It had been three days since Night and Star had rescued Sirius from his house with the help of a servant girl named Lily. Those three days had been very long for the siblings. A few hours after they had woken up the next morning, Sirius developed a dangerously high fever. Star speculated that it was because his wounds had become infected.

Helping Sirius battle the fever had been tough. Because he was still unconscious, getting the herbs in him to help with the fever had been a challenge. They ended up having to mix them in with his water, which had to be administered to him slowly so he wouldn't bring it back up. Thankfully, today Sirius' fever finally broke so they could relax a little and get some much needed rest.

"How's he doing?" Star asked as she entered the tent.

"Much better." Night answered with a small sigh of relief.

"That's good." Star said, moving to check Sirius' temperature.

"Was I ever like this?" Night asked.

"Huh?"

"Was I ever like this?" He repeated. "I know when I was younger my wounds got infected sometimes."

Star sat back on her heels as she thought about it. Finally she answered "Yes and no. Yes, your wounds got infected after your first few transformations until I figured out how to treat them. And there were a few infections after we came here until I learned which herbs to use. But as far as I recall, you never developed a fever because of them. Or if you did, it was never as bad as Sirius; and it certainly didn't knock you unconscious."

Night nodded thoughtfully.

"Anyway, you should go get some rest." Star said, changing the subject.

"I will soon."

Star nodded, knowing better than to push it right now. She turned to leave and then hesitated, looking back at her brother.

"Night." she said softly.

"Yeah?" he asked, not looking up.

"You love him, don't you?"

Night froze, muscles tensing as he took in what his sister said.

"I…" he began.

Before he could finish his answer he was interrupted by a groan. Both siblings' eyes snapped to the motionless form of Sirius Black. As they watched, he let out another groan while his left arm shifted. A few minutes later his eyes fluttered open before half closing against the sunlight. Star moved so that she was next to her brother and in Sirius' line of vision.

"Sirius?" She said, careful to keep her voice quiet.

The boy turned his head slightly and his eyes searched for a moment before fixing on the girl kneeling next to him.

"Star?" He rasped.

"Yes Sirius, it's me. How are you feeling?"

"Like I've been run over by a long line of carriages." Sirius answered.

Night snorted and Star smiled. Despite what he had been through, Sirius still had his sense of humor. It might take a while, but Sirius would be just fine.

"Well, that's to be expected." Star said with a smile. "You've been through quite a lot."

Sirius' face darkened and she correctly guessed that he was remembering what had happened that led him to this point.

"Don't worry about that right now. There will be plenty of time to deal with it later. For now, rest." She said gently.

Sirius wanted to protest but found that his body was betraying him. He drifted off to sleep and Star motioned for her brother to follow her outside.

"How long do you think it will be before he's back to normal?" Night asked as he stepped out into the sunlight.

"Depends on what you mean by normal. As fat as his attitude and metal health, I'd say he's normal. He's already making jokes." Night snorted. "As far as his physical health, he should be fine in a week. Two at most. But it will take a little longer before he'll be ready for you to teach him how to be a flying tree squirrel. I want to be sure his wounds won't reopen."

Night stuck out his tongue for the squirrel comment before asking "Is there a high chance of that?"

Star paused to think about it. She was quiet for so long that Night began to worry. Just as he opened his mouth to ask her what was taking so long she answered.

"There's a good chance of it during these next few weeks. After that the likelihood will drop. But still, these are deep cuts. They'll scar and that will leave a possibility of something reopening them. They're like your scars in that respect."

Night winced at the comparison. His own scars were a nuisance at times, some reopening and taking longer to heal than the new ones. He hoped that none of Sirius wounds ever reopened.

Two weeks later

"Take smaller steps and don't try to walk so fast." Night chided.

"Alright." Sirius sighed, trying to force his trembling legs to work properly. He didn't want Night to decide that letting him do some walking in the clearing was a bad idea and take him back to the tent.

After ten minutes of slow walking Sirius finally reached the tree where he had shown Night and Star his sketchbook. He gratefully sank down to the ground and allowed Night to guide him back so that he was leaning against the tree. Once he was settled his best friend sat down next to him.

"That was pretty good for your first try." He said conversationally.

Sirius grimaced. It didn't feel like it had been a good attempt. His legs were throbbing madly and his back was aching from the strain of keeping him upright. Night must have noticed the look of pain on his face for he quickly got up and retrieved some water and herbs. Before allowing Sirius to have a drink he crushed the herbs and mixed them in with the water. Then he handed over and allowed Sirius to drink.

