After the Moon

After the Moon

*

Fred'n'George

***

Remus woke up to find someone lying next to him. Or, rather, he found two someones, one on each side of him. Noticing that before lying down his two companions had clothed him with his pyjamas, carried him to bed, and covered him with several warm blankets, Remus sighed quietly in contentment. Sinking back to the bed, he closed his eyes slowly, letting sleep claim his aching body in a healing slumber.

When he later woke up again, he found one of his sides empty of any life. Therefore, he snuggled up to the other warm body that still remained on the other side. As he then felt a hand petting gently his hair, he opened his eyes, looking right up to the grinning, freckled face from which a pair of joyful eyes was watching him.

"Good morning, our little love," said the one of the twins who was still in the bed with him. "Welcome back to the world of living."

"Oh, shut up," Remus sighed, wincing as the simple pressure of Fred's hand -- he knew it was Fred, he could smell it -- being placed on his side made that part of his body throb rather painfully. Noticing this, the redhead immediately removed his hand.

"G's making you a healing potion," said Fred then. "We already checked you, and there's nothing out of ordinary. You should be okay by tomorrow, we'd say."

Remus nodded in understanding. The twins had quite a lot of knowledge on potions and medical magic -- they had to know how one's body functioned to twist that knowledge around to make it serve the purpose of their jokes. Therefore, they'd quickly claimed it their job to care for him in all ways around the full moon, be it by brewing the Wolfsbane Potion, checking him for injuries after the transformation, or making the numerous healing salves and potions he needed each month. Before, making his potions had been Severus's job, but Severus was not there anymore, nor would he ever be again. The Potions Master had been one of the many people who had given their lives for the cause of Light, and even though he hadn't been the most liked of men -- rather to the opposite -- his absence was certainly noted.

As for the name Fred had used for his twin, well, that was really simple. Calling themselves Gred and Forge had somehow lost the point after they'd become more or less permanently attached to Remus, who could easily smell them apart. So, they'd just shortened their names to F and G, two letters that were just as close in the alphabets as the twins were in the real world.

Nobody could disapprove of their relationship, however. Wizards thought that identical twins had been originally meant to be just one person, but that some strange power had forced them apart into two bodies before they were born. They were still of the same soul, though, and as their bodies were in essence one, any kind of a relationship between them could not be wrong. Most twin couples lived their lives only with each other despite the acceptance, however, since very few could actually settle to live with this parted "person". Remus, being a werewolf, was kind of parted himself -- at least by his soul -- and had both a human side and a wolf side, and thus, he'd never found it hard to love his twin lovers equally much and with equal passion.

Then he was broken out of his thoughts as Fred's hand suddenly ceased petting his hair. As he glanced at the younger wizard with something between mild annoyance and surprise on his face, he was given another cheerful grin.

"Sorry for not petting you any more, Puppy," Fred said, using the pet name -- rather literally 'pet' name -- they'd given to Remus, "but I really, really have to go now for a while. I'll return in a minute, though."

"Be sure to do," murmured the werewolf sleepily. Then he yawned. "I'm exhausted," he mumbled. "It doesn't hurt too badly, but all I want to do is sleep."

"Do sleep, then." Fred got up from the bed and tucked him in. Then Remus watched with half-closed eyes as the redhead slipped into his robes and left the room. After that, the werewolf fell asleep.

*

"Fred!" exclaimed Molly as she suddenly saw one of her twin sons Apparating to the kitchen of the Burrow. "...Or George? Which one of you is it?" She still didn't accept the fact that even she, the twins' mother, could not tell them apart. Of course, the fact that Remus could annoyed her a lot.

"Well, actually you got it right on the first time," Fred replied lightly. "You're getting better, Mom."

"Hardly," she replied dryly. Then, however, she let her mother-henning instincts get the better of her. "How are you?" she demanded. "And how are George and Remus? Nothing is wrong with them, I hope?"

"Nothing but the full moon," Fred replied, giving her a slight smile. "Poor Remus had a hard time, but he'll come around. That's why I came, by the way. G's brewing the healing potion, but we've run out of the Phoenix Powder. May we borrow some?"

"Oh, of course." Molly immediately went to the cupboard where she stocked all her potion ingredients. Spotting the familiar red jar on the top shelf, she handed it to Fred. "Just keep it," she said. "We never have any use for it anyway around here as it's only used in the stronger healing potions."

Fred simply nodded in response. Over the war, Molly had brewed all the simpler potions that Severus could not afford wasting time and attention to. Nowadays, some of the ingredients meant for those potions were just lying idle in her cupboard, being no use to anybody. "Thanks, Mom," he said quietly, holding the jar securely in his hands. "To us, it will be of much use."

The witch nodded with a bit sad expression. "I know, my boy," she said, sighing. She'd taken her twin sons' lover into the family like yet another son, and it pained her greatly that Remus had to suffer through a transformation every month. "Will you take a cup of tea?" she asked then, brightening immediately.

"Thanks for offering, but no," Fred said, grinning a bit. "I promised G and Remus that I'll be back soon."

"Better not make them wait, then," Molly replied with a smile. "And don't you three forget to come to the dinner on Sunday!" she yet called after him just before he Disapparated with a faint, 'pop'.

*

"Hi, love. Did you get it?" George asked as soon as Fred Apparated back to the apartment.

"Of course, G m'dear," Fred replied, placing a light kiss on his living reflection's lips. "We have it right here." He held up the jar containing the Phoenix Powder. "Mom say we won't have to return it."

"Good. It's hard to find nowadays, although I do think we should restock sometime soon." George gestured towards their own potion ingredient cupboard, which truly was half-empty.

