and Sirius dashed behind a tree as Remus wordlessly Summoned his backpack. "Remus?" Tonks called. "Are you here?"

He just managed to pull out his robes and send the pack soaring off to Sirius before Tonks crashed through to him.

"Oh, sorry," she said and turned her head while he pulled his robes on over his head. "I went by your place and you weren't there. I wanted to check on—"

"Yes, thank you," he panted.

She looked back at him, eyes narrowed. "Are you alright?" She glanced around suspiciously.

"I'm fine," he said hurriedly, which only raised her suspicions more.

"You were acting weird yesterday, too—"

Remus didn't know if Dumbledore had told anyone about Sirius. It was dangerous to let an Auror know where he was, even when that Auror was Tonks, but it had to happen eventually.

Remus took a deep breath. "Nymphadora," he muttered and he moved closer until he touched her arm. "I need you to trust me."

She leaned back, understandably unnerved. "What are you on about?"

"I can explain everything, and Dumbledore will back me up. There is someone here with me, and he is wanted by the Ministry. But he is innocent, so you cannot hurt him."

Her face turned cold. "Who?" She didn't sound willing to trust him, but before Remus could say anything else, Sirius stepped out from behind him, fully dressed, hands in the air. Immediately Tonks's wand was pointed at him, but she didn't shoot.

"The bloody hell is Sirius Black doing here?" she spat and Sirius waved at her obnoxiously. Remus almost wanted her to shoot him for that.

"He's innocent, Nymphadora, and he's been staying with me."

She looked at him furiously. "And how do I know he's not got you with an Imperius curse?"

Without pausing to consider the consequences of his actions, Remus did the first thing he could think of—he kissed her. No one knew about the night they had spent together. To everyone else in the world they were merely good friends, so a kiss was like a password.

She pushed away from him, hard, angrily, but she did lower her wand. She was glaring at him, but she understood what he had done.

"I am sorry," he said quietly. "It was wrong to spring him on you like this, but I had not had the chance to tell you earlier."

She looked back at Sirius, face set, still skeptical. "So you didn't kill all those people?" she asked.

"I've never killed anyone," he said calmly, hands still raised. "And since you're still not sure of my worth, I'll tell you I'm an Animagus. In my animal form, I can stay with Remus when he transforms, and I've spent all night keeping him company. Since he's clearly important to you, that should mean something, eh?"

That did seem to get through to her. She seemed angrier at Remus than at Sirius as she stepped back.

"Ask Dumbledore," Remus implored. "He sent Sirius to stay with me."

"I'll go to him now," she said. "And if your story doesn't check out, you bet your arse I'll bring down the entire Ministry on both of you." She Disapparated.

"If our story doesn't check out, she's going to lose her job before she can do a damn thing about it," Sirius muttered.

Remus couldn't help it—he smirked. "She just walked away from Sirius Black. If you are who they say you are, she is the worst Auror in the world."

Sirius picked up Remus's pack and they hooked arms to Disapparate.

Back at the house, Remus showered first before taking a healing potion and lying on the couch. While Sirius was in the bathroom, there was a knock on the door.

Remus opened it and motioned for Tonks to enter.

"I'm sorry," she said as she stepped across the threshold.

"Your actions were more than reasonable," he said.

"How are you feeling?"

"Fine, considering."

"Got any cuts?"

He smiled but shook his head. Sirius had already patched the one on his chest.

They both looked around as they heard the shower shut off.

"I'm going to go," Tonks muttered.

"Stay, talk to him," Remus said. "He is a good man—"

"Yeah, I'm sure he is, but it's too weird right now." She sighed. "I'll talk to you later, Remus. Let me know if you need anything." She kissed him briefly on the cheek and left.

He fell back onto the couch and closed his eyes. He must have dozed because the next thing he knew, Sirius was sitting on the couch, massaging Remus's feet in his lap. Remus sighed.

"You okay?" Sirius asked.

"Yes. Thank you."

Sirius's hands moved to Remus's ankles, then calves, squeezing and rubbing the aches away. Remus closed his eyes again. He felt Sirius's lips on his knee and he stiffened. Soon, Sirius parted Remus's legs and crawled up between them, resting his hips on top of Remus's. They looked into each other's eyes before Sirius kissed him.

Remus wrapped his legs around Sirius's waist. They kept getting interrupted, but this time Sirius was taking the lead, there was no full moon, and no Tonks dropping in on them. Sirius kissed down Remus's neck and his hand crept up Remus's thigh, under his robes. Remus didn't dare hurry him—Sirius was shaking slightly, his breathing heavy in Remus's ear.

Once Remus was erect, Sirius moved down his body and licked at his cock. Remus grunted and tangled his fingers in Sirius's hair. Sirius enveloped Remus in his mouth, his head bobbing as he took in a little more each time. Remus moved his robes so he could watch and the sight almost sent him over the edge—it had been a long time since Remus had gotten a blowjob and Sirius was so familiar, so tender, so beautiful—

Sirius pulled away long enough to stick his own finger in his mouth. Then he returned to his ministrations on Remus's cock, while his finger pushed itself inside Remus—

Remus bucked into Sirius's mouth and gasped, pulling at Sirius's hair and finally coming with his eyes tightly closed.

"Fuck!"

Sirius swallowed and pulled away, using his hand to stroke Remus until Remus finally reached down and stopped him. Remus pulled Sirius up to kiss him, fiercely. He reached to Sirius's crotch, but Sirius stopped him.

"I came," Sirius whispered against his lips. Remus moaned again.