Carry You Over To A New Morning

'You utter lunatic!'

The angry, female shout burst from the door to Sirius's Black hospital room, which was open. It echoed within the narrow walls of the Artefact Accident corridor, loud enough to even travel to the reception area. Most of the reporters that had shown up on the day of Sirius's arrival, eager to snap a picture of his purportedly deathly injuries, had since lost hope, and had moved on to more interesting stories. There was only one reporter left, and he was currently sat in one of the chairs in the Reception area, snoring quietly.

'After all these years, you should know better –'

Second-assistant Healer Wingby was stood next to Remus in the corridor, quivering. He was a particularly nervy bloke, and Remus thought that he just seemed slightly unsuited for Healer work. Given the chance, Wingby would probably flourish in a department that required absolutely no patient-Healer interaction. Perhaps Remus could have a chat with Arnold down in Filing about the boy.

'– and we had to learn about you being here from Rodgers, of all people! You could've at least told us that you were here –'

Louder than was strictly necessary, Remus cleared his throat, and rapped his knuckles on the door to Sirius's room. The yelling stopped rather abruptly, and silence fell in the room. Remus took the quiet as a sign that he would not attract any more yelling when he would enter, so he stepped into the room, Wingby on his heels. The parchment detailing Sirius's current status appeared into thin air, and Wingby took it and studied it carefully, obviously eager for something to do.

Upon inspection of the occupants of the room, Remus could see that the yelling had been coming from Lily Potter. She was standing next to Sirius's bed with a sour look on her beautiful face, her cheeks coloured almost as dark as her hair in her anger. She had changed very little from the last time that Remus had seen her. She was wearing a sunny, vibrantly yellow sundress this time, and her hair hung messily plaited alongside her ear. What was surprising to Remus was that she had a small child on her hip; the boy had his head tucked into her neck, a pair of miniature glasses balancing dangerously close to the edge of his nose. He had apparently slept through her tirade.

Remus pursed his lips in disapproval. The hospital policy was unclear about allowing children in the rooms of patients, but in this case, Remus felt that it was inappropriate. Despite the magical barrier the room was equipped with, the Pestilence Curse could be deadly for small children. The boy Lily was carrying seemed to be about Neville's age, although Remus couldn't be too sure. He opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by James Potter, whom Remus had apparently overlooked. He rose from one of the chairs by the window, and put his hand on Lily's shoulder.

'Head Healer Lupin,' James said, and his voice was just off the edge of polite. 'I heard you stepped in and managed to save Sirius. Thank you.'

'Just doing my job,' Remus responded, taking the parchment from Wingby, because the latter was keeping quiet. He quickly scanned the parchment, but found nothing unusual. Confused, he looked back at Wingby, who was looking at James and Lily Potter with his mouth wide open.

This maybe wasn't too surprising. The Potters had been in the news a lot, lately. Although he had chosen to train as an Auror, James had bought back the Potter Potions company from the investment company that his father had sold it to, and rumour had it that Lily Potter was set to helm the company. Remus, himself, had been aware of this long before it became public knowledge, as Marlene frequently mentioned it. The last time he saw Alice, she confided in him that she had been offered a lucrative position as a researcher in the company, an offer she was seriously considering, because it would allow her to spend more time with Neville.

Remus cleared his throat, and Wingby seemed to realise that he had been staring. He promptly turned very scarlet, and stared down at his shoes. Remus turned his attention back to the Potters. 'As your Healer, I must inform you that it is risky to have a child be so close to a victim of a Pestilence Curse,' he said. 'It is quite contagious.'

'I'm very much aware,' said Lily, sounding annoyed. 'I assure you, I wasn't informed of this ridiculous plan either.'

'Sorry,' said James Potter, somehow managing to sound like he wasn't sorry at all, while holding up his hands. 'Couldn't stop the little blighter from seeing his Uncle Padfoot, could I? I'm not that heartless.'

'No, you're an idiot,' said Lily firmly.

'You wound me, Evans,' James said dramatically, his hands folded over his heart.

'Mr Black,' said Remus, who was pretending to not hear the exchange, 'how are you doing this morning?'

Sirius, who was sat back against the pillows, looked at him with disinterest. 'Fine,' he said, sounding bored. 'When can I go home?'

Sirius had asked Remus this question every single day since he had been in hospital, which had been a little over a week. He was quite possibly hoping he could annoy Remus into releasing him, but Remus staunchly refused to be baited. Unlike Healer Rodgers, who had absolutely refused to see Sirius again after two days, because he claimed he had suffered only "verbal abuse" at the boy's hand.

'As I have told you before, you can go home when you are better, Mr Black,' said Remus, with much more patience than he felt. 'It seems like the extra blood we have been giving you over the last couple of days has really helped.'

