Title: The Traitor
Written for: Werewolfsfan over at LJ ... er, quite a long time ago, but I never got round to posting it here until now.
Summary: Sirius is determined to figure out Remus's secret – and no, it probably isn't what you are thinking.
Warnings: Slash, a bit of bad language and unbeta'd.
Disclaimer: I own nothing that you recognise.
-o-
Remus Lupin was a man with many secrets, except from Sirius Black. From Sirius he had only one secret, one which he was struggling to keep with every passing day.
"Do you have to go?" Sirius asked, sounding rather petulant as he watched Remus struggle into his shirt.
"Afraid so," Remus replied with a reluctant smile back at his lover. "I'll see you tonight?"
Sirius nodded. "I'll pick you up at your place around seven, okay?"
Remus shook his head. "I'm working late tonight. I'll meet you at The Leaky Cauldron."
"More overtime?" Sirius asked.
"It pays the bills," Remus replied as he buttoned his shirt. "Not to mention, without all this overtime I wouldn't be able to afford to go out boozing with you and the lads every week."
"You could just move in here…"
"I'm not a charity case," Remus muttered.
"It's not bloody charity!" Sirius snapped. "It's just the natural progression of our relationship." He stalled and looked down at the blanket. "Unless you think it's not going anywhere?"
Remus sighed. "It's too early in the morning for me to have to deal with your insecurity issues," he replied, trying to keep his voice cheerful and his tone light.
"Why do you have to leave so early anyway?" Sirius asked, only now realising that it wasn't even fully light yet. "I thought you were on afternoons this week?"
"I am, but I've got stuff to do this morning."
"Stuff?"
"Yeah, you know…stuff…"
Sirius huffed. Remus finished dressing. Sirius huffed some more.
-o-
"I think Remus is up to something," Sirius confided in James and Lily.
"Like what?" James asked, at the same time Lily declared Sirius's statement "absolutely ridiculous."
"I think he might be cheating on me."
Lily repeated her declaration, which was immediately echoed by James.
"No, really," Sirius insisted. "He said he had stuff to do this morning."
"And?" Lily queried.
"And what?"
"And how did you get from Remus doing stuff this morning to Remus having an affair?" Lily asked in a voice that was reminiscent of the way one might speak to a child.
"It's not just that," Sirius explained. "There's other things, too. I suggested we go away on a holiday together and he said no. And he still refuses to move in with me, too."
"Having seen the state of your place, I can't say I blame him," Lily muttered. "When was the last time you actually cleaned?"
"Cleaned?" Sirius parroted.
"You know, like scourgifying the pots, vanishing the rubbish and all that," Lily replied, sarcasm dripping off every word.
"Remus doesn't mind the mess," Sirius replied. "His place is ten times worse anyway."
"Still, it's not like his refusing to move in with you is proof that he's cheating on you," James pointed out.
"And he won't want to risk losing his job by taking a holiday so soon," Lily added. "He's only been there a few weeks."
"He hasn't invited me over to his place in ages," Sirius added. "Not once. And whenever I suggest it, he just makes some lame excuse."
"Since when do you need an invitation?" James asked. "You show up here without one all the time…this morning for example."
"Oh." Sirius looked at James, then at Lily and then back at James again. "I didn't interrupt anything, did I?"
"Of course not," Lily assured him, whilst James made a face that told an entirely different story.
"Why don't you just ask him what's going on?" James asked. "This is Remus we're talking about, he always was a crap liar."
"I can't ask him if he's cheating on me. What if I'm wrong? He'll be furious."
"Well, if you're not going to ask him, then there's only one thing you can do," Lily stated.
"You think I should?" Sirius asked, hesitantly.
"Yes."
"You're sure?"
"Yes."
Sirius nodded and stood up. "You're absolutely right," he declared. "I'm going to spy on Remus until I figure out exactly what he's keeping from me."
Sirius then apparated out of the flat without so much as a word of goodbye.
"I can't believe you suggested he go spy on Remus," James accused.
"I didn't," Lily replied. "I meant he should let it go and forget about his suspicions."
"Oh."
"Maybe I should floo Remus and warn him," Lily suggested with a hesitant glance at the fireplace.
"Maybe we should just leave them to sort out their own problems," James replied. "You remember the last time we interfered?"
Lily nodded. "It wasn't very pleasant, was it?"
James shook his head and shivered.
"We'll just leave them to work it out for themselves," Lily agreed.
-o-
Peter peered around the corner of the wall.
