Second Chances (Harry Potter, M, Remus - Wolfstar)

[LostGirl2.0]

A/N: I've been wanting to write a Harry Potter story for ages so finally gave it a go!  (For the flashback in this story, all the boys have turned 18 as they're just about to graduate Hogwarts.)  Also, the set-up takes a while (sorry!!), but I promise the sneezing lies ahead!! Hope you enjoy!

 

Second Chances

 

Sirius was listening to Mundungus give his report, he really was. He just found the man's intoxicated ramblings somewhat difficult to focus on and so instead he chose to occupy himself by picking at a splinter on the large oak table in front of him. Whether he paid equal attention to every person or not, Sirius never missed a meeting. He had to know what was going on outside for Harry and Remus's sake. Of course it stung a bit that all he was able to do at this point was know things, but as some famous person somewhere had once said, "knowledge is power", so in actuality he might be the second most valuable member of the Order looking at things that way. He fought back a yawn and the splinter finally popped free. ...Well bollox. Now what was he meant to do with himself for the next sixty minutes of chatter about cursed quaffles and the lot?

 

Thankfully he was spared having to ponder this further when the front door gave a soft creak from it's supremely ancient hinges. Sirius quickly took stock of those around him and after a thorough head count, he was fairly certain everyone was there who should be except for Remus, who'd been away doing something secret of import for the past three and a half weeks now. His pulse quickened and his eyes glued themselves to the kitchen door as he willed his friend to bloody hurry himself up. He was dying of boredom right now and after nearly a month of solitude he was almost to the point where he couldn't be held accountable for the mischief he was going to have to cause to maintain his sanity. And maybe he'd been just the littlest bit worried about the man, as well. They'd all expected Remus back a few days ago and hadn't heard from him since he'd gone. Mercifully, the mysterious "arrivee" didn't dawdle, so Sirius was only left hanging in suspense for less than a minute tops. The pearl handle turned, the door swung open, and the beautiful sight of his lanky, bundled up best mate stepped through. 

 

Sirius's heart lightened as he watched Remus quietly shut the door behind him and nod to those present, but then took a dive as the man promptly took the open seat closest to him which was next to Arabella. Sirius frowned. Remus always sat next to him. The chair to his right had remained vacant for weeks because everyone, not just him, knew that was how things were.  Sirius shot Remus an affronted glare in response to the obvious snub, but Remus kept his gaze on Dung. As Sirius stared harder, doing his best to make Remus's hackles rise enough to acknowledge him, he couldn't help noticing that his friend looked a little rougher around the edges than usual. His face glowed pale in the kitchen lamp light and his short gray-brown curls were pasted flat against his head, meaning he'd been a while without the ability to wash it. The scruff on his face spoke of the same. His shoulders were stiff and tight with tension, which was at odds with the fatigue that appeared to weigh his movements as he slowly unwound his scarf from his neck. Sirius sat up slightly. Had Remus sat over there because he was hurt, and he hadn't wanted Sirius to make a fuss? Cause that would be Remus all over. He watched the man through narrowed eyes for the next few minutes, eventually deciding that Remus didn't appear to be in pain, however that conjecture was being made from what he could see of his friend from his position here, all the way at the other end of the table.

 

He'd just decided to spend the rest of the meeting staring at Remus's left ear in a bitter sulk, when he saw the man do something he hadn't seen in years. His friend looked away from Dung for a moment and ducked his head down towards the table just before his upper body gave a tiny, subtle jerk. He lifted his head to look back at Dung, but seconds later was ducking it again as his body jerked in succession twice more. 

 

Sirius blinked and rubbed at his eyes, swearing for a moment that he must have gotten so bored he was finally hallucinating things. But no, there it was again. Sirius rolled his eyes as it became apparent to him why Remus had chosen to sit where he did. He was indeed trying to avoid Sirius's scrutiny, but not because he was injured and didn't want Sirius causing a fuss--but because Sirius knew him better than anyone else at this table. No one else was likely to notice what was going on.  He thought for a moment that he ought to feel offended that Remus was clearly back to his same old games, whatever his reasons, but instead he felt a sense of homesickness and heartache.  

 

He sat back and resumed playing with his liberated splinter as deja vu tugged his mind back to better days. Days when Remus had been just as stupid and stubborn as he was now, apparently.  Though back then it'd been Lily who'd noticed something was off, not him. He still felt slightly jealous about that, despite everything that had happened since. And so much had happened since. He closed his eyes against the sting of grief and instead let the bittersweet memory take him back to a pivotal moment in his life, before it all completely fell apart. 

 

*********************

 

"I've got the perfect plan for tonight," Sirius said excitedly as he sat down across from James and Peter and reached for a scone. 

 

"Yeh?" James inquired around a mouthful of bacon. "Doh tell."

 

Sirius slathered his scone in cream and jam and leaned in to the other two with a conspiratorial grin. "Four words. Four. Legged. Ice. Skating."

 

James made a face at him. "Technically I think that's three words, mate, but beyond that--has it never occured to you that there might be a reason this suggestion hasn't been made in the past seven years?"

 

Peter snorted, "Pretty much the fact that stags have hooves and would be pants at skating," he said, uncharacteristically taking Sirius's side. 

 

James scowled in mock affront. "My hooves are phenomenally agile. You two seen a bunch of dogs and rats doing pirouettes then, have you?" He pointed to them both with greasy fingers.  "You lot wouldn't be any better at it than I would!"

 

"First, the fact that you know what a pirouette is intrigues me and I will be digging more into that later, and second, care to make a wager on that claim?" Sirius asked, gleam in his eye.

 

"Oh, Merlin here we go again..." Peter, sighed. 

 

"A wager, eh? Speak to me more of this." 

 

"10 galleons says Moony and I are the best at it."

 

Peter nearly choked on a piece of sausage as he hurriedly tugged James's ear down to his mouth. "Do it!" He hissed, still too loudly to be as clandestine as he appeared to be intending.  "I'm only half an inch off the ground! There's literally no way they'll handle ice better than I will. Bet that you or I will do it better and we can split it 50/50. I need money for Christmas stuff."

 

James stuck out his hand. "Wormy and I think one of us can do it better."  

 

Sirius shook it. "You're on mate. I was thinking we can go to the pond at the base of that funky waterfall just west of the--

 

"I wish you wouldn't." 

 

Sirius stopped mid-plot as Lily suddenly appeared next to James with a frown. He held up his hands. "We haven't got any tests coming up after today until NEWTS and they're still weeks away, so we're not being irresponsible with our education. And as long as you don't ask for any more details than you already overheard, you'll have complete deniability about the whole affair." 

 

She sat down next to James and pushed her hair behind her ears irritably, "It's nothing to do with any of that, though I think it'd serve you right if you broke all your legs for your idiocy." 

 

Peter chuckled and Sirius kicked him under the table in retribution, resulting in him actually inhaling his sausage this time and James having to give him a few solid thwacks on the back.

 

"What's up, Lils?" James asked, giving her a one armed hug and a kiss on the temple. She smiled at him briefly, but then chewed her bottom lip as she watched him spoon out eggs for her.

 

"Did something happen?" Sirius asked, brow creasing. "No one's done anything they need a good arse-kicking for, have they?"

 

Lily sighed and shook her head with a half-hearted smile. "No, nothing like that. It's just--" she cut herself off and then finally seemed to reach some internal conclusion that spurred her on. "I know he likes his privacy and I'm sure he wouldn't thank me for saying something, but I'm worried about Remus."

 

Sirius's eyebrows shot up. "What's happened to Moony?"

 

"Nothings happened, really..." She hesitated, and then looked to James. "You know how Astrid's been out with a terrible flu and Olive's dealing with--well, lady things this week--Remus has been single handedly picking up the slack for both of them. That, on top of the pressure he's putting himself under regarding NEWTs... He just hasn't been looking very well lately, and I'm concerned he's over extending himself."

 

James smiled ruefully, "I mean, that's Moony though, isn't it? When is he not doing too much?" Lily didn't appear mollified. "Look, those things on top of--" he gestured at the great hall's ceiling, "you know...it makes sense he's looking a bit poorly right now."

 

Sirius nodded in agreement, "I know it doesn't seem like it, but a little fresh air and fun tonight will do him good. We've seen him stressed out loads of times." He waved a hand dismissively. "It's always helped in the past." 

 

She nodded slowly, but continued to frown. "He's been so pale though, and he was sneezing all through classes yesterday. With Astrid so sick I'm just worried he's caught something--"

 

"What?" Sirius asked, confused, then shook his head, knowing she had to be mistaken. "He wasn't sneezing all day.  We're sitting right next to him more often than not. We'd know if he was under the weather." He said, perhaps a little more defensively than he meant to. 

 

Lily scoffed. "Well, it's Remus, you really think he's going to be obv--"

 

"Alright, alright", James cut them off with a placating hand. "We'll double check that nothing seems amiss before we take him out tonight." He paused looking around for agreement before suddenly noticing the obvious, "Speaking of dear old Moony, where is he, anyway?"

 

"That's what I mean, he's taken over Astrid''s tutoring schedule too, so he's with the second years right now. I tried to help, but he just keeps saying that 'the Head Girl has plenty on her plate already' and that he 'likes teaching' and 'he's fine'."

 

James nudged her until she started eating her eggs. "Remus is used to handling a lot, you know that, love. He's pretty good at knowing his limits."

 

"I know, I know." She sighed and stabbed at the food on her plate in frustration. "I just wish he looked after himself a bit better than he does."

 

"That's what we're for, Lils." Sirius reassured. "And trust us, a romp and a bit of silliness really will do him good. If we don't step in for these kinds of things he'll go gray before he's thirty! Which will be particularly hard on him, you see, because I'll have hair like a stallion well into my hundreds."

 

"Ha!" James barked. "Only because you're the only one shallow enough to use regrowth spells"

 

"Oh contraire, my dear Prongsy" Sirius wagged a finger at him. "You see, it's all in the genes. Hair genes come from the mother's side and my mother has a mane that wouldn't disappear if you set it on fire. Trust me, I've tried. So on the plus side, I'm set for life." He grinned. 

 

"Does it really?" Peter asked, shocked and dismayed. "Well bugger that, my mum's already half bald!"

 

Sirius and James guffawed while Lily rolled her eyes and focused on clearing the rest of her plate. When she was done she pecked James on the cheek and stood. "Well, I've got to get going. I'm Willoughby's teaching assistant until she gets to know the green houses." She paused and looked at them seriously, "just take good care of Remus tonight, alright?"

 

They all solemnly nodded the affirmative, hands over hearts, but universally dismissed her concern as soon as she walked away. 

 

"She alright, Prongs?" Sirius asked, going for a second scone. "She seems a little, er, intense, lately."

 

James shrugged. "She really does have a lot on her plate right now. I'd have thought she was talking about herself if she hadn't outright said she meant Remus."

 

"Might be time for a little nighttime stress relieving fun for her too then, eh?" Sirius waggled his eyebrows suggestively. 

 

James threw a piece of bacon at him while Peter grumbled, "As long as you remember to actually put the sock on the door this time." 

 

"I put it on the handle!" James yelled indignantly.

 

"Well then it fell off the handle, and now I'm scarred for life!"

 

James glowered. "I'll just transfigure the whole door into a sock next time then. Even you couldn't miss that."

 

"What's that supposed to..."

 

Breakfast was nearly over so Sirius tuned out their bickering and busied himself with stuffing three sausages between two pieces of bread and finding the least cooked pieces of bacon left on the tray. The food vanished just as he finished composing his parcel. 

 

"Here, Wormtail." He passed it over. "Give this to Remus. The fumes in Potions'll make him nauseous if he's got an empty stomach, and if Sluggy sees me passing things again he'll make me scrub cauldrons. Really, can't the man think of more than one type of detention to offer? It's been seven years of the same thing! The monotony of it is worse than the manual labor at this point."

 

James patted Sirius on the back consolingly then stood and slung his pack over his shoulder. "Right lads, let's get on with the day so we're well ready for tonight." The other two stood as well and Wormtail stuffed the sausage and bacon sandwich down between his books. 

 

"Time to ace yet another exam." James said, sounding put upon.

 

Peter groaned. "My Dreamless Sleep potion always smells like mackerel and I can't figure out why.  Takes ages to wash it out of my robes. Moony's smells like lavender. That's the right way, isn't it?"

 

James nodded as they walked out of the hall and Peter continued to prattle on anxiously. "Actually, do you think there's a chance it doesn't really smell like mackerel and there's just something wrong with my nose? I'll get Moony to tell me. His nose is so much more sensitive, I bet he'll be able to tell me where I've gone wrong." He nodded to himself, and then changed topics completely. "Hey, either of you find it odd that Moony never sneezes? When Lily said it in there I couldn't figure out why it sounded so weird until I realized that I've never actually heard him sneeze. That's not like a side effect of his furry little problem or something?"

 

Sirius snorted, "That's bollocks, Wormtail. It's been seven years, he's definitely…" he trailed off, thinking hard.

 

"See?!" Peter said, triumphantly. "You can't think of a time either, can you?" He turned to James, "Prongs?"

 

James laughed bemusedly and shook his head. "You know I really can't. Is that weird? He has to do it, right? I mean, everybody sneezes. Animals certainly do, so it wouldn't be that. ...Maybe we've just never noticed?"

 

Sirius scrunched his face at that. They spent nearly every hour of the day together. That almost seemed impossible. Which could mean that Lily--who was not a marauder, maybe an honorary one, sure, but not really--Lily had noticed something about their mate that they hadn't. This instinctively upset him. There were certain things he took as givens that were points of pride for him, and knowing his best mates inside and out was absolutely one of them. 

 

He pursed his lips. So why was he letting Lily's stress and paranoia make him doubt himself? Remus had been fine, stressed certainly, but no more so than usual. They all knew how badly off he could get the day of the moon, and yeah, he was looking a little peaky these past few days, but it wasn't anything they hadn't seen before. He shook his head.  He shouldn't let Lily get under his skin like this. They'd get some breakfast into Remus, have some good old fashioned fun tonight, and he'd be good as new in the morning. It wasn't like they hadn't been doing this for years, afterall. 

 

"Oi! Bradford!" James shouted suddenly, pulling Sirius out of his thoughts. "I need to talk to you about practice!" 

 

He was off like a shot and Sirius rolled his eyes. James hardly walked twenty meters anymore without running off or getting pulled away for Quidditch Captain or Head Boy business. He turned to Peter who'd stopped to watch James and jerked his head in the direction of potions to keep them both on task. Peter had Remus's food, and if he was to have any chance of getting a bite in before the exam began they needed to be at least a few minutes early. Sirius not knowing his best mate. Ha! No one took better care of Moony than he did. Lily honestly didn't know the half of it.

 

They arrived just in time for Peter, who typically sat next to Remus, to slip him the food before class began. Remus took a look inside, smiled at the contents and thanked Peter before tossing a soft grin over his shoulder at Sirius as well. He'd probably noticed the bacon, Sirius smirked to himself. Wormtail wasn't known for his attention to detail. He watched Remus tear off a piece of toast and begin to chew and sat back in his chair satisfied. See? All was still right with the world. 

 

The exam got underway a few minutes later and because Slughorn liked everyone to leave the room immediately once their potions were complete, Remus was out the door a little before him. Sirius would have been out sooner if he hadn't gotten caught up trying to steal half of every ingredient James prepped so he didn't have to do as much work himself. He'd thought it would save him time, but in the end distracting James and trying to be sneaky took a lot longer. ...Ah, well. You win some, you lose some. 

 

He glanced down the hallway to see if Remus had waited, but he was nowhere to be seen. That hadn't been uncommon lately. Since he'd taken on all the extra Prefect work, he tended to try to pack it in every chance he got. Sirius wasn't likely to see him again until History of Magic that afternoon, as he, James, and Pete had flying next, and Remus had Arithmancy.  They would normally have lunch together after that, but on full moon days Remus tended to opt to work ahead on classwork or sleep through it depending on how he was feeling. Sirius would pop up to the dorm after they finished lunch and if Remus was in bed he'd check in on how he was feeling, but if he wasn't then he was probably doing alright and had chosen to fill the time with tasks instead. 

 

...TO BE CONTINUED

[Spoo]

Ohhh! What a well-written treat to read.  I love the setup you’ve crafted; the details and mannerisms are spot on. I felt as though I were watching a Harry Potter film rather reading a fic. The dialogue was also spectacular! Really love to focus on a time that wasn’t so depressing. I can’t wait to read more!

[LostGirl2.0]

@Spoo Thank you so much!!! I hope you enjoy this next bit as well! ☺️

 

A/N: Some of the sneezing and coughing in this next but happens when Remus is transformed.

 

-------------------

 

Remus hadn't been in bed during lunch, so Sirius left a plate of some slices of the rarest roast beef he could find on his side table. He'd expected to see him in History of Magic, but he hadn't been there either. Sirius chewed on the end of his quill, that uncertainty that had nagged him after breakfast making itself known.  He pushed it down once more, reminding himself that it wasn't unheard of for Remus to skip their afternoon classes, especially when they were ones he felt could easily get caught up on via notes alone. History of Magic and Muggle Studies were definitely in that category. It didn't mean anything was wrong, right?

 

He paid extra attention in both classes that day and took very thorough notes. Especially as James slept through most of History of Magic and Peter spent all of Muggle Studies sending bird shaped love notes to a Hufflepuff named Mandy Finch. 

 

-------

 

As soon as class ended they rushed down to dinner, stuffed their faces in ten minutes flat, and ran off to the shack. It was early March so the sun was still setting at six and they didn't have time to waste. They made it to the trap door they were breathing hard.

 

When they crawled inside they found Remus already naked, pale, and shivering under the navy comforter he typically used before his change. Sirius didn't even stop to catch his breath before raising his wand to cast his usual warming charm when Remus hoarsely gasped out, "No time! Now!" His body seized suddenly and he fell hard onto his side, writhing in agony in the twisted up blanket. Sirius started forward unconsciously, but James grabbed his arm. 

 

"Oi! You heard him!" He warned, then shifted into a stag on the spot. Sirius didn't see Peter anywhere meaning he'd probably gone rat as soon as they'd come in. Coward. Remus screamed horribly and Sirius closed his eyes, screwing his face up against the sounds of his friend's pain, and forced himself to change as well. 

 

Sirius's world view shifted into one with a lot less color and significantly more smells and sounds. Remus's resounding screams quickly took on a howling quality and Sirius paced restlessly as he waited for the misery to end. As soon as the cries changed fully into howls, they were off through the trapdoor and out into the night. 

 

Wormtail clung to Prongs's back as the deer and the dog easily herded the wolf away from the castle and into the forest. The initial sprint was always the most exhilarating, Sirius thought. They tore through the trees and bushes almost gleefully, every now and then nipping at Moony's heels or butting against his side to urge him in the direction they wanted him to go. Padfoot was just beginning to feel slightly winded when Moony suddenly slowed. He and Prongs accidentally raced right past him and had to turn around. They were trotting back towards Moony, panting hard but feeling brilliantly alive in the cold December air, when the wolf halted altogether and made several strange huffing sounds. 

 

Prongs stopped advancing and cocked his head. Padfoot slowed, but continued forward curiously. The wolf made the deep, harsh huffing noise again and gagged at the ground. Padfoot whined and drew close. The wolf shook his body and huffed again. Then steadied and locked eyes with Padfoot. His tongue lolled out to the side as he jumped and nipped at Padfoot's neck before resuming their journey north, but this time at a trot instead of a sprint. Prongs bellowed happily and began trotting alongside Moony as soon as the wolf reached him. Padfoot gave himself a shake and caught up to the other three, not at all complaining about the change in pace, but curious as to what had just happened to bring it on. Moony had never made a noise like that before, and this many years into nights like these, new things weren't terribly reassuring. He kept a closer eye on his friend as they made their way towards the pond. 

 

They continued on merrily for another hour and a half without incident before a rabbit happened across their path. Before either Padfoot or Prongs could distract him, Moony was off in pursuit. The three friends hurried after him, dodging branches and leaping over bushes in an attempt to keep up with the more agile wolf, but they were still too far behind to help when they saw him disappear over a ledge into a deep ravine. 

 

Prongs trumpeted in alarm and Padfoot barked a belated warning as they raced to the edge. Prongs slowed as they came closer, but Padfoot plowed ahead and half stumbled half slid down into the ravine. Stones and logs threatened to twist or break his legs, but he somehow managed to stay upright. Prongs, unfortunately much too large to confidently handle himself on such a steep slope, was unable to do more than stomp his hooves in fear as he waited anxiously at the edge. 

 

Padfoot didn't know what might have happened to Moony, going the speed he was on such uneven ground, and so was greatly relieved when his ears finally picked up a sound in the darkness below.  He barked in support and scrambled on. As he drew closer he realized the true nature of the noises he was hearing and went cold all over. They were splashes. He'd thought all of the water in the forest would have been frozen still! If Moony had broken through the surface and couldn't get back out… Padfoot's heart thundered so loudly in his ears that he nearly lost his ability to track.  When he was nearly upon the noise, he was able to make out a dark hulking shape that appeared half submerged in the black river water and half on top of the grayish ice. 

 

Padfoot's feet stung as he stepped onto the icy surface of the river and slipped and skittered his way to his friend. He picked his way around the black, broken pools where the wolf's paws had obviously crashed through the ice and eventually laid on his belly to slowly slink the rest of the way out to Moony. Once he was close enough to nose at the wolf's wet upper torso and smell the blood from the rabbit that the idiot still had in his mouth--stupid wolf priorities--he took stock of his surroundings. There was a rock that protruded from the ice fairly close to Moony's left side. He slunk around behind it and carefully got to his feet. Then he braced his front paws on the rough stone and leaned over to sink his teeth into the side of Moony's scruffy neck and heaved upward. The leverage was just enough for Moony to get his back feet out of the water and try to find purchase on the edge of the ice. The wolf clawed uselessly at it for a moment before he was finally able to hook in well enough to propel himself forward onto a more solid part of the ice. 

 

Padfoot scrambled to keep his balance at the momentum change and ended up gracelessly sprawled on his belly. He had a fleeting thought that he was glad neither Prongs nor Wormtail had been there to witness it. He'd have been out 10 galleons after that spectacular fall. He found his footing again just in time to be drenched in an icy rain as Moony shook himself off. He shook his own fur off in response and barked at his friend to follow before turning to carefully make his way back to terra ferma. He checked over his shoulder a few times, but the hulking black shape that was Moony stayed close on his tail. As they clambered back up the slope, Prongs trumpeted from directly above, letting them know he'd been following.

 

Once they finally crested the hill, Moony's blood soaked fur was much more visible in the moonlight. Padfoot sniffed and licked at him worriedly, but was relieved to find that most of it belonged to the rabbit still clenched in his jaws. The wolf shook himself off a second time and tossed his kill onto the ground before jumping around it excitedly like an overgrown puppy. Wormtail squeaked and Padfoot barked in amusement, but Prongs made a noise of alarm and began to gently nudge at the wolf's bouncing back end. Padfoot looked to where Prongs was nosing and whined and he saw that Moony was clearly favoring his back right leg as he leapt. He caught Prongs's eyes and both animals sobered instantly in concern. They were done for tonight, it was time to get back to the shack. 

 

Padfoot butted his head against Moony's and barked as he took the lead and goaded the wolf into heading back the way they'd come. He walked a few paces ahead while Prongs and Wormtail herded the large wolf from the rear. They were doing ok for the first half hour or so, Moony limping along steadily despite using only three and a half legs. But the wind blew colder as the night deepened and Padfoot couldn't help but wish they were able to pick up the pace a bit. Moony was still soaking wet and he didn't want him to be out here in the freezing air for any longer than he absolutely had to be.  Almost as soon as he'd had the thought, the sound of hooves and paws behind him went silent. 

 

He stopped his own forward march and turned back to his friends. Prongs was standing beside Moony now, who had finally dropped the rabbit and appeared to be sniffling at something in the air. At least that's what Padfoot thought he was doing until his head snapped down violently and shook in what was undeniably a sneeze. The three friends stood there silently, all of them uneasy about the occurrence given the day's earlier discussions. Sirius felt the gnawing uncertainty from this morning churning heavily in his gut. It became even worse when the wolf didn't just sneeze once, but four more times after that. And the fourth one was so violent that the wolf, already precariously balanced, nearly knocked himself over. Wormtail chittered and Prongs pawed at the ground anxiously, both of his friends clearly joining Padfoot now in his concern. 

