It's werewolf time! Have fun and stay healthy. I don't own Harry Potter and all that crap.
Sirius's POV
Leaning on the door frame, I couldn't help but stare out the opposite window. The moon was out now, hanging full and bright in the sky. Remus would be transformed by now I thought darkly, glancing at the door behind me.
There I knew Remus was no longer Remus, and it was my job to keep him behind this door. We'd been preparing it for days, the small attic would serve as our personal shrieking shack at full moons. I gripped Remus's wand a bit tighter, remembering my promise.
"If something happens, if I somehow break out, you have to do everything necessary to stop me."
"Remus-"
"No Sirius! Promise me! Promise me you'll keep Harry safe at all costs!"
Those words had cut like iron and I shivered under my jumper.
"I promise, now go, the moons almost up." I'd said, trying to ignore the memory of another fatal promise I'd made for the same reason.
Now I was out here, standing guard in case our enchantments failed and I had to-
Nope, don't go there.
A creak sounded somewhere in the house, Sabine sneezed in her sleep in the next room. Both girls were asleep now, I'd made sure of it before I'd locked Remus away. He'd made me promise to cast 5 different silencing spells before he went, they couldn't never know what happened behind this door.
Another creak, this one definitely from a floor board. Had Harry woken up? He'd been having nightmares for days now, waking up in tears. He would tell us about the either, hell, we hadn't known about them till Athena let it slip last week.
But no, Harry hadn't had a nightmare tonight, nor was he the one awake. I stiffened as whoever it was shuffled closer. Was it Sabine? No, her door was still shut tight. Thank Merlin she was a heavy sleeper.
Could it be Kreacher? He hadn't turned up yet and I had been hopeful he had died, but I'd never get that lucky. A sniffle sounded just out of my line of vision. That definitely wasn't Kreacher.
My knuckles had gone white as I raised my wand. A tiny figure pecked from behind the wall and I let put a breath I didn't know I was holding.
It was Athena. The poor little girl had clearly been crying, half of her tear-stained face hidden behind the plushy blanket she was holding. Athena wore blue, striped footie pajamas, her long hair done in Plates to keep it from getting tangled. The braids weren't helping because her hair was messy nonetheless.My heart melted a bit.
"What you doing up this late kiddo?" I asked, hastily lowering my wand. She rubbed her eyes and streaming nose before replying.
"I had a bad dream." Athena's voice was soft and sad, beating at my heart even more.
"You want to talk about it?" At my question, Athena burst into tears. After a moment's hesitation, I scooped the little girl into my arms, siting down right there on the dusty floor.
"Shhh~ it's okay, tell me when your ready." I soothed, rubbing her back. Athena let out a choked hiccup and replied.
"There was this cave*sniff, with all these monsters!"
"Monsters?" I asked nervously, looking anywhere but the door.
"Water monsters! With pale skin and no eyes and they were trying to grab me off of the rock!" She explained hysterically.
"That sounds awful kiddo, I'm so-"
"And Harry was there!" Athena cut over me.
That caught my attention. "Why was Harry there?"
"Well, it looked like Harry, only he looked much older, like an adult." She hummed, burrowing deeper into the wool of my jumper.
"Was there anyone else?" I asked, egging her to continue.
"Ya! An old man!"
"What did he look like?" I asked cautiously, already knowing who it was.
"I don't know him, but he had a really long beard and his nose was all crooked, like he broke it!" Dumbledore
"Do you remember anything else, why were you there?" I probed, readjusting her on my lap.
"We we're looking for something, there was this sort of round ball filled with liquid, and then there was this pretty pretty necklace-"
I interrupted her. "Athena, I have to ask you a question, okay?" She nodded solemnly.
"Can you do what your sister can, with her visions?" I asked as gently as I could. The little girl gave me a hard look, like I'd insulted her in some way. "No, but she said that's a good thing."
I looked at her in confusion before she spoke once again. "Biny says it's hard to trust people when you can see all their secrets."
