Remus was still trembling with worry in Sirius's arms when Frank and Alice popped into the flat to check on where they'd gone.

Frank had rapped his knuckles against the door twice, then poked his head in. "Sirius? Remus?" he called, "Everything alright up here with you blokes? The - er - partiers are about to start a formal inquiry?" 

Sirius looked up from the couch, but he didn't respond. His eyes met Frank's for a split moment, and then he looked away.

Alice pushed 'round Frank into the living room of the flat. "Sirius, what's going on? You've abandoned your own party? Are you lot getting dirty up here or what?" she demanded.

"Alice, no, of course not," Sirius said, answering instantly.

Frank sighed heavily.

"We've had a bit of a - an incident, but we're alright. Everything's fine," Sirius said. He was stroking Remus's head, and Remus shook his head and pressed his face into Sirius's shoulder. Sirius blocked Remus's face with his splayed palm, a suspicious look in his eye as he glanced at Frank again.

After all, Frank Longbottom had already proved his willingness to act by the book regardless of whether the person he was hauling into the Ministry was a friend or not, hadn't he? Sirius reasoned. No way was he about to test it to see if Frank would drag in a werewolf-slash-suspected-murderer should Remus say the wrong thing about the aconite.

"What's the matter?" Alice pressed.

"Really it's all fine," Sirius insisted. "But I won't be rejoining the party tonight. If you could, would you be a lamb and dismiss the revelers? Whenever they're ready, of course, I'm not rushing anyone. Enjoy the alley as long as you like." He waved a palm for Frank and Alice to depart.

Frank stepped closer, concern in his eyes, "Sirius, what's the matter with Remus? Honestly, you can't expect us not to see that there's clearly something the matter --"

"Alice," Sirius said, talking over Frank's voice, "Remus and I are quite alright. We are adults, both of us, and as married men we beg privacy on the matter."

Alice looked at Frank, "He's politely telling us to fuck off, love."

Frank looked frustrated, "Sirius Black, please just gods-damned talk to me, will you? For crying out loud? There's nothing I can do to change the past, mate, I can't go back in time and fix what's been done. All I can do is say I'm sorry, grovel, and repeat that I am so bloody sorry for doing my job and arresting you. I didn't have a choice in the matter, I would've lost my job if I'd not done it, and bleeding hell - we're mates! Just bloody forgive me already, please!"

Sirius stared at him, then turned away, hugging Remus. "Thank you for understanding, Alice. And happy Halloween, darling."

Alice took Frank's arm gently as he let out a frustrated growl. "C'mon Frank, honey." She practically dragged Frank out the door of the flat.

"He's so bloody stubborn," Frank said as Alice pulled the flat door closed behind them. "Why's he got to be so bloody stubborn?"

Alice sighed, "You know Sirius... he's always been stubborn, so long as we've known him..."

"It's just sooo frustrating!" Frank complained.

Alice nodded, "I don't envy you, honey." Frank swore as they went down the stairs, back to dissolve the party they'd been put in charge of.

Back inside, Remus's face was pressed into Sirius's shoulder, and Sirius sighed as the flat door closed behind Frank and Alice, then used his wand to lock it up so they wouldn't be intruded upon again - at least not until Wormtail came up and unlocked it with his key, that is. Sirius ran his palm over Remus's temple and cheek and jaw gently.

"What happened anyway? Between Spencer and Lola?" he asked.

"They've broken up," Remus answered miserably. 

"Why?" Sirius asked, "They were so happy when I met them at the show."

Remus was quiet a moment, hesitating, and then, "I suppose because of..." he wanted to say "me", but it felt a bit... melodramatic. "Because of the classes."

"Because of the classes?" Sirius laughed, "Why the bloody hell would they break up because of an art class?"

Remus hesitated again.

"Moony?"

"Lula wanted to become a model," Remus said in a rush, "She wanted to do some of the modeling for the figures classes at the college, and, well, so she did."

Sirius said, "So, like, what, you lot are drawing her? What's so bad about that?"

Remus's cheeks flushed and he kept himself pressed to Sirius, not wanting to look him in the eyes as he said the words, "Figures class models are - they're - well they're nude, Sirius." Remus winced, waiting for an explosion of emotions.

Instead, Sirius said, "Oh."

This calm reply made Remus draw back - it wasn't at all like Sirius - and he looked up at his husband in surprise, eyebrows raised.

Sirius shrugged to the question in Remus's eyes.

"You don't care?" Remus asked.

"Why would I care? Lula's not my girlfriend," Sirius said.

"But --" Remus looked confused.

"I understand though, why Spencer would be upset, I mean, imagine... I wouldn't want you to be doing something like that."

