Title: Hollow
Rating: PG-13
Author: plotbunniesrxs
Parings: R/S, J/L
Warnings: Angst galore! Oh, and is unbetaed until tomorrow.

Summary: Sirius begins his journey from the shores beyond Azkaban towards Hogwarts and makes a stop along the way. Set after seeing Harry in the park. Prompt from scarvesnhats, Day One. 1,446 words. Crossposted at scarvesnhats & remusxsirius at LiveJournal.

Hollow
For oldlight

He forced his tired feet to pad down the deserted street. Even with his skewed senses, he knew this place, felt how familiar it all was. The wind had become brisk over the past weeks as he migrated from place to place, grateful for the warm coat his animal familiar provided him. How he wished for a place to stay, to curl beside a roaring fire with a dish of warmed food leftover from a family's decadent supper, but to reach his goal, he knew that he must trudge on. He ducked behind a thatch of trees and transformed to see the path in living color, just to remind himself that he had returned to the correct street, even though he would never forget.

He stayed in the shadows as he passed several amber-lit homes. Honey amber, like those eyes. He felt his heart plummet down into the hollows of his stomach and fought back the urge to allow a single tear to fall. No, that was an age ago and probably long forgotten on behalf of his other self. He must reach the end of the high street.

He approached the fence of the darkened house and hitched a breath. There was nothing bright and warm about the shabby cottage. Everything around the building screamed silently a warning of evil, and betrayal, and carnage, and death. He shut his eyes and unlatched the gate and stepped tentatively onto the overgrown lawn. He opened them again and finally breathed. This was home.

"What do you think, Moony?"

Remus quirked a smile and took a glance over at the boy who had grown up before his eyes and married the beautifully bossy redhead his familiar had affectionately called Tiger.

"I think it's perfect, Prongs," he mused. "I'm sure Lily had a most trying time trying to get you to finally put down for it."

A shake of a head and a quirked grin. "It may not be exactly my taste, but it's what she wants."

"Well, if you ask me-"

"We didn't," Remus and James voices sounded collectively, causing the third boy to sulk. James threw his arm around his shoulder and squeezed reassuringly.

"You have your own flat, Pads," James offered. "One that you can decorate with purple shag carpeting and orange polka dot wallpaper for all I care."

"Tch," Sirius snorted. "Like I would ever have the audacity to do that."

He entered the house. It carried the slight odor of not being lived in for twelve years, a stale mingling of mildew and dust. The furniture had been draped with white cloths, but the rubble was just as it had been that night. He softly stalked from room to room, his mind sometimes playing tricks on him. In the living room, he could see the brightly lit tree, James allowing a brand new Snitch to buzz around the room, catching it as it zoomed above little Harry's head as the baby clapped his hands with a tinkling laugh, Lily keeping watch nearby with a bright smile, and Remus stealing furtive glances towards him as he leaned against the doorjamb. In the kitchen, Harry was seated in a high chair, wailing at the top of his lungs, flinging his dinner in every direction as Remus ducked and dodged, finally getting a plate full of wet spaghetti noodles right in the face as he could hear his own voice roaring with a barking laugh. In the dining room, the dining room… He felt his heart sink as he watched the figures of Peter and James sat at the table discussing with him the particulars of the Fidelius as he stood leaning against the mantlepiece. He growled and stormed out of the room.

He found himself in the tiny entryway and he glanced at the stairwell.

"Best Christmas ever, Moony?"

"You ask that every year, Sirius."

"I know, but this year's different, you know?"

"How so?"

"Harry."

"Well, there is that."

"It's funny, you know. I never knew I'd think that watching the sprog would be better than my own presents."

"Yes…"

"What is it?"

"I can think of something that's better."

"Oh?"

He watched as Remus kissed him soundly as they sat on the stairwell in the candlelight, before thoughts of deception, and disdain, and betrayal, and TRAITOR became the forefront of their minds. He closed his eyes and willed the image to disappear, but as he opened them, the two of them were still there, clinging to each other and letting out soft gasps in the deafening silence. A single tear fell from his cheek as the image faded, revealing the ghost of James' body lying motionless at the bottom of the stairs, limbs sticking out at odd angles, a blank stare masking his face. Dimly, from somewhere above him, he heard a baby crying frantically.

Sirius bolted out of the house and dropped to his knees, the urge to wretch what little food he had eaten in the last few days shooting towards his throat. He swallowed back the gag and breathed heavily. He needed to regain his focus. I shouldn't have come here, he chided himself. Hogwarts. Peter's at Hogwarts.

He heaved himself up onto his feet and transformed once more into the great black dog and padded across the lawn to the gate. He turned to give one last look to the lonely little house with the chipped pale yellow paint.

"Where are you going?"

"For a walk. Need a bit of air."

"Be careful."

"Right."

Sirius stepped out of the flat and shut the door behind him, leaning against it for a moment to catch his breath. The arguments were getting worse with each passing day. Gone were the days where it was just Remus and Sirius, carefree and in love, with nothing to lose. They had learned the hard way that friendship, love, and most of all trust, were not only easy to slip from their fingers, it had happened almost effortlessly, and now there was just a thick static between them.

He kicked himself away from the door and stepped out of the building into the brisk October air, pulling his jacket even tighter around him. He slipped into an alley and Apparated to Godric's Hollow. As he blinked his eyes, he realized something was terribly wrong. Something in the back of his throat caught and he let out a sour cough. He took off down the street and there it was, the once bright little yellow house, now standing frightened and eerily silent.

He tore into the house, finding James at his feet, struck dead, the ever present glasses skewed and cracked. He heard little Harry's soft cries and took the stairs two at a time and reached the nursery, the body of the boy's mother laying face down unmoving. He clapped his hand to his mouth, letting out an involuntary sob before remembering Harry and carefully stepping over the body to reach the crib. He lifted the child out of the crib and quickly made his way back downstairs and out the door, cooing softly to the bundle in his arms calmly.

Hagrid had been waiting outside the door, arriving right after he had. He remembered the giant taking the precious gift from his arms to deliver him to safe haven. He watched as his last hold on his humanity disappeared on his beautiful motorbike into the night.

He stepped out onto the London street, the sniveling man trembling in fear before him. He gripped his wand at his side until his knuckles turned white and he began to stalk to his prey. He was never prepared for what that small insignificant TRAITOR had in store for him. Not until it was too late.

As the great dog padded back out onto the street heading away from the house, he glanced over to a corner of a side-street. He found that his eyes were still playing cruel tricks on him, because the street flooded with an early morning light and he could just make out a figure trying to stand, clutching a lamppost.

Remus.

He locked eyes with his friend, his lover, his soulmate and watched him fall to his knees, breathless. He blinked and the boy he had grown up with, had grown to love and cherish without a shadow of a doubt, even with the looming fear of betrayal hanging over them, mouthed a single word.

Why.

He ducked his head and tore his eyes away from the lamppost as the vision of Remus Lupin disappeared, the light faded into stale darkness, and he continued down the high street of Godric's Hollow on his way to Hogwarts.

FIN