I nodded, feeling a sliver sorry for the black-haired girl. Athena began to tear up again, lip quivering.
"That's why I got out of bed, to go check on Sabine and Harry. But the d-door was s-stuck and I couldn't o-open it! So I went to g-go back to my r-room and I was really scared, but I heard a noise!"
"A noise?" I asked, looking back at the door. Had the silencing charms worn off?
"Ya, like grumbling. Someone was talking! So I followed the sound because I'm very brave for my age and it lead me to you." Athena finish, sinking back into me.
It seemed she didn't have the aversion to touch like Harry did, I noted. Also, grumbling? What could be making that? Okay, your reading to much into this, the kid had a scary dream, that's all . Shaking myself, I remembered what I was doing here and began to rub her back once again.
"Mr. Sirius?" Athena said tentatively, pulling away just enough to look me in the face.
"No mr. for me kiddo, just call me Sirius or Padfoot, okay?" I corrected, the nickname making her smile.
"Padfoot?"
"Yes kiddo?"
"You don't think that *sniff* that could really happen, right?" She asked .
I tightened my arms around her, unsure what to say. Was this what parenting is? Woah, where did that come from I thought.
But ya, that was kind of what I was now, to Harry at least. What an old man you've turned into Black I mused before looking back at Athena.
"If I'm being honest, I don't know. But I promise we don't have any monsters here." I responded, patting her head.
"You promise?" She asked, eyes filled with trust, seeking out reassurance. I glanced at the door once again. Knowing damn well who-or rather what was on the other side. So much for honesty.
"I promise, no monsters will hurt you here." I hummed, giving her a pinky promise to seal the deal.
The dark haired girl took a shaky breath, cooling the rest of her sobs. Then she gave me a startled look.
"Then why are you out here, biny says that bedtime is at 8:00, which was a long time ago." Athena exclaimed.
I froze, it's not like I could tell her the truth. Remus would kill me if I did. Thinking fast, I blurted out the first thing that came to me.
"I was checking for munchkins!"
Come on Black, you could do better then that. Remus had taken to reading stories before Harry's bedtime, something Athena quickly joined in on. Their latest book was called the wizard of oz, full of all sorts of odd muggle crap.Not my best lie.
Athena blinked. "Munchkins?" She asked Scroobiusly.
Deciding to run with it, I nodded. "Oh yes... there have been rumors of a mass munchkin infestation on the...news. Ya! They like to hide in peoples houses!"
She ate it up,eyes going wide. "They do?!" She exploded excitedly.
"Yep, that's it." I turned to look back down the hallway and at the little girls (or rather both kids) bedroom door. It had happened almost instantly. Harry and Athena refused to go anywhere without the other since that first day, making bedtimes extremely hard for everyone.
It had been originally Sabine's idea to room them together, all three of us sitting on the hallway floor after an hour of trying to put both of them down, thoroughly exhausted.
I'd laughed, but Remus had looked thoughtful, sitting up a bit as he mulled it over. "That's not a bad idea." He had said, and so it was.
Starting out the next night, and then the next and then the next. Eventually, I got tired of going between the rooms and just brought Harry's few belongings (we'd need to fix that soon) into her room. They'd loved it so much that it stuck.
Athena followed my gaze and stiffened. "Do I have to go back?" She asked, face dropping into a pout. I sighed ruefully, it seems as if Harry has taught her puppy eyes.
"Yes, big girls like you need sleep, right?" Right? God I wished Remus was here, he was a natural with kids. Something I hadn't expected but happily adapted to, like Sabine.
Athena sighed dramatically (I'd been giving her lessons) and tighten her hold against me. She didn't fight the idea though, I noticed. Much like Harry, someone had put Athena so far down that she would just agree to do anything, much to Sabines worry. The 15-year-old had shot us both worried glances when she noticed it, promising to bring it up later.
