There was a long, tense silence as everyone stared at the man who had been a rat only moments ago.
"Sirius, R-Remus," Pettigrew stuttered. "My old friends."
Harry watched in disgust as Pettigrew tried to beg Lupin for help, insisting Black was trying to kill him. Which, well, he wasn't wrong — there was a reason Lupin had yet to give Black a wand.
When that didn't work, he turned to Harry, throwing himself at the boy's feet and begging for mercy.
"Enough of this," Snape snapped, raising his wand. "Your blithering was bad enough when we were schoolboys." He waved his wand, and Harry winced, fearing the worst. But instead ropes shot out, binding themselves around Pettigrew tightly.
"Let me kill him, Snivellus," Black whinged, like a toddler unwilling to share his toys. "Or Remus, he can do it! The rat needs to die!"
"Remus has always taken pride in never killing a defenceless human," Snape said calmly. "It'd be a shame to tarnish that now."
"If you kill him, you'll never be free," Harry spoke up, his thoughts moving quickly. "If we take him to the Minister, he'll confess, and you'll get a proper trial. You could clear your name." He could be Harry's godfather again.
"Harry's right," Lupin agreed. "Azkaban can have him."
"Fine," Black pouted. "But if you transform, Peter, we will kill you. I might even let Snivelly here do it. I've heard he can be quite creative."
"Must you, Sirius?" Lupin groaned, head in his hands for the briefest moment. "I thought you'd agreed to stop using that name when Lily hexed you for it."
"Whoops," Black replied, entirely unrepentant. "Must've forgotten. Azkaban, y'know. Really frazzles the brain."
"We should go," Harry said. If they were lucky, maybe the Minister would still be at the school. "What about Ron?"
A wave of Snape's wand, and Ron's grotesquely angled knee was bound and splinted. "Mobilicorpus," he murmured, levitating the redhead's unconscious body.
"I'll keep an eye on this one," Lupin said with a grimace, keeping his wand pointed firmly at Pettigrew, while he passed Harry and Hermione back their own. Hermione took hers in trembling fingers — it seemed she didn't quite know what to make of the whole situation. And so together, they started the journey back to Hogwarts.
It was the most bizarre procession of people Harry had ever been part of, and he stared at Sirius' back as he walked through the tunnel. His godfather. The man he'd heard so much about — even when Lupin tried not to talk about him, he couldn't help it. All the stories of James Potter seemed to include Sirius Black.
Black kept glancing over his shoulder at Harry, wary and uncertain. Neither of them spoke — not until they were clear of the tunnel, and the vicious tree it lived under.
"I— Moony probably told you, Harry," Black started hesitantly, "but I'm— I'm your godfather."
"Yeah. I know." Harry bit his lip, unsure what else to say.
"Well, I mean, if I get free— that makes me your guardian. If… if you would want that." Black clearly misread the look of shock on Harry's face, as he hunched in on himself. "It's fine if you don't, I'm sure whoever you've got is great, I just—"
"Now's not the time, Sirius," Lupin cut in, covering Harry's snort of derision. Those amber eyes were sympathetic as they looked between the pair. "You can talk this over later."
They kept walking, but Harry jogged forward a half step, bumping his shoulder against his godfather's. "I'd love to live with you," he murmured, grinning slightly. "Just say the word."
Sirius looked like all his Christmases had come at once. For the first time, Harry could see in him the man from his parents' wedding photo, the charming boy from the yearbook.
"Really?"
"Definitely."
Both of them turned abruptly when Lupin choked out a quiet cry, shoulders tensing, the grey in his hair highlighted by the silvery light of the moon.
The full moon.
Snape and Sirius froze in horror, staring at each other. Ron's body hit the ground with a thud as Snape's spell ended abruptly.
"Oh no," Hermione whimpered, gaze fixed firmly on Lupin as his back began to arch.
"Your potion," Snape hissed. "Remus!"
But it was too late — the man was glassy-eyed, his mind clearly elsewhere already.
"Run," Sirius urged. "Snape, take the kids and run, now."
There was no time; Lupin gasped harshly, hunching until he was almost on all fours. His head lengthened, his clothes ripped, his skin began to sprout fur. Harry backed away several steps in horror, and within seconds there was an enormous wolf stood in front of them. A huge black dog tackled it, Sirius throwing himself at the mercy of the wolf, but it batted him aside with a growl.
