Red Caps

It was silver.

He knew it as soon as Mulciber turned around. He and Sirius were now dueling, Remus couldn't go near him. He tried to curse him, but he could sense the strong smell of silver. His vision was blurred and kept missing his shots. What the fuck did this fucker have on him?!

Remus glimpsed a green light amongst the mostly red ones and gasped loudly. Mulciber was aiming to kill. He straightened up and tried to deflect the curses.

"Impedimenta!"  It wouldn't stop a Killing Curse, of course. However, Remus hoped it would at least give him time to get to Sirius, who ended up all the way across the alley, and run away.
Mulciber changed his targed and threw one quick Conjuring Spell toward Remus, wrapping his ankles tightly with ropes. He fell to the ground and grunted.

Panting, he scrambled on the floor and started to untie the ropes. Searing parts of it with his wand. He looked sideways at Sirius and Mulciber, Remus had never seen Sirius so fast and good at dueling. Good timing, too.

A silent curse swept through the alley and struck Sirius square in the chest, he stumbled and hit the wall, falling.

A little desperate now, Remus freed himself from the ropes and aimed as steadily as possible at Mulciber's face, finally, he hit him with a Stunning spell. Mulciber tripped backwards and fell to the floor.

Remus took a deep breath, stood up and ran to Sirius, crouching next to him. "Are you okay?" he muttered.

"You should see the other guy," he replied.

Remus rolled his eyes, "Come on." He could still smell the silver. He felt dizzy so he held Sirius' arm for support with a trembling hand, "Let's just fucking go."

Sirius stared and him with concern and nodded. For a moment, Remus imagined what it would be like to be friends with him again, even to have always been friends. A universe where Sirius hadn't betrayed him, where they didn't mistrust each-other.

It would be nice, he figured. They could laugh at James and play Gobstones; but, as it was, they were not friends. Nevertheless, Remus thought he'd like to see Sirius try.

They looked at each-other, taking in what had just happened. Remus knew they were both thinking about the Killing Curse Mulciber kept invoking, how easily it could've hit them.

Remus let go of Sirius' arm and stood up once again but, all of the sudden, he felt an unimaginable pain and let out a scream. Looking down, he saw blood oozing through his shirt on his left side. Remus staggered backwards and discerned Mulciber, who had dashed to his way and was holding a silver dagger.

"Remus!" Sirius sprinted to him and stared at the wound, wide-eyed. He grabbed Remus' hands and placed them over the wound, "P-put pressure on it, alright?"

Remus supported himself on the wall and slid to the floor, his eyes watering. He saw Sirius turning to face Mulciber and, without missing a beat, punched him on the nose.

Mulciber was taken by surprise; he was bleeding, his wand had fallen. Sirius picked it up and broke it in half. Remus didn't think he'd ever seen Sirius so mad, he seemed unhinged. Sirius held his own wand in one hand, pointed down at the Death Eater, and said—

"Crucio!"

Remus worried faintly about people catching Mulciber's unberable screams and coming for them. But all was washed away by the pain he felt. He was sobbing, he couldn't remember the last time he'd cried like this. Probably during a full-moon.

Remus' whole body was shaking. He kept pressing the wound like Sirius had told him but he could feel the blood running through his fingers anyways. He felt as though needles were pushing their way through him, making him see double.

The screaming subsided quickly (at least Mulciber's did), and Remus saw double-Sirius rushing up to him. He was speaking with great speed but Remus could barely hear him now.

"S-sirius, no hospitals, they can't—" he tried to get the words out but every breath was like a new knife.

"—Okay, please don't fall asleep," Sirius said desperately.

He thought he'd heard a soft thump and looked around, that's when he saw them. Red Caps. Four of them were coming over, no doubt attracted by the tempting smell of gore.

Well, this is fucking ironic, Remus thought.

Sirius saw them too, they were getting closer. Straight at Remus. Sirius made them go away with a swish of his wand.

Remus felt his hands give up, and it was now Sirius who was pressing Remus' side. His hands covered with his blood. An old thought arouse in him, something from years ago, about Sirius' hands. Those fancy hands who hadn't ever known hardwork. Until now.

Sirius Black's hands were the last thing he felt before fainting.

— • —

The year was 1974, the air was getting hotter by the day as April past through and Remus had awoken by mid-day in the hospital wing, as was usual, after a particularly bad full-moon.

The school matron, Madam Pomfrey, had done the best she could with his new scars and tried to feed him some pastries, which Remus accepted just to content her.

