Sirius decided shortly after the fact that his inability to properly respond to Remus' kiss was due to the fact that he was in shock. It certainly seemed like a reasonable excuse.
After all, how could he have even begun to properly predict the outcome of tonight? There was just no way, none at all. All that was supposed to happen was a simple raid, him and James were supposed to be in and out of the Ministry and that was it.
Any surprises that came their way should have ended in the Ministry Atrium. However, it seemed that the real surprises were hell bent of popping out around every corner at home.
As if Remus speaking wasn't mind-blowing enough, then certainly the fact that he had kissed Sirius was.
A part of him was quite certain he'd imagined the whole thing. However, he could still feel Remus' phantom lips against his own. He shivered to think of the other's clever tongue darting across his lower lip. Surely that hadn't just happened..
Sirius blinked owlishly at the tiled wall in front of him. The buzz of the fluorescent bulbs were the only soundtrack to his confusion. Muggle lights were brilliant, but he still preferred candles, or a simple lumos maxima. The buzz the bulbs made grated on his nerves.
Taking a deep breath to focus himself, he turned his gaze towards the shadowed door leading into his bedroom. He could vaguely make out Remus' form on the bed, the dips and curves of the other man's body. Sirius licked his lips unconsciously, surprised when he found an unfamiliar taste lingering there.
Remus.
Sirius verily groaned, raking a hand through his hair before giving it a tug. He felt sick for being so turned on. He shouldn't be. Remus didn't really understand normal social cues. He couldn't have kissed Sirius with romantic intentions. Was he mimicking Lily and James? Would it be wrong if Sirius didn't correct him if he tried it again?
Merlin- he really was going to hell and it was all Remus' fault.
It took another few minutes for Sirius to collect himself, before he stood and cleaned up the medical supplies from the bathroom floor. After that was done, he stripped down to his boxers and kicked his dirty clothes into a pile on the bathroom floor.
Flipping the lights off as he left, he blindly made his way to their bed and crawled in.
His body, however, didn't seem to want to let him rest. He was exhausted, but he was also hyper aware of Remus next to him. He could smell the other's hair, hear his even breathing, feel the heat coming off him in waves. Sirius longed to press the whole of his front against Remus' back, to spoon against the other's body and press open mouthed kisses to the skin of his neck and shoulders.
He wished, not for the first time, that Remus would sleep without a shirt on. He desperately wanted to trace the line from the other's neck to his shoulder.
Freezing as Remus let out a huff of air, the other man shifted a bit in the bed before settling down once more. Sirius sighed in relief, inching closer to the werewolf. He got as close to him as physically possible without touching him and while it didn't satisfy his needs, it definitely was better than nothing.
Ignoring the ache in his head and joints, Sirius closed his eyes and willed himself to sleep. In dreams things made sense. In dreams, he could kiss Remus the way he really wanted to and not have to worry about the meaning behind such an action.
Lily woke early the next morning. The twisting in her stomach had her shoving the covers off her almost immediately and running to the bathroom to empty her stomach.
Heaving over the toilet, Lily had to wonder if she had picked up a bit of a bug. If she had, James would probably already have it as well. Oh, Merlin, he was such a child when he wasn't feeling well.
Sighing and wiping her mouth on the back of her hand, the woman rose once more to rinse her mouth out and peer in the mirror.
She didn't look ill. In fact, she looked better than she had in a while. Maybe it was just something she'd eaten? Or a result of the stress from the previous night? Yes, that had to be it.
Running a hand through her red hair, she quickly fixed her vivid locks before pulling on the spare dressing gown hanging on the back of the door and exiting the room.
James was sound asleep, snoring away on his side of the bed. A bit of drool trickled down his cheek, forming a nasty puddle on the pillow he was clutching. But, in the fashion of true love, Lily simply found the sight absolutely adorable. Smiling softly at her husband, she pushed the messy hair from his forehead to press a kiss there. James grumbled in his sleep, snuggling down into the blankets and squeezing his eyes shut tighter.
Suppressing a laugh, Lily pulled an extra blanket on top of him before leaving their room to check on Remus. She hadn't heard Sirius come in last night, so she was a bit worried. Then again, she had been fast asleep. A dung bomb could have gone off and she would've still slept through the night.
