That Time of the Month

A/N: Well, you requested more (thanks to all the reviewers!) so here is chapter 2. No longer just a oneshot!

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"I'm all yours." The words echoed in Sirius's ears for a moment as he appreciated what Remus was really saying. He was unable to react for a second or two, simply holding Remus close.

At last, as their lips met again, Remus froze. "Did you hear that?"

"What?" Sirius whispered, listening hard. Suddenly, his eyes widened in panic. "Shit! Someone's coming down the stairs!"

He leapt up, grabbing his shirt and an equally panicky-looking Remus, and dashed across the room to hide behind a sofa. It wasn't a moment too soon, as he peered round the end of the sofa and saw a fourth year girl emerge from the stairs to the girls' dormitories. She crossed the room, passing dangerously close to their hiding place, and picked something up from the floor. As she straightened up, Sirius could see that it was a quill. Damn it, why did she have to leave something in the common room? Why did she have to interrupt the stuff of his dreams?

Yawning widely, the girl took her time leaving the room. When, at last, Sirius heard the door at the top of the stairs close, he turned back to Remus. What he saw when he did this was both disappointing and painfully adorable. Remus had fallen asleep…

Behind his closed eyes, Remus was fully awake. In the frantic seconds before they slid out of sight, a realisation had hit him like a Muggle truck. What was he doing? He was letting someone in; he was letting his best friend risk himself.

He knew he was dangerous. He had never realistically hoped that anyone would love him, because who could love a werewolf? If he really cared for someone, he wouldn't want them to be at risk every month when he transformed. And he really did care for Sirius.

It wasn't just his own outlook on the matter that counted, too. He knew that after the honeymoon period wore off, Sirius would realise his mistake and end it, making things far too painful for Remus, and himself. So he was going to have to make the decision for both of them.

Sirius stared at Remus's relaxed features, admiring how sweet he looked asleep, before he noticed something. Remus looked different. Sirius knew exactly what he looked like asleep; he had been watching him for years. Right now, he didn't look right.

Oh. He wasn't asleep. Sirius felt his eyes sting suddenly; Remus was faking. Why? Had he changed his mind already? He swallowed shakily and ran his hand over his burning eyes, suppressing his tears. The hell with this. He stood up slowly.

For a moment or two, he considered leaving Remus right there, and letting him fall asleep for real in that uncomfortable position behind the sofa. He abandoned the vindictive urge, however, and took his wand from his pocket, muttering a quick incantation to levitate the brown-haired boy. He then flicked the wand and directed Remus up the stairs, following. Upstairs, he deposited the 'sleeping' figure into bed, and retired to his own four-poster, changing quickly into his pyjamas and retreating behind the hangings.

Along the wall, Remus lay in bed, holding back tears behind his closed eyelids. He wished he didn't have to do this. But it was three days till the full moon.

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For the following three days, Remus avoided being alone with Sirius. With the others around, he acted normally, joking around with all three, chiding them for their pranks and generally keeping them on the straight and narrow.

For Sirius, every hour of evasion was like a stab to the heart. He couldn't believe how suddenly things had gone bad. He analysed every word he had said that night, every move he had made, every response he had received. The only conclusion he could reach was that he had said or done something wrong, or Remus had just had a moment of lunacy and had now realised it.

On the third day, after breakfast, Sirius had left his friends briefly, and hid himself in a bathroom on the second floor, near the Great Hall. He locked himself in a cubicle, sat down and buried his face in his hands. The pain was getting too much now. He couldn't hold it in any more; Remus wouldn't even look at him, and it hurt.

He felt his shoulders starting to quiver and his eyes starting to burn, and this time he did nothing to stop it. Even though he was a seventeen year old boy with the world at his feet, Sirius Black cried for love.

For several long minutes, the tears just kept coming, flooding down his face and leaving damp patches on the front of his robes. He was going to be late for Transfiguration, but he didn't care. He didn't care about anything, until he looked at his watch out of habit, and saw the moon-phase. The watch had been a Hogsmeade purchase, a bargain that he had fallen for at first sight. It showed the time, date and current phase of the moon; right now it was displaying an entire round orb – the full moon.

The full moon – of course! That could be why Remus was acting so oddly! Buoyed up by his new discovery, Sirius wiped his face, cast a drying spell on his robes, and left the bathroom in time for his next lesson.

Though it felt wrong, he managed to bear the cold shoulder all day. Soon the moon would change again, Remus would recover, and they could try again. He sat through the remainder of his lessons, not even trying to catch Remus's eye, awaiting the inevitable.

That night was another stab; at dusk, Remus asked Sirius, James and Peter if they minded staying in the castle for the night, and letting him transform on his own. Sirius wanted to shout out that no, it wasn't all right, he couldn't let Remus go through that alone… but he stayed silent. James answered for all three, promising to respect the werewolf's wishes.

All night, Sirius couldn't concentrate on anything. Whether he tried homework, reading, chess, Exploding Snap, anything, his mind kept drifting back to what Remus must be going through. He couldn't bear this, having to stay away while the one he loved was in pain and torment. In the end, he went to bed at about nine o' clock, lying awake well into the morning despite his tiredness; every time he closed his eyes he saw Remus.

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The morning after, Saturday, Remus woke in the Shrieking Shack, exhausted and with every muscle in his body aching. He hated the full moon. He hated what he was, as a wolf and now even as a human. He had seen the look on Sirius's face when he had started avoiding him; he had seen the shock and anger, and the pain. His heart had been ordering him the whole time to go back and apologise, accept Sirius's love, and be happy. But his head kept reminding him of the danger to both of them, and he had always been the only Marauder to always trust his head over his heart.

After a while, he tidied himself up and followed the passage back to the castle. He couldn't hide; he had to keep going.

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Up to Monday lunchtime, Sirius kept up hope that things would work out. But now it was three days since the full moon. He had seen for himself that Remus was fully recovered, and now with every passing hour his hopes dwindled. Nonetheless, he was determined to hold out just a little longer.

He made it through the week, up to Quidditch practice on the following Saturday. His patience was at the end of its short leash; Remus had had eight days to fix things, eight days to recover from his transformation.

"Sirius!" A shout from across the pitch hit him at the same time as a Bludger. His eyes went blurry from the impact, and he barely saw James as he flew over. "Sirius, are you okay?"

He blinked hard, running a hand over his hair to make sure he wasn't bleeding. "Yeah, still alive." He faked a smile.

James frowned. "And what about before the Bludger hit you? You're a good player, usually. Why are you so out of it today?"

Sirius suddenly had an idea. If James was here above the pitch, and Peter was down in the stands watching them with his usual look of admiration, then Remus was probably alone in their dorm… He put a hand to his stomach with a pained expression. "Actually James, I've got a bit of a stomach ache."

James sighed. "Why didn't you say so, you prat? You can't play if you don't feel well."

He had taken the bait. "Should I go, then?"

James nodded. "Yeah, I think you'd better."

"Okay," Sirius feigned reluctance and flew to the ground, landing gently and walking off to the castle, holding his broom.

Five minutes later, he stepped into the dormitory and looked around for Remus. He wasn't there, but the bathroom door was shut and there was a book lying open on his bed.

The plan had worked. Sirius left his Cleansweep next to his trunk and sat down on Remus's bed, waiting.

Remus came out of the bathroom moments later, and seemed deceptively calm when he saw the black-haired boy there. "Sirius, what are you doing here?" he asked calmly, walking to the bed, slipping a bookmark into the opened book, and putting it on the table.

Sirius countered with another question. "Why have you been avoiding me?"

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A/N: Review! You know you wanna... There is another chapter in progress...