Once he'd finished them, he settled back onto the pillow and closed his eyes softly. His body ached and some cuts were still stinging slightly.

It was early in the afternoon when a visitor arrived. Sirius Black.

The mood improved instantly as he walked in, Sirius just did that naturally. He and James were charismatic and could charm their way out of anything. That was probably the reason Madam Pomfrey let him in that day.

"Hiya, Remus," he pulled a chair next to Remus' bed and sat down.

"Hello"

Sirius winced a little seeing Remus' bandages and the blood stains they contained, "Bad one?" he said.

"Yeah..., but it's alright," Remus didn't want Sirius, or anyone, to pity him. "Where are the others?"

"Oh, James and Peter had detention. McGonagall," he added this last thing with a sinister tone. "Don't worry about the moons, though. Once we're finished with our—" he looked around to make sure the matron wasn't anywhere near them, "little project it shouldn't be as bad, I looked it up. Animals are supposed to be good company for the wolf."

Of course, the little project was James, Sirius and Peter's idea of making the full-moons better for Remus— by becoming animagus. The whole thing was completely nuts to him, and he wasn't sure they'd accomplish it, even with their bright minds, but Remus let them get on with it anyways.

He showed Sirius a tired smile and said, "Can't wait."

They talked about Peeves for some time (the school poltergeist), since he had played a joke on some Ravenclaw third-years by throwing a potion on their robes, making them wrinkled like a Bulldog and bright yellow, like a saturated sun.

"On other news," said Sirius still restraining a giggle, "Divination today sucked. We started on palmistry. You should've seen James though, he freaked out because, apparently,  he's got a short life-line! Honestly, it's ridiculous," he laughed.

Remus grinned and stared at his own hand, placing it in front of his face as though with a mirror, "Which one is it?"

"The one that goes down like this," Sirius pointed at his own hand.

Remus frowned, he didn't think his was too long either, "Mine sucks, too!" he exclaimed.

Sirius laughed at him and took Remus' hand with his own. Remus' breath caught short at the sudden touch.

"That's the heart one, or something like that. This—" Sirius traced another line on Remus' hand with his middle finger slowly, going all the way down to his wrist. "— is the life-line."

"Oh..." Remus said. His eyes fixed on Sirius' hand.

The moment turned oddly intimate. Remus wanted to laugh the tension off with some joke, but he couldn't think of any. Sirius' hand was still touching his, he didn't want to end it by doing any quick movements, or to scare Sirius away.

"What's yours?," Remus asked in what felt like a whisper.

Sirius finally let go of him and turned his own hand for Remus to examine. He felt an uncalled sensation of control, having Sirius like this; exposing his wrists for him, asking him to read his life-line. He sensed a craving reserved for the wolf alone, a need for skin. Maybe, so soon after the transformation, his body still longed for animal urges.

He imitated Sirius by running his fingers through the lines of his hands, and discovered that Sirius' life-line also made it to end of the palm, almost reaching the arm. For the first time, he noticed the other boy had soft hands, no hard work on them. No roughness to show. Just elegant, graceful hands, sculpted to dance. To touch and caress.

They had come closer, brought together by the reducing oxigen in the room. If they moved a few inches, their foreheads would be touching; and if they moved even closer than that...

But Remus couldn't think of that. He didn't know where the thought had come from, he wished he could erase it with a charm. It was an awful thing to consider, and he had enough of a beast inside him already. No need to listen to incoherent ideas.

He pulled back and crossed his arms tightly against his chest — it hurt him thanks to his bruised ribs — and said, hurriedly:

"What the fuck was that?" They had both felt it, that much was clear.

"I— I don't know!" answered Sirius, red in the face, "I'm sorry! I— I'm not... you know"

"Neither am I!" said Remus defensively, was Sirius accusing him? "Don't be so fucking weird, Sirius!"

"Yeah, no, you're right. Sorry, I— I'll get back to the common room. See you there later?"

"Yes," Remus said curtly. "See you there."

— • —

When Remus woke up, he thought, for a second, that it was the morning after a full-moon. He felt hot and sore. Then he remembered what happened with Mulciber and opened his eyes immediately.

He was lying on a twin-sized bed, above him, the high ceiling was made of ligh wood and a window on the wall was letting moon-light enter through the curtains. Sirius was sitting right beside him, staring at him anxiously; his shirt was soaked in blood and his hair was untied, his eyes blood-shot.