Creeping across the hall, she gently knocked on the door-waiting a moment before peeking her head in.
The pre-dawn light cast a fuzzy glow on the room. Remus had forgotten to pull his blinds shut the night before it seemed, not that she could blame him. Drawing her eyes away from the window, she was surprised to see Remus' form in the bed looking rather large and lumpy.
Frowning, the red head furrowed her brow, squinting to try to better make out the shape there. Only then did she discover that the single form was actually two bodies curled around each other. Remus was laying on his side, curled up in a manner similar to the one he'd been in last night. The difference was, however, that Sirius was curled protectively around him. The other's tanner arms wrapped tightly around Remus' form.
Well. It seemed Sirius did come home last night.
Lily smiled brightly at the two, though a part of her reminded her that she still needed to give the dark haired man a good talking to. Pulling her wand out to close the curtains, she quietly left the room and disappeared down the stairs to start breakfast.
It wasn't long after that James followed the same path as his wife. Waking alone, he took a moment to allow his mind to emerge from the bleary haze of sleep. Rousing himself from the bed, he blindly groped the side table to locate his glasses before shoving them on his face. Immediately, the room came into focus.
Being that there was no clock, however, he didn't know just how long he had slept. Pressing his hand against Lily's pillow, he felt the lingering warmth and smiled. Well, it couldn't be late if Lily had just gotten up. She had been an early riser, even when they were attending Hogwarts.
Pulling his green jumper over his head, James shuffled over to the door, not bothering to brush his teeth or take a leak. He wanted to check on Remus first, though he knew that Lily would have already done that. He wanted to make sure the other man was alright for himself.
Taking short, shuffling steps across the hall, he forewent knocking in favor of opening the door just a crack and peeking in. The sight that greeted him had him seeing red.
Clenching his jaw, James swung the door open and took long, angry strides towards Sirius' side of the bed. Not bothering to wake him gently, he simply gave the man a harsh shove before grabbing hold of his ear and tugging.
Sirius woke with a yelp, sitting straight up and looking wildly around the room. When his eyes landed on James, his brow furrowed and his lips parted in surprise.
James felt even angrier for the look of shock on the other's face. Did he really not know why he was so angry? Was he that daft? James had given him a lot of credit in the past ..but ..really?
Letting out a huff of air, James jerked his head towards the door to the loo which had Sirius looking even more confused.
"We." he began, tone dark, "have to talk." the sentence itself was simple, but the way James said it had Sirius shuddering. It certainly didn't sound good.
Nodding dumbly, Sirius turned back to make sure Remus was still sleeping soundly (he was) before swinging his legs over the side of his bed and following his friend into the bathroom.
As soon as the door shut and the bright lights were flipped on, a sense of foreboding settled in Sirius' stomach. Confused as to what this could possibly be about, Sirius folded his arms over his bare chest and waited. James paced the floor in front of him, raking a hand through his already disheveled hair as he mumbled and shook his head.
Eventually (it felt like forever to Sirius, though in reality it was only half a minute), James turned his hazel eyes on his friend and gave him a stern look that would have made even McGonagall proud. Sirius honestly had no idea that his friend was even capable of such a look.
The part of his mind that was just brimming with snarky comments (which just so happened to be the part that never, ever shut off either, mind you), wanted to remark on just how serious James looked, but he managed to miraculously bite his tongue and not make the situation any worse.
"Just what do you think you're doing?" James finally hissed out, arms folding tightly over his chest as he fixed Sirius with a glare.
Unfortunately for Sirius, the comment didn't shed any light on what had pissed James off, and so he could only return the glare with a blank look.
James dropped his arms, hands curling into fists at the lack of response before spitting out, "With Remus! What the bloody hell do you think you're doing with Remus!" he asked angrily.
Sirius blinked owlishly at his friend. With Remus? Did he mean, what was he doing in bed with Remus? He'd thought it'd been obvious. Sleeping! Did he honestly not know that they shared a bed? James knew the two shared a room and said room only had one bed. As such, anyone with even two brain cells to rub together could figure that much out.
