Don't own anything recognisable from JK Rowling's Harry Potter books

Chapter 13

Awakenings

"Lunar!" Sirius yelled as he struggled in through the front door. "We're home! Hello!"

He frowned when she didn't answer, dropped the bags and raced upstairs.

"Sirius? What's wrong?" Pat asked. "Sirius?"

"Where's Lunar?" Sirius asked as he ran back down stairs.

"She's not here?" Pat asked in astonishment.

Sirius went to the kitchen to check if she was in the garden as Pat went to the phone.

1 new message.

She listened to Lunar speaking and relaxed. "Sirius! Come here!"

"What?" Sirius asked distractedly as scores of deadly situations that Lunar could be in raced through his head.

"Listen." She replayed the message, and Sirius listened for signs that she was being forced to say what she was saying.

"She's fine." Pat wrapped her arms around him. "Listen to her. Nothing's wrong!"

Sirius jutted his chin out, picked up the phone and dialled 1471. He listened to the operator's metallic voice repeating the last number that called, and he flushed red with rage. "Remus." He breathed. "The phone she used to call us Remus'."

Pat backed off from Sirius and looked wary. "Whatever you are thinking Sirius, I don't like it. What are you intending on doing?"

~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~

"I've brought you some soup, Remus." Lunar whispered as she entered the bedroom. "Are you hungry?"

Remus didn't answer.

"Remus?" She edged nearer the bed. And smiled when she realised that he was asleep. She put the soup on the cabinet, and drew the curtains so that only a crack of the bright sunlight filtered through. Smiling, she drew the bed sheets up to his chest and brushed a lock of hair from his eye.

"Sleep well my love." She murmured, and then remembering what he had done once when she had been ill, she took her shoes off and curled up on the bed next to him. "Sleep well."

~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~

"What do you think you're doing Sirius?" Pat said quietly as he made his way purposefully from the fireplace through Remus' house.

"Shhh." Sirius hushed her.

He looked through the rooms downstairs and, when he didn't find Lunar, he headed upstairs.

"No. Sirius!" Pat warned, and followed him. "Stop it now!"

Sirius stood still at the top of the stairs, his face was pale and he couldn't move.
"What's wrong Sirius?" Pat asked, and then looked around him into the darkened room. She saw what he saw, what made him so shocked.

Remus was lying on his side, and several deep scars were on his upper torso and arms. Lunar lay facing him, her lips touching his chin. Her arm was thrown carelessly around his waist. One of his hands was cupping her face, his thumb resting against her forehead, intermittently stroking it and his fingers intertwined in her hair. His other arm was underneath her waist, holding her to him. She shifted in her sleep and her face looked towards Sirius. She was smiling contentedly.

Sirius blinked slowly, and looked at Pat. "She loves him."

Pat smiled. "Yes. She does."

He frowned. "And he loves her."

"It does take a while for thought to get through to your brain doesn't it?" Pat whispered, dragging him down the stairs towards the fireplace.

"That was the first time I've seen her smile, I mean really smile, since our wedding." Sirius said; he looked towards the stairs to the sleeping couple. "They belong together." He smiled. "I'm going to make sure they end up together."

Pat rolled her eyes in disbelief and threw Floo powder into the fireplace.

~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~

There was something warm next to him in the bed. Remus thought as he woke up, and he didn't open his eyes for a moment just in case it was a dream. She was curled up next to him, a satisfied smile on her sleeping face. She was still wearing the clothes from yesterday, that were now crumpled and warm with sleep. He shifted in his bed to get a better view of her, and his back twinged with pain. It wasn't as bad yesterday though. She stirred in her sleep, moaned softly and moved closer to his body. His eyes went dark and he gently traced the outline of her cheeks, eyes and lips with his finger.

She smiled. "Have you finished your inspection?" She asked dryly, and opened her sleepy eyes.