He looked at Wingby, who had appeared to have given up any kind of communication, and was simply standing in the corner of the room, pretending to take notes.

'That's good,' said Lily. She seemed to have calmed down, and was now looking at Remus with sparkling green eyes. She appeared to be ignoring Wingby. 'So, that means soon, then?'

'I'm afraid it's not that simple, Mrs Potter,' Remus responded. 'By the time we treated Mr Black, the Curse had already spread through his entire body, causing a lot of damage.' He paused, giving her a moment to digest this. 'For now, it's a matter of waiting. But we are cautiously hopeful. So far, Mr Black seems to be responding well to treatment.'

'I'm right here, you know,' Sirius complained.

'Shut up,' James told him. For the first time since Remus had known him, his tone wasn't jovial. It held notes of resentment and anger. 'I warned you about meeting with your brother. I told you I thought it was stupid. Now look what's happened. You're lucky you're still alive.'

In response, Sirius threw James a nasty look, and made a show of reaching for his wand. Instead of aiming his wand at James, however, Sirius swirled his wand in a motion and conjured a puffy dragon, made of what appeared to be clouds. The boy on Lily's hip had woken up, and Sirius's dragon flew up to him and blew thin, sugary smoke in his face, eliciting chirpy, cheerful child giggles as the boy attempted to grab the dragon with his chubby fists. The dragon, with all the athleticism allowed him by Sirius's wand, danced just out of reach each time.

'We can't be absolutely sure, because every case is different,' Remus continued, as if he hadn't been interrupted, and couldn't see the dragon. 'But if Mr Black's recovery continues at this pace, it's likely we'll dismiss him by the end of the week.'

Sirius looked up at him in surprise. The little boy managed to grab onto the dragon with his tiny fists while he was distracted, and it exploded in a powdery puff of smoke. For a moment, the boy seemed stunned, and then started laughing. Sirius looked back at the boy, a beautiful, slightly besotted smile on his face that Remus had never seen before.

'Thank you, Head Healer Lupin,' he said, without looking at him.

'Yes, thank you,' Lily offered, sincerely. James ignored him, having taken the boy from Lily and busying himself with cleaning his face with a silk handkerchief.

Remus bowed his head, as was customary for Head Healers, and left the room, his mauve-coloured robes swirling behind him, second-assistant Healer Wingby in tow.

True to Remus's cautious promise, Sirius's health continued to improve, and on Sunday morning, Remus declared him fully healed. As Sirius shrugged on his leather jacket, which had been dutifully cleaned by the hospital laundry department, Remus said that it would be better that he still take a handful of potions, just as a precaution. Sirius only gave a curt nod in response, but Remus wasn't too offended by his silence. Since their conversation about Valerie, Sirius hadn't spoken to him more than was absolutely necessary.

Strangely, what did bother Remus was that he had decided to pretend that he and Valerie were still together to Sirius. Rationally, Remus knew that it had been the right decision. A relationship with Sirius Black would be one without hope. They were both too stubborn, and Remus was too old for him. But on the other hand, even though he had not seen the boy for two years and had been perfectly content without him, Remus realised that he had begun to miss him, even though he saw him every day. In fact, his short, terse conversations with Sirius were somehow usually the highlight of his day. He knew better than to express this thought to anyone out loud, though.

Not ten minutes later, Sirius Black had left St Mungo's, the engine of his sleek, black motorcycle roaring loudly as he drove off into the early, misty November morning.

'Remus!' a sharp voice said, accompanied by the sharp rapping of knuckles on the desk in his open.

Remus blearily opened his eyes. His eyelids stuck together on the right side, and he rubbed at his eye with his fist as he raised his head from his desk. He came face to face with an irate-looking Marlene.

It appeared that he had fallen asleep at his desk, yet again. Since Sirius's arrival at the hospital, it had happened more frequently. At night, Remus got little sleep, pondering about the boy, even though he knew it was an absolutely ridiculous thing to do. And then during the day, he would clear his afternoon schedule, and catch up on sleep. However, now that Sirius had left the hospital, which had happened a week ago today, Remus was sure that things would soon return to normal.

'Marls?' Remus yawned hugely, meeting her eyes. He sat up a bit more properly, and tried to focus on her. 'What's wrong?'

'I've been given a present,' Marlene fumed.

'A present,' Remus echoed, nodding sleepily.

'A present for you and Valerie,' Marlene clarified.

'A present for me and Valerie,' Remus repeated. Then, this hit him. 'What?'

'Sirius Black – you might remember him, you've only been in love with him for fuck knows how long – gave me a present for you and Valerie.'

'What?' Remus said again.

