CHAPTER 20
JUST IN CASE
The green flames died out, and Sirius stumbled out of the fireplace in Remus' dark living room.
"Remus!" he called. "Rem! Rem, it's me. Are you home?"
Remus of course wasn't.
Sirius hastened down the hallway into the narrow bathroom, where he found Remus' potions case: chafed and patched and with a broken handle, the same one Rem had had back in their school days. He took the case, set it down on the floor and opened it carefully.
Sleeping draught, sleeping draught, Yarrow potion, Yarrow potion, Yarrow potion, how many Yarrow potions? Flu potion, migraines potion, Dittany ointment. Dittany ointment should do the trick. No blood replenisher, though. It didn't matter. If the ointment worked, they wouldn't need blood replenishing.
Sirius grabbed the ointment and two Yarrow potions, just for comfort, and strode to Remus' desk.
He fumbled through the top drawer, where he found a red piece of paper, which he swiftly straightened out, pressing it against the desk. Without sitting down, he dipped the feather in the quill and wrote:
"Urgently, come to my place. Bring blood replenishing potion. P."
He folded the paper in two and noted, "To Remus Lupin, for when he comes home."
The urgent Howler was just in case. The Dittany would work, and they wouldn't be needing the replenisher at all.
Cursing under his breath, Sirius opened the red piece of paper again and scribbled another line in haste.
"And revival potion, just in case."
He folded back the Howler and left Remus' flat through the fireplace.
He ran down the hallway of his own home and into the kitchen, where he found that Snape, true to his word, had not gone anywhere.
Sirius knelt down beside him to present the modest loot.
"For the pain," Sirius said, holding out a blue vial. "It's Yarrow."
Snape declined with a small shake of the head.
"I'd rather have my magic. What's that?"
"Dittany ointment. It should stop the bleeding."
"It should."
"Right. Need to clean the wound first," Sirius said, a bit breathless. "Since you're still magically sober, you can cast a charm."
Snape reached stiffly for his wand, which was holstered by his side, and Sirius, rolling up his sleeves, walked up to the kitchen sink, turned on the tap and washed his hands thoroughly.
"I left a howler for Remus," Sirius said loudly over the sound of running water. "He should be back soon and see it. He'll bring a blood replenisher. You know… just in case."
Hands cleaned and prepped, Sirius spun on his heels to find Snape in somewhat of a struggle with his wand: he was trying and failing awkwardly to point the wand at the bloody injury, presumably to cast the cleaning charm. The problem, Sirius ascertained with slight unease, lay in the jitteriness of Snape's hands.
Whatever the reason behind the shivering, a bit too much blood loss or an overdose on the Torture Curse, Sirius found neither of the explanations to be in any way appeasing.
"I'll do it." Sirius interrupted Snape's struggle with the wand. "Good ol' muggle way. Unless you're afraid it might sting."
Snape, regarding him cautiously while weighing options, eventually nodded in silent agreement. Sirius was crouched by his side with a water bowl some moments later.
By now, the blood had soaked through the cloth, and Sirius had to make a conscious effort not to frown as he removed the bandage to inspect the wound.
"I've seen worse," Sirius said, avoiding Snape's glance. "Definitely seen worse."
He dipped a clean cloth in water and proceeded to clean the wound, gently.
For what his pride was worth, Snape didn't wince or flinch while Sirius dabbed at the torn flesh.
Pity.
Sirius would have much prefered that Snape had. Just enough to qualify him as obnoxiously whiny and give Sirius' aversion something to cling on to.
Was that too much to ask?
Sirius smeared the Dittany ointment over the wound, the thickest he could, and glanced at the clock: quarter past one. He would have to reapply the balm in twenty minutes to keep the wound from reopening.
"There. You're all prepped," Sirius declared as he covered the injury with a fresh cloth, which Snape rigorously clutched onto. "A night's rest, and you'll be right as rain."
Seemingly unimpressed with Sirius' ostentatious reassurance, Snape found he had nothing to add to that. He leaned his head back against the wall, looking exhausted, and closed his eyes.
Sirius let him be.
He didn't know what to do with him now that Snape wasn't what Sirius had always presumed: a spineless coward.
Turning to more immediate matters, Snape's blood and the Dittany ointment were glued to Sirius' hands in a sticky, slippery mess, which Sirius quickly learned couldn't be fixed by rubbing his palms on the back of his trousers.
He scrubbed the blood off his fingers under the running tap water and refused to think of anything while doing so.
"Could you pass a glass?" Snape asked when Sirius turned off the tap.
Sirius nodded absently. "Sure."
Snape was just thirsty, nothing more. Everyone was thirsty once in a while.
"Here," Sirius held the glass close to Snape's lips, remembering the earlier shaky-wand-shaky-hands dilemma. "Don't take more than a few sips."
Snape, looking uncomfortable, glanced between the glass and Sirius and the floor, and Sirius felt the need to qualify his gesture.
"You're tired," he said carefully, "and I don't want you spilling water on your lap. I'm not undressing you if you do."
Accepting the half-baked rationalization, Snape drank, no more than three small gulps.
"I'd hex you before you'd even think about that," Snape warned as Sirius set aside the glass.
Sirius grinned.
"It's funny you'd say that." He sat down on the kitchen floor next to Snape, pulling one knee to his chest. "I don't remember any protesting when I unbuttoned your shirt."
Snape glared at him, dryly and unamused, and utterly exasperated.
Sirius shook his head and let out a sigh.
If conversations with Snape had gotten this lewd, the situation truly was in shambles.
Sirius could only hope the Dittany ointment would work its magic before their exchanges plunged yet lower into depreciation. What was up next? Cracking dick jokes with Snape after midnight?