A/N: kate3110, sorry about the cliffhanger, I just wanted to do their next encounter right, so this chapter is a little bit passive but it has a lot of tension in it. :D Sorry for delayed update, I'm just exhausted and I barely had the time for this one. Anyway, I hope you'll like it :D

Disclaimer: Everything you recognize is JKR's, the rest is my imagination.

After dark

''What the f…White?!'' I heard familiar hoarse voice somewhere above me, right after he opened the damned door I was struggling with for the better part of the evening. Only now that hoarse voice wasn't furious, irritated or flat, instead it was panicked, bordering on frightened. If I wasn't feeling immense pain only everywhere in my body, I would feel some sick satisfaction with this sudden burst of worry.

''What the hell happened?'' Sirius quickly picked me up and put my healthy hand around his shoulder, carefully carrying me into the house and closing the door with one kick. I couldn't even summon the strength to answer him, feeling, for the first time in three days, completely safe, and with that feeling came an odd sort of exhaustion. It was just so comfortable when I was ignoring pain, how could his shoulder be so warm and firm? If I could just lean on it a bit more…

''White? Answer me! Don't! Don't sleep! Don't do that to me now!'' When I scarcely opened my eyes again, I was met with Sirius' face very close to mine, with wide eyes filled with terror. It was like he was reliving some traumatic experience from Azkaban again, while carrying me up to my room, bleeding all over his robe.

'''m just…'' I mumbled, trying to keep my eyes opened for his sake, but my cloudy mind wouldn't let me be persistent in my little battle. ''I'm ruining another robe of yours.'' I buried my face further into his chest, missing rapidly calming of his posture, until I felt slight rumble against my face. He was chuckling.

''Now is not the time for annoying me, you idiot.'' He countered and kicked another door open and I turned my head slightly to see Walburga's room which was making me even more content. My scents and my territory surrounded me and I even tried to smile on the sight of my bed, now cleaned of all bacteria and pests. It had my white cotton sheets on it and it was just so inviting.

''Put me down, want to sleep.'' I whispered hoarsely, feeling my voice betraying me and my mind even more clouding. Soon enough, there would be black and white grains in my vision to tell me I was about to pass out. Ah, here they are.

''No, no, no! Don't you dare to fall asleep on me! Sit!'' Sirius was yet again in his panic attack mode and he sat me down on my bed, leaving red stains wherever my body touched the surface. My body literally spasmed for a moment, probably a consequence from Lestrange's Cruciatus, making all the wounds hurt tenfold. But, even that wasn't enough to wake me up. My body ached for sleep. Or for death, for that matter.

I didn't even notice when Sirius ran to my bathroom, searching frantically for something in the little cabinets.

''Where the fuck- White, where are your medic potions? I know you have some in here!'' Sirius' hurried voice rang through the bathroom and I concentrated on his form rummaging through my stuff, but I couldn't find a power to answer him.

I heard some more stumbling while I was fighting a losing battle with my heavy lids, when his voice, suddenly close to me, snapped me out of it.

''Look at me. Don't fall asleep. Can you hear me? Can you see me?'' He was trying so hard not to sound so panicked. I really didn't need that right now.

''Yeah. Hi there.'' I smiled weakly and focused my blurry vision on his raggedly handsome face.

''Good. Stay that way. Talk to me, let me know you didn't pass out.'' He was fussing with some vials and bandages, looking adorably worried.

''You actually…'' I knew he was right, I really shouldn't let myself fall asleep, so I obeyed him with great effort. ''…ask me to talk? I can't believe…'' I winced as he tried to move my leg to sit on the edge of the bed next to me. ''…I actually lived up to day to see that.''

On this, he actually snorted and visibly calmed down.

''Well, I wouldn't if I didn't find it necessary but…'' He trailed off when my body twitched by itself, again a consequence of Bellatrix' curse. That sudden movement, of course resulted with weak painful yelp.

''What the hell happened?'' Sirius asked while tending firstly my seriously damaged ankle. He started to wave with his wand all around the broken bone, and for some reason I was feeling oddly safe and content. I remembered his powers before, before everything, and his ability to mend broken bones, even on himself.

''I was tracing them and they…'' I closed my eyes at the sudden jolt of pain after one quiet Episkey, and after that a complete lack of pain in the ankle. It worked. But with that I felt even more pain in my bloody wounds and even more exhaustion with the loss of blood.

''Can you… give me something for blood?'' I mumbled sleepily and Sirius' eyes quickly snapped to mine, from observing my newly healed ankle.

''Oh. Oh! Here! That one's for blood replenishment!'' He now looked completely sheepish and so much like the young self, that I could almost read his mind. He was probably berating himself for being stupid irresponsible jerk, how he liked to call himself.

I drank it and in instant felt much more aware of my surroundings, and unfortunately that doubled my pain. It was now sharp and persistent, making me almost sick.

''Well. They took some Voldemort's ring to some cottage and cast amazingly strong wards around it.'' I stopped talking when I saw Sirius staring at my leg uncomfortably. I didn't realize what was the problem when-

''Oh. I'll just take them off, then.'' The wound on my leg was well above my knee, on my thigh and I was wearing awfully tight jeans, making it impossible for him to clean it and bandage it.

And as I tried to take them off with my healthy hand, poorly struggling to even undo my fly, he was looking thoroughly out of place and confused, trying to look everywhere but at my pathetic tries.

And only when I let frustrated sigh escape me, did he bother to offer help with a slight waver in his voice.

''Yeah, thanks for noticing in no time.'' Really, Vivian, is now the time to be sarcastic?

