After the Moon

After the Moon

*

Sirius

***

"Owww..." Remus groaned, and breathed in with difficulty. "Sirius... It hurts."

"Hush, love," Sirius said softly, pulling the covers gently over the shaking body. "Just rest now, okay? I'll take care of you. You want something to drink?"

"Some hot chocolate, please," Remus replied, and smiled weakly.

"Okay," Sirius smiled and got up on his feet. "Do you want it warm, hot, or boiling hot?"

"Just warm, thank you. I would only burn my throat if it was too hot."

"Got it." He left the room with only minimum hesitating.

Sirius was worried on his way to the kitchen. Remus always made him worried after the full moon.

"Hello, Sirius," Molly Weasley said as he stepped in to the kitchen. "How's Remus?"

She sounded concerned, but Sirius could sense the cautious tone in her voice, and frowned. It just wasn't fair. After hearing of his innocence, ti had taken the Weasleys about a week to accept and befriend him. Remus, however, still made them cautious, especially when his lycanthropy was mentioned. This bothered Sirius a great deal, so he never managed to be really friendly around the elder Weasleys.

"Remus is coping," he replied truthfully. "He asked me to make some hot chocolate for him."

"I can do that!" Tonks exclaimed, jumping up so fast that she knocked her chair over. "Oops," she said cheerfully. She lifted up the chair. "How warm Remus wants his drink?" she asked then.

"Just vaguely warm," he replied. "But I don't think -"

"Let her do it," Mad-Eye Moody interrupted. "Molly's been teaching her, and believe it or not, she actually can manage a cup of hot chocolate all by herself."

"If you say so..." Sirius glanced doubtfully at his cousin, but sat down as Mad-Eye beckoned him.

"How he's recovering?" the former Auror asked bluntly.

Sirius shrugged. "The usual," he replied and sighed. "He'll be on his feet by tomorrow, but he can't leave until the day after tomorrow."

"I see." Mad-Eye's magical eye rolled around to look behind him. "Seemingly I was wrong. Check what the girl is doing."

Sirius startled and turned around to look at his cousin. "What the... No, Tonks, no!" He jumped up and rushed towards the Metamorphmagi.

"Sirius! Why -" the girl started, but Sirius interrupted her by taking the cup from her hands and emptying its contents to the sink. Then he placed the empty cup on the table, letting out a relieved sigh. His hands were slightly shaking.

"Sirius!" Tonks protested loudly. "It would've just been ready!"

"Nymphadora," Sirius growled, putting extra weight on the girl's given name, "you'd better be grateful for the fact that I haven't killed you yet, Azkaban or not. What the hell you thought you were doing?"

"Err... Making Remus's drink?" the witch suggested.

"Exactly. And what were you just mixing it with? A silver spoon! Are you nuts or what?"

"Oh." The girl paled instantly as she realized what she had been just about to do. "But... Surely just that can't hurt him? That silver has touched his drink?"

"Normally? No. The day after the full moon? You bet. Not enough to kill him, fortunately, but enough to lengthen the time required for his recovery with at least two days. And to make him really, and I mean *really* ill." He took a clean cup, filled it with water and walked to Mad-Eye. "Hey, Mad-Eye? Could you transfigure this to hot chocolate? After that, I don't really trust *Nymphadora* to do it properly."

"Of course," the older wizard chuckled, tapping the cup with his wand. The water immediately turned into brown, warm liquid.

"Thanks." Sirius turned around and was just about to leave the room, when Mad-Eye's voice stopped him.

"Hey, boy? I know that Remus is pretty and all that, but try to control yourself, okay? He really should leave in two days..."

Sirius flushed slightly as he heard Tonks's snickering. As he turned around, he saw also the bemused smile on Mrs. Weasley's face and Mad-Eye's broad grin.

"You're a pervert, Moody," he spat fiercely. "You really think I'd take advantage of a man lying on his sickbed?" He stormed out of the room before the other man had time to reply.

Sirius practically ran through the corridors, still being careful not to spill the drink anywhere. He was really furious. Mad-Eye rarely cared what the others would feel over his actions, true enough, but this time the man had gone too far.

Moody, as well as Sirius, knew very well that Remus could not form any kind of sexual need the couple of days after the full moon he needed for recovery. No matter how much they both usually wanted it, Sirius sleeping with Remus now would have been nothing short of a rape.

"Sirius," Remus greeted as he walked in to their room. "What was keeping you behind?" He gladly took the cup Sirius was offering and tasted the drink. Then he frowned. "Wand-made. Honestly, Sirius, answer me. What took you so long?"

Sirius, who had ignored the first question, fidgeted nervously. "Tonks offered to make your drink, but she put a silver spoon in it, so I had to ask Mad-Eye to transfigure it from water so I could come to you as fast as possible."

"So why do you smell angry, then?" Remus asked, raising a questioning eyebrow.

Sirius sighed and sat down on a nearby chair. "Mad-Eye, well aware of your condition, told me not to be with you too much," he said. "He could have downright accused me of raping you."

"Oh." Remus frowned again, sitting up on his bed. "Sirius, it is only his way of joking. A rude way, true, but just joking after all. I know, you know, and he knows that you'd never do that."

"Right," Sirius said. He sighed. "Still it upsets me. I'd never want to deliberately hurt you in any way, least of all that particular way. I would cut my hand off rather than do anything you don't want me to do to you."

"I know that." Remus gulped down some more of his drink. "Sirius... You know I'm sorry for being unable to..." he said miserably.

Sirius interrupted him by placing his finger over the werewolf's lips. "Nothing to apologize for," he said softly. "You have to rest now, love. So, hush."

Remus blinked sleepily, then nodded his head slowly. "Sirius?" he asked quietly.

"Yes, love?" Sirius replied.

"Will you - would you -" Remus took a deep, shaky breath, then tried again, "Would you just lie next to me tonight?"

Sirius smiled gently. "Of course, Remus," he whispered, then slipped on the bed and lied down next to his lover, wrapping the werewolf in his arms.

Within minutes, they were both asleep.