Sirius
“Okay Padfoot I’m confused, why have you brought me here?” Remus asked as I dragged him down an aisle in the library to a dark corner. He had humored me that morning at breakfast when I asked to show him a surprise, something I’d been working on in the last month since our picnic. He'd been trying to humor me a lot more frequently.
“I found something!” I simply remarked. I wanted to leave him guessing. He squeezed my hand as I led him into the corner in which I had decorated with magical fairy lights that floated around the corner. There were two armchairs and a small coffee table.
“Oh Merlin. Did you set all of this up?” Remus helped a ball of light float higher. I grabbed a blanket from off the back of one of the chairs and wrapped it around myself. “It’s beautiful Pads.”
“Thank you Remus.” I caught his gaze and smiled. He moved to sit down on one of the chairs and then grabbed my hand so that I would join him. I did and draped my body over his while he made sure his cane was propped up against the wall.
“So want to tell me why you wanted to show me this? I’ll admit I’m very happy about it, but I’m curious.” He wrapped his arms around me and tugged me into his chest.
“Figured it’s been four months since I moved in, and since you sent Teddy to stay with Regulus and them, we could have a moment to ourselves?” I reached up and dragged my hand along his beard. He had begun to let it grow out a bit more over the few months I was in the castle.
“Ac roeddech chi eisiau bod ar eich pen eich hun gyda mi mewn cornel fach o fy llyfrgell? What do you plan we do?” He asked me with a smug smile. I hummed only understanding a word or two of Welsh.
“I have no clue what you said, but sure.” He grabbed my hand and started to guide me along his jawline. I smiled but couldn’t help but feel very exposed under his gaze. He wasn’t looking away from me and I could have sworn he was purring with his throat vibrating under my knuckles.
He moved his other hand down my waist and rested it right above my thigh on my hip. He started to rub his thumb in circles before he gave me this look that screamed ‘I want to eat you’. I almost whined as he pulled me closer once again to his large body. I could feel his chest vibrating under me, he was purring.
“You know, I never understood why you wanted me to call you Padfoot. Regulus doesn’t either and he’s your brother. Why is that a name for you?” He finally spoke. He lowered my hand from his jaw and I could tell he had been thinking about it while we were in silence.
“It would be better if I showed you, yes? You have to understand though, I did this when I was sixteen.” I stood up from his lap and shifted into my dog Animagus form. Remus shot forward in the chair and reached down a hand to pet me.
“You’re an Animagus. Why did you become one?” He pulled me back up onto his lap where I shifted back. He locked our hands together before he properly looked at me. “More importantly, you did this at sixteen?”
“I did it to keep myself hidden on the streets. My parents had made me homeless, and unlike now where I have you, back then, I had no one. Not even my own brother because he became the heir to the Black Kingdom. So it was easy to spend a month with a Mandrake leaf in my mouth if it meant I would be safer as an animal.” I summarized.
“You know your brother is one too? All of them are, they found a notebook a few days after they got married and then a year or so into their marriage they all went under ‘a vow of silence’ to turn. Reggie is a black cat, James is a stag, Lily is a doe, and Pete is a rat.” He pulled my hand closer to his chest.
“A notebook? I kept a notebook to explain the ups and downs of my transition. Where did they find it? I lost it right after I moved back into the castle. Please Remus, where is it?” I was very hopeful the man knew where it was, I had taken notes of my whole transformation in it, and I was proud of my work.
“It’s somewhere in here. Largest library in the kingdom you know, Reggie said I would be stupid if I didn’t have it. Come on, I can show you.” He helped me stand up before he grabbed his cane and guided me back through the maze of books.
“So can I ask, while you look, why do they call you Moony then?” I felt his grip tighten before he relaxed again. He looked everywhere but at me.
“Just what they fell on.” He grumbled before turning and moving down another row of books. “I don’t like talking about why, just call me Moony if you want, or don’t, I don’t care.”
“Sorry.” I rammed into his back before he turned and faced a shelf, his face was scrunched up as he frowned deep in thought. I rubbed my forehead before I looked at the rows of academic journals. I recognized the spine of my own notebook almost instantly and pointed. “That one.”
He looked at where I was pointing, to a very broken and battered notebook on the top shelf. He looked down at me to make sure he was looking at the same one. I nodded and he reached up to pull it down.
“Here you are, your journal. It’s really good what you have in there, I could always take it and get it printed and bound if you want me to, I will do that.” He smiled, he didn’t look as angry as before, which made me happy. He leaned down a bit so he could be eye level with me before he pulled me into a hug.
“What’s this for Remus?” I stumbled as I hugged him back. He let out a deep sigh and I couldn’t help but want to take any pain of his away. I realized in that moment though, I also just wanted to be with him at all times, by his side as long as I could be.
“For today, now that you made us a nice little corner, I would like to go back to that and spend the rest of the afternoon hearing about the wonderful things you discovered that are in here. You’re really smart Pads, I would love to see that be put to good use.” He hummed, his hold on me never wavering as he just let me enjoy his warmth.
“I reckon I like that idea. And thank you for indulging me today, and for keeping my notebook safe.” I let him guide me back to the corner where he pulled me back down onto his lap and opened the book gently, like it was made of glass. We spent the rest of the day like that, him reading to me, or me explaining theories and ideas to him. An afternoon in a nice bubble of content.