Sirius awoke late the next morning. taking his time to get out of bed. definitely not that pressed to find that the nightmare from last night had been real. he lay looking at the ceiling for a long while not moving. until a hungry rumbling in his stomach beckoned him up. he reached out for a cigarette and pulled his wand from under his pillow. lit it. and slowly sat up. his spine cracking menacingly and his neck feeling as though it were full of Quidditch snitches.

he stood and stretched loudly. shoving his feet into a pair of checkered slipon shoes that'd been thrown by his bedside and trudged down to the bottom floor. dressed only in a pair of white boxers that had a large orange and red phoenix on one of the legs.

he pushed a haphazard hand through his hair to pull it out of his face as he reached the bottomstep. yawning as he saw Snape's form looking more sallow and sweaty than it had last night. there was a wet towel across his gray forehead and he was shivering slightly. despite the piles of blankets that were tucked around them. he noticed the edge of one that hung on the ground.

"did you take my blanket last night?" he asked. remembering now that he'd woken up in the middle of the night to find his own self shivering at the loss of something warm.

"had to." Lupin emerged from the kitchen. dressed in a faded green bathrobe. his auburn hair was darker as it was wet. having just taken a shower. he was chewing on a piece of toast. his hand bent out in front of him like a stand. holding 'Magic Moste Evile' to read as he walked about. his enchanted teacup floating around behind him like it was attached to an invisible rod at his shoulder. "he woke up about three hours ago. so I set his legs and gave him a calming draught. he should be out for a while longer." he took a seat in the chair next to Snape and resumed looking through the book. crunching at the toast as his teacup drifting down to the floor beside him. unspilled.

there was new fire already roaring.

Black stood there groggily. blinking slowly. and smashed out his cigarette butt on the stair banister before rubbing his eye with his knuckle and heading towards the kitchen. on his passing. Lupin lifted a hand and flicked it in midair. the cigarettebutt flew from the top of the banister and disappeared into the fire to be disposed of.

after a lot of clatter of pots and cracking eggs and sizzling meat. Sirius sat down at the table to eat his breakfast. about to take his first bite when there was a sudden tapping sound behind him. he turned to see a small brown owl staring at him imploringly from between a crack in the boards covering the window.

he sighed and pried a loose board away. letting the owl in. the Daily Prophet was rolled up in its beak. and it obliged itself to land in front of his plate. Sirius took the paper and scraped the one knut from its ready position on the table. dropping it into the pouch tied to its leg. the owl hooted softly then seemed to bow low and quick to him. before flying out the window between the planks of musty wood.

it took him a moment to realize what had happened. "OY!" he called after the bird.

"what's the matter?" Lupin called from the sittingroom.

Sirius slammed the board back up in its place angrily. "bloody featherball took one of my sausages." and as he sat back down he thought he heard Lupin sniggering.

after finishing off his breakfast and closing the Prophet – which turned out to be a very uneventful read – Sirius had another cigarette. finished it slowly. then rose from his place. putting his dirtied plate and fork in the sink. before heading out into the sittingroom. bored. he had no want to go to Hogsmeade. especially in the foot of snow that had managed to fall that night.

"what do you think James' doing right now?" Sirius mused. taking a seat on the bottom step of the stairs. seeing as how all the couch and chair were taken.

"probably having fun." Lupin said.

"probably snogging Lily…" Black said miserably.

Lupin seemed to ignore him. turning the last page in the book with a sigh. he closed it. "that's it." he stated to the room. I can't find that cruor ebullio anywhere. The closest I came was the Cruor Lucus spell. which thickens the blood. but I already knew that one." he set the book down disappointedly and looked at Sirius. who'd pulled his last cigarette from the pack and was smoking it calmly. staring at Snape.

"this isn't going to be a very nice christmas with him here." Sirius said dejectedly. not seeing as Lupin shook his head in agreement.

"no. but we'll just have to deal with it. it's only three weeks."

"then what?" Black asked.

"what do you mean?"

"Snape's bound to wake up sometime and find out where he is and what happened to him. what do we do then when we have to go back to Hogwarts? he's going to tell everyone about it. i'll get expelled for sure…" his face fell into gloom as he said this last sentence. realizing the end of his education was drawing nearer with each day.

"you won't get expelled." Lupin shrugged off his disposition casually. "we'll do a Memory Charm on him or something before we have to go back. it'll be alright."

Sirius perked up a bit. finishing of his last cigarette and flicking it across the sittingroom into the belly of the fire. throwing its crumpled empty packet after it.

"but first things first." Lupin got up from the chair and pushed past Sirius to head upstairs. when he returned he burped into the back of his hand and excused himself. having just taken his Wolfsbane Potion. seeing that Sirius had taken his empty seat. but moved it farther away from the lightly snoring Snape.

"didn't that just bloody happen already?" Black asked. "seems like you had your furry little problem yesterday."

"it's actually tonight." Lupin said rather sadly. although quite use to turning into a werewolf by now. he had never become accustom to the pain of the transformation.

"tonight?" he said it as if the word had stung him.

"that means you'll have to watch Snape." Lupin said. his tone becoming serious. "I'll give him some more sleeping potion before dusk and that should keep him from waking up. but even if he does. I don't want you doing anything to him. got it? I don't care what he does. don't touch him."

"right." Sirius held up his hands in what was meant to be a defensive gesture. but instead Lupin was flashed with two middle fingers. "leave Snivelly alone. got it."

"I mean it Sirius." Lupin leveled him with his eyes. ignoring the handgestures. "don't touch a hair on his head. or I'll hex you so bad you won't be able to sit down for a month."

"I wouldn't touch his greasy hair for all the galleons in Gringotts. probably get some disease..." Black muttered.

"good." Lupin said decisively. and went swiftly into the kitchen.

the rest of the day went on slowly and boringly. Lupin busied himself by making an assortment of potions that might come in handy that night while Sirius took a long nap. Lupin occasionally coming out of the kitchen to resoak the wet rag laid across Snape's forehead. or remove a blanket or two from his body. keeping him as comfortable as possible.

that was until night began to rear its ugly dark face at them.