"I wouldn't want to do something like that," Remus replied quickly. "But she did, and it's her body, not his and --"

"I know it's art and all and I'm not particularly against it, I just - that's something thought ought to be in an agreement about, isn't it? If they're promised to each other... Like with you and I... I - I belong to you in a way, and my body is like a gift I've given to you and it's intimate and special and your's is a gift you've given me and... I don't know, giving it to somebody else to look at would be like... like letting somebody in on our most private secrets. Our most special moments." He paused and looked Remus in the eyes. "Not that I don't think your body is incredibly worthy of being drawn." Sirius cupped Remus's face with his palm and his thumb softly ran over the scar that crossed Remus's cheek to his jaw. "I rather find you to be a masterpiece of the highest sort."

Remus bit his lips.

"But I understand why something like that might leave Spencer feeling betrayed."

Remus nodded.

Sirius paused. Then, "Did you draw her?"

Remus's mouth felt very, very sluggish as he replied, tentatively, "Only her legs."

Sirius's eyes searched Remus's.

Remus was sure that Sirius could see the reflection of the drawings he'd done just earlier that day in his pupils. His heart thumped.

Sirius nodded and was about to answer to that when the fireplace lit up and Lily Potter stepped into their living room, her face pale.

Remus stood up, panic seizing him. "Lily?"

She took a deep breath, "He's alive," she started.

Remus let out a great gasp of relief and fell back onto the sofa into Sirius's waiting arms again.

"Mungo's wouldn't treat him," Lily said, "So we had to take him to a muggle hospital."

"What the fuck do you mean Mungo's wouldn't treat him?" Sirius demanded, flaring up. There's the passionate emotion, thought Remus, there it is.

Somehow it felt reassuring that it was still there just under the surface.

"They said they treat magical maladies and that he was a muggle with a nonmagical problem because aconite is common in the muggle world and they couldn't treat it without using magic, which would break the statute of secrecy," Lily's voice trembled with anger.

Sirius glowered, "Those filthy pond scum --"

"What happened though? Was the muggle hospital able to help him? Aconite is terribly poisonous!" Remus cut in, worried more about Spencer Stewart than the unfairness of the Ministry-operated hospital.

Lily said, "We brought him to them and they've done as much as they can, he's unconscious and they're trying to keep his heart stabilized and decrease the swelling that the aconite causes. The muggles use tubes to open breathing passageways, and so they've got Spencer connected to a good deal of machines to keep him breathing and everything and - oh it's quite awful, really." Lily frowned. "James is there in case they come out to update at all, but it seems it's very touch-and-go and they're not sure what to do next... The effects of the aconite poisoning can last up to 60 hours, they said, so they're basically waiting to see it work it's way out of his system naturally."

Remus paled and shook his head, covering his face with his palms.

"Luckily it was a somewhat small dose... even just a few milligrams can be lethal," Lily murmured.

Remus said, "I can't believe I did this to him."

"You didn't mean to," Lily said, and she sat on the other side of Remus from Sirius, wrapping her arms around them both as Sirius had his arms already around Remus, too.

"But I did it, whether I intended to or not," Remus said, his voice cracking. "I have to figure out how to help him. If Mungo's can help him with magic, then surely - surely there's a way that I can help him. I - I've got to find out how to help him." He pushed out of both Sirius and Lily's hugs and stood up, limping over to the book shelf, a frantic look in his eyes as he started drawing books from the shelf, muttering.

Sirius looked at Lily, eyebrow raised and Lily frowned, commiserating. 

Remus had already stacked up several books - one about magical herbs and fungi, one about healing properties and anatomy, a glossary of antidotes, and one on muggle western medicines, all things he'd picked up from the Florish & Blott's basement, where they kept low-priced books that were either used or had simply been hanging around too long. The basement was the reason Remus had so many books at the flat - they were all at least half cost and there were even bins that were full of books that were donated by other witches and wizards that no longer wanted their books, and were free to take if there was any interest for them. Remus had built himself an extensive library from those bins.

"We have to tell his parents as well," Lily spoke up.

Remus paused and turned 'round from the book shelf, a look of horror on his face, "Oh. Yes, we do need to reach out to his family... but I haven't any idea who they are."

Sirius said, "Well his grandfather lives at Grimmauld Place."

Remus looked sick.

"I'll go," Sirius volunteered, seeing the panic in his husband's expression. 

Remus's eyes widened with appreciation.

"James will go with you," Lily said quickly, feeling Sirius's apprehension about going back to Grimmauld Place - even if not to Number 12 specifically.

"What about ---" Remus started, but Lily continued -

"You and I  will take these books and we'll go to the hospital and we can sit in the waiting room and see what we can find that will be helpful," she said.

Remus nodded.

Sirius nodded, too, feeling better about the prospect of Grimmauld Place being faced with James by his side.

Decided, Lily got up and started picking up the books Remus had collected. "What we'll do is take these to my house and we'll drive the car to the hospital so we don't have a whole library in the waiting room. We can put these in the car and take them in as we're ready to use them. That way the muggles don't think we're quite odd for taking half your bookshelf in with us, alright, Remus?"

Remus nodded.

"Oh and Sirius - perhaps you could get Emma and have her come 'round? Perhaps she knows something that would be helpful, being a healer and all?"

"Yeah I'll go by their flat."

"Perfect," Lily declared, "In that case, we've got a plan. Let's go."