Wonder Woman burst through the door of the Flat in East London, followed closely by Superman. Their capes flew out behind them as they took in the scene and rushed to the kitchen, where Spencer Stewart had fallen from his chair and was kneeling on the floor of the kitchen, a horridly pale shade, his lips darkening from the natural rosy shade to something more akin to purple-blue.

"Oh gods James!" Lily cried, throwing herself to the floor and looking around - two tea cups lay shattered on the floor, two chairs knocked over, and the sound of Spencer gasping, choking for air desperately, clutching his chest with a wince of pain...

James drew his wand quickly and knelt, grabbing onto Spencer Stewart and tilting his head up. "Aperta faucium," James declared, and Spencer drew a deep breath, though still wincing and his eyes grew far off and he passed out, flopping limply against Superman's chest. James looked wildly at Lily.

"What happened?" Lily asked.

"Aconite," Remus stammered, trembling, "I - I mixed up the cups by - by accident, I --"

"We need to get him to St. Mungo's," James said, "Immediately."

Lily nodded and rushed to the floor, pushing the fallen chairs out of the way as James scooped Spencer up from the floor in his arms, holding onto the limp boy and carrying him hurriedly across the room.

Remus followed, eyes wide with panic, breathless, "I didn't mean to, I didn't mean to, I --"

"We know, Moony," James said.

Lily nodded, "It's going to be alright, sweetheart." Her hands were shaking as she opened the jar that held the powder and threw it into the fireplace.

James stepped through carrying Spencer without a moment's hesitation. "St. Mungo's!" he declared.

Remus started to reach for the powder and Lily yanked the jar away. "Oh no, no you can't come."

"What?" Remus looked perplexed, "Why?"

"Because we'll have a hard enough time explaining why there was aconite anywhere near the tea cup, the last thing we need is an actual werewolf on site. It's way too dangerous for you. You could be found out."

"Perhaps after THIS I deserve to be found out!" Remus said. "I can't just -- just leave him to - to d- what if he d --" Remus couldn't say the word.

Lily touched his shoulder gently. "You have to stay here. I'll let you know what's on as soon as we know anything. Stay. Here." She turned, throwing the floo powder into the hearth. "I don't need to be worrying about you being hauled off to God knows where by the Ministry every month. It's going to be alright, Remus. Deep breaths." She stepped into the flames, "St. Mungo's!"

And just like that she was gone.

Just like that, Remus was alone in the flat and his hands trembled all the more as he stood before the fireplace, dumbfounded, staring at the darkening hearth.

He stepped back, stumbling, and sat on the couch, his heart racing as those last few moments passed through his mind.

He couldn't believe what had just happened, what he'd done in switching the cups up, what a mistake he made... And Stewie! Stewie liked him? Liked Remus? His head spun as the noise and colors of the last few moments seemed to spin around him like a dizzying cloud. Had he, Remus, seriously just poisoned some poor bloke seconds after he'd confessed to liking him? And what the hell? Why? Why would Stewie do that? Not only like him (for that was confusing too) but confessing it - when he knew there wasn't a shot in hell with Remus, when he knew Remus was married? And it wasn't just Spencer but also Lula? Remus bent forward and clutched his head in his hands, trying to remind himself how breathing worked.

The door of the flat opened again then and Sirius slid inside. The record player was still blaring in the alley - it was louder and then muffled again when the door opened and then closed. Sirius's voice was full of concern, "What's happening up here?" he demanded.

Remus shook his head, unable to speak with the weight of everything falling around him.

Sirius paused a moment, glancing out to the kitchen and saw the chairs and the broken china. He righted the chairs with a flick of his wand and a second flick had the brush and dustpan picking up the china for him. He looked at Remus, looking just as shattered as the tea cups, and he walked over and sat down next to him. He could feel Remus's worry weighing heavy in the room, coursing through his veins. It occurred to him that the love magic connection with Remus was the weakest of the ones he'd made - Lily had said hers with Remus was, too, and that her Professor had said it was weakest still the closer the full moon came because the wolf was becoming stronger. Sirius hated that - hated that the wolf could take Remus away on any level. So he pressed closer to Remus's body, wrapping his arm around Remus's torso, their legs touching along the side and Sirius pressed his cheek against the back of Remus's shoulder and breathed him in because he didn't know how else to help - or even what was going on - only that Remus was upset.

The feeling of Sirius wrapped around him like that sent Remus to tears.

"Oh gods," Remus murmured, gulping in air.

"Moony?" Sirius asked quietly, running his palm over Remus's back, "Moony, what happened?"

"Stewie was upset," Remus explained, "About the fight with Lula and I made tea."

"You make grand tea," Sirius murmured.

"I gave Stewie my cup," Remus said, "And I - I put aconite in and -"

Sirius didn't understand the significance. "Probably he didn't recognize the taste, and I'll bet muggles don't know what aconite is and I'm sure he doesn't suspect anything and --"

"No, Sirius," Remus sat up and turned to Sirius, who also had to sit up when Remus did. Sirius stared right into Remus's eyes and it was so hard to say what he'd done. "It's poison, Sirius, aconite is. Remember?"