"What's he doing?" Sirius whispered from behind him.
"Buying a paper," Peter replied in his normal voice. "Why are you whispering?"
"I don't want him to hear us," Sirius reminded him.
Peter gave him a look of disbelief. "This is Diagon Alley, late morning, on a Saturday," he pointed out. "You have to shout just to get the vendors to hear you. Remus is all the way across the street, there is no way on Earth he could possibly hear us."
"What's he doing now?" Sirius whispered.
"Getting a coffee."
"He doesn't like coffee, does he?"
"Apparently he does today."
"Are you sure you're looking at Moony?"
Peter turned round to glare at him. "I've known him for over seven years, just like you. I think I can manage to recognise him without too much difficulty."
Sirius prodded Peter in the arm. "Don't look at me, look at him."
Peter rolled his eyes and turned back to Diagon Alley. "He's gone into the grocer's shop."
"What's he buying? How much food? Does it look like he's buying for more than one person?"
"Moony always acts like he's eating for three," Peter reminded him. "Werewolf metabolism, remember?"
"Maybe you should get a bit closer?"
"And risk being seen?" Peter asked sarcastically.
"Just go and have a look in the window," Sirius ordered. "I'll wait here and take notes."
"Notes?"
"I'm keeping a record of everything he does that seems suspicious," Sirius explained, waving the parchment in front of Peter's face.
Peter looked at the parchment closely. "How is buying a paper, coffee and groceries suspicious?"
"You're not seeing the bigger picture," Sirius replied. "I'm going to make notes of everything he does today."
"Then why are you only starting now?" Peter asked with a smirk. "Didn't you say he started his day at your place? Shouldn't got shagged be on there somewhere?"
"Good point," Sirius said. "I knew it was a good idea to bring you along instead of Prongs."
Peter watched as Sirius added a few more entries to the parchment. "Really?" he asked, pointing to the second one.
Sirius flushed. "Tell anyone and I swear you'll never father children," he warned. He then pointed back to the Alley and pushed Peter out into the crowd.
Ten minutes passed, during which Sirius became increasingly impatient and increasingly frustrated. He stuck with it while he was harassed by a couple of shifty looking charms salesmen, but when he was propositioned by a hag, he decided to step out into Diagon Alley for himself.
The first thing he saw was Peter chatting to Remus, who was laughing loudly.
"What part of spying doesn't the little rodent understand?" he muttered to himself. "And why is Moony laughing? Wormtail shouldn't be making him laugh; that's my job."
Sirius ducked into Flourish and Blotts and pretended to look through the window display. Clearly Peter wasn't up to the job, and it was up to him to figure out what Remus was up to.
He leaned over to get a better view of the street and a few moments later he realised that Remus was heading his way.
"Shit!" he swore, grabbing the nearest book off the display stand and hurrying to the counter. He was just buying a book, nothing suspicious about that. Sirius Black did own books after all, quite a few of them in fact. He had every right to be here buying a book.
"Hi, Padfoot," Remus said, joining him in the queue. "What you buying?"
"Just a book," Sirius replied with a casual smile.
Remus looked at the book Sirius was holding. "That for Prongs and Lily?"
"No," Sirius said, shaking his head. "It's for me. Why would I be buying Prongs a book? You know he doesn't read."
Remus smiled and there was something not entirely right about it. It was the smile he had when he was amused about something, usually something Sirius had done wrong, like the time he had tried cooking a meal without magic. "Well, it's good to see you being so responsible," he said, patting him on the arm, that annoying smile still on his face.
"Responsible?" Sirius asked.
Remus pointed to the book. "I don't think you need to worry though."
Sirius looked down at the book he had just purchased. Contraceptive Charms for the Responsible Witch.
"I don't think I want to know," Remus said with a laugh, placing a book of his own on the counter and paying for the same. "Well, I've got to run. See you tonight."
Sirius nodded and watched Remus leave the shop. Then he turned back to the counter with a hopeful smile.
The female cashier looked at him with amusement. "Sorry, no refunds."
Sirius scowled at her, but decided not to argue. Maybe he could foist the book off on James, to get back at him for the one he'd bought for him the previous year. He still had no idea what the idiot had been thinking when he'd presented him with How to Satisfy Your Banshee Lover.
Back outside, Sirius could see that Remus was walking down the Alley and Peter was casually chatting up some bird that Sirius vaguely recalled as having been a Ravenclaw in their own year.
