A Month And A Mandrake || Wolfstar

"Thanks, mum," Remus used his arms to ease himself out of his seat at the kitchen table and into a standing position. He gathered his dishes, but his path to the sink was blocked by Mrs. Lupin.

"I'll get those, Remus, you should go take a nap."

"But I'm not tired," he complained, but still let her take the dishes from him. "I just woke up from a nap." He gestured towards the living room where he and Sirius had fallen asleep earlier.

"Upstairs, now, young man," she said sternly. "You can't be overexerting yourself like this."

Sirius, who hadn't finished eating yet, waved Remus along when he turned to him and hesitated. "You go ahead, I'll be up in a minute." While Remus reluctantly headed upstairs, Sirius quickly finished the last few bites of his lunch and stood to help Mrs. Lupin with the dishes. "So do you—" he paused. "Do you stay up all night?" He asked her, referencing Remus's transformation.

She sighed. "We used to, but...there's nothing we can do, you know? And Remus hates when we're tired the next day from being up all night. We don't sleep well, of course..."

"Right," Sirius nodded in understanding. "Neither do I—I'm such a light sleeper that even the bed creaking wakes me up," he added after a moment. Hopefully that would deter them from checking on him in the middle of the night.

Mrs. Lupin grimaced sympathetically. "Remus told you we're celebrating Christmas a few days late, right?"

"Yeah, he told me."

She shook her head. "I can't believe it falls on Christmas this year—poor Remus." She tilted her head, listening to the sounds of creaking coming from upstairs. "Will you go up there and make sure he's actually sleeping, please?"

"Will do," Sirius laughed. "Thanks for lunch."

Remus was definitely not asleep when Sirius went into their room. He was hunched over his desk, scribbling away at his parchment.

"That doesn't look like a nap to me," Sirius folded his arms across his chest, raising an eyebrow.

"I know, I just wanted to finish this essay first—"

"Nope, c'mon," he interrupted, patting the sheets of Remus's bed. "Bedtime."

Remus huffed. "I'm not a child, Sirius."

Sirius laid back on Remus's bed, reclining with his hands behind his head. "Oh, but I was hoping we could nap together." He pouted.

"I—" Remus turned to look at Sirius and sighed. "Oh c'mon, Pads, don't give me that look—"

He responded by pouting even more.

"Fuck," Remus muttered under his breath. "Okay, fine, fine, I'm coming—"

Grinning, Sirius moved to get under the covers and made room for Remus. Laying on his side, Remus burrowed his face in the crook of Sirius's neck and was asleep in no time.

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Sirius was becoming more and more antsy that evening as he waited for the right time to sneak into the basement. Remus had headed down there almost two hours earlier, yet the moon wouldn't even be on the horizon for another thirty minutes—so Sirius was stuck in Remus's room, waiting in the dark.

Mr. and Mrs. Lupin had already bid him goodnight, but Sirius could hear the muffled sounds of the television playing in their room through the wall.

He cast tempus again—11:43 PM. The moon would reach thirteen degrees at 12:16 and trigger the transformation, so now was the time to leave. He arranged the blankets on his cot so that at a glance, it would appear that he was sleeping, then left a note on his pillow saying that he went on a walk. Before going downstairs, he also grabbed a random book from Remus's bookshelf so he could use reading as an explanation, if he got caught. Luckily, the book (and his wand, for that matter) would stay in his pocket even if he transformed while wearing the clothes, so he didn't have to worry about it.