Harry stared, transfixed. Snape moved to stand in front of him, wand raised. In all the chaos, no one noticed Pettigrew lunge for freedom until all of a sudden he was shrinking, leaving a tangle of ropes in his wake as he scurried off into the night. Snape cursed, shooting off a spell, but whether he was aiming for Pettigrew or for the werewolf, he missed. The werewolf growled again, striking out with one huge paw. Snape went flying, hitting the grass with a dull thud.
He didn't get up.
Hermione let out a quiet moan of horror. Sirius whined, then let out a loud howl that made the werewolf turn away from Harry and the others. It howled in return, setting off at a sprint towards the forest, after Sirius. After a minute, they heard a dog yelp in pain. Harry glanced down at the unconscious — hopefully just unconscious — Snape, at Ron equally limp beside him. Then he turned on his heel and ran after the dog and the wolf.
Sirius needed help. There was no way he could tackle a werewolf alone.
Hermione called after him, no doubt staying with Ron, but Harry didn't falter — he had to get to Sirius.
He could hear yelping coming from by the lake — until it stopped abruptly. Harry picked up his pace, fear pounding through his veins, wand clutched in his hand.
When the lake was in sight, Harry knew why the yelping had stopped. The werewolf was gone, but Sirius was on the bank of the lake, a man once more, moaning with his hands over his ears. And swooping ever closer were a whole hoard of dementors. Harry felt the cold hands reaching into his chest, sucking out all his happy memories. He tried to hold onto them, raising his wand like Lupin had taught him. "Expecto Patronum!" Sirius wants me to live with him. I'm going to be free. "Expecto Patronum!" I have my godfather back. No more Dursleys. "Expecto Patronum!"
There.
Suddenly, a huge blinding light emerged from his wand, sending the dementors reeling back screaming. Harry's hand shook around his wand, the screaming still in his ears, his vision going fuzzy. He could make out some sort of four-legged animal — something with antlers? — galloping across the lake, driving the shadowy creatures away, but his knees gave way all the same, the magic burning through his exhausted body.
And then, everything went black.
.-.-.-.
Consciousness returned to Harry in two stages; the first stage of groggily blinking open his eyes, and the second stage of almost falling out of bed in his haste to get on his feet. "Mr Potter!" Madam Pomfrey exclaimed, rushing to his bedside as he struggled to stand. "Kindly desist, you're going to hurt yourself!"
"Sirius!" Harry cried out. The nurse's eyes went soft.
"No need to worry, my dear. Black is locked away upstairs, the dementors will be with him any minute. He can't hurt you now."
"What!" Her words had the opposite affect she intended as Harry tried to sit up once more. "No, they can't, he's innocent!" Surely Snape had explained?
He reached for his glasses, looking around the hospital wing as everything came into focus. Ron was passed out in the bed opposite, his bandaged knee propped up on a pillow. Hermione occupied the bed beside his, awake and looking just as horrified, her arm in a splint. And several beds down lay Professor Snape, still completely unconscious. Shit! He was their one hope of getting the headmaster and the Minister to see reason!
Harry's shout must have been heard from the corridor, as the next minute, Minister Fudge himself was on the ward, accompanied by Professor Dumbledore. "Minister, you've got the wrong man, Black's innocent!" he insisted, and Fudge's eyebrows rose in alarm.
"I say, dear boy; he must have hit you with quite the Confundus charm!"
"Harry's right!" Hermione agreed, jumping out of bed herself. "Wake up Professor Snape, he'll tell you!"
"Children, please, calm yourselves!" Madam Pomfrey cut in. "You've had quite the ordeal, it's natural to be confused. Just lie down, and—"
"Professor Snape can confirm it," Harry echoed Hermione. "Just wake him up."
"Professor Snape has a very severe concussion; to wake him from that prematurely could cause serious brain injury," Pomfrey scolded. It was on the tip of Harry's tongue to tell her to just do it anyway, but he resisted. Brain damaged Snape wouldn't help anything.
"Black must have filled their heads with his ridiculous tale," Fudge said with a shake of his head. "Something about a rat, and Peter Pettigrew."
