"Hold still, Padfoot," Remus scolded. "I can't see what I'm doing when you're wriggling."

"It hurts, Moony," Sirius whined.

"You're luck that's your only complaint," Remus said darkly. There was quiet, and then he attempted to lighten the mood by adding, "Besides, I'm sure the Death Eater you attacked has a lot more to worry about than a little cut."

He meant that Voldemort wouldn't be happy that the Death Eaters lost the battle; they'd been unable to inflict a single casualty upon the Order. But he winced when he heard the words leave his mouth. He'd almost managed to forget that he'd been so blind with rage when he'd seen Sirius hit that he'd cast the Cruciatus Curse upon the Death Eater – his first Unforgivable. It had worked surprisingly well.

The memory made Remus sick to his stomach.

He looked up when he felt Sirius lay a hand gently upon his arm. "Thank you," the dark-haired man said quietly.

"For what?" Remus asked bitterly. "For turning into one of them?"

"For saving my life," Sirius said. His grey eyes bore into Remus' brown ones, and Remus could tell he was trying to communicate all the things he couldn't find the words for. The werewolf glanced away.

Sirius stood up suddenly, and Remus was about to snap at him to get down because he was bloody injured, but he couldn't because Sirius' lips were on his and their tongues were touching and oh-God Sirius' hands were everywhere….

Then Sirius let out a gasp that Remus could tell was not one of pleasure, and the werewolf was reminded (a little belatedly) that Sirius was injured. He broke away and physically forced Sirius back down onto their bed. But his dark thoughts had disappeared and a small almost-smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"Sit still," he commanded, picking up the trailing ends of a bandage and continued to wrap it around Sirius' torso, making sure it was tight and firm over his wound. "Now you've undone half of it." His tone was scolding, but also sort of playful, and Sirius sat back with a smirk on his face.

"How can you go from the-beginnings-of-sex in one moment, to unfun-Remus in the next?" he pouted.

Remus smiled. "Because I don't want you to get hurt," he said softly, trailing his hand across Sirius' bare abdomen. His grin widened as he heard Sirius' breathing hitch.

"Remmy," Sirius said in a strangled voice. "If you want me to give you the opportunity to finish with that bandage, I suggest you don't do that."

Remus laughed, but his hands returned to the bandage and, for the next five minutes, stayed strictly where they were needed. Quiet fell over them like a blanket; the only thing disturbing it was the slow sounds of their breathing.

"I thought I was going to lose you tonight," Remus said, as he finished with the dressing. His hands nimbly secured the end of the fabric so that Sirius couldn't accidentally pull the bandage off. His voice was tight, purposely controlled, but Sirius knew Remus well enough to know just how upset the werewolf was. "When I saw that Death Eater standing over you, and there was so much blood…."

Sirius stood up and tenderly wrapped his arms around Remus. The other man buried his face in Sirius' shoulder, and the animagus was surprised to feel the wetness on his lover's face. "This'll all be over, someday," he replied. "All the fighting and the hiding and the fear. We'll get through it all, and we can live happily ever after, I promise. We can have a house and a dog-"

"Cat," Remus said, in a muffled sort of way. "I prefer cats."

Sirius raised his eyebrow, although the effect was somewhat minimised by the fact that Remus couldn't see him. "Really?" he asked sceptically. "You prefer cats." He tried not to be too offended.

"Yeah," Remus said, pulling away from Sirius and looking him in the eye. "Although they don't really like me, so we might have trouble finding one."

"Yeah, cats don't really like me, either," Sirius said. "It comes of transforming into a dog every now and then. And the fact I tend to chase them. I really think a dog would be better."

"Maybe we could have both?" Remus suggested, and Sirius laughed.

"Both then," he agreed. "In fact, let's have two of each."

"Fine, but you have to walk the dogs," Remus said.

Sirius laughed again. "And we'll live in a little cottage in the middle of nowhere, with a garden and some trees-"

"And a stream," Remus added. "We had a stream behind our house when I was growing up. Can we have a stream?"

"We can have a stream," Sirius confirmed. "And there'll be a muggle town close by – but not too close! – and every week we'll go roaring through it on my motorbike."

"And everyone will be really annoyed with you for disturbing the peace," Remus laughed.

"Except the kids," Sirius said, "because we'll give them all rides. And the adults won't us mind too much, because you'll go into the town without me sometimes, and they'll see how nice you are. And they'll talk among themselves and say, 'Isn't it such a shame that such a nice bloke like Remus is married to a prat like that other guy?'"

Remus laughed, and added, "And James and Lily will come around every week… no, every day! And you'll teach Harry how to fly a broom and how to do mischievous spells with your wand."

"And you'll bandage his knees when he falls off his broom," Sirius says, "and you'll save me from Lily when she finds out what I've taught him."

"And maybe he'll play with a child of our own," Remus suggested shyly.

"No," Sirius said, "he'll play with all of them. All twenty."

"Twenty?" Remus snorted. "You don't do things in half measures, do you?"

"Nope," Sirius said proudly. "We'll have ten of each."

"I think I'm going to have to put my foot down there," Remus said. "No more than five."

Sirius waved his hand airily. "Details," he said, as though they were unimportant. "We'll work it out later."

Remus kissed Sirius deep and slow. "Of course we will," he said.

Sirius wiggled his eyebrows. "So how about we get onto making these children," he said suggestively.

Remus laughed. "You know that's not quite how works, right, Padfoot?"

"Shh," Sirius said slyly, whispering in Remus' ear. "Just pretend." His hand trailed down Remus' clothed torso until it reached his pants.

"O-okay," Remus said breathlessly.