 

Padfoot walked towards the wolf and nudged his head with a whine to ask if he was ok. Moony head butted him back playfully and snuffled into his fur before snapping down in another harsh sneeze. Prongs made a low keening noise and tossed his big horned head in the direction of the shack before pawing at the ground again. Sirius agreed, they needed to get back ASAP. Something was off with the wolf and Sirius had the sinking feeling that the same something had probably also been off with Remus earlier on, they just hadn't noticed it. Lily had, but they hadn't. His guilt and concern made him whine involuntarily as he nudged the cold wolf onward and took the lead once more. 

 

They got another twenty minutes or so of walking in before things began to go downhill fast. Moony started a low, keening whine as they walked and was stopping increasingly often to sneeze or to huff at the ground. They had to actively shove and herd him forward for a while before Moony finally decided he'd had enough and stalked off into a small cave in the rocky hillside to their right.  Padfoot looked toward the others helplessly and padded in after him. 

 

The cave wasn't deep, about fifteen feet at most, and Padfoot found Moony curled up at the very back making that huffing noise so hard he was gagging nearly every other time now. Padfoot whined for a moment in worry and indecision, before trotting to the front of the cave where Prongs was waiting, as he was too large to go any further inside. Padfoot sat down at the entrance decisively and stared at his friend. The stag canted his head and honked softly. The dog barked in response and laid down, doing his best to communicate that they were staying here. Moony wasn't going any further tonight. The stag nodded his heavy head and sank gracefully down to the ground. Wormtail peaked over his antlers to look at the dog. Padfoot let his tongue loll out and panted contentedly showing a decision had been made. The rat twitched his whiskers a few times, possibly in agitation, but eventually turned and crawled down deeper into the stag's bristly warmth. Another set of sneezes sounded from inside the cave and Padfoot looked at Prongs who bucked his head in their friend's direction. Padfoot was already up and trotting back to Moony's side almost before Prongs had finished the gesture. 

 

He looked appraisingly at the large mass of curled up, bloody wolf for a moment before getting back down onto his belly and slinking up to him. The wolf's fur was stiff and close to frozen. Padfoot felt horrible. He whined again without meaning to and the wolf lifted his head, twitching his ears curiously. The shaggy black dog took the opportunity that presented and wedged himself against Moony as closely as he could, hoping to share some of his warmth. Once his back was touching the wolf's belly, Moony yawned and rested his big head on Padfoot's shoulder. Padfoot hadn't even realized that he hadn't stopped whining until the trusting gesture instinctively calmed him down. Moony blew a hot breath onto his side and snuffled into his fur as he tried to make himself comfortable. The wolf had only just settled when he suddenly reared back up and snapped his head down again in another set of strong sneezes. Padfoot whined again in apology and leaned back to lick comfortingly at his friend's face. Moony panted and let his tongue peek out, seeming to enjoy the attention. He settled down again after a moment and Padfoot turned back around deciding he might as well try to get some sleep himself. He was cozy enough for the most part, even with a Moony-sicle at his back, and the cave was a nice buffer from the wind. He gave in to a big yawn and laid his head down on his paws. His eyes drooped shut. He couldn't do anything more for Moony in this moment than he'd already done, but what he could do for Remus in the morning was an entirely different story. He yawned again. Best to rest for now, and then be in top form for whatever the morning would bring. 

 

-----

 

"Mmmmnnngggg!"

 

Padfoot's head shot up, instantly alert and hunting for whatever had woken him. The sky had begun to lighten so he could see quite a bit more of the cave now. His ears twitched. Had an animal wandered in while they were sleeping? His search was interrupted when something tightened like a band around his chest and the sound came again.

 

"Nnnnggggguhhhh!" 

 

Padfoot looked down in panic to see what had ensnared him and was confronted with a slowly lengthening furry arm with clawed fingers that were stretched outwards in agony. Padfoot whined softly and began licking at the arm, compelled to do anything he could to ease the owner's pain. 

 

"Nnyyyyhhhh! Mmmmmrrrrnnnnn!" Remus continued to moan and writhe behind him as Padfoot continued to helplessly lick. Eventually the tortured sounds subsided and the arm over his torso went limp. A now fully human hand was curled deep in his fur. He could feel Remus's chest heaving hard against his back, but as the seconds ticked by, the boy's breathing began to ease into soft puffs of air that gently stirred the fur on Padfoot's neck. Possibly stirring it too much, because just as Padfoot started to drop off again, Remus's body shuddered with a soft, wolfish sounding sneeze, followed immediately by a stronger one that shook Padfoot as well. The dog tried to shift away a bit to give his friend a little more space, but the arm merely tightened and Remus buried his face even further into the back of Padfoot's neck. That new position lasted for all of ten seconds before Remus was wracked by another set of airy sneezes that had him squirming around behind Padfoot clearly bothered. Certain at this point that the draw of his warm, but ticklish fur was part of the problem, he transformed back into Sirius and slowly rolled onto his back so he could get a better look at his friend. 

 

Remus's right arm was still slung across Sirius's chest, but his left was presently pawing wolfishly at his very human nose. Sirius snorted softly, finding the behavior endearing despite the circumstances. He let his gaze rove over his friend and took in several things at once. Remus's still closed eyes, the dried blood on his face with new shiny wet tear tracks through it, the puncture wounds across his neck (he winced guiltily at those), and a series of long but relatively shallow scrapes across his bare, well-muscled chest. 

 

Sirius blinked at himself.  Well-muscled chest? Where had that thought come from? Sure, Remus was a good looking guy. But so was James, really, and he'd never bothered to take notice of James's chest any of the numerous times he'd seen him shirtless. Maybe it was just the lighting? Sirius frowned at himself and curiously let his gaze drift back to his mate's upper body. However, Remus took that moment to give a full body shiver, goose pimples breaking out across his exposed flesh, and Sirius berated himself for being a distractible, insensitive idiot. He quickly checked that Prongs was still asleep at the entrance and hadn't caught him ogling Moony, then struggled to his knees stiffly and slipped off his school robe. He looked away as he draped the black fabric across his friend's naked body and laid back down beside him. Going back to sleep again felt impossible though as his eyes drifted back to Remus's face. The boy's usually curly hair was pasted to his forehead from dried muddy water and there was a slight trail of moisture glinting under his nose. Guess wolves never had to deal with runny noses did they? 

 

Sirius closed his eyes and thumped his head hard on the ground. How could he have missed this? There was no doubt in his mind now that their escapades last night had made things worse for Remus. Having a strong urge to do something to make up for it, he reached his hand toward the sleeve of the robe now cloaking Remus with a goal of cleaning him up a bit, but at the last second he checked himself. He couldn't afford to make any more stupid mistakes and while Remus was still asleep, he couldn't be sure if his mind was fully back yet. The last thing he needed was to startle him and end up with Remus's teeth in his arm again. Once was enough for that experience. Remus's bite had barely broken the skin, but he'd been so horrified with himself he hadn't spoken to any of them for over two weeks. So instead, Sirius lifted a hand and ghosted his fingers over Remus's hair. Figuring that if the wolf was still lingering close to the surface, something similar to being pet on the head might be more within the realm of the acceptable. 

 

When Remus didn't react negatively to his touch, Sirius grew bolder. He picked the sleeve of his robe off the ground, dusted the dirt off and ever so gently used the edge of the cuff to dab at Remus's upper lip. The boy flinched and frowned. Sirius stilled and held his breath. A few seconds passed before Remus settled once more, and Sirius quickly completed his task. It wasn't the greatest job he'd ever done cleaning someone up, he figured Regulus would give him a Dreadful, but he thought it might make Remus a little more comfortable or less embarrassed when he finally did wake up, and that was worth something at least. 

 

Remus shivered again and Sirius turned over once more to check on the occupants at the front of the cave. Still asleep. By the look of the lightening sky they had another half an hour or so before they'd need to be up and on their way back to the shack. Remus should be well back in his own head by then too.

 

Mind made up, Sirius slowly scotched himself back against Remus once more. Hoping whatever warmth the cold ground hadn't already leached from him might transfer over.  As soon as his back touched Remus's arm the boy reacted, pressing in closer and once again buried his cold nose into the back of Sirius's neck. A chill ran down Sirius's spine at the sensation, but he found with surprise that it was less from the shock of the cold nose and more about the feel of Remus's hot breath blowing down the back of his collar. 

 

Sirius flushed as heat suddenly began to pool at the bottom of his belly.  Oh, no no no no no, he told himself firmly. You do not get turned on right now. Not by one of your best mates, by Moony, for Merlin's sake, and especially not when he's unconscious! He barely resisted the urge to bang his head into the ground again. What was going on with him today? He forced himself not to think about Remus's lips practically kissing the nape of his neck and focused instead on just how many small rocks he could feel digging into his arms and legs. Nothing about the way he was lying right now was comfortable or nice or remotely pleasant, he reminded himself. Nothing. He stubbornly closed his eyes and willed his body to take advantage of the extra twenty minutes of sleep he could snag before they'd need to head back. And eventually, he did find himself drifting off, but after what felt like only seconds had gone by, he was thrown back into full consciousness. 

 

"Tchshhhh!" An explosion of mist and air bathed the back of his neck and Sirius jumped like he'd been hexed. Remus rolled away from his back.

 

"Heh'CHSHhh!  Bugger! Shit!" He heard Remus cursing under his breath as he scrambled even further away from Sirius.

 

"H'nxt'chsht!"

 

As there was no believable way Sirius could feign sleeping through what was happening, not to mention, for reasons he was still trying to figure out, he really didn't want to, he sat up slowly and made a production of it as he yawned hugely and stretched. 

 

"Hih'kxch! Chsht! Nx'tch!"

 

Sirius finally turned around and saw that Remus had moved as far away from him as was humanly possible.  He actually had his back up against the cave's rear wall. Sirius's cloak was clutched to his chest with one muddy hand while the other was tightly clamped around his nose. 

 

"Hih-HIH! Huh'Tchxt!"

 

Sirius cleared his throat softly. "Bless, mate."

 

Remus's eyes shot up and locked onto his. It was kind of hard to tell underneath all the dried blood, but Sirius was pretty sure Remus was doing a first rate impression of a tomato. 

 

Not wanting him to be embarrassed about any of this, as none of it was his fault, (and frankly not wanting to be embarrassed or awkward about any of it either) he moved on casually. "How you feelin'?"

 

Remus swiped his wrist under his nose as subtly as he could and cleared his throat. Or tired to anyway, his voice still came out as more of a gurgly sounding half cough that made Sirius wince. 

 

"Merlin, I'm so sorry Pads," Remus croaked. "I didn't mean to--" he cut himself off and started again, "I think your hair must have--" he vaguely gestured to his face, "Since I was--or, you were--" he tripped over his words and ran a dirty hand through even dirtier bangs which made them stand up in an absurdly spiky and very non-Remus-like way. 

 

Sirius snorted at the look and rolled his eyes. "Moony, just-- breathe, ok. It's all good. I honestly just want to know how you're feeling."

 

Remus nervously searched Sirius's face for a moment, and apparently upon finding nothing disingenuous, blew out a breath and shivered with a slightly self-depreciating grin. "Well, outside of being colder right now than I've been in recent memory, I think I'm alright. Seem to be in one piece, anyway. You lot okay?" He asked, brow furrowed in concern as his eyes thoroughly searched Sirius's person for any signs of trauma. 

 

"Mhhm." Sirius hummed in affirmation. "Not a scratch." He held out his arms as proof.

 

Remus slumped in relief and smiled gratefully. "That's good to hear. Thanks for the cloak, by the way." He looked down and tugged the soft black fabric up a little higher over his chest.

 

"Course. Though it might do you a sight better if you got your bare arse off the bloody freezing rock and actually put the thing on."  He was sure Remus was blushing now and he laughed outright, loudly enough that Prongs began to stir at the entrance. Remus tried to scramble to his feet to put the robe on, but wound up half falling back into the wall again as he put weight on his right ankle for the first time.

 

Sirius sobered immediately and hurried to his side. "Fuck, yeah, sorry, meant to tell you about that. You took a tumble into a ravine and were limping the rest of the night." He'd just started to squat down to take a closer look at the injured appendage when Remus grabbed him by his shirt collar and hauled him back up.

 

"Padfoot, while I appreciate the concern can you at least let me get your bloody robe on before you poke around down there? As you so kindly pointed out my ass is still quite bare and...so is everything else." 

 

Now it was Sirius's turn to turn red. "Oh yeah, er, right. Sorry. Here--" he grabbed onto the bunched up material, found the neck of it, then turned his head away from his friend as he shook it out so that Remus could slip into it. "Alright?" He asked as Remus made quick work of fastening the often-left-unbuttoned buttons at the front of the gown. 

 

Remus looked over at him and nodded. "Grand. Ta." 

 

Sirius smiled slightly in return. Remus may have looked like the villain in a horror story just then, smiling despite the bloodied state he was in, but something in Sirius warmed pleasantly at the sight of the boy in his robe. 

 

"Everyone decent back there?" Called the silhouette of James from the front. 

 

"More than you've ever been." Sirius answered back. 

 

"Ha, ha," James retorted, "Right then, time to get a move on, chaps! I reckon we've got a fifteen minute walk ahead of us and we'll be cutting it close with Poppy as it is."

 

Sirius didn't wait for permission or an invitation, he simply stepped over to Remus's side and wrapped a supportive arm around his waist. 

 

"You need any help?" James asked, ducking into the cave and walking towards them.  "How's the leg, Moony?" He crouched down to try and get a better look in the soft pre-dawn light. "It's definitely swollen." He said with a frown. 

 

Remus took a second to assess the damage. A slight grimace twisted his face as he flexed it and shifted his weight, but after a few moments he grinned with relief. "All good. Nothing broken, anyway. Probably just sprained it or something." 

 

"Great! Ok then, let's get a move on." James said, rising and heading back to the mouth of the cave. "Wormtail's gone ahead to stall for us if we need it. Let's just hope dear Poppy really hates rats." 

 

The second Sirius and Remus joined him outside the cave James slipped under Remus's other arm. 

 

"Really you two, I haven't lost a limb." 

 

"Mmmm...Bit early still to say for certain." James said, with exaggerated seriousness. "Better not to leave these things to chance."

 

Remus rolled his eyes, but didn't try to hide his fond smile and made no further objections as the trio set off. 

 

The morning was quiet except for the rustle of the wind. Pretty quickly Sirius was struggling not to shiver, so he had no idea how Remus, who was barefoot and no doubt getting one hell of an updraft, was doing it. To distract himself from how numb his fingers were getting and from some strangely invasive thoughts of Remus without underwear, Sirius decided to launch into a recount of the adventures of the night before. James chuckled at all the right moments while Sirius spun a far more epic tale than their two hour venture actually merited. Remus stayed relatively silent, but as he was exhausted and probably more focused on his footing, Sirius didn't mind.

 

Roughly ten minutes of their fifteen minute walk had passed before Sirius was getting close to drawing his story to a close. 

 

"...and despite all that, it took ages before you let go of the damn rabbit! You're covered in blood by the way, so we'll need to wash you up before Poppy pops in--"

 

Sirius broke off suddenly when Remus jerked between them. 

 

They instantly slowed their pace. "Alright?" He asked, worried that Remus might have stepped the wrong way. He leaned forward as they walked, trying to see through Remus's stringy locks, but Remus kept his head bowed.

 

Remus jerked again even harder and Sirius and James both drew to a complete stop. Remus sniffled and shook his hair out of his eyes. "Sorry," he said. "Just, ah, twinged it a bit."

 

"Do you need to sit down?" James asked. 

 

"No, no. Let's keep going. I'd rather not have Wormtail give Madame Pomfrey nightmares if he doesn't have to."

 

At his urging they walked on. They were in sight of the tunnel entrance when Remus jerked forward again. The two boys froze once more, but Remus just shook his head and urged them to keep going. 

 

They caught up to Wormtail at the entrance to the tunnel and proceeded the rest of the way to the shack together.

 

"You know" Remus rasped, then cleared his throat gently, "while I'm clearly grateful we weren't that far away, I'm surprised you lot opted to camp outside instead of just coming back here. I know it's not much warmer in the shack, but surely--"

 

"You picked the cave out, Moony, not us." Peter clarified as they finally arrived at the trapdoor. "The wolf was definitely off last night, kept sneezing and making weird noises and gagging... Nearly boked on Prongs's head more than once just watching you."

 

James left Remus's side to work on the latch. "Yeah, thanks for not doing that." He shuddered dramatically as he hefted the door open on strong, quidditch-capable shoulders. 

 

Remus coughed and rubbed unconsciously at his chest with his free hand, but dropped it as soon as he noticed Sirius noticing. "Huh… well, I don't know what came over me then. Sorry for everyone freezing their bollocks off on my behalf."

 

Peter snorted as he climbed up after James. "Prong's doesn't have bollocks to begin with, so no harm there-ow!" Peter cried out as James thumped him on the head with the door just as he was going through. 

 

"Op! Sorry, mate." James said, feigning innocence. "Right heavy door this is." He patted the solid wood approvingly. 

 

Peter glared at him as he crouched past.  James lifted the door the rest of the way and extended a hand down to Remus. 

 

"Easy does it, Moony." 

 

Remus took James's hand and made the journey inside on his knees. Once he'd crawled a few extra paces into the center of the room, he flipped around onto his behind and watched as James boosted Sirius through in a similar way. 

 

Sirius strode over to him and offered his own hand. "Don't take a load off yet, we've got to clean you up first." 

 

Remus groaned tiredly, but took Sirius's hand and let the boy haul him to his feet. Or foot, more accurately. 

 

"We'll keep an ear out for Pomfrey, but best be quick about it." James advised before shifting into Prongs once more. Pete did the same, their animal selves having much keener hearing than either of them would ever have in human form. 

 

Sirius helped Remus limp into the dingey old bathroom and didn't relinquish his hold until the other boy was securely braced against the sink. Sirius took his wand and healed the difficult-to-explain puncture wounds on Remus's neck while the boy turned on the tap and waited for the water to come through.  Sirius then shuffled away to sit on the edge of the tub and began to comb through his stringy, knotted hair with his fingers. He was sure he looked a right wind-swept mess and since they'd be off to breakfast as soon as they left, he figured he might as well do what he could to be presentable while he had the time. 

 

When the water finally came through Remus shivered as he washed his hands and arms and Sirius didn't blame him. The water in this place was baltic, no matter the season. He'd never understood why Dumbledore couldn't spring for a few creature comforts for Remus. The best excuse he could come up with was that if anyone other than themselves were to ever make their way inside, the shack needed to seem as dilapidated as it was repudiated to be. But still, he couldn't help being offended on his friend's behalf. Remus had enough shit to deal with. He didn't need frostbite from the bloody tap water as well. 

 

While he was busy internally griping at conditions they'd long since been forced to accept, Remus had moved on to washing his face and neck. Sirius could see Remus's reflection from where he sat and had to admit that the more color Remus washed off his face, the less he had left. He looked about the same shade as Nearly Headless Nick. Sirius's brow creased in concern, but just as he opened his mouth to try and badger Remus into actually telling him how he was feeling, he saw the other boy pause in his washing. Remus's eyes squinted shut for a spilt second and he gasped softly before his head ducked down and his body jerked hard twice in a row. ...His ankle has been off the floor the entire time. 

 

Sirius blinked, dumbfounded. So that's the reason they'd never heard him sneeze before today.  Multiple feelings ran through Sirius at once. Vindication that he and the other Marauders weren't as ignorant about their mate as Lily'd made him feel. Guilt that despite that fact, she'd still been right, Remus probably had been sneezing a bunch during classes the day before and none of them would have noticed it. Concern that he now had proof beyond the wolf's behavior that Remus might really have been too unwell to be out in the cold last night, not to mention dunked in a river. And lastly quite a bit pissed that the boy in front of him didn't just tell them that he wasn't well so that he didn't have to sit here and feel like an arse having all these revelations!  Many choice words and phrases popped into his mind when he finally re-opened his mouth, but then he made the mistake of catching sight of Remus's pasty reflection again and everything dried up on his tongue. 

 

"You're not well, are you?" It came out a tad more accusatory than he'd meant it to, but he supposed his aggravation had to vent itself somewhere.

 

Remus's eyes went wide for a split second before he forced a chuckle that rasped too loudly in his chest. He abruptly cut it off. "I'm fine, Padfoot. I've had injuries way worse than this and you know it."

 

Sirius pursed his lips, "You know that's not--"

 

Suddenly James was thundering down the hallway. "She's nearly here, lads!"

 

"Shit!" Sirius cursed. He really didn't get why Remus was deliberately misunderstanding him. He wasn't halfway done with this conversation and now it'd have to wait. 

 

He helped Remus hobble back to the front room where the boy slipped out of Sirius's robe, tossed it back to him, and covered himself up once again with the ratty comforter he'd begun the night in. James pulled the invisibility cloak out of his pocket, scooped up Wormtail, and tossed it over his and Sirius's shoulders. Then they crossed to the side of the trapdoor and waited silently.  Remus quickly laid down and feigned sleep. 

 

Mere seconds later the door cracked open and the matron came through. "Remus, dear. Wake up" she whispered, approaching him slowly and cautiously. As soon as she was nearer to Remus than them, the other three silently crept down through the open trapdoor and back out through the tunnel.

 

Well, whatever was up with Remus, he was in the best hands possible now, Sirius reassured himself. He'd just have to wait and figure out why the boy was being an evasive twat when he was back in classes with them tomorrow.

 

...TO BE CONTINUED

[nova_592]

I’m loving this fic. I enjoy getting to see the Marauders perspective change once they’re in their animagus form, and their dialogue is just how I imagined it to be. Can’t wait to read more!

[SneezeKitties]

 Oh my gosh!! I love this so so much!! Please please PLEASE continue!! I love Remus so much, I feel like he sometimes doesn't get enough appreciation, and you can't not love Sirius! Plus their friendship! 🥰  you have the characters all down, the writing is amazing, and the sneezes were 😍! can't wait for more! 🥰😆

[LostGirl2.0]

@nova_592 Thank you so much!! I'm so glad you're enjoying it!!

@SneezeKitties I completely agree. Remus is my absolute favorite character and there's never enough about him!! Thank you so much!!

--------------------

 

Remus did indeed come back the very next day, though he went straight to classes instead of returning to their dorm first. Sirius watched him keenly as he entered the Charms classroom and sat down, as per usual, in front of him and James and next to Peter. His limp was gone, which was what he expected as Madam Pomfrey would have seen to it right away. What he didn't expect was how pale Remus still was. Remus had smiled at the both of them as he came in and James had beamed back before resuming his drafting of the game plays for tomorrow's scrimmage against Slytherin. Sirius had smiled back too, but unlike James, he wasn't so easily reassured.  So he elected to continue to stare at the back of his friend's head in suspicion for the entire lesson instead. Traditionally, they assumed that if Moony acted ok, he was ok. But today Sirius was looking at his friend in a whole new light.  He hadn't had cause to hide anything from the three of them in years, so what was he playing at now? Pretending to be fine and playing dumb with Sirius's questions when Sirius had already called him on it. Hadn't they proven to him over the past seven years that he didn't need to pull this prevaricating shit anymore? 

Sirius had worked himself up to feeling quite righteously offended, when he saw Remus's body jerk again. And again. And again. He looked at Wormtail and the boy hadn't even paused in the writing of his notes. He looked to James who remained absorbed in drawing out a maneuver he had titled "The Kitchen Raid" that Sirius was pretty sure was based off last month's late night evasion of Mr. Grubbins, the janitor. He then glanced around at everyone else nearby and saw that no one seemed to have noticed a thing. Remus really had made an art out of being discreet hadn't he, Sirius thought rather steamily. He watched the object of his frustration jerk again, then another four times in quick succession before he slumped slightly in his chair and placed his head in his hands. Damn it. He looked too pitiful to be angry at again. Why couldn't he just let Sirius stay mad at him?! 

He sighed in frustration and leaned his chin on his fist as he continued to contemplate the puzzle in front of him. Remus was sick, pretending he wasn't for some reason, and seemed to believe he was doing a good enough job at pulling the wool over their eyes that he didn't need to even address it when asked. But the idiot should be in bed, not classes! And Sirius would be damned if he'd let Remus lie his way into making himself even sicker for reasons that were probably as cocked up as Remus's reasons for doing stupid shit like this usually were. So if Sirius had to burst his bubble a bit more obviously to get him to take care of himself, then so be it. That was what he would do. 

