It was the night after the full moon. Remus, as per usual, was in the hospital wing, groggy from last night's escapades.
Remus had sustained more injuries than normal, as the transformation had been particularly painful this time, the moon had shone especially bright.
Thankfully (due to Madame Pomfrey's potions) the worst of his injuries had mostly healed, including his broken leg and ribs.
Still, everything hurt, his muscles ached, his gashes and scars still felt fresh - some were still trickling blood, but he did his best to hide them.
Despite his pain, Lupin was desperate to leave the hospital wing to get some half-decent sleep in his dorm.
He'd already missed dinner and his friends when they came to visit him, as he was still passed out when they arrived, which made his stay in the hospital wing even more boring and mind-numbing than ever, but all that didn't matter, he just wanted sleep.
Madame Pomfrey came to ask how he was, and he lied - saying he felt fine and was ready to go back to his dorm room. She begrudgingly let him leave, trusting his judgement, as he 'knew his body best'.
As he stood up to leave, the dull throb of his head intensified and he had to stifle a gasp from the sudden dizziness that overtook him, but just about managed to keep up the 'painless' act until getting out of sight, in order to just get away from the wretched sounds, smells and sights of the infirmary (which truly were an assault on the senses) and to convince the kindly healer he truly was fine (he wasn't).
He slowly limped his way to Gryffindor Tower, wincing with each step he took down the long corridors and moving stairs, almost taking the wrong staircase twice, but he was glad to be out of the hospital wing.
Remus muttered the password to the portrait of the fat lady, his legs almost giving out as he hauled himself into the deserted common room, even his friends weren't there at this hour so it must be late. Exhausted by the agonising journey across the school, he gripped the banister of the stairs, so hard his knuckles were white, to keep himself steady as he stumbled his way to his dormitory.
He opened the door as quietly as he could, so as not to wake the other sleeping boys.
Closing the door behind him he studied the room: he could hear Peter snoring softly and could see the drapes around James' bed moving in time to his breathing - he could see Sirius' bed was vacant but his half-asleep brain couldn't bring itself to think much of it through the pain potion he was given (these always gave him brain fog).
He took one step towards his own 4-poster desiring nothing more than to sleep his remaining pain away, and then he heard a faint whimpering coming from behind the drawn curtains of his bed.
Remus didn't know how he hadn't noticed it before, but it was definitely there.
Quickly, the whimpers turned to heart-wrenching sobs - quiet at first but steadily becoming louder.
His fatigued legs took over, and soon, he had tip-toed his way to the source of the weeping, peeling back the curtain slowly so he wouldn't startle the boy inside.
His back was facing Remus, and he had his head buried in a pillow, cries muffled by the fabric.
Suddenly it dawned on Lupin just who this was.
"Sirius," he breathed out, and the boy sat on his bed, jerked at the sound of his name, then quickly turned to hide his face deeper in the pillow.
"M-Moony, Sorry, I-I didn't think you-you'd come back tonight," Sirius said, suppressing his sobs as he spoke.
Remus sat gently down on the bed next to the boy, desperately wanting to take his boyfriend into his arms and hug him tight, but knowing that Sirius didn't like to be touched when he was fragile, he refrained.
"You don't need to apologise. What happened? Pads, what's wrong?" Remus asked, trying his best to sound soothing, forgetting his own pain, solely focussed on the shivering boy in front of him.
"I-I'm fine, sorry, I-I'll go," Sirius murmured between hurried breaths into the pillow, still refusing to meet Remus' gaze and breaths still coming out in pants from his crying, he was clearly having a panic attack. Remus didn't know why.
Just as Sirius was starting to crawl away from where he was, to stop him, Remus whispered, "Sirius, you're not 'fine', what happened?"
Sirius said nothing and made no moves, just wheezed, his breaths still shallow, like he couldn't get any air, so Remus firmly but kindly said, "Sirius, you need to breathe, look at me," slowly Sirius lifted his head and turned to meet Remus' gaze.