'Sirius gave me something for you and Valerie,' Marlene said, her voice emphasising every other word. 'He wanted to thank you for saving his life, so he bought you this.'

She forced a present into Remus's hands, and he looked down at it, surprised. It was beautifully wrapped in shiny green wrapping paper, which was possibly meant as a nod to Valerie's Slytherin colours, and it had a handwritten card tucked into the silver bow. Remus folded it open and read "Thank you" in neat, curled handwriting he recognised from the Christmas card Sirius had written him, so long ago. Remus closed the card and put the present aside on his desk, making a note to forward it to Valerie later. 'Okay,' he said.

'Okay?' Marlene repeated, sounding gobsmacked. 'What part of this is okay, Remus? Sirius is obviously under the impression that you are still together with Valerie, Merlin knows why, and has taken it upon himself to get you two a present.'

'So you've said,' Remus stated calmly.

'Have you gone deaf?' Marlene said, slamming her palm down on his desk. 'Sirius –'

'– has bought me and Valerie a present,' Remus said, slowly, almost sarcastically. 'So I heard.'

Marlene looked confused for a moment, but then a look of disbelief crossed her features. 'You told him that you were still with Valerie.'

'He asked me if she was happy,' Remus shrugged. 'I told him she was.'

'Remus Lupin,' Marlene said, sternly. 'For the last two years, I've had to sit and watch you moon over him –'

'I wasn't mooning over him,' Remus interjected.

'– and for months I've been talking to him about you –' Marlene continued.

'You what?' Remus said.

'– and now you've gone and told him that you're still together with your ex-girlfriend whom you haven't even spoken to in five hundred years!' Marlene said, ignoring him. 'Why would you do that?'

But Remus was incredulous, himself. 'You've been talking to him about me? What for?'

'Remus, you're my best friend, but you're an absolute idiot. You've been in love with this boy for years,' Marlene said, holding up a hand to stop him from talking. 'I know you are. Alice knows. Even Valerie knows. I believe it was the reason she dumped you in the first place.'

'I –' said Remus.

'And I mean, none of us know why you love him, because he's a shit, but there it is. And he's in love with you, too. I mean, he pulled me aside at his birthday party last year – drunk off his arse, of course – asking me if your eyes were still as beautiful as they were last time he'd seen them. He wouldn't do that if he couldn't care less,' Marlene said. 'But he's too proud to admit that he's wrong, and you're too stubborn to admit you're wrong, and now you're both pissing me off.'

'Marls,' Remus said, who had deflated slightly, but was still irritated. 'I appreciate this, but it's –'

'– pointless?' Marlene finished for him. She looked at him with such naked disappointment on her face, it stung. She had never, once, looked at him that way.

'Yeah,' Remus said softly.

'Fine,' Marlene said, raising both her palms at him, in surrender. 'It's your life, Remus. Just don't come crying to me when it remains as empty and as painful as you've made it.' With that, she turned on her heel, and left, leaving him sitting there, speechless and hurt.

That evening, Remus Apparated directly into the living room of his flat, and scrubbed a hand over his face. As much as he had tried, he had been distracted since his conversation with Marlene. She knew him very, very well, and had somehow been able to puncture right through the constructed cocoon of happiness he had spun for himself. Her words had been ringing in his ears all day. He sighed. He should go and apologise to her tomorrow. She was his best friend, and he couldn't lose her, too.

After he ate a paltry dinner, consisting of some leftovers he found in the fridge, he sat on the sofa for a while, trying to stop his head from overflowing with treacherous thoughts and feelings he thought he had said goodbye to two years ago. Thoughts of Sirius, of his beautiful smile and his barking laugh and his clever, racy mind, which came out with the worst kind of jokes at the most inopportune of times, filled him, and Remus smiled to himself at the memories.

Then he shook himself. 'Stop it,' Remus said out loud, firmly. 'It's too late now. You'll be fine.'

And he would be. He was an expert at putting himself back together; he'd been doing it for years. That was one thing Marlene was probably right about. He hadn't been himself in a very long time. But that has nothing to do with Sirius, he told himself. He got up from the sofa, putting his plate in the sink, to be washed a later day. He decided that what he needed right now was a long, hot shower, to take his mind off things. Minutes later, he could be found in the bathroom, stripping off the last of his clothes, and stepping into a steaming, hot shower.

When he emerged twenty minutes later and stepped into the living room, he shivered. The heat that had surrounded him in the bathroom fell away the moment his feet met the floor. His arms were covered in goosebumps and Remus winced as he padded across the cold, lifeless floor towards his bedroom, his dirty clothes bundled up in his arms. He was nearly over the threshold, when a voice sounded behind him.

'You know, your flat looks exactly the same.'

