Disclaimer: Nothing's mine!

A/N: A cute little window into the life of Sirius and Remus during OotP

Helping

A few weeks before Christmas, I walked in on Remus sitting on his bed, staring dully at the wall. There wouldn't have been anything wrong with that, but he had fresh scratches on his thin arms, again. I kneeled down in front of him, taking his hands.

"Moony, are you ok?"

It was only when I spoke that he looked at me, as if he'd only just realised that I was there. He tried to smile, but I could see that he was in all sorts of pain.

"I'll be alright."

I rolled my eyes. I should have known he wouldn't say anything. Moony likes to keep quiet, which is cute, but sometimes just worrying. I was worried now. It had been the full moon just last night.

"You did take the last Wolfsbane I gave you, didn't you?"

"Of course I did."

I kissed his pale hands and sat down next to him, draping an arm around his shoulders, pressing him close to me. I could feel him relax, and felt a surge of love so strong that it frightened me. I tried to make my voice casual.

"I'll tell Snape to make it a little stronger."

"Thanks, Sirius."

His voice was quiet, grateful. That's my Remus, always waiting for me to make the first move, never asking for anything himself, preferring to help others and forget his own troubles in that. Suddenly, he pulled away from me.

"Sirius, do you sometimes wish you had never met me?"

"What? What are you talking about?"

"You spend so much time having to care about me. If you were given the chance, wouldn't you want to have more of your own life?"

I looked at him incredulously, disbelievingly. "Are you testing me or something? Why would I ever think that? How can you even think that I would think that?"

"Don't you?"

"No! Of course not!" My voice must have surprised him, because he didn't say anything else. I could feel my hearth thudding uncomfortably. Was Remus suggesting that he didn't want to be with me? But I didn't really believe that. When werewolves fall in love and mate, it's for life.

I think I will always be grateful that I met him, and that we somehow fell in love and stayed in love, despite everything that happened to us. It was about time somebody helped him and didn't make assumptions just because of what he is. I had always wanted to help him. He was right, it had become my life. But I loved my life.

"Will you lie down for me, baby? Lie down on your front."

"Why?" he asked, obeying anyway. I started unbuttoning his robes, kissing the back of neck when he tensed slightly.

"Shh... I'm not going to hurt you, Moony."

"I know. Sorry."

"It's ok. Just relax."

I let his robes slip off his shoulders, and gasped.

I couldn't help it. His back had more red scratches on it, a few deep enough to have drawn blood. I pulled out my wand and did my best to heal them, leaving only slightly red marks. I pressed a hand on his back tentatively.

"Does that hurt?"

"No. Sirius, what are you doing?"

I stroked his back gently. "Close your eyes."

I straddled Remus' hips, careful not to apply too much weight on him, and started kneading his back gently, grinning when I heard a faint moan beneath me. I worked up his back, across his shoulders, and then down, and then up again. I paused when he shifted a little.

"Am I hurting you?"

"No, it... feels nice..."

I smiled and carried on with my massage, only stopping when I was sure that Remus would be calm, and my thumbs had began to ache.

"Feel better?"

There was no answer from Remus. I smiled, brushing the sandy, slightly greying hair away from his closed eyes, and laid down too, facing him. I wrapped my arms around him, feeling like the luckiest man in the world, out of wizards and Muggles alike. I love you so much...

Thankful that some ancestor had been clever enough to put a permanent warming charm in the house for each winter (and a cooling charm for the summers), I leaned my forehead against his, and closed my eyes.