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Quite a Pair


Sirius woke up in his human form in the woods as the moon was rising in the sky. He stared up at it, looming over the gap in the trees, marking where the tracks for the Hogwarts Express stretched on through the great forests, headed on ever north toward the castle. It was a gibbous moon, only a day away from being full. He stared up at it, at the grey spots of the craters and the glow about it in the dark of the night sky… Somewhere, Remus was experiencing his pre-moon pain, probably lying awake in his bed in the dormitory, and maybe even staring out the window, looking at the moon as well. Sirius hoped he was - he felt a little bit closer to him at the idea that they could both be looking at the same moon at that very moment… Soon, he’d be to Hogwarts and he’d see the werewolf himself, he told himself. All the sooner if he’d just get on the move again... He smiled to himself, and sat up, hugging his knees to his chest and rocked himself for a few moments, then forced himself to get up and change back into Snuffles.

He was starving, and his muscles were desperately sore from all the miles he had already travelled since he’d left the Potter house in Godric’s Hollow. It seemed like eons ago, rather than just days. It had, in fact, been eleven days - eleven days running the tracks of the Hogwarts Express, eleven days of pushing himself to keep moving, even when all he wanted to do was lay and sleep. But every time he stopped, he would only sleep a few hours before he would wake up, thinking of his friends and the things they were planning to do - the revolution they were thinking of starting - and he’d feel adrenaline rush through his veins once again and he’d get up and move onward...




Remus was indeed awake and staring at the gibbous moon, sitting up, rubbing his sore knee joints and chewing the last of the aconite leaves he had in the box that Ned Veigler had given him. He tried not to think about how terrible the next moon would be without them. The night stretched on and on - he was still up by the time the other boys started to stir in their beds.

“Happy Birthday,” Remus said when James awoke and reached for his spectacles on the night stand.

“Thanks,” murmured James, voice slurred from sleep. His hair stood up on end on one side.

Remus smiled. “How’s fifteen treating you so far?”

“Fifteen!” James exclaimed, “Bloody hell I’m growing old.” He ran his hands over his cheeks, under his glasses, and rubbed his eyes.

“Practically geriatric,” agreed Remus. James threw himself down into the pillows again and his hair puffed up even worse than it had been before.

The day was all about James. Everyone in the school seemed to be stopping in the halls to pat him on the back - other than the Slytherins, of course. The Gryffindors especially were excited and they talked happily during breakfast in the Great Hall about the grand party they planned to throw that evening for James. Remus smiled and tried to stay inconspicuous in the plans, as he’d be leaving right after lunch to head to the Shrieking Shack.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to come out with you?” James asked as he slung his book bag onto the floor beside his bed after their morning classes.

Remus laughed, “The whole of Gryffindor house would be trying to find you within minutes if you did.”

James rubbed the back of his neck, “I could feign illness.”

“You need to enjoy your party,” Remus answered. “Don’t worry about me.”

James smiled crookedly and mussed up his hair a bit, glancing in the mirror. “Maryrose asked me to meet her after lunch, too,” he said, “But I’d cancel it all if you wanted me to.”

Remus shook his head, “I can go alone, mate, it’s okay.”

Peter sat on the bed in the center, feeling a bit guilty for not offering to go out with him to the shack, but feeling a bit like a rat and a werewolf were a bad match to be alone. It would take but a single snap and Remus would have bit the rat right in half, so Peter kept his mouth shut.

Remus grabbed Sirius’s forgotten scarf from his bed, where it had lived since the day Sirius had left, and wound it about his neck, lamenting that it didn’t smell like Padfoot any longer. He took the sandwiches and little cakes Peter had knicked for him, even though he was far from hungry with the way his stomach was churning with the moon cycle. “Thanks Pete,” he said.

“I even got you cake. Since it’s James’s birthday,” Peter said.

Remus smiled, “Thanks,” he said again.

“You’re welcome,” Peter said.

“Here’s the cloak, mate,” said James, holding out the invisibility cloak to Remus so he could get outside to the Whomping Willow without being spotted.

Remus took it and slid it into his bag. “Have a good birthday.”

“Thanks. Have a good… er… moon.”

Remus laughed. “See you lot tomorrow, then…” and he headed for the door.

The end of March had brought a bit warmer weather, melting most of the snow and making the grounds muddy. Remus sloshed through mud puddles under the cloak, making a face as his shoes stuck to the ground. He slipped and slid down the hill to the Whomping Willow and by the time he got into the tunnel he was quite covered with mud and in a rather terrible mood.

