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It was a week since Sirius was attacked. Snape made batches of wolfsbane for months onward even with Sirius trying to convince him to not be so frantic about it. Severus did try to make it seem like nothing really happened but he can still see Sirius’s distress. Lupin most definitely didn’t treat Sirius differently, everyone else was pretty understanding and tried not to act weird either.
Severus was already stressed with work and the ministry. It felt like everyone was an imbecile around him, he barely had any time for Sirius even though he occasionally saw him at work.
He was exhausted with everything and the accident added a new wave of stress. When a healer muttered something in disgust when Sirius was in St Mungos, Severus almost flipped a table at her. Sirius was out of there pretty quickly but the scars against his back and shoulder were still visible, parting some of his tattoos in two.
Severus quickly grabbed his things in his office before frantically apparating home. He was working until night time and barely remembered that it was the full moon today.
When he got home their house was dark. Only source of light was the full moon that shined a path for Severus to the door. They had a nice cottage in the woods which Sirius didn’t like at first since he wanted to be closer to “humanity” as he said yet he probably appreciates it now.
Inside the house nothing seemed out of the ordinary. All the chairs and tables in their place, the couches in one piece, the cutlery not broken but washed and dried even. What sparked some annoyance in Severus is that dinner wasn’t eaten yet that wasn’t what was on his mind. ‘Sirius?’ He called out gently. No response came which had some anxiety rise in Snape’s chest.
The cellar was closed so he couldn’t be there. Upstairs everything was also in its place. Severus still tried to walk as silently as he could, the carpet muffling some of his steps, yet no one was in the house.
Severus sat on the living room couch trying to think. The more he thought about it, the more anxiety began to bubble up inside. Sirius couldn’t have missed a potion, Severus made sure that he had taken every single one prior to the full moon. It didn’t make sense. He couldn’t be outside. Could he?
Severus groaned and rubbed his temples, the moon light shining through the thin curtains to illuminate his tense expression. ‘The shed’ he muttered to himself and sprang up. He hasn’t checked there yet.
He almost stumbled out of the house but then stood still to adjust his eyes to the darkness more before making another step. Sirius could have been lurking outside. Hopefully not the forest.
The breeze gently tickled Severus’s chalky skin as he carefully walked over to the shed, the grass crunching under his shoes. The trees around the house stood tall, almost like silhouettes of giants that shielded the clearing from the light. The shed wasn’t massive yet big enough for all of Sirius’s junk. He kept his motorbike, old decorations, family member paintings and brooms there even though he can’t play quidditch that well anymore. There were trunks of other things but Severus didn’t rummage through them.
Severus reached for the dark wooden door, trying to avoid the thorny bush that was hanging down onto it from the clay tile roof. He slowly pushed it open, cringing at the little creek it made but then flinching as he heard movement in the darkness. Gotcha he thought to himself even thought his trembling body language had a less victorious tone. With a deep breath he raised his wand, whispering ‘Lumos’.
The light from his wand flooded the shed, irradiating the old, dusty motorbike as well as the shelves and counters of other old junk. Severus glanced down at the brooms that were tumbled down at the floor, his gaze eventually falling on the big dark spot in the corner.
‘Sirius?’ Severus softly called out, his breath then shaking as he saw the dark spot move. He pushed back all his memories and fears as he slowly stepped into the shed. ‘I know it’s you’ he called out to the dark figure again, hearing a low whimper. Sirius didn’t seem aggressive so Severus slowly took another step, his palms beginning to sweat. His wand almost slipped out and his breath hitched when he heard the door behind him fall shut.
The dark figure whimpered again, trying to press more into the corner of the shed. A sight like that made him frown so he pushed on to get closer to the figure of his now transformed husband. He could tell that the shed was a bit too small for the other man as he was crouching down almost making himself look like a giant furry ball. Sirius faced the corner but then raised his head a bit when he heard Severus almost tipping over the motorbike to approach him, his ear then twitching.
‘You bastard, why are you here? You could have transformed in the house. I keep telling you, it’s big enough’ He grumbled as he reached out to the figure but jumped back with horror when Sirius immediately turned to snarl at Severus, baring his teeth at him. Severus stepped back a bit more and scowled at the other. They were having some fights lately so Sirius must have not been happy to see him.
‘I was worried about you,’ Severus said, furrowing his brows as he felt rage growing inside him. ‘And you dare try to scare me?’ He huffed, raising his wand a bit more. Sirius barked at him but then, to Severus’s surprise rapidly sank his teeth into his own arm. ‘Hey!’ Severus dropped his wand and ran up to the other, trying to loop his arms around his head and separated his fangs from his fur covered arm. Or paw. Severus didn’t know how to describe it anymore.