Remus whirled around, surprised, and found Sirius standing by the fireplace, casually leant back against the arm of the chair. 'It's weird.'

Remus found that he could form absolutely no response.

Sirius looked more put together than the last time Remus had seen him. His jet-black hair still fell messily into his face, but he had shaved and, for some reason, seemed to have put a lot of effort into his appearance. His shirt was of a red, coppery colour, making his eyes appear very, very grey, and he was wearing smart black trousers. His leather jacket was draped over the sofa, a fact Remus had overlooked, even though he had passed by that same stupid, treacherous sofa just a minute ago.

'Hi,' Sirius said.

Remus was suddenly acutely aware of the fact that his wet hair was plastered to his forehead and that he was only wearing a really tiny white towel around his waist. He probably looked like an absolute mess. Not that it mattered to him what he looked like to Sirius, who was giving him a bright, careless grin, looking like butter wouldn't melt in his mouth.

'What are you doing here?' Remus managed, eventually.

'You lied to me,' Sirius said, looking straight at him.

Remus blinked.

'Although, to be fair, you didn't lie, per se. You merely "very heavily implied something that wasn't actually factually correct", to quote Marls,' Sirius said.

Remus clenched his fist, annoyance flaring, hard, in his stomach at her constant interfering in his life. 'Look, I –'

'Did you know,' Sirius interrupted him, taking a step closer, 'that I was utterly and completely in love with you? And I mean, pathetically so, to the point where Prongs made so many jokes about you during summer hols that Euphy and Fleam pulled me aside and gave me a stern talking to about practising safe sex?' Here, Sirius paused and shuddered, but swiftly seemed to regain his footing, stepping closer to Remus. 'I can't even remember most of what I was taught in my seventh year because of you. It's only because I'm so brilliant that I didn't fail everything.'

'I –' Remus said.

'That day at the hospital, I was going to give you a key to my flat,' Sirius spoke, raising his voice just slightly, and Remus fell silent. 'I was going to make some stupid joke about the sheets I'd bought especially for you because you seemed to be so very prim and proper. But then ...' he tailed off, looking hurt.

'Look, Sirius, I –' Remus said.

'I asked you if Valerie was happy,' Sirius interrupted him.

'You did,' Remus replied.

Sirius seemed surprised, like he hadn't actually expected Remus to admit it, but Remus wasn't about to give him the opportunity to speak. However flattering and heart-warming and, also, to a point, utterly terrifying, Sirius's speech had been, Remus knew he had to say something, so he took his turn. 'And I told you that she was happy, which is true. I know she is, and I know that it's mostly because she's not with me.'

Sirius opened his mouth to say something, but Remus pressed on. 'I'm not very good at relationships, Sirius. I'm not very good for you. It took me a very long time to realise this, but I'm –'

'Remus,' Sirius said simply, stepping closer to him.

It was the first time that Sirius had said his name in nearly three years, and Remus couldn't think of a reason why his reaction to it was so visceral. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that Sirius was now stood incredibly close to him, his blazing grey eyes boring into Remus's. Or perhaps it was simply because it was so familiar, and some part of him that he didn't even known still existed had missed this, had missed Sirius, had missed them.

Sirius took another step towards him, pressing his palms against the plaster, effectively trapping Remus between himself and the wall. When Remus opened his mouth to say something, Sirius leaned forward and kissed him, so hard that their teeth clacked together. The noise of surprise Remus made died at the back of his throat as Sirius kissed him again, running his fingers down Remus's sides. He eventually tangled them into Remus's hair, and tugged their faces closer together.

It was both everything Remus had wanted for two years, and nothing like he had expected. Sirius kissed him until Remus had dropped his bundle of dirty clothes on the floor and was kissing him back, his fingers underneath Sirius's shirt, moving over his hot, warm skin. Sirius kissed the same as he had two years ago, but also differently, and Remus found that he simply couldn't stop touching him.

Sirius pulled away, then, his hot breath fanning Remus's neck.

Remus tried, for a moment, to catch his breath. 'I love you,' he blurted.

'What?' Sirius breathed, his voice low and raspy.

'Shit,' Remus said. The words were utterly terrifying to him now that he had spoken them out loud, and there was something in his stomach that felt like terror and uncertainty. Those words had never, in his whole life, felt so raw and true. 'I mean,' he added, at Sirius's amused look, 'I –'

A large, beautiful smile illuminated Sirius's face, and he leaned their foreheads together. 'I know,' he said, smugly. Remus laughed, the first, genuine laugh he had laughed in a long while, and kissed Sirius again, and again, and again.

THE END

Author's Note: Thank you for reading this story. Your thoughtful comments and constant support mean so much to me