Mind made up, Sirius went back to actually paying some attention to the material Flitwick was covering. He was in the midst of turning his vinegar into wine when he caught Remus jerking forward again out of the corner of his eye.

Determined to no longer let Remus get away with things, he quickly scrawled "Bless you" on the corner of his parchment, tore it off, and magicked it onto Remus's desk. 

He watched Remus find the note and saw the sudden tension across his shoulders as he read it. His head drooped some as he carefully folded the parchment back up, wrote something on the back and sent it crawling back to Sirius along the floor. When it started up the legs of Sirius's desk he snatched it up.

Ta.

Sirius pursed his lips. Well, he hadn't denied it, so Sirius supposed that that was something. But he was still sitting in class, once again stiff backed and proud, so clearly he wasn't anywhere near giving in. Sirius would just have to keep at it then. Moony was stubborn, but so was he. He'd get him to see reason even if it drove the both of them to madness in the process. 

-------

Sirius had planned to have another go at Remus after class, but despite the fact that he exited the room only seconds before Sirius and James, he was once again nowhere to be seen. James and Peter had already started heading towards transfiguration when Sirius snagged Peter's arm. "Where's Moony gone off to?"

Peter and James looked around uncertainly. 

"I could have sworn he was just here, wasn't he?" Peter looked to James for backup.  

"He didn't tell you he was going anywhere or anything?" Sirius pressed.

Peter shook his head. 

"Sneaky bastard..." Sirius mumbled under his breath. 

"Don't worry mate, he'll catch us up again for Mcgonagall's class. Maybe he had some Prefect-y thing he needed to take care of. You know how he's been." James shrugged and started off again.

Sirius hummed discontentedly and started to follow, but stopped again after a few steps. "Have you got the map?"

James paused and raised an eyebrow as he fished it out of his bag. "You'll see him in the next five minutes, mate. Is it really that urgent?"

Sirius stayed silent and took the map. He searched it over, but Moony was nowhere to be seen. His brow furrowed. 

"What areas in this hall haven't we mapped yet?"

"Likely only one or two rooms we've not had cause to go into."  James reached out and took the map back from Sirius. "C'mon, Pads. Just catch up with him at Transfiguration. He'll probably have beaten us there at this rate!"

James and Peter started off again, but Sirius still hesitated. He'd literally been only just ahead of them... They'd have seen him if he'd been walking down a hallway, so that meant he'd gone into a room. Sirius spun around and took in all the labeled and unlabeled doors nearby. Maybe it had just been some prefect related business and he--

Sirius's thoughts ground to a halt as his eyes landed on one door in particular. A prefect's toilet. He suddenly knew without a doubt that was where Remus had gone. He approached the door and tugged on the handle, but as expected it wouldn't open without the password. James would have it, but he was too far away now to bother. Sirius glanced around the hall to make sure he was alone and then did something he really hoped no one witnessed for how inappropriate it would appear. He pressed his ear to the door and mumbled a sound enhancing spell. It took him a second to discern anything over the noise of the pipes inside, but once he could, he distinctly heard the sounds of someone coughing. A lot. Sirius closed his eyes. Was this how he'd been doing it? Dodging off into restricted toilets to hack up a lung between classes?  Sirius resisted the urge to pound his fist on the door, but only just. Why was he doing this?! There were no exams coming up for him to miss. No events. What did he gain by putting himself through all the hassle of trying to hide that he wasn't well? He couldn't think they'd give a shit about it, could he? Hell, he and James and Pete all caught colds at least once a year. It was hardly anything to go through all this trouble about. 

Sirius checked his watch and scowled. He had to get to class. He wanted to catch Remus when he came out, but he was in enough shit with McGoogles as it was. Remus might be forgiven a tardy, but he wouldn't. He dropped the spell and began to angrily trudge down the hallway.  And here they'd always treated Moony like he was the sensible one. He entered the transfiguration room right at the bell and sat down behind Moony's empty seat. He gave James a pointed look and grumpily got out his parchment and quill. Five minutes later Remus entered, apologizing for his lateness. McGonnagal opened her mouth to comment, but seemed to reconsider and simply nodded towards his chair. Sirius ran his hands through his hair in exasperation. Merlin, even the teachers could tell he was in a bad way! And here they were, his best friends, sitting behind his ill arse and letting him get away with being an absolute bloody fool.  

He saw Remus's upper body jerk again and savagely fired off another note, this one saying 'I don't know what you're playing at, mate. You're sick." He traced over that word so many times he nearly put a hole in the parchment.  "YOU SHOULD BE IN BED." This time Remus just read the note, folded it back up and continued writing down the lesson. 

Sirius growled under his breath. James gave him a curious look, but Sirius just waved a hand dismissively. He'd get into it with James later. 

Class continued without issue, except Sirius swore he could now hear Remus sniffling, but it was so quiet it could easily have been confused with the rustling of his parchment. When class finally let out, all four of them went down to lunch. Sirius kept shooting looks at Remus out of the corner of his eye, trying to catch the other boy's attention, but Remus deftly avoided him and kept Peter and James so distracted Sirius didn't have a chance to get a word in edgewise. When they arrived at their table Sirius made a point of sitting next to Remus instead of James, intent on finally getting some answers, but unfortunately Lily plopped herself on Remus's other side and began talking Prefect and Head Girly business with him. Sirius glared at the pair and tuned them out for a moment to watch as James attempted to fit two entire scotch eggs in his mouth. This was a long standing tradition between them when scotch eggs were served, so Sirius had to reach for two of his own, of course. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Remus duck forward in another quick jerk and called him on it immediately.  

"Bless you." He said loudly and rather pointedly, only he wasn't the only one to have said it. His eyes met Lily's over Remus's head and she gave him a look that clearly said 'I told you so.' 

"Bless hoo?" James asked, bits of egg falling out of his lips from his bulging cheeks. Lily made a noise of disgust.

Sirius started to answer but barely got a syllable out before Remus cut him off. "You Prongs, they're praying for you because in seven years you've never gotten more than two eggs in your mouth and yet, bless you, you just keep on trying."

James scowled at Sirius for his lack of faith and Sirius stared at Remus in disbelief. To his credit, Remus at least had the decency to blush before he shot Sirius a pleading look, clearly wanting him to drop it. And Sirius wasn't at all planning to drop it until he caught Lily's expression over Remus's shoulder. She looked sad and about as frustrated as he felt, but when her eyes met his he saw the undisguised worry there - and could feel her issuing a plea of her own for him not to cause a scene right now. 

Thwarted again, Sirius glared down at his bowl of stew and violently stabbed a potato.  He couldn't believe Remus had the nerve to ask him to play along with him on this now! What in the seven hells did he have to gain from running himself ragged like this?! Out of nowhere a scotch egg suddenly landed in Sirius's stew and sent a splash of beefy juice over his arms and chest. 

"Oi!" He yelled. "What the bloody hell was that for, Potter?"

James folded his arms and huffed at him. "You're paying more attention to the stew than you are to me right now and frankly, I'm not having it. Did the stew help you get the Droobles Best Blowing Gum out of your hair last weekend? Does it let you copy its transfiguration notes? When that date went bad with Penny Perkins 4th year did it help you unstick your hand from your d--"

"That's enough!" Sirius said. "Not table conversation, Prongs, thank you very much." He growled as he wiped juice off his neck.

James looked way too satisfied as he dug into his own stew, so Sirius scooped the soggy egg out of his bowl and used his spoon to catapult the offending protein right back at his mate's face. It smacked into James's forehead before falling with a thunk into his own bowl. 

James looked up at him aghast through stew spotted glasses and Sirius lost it. Before he knew what was happening the basket of scotch eggs had become precious ammunition and Sirius and James were throwing as many of the things at each other as they could get their hands on. As often happened when they got up to such things, the mania quickly spread throughout the hall and the Great Scotch Egg Battle of 1978 was born. Sirius had left his seat and dodged behind Remus, aiming to acquire another basket just down the table from him, when his friend's laughter at their antics abruptly switched to horrible wracking coughs. Sirius spun around and watched from several feet away as Remus surged to his feet and stumbled out of the hall through the chaos with his face buried deep in the crook of his arm. 

Sirius made to go after him, but Marlene MicKinnon tried to use his body as a shield and Sirius took a painful egg to the nose from Braddock Jacobs. When his eyes finally stopped watering long enough for him to look for Remus again, a loud throat clear sounded in his ear and he became aware that everything had come to an absolute standstill. 

"Mister Black!" It wasn't the first time he'd heard his name shouted in the prim Scottish brogue, and it certainly wasn't likely to be the last. Sirius looked around. James was wiping his glasses and shaking his head and Peter was picking pieces of sausage out of the folds of his robe and eating them. The rest of the culprits at the table suddenly seemed very busy with either apologetically cleaning up or continuing to try and eat their food as if they weren't also covered in evidence. Even Marlene had somehow managed to take a seat again and was now innocently drinking her pumpkin juice for considerably longer than was necessary. 

Sirius noted then that Lily was nowhere in sight. He hoped she'd gone after Remus. 

"Do you have anything to say for yourself?" McGonnagal continued.

Sirius did his best to look contrite. "I'm eggstremely sorry?"

Minerva scowled at him. 

"Just so you know, I didn't eggsactly start this."

"Detention tonight with me Mr. Black. 7 o'clock."

"But you didn't even let me eggsplain!" He pleaded.

Peter was sniggering hard now as was a good quarter of the nearby Gryffindor table. 

Minerva rolled her eyes before pinning him with a stern gaze. "On to class with you, you're finished with lunch now whether you were or not."

Sirius gave her a winning smile and bent to pack his bags. The other remaining Marauders followed suit.

"Not as punny as usual there, Padfoot." James said, shaking his head as they made their way out of the great hall towards Divination. "I've heard much better from you." 

"Yeah, well, had a bit on my mind lately. Wasn't firing on all cylinders." He said, craning his neck just in case Remus was anywhere in sight. They had double Divination this afternoon while Remus would be in Ancient Runes. After that they had a free period until dinner, but Remus had taken to eating early the past few days in order to manage Astrid's tutoring duties for the third years who were on a different schedule, meaning he likely wouldn't catch Remus again until the evening. And now he had detention. He really was doing a bang up job of looking after his friend, wasn't he?  Back-up plan then. He'd wait up for Remus tonight. The boy had to come back to the dorm to sleep sometime. He'd get answers out of him then, no matter what.

-----

The rest of the day had gone just as he'd predicted until he ran into Lily outside the fat lady around 10 pm on his way back from detention. 

"Sirius!" She hissed, grabbing for his arm before he could duck through into the common room. He spun around and knew right away that something was wrong.

"What? What is it? Are you alright?" He asked, protective brotherly instincts putting him on red alert. 

"It's not me, it's still Remus!" she said, sounding almost to the point of tears. Sirius suddenly felt cold all over.

"What, what happened? What else is wrong with Moony?"

Lily shook her head. "It isn't anything else, it doesn't need to be.  He's sick as a damn dog and the bloody bastard won't let me do a thing to help him!" She threw her hands into the air in exasperation. 

"I know he's being stubborn, Lil, but he's tough, he'll--"

She shook her head at him and folded her arms across her chest. "He's way worse than I thought, Sirius."  

Sirius's heart fluttered nervously in his chest. "How do you mean?"

"Well, during your fiasco at lunch he ran off coughing so I followed him out of the hall to check on him. It took me ages to find him and when I finally did, he'd collapsed on the floor of the Prefect's bathroom and could barely get a breath!"

Sirius mentally flogged himself for getting into trouble and not having been the one to follow Remus out. He would have hauled him up, dragged him to the infirmary, and sat on him until Poppy did something about it. 

Seeing that she was getting through to him Lily softened. "I swear if he doesn't have pneumonia yet he's heading straight for it and that's really serious. People end up in hospital for that."

Sirius just nodded as his mind raced. "Did you take him to the infirmary?"

"I tried. He wouldn't hear of it. All I could do was stay with him until he was breathing better, but then he just made some excuse about 'food going down the wrong pipe' and rushed off saying we'd be late for class. I kept an eye on him through Runes, but lost him after that when Travers kept me after asking for copies to be made. I didn't realize being Head Girl meant being every teacher's workhorse, but apparently it does." She said, sounding bitter. 

Sirius noticed how tired she looked just then and felt even worse about the whole affair. Lily had enough on her plate, she didn't need to be chasing his best mate about for him and making sure he didn't keel over. That was his job. If only he hadn't made such a hash of it so far… 

"Do you know where he is now, then?"

"I told him I'd take the late night rounds with Duff so he could rest, and he told me he would let me, but I just went to get Duff and his mates all tell me he and Remus already left." Lily looked at him pleadingly. "He's absolutely refusing to admit anything's wrong and I he's making himself so much worse!" 

Sirius cursed Moony mentally for being a knob right now, and pulled Lily in for a hug.

"Look, Remus is a stubborn and sneaky bastard for sure, but he isn't stupid," at least not usually, he added silently. "I'll wait up and talk to him tonight.  I promise I won't rest until he sees reason, okay? I'll bodybind and levitate him to Poppy if I have to."

Lily nodded gratefully and sighed. "I'm sorry for ambushing you like this, it's just...I don't understand why he's behaving this way.  He doesn't have to run himself ragged, I'm trying to help him! Doesn't he know his health is important to us?"

Sirius winced. "Well, Remus never has been very good at accepting help, unfortunately." He said, remembering how hard they'd had to work to convince him the Animagus plan was worth the risk. "And he's, er, kinda had some long standing issues with self-worth." He said softly. "I'm not sure what's driving him to do what he's doing now, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if that's at the root of it."

Lily shook her head and wiped harshly at suddenly tearful eyes. "Well just make sure the stupid oaf gets it through his head that I love him like a brother and if he kills himself with a bloody virus I'll make the afterlife hell for him when I get there."

Sirius smiled at her. "Understood. Now go get some rest yourself before James has a go at me for getting on Moony's arse about self-care, but not yours."

Lily gave him a wicked look. "Thinking about Remus's arse are you?"

Sirius somehow choked on absolutely nothing. "Wha--what the hell are you on about, Evans?"

"Nothing! Nothing at all. Just a lady's intuition." She said slyly before kissing him on the cheek, saying "bundimun", and climbing on through the portrait hole. 

Sirius stood stock still, but inside he was reeling. What in the world had prompted her to say that? On the back of his reflections this morning it was more than a little unsettling. He felt his face growing hot with confusion and embarrassment and shook his head. One crisis at a time, mate. You've got a sick werewolf to beat sense into first, then you can beat some into yourself. 

Sirius made his way inside and up to their dorm. It was close to half 10 now and James was already out cold and snoring, which was not unheard of on the nights before Quidditch practice. Peter was just finishing up brushing his teeth. 

Sirius changed into his pajamas and grabbed a book off Moony's nightstand to keep himself occupied. 'The complete works of Frederick Nietzsche', he read, taking his best stab at the name, then scrunched up his face in distaste. Such a Moony sounding book. He was nearly certain it would be far from riveting. 

"Any plans for tomorrow, Padfoot?" Peter asked as he climbed into his bed.

"Nah" Sirius answered, flopping onto his own. "Sleep a little, eat a little, not much else going really."

"Yeah, I'm sure I should study for something, but I think I might watch Prongs at practice, instead. They're scrimmaging with Slytherin, you know."

"Mm," he hummed in agreement. "He'll be in top form for that then, should be a good show. Best get some sleep if you don't want to nod off during the match." Sirius said, shutting Wormtail down before he could begin waxing lyrical about James's quidditch heroics.

The smaller boy nodded at the sage advice and pulled up his covers. "Good point. Night, Padfoot."

"Night, Wormtail." Sirius said with a sigh. Now, to read a horribly boring book until Moony came back from rounds and Sirius could finally have a go at him uninterrupted. 

 

TO BE CONTINUED...

 

(Ahead - Sirius finally gets the confrontation he's been looking for, and a whoooole lot more besides.)

[SneezeKitties]

AHHHHHH OH MY GOSH!!! This was so good!! Can't wait for the next bit!! Hehehe and I'm excited for "whole lot more" part!!!😆

[LostGirl2.0]

@SneezeKitties  ❤️ Thank you!! Don't know if you're a fan of hurt/comfort type stories, but everything I write tends to go that way. 😅 So get ready for some Sirius caretaking. 🙃

 

A/N: Language warning ahead! And caretaking. Soooo muuuch caretaking. 

 

-------------

 

Sirius woke several hours later to see that the hangings around Remus's bed were pulled closed. "Buggering fuck!" He hissed at himself. So much for his 'no rest until he's seen reason' plan. He set Remus's horrible book down on his nightstand and slipped his feet into his slippers. He hadn't gotten further than the introduction of the thing before it'd sent him straight to la la land and now he might've missed his chance! If Moony was actually asleep he would have to leave him to it. No matter how badly he wanted answers, there was no denying that rest would be the best thing for him. 

 

Sirius padded softly across the room and stood by his friend's bedside listening. He could hear Pete's deep breathing and James's soft snores, but nothing at all from Remus. He cast the sound enhancing charm he'd used earlier and got his ear as close to the curtains as he dared. Not a breath. Dead silence. Sirius's eyes narrowed in suspicion.  He took the tip of his wand and parted the curtains just the slightest bit and was instantly blinded with light. He reared back and blinked for a few seconds before attempting another look and was met with the bizarre sight of Remus hunched over and coughing into his pillow so hard his face was nearly purple, without making any sound at all. That was the last straw. Sirius had had enough. He pulled the curtain aside angrily and crawled through onto the bed. The hacking coughs assaulted his ears the second the curtain closed behind him. 

 

Remus startled and stared at him with wide watery, and very guilty eyes, before shaking his head regretfully and twisting as far away from Sirius as possible to cough into his pillow some more. "A silencing charm, Moony?" He accused, fury flashing in his eyes. "The fuck are you thinking?! You'd cough yourself to death in here and none of us would know till the room started to stink! Of all the bloody stupid, moronic…" he continued to grumble to himself as he reached out to grab an empty glass from Remus's bedside table and filled it with a quick Aguamenti. He set his wand down on the table and held the glass out to his gasping friend.

 

"Here." 

 

Remus tried to take it with a shaking hand, but only succeeded in spilling half of it on the bedspread when another cough tore through him. 

 

"Fuck's sake" Sirius cursed and then, completely at odds with the exasperation in his voice, gently guided the glass to his friend's lips. Remus got one sip down before he coughed and sputtered all over himself once more, but Sirius just waited patiently and tried again once he'd had a chance to catch his breath. 

 

As soon as he could do so without choking Remus drank greedily and Sirius let him hold the glass. Once it was empty Remus coughed wetly into his pillow one last time before turning to address Sirius.

 

"Pads, I--" Remus rasped, and Sirius struggled not to wince at the abused sound of his voice. He decided he'd help him save it by cutting off his excuses.

 

"I have no idea what crazy nonsense you've cocked up in your head about how it's in any way sensible to hide this shite from us, but it needs to stop. Now." 

 

Remus closed his eyes and sagged back against the headboard, looking sadder and more exhausted than Sirius had seen him in a long time.

 

"Moony…" he sighed in frustration, rubbing a hand over his face. "Look I'm not trying to be an arse, I just, I don't understand. You're clearly really sick and it's scaring the hell out of m--Lily, and neither of us can figure out what in the world you've got to gain by running around the castle pretending to be fine when you clearly aren't." He paused, waiting, but when Remus offered no explanation, his ire spiked again. "And you know what? On top of that, I can't for the life of me figure out why you've let it get this bad! Why can't you just get some rest and take a pepper-up like a sensible person and be done with it? Then there wouldn't even be anything to have to hide!" He threw up his hands in frustration.

 

Remus sighed at that, but cut himself off as it nearly turned into another coughing fit. Sirius held out the water again, but Remus just shook his head and regained control with a few slow breaths.  

 

"You nearly answered...your own question there," he panted, a light sheen of sweat pasting his curly bangs to his face. Then he shook his head. "You shouldn't be in here, Pads….You'll get this too." 

 

Sirius stared at him, unflinching. "Well then I'd go and get some pepper-up and be done with it in 24hrs, wouldn't I?" He said, slightly more acerbic than he'd meant to.  Fear, confusion, and epic amounts of frustration were doing all kinds of things to his moods. 

 

Remus closed his eyes briefly. "Suppose that's true. Would if I could mate, believe me." He swallowed, wincing fiercely.

 

"What do you mean?" Sirius asked. "I'll take you up to Poppy right now and--" 

 

"She can't do anything, Pads." Remus said tiredly. "Pepper-up and things like that, they don't work on me like they do on you. Non-human DNA and all that." He sniffled congestedly. "She gave me something right after the moon, of course, but as you can see…" He gestured to himself with a sardonic smile. "Doesn't really do anything for me outside of making my ears itch."

 

Sirius opened his mouth to reply, but then shut again it with a frown. "Right, okay..." He said, working this new information into the present situation. "So-- So you've just got to ride it out then?" 

 

Remus nodded and knuckled irritatedly at his nose with another stuffy sniffle. 

 

Though rather deflated by this unfortunate information, Sirius still wasn't willing to give up his argument completely. Particularly since his biggest question had yet to be answered. "If that's the case, then wouldn't it make even more sense to let us know about what's going on? We could've been helping you get better this whole time. Instead we took you outside in the cold for hours like complete tossers and made you worse!"

 

Remus put a hand on Sirius's where it was fisted angrily in his comforter. "Sirius, I'm fine. Really. S'just a cold. And if being out last night did anything besides keep the wolf happy then that's on me, not you." 

 

Sirius shook his head, not accepting Remus's pardon. 

 

"Look-- I just--" Remus pulled his hand away from Sirius's to run it through his sticky bangs as he searched for the right words to explain himself. He looked up at Sirius with slightly spiky hair and sorrowful eyes, "You lot already do so much for me, you know?" He stopped to swallow convulsively and winced again, his eyes now looking suspiciously shiny. "You already look after me in a way no one ever has before and--" he paused to sniffle again and run a sleeve under his nose. "And this is nothing compared to that…" he laughed. "So I'd really like to just give back to you guys from now on instead of doing all the taking." He shrugged before turning away to cough into his pillow again.

 

Sirius's jaw worked, but no sound was coming out, probably because there were too many things that needed saying and he couldn't decide which one to start with. "Moony…" He searched hard for the right words. "Do you really have no idea how fucking incredible it makes us feel to be able to help you out, even just a little?  When someone's your mate, you look out for each other and there's nothing better than feeling like they need you around at times, you know? That's what makes you truly mates. You know what my first reaction was when I realized you weren't well and you weren't being honest with me about it?" Remus looked at him and then looked away again uncomfortably. "Hurt, Moony. Hurt because I thought we'd gotten past this bullshit in 3rd year and that you knew you could count on us now.  Dealing with stuff on your own isn't something a person does when they have good mates they can count on.  I was starting to wonder what I'd done not to be considered a good mate anymore." 

 

Remus looked at Sirius with raw pain in his eyes. Sirius reached out and took Remus's hand in his now. "I'm not trying to make this about me because it isn't, but I want you to know that while you think you're giving us a break from you, you're actually breaking us apart. Would you want me to deal with my own shit from now on because you lot already deal with my psychotic family and one major issue per person is enough to have to handle?"

 

Remus guiltily shook his head, clearly blinking back tears. 

 

"So can we agree that this was not your usual brilliant logic, chalk it up to temporary illness induced insanity, and promise never to engage in nonsense like this again?" He paused looking to Remus for his response, but then thought better of it and added something more.  "Also promise never to tell me how often you've done this over the past seven years because it'll probably make me want to deck you and I really don't think you need that right now."

 

Remus laughed once softly, coughed, and then nodded with a sniffle.  

 

"Okay, that's that taken care of then." Sirius said, and suddenly realized he was still holding tightly to Remus's hand. He dropped it quickly and sat back. Worried what Remus might think about the fact that he'd done it, he quickly said the first thing that came to mind to excuse it, "Which is grand, really, cause frankly this is more touchy-feely than I've been in ages and I really don't think it'd be a good idea to use up my limited supply of "give a fuck" before NEWTS are done, do you?" He wasn't certain what he'd just said made sense, but he smirked casually anyway and tried desperately to remember how he used to act around Remus. 