"Will you at least come tuck me in? Sabine says that before you go back to bed after nightmares, a grown up has to check under the bed for you." Athena begged, latching onto to my arm.
I silently cursed Sabine as once again my eyes trailed to Remus's door.
Under no circumstances can you leave this door unsupervised, it to dangerous! Remus's words exactly.
"Uh..." I said dumbly, peering between her and her room at the end of the hall.
I couldn't exactly make her go, crying would follow and I definitely didn't need to explain to a panicked Sabine why Athena and I were out of bed.I checked the time, only about an hour until the moon went down. Maybe she could stay here with me until then.
"Tell you what, if your quiet and try to go back to sleep, you can stay with me until I'm ready to go to bed, deal?" I finally relented, looking back down at her.
She nodded, pulling her blanket closer around herself and snuggling into my chest. Warmth filled me and I smiled, delicately cuddling her too. I'd missed this in Azkaban, of holding baby Harry when Remus and I babysat. Now, I was free and with Remus and Harry, everything I needed.
I leaned back against the door, resting my head and closing my eyes in thought. We hadn't talked about it yet, where Remus and I stood now. Visions of sappy romance movies flashed in my mind before I batted them away. This was serious (pun intended).
Tomorrow, we'll talk about it tomorrow I reassured myself, blinking back my tiredness as my brain began to fog. I felt my eyes close as I drifted into a deep sleep.
Remus's Pov
I woke to sore muscles, a manageable amount of blood, and not Sirius. Groaning, I say up, grabbing a nearby sheet to cover myself. It had been a hard moon, but not harder the usual and I looked around.
The walls were torn at and scratched, all of the remaining furniture reduces to piles of splintered wood. Wrapping the sheet around me like a towel, I crawled over to the door. Every cell in my body ached, begging me to go back to sleep.But as usual, I ignored it.
The countless spells and counter curses had wearer off, allowing me to nudge the door open a smidge. I was met with an surprising sight.
Still fast asleep, Sirius was propped up on the edge of the door frame, little Athena in his lap. I should be mad, hell I should have been furious. He'd put her in terrible danger after all, but I wasn't. Looking down at them, I couldn't help but smile, warmth filling me.
Not a month ago, I never would have wanted this, but now...
Sirius must have sensed me because his eyes began to open. He looked at me, the most mysterious look in his eyes. We stared at each other for a long time, just drinking the other in. Sunlight shone out of the hallway window, bathing Sirius in a wonderful glow. His dark hair cascaded down over his shoulders like a halo, bangs somehow in a picturesque swoop over his eyes.
And his eyes! A wonderful, oracle shade of grey. They kind of reminded me of Dumbledore's eyes in the way that they could look straight through you, only Sirius's were warm and...loving.
Love filled his gaze, leaving me petrified under it. How long, I mused, since he'd looked at me like that? Years, not since Azkaban, at least.
I was suddenly struck by the overwhelming urge to kiss him, kiss him like we were seventeen again and in the back of a broom closet. Like we had all the time in the world to love each other. Like nothing could ever change.
We were leaning in now, so close the voice in my head breathed. But the moment shattered as Athena yawned in her sleep, snapping both of us back to reality. We couldn't to this, couldn't be caught like this. Me in just a sheet, covered in blood that I had no explanation for. Sirius sitting on the floor with Athena in his lap.
We snapped apart, looking anywhere but each other. Sirius let out a awkward cough and began to stand, gesturing for me to stay put. He lifted Athena up (thankfully still asleep) and crept back to her and Harry's room, disappearing out of sight.
I let out a strangled sigh, why did everything have to be so... hard. Resting my head on the ground, I took several deep breaths. The pain was coming back now, promptly kicking my recently transformed ass. My eyes drooped, thank god for sleep.
I drifted back under, still crumpled in the attic/stairway door frame, never happier to escape consciousness after a full moon.
Hey, sorry it took an extra day, I have the flu or something. It's cool though! Have a horror-filled Friday the 13th!