Written for QLFC Season 5, Round 12 - Pair Them Up! I'm chaser 2 for Ballycastle Bats (Go Bats!). I had to write about two characters in a colleagues relationship. My characters were Sirius Black and Remus Lupin
My lovely beta was: queen-sheep. All other mistakes are mine!
Optional prompts were: [dialogue] "I've forgotten what it's like to feel young."; [dialogue] "Move away from the door and let me at him!"; [word] fix
Word Count: 2,286
This is how I wished October 31, 1981, went down…. Also, there are like twenty-four hours of time unexplained in the books. Voldy kills Lily and James on Halloween. We see the celebrations through Vernon Dursley's eyes all day on November 1st. And Dumbledore drops Harry on their porch that night. What happened between when Hagrid picked up Harry from his parents house and when he dropped him off at Privet Drive? And Dumbledore nor McGonagall was involved at all? Nothing against Hagrid, but they just let him hang out with a one-year old all day long? Why? So I'm filling in that time gap with this bit of AU wish fulfillment.
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
"I've forgotten what it's like to feel young," Sirius Black complained to his partner Remus Lupin. He landed heavily on the sofa in their shared office. They had just come from a fortnight of undercover work, which meant sleeping rough, and tracking Death Eaters through the wilds of Britain. If Sirius felt anything like Remus did, he could understand the sentiment.
"You're what, twenty, Black? Buck up," Auror Moody groused as he leaned in their doorway.
Sirius flipped their boss a grin. "We can't all be as ancient as you, Moody."
"More talk like that will lead you right to another undercover assignment," Moody threatened.
"No, we're good," Remus insisted, covering Sirius' mouth with his hand. Wishing Sirius would take something, anything seriously for once. Remus shook his head at that thought. He had thought he'd gotten the word 'serious' out of his vocabulary after becoming friends with Sirius but apparently that wasn't the case.
Sirius darted his tongue out and licked Remus' hand, but that didn't make Remus move his hand. It wasn't the first time Sirius had licked his hand. He was used to his best friends antics by now.
Remus hadn't really wanted to become an Auror but James and Sirius had complained so much that he finally broke down. Remus really wanted to teach, but teaching wasn't in the cards for a werewolf. Maybe if he worked his way through the ranks he could become an instructor for Auror training. That's what he was hoping anyway. As long as Sirius didn't do anything too outrageous and get them fired, an instructor position was what Remus hoped he could work towards. Most days he was just grateful he was able to be in civil society. And that Moody had decided his furry little problem wasn't that big of a deal for an Auror and was even a bit of an asset. The sense of smell alone was dead useful as an Auror.
"Good. It's Halloween and we'll need all hands on deck. Why don't you two head to the on call room and catch a few winks," Moody suggested.
"Do we have to be on duty tonight? We haven't had a day off in weeks!" Sirius complained.
Moody glared at him, "And it's Halloween, maybe after we've figured out a way to kill You-Know-Who you can take a vacation, Black."
Remus sighed. It was mid-morning; if they slept most of the day away, they'd be reasonably rested for the evening shift.
"Come on, Sirius. Let's go get some sleep." He pulled his friend up from the couch and led him down the hall to the on call room. A few of the beds were already occupied, so Remus chose a bunk bed and climbed in, falling asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.
"Alright, everybody up!" Moody called from the front of the room. He waved his wand and light filled the room.
"So soon?" Sirius complained from the bed above Remus'.
"You complain more than a toddler does, Black," Moody snapped as he vanished Sirius' blankets and pillows.
Sirius grumbled some more as he climbed down, and Remus ignored him. It's just how Sirius was. He complained when he was tired and grumpy. Remus was used to it after all these years. Remus stood from his own bed and stretched. They joined the rest of the Aurors in the bullpen as Moody began handing out assignments.
"Black, Lupin, you stay here and handle incoming calls and detainees. Remus sighed — Moody did care about them. Staying in could be boring, but at least it didn't mean being out in public. Remus was very tired, despite the full moon being almost two weeks away.
"Got lucky this time, Moony," Sirius muttered as they headed toward the dispatch desk.
For the most part, it was a boring night. They had a few detainees come in, but no real emergencies. It was a quiet Halloween, but it wasn't too surprising. Lord Voldemort was at the height of his power and folks mostly were keeping to themselves.
