As you can see, the second chapter is up! Read, enjoy, and review when you're done. Thanks. :D
The sun could not rise soon enough for Sirius. With blood in its mouth, the Wolf was a monster. Even separated from the source of its craze, he couldn't calm it well enough to play or rest. It just kept fleeing, always searching for its way back to the Willow, and Sirius was growing unsure of his ability to keep it at bay.
Finally, the first rays of sunlight peaked over the horizon, studying the earth and its change since their last appearance. Sirius briefly imagined how much the Marauders' lives had changed in the last few hours, and he wondered other differences they would discover around the world.
Slowly, their light melted the moon back into the horizon, and the Wolf disappeared, leaving an exposed, battered, and shivering Remus lying in the snow. Sirius too transitioned back, slipping his outer cloak around the other boy's shoulders and carefully scooping him up in his arms to make the short journey back to the Willow.
The walk took longer than normal; Sirius' body ached, and only the cold kept him from taking a break halfway through. Finally, after what felt like hours, they neared the castle, and Sirius nearly stopped in his tracks. Kneeling in the snow immediately ahead was Madam Pomfrey, but she was not alone. Directly in front of her lay James, unmoved from where Sirius had left him hours before.
"Is he alive?" Sirius asked instantly, accidentally jostling his passenger in his sprint for the older woman. "Is he... Okay?"
In that moment, there was one thing Sirius swore he would never forget: though her eyes were filled with confusion, the Madam did not question or lecture him. She simply murmured, "He's alive," and with a flick of her wand, transported both injured boys to the hospital wing with Sirius stumbling behind.
In the warmth of the Hospital Wing, everything seemed to catch up with Sirius: James had been bitten; he'd spent the last seven hours battling the beast lurking within Remus; every gash and cut on his body stung; and he was exhausted. But he could not rest.
"Lay down, Black," the Healer ordered, barely sparing him a glance as she attempted to assess both of his injured friends. Remus was placed in the little back room he always occupied after transformations, and James was scarcely on a bed before she began working, fetching potion after potion for the unconscious boy.
Sirius shook his head, attempting to take everything in. "I'm not tired. Can I help?"
"You need to rest," she answered briskly, prying James' mouth open and pouring a blue-tinted liquid down his throat first, almost immediately followed by a purple one. "I promise you that all three of you will be well cared for before you wake up."
"No," Sirius answered again, more insistently this time. He'd already been with them this far, and he wouldn't abandon them now. "Let me help. Just tell me what to do. I learn fast."
"Mr. Black," the Madam answered irritably, finally looking him in the eyes, "I assure you I am skilled at what I do, and I can take care of these two. Just rest, and it will all be taken care of when you wake up."
Sirius had had enough. He loved Madam Pomfrey; he would always appreciate how well she had patched them up over the years, especially Remus. But she could not understand all they had faced that evening; until he knew they were okay, he would not rest. "Damn it, Madam. I don't want to rest. I can't. You have no bloody idea what we've been through tonight, and there's no way you can take care of both of them at once. So just tell me what to do already."
After surviving one of her icy stares, she finally surrendered. "Watch your language, Black. And grab that roll of bandages from the cabinet back there. Third on the left."
Sirius fetched it quickly, ignoring the painful twinges in his muscles, and from there, she kept him busy cleaning wounds or seeking out potions, and within the hour, James had been patched up.
Remus was a scarier prospect for Sirius. Every wound on the boy, from the bite marks in his shoulder to the scratches across his back, was Sirius' doing. Now that it was Remus he could see- not the Wolf, not his friend's attacker, but Remus- the guilt was back. "C-Can I do it?" he asked timidly, watching her wrap a clean bandage around his friend's shoulder.
He suspected she would say no, but after a long, studying gaze, she offered out the roll of gauze. "Wrap it tightly, but not too tightly, okay? Poor thing. I wish I could do more for him."
"Me too," Sirius whispered, gently supporting his unconscious friend's back as he messily swaddled the wound. He'd never been around immediately following a transformation (though not due to lack of trying), and the sixth-year really wasn't certain of how to handle himself. It was eerie.
His hands moved clumsily, but eventually, he'd completed his task up to the Madam's standard. She had already finished the rest. "Alright, Black, your turn," she said matter-of-factly, leading him out of the small room. "Sit."
It took him a moment to heed her orders, but after a sidelong glance at James, he obeyed. They'd done all they could... But still. "They will be okay, won't they? Both of them?"
In a motherly tone he'd heard only from Mrs. Potter, the matron replied. "They'll both be alright. James has a long journey ahead of him, but he'll survive, and Remus has pulled through worse than this. Can you tell me what happened, Sirius?"
He frowned and attempted to shake his head, but he couldn't. Whether it be his exhaustion or simply his need to lay everything out in the open, he had to talk. And so, he spilled everything. There was no emotion in his words- no fear, no sadness... Just a numb truth as he disclosed all of their secrets- their transformations, their knowledge, their... Friendship. He explained every detail of the night, from James' chat with Lily to his night-long battle with the Wolf. And she just listened, her lips pursed.
"It wasn't Remus' fault," he concluded quietly, the first trace of worry entering his voice. "They can't expel him. He never wanted us to do what we did, but we didn't listen. We just wanted to help, to make him better... Every month, everymonth, he tells us he can go alone; he tells us not to come. But we always do. So don't let them blame him, okay?"
"Lay down, Mr. Black," she murmured quietly, helping the sore boy get comfortable beneath the covers of the bed nearest James. "I promise you, I will not let anything happen to them, but you won't do them any good ill and worn out from staying up all night. Just rest."
Nodding slightly, Sirius closed his eyes, and he felt a warm cloth dabbing at what he guessed was residual blood from one of the night's earlier scrapes. "I'm proud of how you've handled everything, Sirius," she whispered, her touch gentle as she moved to another scrape. "They are very luck to have you as a friend, you know."
Though he heard her words, his exhaustion-addled brain could not form a response, and eventually, even her mutterings melted away as sleep claimed him for the day.