The following few weeks bring with them Remus' almost alarmingly too quick rise to fame.

Between working morning to evening on weekdays, Remus has to find time for returning phone calls from sympathetic readers, keeping up with all the articles in small local Wizarding newspapers and even a bloody radio programme.

And through all of this, Sirius is beside him like an angel, helping him sort things out and... And just, being there, the only stability Remus can find in a world changing way too fast into something he doesn't like and sure as hell doesn't want.

And so, with the full moon lurking nearby, Remus finds himself tucked in bed with Sirius' fingers in his hair.

"Is it not working?" Sirius asks softly, as if he's afraid that even his voice would be too much for Remus.

Remus peels his eyes open. They feel sticky. "Mm?"

"The medicine," Sirius looks at him, eyes glossy and dark. "Is it not helping you at all?"

"At all? Yes. Enough? No," Remus tries to smile, but ends up wincing instead.

"There has to be something that can help..."

"It's alright," Remus reaches for Sirius' hand and pulls it away from his hair. He wants to kiss the inside of Sirius' wrist, where the veins are drawn under his skin in soft blue and green. But he doesn't, of course. "It goes away after a while."

Sirius gives him a look that he can't really read.

"It's alright, Sirius," Remus repeats. Sirius looks down at their hands. "I'm used to it," Remus adds.

"You shouldn't have to be," Sirius says, his eyebrows drawing closer together. 

"Well, I don't have much of a choice, do I?" Remus quirks an eyebrow. "And really, I feel better already. I told you, it goes away after a while."

"Can you sit up, then?" Sirius asks, looking doubtful.

"Yeah, I can," Remus winces as his back stretches, but manages to pull himself up. Sirius adjusts his pillow against the headboard. "I'll get you your soup, then," he smiles at Remus. In an unexpected move, he means forward and presses the sweetest of kisses on Remus' cheek, a simple brush of his cool lips on Remus' fever-hot skin, and hurries out of the room.

Like an idiot, Remus stares after him, so shocked that he can't even blush. He stays frozen until Sirius returns with a tray, which he sets down on the little bedside table, right on top of the cupcake book.

"Do you need me to..." Sirius gestures at the bowl of soup, "uhm, feed you?"

Now, Remus blushes. "No," he chokes out, "I think I'll be fine." A brief pause later, he adds, "Thank you, Sirius."

Sirius only gives a sweet smile in response. He hands the bowl over to Remus.

"Go on," he says encouragingly when Remus doesn't do anything.

"Are you going to... stare at me eat?"

"Oh," Sirius gives him an apologetic look. "Sorry, sorry. I'll make myself scarce," he laughs, standing up. Remus almost calls out to stop him. But stops himself when he sees that Sirius only goes over to his desk and sits down there, staring out of his window.

"Totally not looking at you right now," he says. Remus can only see his back, but he can tell Sirius is grinning. "Please eat now, your highness."

"Since you insist," Remus laughs.

Halfway into his bowl of soup, he speaks up again. "Why did Lily call?"

"You heard?"

"No, that's why I'm asking you,"

"Don't get sassy with me, Lupin," Sirius turns to give him a glare, then turns forward again.

"You can... turn around," Remus says, fighting a grin.

And instead of turning his chair around like any normal person would, Sirius twists his body and swings a leg over the opposite side of the chair so that his legs are on either side of it, and props his chin up on the back of the chair.

"She called to tell us about the protest,"

"What protest?"

"The Justice for Remus Protest. People are going to gather in front of the Ministry, it seems,"

"Oh. Do I have to go?"

"Well, you can't. It's on a full moon day,"

"Oh," Remus sighs, "Well, at least I have a good excuse not to go, then."

"I don't think you'd be expected to go either way, Remus," Sirius says.

Remus hums in response, and puts his bowl back on the tray.

Sirius comes over to pick it up. "Why don't you try going to sleep? I'll wake you up for dinner."

"Okay," Remus says, lying down again. He watches Sirius leave, closing the door behind him. And several moments later, he falls into a quiet sleep.

***

This time, Remus can buy his own Wolfsbane. And Sirius doesn't protest, just gives him a brilliant smile when Remus shows him the bottle.

And just like last time, Sirius keep him company. Only this time, in human form.

The day after he turns back is a Monday, and Miss Hall generously tells him that it's his day off. Which is why at nine in the morning, Remus is leaning against Regulus' worktable in the shed, watching Sirius pour a dark purple liquid into a bush full of white roses.

It's hot inside, so Remus is wearing one of his only two t-shirts. He feels strange and exposed in it.

A small hiss and a puff of violet smoke later, the roses are a dark purple. Sirius turns to Remus with an expectant smile. Remus raises an eyebrow questioningly. A moment later, he realises what Sirius wants, and starts clapping.

"Thank you, thank you," Sirius bows, black curls falling over his cheeks as he does so. He flashes Remus a grin before leaning forward to smell a rose, and frowns. "Oh, I think we might have a problem." He carefully removes a rose and holds it out to Remus.

Remus looks at the rose and back at Sirius.

"Do I have to get on one knee or what?" Sirius asks, tilting his head.

Blushing, Remus takes the flower. And proceeds to stare at Sirius either like he's a five year old who just got a ticket to Disneyland, or like a twenty-two year old hopelessly in love.

"Smell it," Sirius tells him, his own cheeks a little pink. Remus finds it adorable. It's weird to smell a flower when someone staring at you, but they manage, somehow.

"Oh, oh," cringing, Remus places the flower on the table as if it's an explosive. "Why does it smell like... like..."

"Like vomit?" Sirius offers.

"Yes," Remus shudders, eyeing the rose warily.

"It's probably all the stuff we used in the dye..." Sirius picks Regulus' notebook up and scribbles something down. With a quill. For the aesthetic, probably. "Reg will wind a way to fix it."

Remus casts a sweeping look across the shelves full of potter plants. "Sirius,"

"Hm?"

"What's all this for?"

"What's all what for?"

"These... plants? I mean, are you going to do something with them? Or is it just a hobby?"

"I'm not going to do anything with them, but Reg will. He wants to start a plant emporium of sorts. Leave it up to Regulus to think of the most whimsical thing to do with his life, and then actually work on it." Sirius puts the book away, and Remus doesn't miss the quiet sigh that leaves his lips.

"And you?" Remus asks, crossing his arms.

"What about me?"

"What do you want to do with your life?"

"End it," Sirius shrugs.

Remus almost gasps out loud. Sirius gives him a brief glance before turning his face away.

"Sorry, I had to take that chance when I saw it. But to answer your question," Sirius sighs louder, "I don't know. I haven't thought too much about it... I might just stay with Reg and help him with his work."

"Ah," Remus says, lost for words. He's too busy desperately hoping that that end it was a joke to actually think of a good response.

"Well. I'm done here. Let's go," Sirius pushes a watering can under the table with his foot, "Unless you want to stay?"

"No, no," Remus straightens himself, stretching his arms. "Let's go."