It's easier this way, Sirius thinks. With the lights out and their faces tipped away from one another. Easier to just hold and be held than to think too much on the panic he'd felt beneath his breast or the irritation he'd caused.

"I believe you wouldn't want to," he manages eventually because the he is at least fairly sure of. "But here, in this place... you know that's not something anyone can promise. Either one of us could be gone tomorrow with or without rabid dogs to worry about."