The blood pools in the kitchen hadn't been hard to clean away with a wave of his wand, but the copper odor remained.
Snape sat before the hearth in the den, head hung and forehead resting in the palm of one hand. He was slumped, hunched in a posture that surely left it hard to draw a complete breath. He wasn't entirely aware of his position, though, and could hardly have cared enough if he did.
The fire burned low, barely a passing flicker to move the shadows. The musk of Lupin's skin clung to his robes, a biting tang of copper where his sleeve cuffs had dipped into the puddles of the man's blood.
The cold, cunning Slytherin in him was trying valiantly to convince his mind that it wasn't his fault that Remus was currently laying in disturbed sleep and bruised and broken. Severus snarled viciously at that voice, making a weathered attempt to ignore it while the analytical bits of his brain were turning over pages of texts and trying to understand where it all went wrong.
He could have killed Remus.
If Black hadn't been there, fast on his feet and clever when he needed to be… Severus shuddered. He was never so relieved to have returned early from a Death Eater meeting. Dobby had apparated to him as soon as he set foot on Hogwart's grounds, tugging at his ears speaking in his fast, broken language. Snape's blood had run cold, but his legs had not. He hadn't even made it to the door of his chambers when he accio'd the first set of potions that came to mind. He'd had them all packed and tucked into his pocket at the same moment his free hand flung floo powder into his grating.
There was a reason the fates of innocent lives did not rest in the hands of darkened, deprived wizards.
He should leave, send Poppy in, tell Albus he couldn't play this game any more… His traitorous body stayed firm in its seat even though his hands trembled.
The soft clicking of toenails on the worn wood caused Snape to start. Severus paused in breath, waiting for Black in dog form to snarl and charge him. A breadth of a millennia passed, and the dog stood still in the entry, ears low and curved backward, tail hanging decidedly toward the floor. Even in dog form he could see the swollen tissue around the dog's eyes.
"I haven't the strength to fight with you, Sirius," Severus spoke in croaked whispers. The dogs ears twitched but it did not move.
So he waited. Minutes passed into a quarter hour and finally Padfoot took stuttered steps toward the chair. Severus didn't even spare him a glance. His onyx eyes were fogged with thought, the lines of his face thicker with guilt and the weight of his choices.
Padfoot sat with a muffled thump at Snape's feet. The potions master blinked the haze from his eyes and glanced down with a scowl. Slowly, Padfoot's tail wheezed across the floor.
Snape snarled and sat upright. The dog shuffled forward, scooting on its hind end and kept its eyes trained on Severus' face. Slowly, Padfoot lowered his chin until it rested on Snape's boney knee.
After a breathless eternity, Severus stopped glaring and returned his gaze to the dying fire. Padfoot continued to look up, tail sliding soundlessly across the floor in slow sweeps.
A low whine made Severus start and he looked at the dog in confusion. Padfoot thumped his tail and leaned up, placing his forepaws on the cushion of the chair.
"No, you don't," Snape growled, shoving the dog off of the upholstery.
Padfoot's tail stopped wagging and his ears lay back. He bared his teeth and hefted half of his bulk onto the chair, back leg kicking for purchase.
"Get down you filthy mutt!" Severus pushed at the dog's angular head, but Padfoot twisted it from his reach and knocked it against Snape's jaw. The jar of impact and sparkling stars in his vision made Snape grunt and freeze. When he finally clenched his jaw shut and began his struggle against the furry invasion, Sirius was already curling uncomfortably about in the limited space and pressing his large side against Snape's chest.
"Get off of me," Snape hissed, jerking in the limited space but the large dog wasn't moving. Aches he had forgotten existed shrieked in protest and Severus mentally swore.
He collapsed back with a sigh and slowly relented. The bulk of fur was actually quite warm, it was… tolerable. "At least move your damned elbow out of my stomach."
The dog groaned and rolled, head resting on the arm of the chair and feet kicked out toward the fireplace. Severus allowed his head to fall back and closed his eyes. The dog's deep breaths made a lulling atmosphere and before he could struggle against the pull, Severus had fallen asleep.
…oOo…
In the dark of night—the reflective stretch between night and day, between decay and renewal— Padfoot woke with a crick in his neck. He rolled his head and bore witness to the end of an animosity. Severus Snape slept, however uncomfortably, with one long fingered hand burrowed into the thick fur of Padfoot's neck.
