Chasing Time (sirius black)

DISEASE

Sirius felt the moment Mads's brain finally fizzled out. He slid an arm around her back to support her as she collapsed on his left side, head slotting into the crook of his shoulder. He smiled softly as he watched her eyes flutter shut, struggling against the adrenaline crash. A moment later, Mads was fast asleep against him.

The others continued their conversation as Sirius took another bite of his egg sandwich with his other hand, thinking of their experiments that morning. He had his own theory on why their bond was sometimes there and sometimes not. And it was not because of the absurd amount of coffee his bond mate had had.

It was that Mads wasn't accepting the bond.

He was as scared as she was about it but had accepted it weeks ago. Nothing had felt as right as the bond did. It was as if he'd had a piece of himself out of place and when Mads had arrived, that piece had been nudged closer to where it was supposed to be. When the bond happened, he hadn't realized it at the time but that piece was now locked into place, exactly where it was supposed to be. It completed him.

Even with it going in and out, he knew it was there and knew he wasn't alone. Mads was always there.

Merlin, now he was really starting to sound sappy like Prongs.

Finishing his sandwich, he gently scooped the exhausted girl into his arms and walked her to his bed. As he laid her down though, her hand wound itself into his shirt so that it was tangled in his button-up. Smirking, he gently pried her hand off and had to bite back a laugh at the frustrated look on her face along with the spike of annoyance through the bond tether.

His legs were against the bed so he felt it when the bed dipped. Glancing over, he found the human-Tux curled up in a ball at Mads's feet. Tux had been quiet most of the day, content to sleep on one of their beds as long as he had someone he could curl up next to. As Sirius passed, he ruffled Tux's hair like he used to with Reg.

Moony cocked his head towards Sirius as he rejoined the group. "How are you feeling after all -" Moony gestured towards his bed. "that?"

"Fine." Sirius shrugged, taking another half of sandwich. Talking around the bite he'd just taken, he continued. "I've had worse during Quidditch."

"Remember that bludger you took in fifth year during the Hufflepuff game?" Prongs asked, a grin on his face at the memory. "You tried to walk on a leg with half the bone sticking out."

"It was only a fragment of bone, Prongsie." Sirius scoffed, knowing the injury had looked worse than it was. Poppy had him out of the Hospital Wing in two hours like nothing had happened. "It's not like I shattered my forearm by flying into a Quidditch post."

"That was first year, you git." His best mate turned a spectacular shade of red, almost the same color as Lily's hair.

Said redhead rolled her eyes at the two of them. "The two of you are lucky we can do magic. I can't imagine you'd have made it past first year otherwise."

"I'm offended, Lily." Prongs had a hand to his chest looking aghast. "I would've at least made it second year. Pads on the other hand -"

"Would've made it to fourth year." Sirius shot back good-naturedly, throwing a wink at Lily who shook her head. He leaned forward and took an apple from their hoard. Rolling it in his hands, he brought the conversation back around. "She's not wrong though. We need to figure out the bond. Her methods might be a bit -"