In the end, they stayed on the island until the end of the summer. Remus realized after they had made the decision that it would probably be best to wait until Snape was concentrating his energy on something else. Snape was still as vindictive as ever, and if he saw Remus, he would probably stop to ask a lot of uncomfortable questions. Also, Remus didn’t remember if Snape had heard the portion of conversation where Sirius’ state as an Animagus had been revealed. It was a chance that they couldn’t afford to take.
It was Sirius who pointed out that, for Buckbeak’s sake, it would be better to live in their house in the country. There he could stay close by, without worrying about London. Remus was agreeable to this and wrote Allister, asking him if he could possibly finish fixing up the house by the end of the summer. Allister replied that it wouldn’t be a problem.
“We’ll have to give him something really nice as a thank you gift,” Sirius said, upon receiving this reply.
All in all, the rest of the summer went without incident. Remus was starting to worry about their money running low, so for the last month they did little; the cost of living there was high enough.
They Apparated to Ireland and flew back to their house. Allister had, as promised, set everything up as it had once been, even going so far as to get Remus’ things from his apartment in London.
“Very cozy,” Remus said.
Even if they hadn’t been running out of money, the letter Harry sent right near the end of the summer would have convinced them. Sirius read it and reread it aloud, and the two of them pondered what Harry’s aching scar could possibly mean.
“He’s up to something,” Sirius said grimly, pacing around the house.
“Do you think Peter’s found him?” Remus asked quietly.
Sirius hesitated for a long minute. “Yes. I’d reckon so.”
Remus shivered a little and moved closer to the fire.
The year got progressively worse. Sirius wrote Harry to tell him that he was coming back to England, which Harry didn’t seem too pleased about. Still, Sirius was starting to relax a tiny bit until he heard about Harry being selected for the Triwizard Championship.
“It just doesn’t make sense,” he growled. He had been pacing for a good forty-five minutes.
“It makes perfect sense,” Remus said. “Harry is a fourth year wizard. They’re hoping he’s going to get himself killed.”
“But why such an elaborate scheme?” Sirius asked, fuming.
Remus considered it for a long minute. “Obviously, there’s something we’re missing. However, I can see why they might do it this way. The goblet can’t talk. It can’t tell anyone who put Harry’s name in, so if he doesn’t die, it doesn’t matter. If someone actually made an attempt on his life, and he survived, he would be able to point a finger at who did it.”
“I guess,” Sirius said, not slowing in his pacing for a minute.
Their anxiety only increased when they read the article in the Daily Prophet and found out who the judges were. Sirius had nothing but disdain for Karkaroff, but still, with such a likely suspect nearby, Sirius decided he had better talk to Harry before anything else happened.
Their fireplace wasn’t connected to the Floo Powder network; no one had lived there for so long that it had been disconnected. Remus hadn’t hooked it up again because he was afraid someone would decide to drop by at an inopportune time. As unlikely as it was, it wasn’t a chance worth taking.
“You’re going to break into a house to use their fire?” he asked skeptically.
“Mm hmm.” Sirius nodded, as if this wasn’t anything unusual at all.
“Why don’t you just use Allister’s?” Remus asked, trying to sound reasonable.
“Because I don’t want to go anywhere that populated,” Sirius said. “It’ll be easier if I break into some house out in the country. Trust me, Moony, I know what I’m doing.”
Remus let him go, but it was his turn to pace as he waited for Sirius to return. Fortunately, he did, and was unharmed, but wasn’t altogether happy about what had happened. “We didn’t have much chance to talk,” he said. “But at least he’s on his guard now. The first task is dragons, though.”
Remus grimaced. “Well . . . Harry’s a smart kid . . . I’m sure he’ll find some way to get through it.”
This statement alone resulted in a lot more pacing.
Finally, Sirius couldn’t handle the tension anymore. “I’ve got to go,” he said. “I’m not close enough. Something could go wrong and I wouldn’t make it in time. I need to be there.”
Remus regarded him closely for a long minute. He knew what Sirius was thinking; he had failed to protect James. Now it would kill him if he failed to protect Harry.
“All right,” he said. “Where are you going to stay?”
“There’s a cave outside Hogsmeade. It’s where I spent some time last year when I wasn’t in the Shack. I can stay transformed. No one will ever know.”
