Now, Sakai Michiba presents:

The First Success

Part 27 of the Smitten series


School had been in session for a few weeks, and Remus was dreading the coming of the full moon. The very thought of having to go back in the Shrieking Shack and rip himself apart made him sick. It was the morning before, and he had just woken up from the nightmares that usually plagued him this close to the moon.

His watch read five in the morning—just fantastic. He would never be able to get back to sleep. Propping himself up on one elbow, he looked over to see if Sirius was awake, but he was not, and he frowned. "Sirius," he whispered, frowning when Sirius did not even stir. "Sirius!" He made a face when Sirius gave a very unattractive snore, and he reached over him to snatch his wand from the bedside. A quick flick of the wand cast a silencing charm on the bed so no one else would hear, and he slipped beneath the blankets to lift Sirius's shirt with his hand.

Sirius shifted a little in his sleep as Remus moved down to slowly kiss his stomach, tongue dipping into his bellybutton as he trailed a hand down between his legs. He heard Sirius make a little sound in his sleep, and he moved that hand inside his pyjamas, fingers ghosting against that warm, hardening cock between his legs as he moved up to kiss his neck. "Mmmmmn, Sirius wake up," he breathed, his hand tightening around him and moving to give him a languid stroke.

Sirius's arms came up to wrap around Remus, his eyes still closed, and he kissed his ear a little as he was touched. That hand felt so good in his half-asleep phase, and when he felt a thumb swipe across the tip of his cock, his arched his back a little. "F-fuck, James…That's…Mmmn…"

Remus paused. James? JAMES? "James!" he growled, throwing himself off of Sirius to glare at him. "What the fuck, JAMES!" He suddenly was not so horny anymore, and his snarl was as realistic as the wolf's when Sirius sat up and stared wide-eyed at him.

"Oh my god. Remus. Remus!" He looked around in panic before he reached out and seized Remus's shoulders. "I was asleep! Remus, you KNOW I don't have any feelings for—"

"Well NOW I don't fucking know!" Remus growled, and he pushed Sirius's hands off of him. "Don't touch me. I'm FURIOUS with you!" He shoved him backward and got quickly out of bed, wearing only his boxers, and he cancelled the silencing charm on his bed before he went to the bathroom to take a shower.

When he was nude and standing under the hot water, he leaned against the wall and closed his eyes. His hormones were racing thanks to the full moon, and he knew that had it been any other time of the month, he probably would not have been so offended by Sirius saying James's name. He had been asleep after all. It was only logical…But he was furious. If James gave him one odd look today he would punch him in the nose.

Sirius sat, stunned, in bed for a long while, shaking his head. He knew that the full moon was later that night, but Moony had never been so irritable. With a heavy sigh, he climbed out of bed and trailed his lover into the shower. "Remus," he whispered, and he frowned as Remus did not even acknowledge him. "Remus, I'm sorry." He stepped, clothed, into the shower and seized Remus from behind, resting his head on his shoulder.

This would have, at any other time, made Remus melt, but instead he stood there like a statue, unmoved by the kisses on his neck and shoulder. "Don't TOUCH me, I told you!" he said in a horrible, uncharacteristic voice that made Sirius release him immediately. "Why don't you go snuggle up to James?" He felt like crying.

Sirius stared at him. "Don't be daft," he said quietly, and he wanted to whimper when Remus turned around and gave him such a scowl that the hair on the back of his neck lifted. "Fine. STAY angry!" he ended up snapping, and he stomped, dripping wet, from the bathroom.

Remus would not speak to him all day. Not at breakfast, not when they were paired together in Potions, not when they were at lunch, not even in Care of Magical Creatures, when Remus paired himself up with Peter. James stood beside Sirius and gave him a funny look. "You guys fighting?" he asked, and he frowned as Sirius looked, depressed, at the ground. "I'll take that as a yes. How'd you fuck up?"

"I don't want to talk about it, James, but I'm going to change tonight. I WILL get the spell right tonight and I'm going with him to the Shrieking Shack...whatever animal I might be." He looked up to see Remus smiling and joking with Peter, and he wanted more than anything to kiss him. When Remus looked up, he shot him a hopeful smile, but his boyfriend just looked at the work they were doing again.

