Punished

Punished

*

Chapter 3:

Conclusion

*

It was again the time for Sirius's everyday "detention". This time, Remus had followed him, unknown by any of his friends and hidden under James's Invisibility Cloak. Therefore, he saw how Professor McGonagall led the boy he loved into a small room that had a familiar-looking crystal on one wall. A wizarding recording/presenting device. Also, he saw how Sirius had to sit in a chair facing the crystal and submit to being bound to it with numerous charms and spells.

"And remember," McGonagall said grimly, "that this is what would have happened to your friend if James hadn't managed to save Severus." Then she flicked her wand, starting the record, and left the room.

Remus didn't watch the record, he couldn't bear himself to do that. He watched Sirius, whose eyes were locked at the cruel show, tears already flowing down the pale cheeks.

Sirius paled little by little until he was white as sheet. He bit his teeth together, trying to tear his eyes away but unable to do that, forced to watch until the time would be full. Remus himself felt slightly ill; even though he didn't watch the record, he still heard the sounds, and it was enough to give him a sickening feeling.

At last Remus couldn't bear it anymore. Dropping the hood of his cloak, he brought his face in front of Sirius's, his still invisible hands clutching gently his boyfriend's -- that was what Sirius was to him now, a boyfriend -- and leant forward. For a moment, Sirius looked terrified, as if not wanting to believe that it was true.

"Shh, Sirius, shh," Remus whispered. "It's me, Remus. I'm really here. Calm down. I'm not dying..." Then, making sure he was still between Sirius's eyes and the record, he leant even more forward, placing a gentle kiss on the other Gryffindor's lips.

Sirius responded to his kiss instantly, tears soaking his face. Yet he still couldn't close his eyes.

***

At last, they exited the memories. Remus's head swayed a bit, and he slumped back against the back of his chair. He was far less trained in Legilimency and Occlumency than Severus -- actually, he knew only the very basics, while Severus was a master of the subject -- and thus, their little "memory switch" had drained the werewolf much more than the Potions Master.

"Remus?" asked Severus quietly, halfly starting to rise from his own seat. "Are you all right?"

"I'm perfectly well, Severus, just a bit faint," he mumbled in response. "Just give me a few minutes, okay?"

"Whatever you say," replied Severus, although he looked doubtful. After looking thoughtful for a moment, he then added, "It's about the time we go to sleep, anyway. It's late already."

"If you say so," Remus said after collecting himself for a moment. He put his hands to the sides of his magical wheelchair, about to start moving, but Severus was on his side in a flash of a moment. Not asking for a permission nor waiting for one, he started to lead the werewolf towards their shared bedroom.

Once getting to the side of their bed, the Potions Master made a move to gather Remus into his arms and lift him to the bed. The werewolf wouldn't have any of that, of course, like he never agreed to this treatment.

"Believe me at last, Severus," he sighed in slight irritation. "I'm perfectly well. You don't have to treat me like a little child."

"And yet I wholly intend to do just that," the other man replied strictly. "Last time you tried to get to the bed by yourself you fell and hit your head on the floor, not that you'd remember, of course. You Gryffindors never seem to remember when your stupid antics have led into something disastrous. Poppy almost skinned me alive, thank Merlin there wasn't anything worse than a concussion wrong with you, even though that was certainly enough."

Oh, yes. They had indeed all suffered greatly in the War. Some Ministry's antiwerewolf fanatics had captured him and been in the process of killing him "the traditional way" when Severus had rushed in, taken down the four Aurors alone, and got Remus out of there. The part of the torture -- he simply refused to call such a long and painful thing simply an execution -- they had been on upon Severus's entering had been the cause of his inability to walk. At first hitting his bare legs and feet with a silver rod, the Aurors had then forced him to stand, hitting him with the rod every time he fell down. He'd truly been lucky not to lose his legs wholly, but they could never again bear the weight of his body.

Remus still remembered that those men had done the same to the tortured werewolf girl on the record. She had screamed. He hadn't. He'd just stood there, silent, biting his lip until it bled and hoping to any god or other higher power he could think of that Severus would come to save him. He hadn't hoped for "somebody" to save him, no, it'd been only Severus in his thoughts. Since if Severus hadn't come to save him, then nobody else would have.

So, he let his lover set him down to the bed, then started to undress himself. Severus sat down on the other side of the bed, also starting to take his clothes off. In no time, they lay together under the covers, both having an arm around the other's waist.

"Do you still believe that Sirius got out of it too easily?" Remus asked quietly.

"No," came the curt reply. Soon Severus continued, "I can't even begin to imagine what it would be like... Thinking that you were dying, or already dead, because of my actions. I wouldn't wish that fate to anyone, not even to Black." Then, with a slightly bitter tone, he added, "I would have liked to know that he indeed was punished, however. Thinking that Dumbledore valued a Gryffindor's happy school time over my life was one of the things that led me to the Death Eaters."

"But you beat that," reminded the werewolf, kissing gently the corner of the other man's lips. "You went into the devil's den, and you came out alive. Who else can claim to have done that?" However, when Severus opened his mouth to reply, he didn't give the Potions Master time for that. Instead, he kissed his lover now fully on the mouth, slipping his tongue inside.

Severus immediately responded to him. Soon they were too far gone to even remember the painful memories.