"Er- sleeping?" he replied. James went red as he threw his hands up.
"I know that! I mean what do you think you're doing sleeping like- like- like that!" he barked.
Sirius felt a bubble of anger well up inside him, his own jaw clenching as he finally managed to return James' glare.
"What's it matter to you?" he spat out in return.
"What's it matter to me? What's it matter to me he asks?" James replied, muttering under his breath and letting out a bitter laugh before continuing. "It matters to me because you can't just jerk him around!" James replied, which caused Sirius to become lost in the conversation once more.
"He's not some bird that's going to be in and out of your life, mate. He's your friend! And you're his best friend, it seems, since he sticks so close to you all the bloody time. He's been through a lot of shit Sirius, a lot, and I'm certain we don't even know the half of it-last night, when you stormed out, you weren't there to see the look on his face. I'm used to you being a right arse, he's not." James said, voice low but still menacing.
"Don't fuck around with him." he said, glaring at Sirius who simply looked shocked.
What. The. Fuck. Sirius had no idea what to make of any of this. He was confused himself. Half the time he was fine with his attraction to Remus, the other half had him off kilter. Right now, he was somewhere in between.
James seemed to realize this (he wasn't always so thick), and his expression softened.
"It's alright-if your- your- you know." he said, giving Sirius a shrug. "I mean- I always thought- after- well- you know- after that I thought that maybe- you were- you were- you know- but then you- I mean- you've snogged half the female population of Britain so I just- but you never- I mean- with Remus- you're different. But you've never- you've never been with someone. I mean, you've been with someone, lots of someones, but he's not just someone. So think about this first before you do anything, you hear me? I'd hate to have to kick your arse."
To anyone else listening, James' rambling explanation wouldn't have made sense. To Sirius, however, it did.
"I'm not." he muttered, looking at James who simply stared back.
"I mean- I'm not ..gay. I'm not." Sirius explained in a firm tone before adding softly, "I like birds, but- I mean- I like blokes too." the last part was so soft James had to strain to hear it.
James, personally, didn't quite understand it. Blokes were ..blokes. What were they compared to birds? James wouldn't give Lily and her soft curves and full lips up for anything or anyone. The flat planes and hard lines of a man's body had never appealed to him ..ever. It was a little off putting that Sirius found them attractive. He knew it was ignorant of him, but still..
He was fine with it though, he hadn't lied when he'd said that to Sirius. He just wasn't used to it. Lily was better with things like this. Lily was more fluid with things they weren't used to.
James nodded after a moment, giving him a small smile. "Alright then." he said, and Sirius looked relieved.
"Alright." he replied, clearing his throat and shifting his weight awkwardly from one foot to the other.
Silence fell then, neither one of them knowing what to do. After a moment James finally cleared his throat and addressed the other elephant in the room.
"So then- where'd you go last night? I take it from your face it wasn't anywhere pleasant."
Sirius snorted and shook his head, "I- I uh- Well- I went and knocked a bit of sense into that guard."
"Guard?" James repeated, waiting for Sirius to elaborate which he did a moment later.
"The one who did that to Remus." he replied, pursing his lips together. An indecipherable look passed over James' face before he gave a curt nod.
"Good."
Nothing more was said. Each man stood their ground, allowing another awkward silence to fall. It was nearing the five minute mark when a knock on the door had them both jumping. Sirius stubbed his toe on the corner of the sink and swore. James fell backwards into the tub with an 'argh!'
The door creaked open. Remus popped his head in, a sheepish look on his face that set Sirius' insides on fire.
"Oops." he murmured causing James to laugh and Sirius to shake his head.
Everything seemed to be settled by breakfast. After James had managed to crawl out of the tub and Sirius' toe had stopped throbbing, both men had exited the loo in order to give Remus his privacy. James had gone downstairs to check on Lily, leaving Sirius perched on his side of the bed, staring at the closed bathroom door.
He could hear the pitter patter of the shower running behind it-could imagine the water cascading over the thin, lithe body-and once again berated himself for thinking such things. He knew he should feel guilty, and a part of him did, but a vast majority of him longed to know what Remus felt like-what Remus looked like-instead of simply having to imagine it.
