A/N: Thanks to everyone who has reviewed so far! Please keep it up.

Chapter Five

Sirius jumped up from his desk and ran out of his cubicle as fast as he could, racing towards the elevators on his floor. People turned and stared as he flew past, but Sirius hardly even noticed. All that mattered to him was Remus. He could still hear his mate calling him as he reached the elevators and began jabbing the call button as hard as he could, as if that would make it come any faster.

"Sirius!" he heard Remus' voice yelling. "Sirius! Help!"

Jumping into the elevator as soon as the doors were open, Sirius slammed his palm on the down button. "Remus!" he responded in his mind. "I'm coming. What's wrong? What are they doing to you?" The only response Sirius got was a feeling of panic welling up inside him – and he wasn't sure if it was from himself, or Remus.

As he reached what he somehow knew was the right floor, Sirius sprang out of the elevator as fast as he could, knocking someone over in the process. Not even pausing to apologize, he set off at a sprint as he followed the direction his bond with Remus was pulling him in. Sirius sped up when he passed through a set of doors labeled 'Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures'. He vaguely registered hearing a woman he knew to be Ignatius Thunderburg's secretary calling for him to stop. Sirius ignored her, intent on getting to Remus. Dodging several desks as well as people, Sirius reached a wide set of wooden doors and was just about to push them open, before he felt himself being pulled back by two pairs of hands.

He was roughly turned around, and Sirius found himself face to face with two hulking Ministry Watch Wizards, both of whom had their wands trained on him. They parted to let Mr. Thunderburg's secretary, Clara Towskip, speak with him. Sirius growled at all three of them, irritated at them for keeping him from getting to Remus. He could sense that his mate was in the room just behind these doors, and was greatly frustrated that he'd been stopped.

"Mr. Black! What on earth do you think you are doing!" The woman exclaimed indignantly, her blonde hair falling out of place as she shook her head in disapproval. "You can't just go running through the Ministry! You're an Auror! You should know better!"

Sirius growled menacingly at her. "Let me spell it out for you, woman. My mate is behind these doors. He is in danger. There is absolutely nothing you can do to keep me from getting to him. Is that clear?" Not waiting for a response, Sirius turned on his heal, pulled out his wand, and approached the doors again. Before anything could be done to stop him, Sirius wrenched the doors open. He disregarded the cries of indignation he heard from Ms. Towskip as he marched right into the room. What he saw enraged him even more.

Remus was lying unconscious and naked with the exception of his boxers on a hard metal slab in the middle of the room. His arms were strapped to the table, as though to keep him from struggling. A red-haired man Sirius recognized as David Cooke was standing on the other side of the table, about to remove Remus' boxers. Sirius growled once again.

He stalked angrily over to the man, grabbed him by the back of his robes, and slammed him against the opposite wall. David yelled in pain and surprise, before shutting up at the look Sirius was giving him. Sirius wondered briefly why the security guards weren't stopping him, but decided it didn't matter. He focused his attention on the man he was now practically choking.

"What," he ground out, "do you think you were doing? That didn't look like any sort of physical I've ever had. So why was it necessary for you to knock out and undress my mate?" Sirius pushed David into the wall even harder, demanding an answer.

"It's p-procedure," the redhead choked out.

"Procedure, my ass. Tell – me – the – truth," Sirius demanded. "Why the hell were you touching Remus?"

Before the man could respond, Sirius heard a voice coming from the doorway. "Sirius! What's going on? Why did you run out like that?" James asked in a huff. Apparently, he'd managed to follow Sirius when he left. "Oh," he said, as he saw the condition Remus was in. "Never mind. I'll ask something else, then. Why then hell is Remus like that? I thought he was supposed to be getting a physical!"

"I was just about to find that out. Wake Remus up, will you?" Sirius asked, nodding at his mate, who was still lying on the table. "I'm not done with this idiot yet." James nodded, and released Remus before muttering a spell and waking him up.

"Now," Sirius growled, "what was going on?"

"Alright, I'll tell you the truth," David said with a wince. "I performed the actual exam in a few seconds with my wand, then told him that I still had a few things that needed to be done hands on. When he realized the truth, he started to struggle and I had to subdue him. But this is part of the procedure I was told to perform by Mr. Thunderburg,"

Sirius could tell the man was being honest, so he finally released his hold on him. He turned back to his mate, as James helped him to sit up. "Remus?" Sirius asked. "Are you okay, love?"

Remus looked up at Sirius and smiled weakly. "I'm all right, just a little shaken. He didn't actually get any farther than touching, which is a relief. If he had-" Remus broke off as he started to shake slightly. James released his hold on Remus, and went over to gather up Remus' discarded clothes.

Sirius was by Remus' side immediately. The black-haired man knew what Remus was trying to say. If someone other than their mate ever took a mated werewolf, they'd die painfully. He threw his arms around Remus, pulling him into a tight embrace. "He wouldn't have. I won't let anyone do that to you, love. I'll kill them if they even try it," Sirius whispered as he began rocking Remus gently.

James joined his two friends sitting on the table, handing Remus his clothes. "Yeah," he said. "And I'd have been right behind him, Moony. No one hurts one of my best friends and gets away with it. We'll have to make sure this git gets arrested. It's a crime to rape a mated werewolf. He'll be thrown into Azkaban for certain," James said in satisfaction. Sirius noted that David was now lying on the floor, tied up with ropes that James had evidently conjured.

"Yes," Sirius said in agreement. "James and I will take him in immediately. No matter how the Ministry feels about werewolves, love, they'll definitely have to prosecute him for this."

Remus still looked a little anxious as he pulled his clothes back on. "But I'm still going to have to come back for another physical, and if he's telling the truth about this 'procedure' being a part of the department policy, then-"

"Remus," Sirius stated fiercely. "I don't care what the Ministry says. You are not going through this again. At least not without me here with you." He stood up and walked over to his mate, wrapping his arms possessively around the beautiful werewolf's thin waist. "If they've got a problem with that, then they can go screw themselves for all I care."

"I don't want you getting into anymore trouble than you're already going to be in, Sirius." Remus protested.

Sirius pulled Remus even closer to him, saying, "I just told you that I don't care what the Ministry says. There's nothing they can do that will keep me from being with you during your exam. It's as simple as that." He cut off any further protest by kissing the other man passionately.

A/N: I know thismay bea little short, and had nothing to do with the babies, but the rest of the chapters will! I just had to get this one out of the way.