The Weary Werewolf pt.2
Sirius:
Sirius knew that Remus was having an especially hard week, and that was why he was sitting in his Divinations class thinking of ways to cheer up his boyfriend. Divinations was the easiest class he ever took. All he had to do was bullshit something about death, betrayal, and love and he’d get a passing grade, so he had the free time. He considered setting up a cute date for them both, but he know Remus would say he didn’t have the time for that right now. He was always doing homework. Sirius never understood why he had so much work. Remus had a study group, yet it seemed to only add to his workload rather than take it away. Sirius noticed that every time he did visit the study group. It seemed Remus was helping everyone else but never getting any help himself. It always bothered Sirius that no one there seemed to consider the pressure they were putting Remus under or that he, himself, might need help as well. By the end of his Divinations class, he still had no idea what to do to help Remus. Sirius was the first of his friends back to their common room, so he claimed his spot on the couch. He watched as the other kids who also finished classes for the day filed into the common room. Many of them pulled out books and started studying or claimed a corner with their friends. James and Peter did the same and sat by him pulling out their homework.
“I wish I could get a house elf to do my homework,” whined James, as he made slight revisions to an essay.
“That would be cheating,” responded Pete, opening a Herbology textbook.
“You have Remus do your homework all the time. What’s the difference?” rebutted James
“We really should stop asking him to do that. He already has so much going on,” remarked Sirius, falling further back into his seat.
“We have stopped. We do our own homework now. See?” said James holding up his revised essay.
“You literally asked him to do your Charms homework last week,” Sirius pointed out, laughing.
“Well, that was an emergency,” remarked James.
“Yeah, and so was Pete’s extra credit Muggle studies assignment.”
“Pete! We talked about this,” James condemned Peter.
“I only asked because you asked him for help on your Care of Magical Creatures assignment the day before.”
“No I didn’t”
“Yes, you did. I was right there”
“I did not”
“You did too”
“Boy, please. Other people are trying to study,” boomed Frank, the Gryffindor Head Boy.
“Sorry, Frank” all three boys chorused in response.
As the boys turned their attention back to their work the door to the common room opened and a very weary-looking Remus stumbled in. Remus’s bag was hanging heavily over the boy's shoulder and appeared that it might cause the boy to tip over. Sirius took one look at Remus and could see the exhaustion spewing out of him. Remus’s eyes searched the room till they locked onto Sirius’s. A small weight appeared to lift off of the boy and their eyes locked. He b-lined to Sirius practically falling onto the couch and against Sirius’ chest. Sirius tensed for a moment. The two agreed to keep their relationship a secret from everyone besides James and Pete. Remus made it very clear that PDA was off-limits. It was for both their safety after all. But Sirius loosened up. Friends cuddle in public places, right? Sirius wrapped his arms around Remus and pulled him closer and whispered “what’s wrong”. Remus buried his head further into Sirius. Sirius could feel the subtle movements of Remus’s body as his warm tears soaked through Sirius’s shirt. Sirius moved forward making it look like he was whispering to the boy again and softly kissed the top of Remus’s head. Sirius took his eyes off Remus for the first time since his arrival and saw the two faces of his friends looking at him in confusion. Sirius gave them a slight shrug and looked back down at the boy curled up on him.
“Is he okay?” asked James quietly.
“I don’t know. I think he’s just been overworking himself and, you know, it's about that time,” Sirius said as he ran his hand through Remus’ hair.
“Oh yeah, it is isn’t it,” James said putting his homework back in his bag.
“Should I run down to the kitchen and grab some snacks?” Peter asked, also slipping his work in his bag.
“Thanks, Pete, but I think he just needs some sleep”
“Say, Pete. How about a game of chess?” James said rearranging the chess piece on the board.
Sirius never understood why James kept challenging Pete to games of wizard’s chess when he knows he’s destined to lose. They’ve played four rounds already and Peter has won all of them. Sirius watched as the two set up for their fifth match and lets his mind wander back to helping Remus. With Remus this stressed a date was definitely out of the question. Sirius felt a piece of parchment scratch his leg. Sirius slowly tugged it out from under Remus’s body. It was a small folded-up piece of paper. He unfolded it and made out in Remus’s scratchy handwriting “To-Do”. Below it listed by subject were all of Remus’s assignments with the due date next to them. Sirius skimmed the paper finding some due dates from past weeks, the current week, and even a few for the night of the full moon. The list was so long it stressed even Sirius out to look at it.
“Sirius,” said James waving his hand in front of Sirius’s face.
“Hm?”
“We're heading up to bed it’s getting late, you probably should too,” Pete said gathering up his belongings off the floor.
“Let me wake Remus up and I’ll head up,” Sirius said as the two boys made their way up to the boys' dormitory.
“Remus, time to go upstairs,” Sirius said softly as he lightly shook Remus. Remus slowly opened his eyes blinking at Sirius. Remus grumbled incoherently. “Come on, let's head upstairs.”
“No, can’t. Have to work,” mumbled Remus.
Sirius glanced around the room and saw that everyone beside Frank had left the common room and quietly said, “Love, you need sleep.”
“No, need to work,” Remus said moving to grab his bag as Sirius sighed.
“How about you wake up early and finish it? I’ll make sure James wakes you up when he gets up for Quidditch practice,” He said, as he ushered Remus toward the staircase.
“Hm, okay,” Remus said as he sleepy stumbled up the stairs. Sirius followed close behind in case he fell.