James' words echoed through his mind, though. Remus wasn't someone who was going to be in and out of his life. He'd only known him for a month, but he was positive he would be a permanent figure-if not in Sirius' life than definitely Lily's or, at the very least, the Resistance. Dumbledore had mentioned possibly inviting Remus to join once he was rehabilitated. A lot had to be done before then. Remus had never even been formerly educated. He was a whiz with books and what not, but the practical application of spells was yet to be seen.
Sighing, he raked a hand through his hair. His thoughts trickled back to their kiss last night. Was it worth the risk of their friendship to pursue something more? Sirius had never been the kind for relationships, but his longing to run his hands over Remus' skin-to know him inside and out-were surefire signs that this was different. This was more. And as terrifying as that thought was, there was nothing Sirius could do to change how he felt. The more he was around Remus, the harder it was to mask his feelings. Now that they could hold actual conversations, it was going to be even more difficult.
Looking up as the bathroom door creaked open, Sirius sucked in a breathe as Remus stepped out-his hair was sticking to his forehead in wet strands, rogue drops of water clung to his skin here and there, but he was mostly dry and well clothed. His eyes were wide open and his lips still chapped from sleep. He smiled warmly at Sirius and Sirius had to fight down the urge to rise and claim them.
"S'all yours." Remus said, slipping from the doorway in order to get a pair of socks from the wardrobe, Sirius' eyes followed him. His hips swayed slightly with each step. He could make out the lithe muscles beneath the shirt as the man bent to retrieve what he needed from the bottom drawer. A lump formed in his throat and when Remus turned back to the other man, his pupils were blown.
Raising a brow, Remus' mouth opened and closed before he finally offered him another small smile. "Alright?" he murmured, snapping Sirius out of his trance.
The dark haired man nodded and offered a strained smile.
"How're you feeling? You look a bit better than you did last night. You still ought to tell Lily about it though, she'd be able to fix you up better than I did." the werewolf said, coming over to join Sirius on the bed. He sat rather close to the other man and as such their thighs were pressed together.
Sirius' breath caught in his throat as a result of such close contact, his silver eyes darting up to meet Remus' amber orbs. He watched, as if from afar, as Remus tentatively reached a hand out to brush Sirius' hair off his forehead. He watched the other's full lips pull up into a tentative smile. Why was Remus acting like this? How could he possibly be ignoring that kiss?
Sirius could barely restrain himself, and when Remus' tongue darted out to wet his lower lip, he couldn't stop the groan that had been building up in his throat from slipping out.
Horrified, Sirius watched as Remus' eyes went wide in surprise, his hand pausing as he stared at Sirius in confusion.
Fuck.
"Ah- Er- Remus- I-" Sirius began, stuttering just a bit. "Sorry" was all he could spit out in the end though, a highly insufficient explanation for the noise. Remus simply blinked owlishly at him before furrowing his brow. His fingers traced through Sirius' hair before dropping to his own lap and repeating the sentiment in the form of a question.
"-Sorry?" his voice was tight and had something coiling in Sirius' gut.
"Sorry." Sirius confirmed softly. Remus frowned.
"What for?"
"Oh- Uh- Well- I mean- It's just- Um- I like when you- Uh- when you- It's just- " Sirius stammered, wishing he could simply shove his foot in his mouth where it belonged.
Remus continued to look at him, his innocent eyes flicking from Sirius' eyes to his lips and back again as he tried to make sense of what the other man was saying.
"I- I- the sound- Er- Merlin- The groan- if it was a groan- was it a groan? What classifies a groan? I mean- Uh- that noise I made- it was- because- cause- I like when you- do that." he said, sounding as inarticulate as ever.
"Do what?" was Remus' simple reply, one side of his mouth pulling up into a half smile that had Sirius' insides twisting up into knots.
Reaching out, Sirius pressed Remus' hand to his face, allowing the others fingers to brush his hair. Remus eyes widened momentarily before his gaze softened as did his smile. Sirius knew it was a lie because in truth his groan was a result of his overactive imagination using the image of Remus' tongue running over his lower lip to breathe new life into his fantasies, but this was true as well. He loved when Remus touched him and he felt utterly overjoyed by the look of pride on Remus' face at the moment.