"Hey, Wormtail!" he called, hurrying over to the young man. Both Peter and the girl looked up at his call, the latter of which immediately gave Peter a rather odd, vaguely disappointed look, before making her excuses and hurrying on her way.
Peter turned to him with a glare. "How many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me that in front of women?" he grumbled.
Sirius waved away his complaints. "You're not supposed to be chatting up birds; you're supposed to be helping me spy on Moony."
"Where is he?" Peter asked, glancing up and down the street.
"He's over…" Sirius looked at where he was pointing and swore under his breath. Remus was suddenly nowhere in sight.
"Well, he can't have gone far," Peter reasoned as they hurried in the direction Remus had walked. "So, what were the two of you buying in the book shop?"
Sirius looked at the package in his hand, before it occurred to him that he hadn't actually seen what Remus had been buying. "Moony had his book face down when he passed it to the girl on the register," he said. "That's suspicious, isn't it?"
"Don't Flourish and Blotts put the prices on the back of the books?" Peter replied.
"Well, yeah, but still it's a bit dodgy…like he didn't want me to see what he was buying."
"Perhaps he was getting the latest best seller," Peter suggested with a smirk.
"What's that?" Sirius asked.
Peter rolled his eyes. "You're kidding right? Didn't you see the huge posters inside the shop? You can't bloody miss them."
"Posters?"
"Yeah, posters," Peter repeated. "'Don't let the romance get sucked out of your relationship: How to Satisfy Your Vampire Lover'. You had to have seen them."
Sirius shook his head. "Is it by the same author as the Banshee one that Prongs got me last year?"
"Yeah, it's part of a series."
"Maybe I should get the vampire one for him, and see how he likes it."
"What for? Lily's not a vampire."
"And Moony isn't a bloody banshee," Sirius replied.
"Did you actually look at the book?" Peter asked.
"Why?"
Peter shook his head and raised he face skyward, as though asking for patience. "Banshees scream and their screams kill you."
"So?"
"So, what if you're having sex with a banshee and she screams out in pleasure?"
"You die?" Sirius guessed. "Well, that would kill the relationship, wouldn't it?"
"Exactly, which is why half of that book was devoted to various silencing charms."
"It was?"
"Yeah. Prongs figured that even if you were too dense to pick up on it, Moony would realise what he was hinting at…not that he did."
"I never showed the book to Moony," Sirius explained.
"That explains a lot."
"Hey, is there a werewolf version of the book in this series?"
"That one comes out next year," Peter replied. "There's Moony coming out of Gringotts."
"Great," Sirius exclaimed. "Looks like he's going into the Magical Menagerie. Go look in the window and I'll keep out of sight."
Peter groaned, but did as Sirius requested.
"What's he doing?" Sirius asked from where he stood out of sight of the window.
"Looking at collars," Peter replied.
Sirius grinned. "Oh, kinky."
Peter turned to him with a raised eyebrow.
"Erm, yeah," Sirius muttered, his face flushing. "Keep watching him, see if he buys anything."
Peter turned back to the window. "Looks like he's focusing on flea collars." He edged several paces away from Sirius, who glared at him.
"I don't have fleas."
"Moony would appear to disagree."
"I don't!" Sirius snapped, stamping his foot for good measure. "One little incident back in sixth year and suddenly everyone thinks I've got fleas all the time."
Peter chuckled. "Looks like Moony's buying a few collars, three of them."
"Are they studded?" Sirius asked. "Black leather would be good."
"I can only see one of them, and that one looks pink. They aren't from the flea collar rack though."
"Pink?" Sirius shoved Peter out of the way to see what it was that Remus was buying, but he had already placed them in his bag and was now heading in their direction. "Quick, this way," he said, dragging Peter out of sight as quickly as he could.
They hid out of sight for as long as it took Remus to pass them by, then Sirius sent an increasingly disgruntled Peter out to follow him once more.
"Looks like he's heading to work," Peter commented.
"Maybe he's having an affair with someone at the publishing house?" Sirius suggested. "They say that ninety five percent of affairs start in the work place."
"I've never heard that before. That sounds made up to me."
"We should investigate who he works with," Sirius said, ignoring Peter's comments as only he could. He was still writing down notes on his parchment and used his quill to prod Peter into going to look in the window.
"Maybe it's the old witch on the front desk?" Peter suggested. "She looks about a hundred, but you never know. He seems to be enjoying talking to her."
"What about the blokes?" Sirius asked.
"There's two of them. Old bloke, looks like he's been sucking lemons all day and a young chap who looks like a tosser."