"It's the truth! Pettigrew's an animagus, he was Ron's rat, it was his fault my parents died!" Harry argued.
"Minister, if I might have a word with my students. Alone, if you don't mind, Poppy?" Dumbledore requested. Neither the Minister nor Pomfrey looked impressed at being thrown out of the ward, but they did as the headmaster bid, Fudge declaring he was going to go wait for the dementors.
As soon as they were gone, Harry and Hermione about tripped over themselves trying to tell the whole story all at once.
"It is your turn to listen," Dumbledore spoke over them, raising a hand. "There's no time to interrupt. There is not a shred of proof that Sirius Black is an innocent man, as you say he is. The only two adults involved are currently unavailable, and by the time they can tell their story it will be too late. Cornelius will not wait around on the word of two thirteen year-olds. It's too late, do you hear me?"
Harry glared at the old man— how could he just let Sirius die? Was he that desperate to keep control of Harry?
"But you believe us?" Hermione pressed.
"What I believe is neither here nor there," Dumbledore told her. "I was not present, therefore I have no power. I cannot overrule the Minister for Magic." It took all of Harry's effort to hold back a derisive snort; as if Dumbledore didn't overrule the Minister all the time. "What we need is more time." He placed a strange emphasis on the words, and Hermione gasped. "Now listen closely. Sirius Black is being held in Professor Flitwick's office. Seventh floor, thirteenth window from the right of the West Tower. If all goes well, you should be able to save two innocent lives tonight."
Harry had officially lost the plot of the conversation, but Hermione was nodding as if the headmaster made total sense. "I am going to lock you in," Dumbledore announced, straightening up. It is—" he checked his watch "— five minutes to midnight. Three turns should do it. Good luck."
"Good luck?" Harry mumbled, utterly perplexed as the door closed. "What the… Hermione, what was he talking about?" She seemed to know exactly what Dumbledore was getting at.
"Harry, come here," Hermione urged, reaching into her robes and pulling out some sort of pendant on a very long, fine gold chain. Harry crossed the gap between their beds. The pendant was a tiny, sparkling hourglass. "Closer." Hermione threw the chain around his neck, too, her movements a little awkward thanks to her tightly-splinted wrist.
"What is that, Hermione?" Harry asked with trepidation. The bushy-haired girl smiled breathlessly.
"Just trust me. Ready?"
Harry nodded. Hermione turned the hourglass over three times, and suddenly the ward around them dissolved. The world was nothing but a blur of colour and shapes around him, his blood rushing in his ears — and then it stopped, and he was on solid ground again. In the middle of the deserted Entrance Hall… in daylight?
Before he could speak, Hermione had him by the arm and was dragging him into a nearby broom cupboard. She removed the chain from his neck, stuffing the hourglass back in her robes. "What the hell just happened?" Harry asked in a furious whisper. Hermione's explanation of the Time-Turner left him gobsmacked. "They trusted a fourteen year-old. With a time machine?? No offence," he added, realising how that sounded. Hermione snorted.
"It is a bit ridiculous, isn't it? All so I could take some extra classes. But Professor Dumbledore insisted I shouldn't have to 'curb my thirst for knowledge'," she quoted. Harry's brow furrowed. What was Dumbledore planning? For that matter, why was he letting them save Sirius?
Unless he needed Harry's godfather for part of his grand plan? On the run, unable to spend much real time with Harry, but always just out of reach as a taunt of what might've been. Harry's stomach churned uncomfortably. He had the awful feeling they were playing right into Dumbledore's hand, but there was nothing he could do about it. Not if he wanted to save Sirius.
"So what's the plan?" he asked. "You said we're just outside, walking down to Hagrid's. How do we save Sirius? Go into the woods and look for him?"
"No, we can't disrupt the original flow of time. If we warn Sirius now, tonight will never happen," Hermione whispered.
"So… if we save him, it has to happen after he's already captured?" Harry thought carefully about Dumbledore's words, his specific instructions about Flitwick's office window. Two innocent lives. "Buckbeak."
"What?" Hermione was puzzled.
"Buckbeak. The other innocent life we save. We go and grab Buckbeak, wait until Sirius gets captured, then fly up to the window and go get him. He can escape on Buckbeak— they'll both be free."
"Harry, Buckbeak was killed," Hermione pointed out cautiously. Harry gave her a shrewd look.
