Shelter • wolfstar au

24 ; death eaters

Chapter Twenty Four: Death Eaters

Remus returned home to no greeting from Santa Paws. He hadn't expected it anyway, but it certainly left a hollow feeling inside his chest. He was so used the company of the dog that his house felt oddly empty. Even when he saw a large dog occupying half the space in the living room.

He was about to leave to his bedroom when he double backed. Santa Paws was lying on the floor, sleeping, and beneath his left paw was a pool of dried blood. His body heaved with slow, ragged breaths and Remus surged forward to pick him up and rest the front part of his body on his legs.

"Sirius?" he called, trying to wake him up. Sirius stirred before letting out a painful groan, and transformed.

It was a hideous sight. Earlier, his fur had kept the wound concealed, but now that the fur drew away and was replaced by a jumper, the wound stared at him in all its ugliness. His purple jumper was torn and beneath it was visible a narrow but long gash, now closed with dried blood. He recoiled slightly from the scene before him.

"That was my favourite jumper," he muttered to himself while Sirius lay motionless on the floor, hands pressed over his eyes. He was breathing heavily.

"I'm sorry," he replied after a moment. "I'll be sure to buy you a new jumper before I die."

Remus ignored the jab and leaned forward to draw the sleeve over his elbow. His brows furrowed instinctively. He was good in healing dog wounds, but he had never interacted much with humans so had no reason to heal human wounds. In the end, he got up on his feet and left the room to fetch first aid.

When he returned, Sirius was perched on his back, leaning against the sofa, while his eyes were focused on the gash as though he had just noticed it. Remus went and sat down beside him.

"I don't need your medicine," he said in a rough voice.

"It's not time to be stubborn -"

"No," Sirius shook his head. "I mean your medicine won't work on this. It's a magical wound."

Remus set the box aside. Sirius was running his wand over his wound and Remus saw the sticky, almost black, blood vanishing, revealing a gaping wound from which fresh blood spilled out. "Why didn't you heal it before?"

"I didn't want to."

Remus parted his lips but closed them again, not knowing what to say. He watched as Sirius now closed the wound, the skin closing and attaching itself together. Once he was done, there was a long line running across his forearm, now clean of blood.

Remus stood up to return the first aid box to its place, and when he returned to the living room, it was spotless. Anyone standing there would never guess that there was dried blood etched onto the floor only a minute before. Sirius pulled open his jumper and shirt, which were torn and stained with blood, and said, "Can I get another shirt?"