She stretched her arms up, and curved her back. For a second it fitted into his body perfectly, and then she was gone again.

"You shouldn't have stayed with me Lunar." He chided gently, combing through her blonde hair with his fingers.

She slightly pouted. "Why not?"

"It can give a girl a bad reputation." He gently stroked her lower lip with his thumb.

She smiled and looked into his eyes. "And I suppose that you climbing into bed with me didn't?"

He stopped still. "What do you mean?"

"It's called the cage curse for a very good reason Remus. You are caged inside your body, still being able to see, hear and feel everything around you, but with no way of contacting the outside world." She chuckled. "Even if a hugely attractive young man climbs into bed with you, and you are desperately trying to."

He looked at her, shock evident on his face. "You knew?"

She batted his head gently. "Of course. I was there wasn't I? What you didn't know is that I wanted that to happen ever since I met you, all those years ago. What I would have given…." She trailed off, and her face went pink with embarrassment.

"You wanted me to get into your bed when I first met you?" Remus asked softly.

She averted her gaze in the pretence that she was looking around the room.

It had red walls and a pale wooden floor, the wardrobe was a walk in one, and the door was adjacent to a deep blue en suite. The only furniture in the room was a large four-poster bed in a slightly deeper shade of wood than the floor made up with red bedclothes with an Indian style gold pattern on them, a cabinet on the far side of the room where the now cold soup was, a bedside table, and a trunk at the bottom of the bed.

"This must have taken a lot of work." She gestured lamely to the room.

"You haven't answered the question." He said gruffly.

"The whole house looks completely finished. When did you move in?" She only met his eyes a moment, but the sardonic look was in them.

He sighed and gave in. "Not that long ago. A year maybe."

"Oh." She still avoided looking at him. "When was the house-warming party?"

He shifted his weight on the bed. "I haven't had one."

"Oh…" She sounded surprised for a moment, and then looked back at him grimacing. "I forgot that you don't like people."

"I don't like a room of people." He lifted her chin and looked her deep in the eye. "People on their own I can handle."

She became flustered, and try as she might rational thoughts wouldn't come. "Umm… I suppose I should go and get you some breakfast. You should be hungry, not having eaten in a while."

He pinned her body to the bed with his arm and growled. "Soon you will come to realise just how much of an appetite I have." Kissing her slightly parted lips he smiled victoriously, then he lifted his arm from her body, but she was frozen in position.

"Unfortunately I am still a gentleman, and in a great deal of pain." He lied convincingly, wincing as he moved away from her.

"Painkillers!" She awoke from her trance and shrieked. "I should get you some. And some food. And I should get washed. And phone Sirius." She kept mumbling as she left the room.

"Lunar." Remus called to her.

She timidly poked her head around the door. "Uh huh?"

"I already have painkillers, and I'm alright for food. You get washed and dressed, and then we'll decide what to do. Okay?" He asked.

She smiled, and left him to it. Seconds later he heard the shower in the bathroom in the hall working. "Damn you." He muttered to his traitorous imagination, and curbing the desire to join her, and show her how good a shower could really be, he went into his en-suite and ran his own shower. On cold. Very cold.

A/N

Thanks to everyone who reads this story. I hope it continues to enchant you!!

Annoriel, Yes indeed, the words cold shower will be mentioned quite a few times in the upcoming chapters!!! I hope Sirius' reaction is not quite what you hoped for, but something you will enjoy!!!!

Ingenious, Thanks for reviewing. I too just want to see Lupin happy, and probably the same situation would happen with Tonks (isn't she a relation of Sirius'? (I'll ask my sister, she'll know!!)) Tonks is one of my favourite new characters in OOTP!!!!

To both of you, Keep reading and writing those reviews.

See you later!!

Krusty.

Xxx

(Oh, yeah, I suppose I should mention that Awakenings is the name of a film with Robin Williams and Robert DeNiro in. I didn't intend on nicking it, but it just kinda fit.)