Sirius wasn't particularly worried about the witch or the old bloke, but at the mention of Remus working with another young man he decided to peer into the window for himself. "Damn."
"What is it? Do you know him?"
Sirius shook his head. "No, but he's good looking, and look at the way he's checking out my Moony's arse!"
"Are you sure?" Peter asked. "Looks to me like he's trying to look at his own reflection in the mirror at the other side of Moony."
"Why would he want to look in a mirror when Moony's arse is on display?"
"It's hardly on display," Peter replied. "He's fully clothed for Merlin's sake."
"He's took his outer robes off."
Peter pinched the bridge of his nose and gave a long-suffering sigh. "Are we going to stand out here all afternoon? Only I'm kind of hungry and I've not had any lunch."
Sirius ignored him. "Maybe you should go inside and find out who that young bloke is?"
"I can't just go in there and bother Moony while he's working."
"Just ask him to confirm the arrangements for tonight and then casually ask who the blond is."
"We already confirmed the arrangements when I spoke to him earlier."
"Say you've forgotten."
"Why don't you go in there and ask?" Peter asked. "It would probably be more believable coming from you."
"Rubbish."
"Says Mister Sirius – I'm independent, I have my own place, but oops I forgot that the first of September is the day we go back to school – Black."
"I didn't forget that we go back on the first," Sirius huffed. "I just lost track of what day it was."
"Still, he would be just as likely to believe you've forgotten."
"Please!" Sirius whined, giving his most pleading puppy-dog eyes.
"You know that look only works on Moony," Peter replied. "And great, now it's starting to rain, too."
"Perfect," Sirius declared with a grin. "You've just gone in there to shelter from the rain for a few minutes."
Peter folded his arms and turned towards the door, muttering "how do I get talked into these things?" under his breath.
Sirius stood outside, trying to look in the window without being spotted by the workers inside. Remus looked a little surprised to see Peter again, but at least he wasn't throwing him out or anything.
"Ah, good chap," he murmured as he watched the blond approach Peter and give some ridiculous looking sweeping bow. "What a bloody ponce."
The three men continued to talk for a few minutes until Peter turned to leave.
Sirius slipped out of sight and waited for Peter to join him. "Well, what did he say?" he asked.
"He said the blond is Gilderoy Lockhart, an aspiring author who wants to get his foot in the door in publishing. From the look on his face, he finds the bloke annoying."
"Anything else?"
"Yeah, he said 'tell Padfoot to go home, 'cos he's distracting me from working'."
"You told him I was out here?"
"No, but this is Moony we're talking about. You know he always knows when you're around. Anyway, don't shoot the messenger."
"Okay, here's what we're going to do…" Sirius began, although his words faltered when Peter started shaking his head firmly. "What?"
"I'm going home," Peter announced. "Moony said that he'd set Lockhart on me if I carried on helping you out."
"What are you, a man or a mouse?" Sirius asked.
"A rat actually," Peter replied, right before he changed into one and disappeared down a side street.
-o-
Sirius had been told to go home, but he had never been particularly good at doing what he was told. He therefore went back down Diagon Alley, purchased a paper and then settled down in the café situated opposite Remus's place of work for the rest of the afternoon.
Since Remus had mentioned that he would be working late that day, Sirius was somewhat surprised to see him leaving work at the same time that he normally did. "Now I've got you," Sirius whispered as he trailed along behind Remus, hoping that he was keeping at a safe enough distance to avoid being spotted.
He wasn't sure where he was expecting Remus to go. Visions of Remus meeting some untoward-looking character in some secluded and shady bar plagued his mind, at least right up until he realised that Remus had done little more than walk the short distance to his home. Then all thoughts of bars disappeared, only to be replaced with visions of Remus and some other bloke in the bed that they had shared so many times…at least up until Remus began making excuses for why he shouldn't come visit him any more.
He watched Remus enter the flat and waited across the road for any sign of another man arriving.
He was still waiting there when he heard the distant chimes of a clock and realised that it was seven o'clock and he was supposed to be at The Leaky Cauldron. Guessing that Remus had flooed there from inside his flat he made his way to the nearest public floo and was only ten minutes late in arriving.
"Where've you been?" James asked as Sirius took his seat.
"Lurking outside of my flat like some sort of mad stalker," Remus replied before Sirius could say a word.
"You could see me?"
"Honestly, how the hell you do anything for the Order without being spotted by Death Eaters is beyond me."
"You're more observant than any of the goons Voldemort has recruited," Sirius said.
