Bound To You

Chapter 21: Exploration

Severus glanced at Sirius as he paced around his office, his agitation coming out of him in waves. He'd missed the female Sirius since he asked for the antidote due to the upcoming full moon, and even though he knew, he knew, that Remus will tell Dumbledore about his appearance if he found him, he still wanted to accompany Remus in his transformations.

And since he was so adamant about accompanying the werewolf, and with the knowledge that said werewolf would be the reason Sirius would get incarcerated once more, Severus knew he had to render the werewolf's human mind unable to remember. So he gave Remus a mild version of the Wolfsbane potion, which would help him retain his human mind, yet his memories would be that of a werewolf's... well, he hoped so.

But he wouldn't be Severus Snape if he made half-arsed potions, right?

He sighed. "If you're going to make a hole in my carpet, then I suggest you do it at a later time, when I'm not the resident potions master at Hogwarts," he drawled, making Sirius stop.

"But I'm worried, you know? It always looked so painful when he transforms, and back then, I was always right by his side to help him deal with the pain," Sirius said worriedly. Severus felt a pang of jealousy at his words, but he masked the feeling behind his usual professor mask.

"Then how about we go to wherever the hell he goes to when he transforms and help him ease out of the pain together?" Severus offered.

"I thought so too, but..." Sirius sighed, making Severus frown.

"But what?"

"Well, whenever he transforms near me, it'd always end up with... a... umm... a knotting session," Sirius said with a blush. Severus raised his eyebrow. "That's why when you were the one that saw him transform, he almost... you know, rutted with you," Sirius coughed.

"And all this time I thought he was about to maul me," Severus smirked. "Then why don't we have a knotting session together?"

"Wh-what?!" Sirius spluttered, his face red from mortification. "Wh--"

"Why? Because we're a triad mate, of course, so why not?" Severus said calmly.

"But I haven't done... you know, any knotting session for, what, years?! He'll rip me in half! And you don't even know how huge his knot is!"

"Well, we'll be finding out about that later, now won't we?"

"How can you be so calm about this?!" Sirius shouted.

"Why are you so flustered about this?" Severus raised an eyebrow at him.

"I'm... I'm not ready... to-to you know... do stuff... with you," Sirius mumbled. Severus sighed.

"I know that," he murmured. Sirius looked at him in surprise and guilt. There was an uncomfortable silence that lingered after his words.

"But..." Sirius cleared his throat before starting again, "But I want you... to at least be there to... you know, make sure that Moony doesn't bite me." Severus looked up at him, scrutinizing him, making him fidget under his gaze.

"Okay," Severus said with a rare smile that made Sirius' heart melt. It was very rare for the dour potions master to smile a genuine smile, even back then when they were still students. So when he did smile, it'd always be a surprise, because it meant that he was truly happy, overjoyed even. Now, to get him to laugh...

One step at a time, Sirius thought to himself as he answered Severus' smile with his own beaming one.

Tom's and Lupin's chambers were silent, except for the sounds of quills scratching on parchment as Harry did his Charms essay and Tom graded a few students' essays. Minerva had deemed it necessary for Harry to stay elsewhere as long as there are still students in the Gryffindor Tower that had not yet changed back to their respective genders, and with a few manipulations from Tom's side, supported by Lupin's wishes, she'd finally relented on letting Harry stay with both Tom and Lupin, much to the jealousy of many students.