It had been an awful day for Sirius Black.
As he walked out of the door into the cloudy day, the sky had broken and unleashed a torrential downpour upon his favourite work suit.
He got to work to discover that his secretary had taken ill and wouldn't be in, so he had to sort his own paperwork out, which meant he was running around the office for half an hour before he finally started anything.
At lunch he stained his tie with coffee.
As he tried to leave his boss caught him to talk about going on a business trip in a month.
When he finally got home, however, his day was brightened considerably.
He opened the door and stepped out of the rain, then he heard a little girl yell, "daddy! Daddy!" and Sirius couldn't help but grin.
As he went into their kitchen he saw Remus smiling from the table, but their four year old daughter was a blur as she launched herself from her chair to give Sirius a hug.
Sirius grinned, picking her up and spinning her around, "hey Princess," he said, kissing her cheek, "how was your day with Papa?"
"We went to Aunt Lily's," she told him happily, "and I got to play with Harry."
"Lucky you, did you see Uncle James?" he asked, "he wasn't at work today, I might go next door and question him," he added, looking at Remus.
James and Lily were Sirius and Remus' best friends from boarding school; after they adopted Hope as a baby they found that the old couple next door to James and Lily were selling their house. Everything had turned out perfectly.
Remus rolled his eyes at Sirius, "leave James alone," he said, "he took the day off to take care of some household stuff Lily's been asking him to do for about two years."
Sirius laughed and put Hope down again, "alright you go finish your dinner," he instructed, "I need to change into drier clothes."
Hope did as she was told and ran to sit back at the table. Sirius almost scoffed at the food on her plate, dinosaur shaped chicken nuggets with a side of peas and carrots.
Sirius always cooked for him and Remus because Hope simply refused to eat what Sirius cooked. He liked to say he was an experimental cook, mixing lots of flavours and textures together to make the perfect meal.
However, Hope had the appetite of a four year old and anything too delicious or not sufficiently dinosaur shaped was just not good enough.
After Sirius had changed into a t-shirt and jeans he went back downstairs into the kitchen.
Hope had gone, watching cartoons on the TV presumably, as she always did after dinner.
Remus smiled and walked to Sirius, wrapping his arms around his neck and kissing his cheek, "how was work, Love?" he asked.
"Terrible," he groaned, resting his head on Remus' shoulder, "I'm so glad to be home, you have no idea."
"Well tomorrow's Sunday so you won't have to deal with any of that for a day," Remus reminded him, "and you'll get a long lie, if we keep Hope up late."
Sirius laughed, "Remus, that's bad parenting."
Remus chuckled too, "I was kidding," he muttered, "now make me my dinner, I'm starving."
"Yes dear," Sirius replied in a monotone voice, jokingly.
Remus just rolled his eyes, "dad's ill again," he said.
"What?" Sirius asked as he started pulling pots and pans out of cupboards.
"He's not doing to well," he said, "and mum can hardly look after him anymore so I'm going to drive to London tonight and get an early train to Wales tomorrow, okay?"
"Oh, okay," Sirius said, knowing it must be bad if Remus was planning on travelling all that way, "tell them I was asking for them."
"I will," Remus replied, quietly, "thanks for understanding."
"Don't thank me," he whispered, kissing Remus' cheek, which made him smile.
"I'm going to get Hope ready for bed," he said, leaving Sirius to his cooking.
Later that night, when Hope was fast asleep, Sirius and Remus stood by the front door, rain still pouring down.
Sirius was feeling uneasy about Remus driving for an hour in the dark in this weather, "why don't you wait until tomorrow, Love?" he asked.
"Don't worry so much," Remus said, kissing Sirius on the lips quickly, "I'll call you when I reach London."
"Fine," Sirius muttered, not really happy about it.
Remus smiled, hugging Sirius tightly for a few moments before pulling away, "see you soon," he said, "I love you."
"I love you too," he replied.
He watched as Remus took his bag and walked to the car. He waved as the car backed out of the driveway and disappeared down the street.
He sighed again and closed the door, deciding to just go to bed until Remus phoned, in about an hour.
Five hours later he was woken by a shrill noise, a ringing. It took a moment for Sirius to realise that it was the phone. He sat up and rubbed his eyes before answering it.
"Hello?" he said, his voice croaky from sleep.
"Mr. Black?" a voice he didn't recognise questioned.
"Yes, that's me," Sirius replied, brow furrowed in confusion, "who is this?"
"This is Doctor Noble at St. Mungos Hospital," the voice explained, "I'm afraid to say there's been an accident involving your husband."