"Was he?" he returned. "We heard the axe swing, we didn't see it. There's a chance."
It was a small chance, but it was all they had left.
Carefully, the two of them stuck to the edges of the lawn, sneaking behind the greenhouses and into the edge of the forest until they could see Hagrid's house. It was utterly bizarre, Harry thought, hearing his own voice as Hagrid let them in under the invisibility cloak. "You've been doing this all year?" he murmured to Hermione. "Does it get any less weird?"
"Not in the slightest," she replied quietly, and the two shared a slightly manic smile. "We have to wait for the Committee to see Buckbeak, or Fudge will think Hagrid's hiding him."
The wait was excruciating. But finally, Hagrid opened the back door, and Harry could see himself, Ron and Hermione walk out of it. They threw the cloak over themselves, entirely unaware of their audience.
Harry was lucky that Buckbeak was familiar with him; once it was safe to move, the hippogriff was reluctant to leave Hagrid's pumpkin patch, and as Harry's furiously beating heart reminded him that it would just take one glance out the window for the people in Hagrid's hut to see him and ruin everything, he quietly begged the huge beast to move.
At last, Buckbeak was at the treeline, trotting at Harry's side. He forged on into the woods, skidding to a halt when Hagrid's back door slammed open. Harry couldn't stifle his smirk when Macnair and the Committee member exclaimed over Buckbeak's disappearance, even if Dumbledore did sound far too amused for his liking. Had this been the man's plan all along? Had he known about Pettigrew the whole time?
"And now we wait?" Hermione asked him, hugging herself around the waist with her good arm. Harry glance up through the trees; the sun was barely setting. It would be hours yet before Sirius would be captured.
"And now we wait," he agreed. "We should move, we won't be able to see the Whomping Willow from here." They stuck to the edge of the forest, hiding in the growing shadows as they moved closer to the Willow. They watched as Hermione appeared, sprinting after Scabbers. It was strange, watching things that had already happened from an entirely different perspective. Watching himself do things he'd already done.
At last they were all down in the tunnel, and it was silent once more. "How the hell have you been keeping track of yourself all year?" Harry breathed, shaking his head in astonishment. "I'd go mad." No wonder Hermione had spent the whole school year looking like she was on the verge of a breakdown. She was living about five extra hours to every day. Having to remember where she'd been at what time and who had seen her, so she didn't accidentally cross her own timeline. All for the sake of a few extra classes?
"It's been tough," Hermione agreed. "A few times I'd turn it back a couple of hours just to take a nap in an empty classroom. I don't think I'll do it again. It's too much."
"Dumbledore and McGonagall never should've let you do it in the first place," Harry muttered. "They should've just told you to self-study. You're smart enough not to need the lessons."
Hermione blushed, ducking her head bashfully. "It doesn't matter now. I've already dropped Divination, and I think I'll drop Muggle Studies as well."
That still left her with Arithmancy, Ancient Runes and Care of Magical Creatures, but Harry didn't say a word as they both caught sight of Professor Lupin sprinting across the grass towards the Willow. He levitated a branch to press the knot, sliding into the passageway like he'd done it a million times before. He probably had.
Shortly after, Snape appeared. He used the same branch as Lupin, grabbing Harry's invisibility cloak on the way down. A possessive urge reared in Harry, telling him to grab the cloak out of Snape's hands, but he ignored it. To his astonishment, Snape had been on their side. He'd been willing to listen.
He couldn't remember how long they'd been in the Shack for, once Snape had shown up. Surely it wasn't this long? It felt like they'd waited an age already. Buckbeak scratched impatiently at the ground.
At last, they heard footsteps. The strange group began to emerge from beneath the Willow; Snape levitating Ron, Lupin dragging Pettigrew, Harry and Sirius beaming at each other with Hermione bringing up the rear. Harry's chest tightened as the moon became clear, and everything all went horribly, horribly wrong.
"What if we went after him?" he whispered, watching Pettigrew transform.
"And try and look for a rat in the dark, with a werewolf running about?" Hermione retorted. Harry conceded the point. Then, he froze.
"Hermione, we need to move," he urged. She huffed.
"Harry, we can't interfere!"
