The light was remarkably blinding. Everything smelled clean. There was noise outside the room he was in.
It took Sirius fractions of a second to realize that he was not in Grimmauld Place, and fractions more to conclude that this probably wasn't Azkaban, either. It was too bright, even through his eyelids, to be Hermione's flat, and, though he had never been to Harry's new place, he really didn't think this was it, for some reason.
He gave a moan and opened his eyes, revealing a terribly white, pristine room with crisp linen sheets covering a—Sirius almost blushed to think—probably unclothed body. He was in a hospital.
He peered around, and soon found himself looking into the eyes of an old friend.
Remus Lupin smiled, leaning back in his chair the slightest. "Hello, Padfoot."
"Moony?" Sirius shook his head like a dog shaking water from his fur, and an aching pain settled in, twice as pungent as before. "How much did I drink last night?"
"Surprisingly, none. You were… not exactly conscious yesterday."
Sirius blinked in surprise. Lupin merely chuckled.
"That is, I mean to say, your week long blackout was not a product of overindulgence."
Sirius lifted an eyebrow. "Should I be remembering any of this?"
Lupin said with a sigh, "I suppose not. Oh well, Hermione had the same problem—"
Ar the mention of Hermione, Sirius sat up stock still; memories, one by one, clicked back into place. He allowed a hesitant smile to cross his features.
"—until I mentioned your name." Remus continued knowingly. "At which time, everything seemed almost painfully easy to recall."
"Where is she?" Sirius asked.
"Discharged. Went to her flat, I would presume."
"When?"
"Yesterday, at about teatime."
Sirius checked the wall clock. It was about twenty-four hours since.
"Malfoy? Pettigrew?" Sirius asked.
Lupin paused a little. "Mister Malfoy is currently being treated here for an hour every day, until his eyesight becomes what it was. And Pettigrew…" Lupin trailed off, voice faltering.
"Azkaban?" Sirius asked. Lupin shook his head. "Dead?" Sirius's tone was brisk and impersonal, and caused Lupin to look up in surprise at his friend.
"How can you be so callous?"
"Moon, we were going to kill him anyway." Sirius said reasonably. "Besides, death's better than Azkaban… and I would know. I've been both."
Lupin still looked unsure, but said nothing.
"Am I to be discharged, then?" Sirius asked excitedly.
"Where would you go?" Lupin asked curiously. He could not see his old friend wishing to return to Grimmauld Place, his old home; and, besides, this now legally belonged to Harry.
"Well, to Hermione's, of co—" Sirius stopped dead in the middle of the word. "She didn't say I couldn't… did she?"
"Oh no. As a matter of fact, it seemed as though she did minimal speaking at all, really… just saw that you were alive and went on her way."
"Nice of her." Sirius muttered.
"I do believe she is back in her accustomed working schedule… and not a moment too soon, as the inquiry into what, exactly, had befallen the arch was just closed. The young Malfoy and I had copious amounts of paperwork to plow through, to be sure."
Sirius shuddered. "I don't envy you."
"Indeed." Lupin said with a wry smile.
"But," Sirius said, a little anxiously, "ought I stay with Hermione? I mean, since Grimmauld is Harry's now… and she might still be hurt—we really don't want to leave her alone in case something goes wrong." Sirius bit his lip.
Lupin was quiet for a while, staring his friend down evenly. He finally sighed and spoke.
"It would be… unorthodox. Frowned upon, perhaps. Now the papers know you're back in the realm of the living, and by Hermione's hand… if they see you living in her house, they would, I'm certain, be all too prepared to jump to potentially embarrassing conclusions."
Sirius actually blushed a little. "Oh." He said, wriggling a little under his sheets. "Right."
"And there is, of course, the matter of Harry… I don't know how he would take it if he came back from his honeymoon and not only had his godfather come back from the dead, but was sleeping on his best friend's couch."
Sirius continued blushing, and his brought one hand up to scratch the back of his neck, unable to truly meet Lupin's gaze. Lupin raised his eyebrows and gave a little shrug.
"Unless, of course," he said, "you are romantically involved with her."
"No!" Sirius intoned rapidly.
There was a long silence, after which Sirius said, "So… Harry's still on his honeymoon?"
"Yeah. They're scheduled to get back tomorrow."
Sirius chuckled. "That's missing an awful lot of work."
Lupin smiled. "He deserves it, though. He is, after all, the Man who Triumphed."
"Is that what they're calling him?"
"I'm afraid so."
Sirius shuddered. "Long honeymoon." He remarked, and gave a wolfish grin, tilting his head back a little. "Hmm… I don't know what to think of the kid anymore."
"I'm afraid Miss Weasl—Mrs. Potter, I apologize, can exercise a certain amount of authority over Harry; she wanted to return today, although Harry, I am afraid to say, would have preferred another month away."
Sirius grinned and shook his head.
"Just like James and Lily."
Lupin nodded.
"Just like Lily and James."
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A/N: Anyone who is reading this who has not read "Here With Me" first, I recommend doing so at this point in the story, before I really confuse you. Everyone else, enjoy! And sorry the first chapter was so short...
Oh, if anyone can tell me the pertinence of the titles of the fanfics... erm, I don't know what I'll do. I'll present you with a cybercookie. gives cookie to self