Chapter 16: Awake

Sirius woke to a dull ache in his chest and a warm hand in his. He cracked open one eye and sighed. He hated the hospital, as far as he was concerned it had only one thing to offer and she was already curled up beside him. Remembering the night before he gently tugged on the hand in his.

"Good morning, beautiful," he said.

She stretched and let out a yawn, "Good morning yourself. How do you feel?"

"Like I've been hit by a hippogriff. How are Harry and Remus?"

"Harry is fine, but worried about both of you. Thanks to someone's rather brave act he only had a few bumps and bruises. He just brought Remus in, they are working on him now, but he'll be fine."

Sirius tried to sit up but Hermione put her hands on his shoulders and pushed him back down to the pillow. "You need to rest. Healer's orders."

"What would I do without you?" Sirius said, being sure to give her the most charming smile he could manage at the moment, and was rewarded when she took his hand once again and gave it an affectionate squeeze.

With her free hand she carefully pushed a few stray locks of black hair back from his face, leaving her palm cupping his cheek.

"Let's not find out, " she said with a smile.

He returned the gesture, reveling in the smoothness of her cheek against his rough palm.

"I don't intend to," he said and gently pulling her face towards him he placed a gentle kiss on her lips.

The next evening Remus still had not regained consciousness and Harry had not left his side. He couldn't help but think there was something familiar about him sitting a bedside vigil while the man in the bed remained unconscious. It was amazing to the seeker how quickly Remus had gone from being an unnamed stranger in need of help to the one that filled that empty place inside of him. Leaning over to place a kiss on the man's forehead he gently took Remus's hand.

"Come on, Re. Time to wake up. Sirius is fine, more than fine from what I can gather from the grin on Hermione's face. We're just waiting for you to wake up and then we can go home," Harry said quietly.

The Healers had pronounced Remus stable and felt that the usual post-transformation healing powers associated with his lycanthropy had likely healed a great bit of the damage from his kidnappers as well. They attributed his current state to simple magical exhaustion and said he would wake up on his own. Harry, however, was having trouble being patient.

A few hours later Remus woke to find Harry asleep in the chair next to his bed.

"Harry," he called, but got no response. "Harry!" he tried just a bit louder, but the younger man still did not respond. The werewolf grinned and used the loudest volume he dared without disturbing the other patients. "HARRY!" he shouted and watched amused as the younger man fell out of his chair.

"Wha?" Harry muttered before awareness dawned. "Remus!" he said leaning over to embrace the older man before being pulled in for a kiss.

"How do you feel? The healers said you should be fine. Sirius is fine and Kingsley got a confession out of all three of them so they are locked up. I was so worried."

"Harry, love, slow down. I'm fine. No worse than the usual post-moon aches and pains," Remus said with a smile as he pushed himself into a sitting position.

Harry let out a huge breath and smiled, "Well, good. Not that I mind taking care of you, but there are much more fun things we could be doing if you are going to spend that much time in bed."

Remus snorted, "I'm beginning to think you have a one-track mind. I take it the cat is out of the bag?"

Harry fidgeted. "Yeah, I started to tell him while we were looking for you, but he said he already knew. "

"Is he ready to kill me?"

"No. He just needs some time to get used to the idea, I think. It seems that everything is out in the open between him and 'Mione too."

Remus smiled, "Well, looks like the old dog can learn some new tricks after all."

Harry laughed, but then became serious again. "Remus, would you move in with me? I mean our own place."

"That sounds wonderful, but you are telling your godfather," said the werewolf, a look of mock terror on his face.

Harry pulled a face, but nodded. "I'll go let them know you're awake."