 

"Mmm," Remus hummed in agreement, seemingly oblivious to Sirius's mini freak out. "Merlin save us all." His eyes suddenly squinted shut and he turned away as he jerked forward slightly in another one of his completely silent sneezes. 

 

"Bless you."

 

Remus sniffled and winced. "Ta." Then he rubbed at his temples.

 

"Headache too?"

 

"Yehhh-" His nose scrunched as he wrenched forward silently twice more then finished with a soft moan as he continued to knead the sides of his head. 

 

"Well, that really can't be helping, can it?"

 

Remus cracked an eye at him. "What can't?"

 

"Sneezing like that. You've got a silencing charm on here, just do it the normal way so your head doesn't explode." 

 

Remus grunted in reluctant acknowledgement of his point. "S'messier, though." 

 

Sirius reached over and plucked the box of tissues off the nightstand. "Good thing some now undoubtedly very rich person invented these little portable pieces of fluff that are the perfect size for noses then."

 

Remus chuckled. "Yeah, suppose so." He swallowed and winced again. 

 

Sirius reached behind him and grabbed up the remaining water. Remus took it gratefully and sipped.

 

"So, upon the new terms of our agreement, will you finally answer my question from this morning and actually tell me how you're feeling?" 

 

Remus rolled his eyes. 

 

"I can't help if I don't know what's wrong, and as we've already established, I'd like to help." Sirius said matter-of-factly. 

 

Remus squirmed and looked away, still clearly uncomfortable with discussing anything to do with his present difficulties. 

 

"Okay then, we'll start with what I already know. Headache?"

 

Remus nodded. 

 

"Scale of 1 to 10?" 

 

Remus gave him a weird look.

 

He shrugged. "Regulus used to get sick a lot." Then he mumbled, "I read a book on it once."

 

Remus gave him such a look of warm understanding that Sirius's heart actually ached for a moment. "Hey now, don't do that. This is not about my fucked up life, it's about yours."

 

Remus snorted and then winced as the action scraped at his raw throat. "Gee, thanks."

 

"1 to 10" he prompted again, and then amended "and try to rate it not like a werewolf."

 

Remus gave him a look. "How is that even possible?" 

 

"Just...you know, try to keep broken bones, punctured lungs, and ruptured spleens on a different 1-10 scale if you can. I get that compared to that your headache is probably .03 but that doesn't tell me anything useful, so try to imagine how Wormtail'd rate it or something."

 

"14"

 

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Fair enough. Use James."

 

Remus squinted, "2".

 

"2?" Sirius challenged, skeptically.

 

Remus threw up his hands. "If you know so much why don't you just rate it for me?"

 

Sirius was about to refuse when he thought better of it. "Fine." He mused, realizing he actually thought he was up to the challenge. "Let's see…" he scrutinized his friend. "Headache, solid 5. Sore throat, 7. Clearly some sinus stuff going on that's probably causing the first two. Chest congestion-" he trailed off slightly, and bit his lip.

 

"You're actually not doing badly so far." Remus said, looking embarrassed but rather impressed. 

 

Sirius rubbed at the back of his neck and looked up at the canopy. "Thing is, I can't really tell about your lungs unless I, uh...listen to them."

 

"You have a stethoscope?" Remus asked, surprised.

 

"A stetha-what? What's that do? Is it some muggle thing that would show me your lungs?" Sirius asked excitedly.

 

Remus laughed, then coughed hard. "No" his voice gurgled so he cleared his throat.  "An x-ray would do that. A stethoscope is a tool you use to hear what someone's lungs sound like when they breathe, or their heartbeat. It just rests against the skin and amplifies the sound into your ears." Remus looked at Sirius curiously. "How were you planning on doing it?"

 

"Basically that, really. Just an amplification spell and my ear on your chest. Would, um...would that be ok?" He asked, once again nervous in a way he'd never been with Remus before. But imagining his ear to Remus's chest now, when it was the chest he'd found himself staring at just this morning…. He felt his face begin to heat up at the thought and struggled to get a hold of himself. Ok, he wrestled with Prongs all the time. How was this contact any different than that? It wasn't, he told himself firmly. Not at all. It was basically the exact same thing. 

 

He looked up at Remus and saw the boy looking at him curiously. Sirius quickly plowed on so as not to let the awkward moment linger. 

 

"Is that ok, then? Best way to know how bad it's gotten, really."

 

Remus looked for a second like he was about to return to his old argument of insisting that he was fine, but then somehow mastered his discomfort and gave Sirius a hesitant nod. "Sure, I guess. What do you need me to do?"

 

"Just lean forward some so I can put my ear to your back." Ready to get this over with Sirius grabbed his wand, scooted towards Remus, and leaned forward to listen as soon as Remus's back was off the headboard. 

 

He felt himself flushing more deeply as he cast the spell and gently touched his ear to the warm, soft fabric of Remus's favorite pajamas.  A strange thrill shot through him at the contact before he was able to hear the sounds Remus was making. As soon as he could, though, every other emotion he'd been feeling was replaced by concern. 

 

He sat up quickly. "Merlin Remus…" No wonder Lily was freaked. "How long has it felt as bad as it does right now?"

 

Remus flushed. "Ah, only really became noticeable this afternoon."

 

After we fucking took you outside and you had an impromptu swim in a frozen lake! Sirius berated himself. He scowled and ran his hands through his hair torn between guilt and panic. No! He scolded himself. Not productive. He could get mad at himself about this later. Right now he needed to help his friend who finally seemed like he was willing to let someone do it, and from what he just heard, not a moment too soon. 

 

"Ok, so chest congestion-" his voice cracked slightly. "I'm gonna say 9."

 

Now Remus looked even more guilty and Sirius found that instead of wanting to punch him this time, he just just wanted to hug him. Fuck but this sucked. In no world did Remus need to be a werewolf and ever get this sick. Especially when Sirius's knowledge of what potions would help him was absolutely useless.

 

"Okay," he cleared his throat, forcing himself to keep a level head. "Fever?"

 

Remus shrugged sheepishly. "Uhm, probably a bit, yeah."

 

Sirius waved his wand and a red 39.2 appeared above Remus's head. Remus gaped first at Sirius's spell work and then subsequently at the number. 

 

Sirius's heart was thumping hard now. So yep, Remus was definitely very sick. And Madame Pomfrey couldn't do anything. He needed to double check.

 

"Did Poppy say--"

 

"She just said to rest and let her know if things got any worse so she could keep me overnight."

 

Now Sirius was back to wanting to punch him. "Neither of which you did so that's us off to a great start." He said sarcastically.

 

Remus scowled, "Look, I've gone to her before when I was sick, and all that happened was she pumped me full of potions that did nothing they were supposed to and sometimes made other things worse. Madame Pomfrey was out of her mind with frustration about it because she's not used to not being able to do anything. So I ended up just laying there while she exhausted herself trying to fix me and I'm not really interested in putting her through that again, okay?" Remus finished, panting. Then he turned back to the pillow and coughed. 

 

"Okay, okay. Breathe. I understand. No Poppy. Got it." Sirius looked down at his useless wand and back at his pasty, sick friend helplessly. "So...what do we do then? You're too sick, Remus, I don't think we can just wait this one out like you might have before."

 

Remus finally stopped coughing and fell back against the headboard exhausted. "I took some paracetamol and Benylin when I got up here about 20 minutes ago. Should hopefully start working soon."

 

Sirius blinked. "You took what-a-what and what?"

 

"S'muggle medicine." Remus said, eyes drifting closed. "Works better than potions."

 

Damnit. He was gonna need parchment to keep track of all these ridiculous muggle names. "Remus, tell me what I can do to help."

 

"Jus' go to sleep, Pads. M'fine. The meds'll work and I'll be good as new come morning."

 

"Bugger that, I'm not sleeping while you can't breathe and have got a bloody silencing spell on! Take it down or I'm not leaving."

 

Remus sighed and scootched down further under his covers so he was laying on his side facing away from Sirius. "Can't do it. James has a scrimmage. I'll keep everyone up."

 

"Well I'm staying in here with you then, and that's that."

 

"No, Pads, c'mon." Remus turned over and blinked at Sirius tiredly. "You'll catch this if you're in here all night."

 

"Better than you dying." Sirius crossed his arms and stretched his legs out to get comfortable.

 

Remus groaned. "I'm not dying! It's a cold, Sirius."

 

Sirius wouldn't be budged. "You've a fever, Remus. It's not just a cold."

 

Remus blinked at him. 

 

"I told you, I read a book. Now go to sleep, I'm staying here."

 

"You'll get sick." Remus warned again.

 

"Fine-purgo!" he waved his wand and a light mist descended on them both.

 

Remus immediately buried his face in his covers and pinched his nose hard. "H'ESHu! Hih-HIH! Tchxt! H'tchshhh! TCHHH!"

 

"Shit! Sorry, Moony." Sirius said as he scrambled for the tissues and simultaneously tried to wave away the strong smell. 

 

"Huh'ushhuh!" Remus gasped a breath. "Did you juhhh--h'chshhh! tsch!--use a housecleahhhh--cleaning spell on me?"

 

Sirius held a wad of kleenex in front of Remus's face which Remus took eagerly. "Ah, well...maybe." Sirius winced ready for his friend to lay into him. 

 

But Remus did the last thing Sirius expected. He started to laugh. In between sneezes, anyway.

 

"Oh Merlihhhh-hih! ex'chshh! eishhuu! Only you, Siriu-huh'hutchshh!"

 

Sirius frowned at him. 

 

"Oh dohhhh-hih!...dod't pout, Padfoot. Hih-H'issshhhu!" Remus said, suddenly sounding stuffy. "At least we're both lembodny fresh now."

 

"I think you're delirious." Sirius said matter-of-factly. 

 

Remus coughed wetly for a minute before grinning up at him from behind the kleenex. "Mmb...I subppose idts defidnitely possible at this poidnt."

 

"Blow your nose, you muppet." Sirius said, reluctantly finding himself smirking in return.

 

Remus turned away and gave a good honking blow. Sirius grimaced at the sheer amount of junk Remus had to blow out, but continued to pass him tissues until he was done. Remus tossed one after the other into the bin beside his bed. "So much waste." He said, sniffling. "Where's a good scourgify-able handkerchief when you need one? Heh'EHshhhhuh!" He caught the sneeze in the crook of his arm. 

 

"Bless," Sirius said, as he passed him another tissue, surprised to find the box already half empty. Maybe he had a point. "You get through this all ok and I'll monogram one for you myself."

 

"Deal," Remus said with a smile, before covering his mouth with his shirt as he coughed again. "You got any more of that water going?" He croaked when he was done.

 

Sirius refilled the glass and Remus guzzled it down. 

 

"You really are going to stay in here, aren't you?" Remus asked, sounding mildly incredulous.

 

Sirius nodded. "I honestly won't sleep a wink now if I can't hear you breathing, so I figure this gives us both the best chance to get some rest." 

 

Remus nodded and dropped his gaze to the comforter, looking contrite. "I'm really sorry about all of this, Siriu--"

 

"Oi! No need to apologize. We sorted all that out already. Just--focus on breathing for right now and get some sleep. I'll be here if you need anything, okay?"

 

Remus nodded and coughed. "M'kay. Thanks. Night, Pads."

 

"Night, Moons."

 

TO BE CONTINUED...

[sneezelover3]

This is really good, I hope you continue! 

[SneezeKitties]

hollllyyyyy coooowwwwwww!!!! Ahh this was so good!! And I LOVE hurt/comfort!! I don't know what I would do without it, its like my favorite type of fanfic!!!😆 

Please please please tell me sirius gets sick too, 🙈 Anyway, another amazing chapter can't wait for the next update!!! 

[LostGirl2.0]

@sneezelover3 thank you so much!! I hope you continue to enjoy! 😊

@SneezeKitties Yay!!! We'll get ready then, cause poor Remus has quite a ways to go yet before he gets better. ❤️ (And just so you're not waiting on it, Sirius has a great immune system in this one. Sorry! I hope that you're still able to enjoy despite that!) 

-----------------

 

It was a long night for them both. The morning light was finally beginning to break through the curtains when Remus cleared his throat softly and said, "Once they're gone you should go get some actual sleep, Pads. I'll take the charm down. H'tchishh'uh!"

 

Sirius startled awake at the sneeze and had grabbed a tissue and passed it over before he even knew what he was doing. He blinked blearily at Remus as the boy blew his nose. 

 

Remus smiled tiredly at his disoriented state. "Siriusly." He winked and finished cleaning himself up. "I feel horrible for having kept you up, though I very much appreciated the company and help." Remus sniffled and twisted to the side once more, pressing the folded cloth tightly against the bottom of his nose. "Hih'tchxt! Ek'tchshhu!"

 

Sirius finally woke the rest of the way up. "Bless you." He said around a yawn and rubbed a hand over gritty eyes. He passed Remus another tissue and stretched. "What were you saying?"

 

"Go back to your own bed for a bit. I'll take the charm down and we can both try and grab a few more hours."

 

Sirius looked hard at Remus. He didn't seem much different from last night all in, not any worse at least. He heard the door close behind the others and decided he'd do a better job of helping Remus through the rest of the day if he was less of a zombie. So he hauled himself up through the curtains and shuffled back to his own bed. He listened hard. "You take the charm down yet?" There was silence and then suddenly--

 

"--shh! Hih-HIH! H'tchxshh'uh! H'chshh! IHSH'uh! Hih! Hu'eishhu! Sohhhh--sorry. Had to--h'IHshuh!--sneeze first. All good ndow though." He said with a stuffy sniffle. 

 

The room went silent for a moment. "Padfoot--" he said warningly "stop hovering. I can get mby ownd tissues, I'm ndot an indvalid. Get your arse indto your bed. Hih-ishhhu!"

 

Sirius chuckled softly and backed away from Remus's curtains, hands raised in capitulation. "Okay, okay. I'm going."

 

He climbed under the covers and immediately began to drift off. 

 

"H'tchhxt!"

 

He roused instantly. "Bless you," he called, poised in case Remus needed anything. 

 

"Padfoot," Remus practically growled. "Sleep. Now."

 

Sirius smirked and yawned. "Yessir, Mr. Moony, sir." He turned over and pulled the blankets up over his head, finally drifting into a deeper, more restful sleep. 

 

--------

 

When he woke again it looked closer to midday. He pulled his curtains aside and looked over to Remus's bed and was alarmed to find it empty. Then he heard the shower turn on and the tension drained out of him. Good. His charge hadn't made a break for it after all. 

 

Sirius got dressed as he waited for his turn in the loo, and grimaced as he listened to Remus continue coughing horribly. He needed to get 'in the know' about this muggle medicine stuff, and quickly. Maybe Remus would be up to explaining more about it today.

 

Sirius lazily flipped through one of James's quidditch magazines until Remus finally emerged. Fully dressed and towel drying his hair.

 

"Whoa, just where do you think you're going?" Sirius challenged, tossing the magazine aside. 

 

Remus gave him a strange look. "You know I've taken over Astrid's tutoring schedule while she's out. I've got the 1st and 2nd years at noon--"

 

"Astrid's not tutoring because she's sick. You're also sick, if it hasn't escaped your notice."

 

Remus sighed. "Sirius, it's just talking to them. It's not like it's physically taxing--"

 

"I'll do it." Sirius volunteered before he could stop himself. 

 

Remus blinked. "You'll do what?" He asked, disbelief written all over his face.

 

"I'll tutor them." Sirius said, standing to pull his robe on over his clothes. 

 

"You do realize that you actually have to impart some wisdom or educational content..." 

 

Sirius took mock-offense. "I know I faff about a lot Moony, but I am at the top of the class too. I think I can handle a few ankle-biters asking about what end of a wand to hold."

 

Remus raised an eyebrow skeptically. "I take it if you do this there's no way I could come along to watch the train wreck?"

 

Sirius glowered. "There won't be a wreck, so no. You'll be here resting while I dashingly step in to save the day."

 

Remus snorted. "Ah, that's what you're doing is it? Mmmm. Well, ok then. But only because I'm curious to see how this goes." He said with a smirk as he undid his tie. "But I'll be bored out of my mind if you lock me up here all day, and you know it."

 

Sirius huffed. "Rest, Remus. It's called rest and it's really good for you when you're sick. Which you are no longer allowed to deny, so shove it and take your lickings like a man-wolf."

 

Remus shook his head and sighed aggrievedly as he sat back down on his bed. The sigh triggered another coughing fit however, and as he gratefully accepted more water from Sirius, he figured he really had no leg to stand on.  "Fine. But don't underestimate them, Sirius. You know what we were like as first years." He cautioned with a sniffle that led to a sneeze. "H'ESH'uh!"

 

"Bless. Yes, right, sure, whatever." He mumbled distractedly, hopping up and down as he slipped on his boots. "So where do you meet the demon spawn?"

 

"There are meeting rooms at the back of the library--"

 

"Are there really?" Sirius asked, genuinely curious.

 

Remus rolled his eyes. "Yes, Pads. I know you've never spent much time in the library but it's really quite fascinating and full of resources. You should try it sometime."

 

Sirius waved his hand dismissively, "Well, I'm hardly going to bother about it now. They aren't hard to find, are they?"

 

Remus flopped back on his bed and blew at his bangs. "Not at all. Literally just keep walking until you can't anymore and you'll run straight into them."

 

"Grand. Anything else I need to know?"

 

"Be careful of the girls."

 

"The girls, Moony? You think I can't handle a few little girls for an hour or so?"

 

"Two hours full, and you'd be surprised. ...You're really certain I can't come and watch?"

 

"No! I'm doing this to help you, not entertain you."

 

"You're no fun." Remus pouted. 

 

"And you're too sick to even be playing at negotiating this. Stay in that bed until I come back. That's an order."

 

"Aye aye, Nurse Padfoot," Remus mock-saluted as Sirius sauntered confidently out the door. 

 

Really, how bad could this be? 'Watch out for the girls' he scoffed. Who did Moony think he was? Girls of all ages loved him. This would be a breeze. 

 

--------

 

Sirius came back closer to 3 hours later looking like he'd been harassed by an out of control press mob at the ministry. 

 

"Moony," he said, immediately stripping off his robes and his tie as he entered the room, "I have a whole new level of respect for you. Those hell spawn are absolutely--"

 

He was interrupted by a loud congested snore and quickly shut his mouth. He padded silently over to Remus's bedside and peaked around the curtain. Sure enough, the boy was out like a light. He was on his back with a crumpled tissue wedged up by his collar and a book half open in one hand, still in the same clothes Sirius had left him in. Sirius smiled to himself, good. The insanity he'd just put himself through had been worth it then. 

 

The longer he looked at his friend the more things began to pop out at him, like his red rimmed nose, the bruised-looking bags under his eyes, and the light sheen of sweat fairly pasting his shirt to his body. He frowned and before he even realized what he was doing, laid his hand gently on Remus's forehead. Remus moaned, but didn't wake. In fact, he turned into Sirius's hand further. Merlin, he was hot! Sirius felt a lump lodge in his throat and tried to swallow around it. He left his hand where it was as Remus seemed to find it soothing, and pulled his wand out of his pocket. He cast the temperature taking spell again. 39.3 shimmered at him in the air above Remus's head. Shit, that was up from last night.  He needed to be cooled down. What could he do though? If this were Regulus he'd just give him a fever reducing potion, but that wasn't an option here. 

 

He pulled his hand away as he thought and Remus frowned and moaned softly at the loss. Sirius quickly replaced his hand, but it wasn't as cool as it had been so Remus's frown lingered. He needed something colder, something small too that he could leave on Remus's forehead so he could step away and figure something out. An idea struck him. He slunk away from Remus apologetically and rifled through his own trunk. He found what he was looking for and jogged into the bathroom to get it wet with cold water. He wrung it out so it wouldn't drip too much and headed back to Remus's side. He gently laid the clean argyle sock across Remus's sweaty forehead and watched with pleasure as Remus brow unfurrowed and he seemed to settle back into sleep. Temporary solution one, check. Now to actually figure out how to bring his fever down. 

 

Sirius cast his gaze around for inspiration and was elated when something on the nightstand caught his eye. There was a small while cylindrical bottle and a larger darker one that almost looked as if it could have been found in a potions lab. The contents of the smaller bottle rattled as he turned it to read the label. Ah, so this was the Paracetamol stuff that Remus had mentioned last night. He looked at the other container and saw it said Benylin Chesty Cough. There was tiny printing on both of them, so he sat on the edge of Remus's bed and read. 

 

'Adults and Children 12 years and over: take every 4-6 hours' 

 

'Adults and Children 12 years and over: one 10ml dose of syrup 4 times a day'

 

Well that was certainly helpful, except that he had no idea when Remus had last taken any. Sirius's stomach growled loudly reminding him that he'd yet to eat today as well. He looked at the meds and then back at Remus and decided he couldn't bear to wake him just yet. He'd just keep an eye on things and the next time Remus was up he'd get the information that he needed. 

 

He set the two bottles carefully back on the nightstand and flipped his sock over to the cooler side. He'd pop down to the kitchens to grab a bite and bring something back for Remus as well. Hopefully he'd be awake again soon. He gently pulled the curtains closed around the bed and tiptoed out the door in search of sustenance for them both.

 

----------

 

Roughly 40 minutes later Sirius returned with a belly full of chicken salad sandwiches, a mug of chicken broth, and some crackers. The room was still and quiet, for which he was thankful. James and Peter would probably go straight from the pitch to dinner, so he wouldn't have to worry about them for another hour or so yet. 

 

He made room for the mug and plate on the nightstand and slowly pulled back the curtains. Remus had turned onto his side so he wasn't snoring anymore, but the wet sock was nowhere to be seen. Sirius waved his wand above his sleeping friend once more - 39.5.

 

Fuck. Right, no more faffing about then. He needed to do something more. He sat on the edge of the bed and leaned over, gently placing his hand on Remus's shoulder. 

 

"Moony," he called softly. "Moons, time to wake up." Remus moaned a little into his pillow, but didn't move. "Rem, c'mon. Your fevers really high so I think you need to take some more of this medicine stuff."

 

Remus stirred and took a breath which immediately launched him into his most spectacular coughing fit yet. Remus struggled to sit up and Sirius jumped in, helping to pull him up by his shoulders. Remus sat hunched over gasping and choking into his hands and Sirius's heart pounded so hard he thought it might actually explode. He helplessly rubbed soothing circles on his friend's back and prayed the fit would come to an end without Remus actually suffocating the way he sounded like he was about to do. 

 

Eventually Remus managed to get a full gasp of air in and this seemed to help him gain the upper hand. Sirius held the glass of water nearby for the second Remus was ready for it and was pleased that it wasn't much longer before the boy reached over and took it. 

 

"Merlin's balls, Remus." Sirius said, still anxiously rubbing his back. "Please tell me you're alright."

 

Remus nodded, but his eyes were closed and he was panting heavily in sharp, short breaths. 

 

"Fuck, I shouldn't have woken you like that. I'm sorry. Your fevers just gone up even more and I thought you mind need the medicine--"

 

"S'ok", Remus croaked, patting Sirius's leg reassuringly. "Was gonna happen anyway.  Laid flat for too long." He coughed again and it rattled horribly in his chest, Sirius could hear it now in every breath that Remus took. He didn't even need his ear to his friend's back anymore, which was not a good thing. 

 

Remus shivered hard and some of the water spilled out of the cup onto his blankets. Sirius grabbed it and set it aside before pulling the comforter up and behind Remus's shoulders. 

 

"Ta, Pads" Remus rasped, clinging onto the blanket tightly while he continued to shake. 

 

"What can I do, Remus, tell me how to help."

 

Remus swallowed with a wince and fought to still his chattering teeth. "What time is it?"

 

"Ahh, half 4ish."

 

Remus sniffled, "Yeah, good call. I can take more of both of the meds, then."

 

Sirius grabbed the bottles and held them out to Remus who took the small one first. He shook out some little white ovals and put them in his mouth, then reached over for the water and swallowed them whole. He shivered again as he handed the bottle back to Sirius in exchange for the larger potion shaped one. This one was liquid, so Remus simply took a swig straight from the bottle. He grimaced, recapped it, and then followed that with a shudder and a swallow of water as well. "Muggle medicine tastes as bad as most potions do. You'd think one of us would have figured out how to make them generally palatable by now." 