“You’ll be hungry,” Remus said calmly.
“I can handle it,” Sirius said.
“You won’t be able to see Harry,” Remus reminded him.
“I know, but . . . I need to be there.”
Remus nodded slowly. “I understand.”
“I know I said I would never leave,” Sirius said, putting his arms around Remus and hugging him tightly. “But if . . . if Harry got hurt, and I could have stopped it . . . I could never forgive myself.”
“You’re not leaving,” Remus said, returning the embrace. “You’re just going away for a while.”
“I promise I’ll come back,” Sirius said.
Remus smiled. “I know you will.”
****
“Sirius!” Remus flung himself into Sirius’ arms as he came through the door, stammering incoherently. “Got an owl -- Dumbledore -- hours ago -- was so worried about you -- ”
Sirius hugged him tightly, smoothing his hair. “Shhh. I’m okay.”
Remus clung to him a long minute. “What happened?” he finally asked. “All Dumbledore’s letter said was that something was wrong and you’d be home soon.”
“You’d better sit down,” Sirius said, and gently steered Remus into a chair.
“Oh no. That’s never a good sign.” Remus began twisting the bottom of his shirt in his hands, waiting to hear what had happened. “Are you all right? Is Harry all right?”
“Harry’s fine,” Sirius said, not quite meeting Remus’ eyes. “Just let me explain.”
Remus nodded and picked up the mug of tea that had been sitting on the table, clutching it between his hands. He stayed silent while Sirius explained everything that had happened, twitching occasionally.
Sirius finally trailed off into silence.
“This is bad,” Remus said in a small voice.
Sirius nodded. “But Dumbledore seems to have a plan, so, I’m just waiting to see what will happen.”
Remus scooted his chair over and pulled Sirius into his arms. “We’ll make it through this?”
“Yeah,” Sirius said. “We will.”
****
“Cool!” Harry looked at the motorcycle with awe. “That’s the best thing I’ve ever seen!” He reached out and impulsively gave Sirius a hug. “I’m so glad Dumbledore said I could come to you this summer . . . even knowing why I was at the Dursleys doesn’t make up for how horrid they were.”
Sirius laughed. “Come on, climb in. You can put your suitcase under your feet.”
Harry did so. “So where do you live?” he asked excitedly. “Do you have a house? An apartment?”
“It’s a house out in the country,” Sirius said. “My brother looked after it while I was in Azkaban.”
“You have a brother?” Harry asked, surprised. “I didn’t know that.”
“I suppose it never occurred to me to tell you.” Sirius kicked the bike into gear.
“I want to hear all about your family and everything,” Harry enthused. “I hardly know anything about you!”
“Well, we’ve got all summer,” Sirius said. He paused, then added hesitantly, “I hope you won’t be bored . . . there’s not much to do out in the country . . .”
“Bored?” Harry laughed. “Hardly. It’s not like the Dursleys took me places.”
Sirius scowled at this and muttered something uncomplimentary. “Don’t get me wrong, Harry, I thought your mother was a great person, but her family . . .”
“Don’t worry about offending me,” Harry said dryly. “I’m related to them and I still can’t stand them.”
Sirius laughed. “We can’t fly, since it’s such a clear day. I’ll take you out later, when it’s cloudy. For now, we’ll have to stay on the roads.”
“That’s okay,” Harry said. He paused, then said, “So do you do all your cooking and cleaning by magic? I’ve always wanted to live in a real wizarding household; I loved being at Ron’s.”
“Yes, we do,” Sirius said absently.
Harry blinked. “We? Who else lives there?”
“Oh, I forgot to tell you,” Sirius said, with a nervous little laugh. “Remus is staying with us. Er -- Professor Lupin.”
“Oh, right, you two were friends before,” Harry said, nodding. Then he frowned. “But doesn’t he have a house of his own?”
“Ah, well,” Sirius stammered. “Hard for him to find work, you know . . .” He trailed off unconvincingly. For some reason, it hadn’t occurred to him that he would have to explain this to Harry. It wasn’t as if Harry wouldn’t notice that they shared a bedroom; nor would he be oblivious to the fact that their bedroom only had one bed. Sirius cursed himself, for the thousandth time, for never thinking ahead.
