so in love with you // sirius black

chapter 23

    It was late January and the full moon was looming. My friends and I were sitting in James, and Lily's dorm, waiting for the sun to set. Remus had been feeling like shit all day and now was half asleep on the couch, leaning into my shoulder.

    "I think it's time for us to head out to the woods," James said, after glancing at his watch. 

    "Remus?" I shook his shoulder.

    "Mhm?" He groaned and sat up. "Is it that time already?"

    "Yeah," Sirius got up. 

    "Damn," Remus got up too. He was followed by Peter and James. 

   It was quite obvious Remus was dreading the night and he took slow steps towards the door. 

    "Don't worry too much about us," Sirius's hand grazed my back as a walked past. 

    "I love you, stay safe" I responded.

   "I know," He grinned. "We will."

    The door swung shut behind the boys and I turned to find Lily and Marlene gaping at me.

    "What?" I asked.

    "When did that happen?" Marlene exclaimed.

    "When did what happen?"

    "You just said 'I love you to Sirius!" Lily grinned.

    "Oh shit, I didn't tell you?" I covered my mouth with my hand.

    "No!" Marlene threw a pillow at me.

   "Hey!" I protested as I shoved the pillow back at her.

   "This is important stuff, Maude!" Lily was still grinning.

    "Sorry! we were just so busy with the order and everything . . . " I trailed off and smiled guiltily. 

    "Well, I fully expect all the details ASAP." Marlene insisted.

    "It was on Christmas eve and everyone else was asleep. Sirius snuck us onto the roof and we were watching the stars, he was going on about how his whole family is named after stars, and all of a sudden I realized I loved him, and it just kind of told him."

    "Just like that?" Marlene asked.

   "Just like that," I confirmed.

   "That's adorable," Lily said.

    "It was rather embarrassing," I laughed. "I hadn't thought about it at all, and I wasn't sure what he was going to say, but he said it back and that was that."

    The conversation moved to the new David Bowie album Marlene had received in the mail, and then to our classes, and then to silence as the stress of the full moon settled in. I watched the hands on the clock spin around as Lily and Marlene drifted off to sleep. And before I knew it I was out too.

•••

    I woke with a start and heard muffled voices outside the door. I glanced at the clock which read: 1:13 a.m. 

   "Isn't it way too early for them to be back?" Lily's voice startled me.

   "Yeah-" I started, but the door swung open and I gasped. 

   James was holding a bloody Sirius up in the doorway.

    "Someone give me a hand," James said, as he struggled to keep Sirius upright.

    "Prongs I'm fine" Sirius mumbled, but his voice sounded strained.

    "What the fuck did you do?" Marlene asked as she jumped up to help. She and James deposited Sirius onto the couch.

    "Holy shit," I whispered, rushing over to Sirius, who gave me a half-hearted smile.

     James had slumped onto the couch next to Lily who was gripping his hand tightly as he caught his breath. 

   "So?" Marlene broke the silence. "What happened?"

  "A woman was walking past the Shrieking Shack" James started, "- don't ask me what she was doing cause I have no fucking clue- but Remus tried to attack her and Sirius stopped him, but this," He gestured to a long, deep cut on Sirius's leg, "happened. Moony still has a couple of hours left in his transformation and Peter stayed out with him. I considered bringing him to Madam Pomfrey, but I wouldn't have known how to explain why we were with Remus."

    "Prongs, mate, I really appreciate the detailed retelling and all, but I'm bleeding out on the goddamn couch here," Sirius groaned, though there was a touch of humor in his voice.

    "Lils?" James turned to her.

    "I can't promise perfection, but I'll try," Lily murmured, moving to look at Sirius's leg. "James, can you go grab some water?"

    "Yeah, of course," He seemed relieved to get away from the blood.

    "How do you feel?" I murmured to Sirius who was looking very pale.

    "Never been better," His voice was rough.

    "Shut up," I couldn't help but laugh a bit. He grinned back and I felt myself relax just a bit.

    "Sirius, I'm going to start, are you ready?" Lily asked.

    "Yeah," he said then looked to me and held up his arm. "Hold my hand?" He asked with a cocky grin. I was amazed by his ability to keep his humor.

    "Anytime," I smiled back.

    I heard Lily mutter an incantation and Sirius winced, squeezing my hand tightly.

    "Oh, fuck me," He said in a pained voice. "Goddamnit Lils."

    "Sorry! I'm sorry. I'm almost done," Lily responded. 

    Sirius's grip tightened even further on my hand but a second later he relaxed and Lily moved away from his leg.

    "It's not perfect, but it's the best I can do." She grimaced.

    I looked down at Sirius's leg, the injury was still visible but it had shrunk and stopped bleeding. A moment later James returned with a glass of water and handed it to Sirius who downed it in one sip.

    "Thanks, Lils," Sirius said offering a grateful smile.

    "Anytime," Lily said, she smiled, but her voice was tense. "Now you've lost a lot of blood and really shouldn't be walking back to the common room. You can have James's bed and he'll share with me."

    "Lily I'm fine, I can stay on the couch." Sirius protested.

    But Lily wouldn't take no for an answer and soon James and I were helping Sirius into James's room. Sirius lay down in the bed which looked as though it hadn't been slept in for a while. I thought back to Lily saying she would share with James so casually and couldn't help but laugh a little.

    "What are you laughing at?" Sirius asked. I glanced toward James and shook my head.

    "I'll tell you later," I promised.

    "I'm going to help Lily clean up," James said, before heading back into the main room. I sat down on the bed next to Sirius.

    "Feeling any better?" I asked. Even though Lily had healed him pretty well, he still seemed to be hurting.

    "Much," he responded.

    "That's good." I sighed. "If your okay I think I'm going to head to bed," I leaned over and pressed my lips to his, before pushing myself up from the bed.

    "Maude, just stay." He sounded mildly exasperated, but he was smiling.

    "Really?"

    "Yes really," He laughed and reached over to pull the blankets open. I kicked off my shoes and crawled into the warm blankets beside him.