"No, we need to move, before Lupin runs into the forest," he reminded pointedly, already up on his feet and yanking on Buckbeak's rope. Horror filled Hermione's eyes, and she whipped around. "Hagrid's cabin," Harry said, already running, Buckbeak at his side. "It'll be empty by now."
Fang barked at them when they threw themselves through the door, but Hermione soothed the huge dog. Buckbeak seemed delighted to be home, making himself comfortable in the bed Hagrid still had made up for him. "Don't go to sleep," Harry lightly scolded the animal, rolling his eyes.
They listened to Lupin howl and Sirius yelp, unable to see anything through Hagrid's window. "Why didn't you follow me?" Harry asked, knowing that outside at that moment a version of him was running towards the lake.
"I couldn't leave Ron," Hermione retorted. "I thought about getting help, but— I couldn't leave him. And then Dumbledore showed up anyway."
Harry scowled to himself — Dumbledore, as always, swooping in at the last minute. How convenient.
When they couldn't stand waiting any longer, the two students and the hippogriff snuck out of the cabin. Sure enough, there was Dumbledore, striding down towards the lake. Harry watched with his jaw clenched as the headmaster conjured stretchers for his and Sirius' unconscious forms, hurrying back to do the same for Snape and Ron while Hermione jogged at his side the whole way back to the castle.
From there, the clock was ticking — as soon as Macnair appeared to summon the dementors, Harry tugged on Buckbeak's rope to wake up the dozing hippogriff, then hoisted himself up onto the beast's back. Getting Hermione up there wasn't quite so smooth, with one of her arms out of commission, but with a bit of fumbling she was seated behind him, her face buried in Harry's shoulder, whimpering quietly.
Her arms were a vice grip around Harry's waist, but he ignored it, focusing on guiding Buckbeak up to the correct window. "He's there!" Harry reached over, knocking on the glass firmly. Sirius, slumped inside the office, sat up in shock. He scrambled to his feet, hurrying over to the window. Hermione raised her wand, unlocking it with a spell, and Sirius wrenched it open.
"Harry!" he gasped, stunned. "How?"
"Get on, there's not much time," Harry urged, shifting Buckbeak forward slightly so Sirius could climb on behind Hermione. "The dementors are coming."
Still gaping, Sirius hauled himself through the window and onto Buckbeak's back. Hermione locked the window once more, leaving it as if it had never been touched.
With everyone secure, Harry dug his heels in and guided Buckbeak all the way to the top of the West Tower. They landed with a clatter on the battlements, and Harry and Hermione slid off. "Sirius, you'd better leave, now. They'll notice you're gone any minute now."
"What about the others? Is everyone alright?" Sirius asked urgently. Harry shook his head; he needed to move!
"Everyone's fine, now go!"
"I'll write you," Sirius promised. "I'll figure something out. This isn't goodbye, Harry." He leaned down from the hippogriff, pressing his forehead to Harry's for the briefest moment. "Thank you."
For a moment, Harry thought about jumping back on Buckbeak and flying off with Sirius to who-knew-where. Away from Hogwarts, away from Dumbledore. Freedom.
But he couldn't. His friends needed him.
Instead, he stepped back to watch Sirius nudge the huge beast forward, Buckbeak's wings stretching wide as he launched himself off the battlements and into the sky. Hermione tugged on his arm. "We have to get moving, quickly!"
Harry wrenched his gaze away, allowing Hermione to drag him down the steps and back into the castle. Sirius would be fine, he told himself. He had to be.
Luckily, the West Tower wasn't too far from the hospital wing, and after a near-miss with Fudge in the hallway, they made it back to the doors just as Dumbledore was excusing himself from the ward. He smiled benevolently at them. Harry refused to meet his gaze. "All done, then?" Harry and Hermione both nodded. Dumbledore's smile widened. "Excellent. And I think—" He cocked his head, listening through the door, "— yes, I think you've gone too. Quickly, now." He ushered them back into the hospital wing, and the lock clicked behind them.
They'd done it.
Harry let out a breathless laugh, meeting Hermione's equally incredulous gaze. They crept back to their beds, just in time for Madam Pomfrey to emerge from her office. "Did I hear the headmaster leave? Am I allowed to look after my own patients, now?" She had a sour expression on her face as she shoved enormous blocks of chocolate at both Harry and Hermione. Harry settled down in his bed, taking a bite out of the sweet confection. He could relax now. Sirius was safe.
