He was lost. He knew he was lost, because every tree looked the same, and the snow was already at his knee. It was a silly way for a vampire to die, after all, his own blood was ice, he wasn’t supposed to be cold, at least not if he followed the traditions if he fed from human blood, and only that. But Sirius Black didn’t follow tradition, and for that same reason, he was lost in these woods, on a full moon's night, almost dying of cold.
Right before he fell in the snow - so smooth and so, so, cold - he wondered if his parents had realized he was gone, what excuses they would give the Lestranges about their future son-in-law not being present for his own engagement party. That made him smile.
Maybe he wasn’t going to survive the cold, but he was going to die a free vampire, and maybe that was enough.
“One star,
too bright for the sky,
found his way,
from the dark…”
He had written the lullaby when he was a child, something for only him and his little brother, to break through the ice-cold silence of the night. For some reason, it was the thing that came to his mind while he felt the snow covering his skin.
“ Like a dog.
looking for a place to sleep,
round and round,
found it here
in me…”
There was something moving in the woods, he could hear steps breaking the fresh snow and leaves rustling on the trees. He should probably keep quiet, die from the cold, and not as a victim sounded a bit more honorable, but he was sure his voice was just a whisper in the night, and sure even he deserved that bit of comfort before the end, no?
“So I shine,
like the stars,
looking for my place,
in the dark sky…”
He didn’t know when he closed his eyes. One moment there were clouds and just a shadow of the moon, and then it was completely dark.
But then there was warmth, so much warmth he felt his skin on fire. He wondered if that was what dying felt like, ironic considering all the snow around him. When he opened, however, he found a new sky behind honey-like eyes over him.
He was sure he saw fur and heard a very distinct wolf howl too but the eyes locked on his were so human that Sirius could read the confusion and worry on them. Werewolf them.
The fire kept going, each breath of the creature would burn like open fire, but he was too weak to be able to scream, and then he was being moved, the creature clearly having made their mind and somehow managing to get Sirius's frozen body over their back.
The movement was weirdly soothing, and on their back the fire was more of a cozy warmth so Sirius closed his eyes again, wondering if he should try to runaway, to escape the creature that was historically an enemy, if dying of cold was better than what a pack of werewolves would do to him. But he was weak, and the warmth was more than he was ever allowed to feel, and he kept repeating to himself that maybe he could enjoy it just a bit more.
“ Remus?” The voice was too loud, and Sirius realized he had fallen asleep at some point during the trip, but now they had stopped and there was someone else there. “What is this?”
There was another howl and some ruffing before Sirius felt himself slipping through the soft fur to the ground, the contrast to the cold snow was enough to make him fully awake again. They weren’t in the forest anymore, he could see a house and smell other vampires.
“ Wh- who is that?” Dark eyes behind round lenses found him, and two cold hands helped him sit. Sirius took note of the messy hair and what was obviously pajamas and… rabbit slippers?
“Hi” He managed to say, and the dark eyes got even bigger. If Sirius wasn’t feeling like a dead vampire, he might have laughed at the reaction.
“Fuck! Let me help you mate!”
He found himself getting up, his body stiff from the almost death hypothermia experience needing more support than he would like from a stranger, but the other vampire - because yeah, Sirius saw the fangs and he could smell the blood on him, even if it wasn’t human, which was…interesting, something to come back to later -, had no problem holding him.
When he looked at the werewolf watching them, the honey eyes were set on him, still as readable as before, full of worry and caution. Sirius had never met a werewolf before, so he didn’t know if his reaction to their attention was normal, but he was sure that if he had a full stomach, he might be blushing right now.
“Thank you” he managed to say, before being dragged inside a house.
…
The Potters, as their son introduced them, were a family of vampires located in Hogsmeade village, they were as old as the Black family, but just like Sirius, they had given their back to traditions, and started to build a more sustainable life for them and their neighbors. The whole village was made of outcast creatures and humans that needed a place and weren’t scared, and the Potters made sure they would be safe and respected there.
Remus, the werewolf that saved him, didn’t have a pack, which was weird in itself, but he was also a witch, something Sirius had never heard of.
“He’ll be back in the morning, but since it’s the full moon he’ll be feeling like shit, but eventually you guys will meet again” James, the Potter’s son, explained, and Sirius was glad that he would be able to thank them properly.
“You’re welcome to stay as long as you need,” James said next, even though Sirius hadn’t been able to say a word yet.
When he closed his eyes again, this time wrapped up in a cozy blanket after a hot shower, an even hotter plate of soup, and a scalding cup of tea, the only thing Sirius could think of was the honey eyes looking at him and making him feel seen for the first time in his life. “Remus…” the name echoed in his thoughts, and it sounded like another type of lullaby.