Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, those who helped me with the apostrophe problem, and to any silent readers. You're magnets that draw my fingers to the keyboard, that motivate them to create something you'll enjoy reading. Yep, I'm feeling a tad poetic.

Chapter Three: The Consequence of Existing

The full moon approached all too soon, and the afternoon before it rose, the house reeked of blood, even though none had been shed at the time. Sirius knew he hadn't imagined it when he happened on Remus sniffing and wrinkling his nose as he sat by the window in his bedroom, where he could see the orange glow of the sun on trees as it began to set. For some unknown reason, Remus hadn't left that room to eat for the past two days. Every time Sirius passed by the doorway, he was staring out the window or at the wall, seemingly oblivious to the world around him.

Sirius thought of making his presence known, of attempting conversation to ease the lycanthrope's mind, but it seemed strange, when he would be escaping that night. He shook his head, and let out a breath that may have been loud enough for Remus to notice, though he didn't look away from the window.

That was when he felt a pain in his chest. He brought his hand over his heart, wondering if it was something he had eaten last night. But it wasn't a sharp pain, or a burning, not even pressure, just a little tug. As he turned and left, he still felt it, but it slowly faded.

He shrugged and quite consciously decided not to think on it.

Moments before he went, Remus thought of turning, of looking at the face of another human before the moon rose. This action was questioned several times in his mind, and when, at last, he decided he would do it, he heard Sirius's receding footsteps, taking away his opportunity. Remus tensed, then closed his eyes and exhaled, opening his eyes once again to greet the familiar sight he had been watching for two days.

A shiver passed through him and he turned away from the window. At first, he shrugged it off, but when he began to tremble despite his attempts to suppress it, he dropped from the chair onto all fours. He shuddered uncontrollably, biting his lip so hard that he drew blood, trying to keep a scream within him. Already, he could feel his mind slipping away, as if hiding from the monster he was about to become, but he would always remain at least partially conscious until the pain was gone and the transformation over. Perhaps it was some sort of torture, some form of punishment, or maybe it was just the human inside of him holding on until the last moment, as if it could keep control this time.

His eyes were the first to change, and although he could not see the transformation, he could feel it. His eyelids felt like sandpaper, scraping against his eyes as the irises and pupil expanded, hiding the whites from view.

He never knew what came next, because the pain kept from him concentrating. A tiny whimper of pain came from his throat as tears hit the floor steadily, like raindrops.

The full moon had begun to rise.

It became dark all too soon for Sirius, and as it did, he could hear the first of the animalistic howls erupting from the room where Remus had been sitting. All thoughts fled from his head for nearly a minute, before he regained control over his legs and ran to the room he had decided would be best to lock himself into. It was on the first floor, and though it didn't have a window, it was as close to the front door as he could get.

A few hours passed before the howls had subsided and silence made the air heavy. Just as Sirius was about to turn the doorknob, sure that the wolf couldn't be anywhere near him, there was a thunder of heavy footsteps, followed by a thud an awful scream, something that sounded so human coming from a monster, it made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on edge.

There were painful whimpers heard, whimpers that didn't end like the howls had, but that went on, minute after minute. Curious and terrified at the same time, Sirius opened the door to find the wolf, lying on its stomach with its right front leg horribly twisted and its eyes closed.

Quietly, Sirius made his way to the door, but a whine carried through the air as he did so, and he turned around to see the wolf staring at him, those amber eyes gone soft from the ache. And, for a reason he didn't understand, Sirius couldn't leave. Instead, he sat on the floor by the wolf, on the left side so he could avoid the broken leg, and awkwardly extended his hand into the air. It was suspended over the werewolf's head, but it was withdrawn quickly when the wolf's lips drew back to reveal long, white fangs. A growl came from its throat, but Sirius tried again, and when he stroked its side, he was sure the wolf sighed.

Biting his lip, Sirius carefully felt the fur, a light coat of coarse, protective fur over the soft, honey and grey-flecked undercoat. He smiled absently, and the wolf's breathing slowed and deepened until it was asleep and Sirius, too, began to feel drowsy.