His boyfriend's eyes were puffy and red from crying, and a constant flow of tears dripped onto his sharp cheekbones, the pained look in his eyes almost brought him to tears too, he looked broken - beyond all hope.
"Breathe with me, okay," Remus whispered, over-exaggerating his breaths for the smaller boy to copy and coaxing him to sit back down with him.
"C-can't," he gasped out between sobs, genuine fear shone in his eyes.
"Yes, you can. Breathe with me," the werewolf assured, as he continued to accentuate his breathing, "in..... and out....."
Slowly, Sirius' breaths began to even out to a normal pace, albeit shaky.
Remus had never seen Sirius this upset. Sure, he'd seen him shed the odd tear, but never like this, not ever a full blown panic attack. He wanted to comfort the trembling boy, but first, he wanted him to be more comfortable.
"Can I touch?" he asked calmly, Sirius shook his head it took all Remus' pained body had, to not reach out and envelope him in a hug.
"Lie down or sit?"
"Sit," Sirius murmured.
"Why are you crying?" Remus awaited a response, and then Sirius reluctantly unclenched his balled fist to reveal a scrunched up, tear stained letter.
Immediately Remus understood what had happened when he read that the letter was addressed from Number 12, Grimmauld Place. It only got worse as he read the letter.
Dear Sirius,
As of this morning your picture has been scorched out by myself and your father, you are hereby disowned by the most Noble and Ancient, pureblood, House of Black and are no longer welcome at Grimmauld Place or any property belonging to the Blacks. Clearly our punishments haven't taught you any respect for those who raised you. Your souvenirs from those punishments will serve as a reminder to all that you are nothing but a weak little boy. You have disgraced the family name; first by being in Gryffindor house, now running away? You ought to be ashamed of your actions,
I hope to never see you again,
Walburga Black
"Oh, Padfoot, I'm so sorry. That's horrible, none of it's true, don't listen to them, you have nothing to be ashamed of, you don't deserve what they did to you, I love you, always and forever," Remus rushed his words desiring only to help, but it only starts up another round of sobs from his lover.
Sirius then croaked "Touch now, please," mid sob, and Remus wrapped his long, lanky limbs around the shuddering boy, pulling him onto his lap, running his hands through his prized curls and rubbing small circles on his back in a soothing motion whilst rocking him back and forth.
"I'm sorry, you shouldn't have seen me like this," Sirius whispers.
"Is that why you panicked?" Remus inquired softly, earning a nod in reply. "Pads, I love you no matter what ok, we all need help sometimes, and besides how many times have you seen me like this?" Remus didn't expect an answer but knew that saying this helped Sirius.
As his tears stained the lapels of Remus' shirt, Sirius pressed his head into his favourite werewolf's chest right over his heart, listening for his heartbeat, a sound he always found comfort in.
Eventually, Sirius' breathing steadied again, and he relaxed into his boyfriend's embrace, Remus placed a gentle kiss onto the boy's temple, then leant back onto his pillow - whispering sweet nothings and kind words to Sirius to further calm him.
Sirius felt completely at peace now. He knew his blood family hated him, so now he decided that this was his new one and his home was in his Moony's arms.
"I love you, Moony," Sirius whispered affectionately, as he moved to replace his head on Remus' chest as they snuggled together in his bed knowing that his Moony would always be there for him even on his worst night of the month he would still care for Sirius.
Both boys woke up the next morning still in each other's arms, having had a peaceful, dreamless sleep.
James (of course) couldn't resist the urge to tease them about sleeping together, but they paid him no attention - they hardly even noticed his antics. They were too busy enjoying each other's presence, their relationship blossoming, a new level of trust between them.
From then on, whenever Sirius broke down or Remus was in pain or they just needed someone to talk to, the other would wrap themselves around them and stay with their love just so that they knew they were always there for them through whatever.
They didn't need to be okay all the time. They were perfect in each other's eyes no matter what.