The dog kicked feebly twice before shaking his pelt and rolling onto the floor. Severus woke blurrily, glared at the dog on the floor and settled a bit more comfortably before falling back to sleep.
Padfoot trotted off, climbing the stairs and nosing his way into Remus' room. The wolf lay sleeping, far more comfortably than Severus. Sirius reverted back to a man and touched the warm skin of Remus' neck. The man twitched in his sleep, but did not wake. It seemed the healing potions were working well.
Sirius fixed the blankets, tugging them high and smoothed the hair back from Remus' face. His stomach turned as images of earlier flooded his memories. He pressed a dry kiss to Lupin's forehead, cheek, jaw… Remus' eyelids fluttered and a soft smile tugged his sleeping lips.
Sirius pushed his hands through his hair, staring down at his oldest friend and worried his lip. Remus slept on, color healthy, and breathing deep. The animagus kissed him again, just because, and ran his fingers across the lycan's face.
He left the room on sleep deadened feet and made an impromptu stop at the bathroom to empty his bladder. On the way out, he stretched and rubbed his face.
He stood in the hallway, looking first toward Remus' room, and then down the stairwell to the open doorway of the den where Severus sat upright in the worst sleep imaginable.
Sirius crossed the hallway, taking a blanket down from the linen closet and descended the stairs.
Severus still slept, head craned back at a horrid angle and body askew. Sirius stood in silent thought and moved his wand with a whisper. The chair stretched and deepened into a sad sort of make-shift daybed.
Severus woke with a start as he fell backward with the shifting and lept to his feet, wand pistoned at Sirius' chest. He took a great gasping breath and sagged when he recognized Sirius with a startled look on his face.
"I could have killed you," Snape croaked. He looked down at the malformed bed and quirked an eyebrow at Sirius.
The animagus gave him a crooked smile and shrugged. "I was just trying to help."
Snape eyed the bed with suspicion before prodding it with his toe. It stayed firm, if a little ugly, and he dropped into it with a weary grumble. One arm lay draped across Snape's eyes, his face set in a grimace that furrowed his face.
Sirius shook open the blanket he held and wrapped it loosely around his shoulders and debated in silence for a moment. With a grim determination that would have made every Gryffindor proud, he hooked one leg onto the bed and slid across, bellying up to Severus and twisting the blanket around the man, arm tucked tight around Snape's middle.
The potions master went still. "What are you doing?"
"Tucking in," Sirius drawled, shifting until he had himself tucked neatly beneath Snape's raised arm with his chin digging into Severus' breastbone. He waited for Snape to start raving and shoving him like he had done earlier.
To his surprise, Severus sighed and lowered his arm, fingers tentatively touching the tips of Sirius' hair. Sirius snuggled in as a gentle encouragement. The long fingers stretched, curling down to the scalp idly fisting his thick hair unconsciously.
Sirius sighed in content, freeing his hand from the blanket and burrowing his hand through the buttons of Snape's robes. The hand in his hair clenched tight, but Sirius didn't mind at the moment. He pushed through the layers of material, hearing the erratic slam of Snape's heart in his ribcage as he revolted against the invasion. Finally his fingers brushed skin and the animagus pulled Snape up tight and curled his arm behind, fingertips skimming over the layers of scar tissue of Severus' back.
"Must you always push the boundaries?" Severus growled stiffly, yanking on the hair in his clutch in punctuation of his irritation.
"I just wanted to be sure this was real," Sirius muttered, staring vacantly off into a distance that showed ghostly reminders of Remus' bloody face from hours ago.
After several tense minutes, Sirius refused to back off and Snape had yet to heave him from the bed. Sirius snuffled and sighed as he relaxed his hand. He stopped stroking the flesh of Snape's back and pressed his palm flat to the many scars beneath it. Under the glaring images of the night's horrific events, bits of Molly's wisdom seeped through the cracks. Sirius gnawed his lip and tried to pretend he wasn't curling up with Snape as a way of Sirius Black patented flirtation.
With a deep breath, Snape's fingers relaxed against his head and the pads of his fingers soothed the hard pull at his roots.
"Must you always be dramatic?" Severus huffed, carding through the tangled heap of Sirius' hair. He seemed to realize what he had done and jerked his arm out straight.