“But he must have been living on his own all these years,” Harry persisted.
Sirius’ mind raced furiously. Harry was fifteen -- was that old enough to know about things like this? “Well, yes, he was. It’s rather complicated, and it’s getting a bit too loud to talk -- I’ll explain it when we get there.” Or really, he added privately to himself, he would let Remus explain.
Harry looked delighted with the motorcycle, and stayed silent for the rest of the trip. Remus was waiting outside when they got there, working in a small garden that looked like it had only been planted the week before. “Hey,” he said, glancing up with a smile. He stood up and wiped his hands off on the dirty T-shirt he was wearing. He walked over and embraced Sirius briefly, then, much to Harry’s surprise, embraced him as well. “Good to see you again, Harry.”
Harry nodded and smiled. Sirius scooped up Harry’s trunk and carried it inside. They’d always had a guest room, though it had seldom been used; they had spent the last week setting it up for Harry.
Harry looked around the house. “This is great,” he said enthusiastically. “It’s so small and cozy.” His eyes traveled slowly over the walls, counting the doors. Then he frowned. “But where do you sleep, Professor Lupin? Sirius didn’t give me your room, did he?”
“You can call me Remus,” he said. “I’m not your professor anymore, and anyway, that’s too long to say every time you need my attention.” He glanced at Sirius, looking amused. “Someone wasn’t thinking ahead again.”
“Oh, shut up,” Sirius said. “You want some lemonade, Harry?”
“Sure,” Harry said, looking somewhat perplexed at this little exchange. After Sirius left, he said, “What did you mean, he wasn’t thinking ahead?”
“It’s a little joke between the two of us,” Remus said. “Rather long story, really. What I meant in this particular case was that I thought he would have explained the living arrangements already.”
“Well, he told me that you were staying here,” Harry said uncertainly.
“I am,” Remus said. “I’ve actually been staying here for quite some time. This is where Sirius and I lived . . . before Azkaban.”
Harry blinked. “You lived together then, too? I didn’t realize you two were such good friends.”
Remus coughed. Loudly. Sirius walked back in with three glasses of lemonade and gave Remus a nervous look as he set them down on the table.
“Well, you never mentioned it either,” Sirius said, looking decidedly sulky.
“Mentioned what?” Harry asked, sounding agonized.
“And whatever happened to Mr. I-Don’t-Care-What-Anyone-Thinks, hm?” Remus asked, still looking like he was about to burst into laughter. Sirius muttered something under his breath. “Well, Harry, since your godfather seems to have lapsed into unusual cowardice on his part, I’ll tell you. Sirius and I aren’t just friends, we’re lovers.” Remus said this without a trace of embarrassment. “We have been since our last year of school together.”
“Does it bother you?” Remus asked, looking at him closely. Underneath the table, Sirius was clutching his hand.
“No, it just surprised me, that’s all,” Harry said with a shrug. “It wasn’t what I expected. But it’s all right.” He paused, then added hesitantly, “I think it’s important . . . to have someone you love.”
“It’s very important,” Sirius said quietly.
Harry frowned suddenly. “It must have been awful for you,” he said. “Being split up like that.”
“Yeah,” Remus said. “We try not to think about it. It’s fixed now . . . that’s pretty much all that matters to us.” He smiled briefly, then said, “I’m going to get those cookies . . . I’ll be right back.”
“It . . . it is okay, right?” Sirius asked Harry anxiously.
“Yeah, it’s fine,” Harry said with a smile.
“I owe Remus a lot,” Sirius said. “He helped me get back on my feet . . . after Azkaban. He didn’t abandon me, when I think almost anyone else would have.”
“Are you happy together?” Harry asked curiously.
“Most of the time,” Sirius said. “I’m certainly happier than I would be with anyone else.”
“Well.” Harry took a long drink of his lemonade. “That’s all right then.” He winked and said, “Just don’t be too loud at night.”
Sirius gaped at him, causing Harry to burst into laughter.
“You have a sense of humor just like your father, Harry,” Sirius groaned, burying his face in his arms to hide the fact that he had turned crimson.
Remus stopped in the doorway, raising an eyebrow. “Do I want to know?”
“No,” Sirius said. “You most definitely do not.”
--finis--
And that's it. Let me know what you thought, please?