 

Sirius quirked a tiny smile at Remus's attempt at humor but it fell away again as he looked at his friend's pale and trembling form. "How long do those things take to work?" He asked anxiously.

 

"Not as fast as potions, but hopefully within the hour."

 

"Within the hour?! That's the best muggles can do?"

 

Remus pulled the blanket closer around him and coughed into it harshly. "Well, they have ways of getting them to work faster, but they have to put them straight into your veins." He coughed again. "And they only do that when you're in hospital."

 

"I--"

 

"I don't need to go to a hospital, Sirius." Remus cut him off firmly before he could voice that exact thought. Then he squirmed. "I do need to figure out what this wet thing is on my leg though." He mumbled digging down deep beneath his sheets.  A few seconds later he held up what he had found.

 

"I haven't started hallucinating, have I?"

 

Sirius shook his head and felt heat rise in his cheeks. 

 

"Then why, praytell, am I sleeping with your sock? And why's it wet?"

 

"Well, it was on your forehead when I left, but I'm guessing when you turned over--"

 

"You put your sock on my head?" Remus asked, certain he was missing something. 

 

"A wet sock, to cool you down."

 

Remus's brow furrowed. "You didn't have a flannel?"

 

"A flannel?" Sirius asked, confused. 

 

"Yeah, for-- Oh, nevermind." He tiredly waved Sirius off and coughed again. "Wizards..." He mumbled in amusement. "Thanks anyway, Pads." He said squinting up at his friend as though his head was hurting him. "It was clean right?"

 

"I'd smack you for that if it didn't look like it'd break you in half."

 

"Appreciate that. Already feel like I've been run over by a lorry."

 

At Sirius's blank look Remus changed his phrase. "Attacked by an erumpant."

 

Sirius frowned, "Will the medicine help that too?"

 

"Should do, yeah. Just gotta wait it out." He shivered again and his teeth began to chatter. 

 

Sirius finally remembered the hot soup. "Oh! I brought you some chicken broth. Would do you good to eat something and might help warm you up as well. Though I know that's the fever making you feel cold more than anything else."

 

"Ta, Pads. You're right, I ought to try. I certainly don't feel hungry, but let's have it here." 

 

Sirius carefully passed it over and rested his hands atop Remus's shoulders to steady him as a particularly violent tremor shook him through.

 

He managed about a third of the liquid before he shook his head and passed it back. "Sorry. I'm just a little queasy and I'd rather not put my throat through puking right now if I can help it." He snuggled back down under the covers and closed his eyes, breathing slowly and evenly through his nose. 

 

Sirius stood there with the cup feeling lost. He eventually set the cup back on the nightstand and decided to tidy up. He binned a few used tissues and refilled Remus's water. He put the meds side by side within easy reach and moved the kleenex box closer as well. He felt how light it was and for the first time regretted having burned all of his family's handkerchiefs as part of his "Revolt Against All Things Black" back in 5th year.

 

Sirius jumped as Remus began to cough again. The boy hauled himself back up into a seated position as he struggled to breathe and Sirius grabbed the water with one hand and put his other on Remus's sweaty back, wincing at the deep wheezing and crackling sounds Remus was making. Remus reached over him to grab for a tissue and coughed hard into it, spitting out some of what was clogging his lungs and managing to settle down again. 

 

He was shaking with tears streaming down his cheeks by the time he was done and Sirius was sure he hadn't felt so close to wanting to cry himself in years. 

 

"Can't….lay down. Keep forgetting." Remus panted. "My mistake." He groaned slightly as he pushed himself up against the headrest and trembled. 

 

"What do you mean?" Sirius asked, setting the water aside again. 

 

"Harder to breathe…that way. Better if I jus'...sit up." He wiped his nose on his sleeve and grimaced as he swallowed. Then he pulled the blankets up around him as best he could, closed his eyes, and continued to shiver so badly the bedframe rattled behind him.

 

Sirius had had enough. He took off his shoes, unbuttoned his collar and started to climb into the bed.

 

Remus opened his eyes. "Pads...what are you--"

 

"Move forward a bit." Remus looked at him curiously, but did as he asked. Sirius quickly slid in behind him and propped him up against his own chest. Then he pulled the curtains closed, tugged every blanket he could up to Remus's chin, tucked his wand to the side and wrapped his arms around his friend as gently as he could, wary of his achy body. 

 

Remus was silent, but didn't stiffen in his hold.  Sirius could feel Remus's chest against his own, could feel how hard Remus was working to breathe and how full his chest sounded with every noisy breath he took. The terror of it made him feel as if he were seconds away from losing his mind.  He silently invoked the power of anyone who would listen. Remus was going to get better. He didn't survive having his body broken by a curse countless times a year to be taken out by a stupid cold or flu gone wrong.

 

Remus worked a hand out of his blanket cocoon to grab Sirius's arm. He gave it a squeeze, then he let his head fall back against Sirius's chest and closed his eyes again. 

 

Sirius leaned his head back against the top of the headboard and closed his eyes as well. But not to sleep. Just to focus. To listen and feel every breath so acutely he'd know the moment anything changed. 

 

He spent an hour or so like that, keeping Remus upright wrapped loosely in his arms so his lungs didn't clog, before he had to deal with the next hurdle--the boys coming back from dinner. He heard them coming up the stairs and carefully considered what he should or could do. Within seconds he decided that things seemed ok at the moment and he wasn't willing to rock the boat by waking Remus up again so he simply re-cast the silencing charm on their curtains and settled back down. He'd spend the whole night like this if he had to. If it would help. 

 

Remus shifted slightly then and his head rolled so that his forehead was resting against Sirius's jaw. Sirius slowly angled his head down until his lips were resting against Remus's fevered skin. This had also been in the book as an approved way of gauging someone's temperature. That's why he was doing it.  He mentally noted how hot Remus was still, but didn't pull away. He just closed his eyes and breathed in the scent of his sick friend's sweaty head and went back to mentally threatening to do horrible things to the world if Remus didn't get better ASAP. 

 

TO BE CONTINUED...

[Papetite]

This is absolutely amazing! I love everything about this!! Stayed up way to late reading the whole thing. Can’t wait for another update!! Wonderful job!

[SneezeKitties]

OMG another incredible update!! Also do not worry about Sirius not getting sick, it does not change how enjoyable this fic is to read!! I also really like this motherhenning outfit on Sirius! And I am loving all of the sneezing 🥰. Hope more is to come soon!!

[Mochi]

This was amazing! What if Sirius catches the cold too that would be nice 

[LostGirl2.0]

@Papetite ☺️ Thank you so much!! Been nervous about posting Harry Potter because there are so many good writers of it on here. I'm so glad you're enjoying!!

@SneezeKitties Thanks for sticking with me!! ❤️ Your comments are keeping me going!

@Mochi Thank you!! Sirius isn't in the cards at the moment, unfortunately, but there's plenty more in store for Remus! Hope you still enjoy!

 

A/N: Warning: Drama and phlegm ahead! (I swear I never set out for things to get intense in my stuff, but it always does. 😅) Little lighter on the sneezing here, but I promise more to come!!

 

----------------

 

Sirius startled awake in darkness as Remus lurched in his arms and began to cough. He helped him lean forward again, supporting him from behind and gently rubbed his back once more. He also grabbed for some tissues and held them up for Remus to take should he get anything up to spit out. But Remus just hacked and gasped and rattled without change and Sirius grew even more concerned. Slowly the boy calmed, though Sirius had no idea how as every breath gurgled so loudly he sounded like a purring kneazle. 

 

"Alright?" He asked nervously, reaching for his wand. He cast a slight lumos so that he could check the time on his watch, but as soon as he did Remus gasped and jerked in his arms with a set of harsh sneezes.

 

"h'TCHSHHH! Hih'TSCHu!"

 

Sirius's arm got misted, but he didn't care. Likely his own fault for lighting the place up like that. "Bless, Moons." He said softly, finally getting a good look at the time. 10PM. Holy shit. They'd been out for over 3 and a half hours? Well that had to be worth something, didn't it? 

 

Sirius turned his attention back to Remus who'd been abnormally silent so far. "How ya feeling, Moony?"

 

Remus snuffled and let his head fall back onto Sirius's shoulder, as he continued to labor way too hard to pull in breath after rasping breath.

 

"Moony," he prompted again, growing more worried by the second. 

 

"Soh..." Remus panted hoarsely. 

 

"What?" Sirius leaned in closer. 

 

"Sorh...muh"

 

"Remus?" Sirius asked, heart rate accelerating. He leaned forward and placed his lips once more on the exposed flesh of his friend's pale forehead and his eyes went wide as he met with almost scalding heat.  His hand shook slightly as he groped for his wand and checked Remus's temperature officially. 40 degrees. Sirius actually swore he could see the numbers shimmering in the heat waves rolling off Remus's body.  He'd just thought the extra warmth he felt was because they'd been under so many blankets. Fuck! This was bad. Really, really, bad. Had the stupid muggle medicine even done anything at all?!

 

"Muh…" Remus panted again, before finally getting the word out.

 

"Mum..."

 

Sirius's heart nearly stopped. Remus's mum had died of cancer during their third year. 

 

"Sorry, mum…" he rasped again and started back to coughing. 

 

Sirius began to panic. He needed to do something now, but he hadn't a clue as to what! This was too big for him. He kissed Remus on the head and wiped away the moisture he suddenly found on his own cheeks. "It's okay, Remus. It's gonna be okay. Just keep breathing. Please keep breathing." His voice cracked and he screwed his eyes shut tight. He waved his wand to cancel the silencing spell and screamed out "James!". But terror had stolen his voice away and it came out barely more than a whisper. He took a breath and tried again. "James!!"

 

This time he managed to bellow as loudly as he'd intended. Remus stirred in his arms and moaned, but then went back to panting shallowly. Sirius took another breath and prepared to holler again, but James beat him to it. 

 

"Sirius?! What?! What is it?" He asked, alarmed. "Where are you, mate?!" 

 

"With Remus." Sirius called. "Get over here. Now!"

 

Second later the curtains flew apart and James took in the sight before him. 

 

"Bloody hell…" he breathed, stunned. "What's wrong with him?"

 

Sirius felt his eyes sting and he sniffled, trying to maintain control. "He's sick, Prongs. Really, really sick. And we made him worse! The water-- I tried to help-- Keep him up, so he wouldn't choke. I thought it was helping, but he's at fucking 40 now.  And he took the medicine, but it isn't working! Stupid muggle shit. I just wanted him to get some rest--" He babbled on almost nonsensically, emotion suddenly overtaking all rational thought in regards to what had been happening the last 24 hours.

 

Clearly sensing that Sirius was hanging on by a thread James slipped into his Head Boy persona and took charge. 

 

"Okay. It's okay, Sirius, we're gonna figure this out and get him taken care of. Now why is he here and not in the infirmary?" James asked kindly, but firmly.

 

Sirius swore to himself the and there that he would never give James shit about his "Minister of Magic" tone of voice ever again, because damn was it comforting.  He took a breath and tried to get his shit together. "Potions don't work on him when he's sick. He said last time he went to her she tried things that just made him feel worse and he hated how it upset her that she couldn't help him. He didn't want to go back. He said--" Sirius forced himself to take another breath and slow down so he could stay in control. "He said that muggle medicine is all he can take, but he's been taking it, Prongs, and it's not working! His fevers up to 40 degrees, he can barely breathe, and he's asking for his mum now and--" Sirius broke off, unable to say more as his throat clenched too tightly.  He looked up at James pleadingly, willing him to handle all of this better than he himself had. 

 

James took in the information nodded. "Muggle medicine only, got it." James pulled something out from under the collar of his shirt, a necklace with a ring and pointed his wand at it. The ring glowed brightly for a moment and then faded back to the silver it had been.

 

"What's that?" Sirius asked with a sniffle, wishing he could wipe his eyes and nose, but not willing to let go of Remus to do it. 

 

"Ahh, a gift I gave Lily for her birthday this summer." He said, pinking at the ears. "It's not our mirrors, but a transference spell warms the other ring when I warm this one."

 

"You gave Lily Evans a ring and I didn't know about it?!" Sirius roared. Remus tried to shift away from him and began to cough again. Sirius cursed himself, not for the first time since this all began, for letting James distract him. "We'll talk more about that later." He said, pinning James with a look before he braced Moony up once more. He reached for more clean tissues just in case, but paused when an idea struck him.

 

"Hey, you haven't got a handkerchief, have you? I torched mine in that "freedom fire" thing we did and he's gonna be out of tissues any second." When Sirius glanced back up, James was looking at him strangely. He frowned, not in the mood for more delays. "Prongs? Handkerchief?" He prompted again and James snapped out of wherever it was he'd gone to and nodded. 

 

"Yeah, absolutely. Right back."

 

"Wassgoin' on?" Came Peter's sleep addled voice. 

 

"Moony's sick." James said softly, rifling through his trunk. 

 

"We takin' him to Madame Pomfrey?"

 

"He needs muggle medicine. Side effect of his furry little problem.  Sirius has been helping him, but he's getting worse so I've just sent for Lily."

 

"What can I do to help?" 

 

"Just go back to sleep, Wormtail. Put a silencing charm up."

 

"Oh. ...Er, okay. Are you sure I can't--."

 

"Look, I'll come and wake you if we need you, alright?"

 

"Okay, yeah, sure. Uhhmm… I hope he's alright then." Peter said, helplessly.

 

"Yeah, I'm sure he'll be fine. We've got it. Night Wormtail." James said and then returned to Sirius's side with no less than 7 handkerchiefs. 

 

Sirius took them all. "Merlin. That's quite the stash, Jamie-boy. Must mean you're a real gentleman." He teased.

 

James smacked the back of his head, before moving off to open the door and look for Lily. 

 

Sirius dipped one of the clean handkerchiefs into Remus's glass of water, rung it out into the bin and folded it one handed so that he could rest it against the back of Remus's hot neck while he coughed as it was the easiest piece of bare skin he could reach. Then he resumed rubbing his friend's back and looking anxiously towards the door for Lily's arrival, grateful for her Head Girl privileges which let her walk any dormitory stair without it dumping her back down again. 

 

It might have only been a minute or so later that Sirius heard her voice at the door, but it felt like an eternity

 

James pulled her inside quickly and they made a beeline for Remus's bed. "He's really sick, Lils, and Sirius said he told him he can only take muggle medicine."

 

"Really?" Lily asked, sounding startled. "Oh! I suppose it's because of…"

 

"Yeah," James confirmed.

 

Remus had stopped coughing for the moment and was sagging back listlessly against Sirius once more. Sirius had taken the handkerchief from his neck and was holding it to his forehead again. 

 

Lily and James both came into view around Remus's hanging curtains at the same time. "Oh my God!" Lily gasped and went pale. When Remus didn't react at all to her voice or presence, she turned to Sirius. 

 

Feeling a little less panicked now that he was no longer alone, Sirius took a breath and much more coherently told her everything he knew. "His fever was 40 degrees when I took it about 15 minutes ago, it's been going up since last night. He's been taking Paracetamol and Benylin every 6 hours since then, but I swear they haven't done a bloody thing for him. His chest sounded bad last night, but this is the worst it's ever been. He was coughing some of it up before, but he hasn't since maybe--4 hours ago. I swear he was doing alright earlier and then we both fell asleep, but he's not been with it since I woke up."

 

Lily pursed her lips and was all business, despite her too wide eyes. "These are the meds?" she asked as she lifted the two bottles off the nightstand. 

 

"Yeah," Sirius confirmed. 

 

"They're expired." She said, gravely. 

 

"What?!" Exclaimed Sirius, incredulous. 

 

"By how long?" Asked James.

 

"About 4 years, unfortunately." Lily sighed. "That's probably why they've not been working, Sirius." 

 

Sirius let his head bang back against the headboard and closed his eyes in shame. Why hadn't he thought to check that?! Potions went bad after so long too, he should have thought that muggle medicine might be the same. Remus said they all tasted similar after all.

 

"You did everything right, Sirius." Lily reassured. "You didn't know and you're not familiar with muggle medicine, Remus should have checked them."

 

Sirius felt his hackles rise.  "He's had a lot on, if you haven't noticed." He said, forgetting that just the other morning Lily had been the one to come to them about the exact same thing. "And if they're four years out of date, well, who's the most likely person to have given him those bottles, huh? Probably his mum. He's not likely to have gotten topped up after that as his da's a piece of shite. Not to mention that he doesn't want to admit when he's under the weather because he already feels like he asks too much of us with his furry little problem, so I think there's quite a lot of reasons as to why he might not have thought to check!"  

 

Lily's eyes were full of something akin to grief and compassion and Sirius immediately felt like an arse. "Sorry."  He mumbled, but couldn't come up with any further excuses. It had all been the truth, after all. 

 

Lily waved his apology off and Sirius expected James to lay into him for yelling at her, but instead he remained silent with that funny look on his face again. Sirius would have to unpack that later. 

 

"So, what do we do about it then?" Sirius asked, doggedly keeping them on task. 

 

"Well, it's too late for any of the shops to be open, so let me reach out to the other muggleborns and see what we've got between us. I'll start with the first years as they're the most likely to have been given meds for school by their parents. While I do that.. I mean it Sirius, you've really been doing grand. You've kept him up so he can breathe, you're trying to cool him down-- The only thing I can think of is if you can get him into a bath or the shower to cool him down even more.  But don't actually make the water cold!" She amended quickly. "Keep it warm. That way it'll feel comfortable to him without making him shiver which could raise his temperature more."

 

Sirius nodded, glad to have something to do while they waited to see what she could scrounge up.  "Thanks, Lil. He's scaring the pants off of me right now so I'm glad you know what you're doing."

 

She smiled at him and shook her head at the praise. "Well, I really don't know all that much, but since my mum's a nurse I've picked up a thing here and there." She shrugged and looked down at Remus again, her face immediately creasing with worry. "Right, I'll be back as quickly as I can." And with that she was off.

 

James looked at Sirius. "How can I help, mate?" 

 

Sirius glanced down at Remus and noted his still closed eyes and shallow breathing. "Moony." He said softly, giving him a bit of a shake, but Remus didn't bat an eye. He chewed his lip. "I'm not sure he's with it enough to walk… Help me carry him?"

 

James nodded readily. "Course."

 

Sirius started to slide out from behind Remus but paused when the boy began to slump backwards. 

 

"Here, can you keep him upright like this? It chokes him up if he goes flat."

 

James placed his arms behind Remus's back and kept him as close to seated as he could while Sirius extracted himself and got up off the bed. 

 

"Should I take his arms and you take his legs?" James asked poised to change his grip to accommodate such an arrangement.

 

Sirius frowned and shook his head. "No, I don't think so. That'll hurt him if we have to do that--he's been aching something fierce." He thought for a moment more. "Lemme-- Lemme just--" he bent over and slipped one arm where James was behind Remus's back and one underneath his knees. "Okay, now can you just, like, help roll him towards me so I can get my feet under myself and try to lift him up?"

 

James looked at him dubiously, but did as he asked. Sirius wasn't weak by any means, but James was the athlete and the one who was undeniably in the best shape for something like this. 

 

Sirius pulled Remus as close as he could, bent at the knees, and pushed himself up. Remus was not a small man. He was slim, sure, but he had muscle and some height to him as well. Sirius reminded himself of this as he staggered embarrassingly under his friend's weight. "Got him." He ground out through clenched teeth. "C'n you get the door?" 

 

James raced ahead and cleared the way as Sirius hauled him past the toilets and into the shower. He sat on the bench there, clutching Remus tighter when it groaned under their combined weight. As soon as he was sure it wasn't going to break, he turned to James, but James was already on it. He cast an umbrella charm around Sirius and Remus as he turned on the tap to ensure it didn't hit them until it was something other than icy cold. When it was warm, but not hot, he looked to Sirius again, who nodded.

 

Sirius had let Remus's legs fall to the floor and was focusing on keeping his upper body elevated now. He held Remus's head against his neck with his right hand and had his left wrapped around the boy's torso. This way when James took the umbrella down and the water hit them, he was able to keep control of Remus when he squirmed as he roused from the spray. 

 

"Mmmmmnnnnnn..." Remus moaned, and turned further into Sirius trying to get away from the water. 

 

"Shhhhh, it's okay, Moons. We gotta get you cooled down, alright?" Sirius soothed. Remus's hand fisted his now soaked shirt, but he settled some and continued to loudly gurgle as he tried to breathe.

 

When Sirius next glanced up at James the boy looked sad and worried, with a tiny bit of that something else that Sirius kept seeing on his face and couldn't yet decipher. "How'd he get so sick so fast?" James asked softly, the echo in the bath carrying the sound over the spray of the water.

 

Sirius shook his head and sighed, "Lily was right all along. He's probably been coming down with it for days, we just didn't notice. Or rather, he didn't want us to notice." Sirius frowned down at his charge, but there wasn't any heat in it. "And you know our Moony," he said, "damn sneaky when he wants to be. I was trying to corner him all day yesterday and the closest I got was at lunch, but then...well, eggs, and you know how that turned out."

 

James winced apologetically, "Sorry, mate. I really had no idea."

 

"Yeah, me neither honestly." Sirius said, adjusting Remus a tad as the water on his clothes made him even harder to hold. "He can be such an idiot sometimes. Thinking that the werewolf thing was enough of a burden on us that he didn't want to ask our help for anything else."

 

Now it was James's turn to sigh. "I suppose I get it. I mean, I could see wanting to do the same, if I was in his shoes. No matter how much we tell him we're happy to help with the wolf he's never going to fully believe us. He was raised with a da who thought he was better off dead than cursed, so… And no way that type of rejection doesn't leave a lasting impression on someone." James said with a raised eyebrow indicating a parallel to some of Sirius's own family troubles. 

 

Sirius grunted and looked away. He was saved from the uncomfortable moment by Remus suddenly jerking with a sneeze that sprayed his neck and chest. 

 

James wrinkled his nose, but Sirius just glanced down and quickly tugged Moony's wet shirt up over his nose and held it there in place of a tissue as his body wrenched with several more. 

 

"Tschhhh! Chshh!.... h'TCHSHHH!"

 

When he calmed again Sirius gently wiped at his nose with the shirt and then let it fall back into the spray. James was looking at him oddly again. Sirius opened his mouth to finally demand "what?!", when James shifted to lean against the wall and changed the subject.

 

"Guess that answers Pete's question about whether or not Moony sneezes," He said with a soft smirk. 

 

Sirius snorted. "Yeah, except for the fact that he only does it that way when he's out of it or if you call him on it. Otherwise he's figured out how to do it in complete silence so no ones wiser, the git."

 

James grunted, seeming not at all surprised. "How's his temperature doing now?"

 

Sirius slid his right hand up to Remus's forehead, "I think it's a little better. Should we dry off and get him back to bed?"

 

James nodded, pushed up from the wall, and shut off the tap. He'd pulled out his wand to cast a drying spell when Sirius held up a hand to stall him.

 

"Wait-- Moony?" Sirius put his ear to Remus's mouth, then flicked his gaze to his chest where he could clearly see muscles heaving and straining with sporadic effort.

 

"Remus!" Sirius shouted, panicked, and gave him a shake.

 

"What?! What is it?!" James was instantly by his side, wand at the ready, despite the fact that it would be of little use.

 

"He can't breathe." Sirius said, terror and adrenaline shooting through him so intensely that his whole body went prickly and cold. "Remus!" He hollered again, shaking the boy harder. "Wake up!! You've got to cough, you bloody bastard!" He growled, and hauled Remus up fully so that was hunched forward in Sirius lap. "Don't you do this to me!!" Sirius yelled and thumped Remus hard on the back with an open palm. He had no idea what he was doing, but he didn't care. When people were choking on something, you hit them on the back, right? That was all he could think of in that moment, so that was what he did. 

 

James, meanwhile, was uncharacteristically losing it. "I don't--!! Merlin, Sirius what do we do?! Fuck!! I'll get Poppy--I'll--" 

 

Suddenly Remus coughed and James sunk to his knees with relief. Sirius had tears streaming down his furious face as he continued to pound on his back and James saw thick phlegm beginning to bubble at Remus's mouth. He quickly grabbed a towel off the nearby rack to wipe it up. Remus choked and gagged, but he continued to cough and James just kept shifting the towel as more of the stuff came up. 