"Look who's talking," Sirius yawned. He picked his head off of Snape's chest and looked down at him. Snape squinted back, weary dark circles beneath his eyes. "We nearly lost Remus tonight, didn't we?"
Snape grunted, shifting uncomfortably. "Yes." The silence was heavy.
"But he's okay," the animagus said softly. "Moony's tough."
Severus smirked. "Indeed." His face sobered as his thoughts strayed. Sirius could practically hear his mind whirring.
Black worried his lip again. He didn't know how to help Remus and Severus was obviously torn over what was happening to their old schoolmate. He hated the feeling of things being out of his control.
"He's healing," he told Snape again, stirring the man from his thoughts. "We'll feed him and keep him rested. You can make him potions, I'll make… tea. We can find the answer…" Sirius' face was hardened with determination.
Severus laughed, it wasn't particularly loud and it wasn't entirely cynical. "Gryffindor bravado…" Snape allowed himself another chuckle as he closed his eyes; hand returning to Sirius' hair as if drawn my magnetic attraction.
Sirius tried to be angry at the age-old jibe but didn't have the strength to with all the tactile attention. Affection… he'd forgotten how lovely it was just to be touched a little by someone.
Sirius snorted into Snape's chest. "Why is that?"
"Look at us you fool! We're sharing a bed for Merlin's sake. And we're being… agreeable." Severus grimaced.
"Well thanks," Sirius huffed. "I could just go upstairs with Moony if this is bothering your dark sense of morals."
"And have you disturb his needed sleep with your snoring and incoherent babble?"
"You could write love sonnets with charm like that," Sirius huffed. "Now shut up and be a proper master and pet your dog until it goes to sleep."
With a long, suffering sigh, Severus muttered, "Lucky for you I am not, or I would have had you neutered long ago."
Severus stared up at the ceiling, debating the direction that the night had sent the two of them on. He would be hard pressed to admit the ease that the scenario had played out. Had Lupin been well enough and awake to witness the scene he would have been proud. It made Snape believe for the first time without a doubt that the three of them could be able to make something work for the lycanthrope.
Snape breathed deeply, trying to relax back into sleep. His fingers curled into the thick of Sirius' hair, seeking the warmth of the man's heavy locks.
Sirius shook with silent laughter before yawning and turning deeper into Snape. He threw one long leg across Severus' own before falling into a light doze.
Snape shook his head at the absurdity of it all and cowed at how comfortable he actually was despite it all. He fell asleep not minutes later.
…oOo…
Sirius woke first. His arm was aching to the bone from fingertips to shoulder. With barely a wiggle of fingers, stagnant blood rushed down his arm and up again in a flare of white-hot needles.
"Graaah!"
He jerked his arm, realizing too late that it was trapped beneath someone, and that it was still wrapped rather nicely in folds of clothing. A stuttered crack of stitches and a sharp growl from the boney body beneath him made Sirius sit up, rubbing at his shoulder and blink muzzily at Snape.
Severus for his part looked partly shocked before groping at the opening of his shirt. "That is not the way to wake someone you've slept with." He smirked at the perfect fish-out-of-water gape on Sirius' face.
"Right, sorr—graah!" The animagus winced, shaking his arm and whimpering under his breath.
Snape muttered a soft 'tempus' and rolled his eyes. "It's barely two in the morning you ignorant mutt."
Sirius muttered an apology between biting his lip and whining piteously.
Planting his foot on Sirius' hip, Snape shoved him from the makeshift bed and swung his legs across the side. Sirius hit the floor with a whump and growled as Snape passed by and out the door.
Severus didn't bother with the light in the bathroom. He stumbled his way to the toilet and fingered the new frayed hole of his shirt seam. Sleeping cuddled with Sirius Black of all people… if he were honest with himself, he'd admit it was actually one of the better sleeps he'd had in weeks. He wouldn't be that honest with himself though, so he settled for acknowledging that sleeping on the make-shift bed was better than upright in a stiff chair; even if he had to contend with Sirius Black to do it.
Snape went up the stairs and pushed open Remus' door. The wolf lay on his side, breathing lightly through his open mouth. Severus touched the man's good wrist, counting the beats.
"Mmm?" Remus stirred and attempted to roll away.
"Hold still," Severus muttered, tightening his grasp and flicking his gaze to Remus' face and back again.
"Sorry," Lupin muttered.
Snape touched Remus' forehead. He seemed to be doing much better. Remus gave him a rough, sleepy smile and nuzzled back into his pillows.