"This?" he repeated, voice barely above a whisper as his fingertips fluttered over the contours of Sirius' face-tracing the line of his jaw, the curve of his brow and lips..
Sirius' eyes slipped shut, letting out a silent breath as he relaxed into the gentle touch and nodded. Remus' cool hand over his inflamed skin felt wonderful. He sighed as Remus settled his palm over the bruise covering his jaw, leaning into the touch and peeking his eyes open to look at the other man who seemed utterly amazed by all this. Sirius offered him a gentle smile which had the other man lighting up a bit more.
"Don't look so surprised." he murmured, causing Remus to furrow his brow a bit, "I need you too, you know."
The bright smile that took over Remus' mouth, made the statement all the more true.
If it had been any other day, Sirius would have skipped the shower. However, after last night, he really needed one. He felt utterly disgusting and as hungry as he was, he knew he'd enjoy breakfast that much more if he couldn't feel the dried blood caking his hair or the layer of dirt that he could swear was encasing him.
Closing his eyes, Sirius leaned his head against the cool tiles, letting the warm cascade of water pound against his back as he stood beneath the spray. His minds eye was filled with images of Remus, his memory replaying the sensation of the other's hands against his skin, the warm, happy smile that lit up his features. It was incredible and impossible and Sirius didn't know what to do with it.
Sirius didn't do well when he felt overwhelmed. Usually, he avoided the thing that was the cause of it, but that wasn't an option now-nor did he want it to be. He just had to figure this out. Of course, he had absolutely no idea how to do that which really made it that much worse.
Sighing, Sirius gently rapped his forehead against the tiled wall, trying to knock the images of Remus out of his head. Predictably, his method didn't work ..at all. In fact, with every rap against the wall, the images grew in their strength, becoming much more vivid than they had been previously. His hormones were going haywire and a stirring in his lions told him that if he kept this up, it would soon became pretty apparent what all this meant.
Squeezing his eyes shut, Sirius tried to focus. He had to think of unpleasant things like John Gilmore, blood, Kreacher, his mother ..oh Merlin, his mother. Sirius shuddered. It seemed to have worked until he heard someone outside the bathroom door. Remus. Remus was waiting for him.
This time, there was nothing he could do to stop his blood from rushing south as his mind sped up, images of Remus flowing freely. Groaning, Sirius bit his lower lip. What was he supposed to do now? Normally, he'd simply take care of it. However, he couldn't help but feel extremely guilty. He should not be thinking of Remus like this.
But he was and his very prominent erection made it hard to ignore.
Pursing his lips together, he flicked his eyes over to the door, as if waiting for it to burst open and Remus to come in in order to let him know just how twisted Sirius really was. When that didn't happen, he pushed the curtain aside to grab his wand - quickly casting a silencing charm before dropping his wand with a clatter.
As soon as he was sure Remus would have absolutely no idea just how perverse his room mate actually was, Sirius reached down and took himself in hand, letting out a relieved moan in response. Merlin, he felt like he was bloody 15 years old again. Having to sneak a wank in the shower because he didn't want anyone else to know about it, was far too embarrassed to risk it otherwise.
Pushing the thought to the back of his mind, he stroked himself slowly, rubbing his thumb over the bead of pre-cum already accumulated at the tip of his penis. Allowing himself to let go, his mind zeroed in on the moment he had with Remus last night. Remus' sharp amber eyes came into focus. He watched as the werewolf's clever tongue darted out over his full, lower lip. Grunting in response to the image, Sirius picked up his pace, his hand moving faster over his cock as his mind brought Remus' phantom hands to the forefront.
It was easy, Sirius thought guiltily, to imagine that his hand was actually Remus'. Remus' hands were soft and yet somehow callousy. His touch was always so gentle, like a ghost, unless his hands were curled into the front of Sirius' robes or shirts. Merlin, he had a lot of ammunition to use for this.