‘Please, let go’ he mumbled frantically as he tried to tug at Sirius’s head. His form now felt foreign but that’s not what he was focused on at the moment. Sirius eventually eased his jaw open and let go of his arm. Severus just let out a sigh of relief and let go, stepping back a bit to leave some room between them.
Sirius whimpered again, beginning to get up which just made Severus gulp. He realized that his husband stood basically 7 feet tall now, the ceiling still making him crouch down as it was too low. Sirius’s fur was charcoal black, glistering in the light of Severus’s wand. It was a bit matted too but Severus didn’t offer to brush it. His “legs” had hocks now and closely resembled ones of a dog even though it’s form was a bit more fit to stand on twos. His head was fully dog like, which Severus was used to seeing when Sirius turned into Padfoot but was way larger now. His hands, if they could still be called that were longer and bigger, with exceptionally large claws. Sirius’s eye’s were still a beautiful dove grey colour, not changing much at all which comforted Severus.
Severus still took another step back in slight spike of fear, causing Sirius to stumble back to press into the corner. He could only frown at that sight. Sirius looked frightened and in pain, maybe even confusion or shame. ‘Can you please come back to the house with me?’ Severus asked slowly, wondering if Sirius could even understand. Nevertheless, he outstretched his hand again, earning another growl from Sirius. ‘You aren’t going to budge, will you?’ Severus muttered with a sigh and ran his hand through his hair in slight exhaustion. Then an idea came.
He picked up his wand and climbed over the motorbike that was blocking the way again, making his way to the door. Severus ignored the whimper that Sirius let out when he walked out, strolling back into the house. He began to search their house for every pillow, blanket and duvet they ever had, throwing them into a pile in the living room. When he thought he collected enough, he grabbed some water bottles and anything rubber that Sirius could chew on. After getting everything he needed, Severus casted a charm to make the things float behind him, floating them out of the house and then on the way to shed again.
When Severus came back, Sirius was still in the corner and facing away. Severus let his eyes adjust to the dark this time, the moonlight from the little window on the roof providing some guidance in the dark as he began to lay out all of the soft duvets on the floor after casting some cleaning spells on the dusty floor. Severus layed out all the pillows next, making sure to put them against any hard edges. He put the brooms back in their place and continued to make a soft space for Sirius. After laying everything out for Sirius, his anxiety rose again. He still had to convince him to get comfy.
‘Sirius’ He called out to him, hearing his now wolf-like lover whimper and whine again. ‘At least get comfortable’ Severus said as he very slowly began to approach him. He didn’t know if Sirius was going to attack him yet Severus had to at least try to make him relaxed. When Severus gently touched the other male, the other froze for a second. Sirius’s fur was soft and curly, like the one on Padfoot. ‘I’m just trying to help you, you knobhead’ Severus felt like he was succeeding until Sirius growled and snarled again, causing him to let go and step back.
Severus frowned at that, maybe he just had to leave the other male alone and he would settle down himself. ‘It’s okay’ he murmured and grabbed the knitted blanket that Molly made for them. ‘I’ll just see you tomorrow’ Severus said before pulling the blanket onto Sirius with a sigh. He then tried to carefully get out of the bundle that he made, thinking about what he would do next. Severus gave away all their pillows and blankets to Sirius so he didn’t know how he would sleep. He could try to finish the reports he had started lately and snooze on the couch.
He was on his way to the door when he felt a sudden nip on his.. Bottom. The pale man jumped around after the sudden contact, eyes widening when he saw the silhouette of his transformed husband in the dark. So close to him. ‘Did you just bite my arse?!’ He grumbled, way louder then he intended it at first. The sudden shout did have the werewolf cower away.
Snape didn’t know how he had gotten so close, so quietly in the first place. Nevertheless, the creature began to let out whimpers again, just making Severus more tired. ‘Sirius, please’ Severus mumbled, seeing the other male curl up in a ball. What caused him to be more agitated was when he saw Sirius sink his razor-sharp teeth into his own flesh in a blink of an eye.
‘Sirius!’ Severus choked as he ran up to his lover, looping his arms around his now thick neck. ‘Please’ He begged into the soft fur as he tugged back as hard as he could. He couldn’t watch him harm himself, even if he was scared to touch him. Severus didn’t even know he could have that kind of reaction.
Minutes past when Sirius eased his mouth open, relieving Severus of any more stress. The pale man instantly began to climb over the wolf, trying to find the bitten spots. It was difficult to search through the black fur in the dead of night. Even the silvery moon was no help. Severus didn’t panic too much. If the bite was that deep he would have felt some blood on the fur. His fur was all dry, distracting Severus a bit with its softness.