James watched Sirius and shook his head a little. "You're pathetic. Well…If you're going to do it, be careful. I think we've got the spells, but…I'm too afraid to try them. It looks painful." He reached out and punched Sirius in the shoulder. "But if you get it, fuck! That's it! We'll have done it!"

Sirius grinned and nodded, and he put a hand on his stomach. Going up to the professor, he said that he needed to go lie down, and when he was dismissed from class, he saw Remus's eyes following him as he passed him on the way back to the castle. He was going to go work on his transformation.

Remus waited until Sirius had gone back into the castle before he hurried over to James. "Is he okay?" he asked, and he looked at the ground when James shrugged.

"Dunno. He's worried about you," James replied, and he shoved his hands in his pockets, watching as Peter went to see how Lily was doing with her project. "I think he thinks you're going to break up with him or something. It couldn't have been THAT bad, could it?"

Remus felt a sudden surge of loneliness wave through him, and he shook his head. "I'm not going to break up with him. He's just gotta make it up to me. And it had better be good!" He glared at James for a moment before he sighed. "I'm ready for tonight to be over so I can be over this."

James wanted to make them both feel better, but he knew he would have to let them work it out on their own.

Before Remus was ready, it was time to go down to the Shrieking Shack, and he looked all over for Sirius to talk to him before he went, but his boyfriend was gone. Shoulders sagging, he walked down to the Hospital Wing and smiled as Madam Pomfrey came out. "Hi," he said quietly, and she obviously saw the pain written on his features.

"Hi, Remus," she said quietly, and she clapped him on the shoulder. "It'll be all right, dear. Are you so nervous about the full moon?" She frowned when he shook his head, and she knew it must be about him and Sirius. Everyone in the staff knew about them, and some, such as herself, were glad of it. Remus needed a constant companion who would stick by him, and Sirius had even taken to talking him down to her last term, but he was not around. "Is Mister Black being a prat?"

"'Fraid so," Remus sighed, and he drew his cloak tightly about his shoulders as they stepped outside and headed towards the Whomping Willow. He really wished he could have told Sirius good night.

Sirius, however, was hiding in the bushes near the Whomping Willow, in just a little bit of pain. He had tried many times that afternoon, failing time and time again, but he knew what he had done wrong, and the last time he had tried, he made only a minor mistake that he knew not to make this time. He could do it. When he saw Remus and Madam Pomfrey headed for the tree, he made sure he was hidden, and the two of them quickly disappeared down beneath the tree. When they had been gone for at least a full minute, Sirius slipped beneath the trunk before the tree could start hitting again, and he hid in the deep shadows until Madam Pomfrey had gone back out. He heard the tree set in motion again, and he took a deep breath. It was time.

There were a few moments when nothing happened, then suddenly, he was shrinking, shrinking, and he was sprouting fur everywhere. He kept expecting pain, but there was none, and when he felt his body stop transforming, he was suddenly HAPPIER THAN HE HAD EVER BEEN.

The smells hit him. He smelled earth and worms and grubs and feet and tree roots and flies and maggots and EVERYTHING smelled so good. He yapped at nothing in particular, and he felt his tail wagging as he took off running down the tunnel. MAN, he could fly! The air was rushing, the smells were strong and beautiful, and the night was YOUNG!

Then another smell hit him, and he stopped suddenly. The door to the Shrieking Shack was just above him, and he smelled…something terrible. Something horrifying. Something familiar. He padded up to the door and pushed it open with his snout.

And there was Remus. It was the most terrifying thing he had ever lay eyes upon, his lover with fierce, horrible eyes and fangs as long as fingers, furry and wolfish like nothing he could ever have expected. He slipped into the Shack quickly and made sure the door was closed behind him, and he lowered his ears demurely.