Sirius's face dropped from loving concern into a horrified, wide-eyed worry. "Oh my God, you've poisoned him?" he looked around the room, as though searching for the body, and said, "We'll - we'll figure this out. They aren't sending you to Azkaban, I won't let them. We'll - we'll run, we'll hide the body. We'll go to Costa Rica. They'll never find us in Costa Rica. We'll live there. Fugitives from the law. We'll Bonnie and Clyde it and --"

"Sirius!" Remus interrupted, "James and Lily's taken him to St. Mungo's. He's not - he's not -- he's alive. For now. I hope." Remus paled, then, he hadn't even considered what would happen in Stewie didn't make it. "Oh gods." He stood up then, shrugging off Sirius, and started pacing frantically, worrying his hands, limping on his knee but unable to hold still despite how much it hurt to put the weight on his legs. "Oh gods, what if I did kill him? What if I did? I'll deserve to be locked away if I did. I - I didn't mean to, of course, but what a reckless, thoughtless thing I've done! I - I could've - it could be you or James or Lily - Oh God it could've been Lily, with the baby and all, and I - I could've poisoned - I poisoned him, Sirius! I - what a monster."

Sirius shook his head, "It's an honest mistake..."

"You're the one that brought up Azkaban!" Remus said, voice shrill and pinched with panic.

"Yes but that's because the Ministry will assume guilt and they're quite stupid, the Ministry..."

Remus groaned and covered his face, pacing. He tripped then, one of the spurs catching the carpet funny, and Sirius leaped up and caught Remus before he went down. Remus swore and sat on the edge of the coffee table and tore off the cowboy boots and chucked them across the room so they thudded on the floor.

"You're not a monster, Moony," Sirius said.

Remus felt like he was choking and tore away the bandana, chucking that, too, and the hat, and shrugging off the vest so he sat there in his jeans, unbuttoned plaid shirt, and a pair of argyle socks, looking quite forlorn and every bit of a stereotypical werewolf from the cover of old horror flicks. He looked up at Sirius, his blonde curls hanging a bit over his forehead, his eyes green and sad.

Sirius sat on the couch again, their knees touching, and he leaned forward, cupping Remus's face in his palms. He stared up at him, searching his eyes. "I love you, Remus," he said firmly.

"Even if I'm a murderer?" Remus asked.

Sirius's stare did not break. "Even then, I would love you still." 

Remus's throat, already burning from the effects of the moon, burnt all the more with emotion and he shakily took Sirius's face in his own hands, the same way that Sirius's hands were on his. Their foreheads touched and Sirius whispered, "It'll be alright, Moony."

"But what if St. Mungo's can't help him? What if he really --"

"It'll be alright, Moony," Sirius repeated.

And although he offered no explanation of how it would be alright, he was so firmly certain that Remus couldn't help but believe.

James held onto Spencer Stewart as they fell through the floo network and into St. Mungo's. He knew Lily was coming, too, but he didn't wait for her - as soon as his feet hit the tile in the hall of floos at the hospital, he broke into a run and came into the reception area full speed. Spencer hung limp in James's arms, only just barely breathing through the air way that James had charmed open. "Aconite poisoning!" James yelled the moment he stepped into the room, "Aconite poisoning!" He pushed past a witch with a three foot engorged nose and around a man whose knees were inverted so they bent backward like a flamingo's, past a woman with two children who were glowing like the back ends of fireflies, and a man with some sort of magical creature biting his shoulder, still attached by the teeth.

People sprang into action - mediwizards and witches appeared out of no where, and James was directed to follow them with Spencer down a hallway and away from the reception room at a quick trot as Lily ran up beside him. A mediwizard was already muttering spells directed at Spencer's chest even as they moved down the hallway.

"How did he ingest the aconite?" a mediwitch was asking as they went, cramming into the elevator and she slammed the third floor button.

"Tea," Lily said, "He was given tea."

"By whom?"

"I don't know," Lily said vaguely. "We were at a party and he drank some tea and now this."

"And how do you know it was aconite?" the mediwitch was taking notes.

"I recognized the shape of the leaf," James said quickly, cutting in when Lily hesitated. "Professor Slughorn at Hogwarts teaches extensively about Wolfsbane."

The mediwitch nodded, accepting this, "And you don't know the identity of the person who offered the patient the aconite?"

"No," they both said in unison.

"Do you have the patient's wand?" the mediwitch asked, going through the checklist of things to ask on the form.

"He hasn't got one," Lily said.

"He's a muggle," James answered.

The mediwizard muttering spells looked up, "A muggle?" The two shared a glance at one another. The elevator door dinged opened, but the two medical personnel didn't seem in a rush anymore.

"What?" James asked, "What's wrong?"

"He ought to be treated at a muggle hospital," the mediwitch explained.

"This is a hospital for magical maladies," the mediwizard added.

"We don't treat muggles here," the mediwitch said.

"He's got a magical malady!" James said, "The muggle hospital won't have anything to help him with. Can't you just -- give him a bezoar and --"

"Bezoars don't help aconite poisoning," the mediwizard said.

"We'd have to treat him with magic," the mediwitch explained, lowering her clipboard, "It breaks the statute.

"SO?" Lily demanded, "He needs HELP. Aren't you obligated to --"

"Only with magical maladies," the mediwizard said.

"He has to go to a muggle doctor," the mediwitch persisted.

"But he'll likely die if we bring him to a muggle doctor. They won't know what to do," Lily said, her voice pitching with frustration.

"We can't help him here," the mediwitch said, and she tore the form from the clipboard she held, balling it up.

"You'll want to hurry and get him to the muggle hospital," the mediwizard said, "Time is very important for muggle doctors. They only have so much of it. I can grant special permission to apparate form the staff room on this floor to save you some time and --"

"You've GOT to be kidding me!" Lily cried, "You really won't help him here? Despite the dire circumstances? You'll send him to die with the muggle doctors?"

"There's nothing we can do for him here," the mediwitch confirmed.