His thoughts were interfered with by getting pushed off onto the soft duvets, his face planting into them. ‘You bastard’ he groaned into the soft fabric, pushing himself up. Yet he was interrupted again by a large weight pushing him back down. ‘Sirius?’ He began to panic, his mind quickly understanding that he was pinned down. Maybe Sirius was too dangerous to be around. It was too late for Severus to be coming to those conclusions when he was immobilised by a giant beast.
His panic began to die down as he felt his husband's large claws begin to let go and move away from him. Severus didn’t know how to feel about this anymore. He didn’t want to get mauled by his husband yet his potions were too perfect to have him do that, Sirius couldn’t be out of control. He knew Sirius wouldn’t want to harm him if he was all there so it was strange. When Severus sat up to look at him, he was curled up closely, facing away. Slowly Severus reached for another attempt to stroke him, thinking whether he will still be left with an arm after this. This time Sirius didn’t snarl or growl at him, he layed perfectly still as Severus ran his hands through his thick fur. ‘I would have washed you if I was any braver’ he softly chuckled as he felt the other relax against his touch. Sirius’s head pushed back against Severus’s bony palm when he scratched behind the earn. He knew it was a sweet spot for Padfoot.
‘You’re just a big Padfoot’ Severus cooed as he glanced over his wolf like husband again. ‘With arms and legs’ he made sure to add. After a while that felt like forever, Sirius turned to face Severus. His expression wasn’t threatening, even a bit unreadable. But then again, wolves don't have that many expressions.
Severus pecked him on the muzzle, making sure to carry on scratching him. Sirius let out a whine before licking his cheek quickly, making Snape cringe at it’s wetness. The relaxed atmosphere had Severus notice more and more things.
He heard the wind rustling the leaves of the trees outside, the forest song getting accompanied by crickets somewhere in the distance. Sirius could probably hear more.‘We should really clean up here.. Well, later’ Severus said, noticing how dusty the shed was. Probably filled with moths and spiders too. In fact, the cobwebs almost spread out across the whole ceiling. The webs usually disgusted Severus but in the faint moonlight they looked like silver strings.
Severus’s plans and train of thoughts were interrupted by Sirius tugging at his work robes, reminding him that he hadn't even taken off his cloak. ‘What? You want me to join you in your indecency?’ He laughed, acknowledging the fact that Sirius wasn’t covering himself with anything. Although he didn’t have to, he had fur to cover everything. When Severus said that, Sirius began to tug at his robes even harder, making Severus nervous that they’re going to rip. ‘Knock it off, you’re going to be buying me new ones if you keep that up’ He warned as he tugged off his cloak. He began unbuttoning and unfastening his layers of robes, throwing them all together in a pile next to them. He undone the thin but firm corset that he had on, pushing the restless Sirius away while he was at it. When his pants and boots were off he finally took a deep breath, being free of all the layers.
The euphoria didn’t last long before the cold night breeze immediately hit his skin. It was only the start of spring yet he thought the weather would warm up quickly. Glancing around, he saw that there were some gaps in the old wooden walls and cracks in the ceiling. It must have been where the breeze came from. He would get Sirius to fix it some time later.
In the meantime, Sirius tried to nuzzle into Severus’s abdomen, almost pushing him over. ‘ Weren't you growling at me moments ago?’ Severus teased, climbing on top of the giant wolf. The other didn’t seem to be paying much attention to the claim, getting busy with licking the smaller male’s neck. Severus bit his lip and tried to push the other male’s head away, his neck being a sensitive part. ‘And you called me slimy’ he complained while trying to escape now. What Severus came to realise was that it was no use, Sirius was way stronger and held him in place pretty firmly with his long fingers. Severus was bony and fragile compared to him, even in the human form. ‘Oh you don’t get to mate me’ he stated when Sirius was getting too excited, finally breaking out of the grip and grabbing himself a warm blanket to cover up with.
He couldn’t believe that he was going to sleep in the old shed because of Sirius's foolishness. Severus furrowed his brows when he thought about it. Sirius probably blamed himself after the accident. Severus noticed how he ate less and became more quiet. It was a big change from his usual rowdy personality which he had worked so hard to regain over the years after the war. Sirius tried to distance himself away from everyone, maybe that’s what he was doing moments ago.
When Sirius began to nuzzle him again, Severus just playfully smacked him with their stripy bedroom pillow. Sirius knew that he was ticklish and he wouldn’t let him act on it. ‘You’re like a child’ Severus said, trying to push Sirius down so he would lay down and sleep. To which he just responded with a howl. It was way past midnight and even though he asked to get off work tomorrow, he still didn’t want to stay up all night just so he could tuck Sirius in.
With a few more tries, Sirius obliged to not have Severus any more worked up. They both curled up together in their little nest of duvets and pillows, listening to the wind coo them to sleep. Nothing seemed to matter anymore. Not the past and not the future. At the moment they just had each other.