Author's notes: Perhaps this installment will make up for the fight in the last?

And now, Sakai Michiba presents:

The Day After

Part 11 of the Smitten series


Remus Lupin knew nothing but pain. He watched helplessly through the eyes of the werewolf as he crashed through one of the windows of the Shrieking Shack and bounded out into the forest, having heard another howl. He needed to fight, needed to establish dominance. The quiet Remus Lupin was crying inside as he came upon the other werewolf, who was much older and well-fought by the looks of him, but the wolf did not take in his appearance as Remus did.

Remus stopped looking when he attacked, and he cried out both inside and outside as the other wolf tore into him. The moon illuminated their battle, and blood was their carpet. Remus had no chance in this fight, and he knew he was going to die. He thought of Sirius then, of their fight and of the slap he had bestowed upon him, and he hated himself. If he could only see him one more time…

Sirius could not fall asleep; he heard howling. Everyone else was dead to the world as he rose up out of the bed and pressed his hand against the window, swallowing hard. He should have apologized. He should have taken Remus into his arms before he could run off, should have kissed him and apologized and told him how much he felt for him. But he had not. "Come back safe, Remus," he whispered, and he slipped away from the window, moving to lie in Remus's bed and wrap himself in his scent.

Remus was down, dying. The other werewolf gave him a look of warning, telling him to never ever come back to this place or he would make sure he died next time. He could not think for the loss of blood, but the wolf dragged itself to the steps of the Shrieking Shack and lay down on them, knowing what awaited him. Remus cried without tears.

It was Madam Pomfrey who found him in the morning, lying naked and mostly dead on the steps of the Shack. She had conjured a stretcher for him immediately, covered him with a blanket and taken him back to Hogwarts as quickly as she could. "Stay with me, Remus," she pleaded, and when he did not answer her, she choked back a sob. "Please, Remus. We can't lose you, honey…"

Remus's eyes rolled in his head and he blinked hard before looking at her. "S-Sirius," he moaned, and tears rolled down his cheeks. It broke Poppy's heart.

Sirius was called out of class that day by Dumbledore, and he bit his lip nervously. He had not done anything of consequence, at least in the last forty-eight hours, and thus he knew it had something to do with Regulus. When he arrived at Dumbledore's office, however, Dumbledore was standing outside of it, waiting for him. "You called me, Professor?" he asked quietly, falling in step beside the man as he began to walk.

Dumbledore looked down at Sirius and gave a sad smile. "I regret to say that I did. As you well know, the full moon was last ni—"

"Remus!" Sirius exclaimed, the color flooding from his face. "Oh God…I have to…Oh God!" He was panicking, and he looked around the corridor spastically before Dumbledore reached over and took his elbow.

"Mister Black, before you go running off, I want to talk to you." He looked down into Sirius's face, seeing tears shimmering in his eyes, and he touched his shoulder. "Remus got into a fight with another werewolf last night, Mister Black. He is in grievous condition but has been calling for you all morning. I don't pretend that I don't know why. Madam Pomfrey is debating sending him to St. Mungo's for a few days, and if that occurs, I think you should go along. Remus will need a lot of help in the coming month."

Sirius looked away as tears slipped over the boundaries of his eyelids, and he nodded before he tore away from the older man and ran to the hospital wing. He burst through the door loudly, not even greeting Pomfrey as he made a beeline for Remus's personal bed. The curtains had been drawn, and he could hear labored breath. Terror struck him, and he wiped away his tears before he opened the curtains and stepped inside.

The sight of Remus made him want to throw up. Remus's face had a long, deep gash cutting from his forehead diagonally over his nose and down to his cheek along with thousand of other scratches on his face. His neck was skinned, his chest and shoulders unrecognizable beneath the bandages, save for where the bite scar was. He was covered from the waist down, but Sirius was willing to bet he did not fare any better below the belt. "Oh Remus…" he moaned, and he sat heavily on the stool beside the bed.

Remus saw him come in and looked away, not having enough blood in him to blush properly. He drew in a shaky breath and swallowed as tears slipped down his scratched cheeks, and he gave a terrible sob as Sirius reached up to catch one of those tears. "'M sorry, Remus," Sirius said quietly, and he tried to catch his gaze. "I'm so sorry…for being a prick, for accusing you of anything, for all of it…"

"Sirius…" Remus whispered, and he tried to lift his hand. It hurt, but he could do it. Slowly, he moved it to slip into Sirius's hair. "Thought I'd never see you again…" He sounded so tired.

Sirius leaned over and kissed Remus for a long time, neither of them noticing when Madam Pomfrey came in until she lay her hand on Sirius's shoulder. He did not jump, but pulled away from kissing Remus to look at her, his cheeks aflame. Her eyes did not cast judgment. "Sweetheart, I've spoken with the doctors at Mungo's. They are sending over the supplies I need, so Remus will remain here. I suspect you will be remaining in here as well?" She smiled as Sirius nodded and looked down to Remus.

"Is he gonna…be scarred really badly?" he asked quietly, slipping his hand into Remus's. Remus had never opened his eyes after the kiss, and he swallowed when Sirius asked that question.

"No," Poppy said confidently, and she moved to begin working on Remus, using a salve to cure the tiny cuts on his face. "See how I'm doing this, Sirius? I need to retrieve the medicine from Dumbledore, as he will be the one receiving it. I can trust you to heal these little cuts on his face, arms, and legs, can't I?"

Sirius nodded and took the salve from her, dipping his fingers into it. "Thank you for letting me stay," he said quietly, and he smiled as she patted his back and walked out of the curtained area. Remus moaned softly as Sirius's hands made those cuts disappear without a trace, and he opened his eyes to look at him.

"Madam Pomfrey caught you snogging me," he said quietly, and he whimpered as Sirius's hands touched on a bruise invisible above the skin. "Careful…Sirius, I want to apologize to you…"

"No you don't," Sirius reprimanded, and he leaned over him again, catching his lips and sliding his tongue deep into his mouth. Remus's hands lifted gingerly, and he buried them in Sirius's hair, panting into his mouth during the kiss. "I forbid you to apologize to me. I was an arse, Moony. I was terrible to you and I deserve to be punched and I beg you to forgive me, please, because I love you and I've never told anyone that before but it's the honest truth and I almost lost you today, Remus and I would hate myself for forever if you died and didn't know that I love you." He said this great run-on sentence in one breath and flushed after.

Remus's cheeks turned as red as they could and he struggled to sit up, gasping in pain but not commenting on it. He wrapped his arms around his lover and rested his ungashed cheek on Sirius's shoulder, swallowing thickly. "I shouldn't have slapped you," he whispered, and he closed his eyes as tight as they could close. "I was so mad. The wolf was out for blood tonight, and all I could wonder was if I would ever get to tell you I was sorry and that I didn't mean it. I just…just wanted to tell you so much that even if I died right now I would be happy because I got to tell you I'm sorry and that I love you, too."

They held each other for a long time, right until Remus fell asleep against Sirius and Sirius lay him back down, rubbing salve on his minor cuts. As Remus sighed in his sleep, Sirius knew how lucky he was.