Sirius

I was awoken by a knock on our apartment door. It was a Saturday morning, about a week since Remus and I went on our walk.

I laid in bed for a few seconds, hoping that James or Peter would open the door. But when the knocking came again, I groaned and rolled out of bed, pulling on a t-shirt.

Rubbing the sleep out my eyes, I swung open the door and there stood Remus the burrito. We was wrapped up in his favorite blanket, the one with the wolves on it.

He grinned at me and I moved aside to let him in. At that moment, James cane padding into the living room. His glasses hung crookedly on his face, his black hair an absolute mess.

"Hey, Remus, what're you," he yawned, "doing here?"

"Well Lily just threw up. She thinks it's the flu so I've been kicked out of the apartment."

James cursed, glancing out the still open door in concern. "I'll go see if she needs anything."

Was James was gone, I pulled Remus along into the living room and had him sit on the couch.

"You're not sick, are you?" I asked. He shook his head.

"I don't think so. Not yet at least. I'll need my stuff later, but I can't go get it."

"I'll get it," I offered.

"Thanks."

We sat and cuddled on the couch for most of the morning, watching the Office and playing Mario Cart.

Peter made a very artistic lunch for us and even brought some over for James and Lily. After lunch, when James popped back over, he quick changed out of his pajamas and walked over to Remus and I.

"I need to run to the pharmacy to grab some refills for Sirius's meds and Lily asked me to grab something for her. She said you needed refills too, and I offered to take you," James told Remus.

Remus nodded, standing and stretching. He grabbed his oxygen bag and headed out the door before James after giving me a peck on the lips.

James glanced over at Remus and backtracked to me. "Lily wants to talk to you quickly," he said before dashing after Remus.

I pulled on some latex gloves before crossing the hall. I didn't want to risk passing on some germs to Remus. In his state, getting sick could be life threatening.

When I got there, Lily was sitting on the couch, wrapped in a blanket, much like Remus had been that morning. She had a trash bin on the floor in front of her.

"Hey, Siri," she murmured.

"You wanted to talk to me? How're you feeling?"

"Like shit. But that's not why I wanted to talk to you. Do you mind if Remus stays the night?"

I felt my cheeks flush and I mentally hit myself for thinking like that.

"No, I don't mind at all. Anything to keep him safe."

Lily smiled at that. "Well, you'll need to pack him up some things. I made a list of all his meds and you'll need to grab his nebulizer from his bedroom, he'll probably need that later. And his AffloVest. I'd rather he use the machine that's hooked up to the wall, but that's a pain to move so I think he'll be fine for one night. Oh, and a change of clothes and his toothbrush."

I got up from the couch and went to the counter with Lily's list and put all the pill bottles into a big Tupperware container. Then I went into his room and threw some clothes together and grabbed the other things Lily told me to. On a whim I grabbed his sketchbook and pencils.

I set everything by the door and sat on the couch again.

"Alright, if he's having trouble breathing, he'll let you know. He'll need his nebulizer. Sometimes he wakes up in the night because he can't breathe. The worst thing you can do is panic. It might be scary, but if you're calm, he'll be calm. Also, he obviously knows how to hook up his G-tube before bed, but don't let him forget."

"Everything will be fine, Lily. Promise."

"I know, it's just...Remus is everything to me and I just get so worried and overprotective. But you're right. It's just a night or two. He'll be fine."

I smiled. "Feel better, Lils."

I headed back to our apartment, arms full of Remus's things. When I opened the door, Peter let out a shout, hurrying over.

"Let me help you with that," he said. I made him put on gloves first, just to be safe.

After we got everything situated on the desk in my room, I went to shower, the hot water washing all the germs away.

When I got out of the shower, Remus and James were home.

"Hey, babe," I said, kissing Remus.

"Hi," he said back. We went back over to the couch and I told him that I'd went over and gotten all of his things.

James stopped in front of the TV and turned it off.

"Hey!" I protested.

"I've gotta practice my cello before I go back over to Lily's, so if you could please refrain from throwing a hissy fit, it would be much appreciated," James said. Remus giggled.

James went to the corner where his cello case was propped up. I acted like I was annoyed every time he practiced, but I secretly loved it. James was good. He'd been playing since he was eight years old and was so good at it he was majoring in music for college.