“Bloody furry little problem, I hate this,” he muttered resentfully as he slid shakily into the tunnel, his clothes weighted down with the mud and muck from the grounds. He shook off as best he could, but it was just so thick on there that he felt dirty and disgusting and heavy. He walked through the tunnel feeling horrible. “Off to a great start…” he grumbled. “Gonna be a right horrible moon…” He stumbled several times moving through the tunnel, paused a couple times to sit and rub his knees and feel miserable for himself, and even considered taking a nap there in the tunnel because of how exhausted the trip to the Shack was making him already. He was fairly certain he had a fever, he could feel the heat in his face and neck.

By the time he reached the trap door, he’d never been more thankful to see it in all his life. He climbed up on the step and shoved the door open, pulling himself up from the dark, so that he crawled across the dusty wood floor and collapsed there, kicking the trap door shut with a loud thump, closing his eyes as he went limp, exhausted.

He felt like such rubbish that he would’ve been alright to stay right there on the floor ‘til he awoke the next morning back in human form. He didn’t think he could move for anything - heat washed up his spine, his breaths coming out in small bursting gasps and he could hear his heartbeat from the inside as it clunked along...

“Well, well… Don’t we make quite a pair tonight.”

Remus opened his eyes and looked up - that voice was the only thing that could’ve made him move at that point. “Sirius?” he asked in disbelief as he looked around the room - and finally spotted him, lying on the couch, a sleepy smile on his face, “Sirius!!” Remus forced himself to get up, dragging himself over to the couch, dropping next to Sirius and quickly pulling him into a bone-crushing hug.

“Ohh Rey, Merlin, you’re burning up.” Sirius said the moment Remus’s skin touched him. “Bad moon?” Sirius pulled out of the hug and held him out at arm’s length, turning one hand to feel Remus’s forehead.

“Awful moon,” Remus said thickly.

Sirius struggled to unravelled the lengths of his scarf from about Remus’s neck and he pushed Remus’s hair out of his face. “You’re positively swimming in sweat,” Sirius looked about and grabbed one of the blankets from the floor, using the corner of it to gently swipe the moisture from Remus’s neck and face. “My poor Moony...”

Remus’s eyes stared at Sirius’s, which were grey and full of loving concern, “I thought you weren’t comin’ ‘til the weekend,” Remus muttered.

“I pushed myself really hard to get here for the moon,” Sirius said.

“You must be so bloody tired,” Remus murmured.

“And starving,” Sirius said with a nod.

Remus pointed to his bag. “Peter packed me food, including a bit of James’s birthday cake.”

Sirius dove for the bag, “Sandwiches!” he cried out when he found the food Peter had sent along, peeling the plastic bags from them and shoving them into his mouth hurriedly, famished. As he ate, Remus leaned back into the cushions, and though he fought to keep his eyes opened, he fell asleep to the sounds of Sirius noshing down the sandwiches and cakes.

When Remus woke again, it was to find Sirius was sitting on the couch, Remus’s head in his lap. He’d ripped a bit of the blankets off and used the aguamenti charm to soak it and was gently wiping Remus’s forehead and neck with the cloth. He was humming a song as he did it and Remus kept his eyes closed for a moment to hear the little tune.

When Sirius realized that Rey was awake, he bent forward and placed a kiss on Remus’s forehead. “Hey you,” he said. “Feeling any better now you’ve slept?”

Remus nodded. “I know now that you aren’t a figment of my imagination, for one.” Sirius smiled and gently brought the cool damp cloth over Remus’s cheeks softly. “I’m so glad you’re here, Padfoot,” he whispered. “Best surprise ever.”

Sirius smiled, “I’m glad I’m here, too.”

“We had to move the meeting, too,” he murmured, “Did you get our owls?”

“Move the meeting?” Sirius asked, confused.

“Yeah.. McGonagall and Moody cancelled the Hogsmeade Weekend, so we had to find a place inside and James and Peter came up with the idea to hold the meeting in the secret room. So we had to move the whole meeting inside.We tried to owl you…”

Sirius’s eyebrows knit in concern, “They’ve cancelled Hogsmeade Weekend?”

“Yeah. On account of hearing about the meeting.”

“Well bloody hell! That isn’t right! How can they consider that justice!” Sirius’s voice was laced with concern, “I never would’ve thought it of Professor Minnie…”

Remus shrugged, “It was her idea, partly, according to what James said she told him.”

“Well… well how am I supposed to go to the meeting then?” Sirius asked, concerned.

“I’ll sneak you inside!” Remus replied. “With the invisibility cloak.”

Sirius laughed, “Because nobody’ll notice I’m there.”

“We’ll figure it out,” Remus said. “For now, I’m just glad you’re here and I don’t have to go through tonight alone… the way I’m feeling, ohh, Sirius, I would’ve clawed myself up something awful.”

“I’ll keep you safe, Moony,” Sirius whispered. “I’ll always keep you safe.”