 

After what felt like an eternity Remus's breathing finally began to ease. The rattles and wheezes were still present, but he looked like he was working considerably less hard at the whole process now. When his coughs began to die down as well James sat back on his haunches and let out a breath he hadn't even known he'd been holding. 

 

Sirius had stopped his pounding and was now clutching Remus tightly and rubbing his back soothingly while he tried to hold himself together. "I really hope Lily comes back soon." He said, and it was such an understatement after what they'd just been though that James let out a half-choked giggle. 

 

Sirius's first thought was James'd gone mad, but upon seeing his ashen face and feeling the heady relief of Remus's regular breaths warm on his neck, he found himself giggling as well. They laughed hysterically for a minute before James caught his breath and came back to reality.

 

"Fuck. That was…"

 

Sirius giggled one last time and then hiccuped with a sob-like sound. "Yeah... Yeah it was." He swallowed hard and looked at James who looked back at him with something that neither of them would ever be able to put into words. 

 

Eventually James sniffled and blew out a breath. "Right," he cleared his throat gruffly. "Let's get dried off then, shall we?"

 

Sirius nodded and closed his eyes as hot air instantly inflated his clothes and within seconds all three of them were as dry as when they'd gone in. 

 

Siuris looked down at Remus in his arms and then up at James, not at all certain his shaky legs would support one, let alone two of them right now. "Help me get him back?" He asked.

 

James nodded and stood opposite Sirius where he could slip one arm around Remus's back and one under his legs mirroring Sirius. They lifted him using their arms like a chair and staggered back into the bedroom. 

 

They got him onto his bed without incident and propped him up on as many pillows as they could before pulling the covers up to his shoulders. Sirius checked his temperature and was relieved to find it had gone down slightly and was now hovering at 39.7. 

 

They each sat on one side of his bed, reluctant to leave though there wasn't anything else for them to do until Lily returned. They kept vigil that way for another ten or so minutes before they heard the quick patter of her night slippers on the stairs. 

 

She ran into the room with her arms full. "Sorry," she panted. "Had to spell everyone's names on them so I knew who to get them back to."  She dumped her load on the foot of the bed and started sifting through. "Did he do alright with the shower?" She asked. 

 

The heavy silence that met her question caused her to look up at both their somber faces.

 

"Well...it did seem to do some good by the end, yeah." James eventually hedged. Sirius remained silent, both of them somewhat reluctant to speak into existence the fact that they were fairly certain Remus had nearly died on their watch.

 

"Okay," Lily said slowly, curiously noting the haunted look in James's eyes and the way Sirius was refusing to meet her own. Her eyes narrowed, but didn't press for the moment. 

 

"Right then, here we go," she said, holding aloft two small pill bottles and one liquid bottle.

 

"He's still completely out of it, Lils. Are you sure we can wake him enough to get him to take those?" James asked. 

 

She frowned and looked back down at her pile. Then she swapped out the two pill bottles for another two liquid ones and nodded. "These should still cover just about everything and together equal the dose of paracetamol he needs to bring the fever down without having to take a pill just yet."

 

She walked to the head of the bed and set the bottles on the nightstand. Then she leaned over Remus, tenderly pushed his bangs back off his forehead, and rested her lips there. James shifted uncomfortably but Sirius just stayed where he was and watched knowingly. 

 

Lily straightened again and began pouring various colored liquids into tiny cups. She took a red one and held it to hip lips. "Remus" she said, gently, "Remus I need you to swallow this for me, okay?" When he didn't respond, she chewed her lip and made her left hand into a fist, pressed a knuckle into his chest, and moved it in circles. Remus eventually shifted and his brow creased in discomfort as he moaned in the back of his throat.

 

"Hey-- what are you--" Sirius reached out to grab her hand and stop the clearly sore gesture. 

 

"He's okay, Sirius," she reassured, quietly. "I just have to wake him enough that he doesn't choke. I've seen my mom do this loads of times."

 

Sirius backed down for the moment, but scooted closer to Remus as he wasn't quite sold on the technique just yet.

 

"Remus," Lily said again, slightly louder this time, "Remus love, I need you to swallow this for me, okay?" 

 

Remus swallowed dryly at her words and Lily said "Good, that's right. Ok, here it comes." She said and stopped her rubbing to help hold his head up as she poured the liquid in. Remus swallowed dutifully and made a face. Lily chuckled and brushed at his bangs again tenderly. "Yeah, I know. Tastes shite, doesn't it?" 

 

She repeated the process with him four more times successfully and then went to wash out the tiny plastic cups. When she came back she looked at the two boys who had eyes only for their friend and smiled softly before she cleared her throat to catch their attention. 

 

"Ok, I'll write out what all I just gave him, and the next time he's going to need a dose of each. Can I borrow some parchment?" 

 

James went to grab some and brought it back with a quill. She knelt down at the end of Remus's bed and used his trunk as a desk. Once she had checked the intervals for the dosages another few times to be certain she had it right, she set the finished product on the nightstand. "He should be good for another 4 hours--so that means his next dose can come at 3AM. Some of the meds are on a rotation of every 4-6 hours, some are 3 times a day, so every 8hrs. But I've got it all down for you until at least tomorrow evening."

 

"Lily, you're a life saver." James said, crossing to give her a long, tight hug. 

 

"Only literally," Sirius added softly and gave her a small grateful smile as well.

 

"Well," she sighed and then yawned, "I think that's about all we can do for him right now, unfortunately, but I'll come back to check on him in the morning if that alright?"

 

"Of course," said James. 

 

"You know how to get me if you need anything else," Lily held up the ring from around her neck before leaning in to give James a kiss.

 

"Love you," James said as she pulled away. 

 

"Love you, too." She looked back at Remus and then at both boys. "Keep up the good work, gents." She said, and was off.

 

"Do you want to--" James started to ask, but Sirius jumped in and cut him off.

 

"Yeah, I'm good to give him his next dose." 

 

James just nodded and looked at Sirius curiously for a moment. It wasn't quite the intense penetrating look from earlier, but Sirius still felt unsettled by it. As if James was asking a question he thought Sirius knew the answer to, but he hadn't the foggiest clue what it was. 

 

"Okay, well, wake me up if you guys need anything. Anything at all." He said vehemently.

 

Sirius nodded. "Will do, mate."

 

James looked at Remus for a moment longer, then ran a hand through his messy hair and shook his head before slowly shuffling back to his bed. 

 

TO BE CONTINUED... (Wolfstar moments ahead!)

[SneezeKitties]

Gosh you had me worried half way through!!! Poor Remus, that sounds nasty whatever he has!! But all that means is more worried and loving Sirius, sooooooo 😆 I know I keep saying this, but another fantastic chapter, it honestly feels like I am reading one of the OG books, with the dialogue! Its just how I imagined they would talk and act!! Super excited for the next update!! 🥰

[LifeOfTheMarauders]

I’m somehow reading this for the first time right now and all I can say is WOW. Amazing, spectacular, and everything I could ever dream. As a connoisseur of Marauders content, I give you a gleaming five stars for characterization. I’m very excited to see the resolution of the flashback (Wolfstar will ever remain my OTP), but I also can’t wait to get back to present day and see Sirius drill into Remus about reverting back to his silent sneezing methods. All I can say is ADORABLE and PLEASE CONTINUE!!

[LostGirl2.0]

@SneezeKitties 🥰 Ahhh!! Thank you so much!!! I've been sitting on this story idea for ages, but wrote stories for every other favorite fandom of mine first because this one scared me the most. I'm so glad you feel like it reads authentically! ☺️ Not too much left now 😬 - maybe another two bits after this? I hope you continue to enjoy! And again, thank you so much for commenting, I really appreciate the encouragement! 😊

@MarauderFanGirl4Ever 😱😭 OMG thank you!!! As one major marauder fan girl to another, that means so much!! The marauders are honestly the best thing about Harry Potter. (I feel like we should DM and exchange fic recs! Lol I've been mining AO3 and fanfiction for yeeeears now.) This scared the pants off me to try and write cause I feel like I have a really specific vision of these guys with all that I've read, and I wasn't certain I'd be able to do it justice. So what you said means a TON to me. Thank you so much!! 

 

-------------------

 

Sirius slid in next to Remus once more, but stayed to the side where he would have easy access to the meds. He felt drained from the after effects of the adrenaline rush, but was convinced he wouldn't be sleeping anymore tonight. He turned on his side to face Remus and cast the temperature spell again. 39.6. He spelled his wand to vibrate at 3AM, cast another silencing charm to let James get some sleep, and then settled in to stare at the slow rise and fall of Remus's chest and listen to the noisy purr of his breathing. Damn, but this all was mental, wasn't it? Was this really what muggles went through when they got sick? Merlin... 

 

"No, NO!" Remus suddenly wailed and Sirius snapped awake. Buggering shite, he couldn't believe he'd actually drifted off! Remus's eyes were still closed, but his face was tortured. 

 

"Moony! Hey, Moony! It's alright." Sirius soothed, sitting up and placing a hand on his friend's shoulder. 

 

Remus moaned and let out a sob, then turned away from Sirius to curl into a ball with his hands fisting angrily in his hair. 

 

"No, no, no, hey!" Sirius lurched over and tried to tug his hands away before he hurt himself. "Hey, Remus, c'mon. Wake up! It's just a dream!"

 

Remus didn't appear to hear him as he simply curled up tighter, mumbling "I'm sorry, Oh God, I'm so sorry!" while tears began to stream down his cheeks. 

 

Sirius really couldn't take any more unnecessary misery from Remus right now, so he did what he'd always wished someone had done for him when he was having a nightmare. He leaned over and hauled Remus up until he was hugging him tightly against his chest. Remus fought him weakly at first but then seemed to settle. However, with the settling came more tears and snippets of phrases.

 

"...didn't mean to...so sorry….please…please be okay…"

 

Sirius hugged his friend closer and rubbed a hand down his back as he cried, continuing to reassure that it was just a dream and everything was alright. 

 

"No...God, Pads…Pads, m'so sorry!" Remus sobbed and Sirius's murmured words stuck in his throat. Remus's nightmare was about him? 

 

He looked down at his friend's face and thought his heart was going to break at the agony he saw there.  

 

"Moony! Moony, hey! It's ok, I'm right here. I'm right here." He snatched Remus's balled up fist and placed it on his chest. "You don't have anything to be sorry for. I'm here and everything is ok. I'm ok." 

 

Remus gasped another sob and coughed wetly, but his hand spasmed open for a moment and latched onto the fabric of Sirius's shirt. 

 

"That's right! It's me. I'm right here, okay? So don't be sad, please don't be sad anymore."  A painful lump grew in his throat as Remus slowly began to calm. It really had been about him, then. Something happening to him? Knowing Moony, it'd been a dream about biting him. He used to have those types of dreams a lot when they'd first started the Animagus thing, but it'd been years... Clearly he wasn't as over that fear as they'd hoped. A part of Sirius ached at the thought that the help they gave him still caused him so much anxiety and stress. Moony, Moony, Moony... Sirius sighed. Could they ever truly help him with this curse as much as they wished they could? ...Probably not, he thought despondently.

 

Sirius leaned his chin down onto the top of Remus's head and rested there while Remus slowly slid back into sleep. Sirius reached over to grab his wand and check the time. Still an hour and a bit until the next dose. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. It wasn't as keen as when he was Padfoot, but Remus's scent was still there. Presently a sweaty musk with a slight bit of pine from Moony's favored shower gel. He drifted off holding Remus tight to keep the nightmares at bay, and dreamed of romps through the trees.

 

---------

 

"Vvvvvvzzzzzzzt!"

 

His wand vibrated softly and Sirius opened gritty eyes. Remus was quiet and seemed exactly as he had been. His breathing sounded about the same, but Sirius thought he didn't seem any warmer, so that was positive. He was contemplating how he was going to get at the meds without waking Remus when he realized his legs had gone to sleep. Bollocks. He didn't really need them at the moment, but he knew it'd hurt like hell as soon as the blood started to flow again. He looked down at his charge once more and grabbed one of James handkerchiefs to dab gently at Remus's runny nose. If you'd have told him that he'd be doing this for his fully grown mate last week, he'd have pulled a face and told you you'd gone round the bend. But somehow, being in this moment, he couldn't think of anything else he'd rather be doing. Remus never let his guard down, ever. And Sirius hadn't been needed by anyone like this since Regulus was out of nappies. But here they were, doing things so out of character for themselves he was certain some part of it should have been awkward, but it wasn't. Things never felt weird with Remus. He always made certain everyone was at ease and knew that he accepted them just as they were, despite never feeling that way himself. And if that just wasn't so quintessentially Remus of Remus, he didn't know what was. At that semi-nonsensical thought, Sirius decided to stop trying to think deep thoughts on just a few hours of sleep, yawned, and attempted to gently jostle Remus awake. 

 

"Moony. Moons! Time for more meds, yeah?" 

 

Remus actually shifted a bit so Sirius was able to wriggle out from under him, despite his dead legs, to reach the bedside table. He propped Remus up on some pillows before he pulled up Lily's instructions and began to measure out the various colored liquids. Once he had them ready, he conjured more water and turned back to his friend. 

 

He placed his hand on Remus's chest as Lily had done, but couldn't bring himself to use his knuckles as she had. He merely moved his hand back and forth quickly while calling his friend's name. After a few moments,

Remus's eyes cracked open slightly. The sick boy blinked up at him tiredly.

 

"Pa'foo?" He rasped, voice barely coming out. 

 

"Yeah, Moons." Sirius said with a smile, pleased at Remus's progress. He moved on quickly however, so as not to waste the moment of lucidity. "Got something I need you to drink for me, okay?"

 

Remus licked his lips and tried to swallow, but grimaced in pain instead. 

 

"Here, try a little water first." Sirius held the glass up for him and tilted it just enough for Remus to wet his lips. The other boy's eyes had closed again and he didn't even try to hold the glass himself, so Sirius knew he was fading fast. He let Remus get down one sip of the water before he decided to prioritize the meds. "Right, these taste just as rubbish as the last ones apparently, but you've got to get them down. Here." Sirius tilted the first one into Remus's mouth and made sure he swallowed before he moved onto the next. Remus made it through them rightly until the last one after which he made a face and began to cough again. Sirius quickly slid an arm behind him to prop him up, and once he'd stopped enough to catch his breath, Sirius presented him with the glass of water once more. Seeming slightly more lucid post coughing fit, Remus attempted to prop himself up on a trembling arm and dank greedily with Sirius's assistance. When he was done Sirius set the water aside and went to help him lay back down, but Remus resisted. Sirius glanced at him in surprise and suddenly noticed their faces were only inches apart. He was so close that he could see there were drops of water still clinging to Remus's lips. 

 

As if Remus read his mind his tongue darted out to lick the moisture away and Sirius swallowed hard. He ripped his eyes from his friend's lips back up to his eyes, looking for grounding against the unexpected wave of desire that suddenly swept over him.

 

Remus was still flushed with fever but his eyes were strangely bright and he was looking at Sirius with something close to wonder in his gaze.

 

Before Sirius knew what he was doing or why, he reached up to brush a sweaty curl away from the corner of Remus's eye. 

 

Remus's breath caught, but he didn't cough. Sirius felt him lean in slightly and all rational thought left as he did the same. There was barely any space at all left between them when Remus suddenly reared back and twisted to the side. 

 

"CHHHshh! Hih'CHSHH! Hih-HIH! H'TSCHUU!"

 

Remus moved so quickly and violently that he would have fallen off the bed if Sirius hadn't lurched forward and grabbed him by the arm. He pulled him back up and wrapped an arm securely around his waist to keep him in place. Sirius's heart was pounding hard in response to what had just happened, or almost happened, but he did his best to calm down and just hold Remus steady as he wrenched forward with sneeze after sneeze.  When Sirius noticed he could actually feel the deep, vibrating rattle of every gasping breath Remus took, he felt like he'd taken a cold shower. What had he been thinking?! Remus was delirious with fever and barely able to breathe. Whatever that moment was, if it even was, it was very likely not at all what he thought. And shame on him for even letting his brain go there when Remus was in a state like this.  

 

"H'chxt! Huh'ISHuu! CHSHT! Hih-HIH! HIH'TSCHHH!" The fit finally ended leaving Remus hunched over Sirius's arm with his face in his hands gasping for air.

 

Sirius scrabbled for one of James handkerchiefs.  "Merlin, Moony. Here. Just lay back and catch your breath, ok?" He helped Remus recline back against the mountain of pillows behind him and then gently worked the handkerchief into his hands which were still covering the lower part of his face. Remus nodded his thanks and sniffled wetly before turning away to blow his nose. While he groggily tidied himself up, Sirius took a moment to root himself back in the present. He needed to chalk that moment up to temporary insanity and move on. A lot of things had been happening in the past day or so, a lot of very stressful and very confusing things, and he didn't need to project all that onto Remus.  He was here to take care of him. That was it. And he'd be damned if he'd let these sudden inexplicable impulses compromise that.

 

Remus pulled the handkerchief away from his face at last and lurched unstably towards his nightstand. 

 

"Whoa! Hey, what do you want? Let me get it for you."

 

Remus's eyes were practically shut and his face was pinched in pain. Still had a headache then, Sirius frowned. Though he could understand that after all the sneezing. He imagined that would make anyone's head feel like it was about to explode. 

 

"Wand", Remus murmured.

 

Sirius's brow furrowed. "What do you need your wand for?" 

 

"M'a clean it."

 

"Clean what? ...The handkerchief?" He rolled his eyes. "Oh, for Wormtail's sake. I've got that. You can barely keep yourself upright. Here. Scourgify."

 

The handkerchief popped out of Remus's balled hand and spun about in the air as it cleaned itself. Then it floated down gently onto the bedspread where Sirius caught it up and drifted it back over to the nightstand. 

 

Remus sunk back into the pile of pillows looking absolutely done in. Sirius's gut clenched. He checked Remus's temperature again and found him no warmer, but no cooler yet either. He'd just have to give the medicine more time. He set his wand to go off again at 7AM and laid down on top of Remus's covers. He watched his friend anxiously for a while and saw the exact moment that tension in his face finally eased as he fell back to sleep. Sirius closed his eyes to try and get some more rest himself, but couldn't quite relax. Eventually he gathered the courage to rest his hand on the side of Remus's chest.  That was fine, right? It was a totally normal amount of contact. Remus hadn't minded when he'd listened to his chest, after all. And this way he could feel the rumbly, rhythmic up and down motion of Remus's soft breathing under his hand and would know right away if anything untoward happened. Sirius closed his eyes again and with that comforting point of contact to reassure him, finally settled down enough for sleep to claim him.

 

--------------

 

When Sirius woke next he was drenched in sweat, but it wasn't his own. Somehow Remus had ended up with his head pillowed on Sirius's shoulder and his arm flung across his chest.  It was an incredibly intimate position considering everything Sirius was wrestling with, and he knew he should get out of it, but he couldn't bring himself to push Remus away.  He told himself that it was because Remus needed the rest, but he was fairly certain his motivation was a bit more selfish than that. Sirius closed his eyes and noticed that he could feel the heat of Remus's breath on his chest, his hair tickling his neck, the weight of his long arm draped across him and the press of his thigh against his own… Which meant that he really felt it when Remus gave a full-body shiver and sent Sirius crashing back to reality.

 

Damn it! He needed to control himself better.  If he'd not been thinking about Remus's legs, he'd have realized that sweat gets cold once you've stopped doing it, so Remus was probably fucking freezing. Suddenly the penny dropped.  Remus was sweating! He pressed his lips against his friend's forehead and grinned. He was almost cool to the touch! Sirius reached round to grab his wand and waved it above him to confirm. 37.3. Sirius let his head fall back onto the pillows, and struggled not to weep with relief. They'd done it! The worst was hopefully over now.

 

Remus shivered again and Sirius wondered what to do. Should he wake him to change his clothes, or perhaps just pull the blankets up a bit higher to keep him warm? If he did that he could let him keep sleeping-- The decision was made for him though when Remus moaned and began to tug at the blanket. It was stuck half beneath his own body and half beneath Sirius's, so Sirius tried to shift discreetly to free it up, but Remus roused anyway.

 

The arm that had been laying across Sirius's chest moved away and Remus groggily attempted to lift his head off Sirius's hot and sweaty chest. "Pads?" He asked hoarsely, blinking at Sirius's face while pushing himself up on shaking arms. 

 

"Hey," Sirius said softly, anxiously holding his breath as he waited to see if Remus would react to their present proximity and position. 

 

But Remus simply flopped down onto his side and continued to blink owlishly up at Sirius's face. Sirius couldn't help smiling a bit at how adorable he looked right then, chapped runny nose and all, and suddenly came to the realization that he'd been lying to himself about a lot of things for a very long time. He'd thought certain boys were cute before, but figured everyone could appreciate the attractiveness of their own sex. That it didn't mean anything more. But right now, watching Remus watch him, his heart was in his throat and the overwhelming need he had not to be rejected by this incredible boy was putting things in a whole new light for him. 

 

"You stayed?" Remus whispered, and Sirius's heart panged at the disbelief he heard there. 

 

He tried to brush it off with a grin. "Of course I stayed, you dolt. Told you I was going to look after you, didn't I?"

 

Remus took a breath to speak, but it caught in his throat and he coughed instead. Sirius immediately sat up and helped Remus to do the same.

 

Remus began shaking even harder as the covers fell away from his shoulders. "Merlin's tits, it's cold in here." He chattered. 

 

Sirius shook his head sympathetically. "Fraid that's just you, mate. You're soaked from the fever breaking."

 

Remus just grunted in acknowledgement as he wrapped his arms more tightly around himself. 

 

"You feel up to getting changed?" Sirius asked.

 

Remus shivered again and brushed his sweaty bangs out of his eyes. "Think I need a shower first, to be honest. I feel ten levels of disgusting."

 

Sirius looked at him dubiously. "I dunno... I think a shower might be a lot to ask right now."

 

Remus shivered again and gave him a jaded half-smile. "I've been worse off than this, Pads and you know it. I won't do much. Just standing and rinsing off would be brilliant."

 

Sirius pursed his lips. "Alright fine, but I have one condition."

 

Remus lifted an eyebrow. "And what might that be, Nurse Padfoot?"

 

Sirius ignored the jibe and decided to be bold. "You let me help you."

 

Remus's other eyebrow joined the first. "Come again?"

 

Sirius wasn't exactly sure of the logistics of what he was proposing himself, so before he got too far in, he backpedaled. "As Padfoot. Just in case you need anything." When in doubt, go dog. All the guys let Padfoot away with just about anything. He never really understood it, since it was still him and they knew that, but whatever.

 

Remus shook his head. "That's really not necessary, Sirius."

 

Sirius looked at him hard, not in the mood to engage in Moony's typical games of denial. Not after last night. "Tell you what, you make it to the bathroom on your own power and I'll reconsider."

 

Remus nodded, "Suppose that's fair enough." 

 

Sirius shoved the curtain aside quietly, got out of the bed, and stood to the side so Remus would have room to move. 

 

The pale boy slowly worked his way across the covers to the edge of the bed. Sirius saw his arms trembling as he went and had a bad feeling about the whole endeavor. He inched a little closer just in case.

 

Remus slid his feet into the slippers he kept just under the bed and pushed himself up. He grinned cockily at Sirius for a second before he began to list to the side and Sirius had to catch him about the waist. 

 

"Yep! Thought that was gonna happen," Sirius hissed, mindful of the other two sleeping boys. "Here, sit back down."

 

Remus clutched desperately at Sirius's shoulders and blinked rapidly. "No! No, I'm alright." He whispered back, "Just stood up too fast. I'll be good in a moment."

 

Sirius had no faith at all in Remus's claims, but let him have his way. He'd already won the bet anyway. So he continued to hold the boy steady until he felt Remus shift his weight and center himself more solidly. 

 

"I'm good. ...I'm good now." Remus said softly, and Sirius backed off, but only halfway, keeping one arm still around Remus's waist. 

 

"Sirius--" Remus sounded annoyed.

 

"No. I'm not going to hear it." Sirius cut him off. "I think you've been sicker than you realize and you're in for a rude awakening about it, so either you let me help your sweaty arse to the shower or I sit it back down on the bed."

 

Remus huffed in frustration, but seemingly decided to pick his battles and put one foot in front of the other heading towards the loo. 

