All in the Family

Chapter 162: The Phoenix Lament

A stricken lament of terrible beauty echoed around them before anyone even got their bearings. The high windows were pitch black, but the hospital wing was brightly lit and as empty as ever but for the eight of them. The song seemed to echo straight from their own souls for a loss in this future none of them could quite comprehend, because they still had a headmaster to come back to.

"The hell kind of torturous game is this?" James demanded of no one. Now he landed on his own bed?!

It was one of a dozen with guardrails, his joke fell flat as his stomach clenched with unease and he summoned the book. Dumbledore was dead, he would not have been brought here, but who of Harry's friends had been?

Remus had a very concerned guess of who the attacker had been, though not the victim as he nearly knocked over a bowl of foul-smelling, but sadly familiar substance. It was the same stuff Madam Pomfrey put on his cuts every time he woke up, a mixture of dittany and silver that burned like crazy but was supposed to help with scarring a werewolf's bites faster. Greyback had been in this school, terrorizing others once more. It may not have been a full moon, but that monster no longer waited for just the cursed night of the month. His appetite had grown beyond that.

Did all werewolves end up like that? Was that why everyone always hated and feared them so much, was there no hope of coming back once they got the taste? He had never bitten someone, but could he really live under the delusion forever that Padfoot could always stop him?

At least they got their answer fast enough, it was Bill Weasley. Another innocent, though by no means a child. One about to be married. He sat up slowly and looked all-around at the others, more grateful than anything there wasn't a mirror in here as he touched the scar on his shoulder and again asked himself what the hell he'd been thinking. Sirius nor anyone would ever subject themselves to a future with him with that monster constantly looming over them all.

"So, I've been wondering something," Sirius plopped down beside him on the bed and began kicking his feet without enthusiasm, his boots vanishing back and forth under the bed and banging against the metal underneath in a soft pattern.

Well, at least he wasn't awkwardly trying to avoid him. "And what's that?" Remus asked casually enough.

"You've never been in a relationship either," Sirius watched him as he bluntly pointed out. "How do you know you want to?"

"Fair enough," Remus slumped down on the pillow and put his knees up between them as some sort of guard. "Just knew I always wanted to with you, it's been on my mind for so long I guess. I'm not judging you that you don't though, everyone's different."

Padfoot threw his arms around Remus' knees and rested his chin on him, he was the worst person on Earth about personal space and Remus could not stop a grin. "The whole shebang? Dates and-" he stopped with a puckered look on his face as he really analyzed the boy he was leaning against.

"Yeah, I guess," Remus shrugged, but Sirius shushed him, his eyes now vacant as he clearly thought through something.

Remus bit his tongue, half terrified and half fascinated by whatever he was watching.

"Just hanging around talking, Merlin, like we haven't done that for years." Sirius finally, quietly, articulated now looking right down at him. "Listening to someone else whining and helping them out rather than just getting them off, compromising, hell Moony, have we been dating this whole time?"

Remus quickly lifted the pillow from behind his head and smothered himself with it to stop the uncontrollable laughter.

Sirius huffed impatiently and squeezed his knees, before he checked himself and quickly got off, glancing guiltily around at the others. Nobody was giving them much notice, thankfully, but he was still acutely aware about Remus wanting his privacy and this was toeing the line. Then he grimaced, they probably wouldn't work out anyways if they were that different about such a thing. He'd never even wanted to hold someone's hand before, and it was quite deterring Remus' secret had nothing to do with his actual habits. If the crush had been there all along, shouldn't he want Sirius to be trying to grab his hand anywhere?