.-.-.-.
Severus ran gentle fingers over the lump on the back of his head, hissing as the flesh stung. It was too much to hope that the evening's events had been some bizarre, concussion-induced dream.
He'd woken up to the Minister raging in the middle of the hospital wing — Black had somehow escaped, right under his nose. Weasley was still unconscious, but when Severus dared look at Potter and Granger, they seemed entirely too innocent for their own good. Feigning sleep still, Severus managed to piece together what had happened after he'd been knocked out.
He never thought he'd see the day where he was actually pleased Sirius Black got off scot-free. He snorted to himself quietly; how things had changed. To learn that Pettigrew was the traitor after all… a few things certainly made sense, in hindsight. He wondered how Lupin was taking the whole affair, then glanced towards the window. The sun was only just rising over the tops of the trees. Lupin would have no clue about anything that had happened after his transformation.
Pulling himself into a standing position made Severus wince, but he was no stranger to pain. He bent down to buckle his boots, then straightened up, looking around the hospital wing. The three Gryffindors were fast asleep, and Poppy was nowhere to be found.
His wand was on the side table, and he grabbed it, tucking it back into his pocket as he walked somewhat gingerly from the ward. After a brief detour to get clothes for the man, he was striding across the lawn in the early dawn light, and stopped at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. "Point me Remus Lupin." His clear, curt tones had his wand spinning in his hand, and he walked on once it settled on a direction. As he searched the dark woods, he couldn't stop his thoughts returning to what had happened the night before. The werewolf in front of him, rearing up with a howl, definitely bigger than it had been when he was sixteen. He could hardly believe he'd been so foolish as to stand in front of it, even if it had been to protect students. To protect Lily's boy. He'd stared a werewolf in the face, for the second time in his life, and lived to tell the tale. Hopefully, it would be the last time. But with some of his recent life choices, he found he couldn't promise himself that.
"Daft wolf," he muttered when he finally came across the man, wishing he didn't sound so fond. The greying man was sprawled awkwardly across the forest floor, entirely naked and covered in scratches. He groaned softly when Severus knelt down and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Come on, up you get. You need to get inside."
"Mmm, Severus?" he mumbled, blinking open hazy eyes. Severus watched as the events of the night rushed into clarity in the man's eyes. "Harry!" he exclaimed, voice hoarse. "Oh, Merlin, is he alright? Did I hurt him? Where's Sirius?— and— Peter!"
"Remus, breathe," Severus cut through the man's panicked ramblings, squeezing his shoulder. "Potter is fine. You didn't hurt anyone. Pettigrew escaped, but so did Black." He set the bundle he was carrying down on the ground, revealing a pair of soft black trousers and a thick brown cardigan. "Let's get you back to the castle. I'll explain everything on the way."
It was slow going, getting Remus dressed and moving, and by the time they reached the castle doors Severus had given up letting the prideful idiot walk and just hauled him up into his arms. Remus looked up at him, grinning faintly. "I think I'm swooning," he declared playfully, laughing when Severus scowled.
"Quiet, or I'll leave you to crawl back to your quarters." They both knew the threat was an empty one. Nonetheless, Remus settled down, a soft sigh escaping his lips as he rested his head against Severus' shoulder. The Slytherin's heart stuttered.
Finally, they were in Remus' bedroom, and Severus deposited the man as gently as he could on the mattress. Remus closed his eyes for a long moment, then swore quietly. "Twelve years," he murmured. "I thought my best friend was a murderer for twelve years. Peter, this whole time… how could I have been so wrong, Severus?"
"The evidence against Black was damning," Severus pointed out. He perched on the edge of the mattress, his own muscles aching. His night hadn't exactly been sunshine and roses either.
"I should've trusted him."
"Why? He didn't trust you." Severus could still remember how it'd been back then, Remus full of anguish when he realised his friends were suspicious of him after all they'd been through, that they thought for even a second that he'd turn away from the Light. Severus had tried to convince him that their association wasn't helping, but Remus refused to give him up. Foolish, idiot Gryffindor.
"If I'd pushed for a trial, this never would've happened. Harry never would have been raised by her."
"The Ministry never would have listened to a werewolf," Severus pointed out. "It's all moot. What matters now is that we know the truth. Potter knows the truth."