He slowly unbuttoned my jeans with insecure, slightly shaking hands and peeled them off of me, and just when I started to wonder what the hell was wrong with him except the usual things, my concentration snapped to a fact that the jeans were leaving bloody, muddy trails everywhere. And then I realized how actually dirty I was.

''Can you take me to the bathroom? If we're going to do this properly, I really have to take a bath.'' And now he looked like a deer in the headlights. What the hell was happening here?

''Um, yes. Ok.'' He cleared his throat and stood up, waiting for me to follow. Seriously?

''…Black… My leg is still hurt… And I kinda feel dizzy.''

''Oh. Well, I'll just…'' He slowly took me in his arms like earlier this evening and walked to the bathroom, carefully looking straight ahead, as if feeling my gaze on his face. And all I could think in my state of utter post-tortured tiredness was how beautiful he was, even aged and so sad.

He put me into the bathtub completely ignoring the fact I was still dressed and reached for faucet when I stopped him with my healthy hand on his slim, but strong one.

''I'll have to get naked for this, you know.'' I said almost playfully and he gulped uncomfortably.

''Oh c'mon now Black, you've seen it all some years prior.'' I continued to tease him and he blushed, now helping me to take off my ruined shirt. ''I can proudly say I haven't changed much, so don't act so freaked out.'' Now his blush was gradually rising as he helped me take off my bra, leaving me only in my knickers.

''I'm not- shut up!'' He mumbled, still not looking at me but fixing the temperature of the water with now visibly shaking hands. Ah, I almost forgot how much I liked to annoy him.

He ignored my desperate attempts not to laugh openly and turned the water on and I felt sudden reduce of ache in my tired bones. It was so hard to care when this relaxed. I even stopped my ramblings, which only moments ago were helping me feel less uncomfortable with a man sitting next to my naked form.

''Do you mind?!'' I snapped, after numerous failed tries to take shampoo and wash my hair with one hand. Sirius, who was sitting with his back turned mumbled something incoherently and turned around to face me, looking at the floor and behaving like a teenage boy, all fidgety and awkward. He stumbled and sat right next to the tub and sighed, as if I was begging him to do me a huge, tiresome favor. Git. Git with great, capable hands. I was on the verge of falling asleep yet again with his hands in my hair and he yanked it a little to wake me up. And when I opened my eyes to give him one little deathly glare, I was met with his eyes, a shade darker grey than usual, with some melancholic glint in them, and something tingled through my whole body, making me shiver. I had the sudden urge to just pull his head down to mine and kiss him, just to remember.

''Um… I think it's enough.'' I mumbled, breaking the eye contact and blaming my dizziness and unstable physical health for this weird moment of weakness. He helped me to rinse away the foam and draped one of my big, fluffy towels around me, easily carrying me to the bed with more speed than necessary, almost tossing me on it and attempting to continue with cleaning my wounds.

Then, he made me start again with my story in order to stay awake and his already nervous mood gradually darkened as I went on with my story. I could see it in the way he was putting a potion on my wound (bloody stingy, that one) and wrapping it quickly and forcefully. When he was done with my leg, I was hissing in again awake pain.

''What's with this staying awake thing?'' I asked as he prepared bandages and gauze for my arm. He just rolled his eyes, getting, of course irritated with me but still not making any eye contact.

''I don't know if you have a concussion so you'll have to wait for potions to work. Are you still dizzy?'' he asked matter of factly, getting into his teacher mode, which I didn't even know he had within her self until a few days ago.

''Maybe a little. 'm fine.'' I rolled my eyes ignoring the throbbing in my head and slapping him when he yanked my left arm for better approach, with one loud yelp and a little curse. Then he chuckled a little, his rumbling voice soothing me and making me even dizzier in the same time, casting a quick glance at me with smiling eyes. I felt something heavy dropping into my stomach.

But then he looked at my arm and noticed my uncovered scar, the one with the motto of his family. He got very serious and tensed very quickly and I could feel some negative energy radiating off him.

''I…'' He tried, then gulped, then cleared his throat. ''I couldn't…'' he tried again, muttering with hoarse, dry voice while bandaging my arm, with terrible, haunted look on his face. ''They wouldn't let me forget.''

''They, who?'' I whispered, reminding myself of someone trying to soothe wild animal.

''The dementors, they…'' he closed his eyes for a moment, wincing and battling with himself, and I could see him breaking in front of me, and my breath caught in my throat. ''They would make me remember every one of the ugly ones… I don't even think I can remember good ones anymore.'' Memories.

I opened my mouth to say something, but closed it quickly with a loss of words. This man. This unbalanced, haunted man. This brave man.

So I just cleared my throat, remembering his loathing of any sign of pity. ''Well. I've got one more, here on my cheek, right?'' That did it. He finally glanced at me and leaned dangerously close, with a bit of potion on his finger, fighting the losing battle not to show any traces of previous weakness. And my crazed, dazed mind found him even more beautiful, now when this vulnerable. I was seriously in some shit, probably because of potions. Yes, potions.

He put a finger on my cheek and spread the potion slowly, concentrating on the wound and I felt like my skin was burning, and not from pain.

And then he looked at me, still dangerously close, close enough for me to feel his body heat and his so male scent.

And I did something incredibly stupid. I don't even know what possessed me in that moment, but I reached and touched his hair. And that officially snapped him out of his… I don't even know what that was.

''Done.'' He rasped out and staggered to his feet, looking thoroughly bewildered. ''You can go to sleep now. I think you'll be fine.'' He turned to the door and mumbled, leaving me there confused with my own behaviour. And yes, I was quite exhausted, but before I fell asleep, I noticed one little thing-he left my door ajar and I could see light coming from across the hallway. I could call him if I needed him. He'll be there.