"So, why have you been spying on me all day?" Remus asked. "And why are you still carrying that ridiculous book around?"
"Did I just hear Moony call a book ridiculous?" James asked with astonishment. "What is it?"
"Present for you and Lily," Sirius said, tossing it across the table. Only Remus would know that it wasn't purchased with the engaged couple in mind.
James opened the bag and laughed. Then the topic changed and Sirius was relieved that Remus was no longer questioning his activities for the day.
The evening passed with much joking and even more drinking as the four friends began their weekly pub crawl. This week it was Sirius's turn to decide which club they spent the latter half of the evening in, much to James's disgust since he always dragged them to a muggle club, usually one where they welcomed same sex couples. It wasn't that James had anything against them, but he was getting a little tired of being hit on by men.
"Look at it this way," Sirius said after James had voiced his complaints for the umpteenth time. "I'm keeping you away from all those girls, so that you aren't tempted to cheat on Lily."
James didn't look convinced, but consoled himself with the fact that the next weekend it was his turn to choose and he would thoroughly enjoy watching Sirius getting accosted by various tarts of the female persuasion.
The night ended with the four young men in their usual state of inebriation after a night out in the city.
Peter had got lucky with the girl behind the bar of one of the pubs they had visited earlier in the evening, and had disappeared to meet her now she had finished her shift.
Sirius had knocked back even more alcohol than usual and was in no fit state to apparate home.
"He can crash at my place," James said to Remus as they neared the front of the queue at the public floo. James was the least drunk of the group, having declared that he preferred to keep his senses about him when he was in a place where men might grope him.
"Wanna go to Moony's," Sirius slurred.
"Like you could get it up in your state," James teased. "Come on, back to my place. You know Lily is an expert at hangover potions, unlike Moony, who can't manage one for love nor money. You coming, too, Moony."
Remus shook his head. "I'll be okay back at my place. Thanks anyway."
James nodded and Remus stumbled his way into the fireplace. None of them were inclined to risk losing body parts by apparating whilst drunk.
Sirius, still protesting slightly, let James drag him to the fireplace, and managed to slur out his destination just clearly enough to make it there. He stumbled from the fireplace into James's living room and crashed down, face first, onto the sofa.
When he came round his head was pounding and for a moment he didn't know where he was. A slow glance around the familiar room told him where he was, although he didn't remember how he had got there. In fact, the last thing he remembered was Remus buying a round of drinks at some bar playing lousy music, and the barman flirting with his Moony quite blatantly.
It took all of thirty seconds for Sirius to decide that flooing over to Remus's flat at four in the morning was a good idea.
-o-
Remus's flat was just how he remembered it. Sirius wondered how long it had been since he was last there; he was sure that it was at least a couple of weeks…absolutely ages.
There didn't seem to be any signs of Remus entertaining someone, not like there was when Sirius was there. There were no clothes strewn over the floor for one thing.
He made his way to the kitchen, intending to check whether there was more than one mug in the sink. He counted six, before he decided that was a rather pointless exercise since Remus only washed the pots when he ran out of crockery.
He stumbled his way across the kitchen, tripping over a bag near the doorway. "Moony, why the hell have you got a bag of gravel in your kitchen," he muttered as he stumbled to his feet.
He would have cleaned up the mess, but he was too busy listening to see if his falling over had woken Remus, or anyone he happened to have with him in the bedroom.
No one seemed to be coming to investigate the disturbance, so Sirius made his way towards the bedroom, visions of Remus in bed with another bloke haunting his mind.
He pushed open the door to the bedroom as slowly as he could and peered inside.
Remus was stretched out on his bed. He had managed to lose his shoes and his shirt, all of which were lying on the floor, and the belt of his jeans had been loosened, but that was clearly as far as he had got before he had collapsed on top of the covers.
Normally, Sirius would have been transfixed by the bare flesh on display, but at this particular moment in time, he was a little more concerned about who Remus was in bed with.
There were three of them, and they were clearly making themselves at home in Remus's bed.
The first was stretched out over Remus's chest, covering an awful lot of the bare chest while she lapped at his jaw.
The second was lying beside him, with Remus's right hand resting on her back.
The third was making a valiant effort to get into Remus's jeans, by way of sticking her head up the right leg.
Remus was completely oblivious to their attentions and was snoring away. He would probably have slept on for some considerable time to come, had the first of the kittens not stepped on his throat, causing him to wake with a choking gasp.
