Sign of the Times

four

Remus was up again bright and early out of instinct, but he was much more subdued. Sirius feared it was the approaching moon.

Sirius was feeling a bit sour from the night before and he acted that way outwardly. Remus sensed this and stayed away from him that morning, opting to sit with Lily at breakfast instead. Sirius tried to convince himself he was happy about it, but it hurt his feelings. He new it was his own fault for pushing Remus away, but felt like he couldn't help it. 

Since it was a Saturday and they didn't have classes, they figured they'd better find some sort of activity to entertain Remus, so they went outside.

Once again, they were all bundled up in their winter clothes so they wouldn't be too cold.

They started playing tag in the snow, until Remus tripped and fell head first in the snow and started crying from the cold. They decided snowmen would be the better option after that.

After awhile of carefully constructing snowmen for a little over an hour, little Remus was freezing, so they called it quits and went back inside. As soon as they were inside the castle, Remus, in his snow filled boots, waddled over to Sirius and held out his arms.

Sirius's heart warmed and he set aside his bitterness to lift Remus up. Holding Remus on his hip with one hand, he used the other to take off Remus's boots. He used his wand to dry his soaking socks and wrapped his own jacket around Remus's shoulders as he shook with the cold. He snuggled into Sirius, savoring the warmth he found there. 

The five of them walked into the warmth of the Great Hall and ate their lunch, Remus staying put in Sirius's warm arms. 

That afternoon, James and Sirius sat in their dormitory with Remus. They could both tell that Remus was pretty tuckered out from their morning activities and the coming moon tomorrow night.

James had transfigured a toy truck for Remus to play with and Remus sat on the  floor across from them, rolling the truck back and forth in front of him silently. Every so often his head would dip as he nodded off, but he'd catch himself and sit back upright, ever pushing that truck back on forth.

Eventually, Sirius spoke. "Remus, are you tired?"

Remus finally set the truck down and sat back, rubbing his eyes with his fists. "Mhm," he said.

Sirius held out his arms. "Come here, then."

Remus crawled over onto Sirius's lap and curled up there. He fell asleep almost instantly. 

Sirius was afraid to move for the longest time. He sat there on the floor, cradling Remus, for over an hour as James, Peter, and Lily came and went. Finally, Sirius decided that Remus was small enough for Sirius to carry him around easily, and he was tired enough that he probably wouldn't wake up.

So Sirius carefully stood up, with Remus in his arms, and made his way down the stairs to where Lily and James were playing a game of Wizard Chess and Peter was watching, eating a Pumpkin Pasty.

Sirius settled himself on the couch behind them and adjusted the pillow under his arm to support Remus's head better.

Once Lily beat James at chess, she crawled up onto the couch next to Sirius and snuggled into his side. She ran his fingers soothingly through Remus's hair as he slept.

"He's so precious," she said softly. Sirius hummed in agreement, gazing down at Remus's sleeping face. 

They were quiet for a few minutes as Remus shifted in his sleep, his face screwing up.

"He's like this because of the moon tomorrow," Lily said. It wasn't a question.

Sirius nodded. "It's incredible how he's only starting to feel it now. Normally, he'd start to feel the approaching moon almost a week in advance."