Bracing himself against the shower wall with his free hand, he thought of every arousing thing Remus had done; the way he slung his leg over Sirius' sometimes when they slept, the way his throat undulated when drinking butterbeer. He thought of how his delicate hands curled around his tea cups, cradling the china carefully as he sipped at the drink. He imagined Remus on their bed, peering over one of his books and raising an amused eye brow at him. He thought of the way his hands felt as they skirted over his hands, arms and face. And finally ..finally ..he thought of the kiss.
It had seemed so innocent at first, so chaste, until that brief swipe of tongue. It had been, by far, the sexiest kiss Sirius had ever received and Remus had barely even kissed him.
With a load groan, eyes squeezed shut, Sirius came against the tiled wall, his body tensing before relaxing as he let himself go.
Bonelessly sliding down to sit on the shower floor, Sirius sucked in deep breaths - ignoring how cold the water had grown since he had begun all this.
That had been mind blowing, truly. And, because of that, Sirius could only come to one conclusion. He fancied Remus. It was new and alarming, but a part of him had known ever since the other man had first opened his eyes and looked at him. He was stuck then. He should have known.
Merlin. He was in deep.
After what he had done in the shower, Sirius found it difficult to look Remus in the eye. As soon as he emerged from the steam filled room, he went about fussing over non-essential thing; buttoning up his shirt in a painstakingly slow manner, choosing a pair of socks and slowly tugging them on. He took forever just to figure out what he even wanted to wear.
Eventually, after Sirius had stood in front of the wardrobe, raking his hand through his hair as he tried to figure out if he ought to wear an undershirt or not, Remus felt the need to say something.
"I'm sure this will all still be here after breakfast, Sirius. If we don't hurry up, James might very well eat it all."
Oh, yes, James certainly would. Sirius knew Remus was right, but still his gaze lingered a little longer before finally shifting over to the werewolf.
Remus was sitting at Sirius' desk, resting on his elbows which were propped against the wooden surface. Spread out in front of him was yet another book, however it didn't hold the tawny haired man's attention. No, Remus was gazing intently at him.
A lump formed in Sirius' throat and he rushed to get rid of it. Giving him a curt nod in agreement, he cleared his throat before jerking his head to the door and moving to open it. Remus was quick to follow. Usually Sirius waited for him, even held his hand or slipped a comforting arm around his shoulders. He seemed reluctant to touch Remus this morning though.
Well, Remus thought, that wasn't entirely true. After Remus had emerged from the shower, he had had that moment with Sirius on their bed. Remus still flushed to think about it. It had been perhaps the most perfect moment of his life. Remus had thought it was wonderful and Sirius seemed to feel the same. So what was wrong? Was it the kiss? Had Sirius' mind just caught up to all that now?
Frowning, and needing some sort of reassurance, Remus jogged up to fall in step beside Sirius, taking his hand like he normally did. Sirius tensed for a moment, flashing Remus a strained smile as they descended the stairs. Remus' stomach sank.
"Something wrong?" he asked, voice low so as not to draw attention to it even though James and Lily were the only other people in the house.
Sirius shook his head to negate it, but Remus knew something was up. How could it not be?
Choosing to ignore this, Remus held back a sigh and nodded. He wanted to say more, wanted to tell Sirius that if something was wrong, he could tell him. It didn't make sense to him and he desperately wanted to return to that moment, to skirt his fingers over Sirius' arms and face. That was impossible though. He had gone from then to now and in that short span of time, something had gone wrong. Remus just couldn't figure out what it was.
Entering the kitchen, hand still clutching Sirius', he was met with three people as opposed to the two both men had been expecting. Even Sirius seemed surprised to see Dumbledore sitting at the kitchen table with James and Lily.
As predicted, James' plate was piled high with food- any and every kind of food that Lily had decided to prepare for breakfast that morning. Thankfully the red head had thought ahead of time to make a lot, knowing that her husband as well as her husband's best mate, would be especially hungry after last night.
Dumbledore himself was complimenting Lily on her pancakes, as they each took a seat. Sirius smiled at the older wizard, dipping his head in acknowledged respect. "Professor." he greeted.
Dumbledore smiled in return, "Good Morning, Sirius." he said before his eyes shifted over to Remus, "Mr. Lupin."