A little after midnight, Moody came storming through with Peter Pettigrew, of all people, in custody.
"Pete! What'd ya do?" Sirius asked as he stood. "Moody, this is our friend Peter, and whatever he's done can't have been too bad."
"Come with me, Black. You too, Lupin. I've a story for you," Moody growled as he hauled Peter after him.
"What has Pete done now?" Remus asked.
Sirius shook his head, "I have no idea. But whatever it was, we'll fix it for him."
Remus nodded — they always did fix things for Peter — it was an old dynamic. Moody led them to an interrogation room, throwing Peter inside and even locked his wrists in magic stealing cuffs, cuffing him to the table.
"Tell them what you told me, rat," Moody barked.
"Guys, Padfoot, Moony, I didn't do noth—"
"Don't make me get the Veritaserum," Moody threatened.
Remus and Sirius exchanged worried glances. What had Peter done?
"No, no veritaserum needed. Er… see… the thing is…" Peter waffled.
Moody grunted and leaned forward, he grabbed Peter's left hand and shoved the sleeve up roughly.
Sirius hissed when he saw the Dark Mark, bold and black and writhing on their friends arm. Remus felt his jaw drop in shock. Of all the people Remus had suspected of being a Death Eater, Peter had never been one of them.
"Found out he had it last week," Moody said by way of explanation. "Then I caught him fleeing the Potter's tonight."
"Oh, Merlin," Sirius moaned sickly.
"Are James and Lily alright?" Remus asked. He almost didn't want to know. Why had they decided Peter was the best choice for secret keeper? They had been so stupid! They hadn't even bothered to check his arm. They hadn't bothered to check anyone's arms.
"No, they aren't," Moody said quietly. "Voldemort killed them. Pettigrew led him right to them."
Sirius ran out of the room and Remus could hear him retching in the hallway. James and Lily had asked Sirius to be the secret keeper. Remus didn't qualify as a werewolf — he wasn't human enough — but Sirius had said that as a Black he had too much of a target on his back already. That it would be safer for everyone if it was Peter.
Remus heard Sirius stomp back to the interrogation room and stood at the door to intercept the other man.
"Move away from the door and let me at him!" Sirius shouted as he gave Remus a shove.
"Not a chance, Black," Moody growled. "He's going to be spending a long time in Azkaban. Just him and a few friendly dementors."
"He's an Animagus," Remus said his voice sounding as dead as he felt inside. "Turns into a rat. Wherever he goes, sap his magic."
"There's a story there I want to hear some day," Moody replied giving Remus and Sirius a considering onceover.
Remus couldn't describe the shock he was feeling. He felt numb and lifeless. Lily and James were dead? How could that be? They had all been around for Sunday dinner the week before. In fact, they were due for Sunday dinner today. Remus was still fighting to hold Sirius back.
"You can't do anything now, Sirius," Remus tried to calm his friend and colleague.
"What about Harry? Where's Harry?" Sirius demanded.
"Harry somehow survived and beat Voldemort. We arrived after getting a Patronus from a fellow Order member. He was there, and Dumbledore showed up soon after. Dumbledore took Harry for safe keeping."
"Fine, I'm going to go find Dumbledore then," Sirius said and walked out of the room without a backward glance.
"Sir, I —"
"Go after him, Lupin. Keep him from doing something completely idiotic. Consider both of yourselves on leave for the next month," Moody snapped.
Remus nodded, knowing that it was Moody's way of giving them the time they needed to come to terms with their friends deaths. Remus wasn't sure about Sirius, but right now he wished he could drown himself in the bottom of a bottle of Firewhisky. He rushed after his partner, intent on stopping him from doing anything rash.
Remus caught up with Sirius as he exited the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. They walked to the lifts and stepped into the Atrium.
"Where are we going, Sirius?" Remus asked before Sirius could Apparate away.
"To find Dumbledore. Let's start at Hogwarts."
Remus nodded and they both Apparated to the gates at Hogwarts. Hagrid didn't come down to greet them as expected, so Sirius sent his Patronus to Dumbledore. The big, silvery dog bounded away and after a short wait, Professor McGonagall came down to let them in.
"I assume you are here for Harry?" she asked.
Sirius nodded, "Is he here?"
