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The door to the Hospital Wing creaked open, and Sirius quickly pushed off the wall across from it where he was leaning.
“Sirius,” Remus exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to see if you needed any help getting back to the Tower,” Sirius explained. He closed the distance between them and brought his hands to Remus’ shoulders. Remus flinched slightly at the contact, but Sirius chalked that up to exhaustion.
There had been three super moons in a row, and Remus hadn’t fully recovered from the past two before the one that happened two days prior. He’d gotten by all three with no injuries, but Sirius thought that was mostly because even the wolf was tired. Once transformed, the only thing the wolf had done was curl up on the rickety bed in the Shrieking Shack and fall asleep. It was great for the Marauders because they could go to class well-rested the next day since they’d slept through most of the night in their animagus forms. And Sirius would be lying if he said that it wasn’t the best night’s sleep he’d ever gotten, curled up as Padfoot with Remus’ wolf curled around him protectively.
But clearly, sleep as the wolf didn’t fulfill Remus’ need for sleep because he looked dead on his feet.
“How are you feeling?” Sirius asked.
“Like a million galleons,” Remus deadpanned. “It’s Saturday. Shouldn’t you be at the Quidditch game? Prongs is going to kill you when he finds out you skipped the last game of the season.”
“He’s got Wormy and Marls there cheering him on. Besides, I told him last night that I’d be missing it. He understood and was happy to know that I planned on making sure you were ok.” He smiled and rubbed his hand up and down Remus’ arms in a soothing motion. When Remus tensed again, he stopped and dropped his arms back to his sides. “Would you rather me not be here?”
“No, of course not—”
“Because you’ve been so distant over the past few months. I thought it might just be the super moons, but you still won’t be alone with me, and you flinch when I touch you, and I just—” he sighed and shoved his hands into the back pockets of his jeans to keep him from tugging at his hair. “I wish I knew that to say to make things better and to get you to trust me again.”
“I do trust you, Pads. I’m sorry that I’ve been distant. It’s not because I don’t trust you, I promise,” Remus said earnestly.
“You don’t have to apologize, Remus. Merlin, you never have to apologize for what happened. If anything, I should be—” he stopped short with the withering look Remus gave him. “I know, I know. Forward, not backward. That’s why I wanted to skip the Quidditch match today. I thought that maybe if we spent the day together, just the two of us, it might help us move past things.”
Remus’ face softened at that, and he took a wobbly step forward to wrap his arms around Sirius’ waist. “I’d like that,” he mumbled into his shoulder.
Sirius smiled to himself and wrapped his arms around Remus to help hold him upright. “Come on, Moons.”
They started trudging back to Gryffindor Tower, with Remus tucked under Sirius’ arm to support some of his weight. It made Sirius’ heart soar. He knew he shouldn’t be feeling as happy as he was for Remus’ complete and utter exhaustion, but he was having a hard time feeling guilty when he could feel the warmth emanating from Remus’ body and smell the lingering bergamot from Remus’ morning Earl Grey tea. They had to stop by the time they got to the fifth-floor staircase when Remus nearly tripped going up the last flight of stairs, unable to lift his feet high enough to climb.
Sirius maneuvered him over to a bench in the corridor and crouched down in front of him. “If you need a break, that’s ok.”
“I’m sorry. I feel like my limbs weigh about fifty stone each,” Remus said.
Sirius frowned, then stood up and pulled Remus to his feet. He groaned in protest until Sirius turned and crouched down again.
“Get on,” Sirius instructed. When he didn’t feel any weight on his back, he turned to look at Remus. “Come on. You don’t actually weigh fifty stone, and there are only two more floors.”
“I can manage. I just needed a brief break,” he faltered.
Sirius narrowed his eyes. “Just let me carry you. I’ve carried you for a lot longer distances before.”
He sighed then reluctantly wrapped his arms around Sirius’ neck.
“Oof!”
“Shut up.” Remus sleepily burrowed his face in Sirius’ long hair.
Sirius smiled at the lack of malice in his voice and grabbed his legs to support his weight before standing upright. The rest of the journey back to Gryffindor Tower went a lot quicker with Sirius setting the pace. Although, he had been tempted to take the long way back to the common room. Because if he thought having Remus tucked under his arm with an arm snaked around his waist was nice, having his breath on his neck was even more so. But that would have been selfish of him to take advantage of Remus’ exhaustion like that, so he didn’t.
Sirius stopped in front of the Fat Lady’s portrait, gave her the password, and then climbed through the portrait hole. The common room was deserted, which was predictable since not only was it a beautiful day out, but it was the most important Quidditch match of the season.
“Bed or couch?”
“Bed please.”
Sirius nodded and made his way to the stairs leading to the boys’ dormitories.
“You can put me down now,” Remus told him as he struggled to open the door without dropping him.
“I’ve got it,” Sirius protested. He let out a triumphant hoot when he got the door open, then strode over to Remus’ bed and deposited him on the edge of it next to the giant pile of sweets and snacks that were already there.
“What did you do?”
Sirius smiled and sat on his own bed, across from Remus’. “I knicked some provisions from the kitchen between breakfast and picking you up from the Hospital Wing. I thought a good old-fashioned sugar rush might go a long way to you recovering your energy.”
Remus shook his head but smiled nonetheless. He shifted to lie back on his pillows, grabbed a pumpkin pasty, and took a large bite. “Well, you’re going to help me, aren’t you?”
“Of course. But music first.” Sirius got up and walked over to the gramophone that the Marauders had smuggled into their room earlier that term. He quickly scanned through their Muggle albums and found the Simon & Garfunkel album that he knew Remus loved listening to when he was tired before dropping onto the bed in the space Remus had left for him.
“You hate Simon & Garfunkel,” Remus said between bites of his second pumpkin pasty.
“But you love them,” he replied. He plucked a cauldron cake off the pile and shoved it in his mouth to prevent himself from admitting that he’d actually grown to love the duo, purely because they reminded him of Remus. Remus had only just started to look at him the way he used to. Sirius would not ruin that with ill-timed confessions.
A full album (including the B-side) and three-quarters of the snack pile later, Remus’ energy waned again. His head kept drooping a few times against Sirius’ shoulder, only for him to jerk himself back awake. Sirius waved his wand to levitate the remaining snacks to his own bed so Remus could extend his legs and get comfortable.
“How are you feeling, Moons?”
“Tired,” he said with a yawn. “I’m sorry, I know you probably had more grand plans for today other than this.”
“Nope.” He kicked his legs out and leaned back against Remus’ pillows. “Snacks and Garfunkel was about the extent of my plan. Not all plans have to be extravagant to be a success.”
Remus chuckled and turned onto his side. “Still, I’m sorry I’m not more exciting company. I’m sure you’d be having a lot more fun at the Quidditch match or the afterparty that’s sure to follow.”
Sirius shifted onto his side to face Remus. “Impossible. You wouldn’t be there. And I know you wouldn’t believe it, but things are a lot less fun without you around.”
He gave him an odd look. “You’re right. I wouldn’t believe it,” he said sleepily before letting his eyes drift closed.
Sirius softened and reached out to stroke his hair, but then thought better of it. “Do you want me to leave you to take a nap? Re?”
The only response he got was silence. He smiled softly and reached out to tuck a curl behind the sleeping Remus’ ear, something that was harmless now that he was asleep. “Sleep tight, my Moons,” he whispered before letting his own eyes close.