Twelve Years

Late in the night when I'm all alone

And I look at the clock and I know you're not home

I can't help myself.

I got to see you again

I could almost go there

Just to watch you be seen

I could almost go there

Just to be in a dream.

It was their first full moon together in twelve years, Sirius noted unconsciously.

Sirius transformed back quickly after Remus did. One thing he always noticed when he was a dog was that Remus made a very handsome wolf. As he glanced over the features of his friend, he saw that Remus made a handsome man, too.

He already knew the layout of Remus's house within two days and could walk around it as if it were his own. Sirius carefully placed his arms under Remus's shoulders and lifted him up to a sitting position.

Remus kept still, his bare chest barely moving with small breaths.

Sirius glanced over Remus for a moment, examining him to make sure of his health. He was paler than a sheet and his eyes were accented by dark circles. Scratches marked the skin around his arms and torso.

Sighing with relief that Remus managed to survive with only a few minor injuries, Sirius stood up and lifted. Even with Remus being unnaturally light, it was still hard to lift someone after spending a night lie that.

A few small scratches marked up Sirius's arms as well, but he dismissed them and tried to pick Remus up, taking him into the bedroom.

There was only one bed there and Sirius only then noted something else - they had been in the same bed for two nights, too. There was something that made being with Remus not seem as people would think it would be. Sirius welcomed the warmth of another body near him after the years in Azkaban.

When the brown haired man was on the bed, covers tight up under his arms and breathing slowing into a more natural sleep, Sirius crept out of the room into the kitchen.

After twelve years of being separated from a kitchen, Sirius had problems when it came to cooking. He knew that this went there, but did this go there or there?

He took a pot from one shelf and took out the eggs. That was a simple enough thing to cook and no matter how he did it, there would be a type of egg that would be made that way.

He took Remus's wand in his hand uncertainly as he still did not have his own and tapped the pot. It blew a few small bubbles and he hit it harder, willing it to boil. After a few tries, it was bubbling madly and he cracked the eggs and threw them in.

Twenty minutes later, Sirius was coated in water and was shuddering every few seconds from the burn of it. In front of him was a plate, toast not even close to a brown color and eggs that dripped onto the plate and to the floor.

"Ah," he muttered to himself, thinking. "Evanesco, I think." He waited and saw the kitchen clean itself within a second. Smiling, he made his way back to the bedroom.

On the whole, he considered himself a good cook for a prisoner of over a decade..

Remus was still sleeping, his face into the pillow so that it looked as though if would be hard to breath. Sirius slipped himself onto the bed, sitting near his friend's knees. He reached over and placed the plate on the nightstand.

"Remus?" he asked cautiously, leaning over him. Remus's eyes opened slowly, trying to focus. They shined bright as though he were ill. "Doing alright?"

After he tried to blink for a while, Remus answered with a hoarse, "I'm fine, Sirius."

He found himself sighing with gratefulness. "Good. I made you breakfast."

Remus rolled himself around very slowly into a sitting position and rubbed his eyes. He glanced at the table for a moment and then to Sirius, a faint smile on his face.

"I see your cooking has... improved." Sirius could hear the laughter behind the tired voice and smiled himself.

There was a moment's silence as Remus ate and then Sirius said in a low voice, almost to himself, "I've missed you."

Setting down the plate, Remus moved in a bit closer. Sirius filled in the gap between them and sat there, holding Remus in his arms.

"I've missed you too," Remus whispered.

It was their first kiss in twelve years, Sirius noted.

The wind is gone

Asleep is dawn

The embers burn on.

With no reprise

The sun will rise

The long day is over.

- Norah Jones 'I've Got To See You Again' and 'The Long Day is Over'