 

They shuffled their way there without further incident and Sirius sat Remus on the bench before moving to close the door behind them. When he turned back around Remus was already in the process of removing his shirt and trousers. He looked up at Sirius when he was down to just his pants. 

 

Sirius shifted awkwardly. He'd asked for this, so now he had to make it work. "You can do your thing, I'll, er, I'll be over here just in case."

 

Remus's face went slightly pink, but he nodded, stood shakily, and turned on the water. He'd decided to leave his pants on for the task and Sirius had to say he was glad of it. Why, he couldn't quite say. He saw Remus in the buff every month. But somehow, in here, it was...different. He fought down his own blush and quickly shifted into Padfoot. As steam began to fill the room he laid down on the floor so the stone would keep him cool. He kept his head turned away and mostly stared at the wall as he listened to Remus sniffle and cough while he got his business done. He'd almost drifted off again from the cozy heat when Remus sneezed and the unexpected sound made him jump. "H'tchsshh! CHSHH! Hih-HIH! H'hCHSHT!" 

 

Sirius blinked through the fog and whined when he saw Remus holding himself up against the wall with one hand clamped over his face.

 

His friend shook his wet hair out of his eyes and tried to give Sirius a reassuring look, but he failed miserably as his face crumpled again.

 

"H'CHXT! Tshhhu! hih! Ih'tschh! Hih!...Hih! H'CHSHU!"

 

The last one was so strong it launched Remus into a spectacular fit of coughing that had his knees quaking so badly they were barely holding him up. Sirius transformed back.

 

"Moony--" he said, concern clear in his voice. 

 

"M'fine!" Remus gasped between coughs, his face doing an excellent impression of a beet. He was trying his best to muffle the coughs behind his hands, but to Sirius they still rang too loudly and reprovingly in the small space. He shouldn't have agreed to this. 

 

He was about to step in and try forcing the weakened werewolf back to his bed when the opportunity landed in his hands, literally. Still coughing, Remus had tried to push himself up off the wall, but his legs just wouldn't have it. His knees finally buckled and he went down hard. Or would have, if Sirius hadn't jumped into the spray and caught him once again. Though with his slippery skin it was a very near thing.

 

"Damnit, Moony!" Sirius shouted, worry and frustration making him sound angrier than he was. 

 

"Sorry!" Remus panted, his eyes screwed tightly shut. He was now so white he was almost green. "Sorry."

 

Sirius felt his irritation drop away as Remus trembled in his grasp. He imagined he wouldn't have behaved much differently if the situation were reversed.  Being weak always sucked. And none of them were ones to take it sitting down. Well, Wormtail might. But he was hardly typical.  "Here," Sirius sighed, "let's dry off and get you back to bed." 

 

Remus leaned down just enough to gather up his sweaty clothes from the bench while Sirius focused on spelling them both dry.  They hadn't thought to grab a change of clothes, so Remus would be making the journey back in his skivvies, but Sirius figured by the time Remus started to feel cold again he'd already be back under the covers. 

 

Remus's legs continued to wobble as they made their way out of the bathroom and Sirius was just about to try to pick him up when Remus somehow read his impulse and shot him down.

 

"Padfoot you will not carry me so you can just put that ridiculous notion out of your head right now." He growled as they stumbled by the foot of Peter's bed. 

 

If you only knew what happened last night, Sirius thought darkly. But he merely hummed in response to Remus's rebuke and let his friend have his way once more. 

 

When they arrived at the bed he sat Remus down and went over to his trunk. "What do you want to change into?" He asked softly. 

 

When Remus didn't answer right away Sirius looked up to see he had a faraway look on his face and was rubbing absently at his nose.

 

"Moony?"

 

"Ahhhh, there err, should be a pair of blue ones on the left."

 

Sirius fetched them out and walked over just as Remus bent in half and muffled a sneeze into his wad of dirty clothing. 

 

"Mmphhhff!"

 

Sirius made a face and snagged one of James's handkerchiefs off the nightstand. "Ugh, no, don't use that.  Got something better now, remember?"

 

Remus lifted his head out of the dirty clothes and squinted up at him as his breath hitched. "Wha-"

 

Sirius reached down and swapped the dirty clothes for the handkerchief. And not a second too soon as Remus lurched forwards once more, but this time into a soft white cloth. 

 

"H'MPHH!"

 

"Bless you." Sirius whispered.

 

"Ugh...Sorry." Remus apologized, voice muffled from where he remained bent over with his face still buried in the handkerchief's folds. 

 

"You alright?" Sirius asked when Remus made no move to sit back up. 

 

"Mmmm." Remus hummed in agreement, then seemed to finally dredge up enough energy to sit back up and blow his nose.  Once he was done he looked back up at Sirius. "Where'd you get this?" He asked softly, indicating the balled up fabric in his hand. 

 

"James." 

 

"Ahhhh..." He said nodding slightly. "S'nicer than the tissues. Thank him for the loan." He quirked a smile at Sirius before swinging his feet up onto the bed and settling back against the pillows with a sigh. 

 

Sirius raised an eyebrow and held up the clean PJs. "Forgetting something?" 

 

Remus looked down at his mostly naked body and grimaced. "Suppose getting dressed would make the most sense."

 

"Probably wouldn't hurt." Sirius agreed with a small smile. "Here," he tossed the clothes on top of him, "It's just about time for more meds too, so why don't you get dressed while I get that sorted." 

 

Remus nodded and slowly sat up to begin slipping everything on. It was a good thing too as right then there was a knock on their door.

 

Sirius frowned as he walked over to answer it, but his expression eased up as soon as he saw that it was Lily.

 

"You're by early. James isn't even up yet."

 

"Just came by to see how the patient was doing before I started morning rounds. Is he up?"

 

"He is." Remus called hoarsely from behind his bed curtains. He'd pulled them shut as soon as Lily had spoken. 

 

Remus had always been incredibly body shy because of his scars. Sirius only ever noted them anymore to lament the pain they caused his friend, never to think about what they did to his appearance. But with everyone but the four of them, Remus remained uncomfortable. 

 

"You have stuff to do on Sundays?" Wormail suddenly piped up from across the room. "That sucks." He said around a yawn.

 

Lily strolled over to where James was still snoring and said loudly in his ear. "Yes, Peter, we DO work Sundays! Though you'd never know it with this lazy lout."

 

James shot up. "What? Lily? Why're you here? Everything ok?" He asked, barely awake and fumbling for his glasses on his side table.

 

"I'm here to check on Remus, but it would be nice to have your company for morning rounds at least once before the year's out. Thought I'd help wake you up since your alarm always seems to fail." She smiled at him sweetly.

 

James rubbed his eyes under his glasses and vigorously scrubbed a hand through his hair. "Yeah, right. Sounds like a great idea. Ah, can you just give me a mo in the loo first?"

 

She checked her watch. "You've got five minutes. I'd prioritize brushing your teeth, love. "

 

James covered his mouth self-consciously and stumbled off to the bathroom. 

 

"Remus," she called to the still curtained four-poster. "How are you feeling?"

 

Remus tugged back the curtains as he finished buttoning his top. He smiled up at her, "Hey, Lily. I'm alright. How are you?"

 

Sirius looked at Remus's charming smile and knew what Lily would be seeing. The deep purple bags under his eyes, his chalk white complexion, the unsteadiness of his hands as he struggled with the last button… Remus wasn't fooling anyone, no matter how much he wished it.

 

"I'm not here to talk about me, mister. I heard you had a rough night."

 

Sirius shot her a look of surprise, but then quickly reined it in. She'd spent plenty of time around Remus over the last few years with both of them being prefects and whatnot. Plus Lily was a sneaky genius, so it shouldn't shock him that she knew Remus well enough to realize how uncomfortable he'd be if she let on that she'd been around him while he was in a bad way. 

 

Remus looked sheepish and in an unexpected display of pragmatism said, "Yeah, I was...maybe a bit worse off than I thought."

 

Sirius raised his eyebrows at the gross understatement, but Lily just carried on. 

 

"How are you feeling now, though? Has the medication been helping?"

 

Remus blinked and looked over at his bedside table, apparently having only just realized that what Sirius had been giving him hadn't been the same medicine he'd started out taking. 

 

"But… Wait, where did those--"

 

"Lily rounded up a few things for you last night from some of the other muggle borns." James chipped in as he strolled back into the room shirtless and headed towards his trunk. 

 

What little color Remus had back in his face this morning fled as his jaw dropped. "What? You took this from other people--"

 

"Borrowed, Remus." Lily cut in firmly. "Only borrowed. And they were more than happy to share. I didn't tell them who it was for if that helps."

 

Remus grimaced, but quickly worked his face back into a neutral expression. "Well, I'm much better now thanks to them, so you can return them to their rightful owners with my deepest gratitude."

 

"Oh, I don't think you're quite done with them just yet. I'll take them back this evening if your fever stays down." She looked to Sirius who nodded. 

 

Remus sighed in defeat. "Alright, I'll keep taking them, you both don't need to manage me, you know."

 

Sirius smirked at Remus's petulant tone and Remus shot him a glare.

 

"Ready to go, James?" Lily asked.

 

"Just about. Sirius, I'll meet you down in the great hall at half 9 and we can bring something back for our bedridden buddy here."

 

Remus huffed. "Honestly, I'll just come down myself at half 9--"

 

"No!" 

 

Remus jumped as the word came at him in stereo and looked back and forth between James and Sirius in surprise. "That's two hours away!" He argued. "Once I've had a bit more time to wake up I'll be--"

 

"Nope."  "It's not up for debate, mate." They said over top of one another.

 

Remus looked to Lily for back-up, but she was busy looking at James and Sirius with concern and possibly a bit of alarm. 

 

Sirius looked away uncomfortably, stuffing his hands into his pockets.  Lily was too perceptive for her own good. He was certain James would be spilling the beans about what happened last night as soon as he was out of the room. 

 

Remus looked a little hurt at being ganged up on, but Sirius wasn't sorry about it. Remus pushed through so much with his body because most of the time he had too. But it was Sunday and there was no reason he needed to be out of bed today. Sirius would take his tutoring again, and the rest of his prefect duties wouldn't resume until Monday. And they could deal with Monday when it got here. 

 

Remus finally threw up his hands, "Fine! You lot win. I'll stay up here, even though I don't need to, and just contemplate the mysteries of life or something." 

 

A second after Remus finished speaking Sirius watched him duck his head down and jerk silently. 

 

"Bless you." Chorused three voices. Sirius glanced over at James, amazed he'd caught on. 

 

"Ok, that's the second time you guys have said that out of the blue. Who the hell are you blessing?"

 

"Remus." Sirius answered, watching said boy's eyes squint as he fought against another sneeze. "Oh for Merlin's sake! Stop this nonsense and just sneeze normally. The only person you'd be hiding it from is Wormtail at this point and he's not worth the headache you'll give yourself."

 

"Hey!" Peter squeaked indignantly. 

 

Remus blushed, clearly uncomfortable with all the attention, but finally capitulated.  He burried his face into a handful of covers as he sneezed three more times. "Uhmmpph! CHuhhh! H'EISSHHUMPH!"

 

"Bless you!" Lily exclaimed, startled by the intensity of the display. 

 

Sirius levitated a handkerchief off the table to hover in front of Remus's face and he reached up to grab it without even looking. Sirius felt disproportionately thrilled by that, and if just the simple fact that Remus had known he could count on Sirius to have his back, or face in this case, could make him that happy… Yeah, he was definitely in for a world of trouble. 

 

His mind unwittingly flitted back to that "moment" from last night. The more he thought about it, and about everything that had happened since, the more he began to believe it had just been wishful thinking. Merlin's sake, he'd held an almost naked Moony in his arms in the shower this morning and Remus hadn't tried to kiss him then, had he? He tried to reason with his heart without breaking it. They'd be graduating soon and he'd been planning to invite the guys to live with him at his Uncle Alphard's old place in London. If he chased down some wild, harebrained fantasy now, he might mess all of that up. He could still have something special with Remus. Like how things were right now. Something different than what he had with the other guys. He was fairly certain he'd been into Remus for a while now without realizing it, and if Remus hadn't picked up on anything yet, then maybe things could just...stay this way. 

 

While Sirius was lost in his thoughts, Remus had finished blowing his nose and flopped forlornly back on the bed. "Well, go on then. Leave me alone up here with my thoughts and pray you don't come back to a mad man."

 

"Who said you had to be alone?" Sirius went and rifled through Peter's trunk and pulled something out. "I'll just get breakfast for us up here from the house elves." He tossed a box onto Remus's bed as the boy sat up with a cough. "Exploding Snape?"

 

Remus gave him a full-watt genuine smile and Sirius thought that yeah, it wasn't everything he wanted, but it was a whole lot better than nothing. And he could live with that.

 

 

TO BE CONTINUED... (Back to the future we go!)

[SneezeKitties]

This was a lovely way to start off my morning!!! I really truly enjoyed this chapter, and i'm extremely excited to see what happens in the future! Please do not worry about your writing, not only is it fantastic, but I look forward to every update you put out, and grin like a child while reading it. Im so grateful you decided to take a chance with it! Anyway just in case there isn't another update till after the holidays, HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!  May your day(s) be filled with joy and happiness 🥰

[Papetite]

This is truly amazing!!! I love the story so much!!! I check about every two hours to see if there is an update 😂😂. You are one of the best marauder writers I have come across!! I’m so excited for the next update and for any other future stories!! Great job!!

[LostGirl2.0]

@SneezeKitties AHHH!!! You're so kind!! Happy holidays to you as well! 🤗 Thank you again a million times over for your reviews and for sticking with me!! I probably wouldn't have kept posting without them! ❤️

 

@Papetite On my gosh, thank you so much!! I'm so glad you're enjoying it!! 😊 And just to let you know, I've only ever written one big story on here for each fandom I love (and that only totals two of so far lol), so I'd planned on this being my one and done for Harry Potter. But when you said you wouldn't mind reading more -- I got a bit excited about maybe giving another story a try. ☺️ It may take me a while to wrote, but I think I've already got an idea.  So thank you for saying the encouragement!!

A/N: Some spontaneous POV hopping happening here (cause what about Remus in all this, right??), so hang on for the ride! 

 

---------------

 

"Sirius...Sirius!"

 

Sirius came back to himself to see Nymphadora hovering beside him concerned. 

 

"Alright there, cuz?"

 

Sirius glanced around to see that a good deal of the order members had already left or were on their way out and he was the only one left in his seat. 

 

"Yeah, sorry. Daydream got away from me."

 

Tonks nodded sympathetically. "Dung does that to you too?"

 

Sirius smirked. "Probably harder to find someone he doesn't do it to." He looked around again and realized Remus was missing. "Did you see where Remus went?"

 

"Think he's speaking with Dumbledore in the library. Shouldn't be much longer."

 

Sirius nodded and pulled himself to his feet for a long stretch. 

 

"Molly's left some stew out if you're hungry." She offered.

 

"Sounds good. I'll join you in a minute. Gotta tend to Buckbeak first."

 

"Sure, sure! I'll be sure to leave you a spoonful." She winked at him as she spun away and ran straight into the door frame. "Bollocks!"

 

Sirius snorted, shaking his head. "You okay?" 

 

Tonks blushed and blew her hair out of her face. "You didn't see that." She commanded, pointing at him sternly.

 

"If I never saw you run into anything, I don't think I'd ever see you again." He said, wryly.

 

Tonks stuck her tongue out at him, but then shrugged. "Yeah, fair point." She spun around again and pushed through the kitchen door this time without mishap.

 

Sirius skirted the edge of the table and exited the dining room into the front foyer. He managed to busy himself with a few tasks here and there, but soon drifted towards the part of the hallway closest to the library entrance. A few more minutes went by and he eventually found himself leaning against the wall just a few meters from the door wishing he had an extendable ear. 

 

After roughly twenty interminable minutes the door opened and the pair of them stepped out. Dumbledore strode back towards the dining room while Remus made his way in the direction of the front door.  

 

Sirius came out of the shadows and followed curiously. But when his friend began to put his coat back on, he spoke up.

 

"You're not leaving again already?" He asked, disapproval clear in his tone.

 

Remus jumped and whirled around with a deep, chesty cough that he quickly tried to disguise as a protracted throat clear. "I am, unfortunately." He said, looking away. "Dumbledore needs--"

 

"Fuck what Dumbledore needs," Sirius scowled. "You're sick and what you need is rest." 

 

Remus went back to pulling on his coat and scarf. "Molly gave me some pepper-up after the meeting, so I'll be right as rain--"

 

Sirius raised an eyebrow at him. "When your ears start to tickle just as badly as your throat?"

 

Remus flushed and fidgeted with the fringe on his scarf. "Ah, well-- I--"

 

"Clearly forgot who you were talking to." Sirius cut in pointedly. "You need to delay whatever assignment he gave you just for a day or so."

 

"It's just a ruddy cold, Sirius--" 

 

"I believe that's what you said the last time and then you almost died." 

 

Remus huffed, "It wasn't that bad, and we're not kids anymore--"

 

"Fine, whatever." Sirius said, not in the mood to waste time debating what he knew Remus would never admit. "So have your 'just a cold' here then instead of out there. Does he really need you to rush off right this second?"

 

Remus hesitated and Sirius fought back a wince. So he didn't have to leave right now, he was just going to do so to avoid being here any longer. That stung a bit, so he decided to not be polite and call him on it. "You'd rather go out again like this instead of staying here with me, is that it?"  This time it was Remus who winced. 

 

"It's not that-- It isn't you. It's me really and, I'm not-- I don't--"

 

"Now I know you're ill because you're usually much more eloquent than this."

 

Remus glared and Sirius smirked at him unrepentantly.

 

"You didn't want to stay here and risk someone knowing you weren't well. Risk being fussed over." Sirius assessed confidently. He left the "by me" off the end of the phrase because it was implied and they both knew it. 

 

Remus frowned and shifted uncomfortably. "Look, I'm just-- It's been a while--and I've--" he sighed and rubbed a hand over his eyes, clearly frustrated with himself. "I'm just more comfortable dealing with things like this on my own now. Old dog, new tricks, you know how it is."

 

"I do." Sirius nodded solemnly, and then went ahead and articulated what Remus couldn't. "You've been on your own for so long you've forgotten how to let people help you." He said plainly. He heard Remus take a breath to argue, so he continued as if he hadn't noticed. "And just so you know, after Azkaban I'm not certain I've got it in me to care for a plant anymore, so you really needn't worry."

 

Remus's expression softened at that, but he sighed just the same. "Sirius, I really think I should juhhh- just--" he broke off with a small twist to the side and a silent jerking dip of his head.

 

"And you're back to doing that now as well?"

 

"Sirius," Remus squinted at him, clearly annoyed. He knuckled frustratedly at his nose, "this isn't twelve years ago--hih!" His breath hitched hard.

 

Sirius raised an eyebrow at him in silent judgement. 

 

"Oh for thehhhh--love of--fihhhh! Fine!" He quickly tucked his face into the crook of his arm. "Txshhh! Hih-eishuh!" He sniffled wetly and began aggravatedly searching his pockets with his free hand. 

 

"Here," Sirius said, extending a freshly folded handkerchief. 

 

Remus looked up in surprise. "I thought you hated handkerchiefs." He took the soft fabric from Sirius's hand with an appreciative nod. "Ta." He turned to the side and blew his nose as quietly as he could. 

 

Sirius continued to vacillate between feeling  exasperated by the man and sorry for him.  

 

Remus had just finished tidying himself up when he suddenly wrenched in half with another powerful "h'ISSHU!"

 

"Bless you." Sirius said.  He saw Remus waver slightly as he righted himself and decided he was done standing around discussing things. "Look, you're not comfortable being cared for and I'm not sure I've got the knack for it anymore, so why don't you just hole up here for a few days and we'll both 'not do those things', but we'll at least 'not do them' in proximity to each other so I won't have to worry you've gone and collapsed a lung in a ditch somewhere."

 

Remus cleared his throat and gave him a long look. What he was thinking Sirius hadn't a clue, but Sirius didn't budge and eventually Remus nodded reluctantly.  

 

"Grand." Sirius clapped his hands. "Now that that's settled, why don't you take off your coat again and I'll go make us a cuppa." He said, and strolled brusquely away towards the kitchen. 