"You scared the fuck out of me!" he said, sighing with relief when he saw Remus awake, "How do you feel?"

"Like shit," whispered Remus. God, it hurt to speak, he'd trade a bad transformation for this any day.

"It wasn't too deep, the cut," said Sirius, "But it was silver. So... I don't know, Remus" he rubbed his face, frustrated. "I cleaned it up and tried a healing spell. It help a little, y-you were bleeding a lot. But then it stopped and I put the bandage on it."

Remus drove his hand slowly up the wound and felt the bandage, "Sorry I passed out, how long was I gone?"

"Don't apologize. You weren't out too long, like, two hours. I had to Apparate us here... I-I didn't know what else to do. You said no hospitals."

"Yeah, they're not particularly mindful of werewolves, they wouldn't have cared, really." He pulled his shirt over the wound again and look at Sirius in the eye, "Thank you."

Sirius stared at him and smiled weakly, "Of course, did you think I'd let you die?"

Remus smiled, too. He closed his eyes and concentrated on breathing, he was shivering but still his skin was burning.

Sirius placed a hand on his forhead and grimaced, "You have a fever. I think I have a potion that should help. I'll go get it." He stood up and turned back just before reaching the doorway, "Can I get you anything else?"

Remus shook his head and Sirius left the bedroom.

He looked around, he'd never seen Sirius' bedroom before. He caught a glimpse of Sirius' leather jacket hanging on a chair, the sleeves were stained with blood; he felt bad for being the cause of it. Sirius had also pinned some Gryffindor posters on the walls, there was also a picture of Sirius and James on a shelf and, next to it, another one of all of them at Hogwarts.

In the picture, they were wearing their uniforms and Remus spotted a Head Girl bagde on Lily's robes so he knew it was taken in their seventh year. Remus was standing next to her; on her other side was James, who showed a big smile with his arm around Sirius' shoulder. Peter had crouched slightly in front Remus and was waving at the camera.

He didn't consider that to be their best year at Hogwarts, but right now he wouldn't care what year it was, he wished he could go back. No need for a job. No need for full-moons at your parents' magically sealed basement or Death Eaters terrorizing the streets. No getting stabbed with silver in the middle of an alley.

Life was better at Hogwarts, he realized that now. Back then, commodities were a luxury he never thought about. There was free food every day and soft beds, a fireplace and friends. Grounds to run around and, even with all his hate for it, the Shrinking Shack; which was a safe place for transformations. Remus had taken all of that for granted for years. And now he didn't have that anymore, the ease of comfort.

Sirius came back with a steaming goblet and placed it on the bedside table, "Here" he said. He took hold of Remus' arms gently and helped him sit up. Remus grunted and held back a yelp. It was humiliating, being this weak and vulnerable, and in front of Sirius of all people.

Sirius passed him the goblet and he drank it giddily, eager for the pain to go away. Sirius took it back once he'd drank it all and left it on the small table again.

"I really think you ought to go to the hospital," Sirius said quickly, "I can get James and—"

"No." Remus said forcefully, "I don't want anyone to know. They'll get paranoid. And my parents would kill me if they knew how it happened. Besides, I told you already, everyone in a hospital would be extremely glad to just let me die." He took a deep breath, "The full-moon is close. I'll heal better then."

Sirius looked unconvinced but didn't argue any further, "You'll stay here then."

"What?"

"Well, there's no way I let you get out of bed like that. Don't be stubborn about this" He glared at Remus, "I don't take you to a hospital and I don't tell anyone, but you stay here and let me take care of you."

"I don't need you to take care of me! I'm not a fucking baby." It was Remus who was glaring now.

"You almost bled out to death and can't even get up, but sure, you don't need taking care of," Sirius crossed his arms and rolled his eyes, "Maybe you're not a baby but you sure as hell behave like one."

Remus frowned, "Fuck off."

"You know I'm right."

He did. Of course, he'd never admit it. But he knew it made sense for him to stay where he was and get better.

They were quiet for a few minutes. Sirius accommodated the room and stared at himself in a mirror located in the corner. He sighed, "I'll take a shower. And then we can send a letter to your parents, they must be worried" He looked at Remus, "You alright in here?"

Remus nodded, "Yeah, yeah, of course... Thank you again, really." he said reluctantly.

Sirius smiled sofly. He picked up some clothes from a drawer and walked to the bathroom. Remus settled on the pillows and fell asleep listening to the sound of the running water.