Rain pounded the pavement as a bear-sized dog made his way through the silent streets. He turned the corner and started down the long, tree-lined road. At the end, lights shone dimly. The house- a small cottage, really- became visible as he the dog passed the last towering pine. He paused, then rose on his hind legs to press a paw to the door bell.

The door opened to reveal a tired-looking man dressed in shabby wizard's robes. He looked around for a few seconds before spotting the dog; his eyes grew wide in surprise. "You shouldn't have come all this way in the rain. Come inside."

Wagging his tail, the dog followed him. As the door clicked shut, the dog vanished; he had transformed back into the man known as Sirius Black. "Remus," he said, at a loss for words.

Remus Lupin smiled. "Hello, Sirius."

"Remus, I'm so sorry," the dark-haired man managed at last.

"There's nothing for you to be sorry about, Sir-"

"Yes, there is! I thought you were the spy, Remus! James and I- we actually believed that you had been working for Voldemort!" He stopped and saw that his friend had not moved. "Will you ever be able to forgive me?"

"I already have, Sirius," said Remus quietly. "I forgave you in the Shrieking Shack. I had to."

"No you didn't. We thought something terrible. I'd have been furious."

"You have no idea what it's been like, Sirius. Seven years at school we were together. The four Marauders. We joked about losing James to Lily, but he was still with us. And then- Boom!- Voldemort attacks and I'm the only one left."

Sirius looked at his friend, eyes full of shock. "I never thought of that, Remus. I should have." His gaze shifted to somewhere over Remus's shoulder. "Every full moon, I would transform in my cell and howl at the moon." He gave a hollow, bark-like laugh. "I thought that maybe- maybe- you could hear me."

"My transformations were always easier when you were around, Padfoot."

"You won't have to do them alone anymore, Mooney," his friend replied earnestly.

Remus smiled and patted Sirius's shoulder. "Thank you- Sirius!"

"What!?" The dark-haired man jumped slightly.

"You're soaking wet, Sirius!" The werewolf seized his friend's arm and led the way to the stairs. "You are going to take a shower and get some dry clothes on."

"Oh, that sounds good, Mooney. Can I have something to eat when I'm done?"

"Sure, Padfoot."

An hour later, dressed in a pair of Remus's pajamas and wrapped in a blanket, Sirius plopped into a seat at the kitchen table. Remus carried a small pot over and set it on a hot pad. "I don't have much around the house," he explained. "I hope you don't mind."

Sirius shook his head. "Didn't I always eat anything you made? You were the best cook out of all of us, except maybe Lily..." He trailed off sadly.

"While you were in the shower, I found my old Hogwarts photo album. I haven't looked at it in years. I didn't want to look at it alone."

"Let's both look through it," said Sirius, grateful for the change of subject. "But there will be no sad memories. Let's remember the good times with our friends, all right, Mooney?"

Remus grinned. "Sure." He left and returned with the large, leather-bound book. He opened the front cover to find the title in Sirius's bold handwriting, 'This belongs to Remus J. Lupin.' "Here's the four of us on our first day of class!"

His friend laughed, looking at the picture. "I forgot Peter was that little. And look at James's hair!"

"There's Lily," said Remus, pointing at another photograph. "Do you even remember what James had done to make her so mad at him?"

"I think he dipped her hair in his inkwell. I should have thought of that."

The werewolf laughed. "You annoyed her even more than James did. She only argued with him 'cause he fought back."

"Yeah..."

Late that night, Sirius awoke with a start. "Peter, no!" he yelled. Ha sat up, staring around the dark room and gave a sigh of relief to find it empty.

"Sirius?" asked a voice from the doorway. "Are you all right?"

He nodded. "I'm fine, Remus."

"You were dreaming about Peter, Sirius." Remus moved into the room and sat at the foot of his friend's bed. "It wasn't your fault."

"Yes, it was, Remus! I made Peter the Secret Keeper. It's entirely my fault."

The werewolf seized his shoulders. "Sirius, get a hold of yourself! I know you blame yourself, but people need you!"

Sirius was quiet. "Yes. Harry needs me."

Remus nodded. "Yes, he does. Are you all right, Sirius?"

"I don't know." The animagus looked up at his friend. Remus wouldn't laugh; Remus would understand. "I don't want to stay here by myself."

"Does it remind you of Azkaban?" Remus asked quietly. Sirius nodded mutely. "I don't like being alone in my room, either." He smiled, trying to lighten the mood. "Padfoot, do you remember when we were planning to buy a house together?"

Sirius laughed. "Yeah. James was sure that we'd kill each other within a week."

"Yes. Obviously, James had no confidence in your housekeeping skills." They sat in silence for a few minutes, then Remus rose. "Come on, Padfoot, out of bed."

"Why?" his friend asked, standing anyway.

"Because we can't vanish your bed to my room with you in it, Padfoot." Sirius grinned as Remus raised his wand and sent the bed into the other room. The two beds took up most of Remus's room; the remaining space was taken up by bookshelves.

"Mooney, I think you have twice as many books as you did before," said Sirius as he slid under his covers.

"Just like being back at Hogwarts, isn't it?" Remus remarked as he turned out the lights.

"Course. Hey, Mooney!" Sirius called through the darkness.

"What?"

"Can I copy your essay for McGonagall?"