"But Sirius is still a criminal in the eyes of the world, and Peter's free to take his slimy little traitorous arse back to his precious master, wherever he is," Remus said with a scowl, wincing as it tugged on a cut on his face. Honey eyes met Severus' dark ones, far too old to be sitting in such a young face. "Everything's about to change, isn't it, Severus?"
Severus glanced down to his fabric-covered left forearm, where the barely-there Dark Mark ached like it had been for the last year. Not enough to cause a problem, but enough to be noticeable. "I'm afraid you're right." They were on borrowed time. "This is only the beginning."
Remus' face twisted in resignation. He reached up to cup Severus' jaw, hand sliding around to the back of his head. Severus couldn't help but flinch as fingers pressed against the lump on his skull. "You're hurt," Remus realised. "What— was it me?"
Severus stayed silent, which was confirmation enough, and horror flooded Remus' face. "Oh, Severus, no. Tell me I didn't bite you. You said everyone was fine!"
"Hush, Remus," Severus soothed. "You didn't bite anyone. You merely knocked me aside when I stood between you and the children. I'll heal."
"You… you stood between me and the kids? After I'd transformed?" Severus nodded. In the blink of an eye, Remus was yanking him down, and suddenly there were lips pressed to his. Severus tensed, but muscle memory took over, his lips moving against Remus' and his hand tightening on the man's shoulder, pulling him closer. Twelve years, yet it felt like no time at all. His heart ached as Remus' tongue snuck between his lips, a low groan dragging from deep in the man's throat.
When Severus finally had the sense to pull away, he found himself with one leg flung over Remus' thigh, practically straddling the man. Remus stroked his cheek gently, his eyes alive in a way Severus hadn't seen all year. "I am so sick," the Gryffindor breathed, "of trying to pretend I'm not absolutely mad about you, Severus Snape." His kiss-swollen lips curved in a faint smile, his head tilting up to bare his neck slightly, the cardigan hanging off his narrow shoulders. With his mussed hair and trusting gaze, he looked like every dream Severus had never let himself have. "Stay. Please."
All year, Severus had been reminding himself of all the reasons he couldn't have Remus Lupin. Telling himself time and time again that his teenage desires were going to get one of them killed, and they were adults now, and childish love wasn't enough.
All those reasons seemed to have fled his brain as he stared down at the man who had seen him through everything, the man he kept coming back to no matter how many times they pushed each other away.
He righted himself, sitting on the edge of the mattress once more. A whimper escaped Remus' lips, the light in his eyes dimming.
Severus leaned down and unbuckled his boots.
He was done denying himself things. If the Dark Lord was to return, he deserved every scrap of good he could hold onto before it was too late.
He shrugged his teaching robe off his shoulders, letting it pool on the floor. He heard a sharp intake of breath. "Severus." The only person to ever say his name so reverently. He ached, all the way down to his bones, and not just from being flung across the grass by a full-grown werewolf. He was so tired. Tired of being alone. Tired of so many things.
Lying down on the mattress beside Remus felt like coming home for the first time in years. Their bodies were different, older — Severus wasn't as bony, and Remus was bonier than ever — but they curled into each other like two halves of a magnet, Remus tucking his face into Severus' neck, sprawled heavy over the Slytherin like he was scared Severus might leave as soon as he fell asleep. The weight was comforting, and Severus' hand settled low on Remus' back, beneath the cardigan, cool fingers pressing against warm skin. "Sleep," he urged in the barest whisper, burying his nose in the man's greying hair. He smelled like the forest, like wilderness. Severus' tame wild thing. Always Severus'. Even when neither of them wanted it that way.
"I missed you." Remus' words were muffled by Severus' collarbone, but he felt them all the same, shaking him down to his core. This felt like the first thing he'd done right since he'd turned spy against the Dark Lord.
They would have a lot to talk about in the morning. They would have plans to make, and headmasters to avoid, and lies to weave. It would be difficult, and dangerous. But they would do it. Together.
For now, Severus closed his eyes, breathing in the scent of his wolf, the comforting weight across his chest.
For now, they could sleep, like the world didn't exist. In that room, with the two of them finally reunited properly, after twelve years apart, it was enough. It had to be.
For now.