It was positively picturesque, something out of a child's storybook if anyone had cared to peek through the window: the black-haired boy sitting by the tamed beast, both perfectly happy for a moment and for a moment only. It was in this moment that Sirius realized he had failed, and failed miserably at that. The warmth he felt turned his hand to ice, and he quickly took his hand away from the werewolf's side. A terrible, icy realization washed over him, leaving him with a thin film of sweat on his skin. He was sure he was wrong, because that's what common sense told him, but instinct told him the opposite.

Cautiously, he managed to change his position: now, he lay by the wolf's side, careful not to let his back lean against the wolf. It didn't stir, just remained asleep, and if Sirius hadn't been staring furiously at the wall, he might have thought that the wolf was smiling in its sleep, or something close to that at the very least.

Sirius fought to keep his eyes open, but he gave up after a few minutes, when it actually became painful to keep from closing his eyes. He was lulled into a fitful sleep by the wolf's steady breathing.

The wolf liked this human, whoever he was, and though the craving for blood still made its tongue ache with longing, this human would not be its prey. The human had cared for it, comforted it.

Despite the pain in its leg and the voice in its head telling it that this was a human, that this was food, not something to treat like a member of the pack, the wolf was content. With the strange human at its side, it could sleep easily.

The moment of bliss ended for the werewolf, and it was jerked violently from sleep let out a howl of pain, rousing Sirius in the process. The howls became more and more human as its muzzle shrank into a human face, muscle and bone twisted, lengthened, and shortened, all the while its front right leg didn't change at all except for the fur disappearing and the paw changing into a hand. Even while the other legs had gone back to normal limbs, what was once a leg and now was an arm was still bent in a horrific way that made Remus's stomach churn when he saw it.

"Here, let me fix that," Sirius muttered, staring at the twisted arm. He whispered a spell under his breath and pointed the tip of his wand at Remus's right arm. When the limb had gone back to its proper shape, Remus gave a yelp of pain held it tightly.

"Sorry." Sirius pulled the other boy to his feet. "It'll hurt for a few more hours."

Despite the truth in Sirius's words, Remus smiled, a little painfully perhaps, but he smiled all the same. It was a quiet smile, but a genuine one, the sort you feel proud to have earned. "Thank you."

"It was nothing, really. Just a simple spell—"

"No, not that." Light brown hair fell in front of gold eyes as Remus shook his head slowly, still smiling that small smile. "You didn't leave. Why not?"

"Well, I... don't know." It was a lie. When he first sat down by the wolf, no, he didn't know, but now he knew all too well. What kept him here was the one thing he swore he'd never have to deal with.

Remus cocked his head to the side, and the smile grew just a bit at that, and Sirius knew he had believed him, wholly and completely. Why? Just because it made perfect sense. Why would anyone stay with a werewolf when they could escape? 'I don't know' sounded so honest, so completely honest. Sirius would have smiled, too, if someone had given him that answer.

And, yet, it was still a lie. That was all Sirius could think as Remus limped off in the opposite direction, clutching his arm, presumably off to bed— the transformation had obviously taken a lot out of him— it was a total lie. He knew it perfectly well, that thing that had made him comfort the wolf with a broken leg.

It was love, and it was his downfall. The Sirius Black whose greatest talent, in his opinion, was the way he could avoid attraction completely— he had finally grown fond of a person, actually cared about a person, someone other than himself. It was frightening, and strange, that the one person to penetrate that wall was none other than a werewolf— a male werewolf at that. Even he couldn't avoid falling for someone eventually, because falling in love, Sirius realized at that very moment, was the consequence of existing. You simply couldn't have breath in your body and not be destined to love somebody, because it just didn't work that way. Eventually, every barrier could be worn away with nothing but time and the rain. Nothing could be completely foolproof, because emotions would always get in the way. There would always be love, there would always be somebody in love, and there would always be somebody on the receiving end of that love. Always.

And because of this love, Sirius believed he knew how Remus felt every time he saw a near-full moon: cursed. Absolutely cursed, and without a thing he could do about it.