Remus laughed. "Too much like being at Hogwarts. Go to sleep, Padfoot, or I'll give you detention."

Three days later, Sirius couldn't sleep and it wasn't a nightmare that was the source of his trouble. He was alone in Remus's room, the light of the full moon shining through the window. From the first-floor came werewolf's anguished howl. Sirius flinched and made his decision. He descended the stairs and put his hand on the last door along the hall. He took a deep breath, then pushed the door open, closing quickly and transforming into a huge black dog.

From the dark corner, the werewolf growled. He gave another keening howl and lunged, biting and clawing. The dog kept his friend close, never biting harder than was necessary. After almost an hour, the werewolf slumped against the wall. The dog lay down next to him and began to lick his friend's wounds.

Sleep well, Mooney, he thought.

Remus awoke slowly and, to his very great surprise, he found himself in his own bed. Startled, he looked at his bedside clock. Eleven o'clock in the morning. He put a hand to his head and felt bandages on his arm. "What?" he asked aloud.

"Good morning, Mooney!" Sirius came banging into the room bearing a tray. He set it on the foot of the bed and opened the shades, letting warm sunlight flood the room.

"What's going on?" Remus asked. He sat up and looked at the tray his friend had brought. It held scrambled eggs, bacon, toast and a steaming mug of tea- with milk but no sugar, just the way he liked it. "Sirius...?"

The animagus grinned. "There's nothing going on, Remus," he said in mock-innocence. "Why do you ask?"

Remus gave him an arch look. "Do you know how long it's been since someone brought me breakfast in bed?"

"Sure," his friend replied. "Unless you've had any girlfriends I don't know about, the last time was in Seventh Year. James and me brought you breakfast 'cause you'd caught that nasty cold that was going around and you refused to spend any more time in the hospital wing."

"That's right. It was just after the full moon and I wanted to sleep in my own bed. You didn't cook then, did you, Sirius?"

"What, in Seventh Year? I stole James's Cloak and went down to the kitchens. Do you remember how we finally got you to drink the Pepper-up Potion?"

Remus frowned. "Yes, I do. You transformed into a dog and sat on me!" Sirius grinned broadly. "That wasn't funny, Padfoot- you're heavy!" The light-haired man sat cross-legged and pulled the tray of food into the middle of his bed. "Have something to eat, Sirius, you look tired."

"You'd be tired too if you hadn't gotten any sleep last night."

Remus looked suddenly up at him. "What were you doing up all last night, Sirius?" he asked suspiciously. He seized Sirius's arm and pulled up his sleeve. Like Remus, his arm was covered in bandages. "You didn't-"

"I did," the animagus interrupted. "I meant it when you said you shouldn't be alone at the full moon."

"Sirius, you just got out of Azkaban!" his friend objected. "You've barely had a decent meal...you shouldn't have done that."

Sirius grinned and began buttering a piece of toast. "Mooney, has it occurred to you that we- Peter, James and me- became animagi because we wanted to? I never gave our decision a second thought because I knew that it would help you. Remus, when you were in the hospital wing, I actually paid attention in class so you could copy my notes. I never told James about the stash of Chocolate Frogs you kept at the bottom of your trunk. Do you know how many of the people I knew thought you were my brother? That's how it felt, Remus. Like we were brothers. So don't tell me that I can't help you."

Remus smiled. "Thank you, Sirius.

"Well, Remus, this is good-bye." Sirius looked sadly at his friend. "Dumbledore figures that it's too dangerous to stay in the country. I'll be heading south."

"Good luck, Padfoot," said Remus softly. He held out his hand, but Sirius pulled him into a tight hug.

"I don't want to leave you all on your own," he said. "I'll send you word when I get where I'm going, I promise."

"Are you serious about that?"

The animagus grinned. "I'm always Sirius."

Remus groaned. "That joke was old the first time you told it, Padfoot." There was silence for a moment. "I'll miss you, old friend."

"Same here. Take care of yourself, Mooney. Look after Harry for me."

"I will. Good-bye, Padfoot."

Sirius smiled. "Bye, Remus. I'll howl at the moon while I'm gone, all right."

"Just get going. Dumbledore's going to wonder where you are."

He nodded and gave Remus another hug. Then, Sirius transformed into the black dog and started down the tree-lined road. It looked much more cheerful on this sunny morning, he thought. He paused at the end of the road and gave a happy bark. Remus raised a hand and waved. Wagging his tail, Sirius turned and disappeared from sight.

A week later, Remus sat at his kitchen table, reading a book for the sixth time, when there was a knock on his window. He opened it to admit, not a post owl, but a large and brightly-colored tropical bird with a note clamped tightly in its beak. Remus removed the note and sent the bird back out. He unfolded the crinkled piece of parchment and smiled as he read,

Dear Mooney,

Can't use real names in case these are intercepted by Voldemort. How are you, old chap? I'll be writing to Harry, too, but I thought I'd send you this first. It's quite nice here- much warmer than you lot are in London! Dumbledore says that he's 'taking care of things' and that he thinks I can come back soon. If I can, I hope I'll still be welcome to crash at your place. Did you like the bird, Mooney? He seemed much calmer than the others I found. I think I'll call him 'Remus' in your honor. Write back.

Your 'brother',

Padfoot.

THE END