Au bord de l'émotion
They apparated to the forest in the early afternoon. The air was still hot even tho the summer had ended so it was harder to keep walking.
“What are we even looking for?” Remus asked after half an hour of constant walking through the woods.
“Some hints” Sirius muttered. “Do you smell anything?”
“No?” Remus narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “Why would I?”
Sirius sighted but said nothing. He looked at trees' barks and at the ground. Sometimes he even looked up at the sky as if the whole pack of werewolves would just fell down for them.
“Werewolves move on in the night so now they are resting” Sirius said althoug Remus knew this. “We need to find some traces till the evening.”
“And then?”
“And then we analyse. We need to think where the werwolves are going. What kind of people are they kidnapping. What Death Eaters have from it. What are their next moves. And obviously our contra.”
Remus nodded silently. Sirius was in his element. He looked eager to do... whatever he was doing. Remus had no idea what traces would be on trees and in the sky.
“I don't see any traces” Remus mumbled. He knew his opinion wouldn' matter to Sirius Black, the expirienced auror. Sirius probably fought with dozens dark creatures and looked for traces more than that, so in his mind he is an expert and Remus is just... well, Remus. It was annoying but he couldn't tell Sirius who he really is. Not just Remus.
Sirius looked at him with a frown but then, to his complete surprise he nodded.
“Where do you think we should apparate then? Which part of the forest should we choose?” Sirius asked. Sirius Blacked asked for his opinion. Did that just happen?
“Umm” Remus thought trying to overcome his shock. “If I was tired after whole night of moving throgh the forest” he said completely hypothetically “I would rest near the water. Not exactly very close to it, cause it would be an open area, too dangerous, but as close as not to tire myself to go drink.”
Sirius was thinking for a while and then nodded. “There are severals lakes in this forest. Are we gonna check them all?”
“We have no other choice, do we?”
“No” Sirius smiled lightly but it quickly faded. “Alright, let's go.”
They appareted to three different lakes, starting from the biggest one, only to find some small wild animals and their own disappointment. It was gonna take them longer than they previously thought. The sun was slowly diving down into the hirizon and they had no much time left.
“We can still check one or two small lakes” Remus suggested.
“No. We should return to the motel now.”
“Aren't we suppose to catch them before they will do something?” Remus asked annoyed.
“Lupin” Black sighted with equal irritation. “The night in the forest is impossible to survive. The evening is almost as hard. I won't risk the whole mission for an addicional hour of searching.”
“Surviving in the forest isn't impossible” Remus spoke before he could think.
Sirius looked at him with this thing in his eyes. As if he knew. But it can't be. How would Sirius know anyway? The only two people that know about Remus condition is Dumbledor and the Minister himself. There's no way either of them would tell Sirius Black for no reason. They are better than this.
Or maybe thay had a reason? Maybe they told him because of the mission? But they wouldn't have a guarantee that Sirius would not tell anyone else and that would not only mess Remus' life but whole ministry organisation as well.
Remus finally agreed to returning to the town. They went to another shabby place with not more than ten bedrooms to book for a night.
“I have never thought I would see you in a place like this” Remus said as they waited for the person to serve them.
“Imagine an auror in the luxury hotel” Sirius rolled his eyes. “It's like a black cat in the snow.”
“I always thought you're more of a dog than a cat, honestly” Remus said more to himself than to Sirius but the man shot him a weird look. His eyes were wide as if what Remus said was the most shocking thing on Earth. “What?” Remus asked finally uncomfortable.
“Get your own room” Sirius turned away with a huff and walked outside the motel.
“What the fuck are you doing, Black?!” Remus shouted as he followed him.
“I'm not able to last with you in the same room for the whole fucking night!”
“You said you're gonna be kind and professional!”
“I changed my fucking mind!”
“Merlin, do you hear yourself?”
Sirius didn't answer almost running through the town, so Remus grabbed his arm and turned him so they were face to face. “Talk to me, instead of running away like a cowar-” Remus stopped yelling in the middle of the sentence seeing tears in Black's eyes. He let go of his arm and Sirius looked away embarassed.
Sirius wiped his eyes with his hand and recovered uite quickly. He looked so vulnerable a mere second ago but now he looked same as always, proud and majestic, with only slightly puffy eyes.
Without another word they walked back into the motel and paid for a room. The room in the question was on the second floor with two beds and ugly bathroom in front of their door, one for all rooms. They were silent for the next hour. Sirius was writing something in a small notebook covered in the black leather and Remus opened a window to smoke.
“Can I get one?” Remus turned around to see Sirius standing behind him.
“A cig?”
“Yeah.”
“Sure” Remus nodded at his pack. Sirius took a cigarett into his plumpy lips and lighted it quickly to lean next to Remus.
“I haven't smoke for much too long” he sighted relaxed exhaling a big gray puff.
“Why not?” Remus asked not really sure why. It wasn't their thing to casually talk.
“Aurors aren't suppose to smoke. Not after one time in sixties when one auror caused a huge fire in the main department. There was gas leak and he lighted a cig inside the building and well... kaboom.”
“So you can't smoke at all?”
“At all. It's also so we're healthy and all that shit.”
“Can't belive I'm the one who depraves you” Remus smirked involuntarily.
“Not the first time.”
“What?”
“Nothing” Sirius muttered and turned away.
Remus thought for a minute there that they can talk like normal people but the tension returned in the blink of an eye. And it was all because of Sirius. Why can't he behave normally like everyone else would?
Remus sighted and put out his cig on a windowsill. “I'll take the shower first.”
When Remus showered he laid on his bed and took out some reports of last attacks. They were bloody and brutal but not tipical for werewolves. They were too quiet. Of course the pack had to be quiet to have a time to kidnapp young people from their beds before everyone else would notice but the town folks would be helpless against the pack anyways. So what was the point? Was that something the Death Eaters told them to do? Why were they so cautious?
“Go to sleep, Lupin. We have to go back to the forest the first thing tomorrow” Remus looked up from the reports and his heart stopped. Sirius was in his briefs only, his hair still soaked from the long shower, his muscles sharp and hot. Remus' eyes wandered through Black's torso until he saw a big scar on his belly. Something in Remus' chest ached sudenelly. He felt so pitful and he couldn't look away from the scar.
“Remus” he looked away hearing his own name. There was something weird in a way Sirius was looking at him. “Go to sleep.”