"Looks like it, my dear. Do you think we should ask --"

The other twin laughed and shook his head before Fred had even finished his sentence, already knowing what he would say. "Never in our lives," he said, grinning. "As much as we love him, he's a disaster --"

"-- When it comes to any kind of potions. Yes, we know it better than well." Fred grinned. Like always when talking with his twin, and often even otherwise, he was using the plural form. Muggle twins sometimes did the same, identical twins especially, although then the more dominative and outgoing twin often spoke in single form, and the more submissive one used the "we". However, as they were wizards and thus equal parts of the same soul, they both talked in "we". They'd abandoned that habit while they'd been at school, knowing that it unnerved some people -- not that they hadn't tried to do that, but they preferred just finishing each other's sentences for that -- but later they'd taken onto it. Remus found it incredibly cute, which by no means was going to stop them from doing it.

"...Don't ridicule an injured man," came a whimpering voice from the bedroom. In an instant, Fred had run to Remus's side, while George continued brewing the healing potion. They did this in turns. Each month, it would be one twin's turn to tend to Remus and the other's turn to brew the potion. The following month, they'd switch. All in all, it was a mutually satisfying agreement.

"We'd never ridicule you, Puppy," Fred said reassuringly. "We were just having a bit of fun."

"On my expense," Remus said dryly. He blinked a couple of times, then yawned. "...I'm not usually this sleepy after the full moon," he commented then, sounding a bit suspicious. "Usually I at least can stay awake half an hour at time, not falling asleep the next moment after waking up."

Fred's expression darkened a bit. "That's true," he sighed. "We noticed that the transformation had caused you some internal damage -- nothing out of ordinary, though," he hastened to add as the werewolf's expression turned worried. "Just a bit more harsh than usually. So, we gave you some sleeping potion."

"And why don't I remember that?" asked Remus, still a bit doubtful about it all.

Now, the redhead managed to force himself into a smile. "With all honesty, love, when have you remembered anything coming directly after the transformation, even if you've had your Wolfsbane?"

"Not often..." Remus yawned again. "Whatever it is, I feel like I need to sleep a little," he said then.

"Sleep then, Puppy," Fred said, once again petting his hair affectionately. "We'll watch over you."

And Remus fell asleep, knowing that nothing bad could come to him when the twins were on watch.

*

When Remus woke up yet again, he found his both sides empty of all life. From the cheery whistling coming from the next room, however, he knew that he had not been left alone.

"Is the potion ready?" he called out hoarsely. He hated having to ask for other people's help, even for Fred and George's, but he was really in pain now that the usual numbness had begun to fade.

"Oh, of course!" called George's voice from the workroom. In an instant, both redheads appeared to the doorway. "About the time you woke up, too," continued George. "We were starting to --"

"-- Worry about you, you know," Fred finished for his twin. "Even with the sleeping potion we gave you, you shouldn't have slept this long, so we figured that something might be wrong."

"Thankfully, nothing seems to be wrong," said George then cheerfully. "Come on, here's your potion." He held out a goblet. Remus accepted it gladly and, with Fred's arms supporting him as he sat up, drank the healing concoction to the last drop. As soon as he'd done it, he felt a wonderful warmness spreading everywhere into his body.

"You know," he said, looking at his now grinning lovers, "you two could make it to Potions Masters any day."

"Awww, don't make fun of us, love," laughed Fred. "What would be the fun in that? No, we're quite content with the shop, thank you very much."

"And besides," continued George, "what would you do with the shop, if we weren't there? You're wonderful company, Puppy, and you're good at selling, but you hardly could invent anything new."

"Don't tease me," the werewolf muttered. They were nowadays all working at the twins' joke shop, which was always closed on the day after full moon, though. Remus had noticed that he indeed enjoyed working there, in the middle of all those things that reminded him of his Marauder days, although even more he enjoyed watching his younger lovers the sleeveless T-shirts they preferred in the shop.

"Oh, no, we'd never tease you," Fred said, reaching out a hand to ruffle the man's greying hair. "How could we ever do anything that would make you feel less than perfectly comfortable?"

"There's no way we could do that, Puppy," George carried on the reassurances. "We'll swear to you by the day we were born, we'd never do anything like that!"

"You were born on the April's Fool Day," mentioned Remus dryly. "So do forgive me if I don't take that kind of a vow very seriously." He was, however, smiling.

"'S okay, we forgive you," George said lightly, brushing his cheek lightly with his fingertips. "It's not like you could help being the only one who knows us through and through."

"Hey, he's mine," said Fred then, placing a possessive hand on Remus's shoulder and sending a mock-glare to the direction of his other lover and twin. "Keep your filthy hands off him!"

"No, he's mine," George argued, placing his hand in a similar gesture on the werewolf's other shoulder. "You are mine, aren't you, Remus m'dear?" he then asked playfully from the man himself.

"I'm both of yours, and you know that," Remus said, yawning a bit. "So shut up, you two. I want to sleep."

"If our dear werewolf wants to sleep," started Fred, and George finished, "then sleep he will." And with that, they simultaneously both grasped a corner of the blanket and tucked him in.

"Sleep well, Puppy," said George cheerfully, leaning forward to place a tiny kiss on his forehead.

"We'll sleep with you," continued Fred, laying himself on the bed next to the werewolf. Instead of lying there in his human form, however, he started to change. Soon enough, a flaming red fox lay next to him, its head lying on his chest in both a possessive and protective gesture. After a moment, an exactly similar fox lay on his other side, its head tugged into the crook of his neck.

Oh, the twins loved him indeed very much, enough to go through with the trouble of learning the Animagus transformation just for him. Cunning and exactly identical red foxes, they had surprised nobody when they'd first presented their alternative forms to their friends and family.

However, they still did surprise Remus with their seemingly endless caring and love.

Within minutes, all three occupants of the bed were sound asleep, safe and secure with each other.