Remus felt the need to shrink away from his all seeing gaze, but instead he gave the wizard a curt nod before turning his eyes to his plate. Whenever Dumbledore was around he felt exposed and he hated it. He knew Dumbledore was, by all means, a good man. But he gave him strange vibes that he just didn't feel like dealing with, especially now.
"I just stopped by to give you this." Dumbledore said after a moment, during which Sirius had begun to follow James' example, piling his plate high with food. He paused at Dumbledore's words though, unsure as to who had been addressed before he noticed his eyes were focused on Remus.
Remus furrowed his brow as the older man produced a funny looking vial from his robes and set it before him. Flicking his eyes up to meet the Professor's sky blue orbs, he parted his lips to speak but found his voice caught once more.
Dumbledore smiled kindly, "During your time spent in the containment facility, a potion was discovered." he explained, "It's called the Wolfsbane Potion. It allows the recipient to keep their minds the night of the full moon which- if I am not mistaken- is in two days."
Remus blanched. He had forgotten all about the moon. It felt strange to realize that something that had dictated his entire life up until this point had gone over looked, even for a second. He had been so caught up in all this that he hadn't even had the chance to worry. Judging from his shocked expression, Dumbledore seemed to know as well.
Shaking himself out of it, Remus cleared his throat and carefully picked up the vial- holding it delicately as if it might explode with just the tiniest slight of hand. "The Wolfsbane Potion." Remus repeated. It was the first time he had spoken before Dumbledore, but the older man showed no surprise. Instead he simply nodded his head.
"I can keep my mind." he added, repeating what Dumbledore had just told him in a wondrous tone. Again, Dumbledore nodded.
"I'll know who I am. I'll remembered myself." Remus pressed. The old wizard gave him a wizened smile.
"You'll remember yourself entirely. Mind you, we'll still be sure to keep you in a secure room, but you will not be chained up in any manner."
Remus couldn't help but stare then. His mind was spinning out of control. How was this possible? This was a miracle. In a world that so despised him, someone had found a way to help. He could keep his mind. The moon would come and go and throughout the whole ordeal he would still be Remus Lupin.
"You're to take this two hours before moon rise and adjourn to the room at the end of the hall on the second floor one hour before moon rise. Yes?" Dumbledore informed him and Remus nodded.
"Right then- well- I have a few other things to attend to today. I'll leave you all now."
With that Dumbledore rose and swept out of the room in a blur of brilliant blue robes with sparkling silver stars.
Remus all the while was captivated by the vial in his hand.
How could something so small, so simple, alter his life so much? Remus was used to being chained up for the moon, locked away in even worse conditions for the painful transformations. Several inmates had died due to wounds inflicted upon themselves during the night. After all- no one died of old age in a werewolf containment center. It was just unheard of.
Enchanted as he was by the dark potion, it wasn't until he felt a hand on his arm that he was finally able to tear his gaze away.
Sirius offered him a small smile, his hand retreating back from Remus as soon as the werewolf looked at him.
"I said, that's got to be a comfort, yeah?" Sirius repeated himself. Remus nodded, still too dumb founded to form coherent thoughts.
Lily, however, was simply beaming at the man who had quickly become her friend. "I kept meaning to bring it up to you- the moon that is- but it kept slipping my mind!" the red head commented, her full lips pulling up into a beautiful smile that had Remus feeling somewhat better at the strained smiles that he was sharing with Sirius.
Remus nodded, hesitating a moment before deciding to speak. "It had actually slipped my mind ..the moon I mean. For the first time in a decade, it actually slipped my mind." Remus said, his statement just that though his tone revealed his confusion as to just how that had happened.
Lily looked sympathetically at him, nodding her head in turn. "Yes- well- a great many things end up slipping your mind because these two" she gestured to James and Sirius, both of whom had their mouths full of food, "tend to beat the sense right out of you."
James and Sirius made muffled noises of protest, causing Remus' lips to pull up in a smile, especially when Sirius looked at him with a light in his eyes. It made him feel all the better.
A/N: Sorry for the delay! I know I said the moon would be in this chapter ..but I lied. It's in the next chapter which I'm already working on. Yay! Again, I'd like to thank everyone for all the awesome reviews! It's what inspired me to keep going with this story. :D