 

~~~~~~~~~

 

Remus slipped his coat off and sniffled, the chill of the entryway making his nose run even more than it already had been. He cast a quick scourgify on the soft white material and shook it out. He folded it over, planning to blow his nose once more before joining Sirius, but paused when something caught his eye. There in the corner were the initials 'RJL' in tidy black thread and looping script. Remus blinked in disbelief and closed his eyes against a potent wave of nostalgia that he really didn't want to deal with right then. So instead he took a breath, blew his nose as he'd intended, and coughed hard to clear his lungs for good measure before heading to join Sirius in the kitchen. He pocketed the handkerchief as he went but couldn't suppress a small sentimental smile. The man clearly hadn't forgotten as much about caretaking as he thought he had.  

 

He pushed through the door into the kitchen and was relieved to find it empty outside of Sirius and a pot of stew stirring away on the stove. 

 

He slumped tiredly into a chair and rested his head in his hands. He wasn't at all certain that staying was a good idea, but he hadn't seen Sirius in weeks and he'd missed the man. He truly hadn't been eager to leave again so soon, but it had seemed like the best way to avoid any awkwardness. He should have known Sirius would notice he wasn't well. Some things with them had certainly changed. Too much time apart.  Too much heartbreak and betrayal... But every now and then they'd click like no time had passed at all. Able to pick up right where they'd left off. He hadn't known if this was going to be one of those moments where they felt like strangers or best friends. And unfortunately for him either option ended in some kind of heartbreak, so he had to admit he hadn't been terribly keen on finding out.

 

He sniffled and wiped his nose again with the handkerchief just as the kettle began to whistle. "Thank you for this, by the way. I can't believe you remembered."

 

Sirius glanced over to see what he was referencing and hummed in acknowledgement before going back to steeping the tea.

 

"It's incredibly soft.  It may actually be the nicest feeling piece of cloth I've ever handled. Not that that's saying much, but..."

 

"Fabric softening spell." Sirius explained as he placed a steaming cup of Earl Grey, light milk, no sugar in front of Remus.

 

"Fabric softening spell? That wasn't covered in muggle studies. Where in the world did you learn a spell like that?"

 

"Seamstress book in the library," Sirius said, sitting down in the chair across from him. "Turned out you were right about the library all along. Can learn all kinds of things in there."

 

Remus huffed a small laugh and sipped his tea to hide the flush of heat he felt at imagining Sirius sitting with a needle and thread learning sewing spells on his behalf. He cleared his throat to compose himself. "Well, my thanks, Seamstress Black, you do quality work," he teased. 

 

Sirius smiled a bit and "cheersed" him with his tea before taking a drink. 

 

They lapsed into a moderately comfortable silence for a bit, Remus lost in memories as he watched the wisps of steam rise out of his cup.

 

"...Remus...Remus!"

 

He jumped, nearly spilling his tea. "What?  Er, what? Sorry."

 

"You're falling asleep. Why don't you head up to bed? I'll go up as well. Might take a bath or something. Could do with early night myself."

 

Embarrassed at having nearly dropped off right at the table, Remus was forced to agree. His body felt like lead and he wasn't certain he'd be able to stay upright for much longer. He stood slowly, wincing as the chair scraped loudly along the floor and aggravated the pounding in his head.  Sleep sounded like a fantastic idea indeed. 

 

Sirius magiced their dishes away and held the door for him. Remus shuffled through and they crossed the foyer to ascend the stairs together. Or at least they had been ascending together until Remus tried to suppress another sneeze that snuck up on him and lost his balance as his head started to spin. 

 

A second after he stumbled he was caught up in the strong, reassuring grip of rough hands with stubby nails. Sirius had always had problems biting his nails. Especially when he was anxious. Remus would always make a point of trying to distract him whenever he noticed him starting up the habit. He felt quite upset just then that there had been no one there to do it while he was away. 

 

"Alright?" Sirius asked while Remus closed his eyes and waited for the floor to stop shifting. 

 

"Sorry," He rasped and swallowed hard against a sudden wave of nausea. Merlin, he hated being sick. It rarely happened but when it did, it always tried to do him in. Out of nowhere cool lips pressed against his forehead and Remus's eyes shot open. Had Sirius just--?

 

"You're a bit warm too. I'll bring you some paracetamol after we've got you settled."

 

Now Remus was reeling once more, but it wasn't from inner ear issues.  Sirius had paracetamol?  There was no other reason for him to have that than for Remus. Every other person who came through this house was perfectly content to be medicated by magical means. ...And then he'd kissed his head to check for fever... "I thought I'd dreamed..." He mumbled. He'd been so sick seventh year that he was never certain how much he could trust of what he remembered from that time. But Sirius's lips on his forehead had been a sensation he'd replayed over and over across the years.  He'd convinced himself pretty quickly that it had been nothing more than a fever dream. 

 

"Dreamed what?" Sirius asked, his lips still achingly close to Remus's face.

 

Remus swallowed hard, only vaguely registering how much it stung to do so. "Nothing, sorry. Lost my bearings for a moment. Thank you."

 

Sirius moved away then, but kept a hand on Remus's arm. Remus shivered at the loss of his body heat, and at the loss of something else that he refused to look at too closely.

 

He pushed his aching body up the rest of the stairs with Sirius steady at his side. Getting old really was the hell everyone said it was. 35 was the new 55 when you were a werewolf, it seemed. Remus turned into the room Sirius reserved for him on the frequent occasions that he stayed over, honestly he stayed here more than he stayed anywhere else now, and made a beeline for the bed. 

 

"Don't want to change into your pajamas?" 

 

Oh yes, and he had a set of his own pajamas here as well. He really was quite obvious, wasn't he? He'd need to be more careful about that in the future. For now though, Remus just closed his eyes and fell backwards on the bed in answer. 

 

Sirius snorted. "At least take your shoes off."

 

Remus unceremoniously kicked them off and drew his legs up to curl into a ball on top of the duvet. Merlin his head ached something fierce. Sinus congestion could stuff it as far as he was concerned.

 

The next thing he knew a cool hand was on his head and Sirius was shaking his shoulder. "Remus…Don't fall asleep before you take this." 

 

Remus squinted groggily up at Sirius's face which was bathed in a flickering red light. Of course he'd started a fire for him. Remus didn't deserve all this. For years he'd been fine just holing up in his apartment alone until whatever illness had passed.  And Sirius's attention was doing what he'd known it would. Dredging up all kinds of memories and yearnings he'd long since buried. But it was too late to turn back now. He'd already said he would stay. So he was just going to have to do his best to get through the night with his heart intact. He propped himself up and gratefully took the pills and water Sirius was offering. He really was feeling rubbish. Maybe the meds would allow him to sleep deeply enough he wouldn't have dreams about the touch of Sirius's lips again. 

 

"Ta." He said with a sniffle and then quickly tucked his mouth and nose into the crook of his arm for the sneeze the sniffle launched him into. "Huh'TCSHHu!"

 

"Bless you." Sirius said softly. "Here." He produced another handkerchief from somewhere on his person and passed it to Remus.

 

Remus looked it over for a moment. "No monogram on this one?" 

 

"No fabric softener either, I'm afraid."

 

"Mmm," he shook his head.  "See you've spoiled me now. Madame Malkin isn't going to thank you when I complain about the course nature of her fahhhh- H'ISSHHu! Excuse mbe." He cleared his throat and sniffed stuffily. "Fabrics." 

 

Sirius quirked a smile and shrugged. "She might just have to take me on as an assistant then. I could have a whole line of linen all to myself. "'Siriusly Soft'."

 

Remus barked a hoarse laugh and began to cough again. 

 

"Alright, enough chit-chat. Back to bed with you. As Molly says, "Rest will see you right". 

 

"Quoting Molly Weasley. You really have been stuck in here too long." Remus said around a jaw cracking yawn.

 

"Don't I know it." Sirius grumbled bitterly.  "Greater good and all that, though."

 

Remus reached out to snag Sirius's hand and gave it a squeeze. He didn't need to say anything more on the topic, they'd been through it all before and likely neither of them were in the mood to rehash it just then. So he simply squeezed until Sirius squeezed back. As he let go of his friend's hand he found himself struggling to suppress a shiver despite the growing warmth of the fire.  

 

Sirius opened his mouth, but paused for a moment before proceeding. "I know it's been some time...but Padfoot is still a pretty decent substitute for a hot water bottle." 

 

Remus smiled at the offer and though he knew he shouldn't, he didn't have the energy to resist being selfish just then. He patted the covers next to him. "Mmm. I believe I recall that on his resume, yes." 

 

Sirius morphed into Padfoot on the spot and hopped onto the bed. Remus curled around his fluffy warm body as he had following so many of the moons of his youth, and after a moment of indecision, boldly slid his hand into the soft fur and left it there. Sirius panted in response and Remus took that for the permission it was. His heart ached at the closeness, but his body was comfortable and Sirius was right there where Remus could hold onto him and make certain he wouldn't be stolen away again. He was asleep almost instantly.

 

-------------

 

"Chshhhhh! H'TCHSSHH!" Remus sneezed himself awake to find his face buried deep in dog fur. He sniffled and rubbed at his nose before curling back into his bedmate and falling quickly back to sleep.

 

"Huh'TCSHH!" Remus woke himself up again and sniffled loudly before wiping his runny nose on the sleeve of his shirt. Padfoot whined softly. "Sorry" Remus rasped and then coughed. "Sorry." He murmured again before wrapping an arm around Padfoot once more and drifting off to sleep.

 

"CHSHHHH! Hih-HIH! Huh…" Padfoot lifted his head and woofed softly. "Ta." Remus responded, groggily wondering how many people had been blessed by a dog before. He smiled to himself and once again curled into his friend and went to sleep.

 

"Huh'TCHSHH! ESHHHHu!" 

 

His furry companion suddenly pulled away and the bed dipped down further under Sirius's greater weight. 

 

"Moony, I'm sorry, I don't think--"

 

"Huh! H'TCHISH!"

 

"Bless you. Look, I know you sleep better with Padfoot, but--"

 

"S'not Padfoot," Remus croaked groggily, before he had a chance to realize what he was saying.

 

"It's not--? Well then… I mean--" Sirius stammered, clearly thrown by his response.

 

For a moment Remus panicked and scrambled for a way to walk it back, but then his too tired brain just gave up the ghost. It was probably the cold and the paracetamol and the old-time snuggling making him think crazy thoughts, but after years of holding everything in, he suddenly just wanted it out. "S'You." 

 

Sirius was silent. "You mean you don't mind me staying with you as me, not just as Padfoot?" He asked slowly. 

 

Remus swallowed hard. In for a penny, in for a pound. "Not at all."

 

There was silence again and Remus hadn't realized he was holding his breath until a sneeze forced it back into him. 

 

"hih-TXchh!" And then of course he got to coughing.

 

Sirius startled out of his stillness and wrapped an arm around Remus's back to help him sit up as he brought a glass of water to his lips. Remus took the glass and sipped as soon as he was certain he wouldn't sputter all over the both of them, but had to turn away quickly again with another sneeze. Or four. Sirius kept his arm tightly around Remus the entire time, which Remus optimistically took as a sign that he hadn't ruined everything between them with what he'd just said.

 

"CHXT! H'tchshhhh! h'TSCHUU!...huh... Hih-HIH! H'ISHHHHu!"

 

"Bless you, bless you, bless you, bless you," Sirius leaned over to grab a clean handkerchief off the nightstand and passed it over. "You're now the holiest werewolf in all of Britain."

 

Even further relieved by Sirius's attempt at levity Remus chuckled as he blew his nose, though he quickly regretted it as it only resulted in more coughing. When everything finally stopped, he was completely wrung out. He hadn't realized he'd sunk back into Sirius's hold until the back of his head bumped against the man's collar bone. 

 

"It's only 2AM. You should get some more sleep."

 

Remus grunted and Sirius helped him get situated. The fire had gone out so the room was a good deal colder. Remus shivered and tugged the covers up higher. 

 

"...I should stay then?" 

 

Remus would have thought Sirius sounded timid just then if he didn't know for a fact that Sirius Black didn't do timid. 

 

He sniffled and coughed twice, then closed his eyes and said a prayer he wasn't taking this all too far for them to come back from. "...Please." He said softly. 

 

Remus felt Sirius slowly settle down beside him and struggled to resist curling into him as he would have done with Padfoot. This was still good, though. Merlin who was he kidding, this was absolutely brilliant. He hadn't let himself dream about a moment like this for 16 years. He tried not to worry about how he was going to explain it away in the morning and instead just enjoyed the moment. Sirius has asked if he'd mind him staying, which sounded like he didn't mind the idea himself, right? And that was enough for right now. He closed his eyes and focused on the gentle rhythm of Sirius breaths mere inches away.  Yes, this was more than enough for right now.

 

 

TO BE CONTINUED... Cause they have to wake up and face the music at some point (and honestly I just couldn't end it here.  So one last little bit left! A/N: It's my favorite bit. ☺️)

[SneezeKitties]

Nooooooooo I'm not ready for it to be over!!!! Another brilliant chapter! And I would love to read another one of your stories, so if you ever end up writing that other idea you have, I'll be first in line to read it! 😄

[ellwren]

Very nice

 

[LostGirl2.0]

@SneezeKitties 😊 Thank you!! I've probably been working on this story off an on for a year. Lol I got stuck with like the last 1/3 unfinished for forever. You've kept me motivated and encouraged and I'm so grateful! ❤️ Was also super fun to read your SPN fic!! (I may never manage to write another story on here but if you like sneezy Sam and haven't gone back like 50 pages in the forum 😂, I wrote a story called The Great Equalizer that also took me like a year to do. Lol No pressure to read it! But I know what it's like to dig for stuff about your favorite characters on here. Never enough stuff about Remus OR Sam imo. 😊)

But thank you again for all your kind words and support and I hope you have a fantastic New Year!!

 

@ellwren Thank you so much!

 

A/N: And here's the finish! It gets a bit spicy ahead, but it stays PG-13. Hope you enjoy! ❤️

 

------------------

 

The next time Remus woke it was because his pillow moved. He frowned at that until he realized it was because his pillow was Sirius's chest. He also seemed to have thrown his arm….and leg...across him as well. He immediately felt his face heat. Should he pretend to still be asleep so he could roll away? Was Sirius already awake? He didn't want to risk moving his head to check. He'd decided to go for the sleepy "rolling away" plan, when his nose began to sting. Bugger it all to hell!

 

He scrunched his face and held his breath trying to will the sensation away. When it didn't appear to be getting any stronger he risked a slow exhale. It was a mistake. His breath hitched softly before he managed to stop it, but he held it again and regained control. He held it for as long as he could this time, but eventually he had to breathe out, so he tried to do it as slowly and carefully as he could, but the sensation surged and his breath hitched twice more.

 

"Oh for the love of--Remus, I'm awake so just sneeze already before you pass out from oxygen deprivation."

 

Absolutely mortified, Remus rolled off Sirius as quickly as he could and buried his face in a blanket.

 

"MMPH! Hih! Huh…. Hih-HIH! H'UMPHH!"  Remus left his face buried even after the tickle abated since he needed to be able to face Sirius without looking like a tomato.

 

"Bless you," Sirius said. There was a short pause before Remus grunted his thanks. 

 

Another pause.

 

"You alright over there?" 

 

Remus sniffed and scolded himself.  He was a grown man, he shouldn't be hiding in the covers like a child. He was going to have to face this sooner or later so he might as well just get it over with. Surely people couldn't be held responsible for how they moved their body when they were unconscious, could they?

 

He turned over reluctantly with a feeling of nausea in the pit of his stomach that wasn't entirely from the amount of sinus drainage he'd been swallowing all night. 

 

When he finally locked eyes with Sirius it was to see the man's face was just as flushed as his own felt. They stared at each other awkwardly for a moment, neither of them certain how to write this off. 

 

Mercifully, Remus's body came to the rescue when his stomach growled. Loudly. Sirius looked down at it and then back up at him and frowned.

 

"When was the last time you ate?" He said, with a decently knowing and accusatory undertone. 

 

Remus really wished he could stop the blood flow to his face this morning. Though he supposed he was happier to have it flowing there than...other places. 

 

"Ahh...I suppose it would have been sometime yesterday."

 

"What time is 'sometime'?"

 

"....breakfast time?"

 

"Damnit!"

 

Sirius practically flew out of bed and to the door without a backward glance. "I'm feeding you right now, Lupin. Keep your arse in that bed. I'll be right back."

 

***********

 

Sirius exited the bedroom as quickly as his feet would let him and headed straight to the toilet down the hall. Merlin's saggy balls that had been close! With Remus wrapped around him like that,  he'd woken up significantly aroused. He'd been trying to think himself down from it when Remus had started to gasp... Sirius's mind knew he was trying not to sneeze, but Sirius's imagination was painting a very different picture. He'd had to bring a stop to it for fear he was actually going to explode.  

 

He splashed cold water on his face and shifted his pants uncomfortably. "Snape's greasy hair." He mumbled. "Molly Weasley. Moldy porridge. Rabid squirrels." He continued to think of unsexy thing after unsexy thing until he managed to get all parts of himself back under control. 

 

Fucking hell. He'd enjoyed last night immensely, couldn't believe his luck that Remus had been ok with it, but he couldn't risk doing that again. It'd been so long since he'd felt aroused he hadn't even been certain he could be anymore. At least that question was answered. Though he wouldn't have chosen this to be the way he found out. 

 

He took a deep breath and readied himself to go and make the breakfast he'd promised. Remus really did need to eat something. Focus on his health, Sirius, not his chest, not his thigh, he told himself sternly. Of course it was just his luck that the man who rarely accepted hugs in public was consistently like the giant squid when you put him in a bed. 

 

Not wanting Remus to get suspicious of the delay he hurried down to the kitchen and put on some toast and tea. It was one of the rare quiet mornings in the house and he was immensely grateful for it. The toast was only colored very lightly, just the way Remus preferred it. He wasn't sure how sore the other man's throat was, if toast might be a bad choice, but hopefully the tea would help with that.

 

He stuck a piece of toast between his own teeth and headed back upstairs. Dirty pants. People with too many cats. ...Cats. He nudged open the door with his hip and called "woom sewice,' around the edges of the now very soggy toast.  Remus was sitting up in bed still looking sleep rumpled and therefore incredibly handsome. Belly button lint. Buckbeak's sick. Walburga Black. He set everything down on the table by the bed and took the toast out of his mouth. "How's your throat? Is toast ok? I could make porridge?" Moldy porridge, toenail clippings, flies on shite.

 

Remus smiled at him and shook his head. "Toast is grand. Throat's already feeling better than last night."

 

Sirius passed the plate and tea over and sat down on the edge of the bed to finish his own piece. Remus took a sip of the tea and hummed. "You really do make the best cuppa." He took another sip and sniffled. 

 

Sirius shrugged his shoulders. "Not much else to do around here. And Buckbeak's very picky, you know. Once you've made a cup he'll drink, you can satisfy just about anybody." Sirius nearly choked on air when he realized what he'd just said. Fuck! Prior to today he thought he'd been doing really well with all this since they'd become more comfortable being mates again. After everything that had happened, that was a miracle in and of itself. He knew better than to want for anything more. But when Remus was ill it just-- It did things to his heart. Remus had always had a hard time accepting help, and it seemed to have increased ten fold in the years they'd been apart. He couldn't bear to see this man as a loner when he knew how happy he'd been as part of a pack.  It was one of the reasons he kept inviting him to stay over. Remus would pull away from everyone if he let him. And though it may be too little too late, while Sirius was around now to say otherwise, he was having absolutely none of it. 

 

Remus sniffled again, pulling Sirius out of his musings. The man set down the toast he'd been quietly nibbling on to tightly pinch his nose. 

 

"Alright?" Sirius asked. 

 

Remus kept his eyes shut and brow furrowed as he continued to pinch it hard. "Sorry," he said, "I just really wish it would stop tickling." 

 

"There aren't any muggle medicines you can take for that, are there?"

 

"Unfortunately, no." He let go of his nose which was now flushed red from the pressure. "You've just got to get throughhhh…" He wrinkled up his face. "Get through it. Shihhhh-H'ISSHHu! Shit! hih-HIH!...Huh… Ahhggg", he made a noise of distaste. Not only had he barely had time to turn his head away so as not to sneeze on Sirius, he hadn't had any time at all to set down his tea. As such, he was now wearing a good deal of it. 

 

"Shit! Sorry, Remus." Sirius reached over and quickly took the half empty cup off him and set it down to grab another handkerchief.

 

"Hih-HIH!...HIH! H'TCHSHH!" 

 

"Bless. Here." He held it out to Remus who squinted up at him as his breath continued to hitch, but managed to grab it just in time.  

 

"M'pshht! H'CHmph! Hih! Eh'umphh! Snff! H'EISSHHUMPH!" 

 

"Bless you!" For a man who never sneezed much otherwise, Sirius thought he always seemed to make up for it whenever he got sick. 

 

Remus groaned and blew his nose wetly. Once he was done he sniffled again and when it didn't provoke another fit, closed his eyes and leaned back in relief onto the pillows. 

 

Sirius stood. "Let me go grab you a new shirt." 

 

Remus opened his eyes again and pushed himself back upright. "No, it's alright. I can get it. I need to get up and about anyway." He swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up. 

 

Sirius saw the second Remus's eyes lost focus and wrapped an arm around his waist to keep him upright.

 

Remus grabbed onto Sirius's shoulders tightly while he waited out the blackout. 

 

"You always get up too fast." Sirius scolded fondly.

 

Remus blinked a few more times until Sirius's face came back into focus and their eyes met. There was barely an inch between their lips. 

 

"... We've been here before." Remus said, barely louder than a breath.

 

Sirius nodded. "We have." He said softly.

 

"I wasn't certain…".  "I thought I'd imagined it." They said, nearly over top of one another. 

 

"...but if-- Then how come we never…?" 

 

"You sneezed." 

 

Remus blinked at him. "I--"

 

"I thought we were going to--you know. But then you sneezed and..." Sirius shrugged. 

 

Remus's gaze flicked down to Sirius's mouth and then back up to his eyes. He shifted his weight ever so slightly until his body was flush against Sirius's from the waist up.

 

Sirius greedily pulled him even closer. "Uhm. You don't have to sneeze now, do you?" He asked, feeling suddenly dry mouthed and breathless.

 

Remus shook his head.

 

"Are you sure? Cause I could hex your nose off just to be saf--" He didn't get to finish his suggestion as Remus's lips met his and Sirius felt the world melt away. There were only the sweetest lips, a gentle probe of tongue, and the barest rasp of stubble across his cheeks… And it was all Remus and it was wonderful. After so many years... Suddenly Sirius wanted more than sweetness, he wanted to devour him. He pulled Remus into him hard and slid a hand up through the hair on the back of his head. Fuck, oh fuck, just--FUCK this was so good. They kissed and pressed and rubbed and every nerve ending in his body was on fire, until Remus tried to push him back.

 

"What? What is it? Too much?" He panted, struggling to keep the panic out of his voice. 

 

Remus closed his eyes and scrunched up his face tightly. "Sorry, shite timing again, but I think I do have to sneeze after all." He tried to take a step to the side, away from Sirius, but Sirius held him in place.

 

"Oh no you don't", he growled. "I've waited too long for this, Remus Lupin," he started kissing Remus's neck. "And no sneeze...is ever...going to come...between us…again."

 

Remus shuddered with pleasure as his breath began to hitch. "Hhhhih! Sirius, just a second. Plehhhh--please. Hih! Huh… I don't want to sneeze on you."

 

"I can truthfully say right now that I couldn't give less of a flying fuck. Sneeze, cough, blow your nose, do the tango, whatever you need, just don't push me away." The raw pleading tone that came through as he spoke was completely emasculating, but when Remus pulled him in tighter and simply turned his face away to sneeze over Sirius's shoulder, he didn't regret it at all. 

 

"H'ISHHHHU!"

 

Remus's body spasmed hard against Sirius's and he moaned in pleasure at the movement. "Bless you" he gasped. "See? Didn't have to leave." 

 

Remus sniffled as Sirius resumed sucking his neck. "You don't seem to care about getting sick, but it's going to get messy, me sneezing all over you like thiihhhh, this--hih! H'EHCHHH!" He tried his best to turn away, but a particularly stimulating shift of pressure from Sirius had him sneezing all over the side of the man's neck instead. "ISSHHU!"

 

"Bless you. Worth it," Sirius said around a mouthful of Remus's earlobe. He sucked hard and then let go to hook his leg behind Remus's and tip them backwards onto the bed.  

 

Remus hit with an "oof" and chuckled. "You're a mad man, you know that?" 

 

Sirius grinned wickedly. "So they tell me. Now shut up and let me do at least one of the things I've been dreaming of doing to you for the past decade. I'm still not convinced this is real and I'd like to get in as much as I can before I inevitably wake up." 

 

Remus reached up and tenderly placed his hands on either side of Sirius's face, stroking a thumb over his cheekbone. "It's real", he said with a soft smile. "The only reason I know is because if this were a fantasy I wouldn't still have this bloody awkward cold."

 

"Mmm…" Sirius conceded his point. "Seems about time at least one of us had some dreams come true anyway, doesn't it? It's all been rather shite lately." He leaned down and captured those smiling lips with a searing kiss. 

 

When they broke apart to take a breath, Remus's breath hitched softly and he tried to turn away again. "Uh-uh." Sirius denied. "Not done kissing you yet, so hold that thought." He reached up and gently pinched Remus's nose for him, then tilted his head to the side just so he could kiss him again.

 

Remus passionately returned the kiss for about ten seconds before his breath began to hitch despite Sirius's efforts. "Sirius", he panted into the man's mouth. "I'm--hih! I'm going to--hih-HIH! Huh…"

 

Sirius paid him no heed as he continued to kiss him and used the hand he had in the small of Remus's back to press him in even closer.

 

Remus moaned in response and then ran out of time. With Sirius still pinching his nose he turned his head just enough to dislodge Sirius's mouth from his, and gasped a breath before the stifled sneezes rocked through him.

 

"Ng'xt! Hih! H'ngk!" He managed to completely silence the third sneeze in his usual manner and silently jerked in Sirius's grasp. 

 

Sirius let go of Remus's nose when he was done and kissed the tip tenderly. "Bless you." Then he kissed Remus's mouth again and groaned into it as he ground their bodies together. "Fuck but I can't get enough of you right now."

 

"Colloportus," Remus whispered and the door to the bedroom locked with a soft click. 

 

"Good thinking."

 

Remus's breath hitched again, but he quickly got it under control. He made an annoyed sound in the back of his throat at the bother.

 

"....You sure you don't want me to hex it off?" Sirius offered with a raised eyebrow.

 

"Sirius…" Remus growled before he tucked his head down and scrubbed his tickly nose back and forth on Sirius's shirt. 

 

Sirius grinned and kissed his ear. "Fine, fine. But whenever you get frustrated just remember, I offered."

 

"I'll be sure to do that." Remus answered. He sniffed hard and when that didn't provoke anything, he smiled.  "Now, we need to make up for a considerable amount of lost time… So how about we move on to something more like this?" He asked as he untucked Sirius's shirt and slowly slid his hands over the exposed skin of his chest. 

 

Sirius hissed in through his teeth in pleasure. "Oh, I think that seems like an excellent idea…No time to waste after all."

 

"H'CHSHHHH! Damn it! Sorry..." 

 

Sirius chuckled and pulled Remus in closer. "Don't be." He kissed him again, barely even noting Remus's continued sniffles. "So fucking glad to know it's not a dream."

THE END

 

(A/N: I hope you all enjoyed!!! Thank you so much for reading!)

[SneezeKitties]

AHHHHHHHHH OMG OMG YES FINALLY! I have been waiting for this moment!!!!! Thank you so much for writing such a fabulous story! Every time I come on this website I always check to see if you have updated it! I'm rather sad it is over now, but it was SUCH a good ending! (I can see why this part was your favorite! 😏) I have read other Remus stories and such, but for some reason this story just hit differen't! For all your time and effort put into this, it certainly paid off! So thank you for blessing the world with this story! 

Ps. I will now be looking to find that SPN story........ 

pps. I can't believe you read my story 😭 I had no idea you liked SPN!! you don't understand how big of a deal that was to read that you have read my story! Thank you!!!🥰 

 

I hope the new year brings you joy and happiness!!!