Remus heard the door open and close, and the human part of him was terrified. Oh god, it was someone, it was someone he could kill and…No. The blood lust did not rise in him because it was not a human scent. He looked at the great black dog before him, and he growled, but the scent was familiar to him. It SCREAMED to him, and the wolf gave a horrible snarl even though he, through the wolf's eyes, stared in amazement at the dog before him.

Sirius.

Before he could try to reign in any control on the wolf, it was leaping at the black dog, and he felt himself snarling and howling as Sirius rose up to meet him in a fury of paws and teeth. The wolf tried to bite him, tried to kill him, but he was fast, too, and he was larger than the werewolf, so he knocked his lover backward and barked at him, biting him hard on the shoulder when he came at him again.

The wolf yelped and Remus took his chance. He took as much control as he could, and, limping over to the great dog that was Sirius, he looked him in the eyes. Sirius stared right back, his eyes such a beautiful shade of grey to Remus, and he hesitated before he gave his tail a gentle wag. Remus was in those eyes. Slowly, he stepped forward and touched his muzzle to that injured shoulder, his tongue coming out to lap at it, and he felt Remus begin to lick him, too. The dog happiness flooded back suddenly, and he sank to the floor in bliss unlike any he had ever known as they licked and coddled one another in apology and in absolute love.

The night flew by faster than any other night Remus had ever spent as a wolf, and when he transformed back at the end of the full moon around five am, he crawled up onto the bed and smiled as Sirius leapt up with him, turning human again himself and pulling him into his arms. "You…How did you?" Remus asked quietly, so tired but not ready to try to sleep. He and Sirius needed to talk.

"Been working on it pretty much since we found out about you," Sirius said, and he moved to kiss Remus's shoulder. It was not bleeding, but it was bruised pretty badly. He had bitten him pretty hard. "James and Peter, too, but they haven't done it yet." He smiled as Remus burst into very tired tears, and he drew him to his chest to kiss him sweetly on the lips.

"I-I d-d-don't deserve y-you," Remus sobbed as Sirius kissed his cheeks and ears, and he clung tightly to him, hands shaking like mad. "I don't…I…Sirius, I'm so sorry!" He choked as Sirius pulled the blankets on the old bed over them and rubbed his stomach, and he reached up to swipe the tears from his face.

"Shhh," Sirius shushed him, kissing his neck and reaching up to help in drying those tears. "Don't worry about it. Just relax…When you get back to the castle, I'll come down and get you after breakfast like I always do so you can sleep in our bed. It's Saturday…We don't have classes and I don't have Quidditch practice until later tonight, so we can rest together all day if you want."

Remus nodded and pulled Sirius in for one more kiss. "You should go…Pomfrey will be along soon…" He could not seem to let Sirius go, though, and only when his lover turned into a dog and licked the salt from his cheeks was he able to let him trot back to the castle.

When James and Peter woke up, they woke up to the sound of a dog barking, and James threw himself out of bed with glee. "YOU DID IT!" he yelled, and he threw his arms around the neck of the huge dog. Sirius had never felt such a sense of completion.

By the time breakfast was over, Sirius was bursting to go get his lover, and when he got to the Hospital Wing, he did not even say hello to Madam Pomfrey. Instead, he ran immediately over to Remus's bed, and before Remus could even wake up, Sirius was kissing the hell out of him. The lycanthrope's arms lifted and wrapped around Sirius, and he opened his eyes when the kiss ended. "Feeling all right?" Sirius asked, looking into his eyes.

"Never better," Remus replied, and he hugged him tightly when his eyes slipped shut. "Forgive me? Will you?" He opened his eyes grinned as Sirius nodded. "Thank you, Sirius…"

Poppy came in and smiled at the sight of the two boys clinging to one another, and she patted Sirius's shoulder. "He's all right; he's just got a bruise on his shoulder. Be mindful of it," she said, and she helped Sirius get Remus out of bed. "Let him rest, but make sure he eats some lunch."

Sirius nodded and wrapped his arm around Remus's waist as they walked from the Hospital Wing. They came to the tower soon enough, and the moment Remus lay down on the bed, he kissed Sirius's cheek and closed his eyes, dead tired and content.