CW: PSTD, recovery,

:FORTY-FIVE:

Remus and Kreacher took care of Sirius the rest of the week. After that extremely difficult day, Sirius had retreated into himself. He was there physically, and he let them take care of him without complaining, but his spark was dimmed.

Kreacher was worried after the first day, having never seen this side of Sirius before. The house elf had never actually been around any of the times the Black family hurt Sirius or seen him to watch the aftermath. Sirius hid from everyone when he was a child - and Kreacher had never looked for him. He had been too busy taking care of the other Black family members and their requests to bother with the 'disappointing son'.

But Remus comforted him, assuring Kreacher that Sirius would come back soon. He had seen this before, though maybe not this bad in a long time. And he knew, more than he ever had before, that Sirius would come back to him when he was ready. So he kept taking care of his partner, making sure his physical needs were being taken care of, and comforting him when woke up from nightmares.

"Harry sent us a letter." Remus said gently on Saturday morning. "Would you like me to read it out loud?"

Sirius nodded, looking up with the first spark of interest Remus had seen. He smiled, opening up the letter and reading it to Sirius. Apparently all of his classes were going well this year, although he wasn't too sure about his extra classes. Ancient Runes was really complicated and Care of Magical Creatures was interesting, but a little scary because it was Hagrid teaching.

"Oh," Remus laughed. "He said that to open the book you had to stroke the spine, Sirius."

Sirius gave just the faintest hint of a smirk.

Remus perked up even more, continuing the letter. It turned out that Harry, taking Remus' advice, had actually spoken to Draco during that class while they were working with hippogriffs. Remus laughed as he read about how awkwardly the interaction had gone, though Harry had written that it was the most decent he'd ever seen Draco behave.

"That's interesting," Remus commented, turning the page. "Hermione has been chosen to take all of the courses available this year."

"How on earth is she doing that?" Sirius asked gruffly, his voice rough from lack of use. "I know she's, well, Hermione, but I don't think even she can cheat time with sheer willpower."

Remus laughed, beaming at Sirius even as he tried to play it cool.

"I dunno, but it can't be very easy." Remus frowned slightly. "I hope she doesn't get burned out with all that work."

"Yeah," Sirius chuckled. "Like that time you decided to figure out how to put everyone 's name on the Marauders Map over Christmas break? You had to practically be dragged to bed or to eat by one of us."

"It was a wonder I didn't explode." Remus agreed, grinning. "But I did make it work in the end!"

Sirius laughed. "Yeah, I suppose that's what you'd remember over the week-long nap you had afterwards!"

Remus waved his hand. "Details, details."

They stared at each other for a moment, then burst into laughter together. Kreacher ran into the room a moment later, looking startled by the two men, who were practically on the floor they were laughing so hard. He frowned at them both for a moment, then left the kitchen muttering about living with children. Eventually, Remus and Sirius' laughter faded into hiccups, but their smiles stayed bright.

Sirius was back.

However, it didn't stop Remus from banning Sirius from 12 Grimmauld Place for the foreseeable future. Sirius tried to protest, saying he wanted to help too, but Remus cut him off.

"I'm going to go in there," Remus said firmly. "And bring back books. I'll put them through dozens of charms to make sure they're safe first. But you're not crossing that threshold until I know it won't trigger you again."

Sirius had muttered petulantly about the whole thing, but caved to Remus in the end. He knew, deep down, that Remus was right. He needed space from everything that house brought up inside him, his whole lifetime would be preferable, but he'd settle for a month.

So, Remus had gone back to 12 Grimmauld Place and collected a mountain of books for them to shuffle through. They took it in turns, Sirius reading while Remus caught up on his freelance job, then Remus reading while Sirius did the chores around the house. They also set strict guidelines for themselves that they'd spend time with Petunia on weekends, and Kreacher would make sure they slept and ate at regular intervals.

Petunia would have been more concerned about their manic focus, but she had become incredibly busy at work. She'd been promoted to a higher position because of her talent for details and organizing, so she now oversaw the entire department of secretaries and assigned work to each of them. It had been stressful at first, but Petunia loved feeling like she was making a difference and being appreciated.

Plus, it kept her from missing Dudley too much while he was away at school. She'd been assured once again that the school would keep Mr. Dursley from entering the property or speaking to her son, but she still worried that something might happen. If Petunia didn't know how much Dudley loved that school and was doing so well there, she'd have moved him closer to home. As it was, she settled for weekly phone calls and occasional letters instead.

It was one of those Sunday afternoons when Petunia shared one of Dudley's letters with the two men over tea.

"He's doing so well!" Petunia gushed. "Says his coach is very pleased with his progress and he's even doing alright in classes!"

"That's great, Petunia." Sirius replied, taking a drink from his mug. "Is he liking any of his classes?"

"Still the crafting class, whatever it's called." Petunia waved her hand in the air. "He just loves working with his hands - I swear his room has turned into a workshop since he came home last summer."

"I think that's great," Remus smiled. "Maybe we could see about summer programs for him this year? I'm sure he'd love even a field trip to a workshop around the area."

"Yes, I've been thinking about that." Petunia replied. "He does get bored about halfway through the summer - it might be good to have a summer project for him."

"Yeah," Remus nodded. "Harry goes stir-crazy if we don't give him things to work on. He complains, sure, but he needs it to stay sane."

Sirius laughed. "We need it, too."

And they really did need it - the interaction they got during their summers with Harry and all of his friends made them feel young and alive again. They loved having the house full of laughter and Remus loved sharing his knowledge with them all. But in the meantime, it was good that no one came by besides Petunia so they didn't have to hide all their research.

When she left later that evening, they debated going back to work, but a stern glare from Kreacher sent them off to bed instead. Work would just have to wait until Monday.

Notes:

Happy Reading!