The choking was immediately followed by a startled gasp as he spotted Sirius standing in the doorway. "Bloody hell, Sirius, are you trying to scare me to death?"
Sirius watched as Remus sat up, keeping a steady grip on the kitten that had been on his chest, so that it wouldn't fall. "You have cats?" he asked, feeling a little stupid as the answer was quite obviously yes. He was trying very hard not to feel betrayed. As an animagus whose form was a dog, he wasn't sure how he felt about Remus apparently having a liking for The Enemy.
"Kittens," Remus corrected as he petted them.
Sirius glared at the animals, his natural doggy instincts telling him that they shouldn't be anywhere near Remus. "I thought you were having an affair!" he cried, tugging his parchment of notes from his pockets and throwing it onto the bed.
Remus picked up the parchment and patted the covers for Sirius to sit down. Sirius sat beside him as Remus unrolled the parchment and read the list, each entry listed beside the time and precise location.
Snogged and groped had been replaced with Kissed and cuddled with Sirius
On the next line Shagged had been replaced with Made love to Sirius
Slept (with Sirius)
Left Sirius for suspicious sounding errands
UNKNOWN ACTIVITIES
Purchased coffee – why not tea?
Bought book – what was title?
Bought collars – pink! WTF?
At work – check out blond tosser a.s.a.p.
His whole day was written out in front of him and he smiled at the notes.
"What's so funny?" Sirius huffed.
"You are," Remus replied with grin. "The book was spells for keeping cats, self cleaning litter trays, neutering, that sort of thing."
"And the collars were for the kittens, too?"
"Padfoot doesn't really need a collar," Remus pointed out. "Or did you want one?"
"Never really thought about it," Sirius admitted. "But, you know…"
Remus chuckled. "Well, it does sort out what to get you for Christmas. So, not pink, huh?"
"What about the coffee?" Sirius asked.
"I needed the caffeine this morning," Remus chuckled. "I've often grabbed a coffee on the way to work, especially when I've had a late night at your place."
"I suppose you had to come back here to feed them and stuff, right?"
"Yeah." Remus nodded. "And you're right, Lockhart is a tosser. How could you even think I'd be interested in that self-absorbed idiot? I thought you knew me better than that."
"I thought I did, too," Sirius replied, trying and failing not to sound sulky. "I thought you were dog person."
"Which is exactly why I didn't tell you about the kittens," Remus answered with a sigh. "I knew you'd get jealous."
"So, you're really a cat person?" Sirius whispered.
Remus chuckled. "I'm an animal person, and always have been. Yes, I like dogs, but I like cats, too."
"And you'd rather live here with them, than with me?"
"What? Don't be daft. They aren't going to be here forever. They're strays I found across the road from here. I was going to see if Arabella Figg wants them, but she's away visiting her sister until next month. If you hadn't been so paranoid, you'd never have known they were here."
"You sure you're going to want to give them up?" Sirius asked as Remus continued to pet one of the tabbies. "You know how attached you get."
"You think I'd choose the kittens over you?" Remus asked with a look of astonished amusement.
"You've got them collars," Sirius said, picking up the black and white kitten and checking the tag. "And you've named them." The kitten, who apparently didn't like him too much, scratched at his finger and he dropped the animal onto the bed with a glare.
"That one's Endora," Remus said, even though Sirius had already read the name for himself. "She can get a bit nasty when she's picked up. The two tabbies are Samantha and Tabitha."
"Why do those names sound familiar?" Sirius asked as he checked his finger for damage.
"They're the names of three of the witches from Bewitched, that muggle television show we watched over at Lily's. You know, the one you like to pick fault with so much."
"Oh, yeah."
Sirius settled back on the covers and reached out a tentative hand towards Tabitha.
"I guess they're not so bad," he said as the kitten licked his finger. "I suppose I wouldn't mind if you wanted to keep them. But we'll get them cat beds of their own. I'm the only member of this family who gets to share your bed."
"You do realise that I've not agreed to move in with you yet?" Remus asked.
Sirius ignored him. "It's Sunday tomorrow; I think if we start early enough, we can get you all packed up and moved in with me by the end of the day."
Remus sighed and leaned into Sirius's arms. Sometimes there was just no arguing with him.
"I think if I turn into Padfoot now, while they're young, they might learn to like me," Sirius continued. "I suppose they are kind of cute."
Remus smiled and closed his eyes. He let Sirius's voice, as he rattled on about his – their – plans, drift over him as he went back to sleep.
Remus Lupin was a man with many secrets, except from Sirius Black.