Sirius let out a relieved sigh after taking a long drink. While he knew that it would be a while before the herbs kicked in, the water helped reenergize him and he felt more alert now. Taking another drink, he let the bottle drop and looked over at his friend. Night was watching him with concerned eyes. When he saw Sirius' smile he smiled himself.

"Do you like it?" Sirius asked suddenly.

"Do I like what?" Night asked confused.

"Living here. In the forest." Sirius clarified.

"Yes, I do. I love it actually." Night said a small smile on his face. "There's the freedom to do whatever I want and no one tells me what to do. Star really doesn't care what I do so long as I remember to do the fishing once a week."

"What don't I care about?" a new voice asked.

Both boys looked up to see Star approaching through the trees. Seconds later she was sitting down next to Sirius.

"What I do during the day." Night said.

"You're right. I don't." Star said.

Sirius was looking back and forth between the two siblings, an idea coming to him.

"Night?"

"Hmm?"

"Would you mind bringing me my sketchbook and pencils?" Sirius asked.

"Sure." Night got up and headed back to his tent to retrieve the requested items. He returned less than a minute later with them and handed them over to Sirius.

"What are you planning on drawing?" Star asked.

"You two." Sirius answered.

He looked up to see that he had managed to startle the siblings. Both were staring at him with surprised looks.

"If that's alright with you." He hastily added, worried that he might have offended them by assuming it was okay.

"It's fine with me. We just didn't expect it." Star said, getting over her surprise. "Where do you want us?"

"Sit next to your brother." Sirius directed.

Star did as she was told, tucking one leg under her body and stretching the other out. She leaned back against the tree, keeping her eyes fixed on Sirius. Sirius studied them for a moment before nodding his approval.

"Good. Stay where you are."

He flipped open his sketchbook and found an empty page. His eyes flicked up to refresh his memory and he noticed that the siblings were sitting awkwardly; not looking like this was natural.

"You guys can talk you know. Act like this is a normal afternoon and you're just sitting around talking. I'm not even here."

"Then let's try this." Star suggested.

She moved towards the center of the clearing and sat down, leaning back on her arms. Night followed and sat cross legged in front of her. The pose looked natural and Sirius could easily imagine the two of them sitting like that on an ordinary afternoon.

As he moved so he could see them better, Night struck up a conversation with his sister about something or other. Sirius wasn't listening. He was too focused on his pencil moving. What seemed like only a short time later, an outline of the two siblings formed on the page. By the time Night gently shook his shoulder to snap him back to the present, Sirius had begun to fill in a few details.

He blinked and focused on his friend. "What?" he asked.

"That's enough for the day." Star answered from behind her brother.

"Why?"

"You're still not fully recovered. Until then, you need to heal."

Sirius was about to protest before he noticed that the pain in his back had increased from holding one position for so long. Deciding that rest sounded like a good idea, he nodded and allowed Night to help him up. Star took his sketchbook and pencils and followed them back to the tent where she stowed them in his pack. Then she disappeared and came back just as Night got him settled with some water. She handed it to Sirius who took it gratefully and drank it all down before leaning back against the blankets. The last thing he saw before sleep claimed him was the familiar face of Night kneeling next to his bed.

An: Sirius. Sirius. Come out come out where ever you are.

*Wanders into the area. Spots readers in the area*

Oh, hello there. As you may have guessed, I'm currently Sirius hunting. The mangy mutt is still hiding from me. I will find him and drag him back though.

Sorry it took me so long to respond to your reviews. It was Thanksgiving this week and that generally means some type of craziness in my family. And my brain tends to take off on its own vacation whenever I'm on vacation from school. Next week should be back to normal as I return to school tomorrow.

It has come to my attention that I didn't make the contest clear. My plot monkey (yes you read that right. I have plot monkeys instead of plot bunnies) doesn't have to be hidden somewhere in the world I've created. The same goes for Sirius. They could be hiding anywhere. For example, maybe you found them hiding in a chapter of a story you've written. Or somewhere else, like in the room of requirement back at Hogwarts. The idea is for you to be creative in your answer. Make it up.

Let's see. Recs for this week.

A Different Halloween by robst. Note to self: What makes this story so good is you can see it happening. One doctor visit and suddenly we have a different world.

Where Your Fingerprints Linger by remuslives23. Note to self: If Remus showed up dressed like this to a party of mine, I wouldn't complain. Nor would I complain about any of the stuff he does. But I will have to remember to ask someone to keep an eye on my party planner.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a Sirius to catch.

*Wanders away calling Sirius, I have a nice juicy steak for you. Come and get it.*