McGonagall nodded and waved them through the gates. "Albus is talking about taking him to his Muggle aunt's house or some nonsense."
"That won't be happening. I'm his godfather. Besides, Lily's sister hated her. She wouldn't want her raising Harry. She didn't even come to the wedding for Merlin's sake," Sirius explained.
Remus was impressed with how adult Sirius was acting. Would this be the trigger that Sirius needed to start taking things sincerely?Remus hoped so, if Sirius was thinking what Remus was thinking, they were about to become parents to a baby, a one-year-old child. It boggled Remus' mind that his bachelor lifestyle was about to be over.
McGonagall led them to the Hospital Wing and Remus grew frightened. Was something wrong with Harry?
"I thought he wasn't hurt?" Remus asked.
"He's fine, a small cut on his head, but otherwise a totally normal one-year-old," McGonagall said. "But, how did he defeat You-Know-Who?"
"What do you mean, defeat?" Remus asked. Moody had said something similar, but he had been upset to hear about James and Lily, and then busy trying to stop Sirius from doing anything reckless.
"He's gone. Just vanished. Severus says his Dark Mark is fading, as if it were just a Muggle tattoo," McGonagall explained.
"Are you sure it was Harry?" Sirius asked. They were standing outside of the Hospital Wing and Remus peeked in to see Harry in a crib. Madam Pomfrey was running diagnostics over him and Dumbledore and Hagrid were both standing nearby. Snape wasn't there.
"Severus says both Lily and James were gone before You-Know-Who went after Harry."
"Where is Snape? And how does he know that?" Remus asked.
"He's gone to his quarters. It doesn't matter how he knows it. What matters is Harry," McGonagall said as she pulled open the doors to the Infirmary and gestured for them to both go inside. Remus thought she had sidestepped that brewing argument quite neatly.
"Sirius, Remus, this is a surprise," Dumbledore greeted them without the usual twinkle in his eye. He almost looked, upset that they were there. But that couldn't be right, could it?
"We came as soon as we heard. James and Lily… are they really gone?" Remus asked.
Sirius stepped right up to the crib and peered down at his godson. Harry was awake and trying to catch the various lights from Madam Pomfrey's diagnostic charms in his chubby hands. Remus smiled at the sight. They'd all been a little scared when Lily had announced she was pregnant, but the miracle of seeing a baby had calmed most of their fears. Harry was a wonder, and they all fell in love with him. Even Peter. Or so Remus had thought at the time.
"Yes, I'm afraid they are. Poor Harry has nobody left except his Muggle relatives. I was just going to bring him —"
"No," Sirius stated as he reached down and picked his godson up.
"Paddy," Harry gurgled and patted Sirius' cheeks. That brought a true smile to Remus' face.
"Hi, Harry," Sirius grinned at his godson and hugged him close. Harry snuggled into Sirius' shoulder and closed his eyes.
"Well, he really should be with blood relatives. You see—"
"I don't care. I'm his godfather. I signed the paperwork. He belongs with me," Sirius said coldly.
"He's safer with the Muggles, out of the wizarding world entirely. It was blood magic that allowed him to survive, cast by Lily. He needs to be with Lily's sister. You can't raise a child on your own, Sirius," Dumbledore argued.
"He won't. I'll help," Remus replied.
"And the blood magic? How will you protect him?" Dumbledore asked exasperatedly.
"You think the Black's aren't well-versed in blood magic?" Sirius asked. His voice was quiet and calm, but even Remus could hear the threat underneath.
Dumbledore looked like he wanted to say something more, but McGonagall cut him off.
"You know as well as I do, that Harry is better off in a wizarding home than a Muggle one," she had her finger raised and pointed it at him. "Whatever you think Lily Potter did to protect the boy, you have to respect their wishes. Sirius is his godfather, he's taking Harry. He'll provide a good home; he is the last of the Black's after all."
Sirius cringed at that reminder, and Remus settled his hand on Sirius' other shoulder.
"Don't make me take you to court over this," Sirius said to Dumbledore. Remus nodded his support. Harry was a Marauder, he belonged with Sirius and Remus.
"I don't like it," Dumbledore muttered.
"You don't have to," Remus shrugged. He and Sirius turned to go. He didn't quite know how they were going to raise Harry, he only knew that it was right. They had lost so much in one night, neither of them wanted to lose Harry too.