Minutes passed and Severus stood like a wraith in the shadow, staring down at Remus with a war of emotion in his dark gaze.
"'vrus?" Remus mumbled, blinking through the haze of his sleep-fogged vision. "'s matter?"
The potions master said nothing, didn't even move.
Remus struggled to turn over and started to sit upright, but Severus stopped him with a hand on his shoulder.
"Nothing," Severus mumbled, gently—but firmly—pushing Lupin back to the bed. Snape didn't take his hand away, but turned it and traced the fresh stubble on Remus' jaw with the tips of his fingers.
Remus sighed happily, a question on his face that he didn't voice. Snape ignored it, touched Lupin's lips and sat at the edge of the mattress. Without a word, he lay down beside him and drew him up close. Remus curled blissfully into him, making a note to ask about this later.
"Are you sure you're alright?" Remus slurred into his collar.
Severus sighed, "Of course."
Remus fisted his hand beneath his chin, curling Severus' hair between his fingers. It was nice, very nice to be held when he was feeling so fantastically shitty. He had actually expected Sirius to be the one here cuddling him in the middle of the night, but he was hardly going to complain with how snuggly Severus had him held against his chest.
Lupin was just starting to drift off when Severus carefully picked himself out of Remus' grasp.
Snape came to a jarring halt halfway across Remus' body, one foot on the floor, the opposite knee pressed into the mattress across Lupin's hips. He mirrored the frown of Remus' face.
"Leaving so soon?" Remus pouted.
"You will hardly rest properly if you try to stay in the same position all night for fear I'd get up and leave," Severus grumbled, "so I'm cutting out the middle and letting you get the rest you need."
"Fair enough," Remus huffed, fingers tightening in Snape's robe. There was an unusual pucker at its front where three or four of the buttons were undone, Remus hadn't noticed until now.
Snape raised an eyebrow and Lupin gave a long, put-out sigh and relaxed his grip, allowing his hand to fall back to his own stomach. Severus stayed poised over him for another long moment, the relative calm of the late-night grew suddenly sharper.
Remus felt his breath shallow, his head swimming with the loss of proper oxygen. Severus stayed hovering, eyes intense.
Lupin felt his stomach lurch and something lower twitch. A dark coil of heat swirled in his stomach but before he could summon the courage to haul Severus back to the bed, the potions master bowed paused just millimeters from Remus' lips.
Warm breath ghosted Remus' cheeks; thick, dark locks draped across his ears. Severus took in a slow, shuddering breath that practically curled Remus' toes. He tipped his chin, waiting, expectant… Snape stood with a sudden rush and the loss of heat and proximity made Remus gasp and shiver.
"Rest," Severus croaked, jerking his robes and stalking from the room.
Remus balked, throwing a pillow at the door and turned carefully onto his side, running his knuckles along the bulge in his pajama bottoms with a hiss. "Rest… bah!" Remus turned into his remaining pillow cursing Severus Snape with every sibilant word in his mental dictionary.
…oOo…
Sirius was lying across the entirety of the bed when Severus made it back to the den. The blanket was twisted about his various limbs and he was starting to drool a bit onto the cushions.
Snape curled his lip and stared at him a bit longer, the slovenly mess of Sirius Black helping to cool his libido. A corner of the blanket hung from the edge and Snape curled it tightly into his fist. He snapped it and dislodged enough to wrap around his forearm while he planted his foot on Sirius' hip. With a yank and a shove Sirius tumbled spectacularly out of the bed and Severus snapped the blanket open.
"..the Hell, Snape?" Sirius growled, rubbing at his hip and scowling.
Sirius was rumpled, hair flung about his face and t-shirt askew. Blue eyes ablaze scowled past a face of scruff and Severus mentally swore at the heat that crept up his neck. "You're hogging the bed," he snapped.
With a huff, Snape draped himself along the edge of the mattress, making sure there was plenty of room for Sirius to sprawl and not have to touch him.
The animagus rolled his eyes and plopped back to the bed, bouncing toward the middle and snatched back some of the blanket.
"Why are you still here, you do have your own bed?" Severus snipped, cringing at the other man's proximity.
"If memory serves me right, you have one upstairs too," Sirius grumbled. He rolled over, bumping into Snape. The man wound up tight and Sirius took a moment to wonder what the hell had happened. He had been curled around the man most of the night without a problem.