"I've got an orchestra concert next month, so I've gotta practice my part. It's the Tuesday before Halloween, so we've got some Halloween themes that I'm excited about," he explained.

Apparently James's orchestra was playing an actual Funeral March, plus a slowed down, creepier version of 'Spooky, Scary Skeletons.'

I got literal chills listening to him play. Remus snuggled into my side and fell asleep while James serenaded.

When James finished, he quietly put his cello away, grinning down at Remus. He winked at me and headed across the hall to take care of Lily.

Remus wasn't going to wake up anytime soon, I could tell, so I gestured for Peter to grab my laptop so I could work on some homework.

I was getting really into a short story writing when Remus shifted and blinked awake.

"Hey," I murmured. He'd been asleep for a little over an hour.

He groaned and touched a hand to his chest, frowning. "Where'd you put my nebulizer?" He asked.

I sat up. "On my desk," I said, showing him the way. He grabbed it and, clearing his throat(I could tell there was a lot of mucus in there, it sounded like it hurt) he put the end of the nebulizer in his mouth and pressed something down, breathing in the medicinal mist.

He sighed and set it back down, a dejected look on his face before he realized that I was still standing there. He flashed a small smile and his eyes found my keyboard.

Janes got it for me for my birthday ages ago, and though I'd tried in vain to learn, all I could do was plunk out Mad World by Michael Andrews.

Remus's eyes lit up and he went over to it, about to strike the keys, but thought better of it. He glanced around the room and spotted the Clorox wipes Lily told me to bring. He wiped down all the keys before sitting down at the bench.

He tentatively played a few chords, then an arpeggiated scale.

"I haven't played a piano in a long time," Remus said. "My Mum taught me when I was little, but after I moved into the Evans' house, the only time I could play was at school. They had an old one in the music room."

Then he went on to play Canon in D (my favorite song to play on the piano btw) and though it started a little rough, with a few wrong notes, he slowly gained confidence and was soon playing with such elegance, I was amazed.

When he finished, he just sat grinning at the keys. I started clapping and he turned in his seat, face flush.

"That was beautiful," I said. "I can't play it worth a damn, so at least it's getting some use now. You're amazing, Moony."

"You know, I've been thinking about that nickname, and I've come up with one of my own for you."

I raised my eyebrow. "And what would that be?"

"Well your name is Sirius Black, and Sirius is the Dog Star, so you could say that your name is Dog Black. So I've come up with Padfoot. You know, because of the little pads on a dog's foot?"

"It's wonderful," I said, and Remus grinned and turned back around, playing a few more songs.

That night, when we were getting ready for bed, I'll admit it was a bit awkward. Remus had just finished downing all his nighttime pills, brushing his teeth, getting his pajamas on, and hooking up his G-tube. He sat on the bed because I told him he could sleep there, and I wanted to crawl in next to him, but I didn't want to be too forward if he was uncomfortable or something.

I grabbed my pillow and threw it on the floor and I was about to grab a blanket when Remus said, "what are you doing?"

"Sleeping on the floor?" It was more of a question than a statement.

"Get up here, silly," he said. My eyes lit up and he laughed. I jumped onto the bed and burrowed under the blankets and Remus flicked off the lamp.

Remus turned, back to me. I know it's stupid, but I felt a bit hurt. But then Remus grabbed my hand and pulled it over himself, hugging me closer. I curled around him, spooning.

"This okay?" I asked.

"Mhm," he murmured, half asleep already. I placed a kiss on his shoulder and fell asleep myself.

I woke up hours later to coughing. I ignored it for a few seconds, my mind not processing it. But then my eyes sprang open and I leaned over, switching on the lamp. Remus was sat up, hacking coughs tearing through him.

I rubbed his back and he made grabby hands at me and I reached over to the nightstand, grabbing the nebulizer.

He took two puffs before his coughing started to subside.

"Just breathe, Remus. You're okay. You're okay."

He took a few minutes to catch his breath, eyes darting around as the panic subsided. His hands were shaking and he reached out and grabbed my hand, squeezing it tightly.

"You okay?" I asked worriedly.

"Yeah. Yeah I'm alright."