The Werewolf's Cub

Chapter 2 - The Potion

By the time the emotionally strung out men were done destroying every stereotype that said men shouldn't cry it was so late that they could barely keep their eyes open. Remus was leaning back on the couch with his head nodding down every so often before he would catch himself and pop his head back up in a vain attempt to stay awake. Sirius wasn't even trying, he had just stretched out and laid his head on the armrest to doze. James smiled sleepily at his friends antics, the messy haired man got up from the comfortable chair he was in and leaned over Sirius' to shake him awake.

"Come on at least wake up enough to go upstairs and sleep in one of the guest rooms."

James pulled Sirius up laughing when Sirius just sort of flopped over his shoulder. Remus was smiling at his attempts for a couple of seconds before he got up to help. With a strength that only someone not completely human could have, he picked Sirius up and turned to James. The bespectacled man just gave a tired chuckle and led the way to the room Sirius always used when he stayed over.

As James led Remus down the hall from Sirius to another guest room decided to asks friend to speak to his wife about her problems.

"Remus?"

"What, James?"

"Do you think you can help Lilly tomorrow? She has been crying a lot and I don't know how to help her, she sees me and just cries harder. She will not tell me what has been bothering her either."

" Yeah James I'll talk to her tomorrow, and then we can all fix the problem. I think the war has just become too much for her. After all you two married right out of school and jumped right into the fighting in the war. Then you need to realize that Jamie is only six months old, she is probably stressed from the war and having an infant at the same time. Also from what I've read it can take almost two years for her body to recover from the pregnancy, including her hormones."

By this time the two men had made it to the room Remus used to prefer to stay in. Unlike Sirius' room it had a large window to let in the light from outdoors, allowing Remus to feel less closed in. The color scheme also helped as it was a more woodsy theme with lots of greens and browns, the occasional cream tone kept it from being too dark thankfully.

"Uhhh....Remus, when and why did you read about that sort of stuff?"

"James, you and Lilly are two of my best friends. As soon as you announced her pregnancy I started doing my research so I could help if you needed it."

James sighed and let his friend go to bed. He was incredibly mad at himself, he couldn't believe he had allowed himself to forget that Remus had always put his friends needs above his own. How he had believed that Remus could be the spy in the order he would never know. James walked upstairs to his and Lilly's room, for the first time since the birth of his son he felt that things were looking up. His friends were back together and Remus should be able to help Lilly; Jamie was healthy and their small family was making plans to survive.

James looked in on his little boy in his crib in the corner before laying down in bed with his wife. Even though she avoided him all day she still cuddled in her sleep. She sighed in relief at his presence before snuggling into his neck ,her sleep becoming more relaxed as she felt the safety  of his arms.

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Remus awoke to the early morning sun shining through the large window in his room. The werewolf stayed in bed staring up at the ceiling and thinking over everything that had happened yesterday. His morning  and afternoon filled with the fear of being caught helping the other wolves escape Magical Britain, the early evening when his sort of boyfriend had sneaked up on him and asked to come over, the late evening conversation and revelation with his best friends. To say that he was emotionally exhausted was putting it mildly. He understood why James had thought the way he had, but the lingering fear from his childhood that the people he chose as his pack mates wold abandon him didn't help matters. He felt betrayed by James but elated that Sirius had stood up for him. Remus wondered what Peter thought, what Lilly thought, would they like James believe he would hurt them like that, or would they defend him like Sirius? Would any of them understand that he is just as scared as them , that being a wolf on the light side of the war has made him a prime target for the dark side to make an example of, and that most of the light side didn't really care if he made it out alive because of his furry little problem?