Sirius sprinted down the spiral stairs and leapt into the common room on all fours just as he saw Remus whip out of sight through the portrait hole.

"REMUS!" roared Sirius, jumping up and running after him, launching himself out of the portrait hole.

Remus ran through the silent halls of Hogwarts, ignoring the spearing pain in his limbs and chest, tears still streaming down his cheeks.

he didn't know where he was going. he hardly even could see.

Remus ran for god knows how long, finally screeching to a halt at a dead end. he turned around to see Sirius standing there, in the way of Remus' escape.

"... go away..." sniffed Remus, raising his hands and covering his face with them, his whole body shaking with unshed tears, trying to catch his breath. "GO AWAY!"

"i'm not going, Remus..." Said Sirius calmly, walking over to him, standing in front of him, he was breathing heavily too. "... you may be a werewolf, but you're still a friend... our friend... my... friend..."

something clicked in Remus' brain and he launched himself at Sirius, wrapping his arms tightly around his friend and burying his face in the crook of Sirius' neck, sobbing loudly.

Sirius was caught off balance at the sudden hug and swayed, falling over onto his ass.

"OW! ... wow... umm... well..." stuttered Sirius, staring down at Remus. he could feel Remus' tears soaking through his robes. Sirius shifted a little, leaning his back against the wall, looking down at Remus, his cheeks burning pink.

Sirius didn't know what he was going, his body just seemed to do it on his own. he wrapped his arms around Remus and stroked the young werewolf's mane of sandy-blond hair, whispering comforting words and rocking softly from side to side.

"... shh.. it's alright, Remus... you're my little wolf... i won't let anyone hurt you..." Sirius said softly, after he said it, he raised an eyebrow. did he really say that?

around 10 minutes later, Remus had calmed down, he was just sitting there, in between Sirius' legs, his arms tightly around the other boy's body and his head resting on the other boy's shoulder, his eyes closed.

Sirius just continued stroking Remus' hair softly, an arm tight around Remus' waist, he was softly crooning to Remus, almost purring.

Sirius was surprised he hadn't noticed it before... he took a deep breath...

Remus smelt like coffee! oh, how Sirius loved coffee...

Sirius buried his nose in Remus' neck and breathed the scent into his lungs.

double roasted, Brazilian coffee, with a hint of cream and honey... and the usual intoxicating, rich, addicting, musky scent of Remus...

Sirius continued breathing in the scent, tugging at Remus' collar with his teeth, wanting to smell the wonderful scent of his skin, he continued breathing in the scent until a husky voice next to his ear caught his attention.

"... are you trying to inhale me, Sirius...?"

Sirius blinked and quickly moved his head away from Remus' neck. "no! no... it's just..." he struggled to find the right combination of words.

Remus lifted his head and looked at Sirius. his eyes were half lidded and tired-looking, dry trails of tears glittering on each cheek and his peach lips full and open slightly.

Sirius frowned a little, looking into Remus' eyes through the sandy blond fringe.

"... your eyes look different..."

((TBC))