"What's the matter with you all of a sudden?" Sirius growled, glaring across the short distance.
"Nothing," Severus bit. He scowled at Sirius and turned onto his side to face away and put a modicum of sparse distance between them.
Sirius huffed and rolled over into him again, practically knocking Severus off of the mattress and onto the floor.
"Black!" Severus barked, grasping hold of the man in an effort not to plummet to the floor.
Sirius' hip jerked forward with a section of his jeans buried in Snape's fist. "I knew you couldn't resist me," he chuckled.
Snape let him go and stopped himself falling by the barest of margins. Sirius scowled, he was positive he had spoken his words dripping in sarcasm. Sirius grabbed hold of Snape's shoulder and spun him back into the bed, knocking him into his chest. "What is you problem?"
Severus hissed slowly through his teeth. His gaze was intense and Sirius knew he'd punctured open a can of worms.
With sudden, sparkling clarity, Sirius knew Severus was going to hit him.
They fell to the floor with a bang that shook the cabinet across the room. Sirius' lip pulsed and bled a trickle. A knee to the gut, two hits to the ribs and a throbbing nose later, Sirius and Severus were in grips far too close to the hearth for proper comfort.
Sirius' fingers were already numb from lack of blood-flow and cramped in Snape's torn shirt collar; Snape's thigh quaking with effort to hold both of Black's down.
"I swear," Sirius heaved, trying to turn his head and ease the kink from his neck. Snape held his head fast with a fist full of hair and the animagus growled. "What is your problem?!"
Snape hissed as the raw rug burn at his lower back dug into the hearth stones. "Right now, you!"
"I didn't do a fucking thing!" Sirius growled, shaking the potions master a bit in his anger.
"You're always doing something," Severus hissed. He jerked his arm back, baring Sirius' throat. The animagus snarled and bucked, attempting to loosen the darker man's hold. Snape snarled and bit.
Sirius went still, breath rough and nearly panicked. He'll tear out my throat, right here! His mind went into a panic as the man's uneven teeth dug in just a bit deeper.
Severus jerked his head back, mind reeling. If he didn't know himself better, he'd have thought he'd… He could just…
Sirius panted, eyes wide as Severus' grip went lax and he could move his head. The man was disheveled, face flushed from their struggle and eyes ablaze. Snape's hair filled his fist well, and there was a moment of resistance before Sirius leveraged himself enough to mash their mouths together.
Snape gasped, head attempting to jerk away but Sirius' hold prevented it. The animagus felt more than saw the snarl from the potions master before his one-sided kiss became a small battle.
Snape felt his lungs ache for lack of air, Sirius twisted hard against him, struggling for his own breath and tried to push his way through Severus. Snape's leg tightened, pinning the lower half of Sirius' body to the floor, the hand in his hair yanked and Snape reaffirmed his hold in Sirius' mess of locks.
One of them backed away first, neither sure whom it was. Sirius growled, eyes narrowed in silent outrage—at what he wasn't sure.
"If you're quite finished," Severus growled, trying to look put-out and not intrigued.
The animagus flexed his cramping fingers and snarled. "Bite me."
Snape smirked, "I'm fairly certain I just did," he drawled.
Sirius blinked… then blinked again before he laughed. Snape smirked and slowly uncurled his aching limbs away. Blood came rushing back in pins. He shook his hand, trying to dislodge Sirius' hair but a mat of snarls was caught on the buttons of his shirt cuff.
Two yanks and a plethora of swearwords later, Sirius finally realized the problem and stopped laughing long enough to help.
"Ow." Sirius winced and unraveled a length of hair from a series of buttons.
"Hold still," Severus cursed.
"Fucking ow!" Sirius glared and crossed his arms over his chest as Snape unwound the last of it. He rubbed at the side of his head where the pain lingered in dull throbs. Another hand knocked his away and before he could resist, Sirius was humming as Severus' long fingers soothed it away.
"What the hell just happened?" He whispered, eyes closed to the lovely sensation of being pet… again.
"Nothing."
One blue eye cracked open and gave Severus a doubtful look. "You have a lot of strange 'nothing' going on then. In my world that would have been a rather violent bout of snogging."
Severus stopped his ministrations immediately and crossed his arms over his chest. "I most certainly do not snog."
"Right," Sirius tried not to pout and stood with a wince. His whole body felt locked up and tired. "Come on then." He held a hand down to Snape, but the potions master ignored it and got to his feet under his own power.
Sirius lay with a groan, moving over to give Severus as much room as he wanted. He was nearing sleep when Severus finally lay down gingerly next to him. He smirked into his pillow when he felt the potions master drag the blanket across them both.
He pretended to be drowsily turning and curled himself around Snape's side.
Snape pretended not to notice Sirius' smile and fisted the man's hair before he fell asleep.
…oOo…
Just before dawn, Remus sat upright panting, soaked in sweat and terrified. His arm throbbed with the beat of his pulse and every ache on his body felt alive with fire and lye. The nightmare faded in jagged steps, leaving a film of foaming blood behind his eyes as a reminder.
Aches bloomed like star-bursts up Remus' spine as he rolled unsteadily to a sitting position at the edge of the bed. The room was chilled against his sweat soaked skin. The potions in his system had since worn off and pain seared through his forearm in needles of fire-ice.
Lupin liked to believe his pain tolerance was quite high for an average wizard of his age. This morning, however, he could use Madame Mim's Extraordinary Knock-Out Tincture, even if it was illegal in most wizarding communities… and he would have to grovel in Nocturn Alley to find it. At least it would put him under for the rest of the day.
It took six, agonizing, shuffling steps to reach the bathroom; seven more back to the bed where he sat at the foot to catch his breath and rub at the residual aching of his thighs. The clenching of his muscles during last nights fiasco left an echo of ache that was reminiscent of an hours old Charlie-horse.
He felt like shit.
The stairs that led down to the first floor took a solid pounding from his bare feet. It was closer to a stumbling with the help of the banister to keep him from plummeting than it was actual stepping. At the last step, he sat with his head between his knees to still the vertigo.
The door of the den was pushed half shut, and Remus took an extra moment for breath before standing and pushing it open. It was still quite dark with the heavy curtains drawn but Remus knew what he was seeing was not a trick of the light—or lack thereof.
Severus and Sirius had separated a bit during their sleep. Sirius was hanging precariously at the edge of the mattress, the knuckles of his left arm trailing the floor, body turned to the fire. Severus lay on his back, still and solemn in sleep but for one arm thrown across his chest, his fingers curled in the edges of Sirius' locks.
Trying to move quietly, Remus stood over them, smiling softly at the pair they made. Both pale as milk and dark as night. The casual touch between them looked separated only by motion, as though they had once been much closer until slumber pulled them apart. It did Lupin's heart good to see, such intense animosity of the past was hard to see in the comfort lain before him.
There between them was space for another, they would be wedged tight between the two but there was room. Remus eyed the length of bed carefully, feeling overexerted and bone-weary.
"Lay down, Lupin," Severus whispered, rising in one slow, fluid motion.
Remus startled and felt his wounds pound all the harder for it. "I didn't mean to wake you."
Sirius groaned and rolled over, falling back to sleep without a hitch. Severus snorted softly and laid a palm at the small or Lupin's back, carefully maneuvering him to the bed. With a vice grip to his good arm and another at his hip, Remus was cautiously levered down until he lay snuggled next to Sirius. The animagus didn't even seem to care who it was, just pulled up tight and curled around the new heat source.
When Remus looked up again, Severus was gone.
"Drink this," Severus' voice carried quietly. Remus started again, disquieted at how easily Severus was sneaking about so early in the morning. Regardless, he took the offered cup and drank propped on his good elbow.
Reclining back, he could feel the edge of the pain receding already. To please him further, Severus sat down to his right and stretched out the length of his body along the bed, drawing a blanket loosely up around them.
Silence stretched and the warmth of them made Remus drowsy. He turned carefully onto his right, curling his abused arm against his stomach and felt Snape's boney shoulder beneath his head.
"Sorry," he muttered, beginning to roll away, only to be stilled by Snape laying a gentle hand to the back of his neck.
"Stay still," Severus grunted, breath drawn in stiff pants.
"Are you alright?" Remus whispered, cautiously prodding at Severus' side. The potions master grunted and took hold of the wolf's wandering hand in a firm grip. "Severus…"
"Go to sleep, Remus," Snape whispered sternly. The hand at the back of his neck moved away, grasping, instead, at Lupin's elbow and holding him in place.
A bit worried, but far too exhausted to do otherwise, Remus did.