Disclaimer: Sirius and Remus belong to JK Rowling. Just borrowing them. :)
A/N – Thank you so much for the positive reviews for The Master! Thank you to my beta, empath89, as well - for going over this and assuring me it's worth posting.
The Master's Lover, Part 1 – There Were Too Many Questions
Remus shivered as he reached the end of the hallway.
The castle felt decidedly colder without the presence of the Master occupying its spacious corridors.
He wondered, not for the first time, when the Beast would return. Even with the servants present, it was terribly lonely.
He stared thoughtfully at the door to his bedroom.
How many more nights would he sleep alone?
The ache in his chest tightened painfully and he screwed his eyes shut at the familiar feeling.
In the sweet moments following the first – and only – time he and the dark-haired Master had made love, an urgent knock had interrupted their embrace and a mysterious message had pulled his lover from the warm bed.
Remus had watched with concern and longing as the handsome man he had held moments before hastily pulled on clothing and avoided his eyes with determination.
"What is it?" he had asked, extraordinarily nervous at the man's reaction to the contents of the letter.
"There is someone who wishes to speak to me," the dark-haired man had murmured. "I can't...I have to go."
Before Remus could ask where he was going or to whom he would be speaking, the man had fled the room without once glancing back at him.
Shaking his head to clear it of the memory, Remus opened his eyes and pushed the door to his bedroom open.
It felt only marginally better sleeping here than at the inn he had stayed at after fleeing the castle all those weeks ago.
The room, though beautifully furnished, was too still and quiet and Remus wished he had a reason to return to the master bedroom. He imagined it would ease the longing he felt for the Beast.
With another shake of his head, Remus sat down heavily on his own cold bed. He was becoming entirely too romantic.
It had been nearly three weeks since he'd watched the man ride away from the castle on horseback.
Who did the Beast need to speak to so urgently?
With a sharp pang of anguish, Remus remembered the way the gray eyes had avoided his gaze from the moment the man finished reading the letter. The lips that had kissed him so passionately only moments before had not seen fit to reassure him with a final kiss before leaving.
Although the familiar pull Remus had felt towards the Beast returned within hours of their separation, he also felt a new and strange sense of disconcertion come over him.
He could not shake thoughts of the woman he'd met in the village.
How come the servants and the Beast had not been concerned by his warning of her? Why would she threaten the Beast's life if she hadn't truly meant to harm him?
Then, with an uneasy feeling in his stomach, he wondered if it had all been a ploy to get him to return to the castle.
But what purpose would that serve?
Remus stretched out on his bed.
There were too many questions and every time he went over the events following his return to the castle, he could not help recalling all of the sweet words and touches he had received from the Beast.
Even though Lumiere had said that the Master had been waiting for him for a long time, Remus did not believe that the Beast would try to manipulate him into returning. Besides, the pull he had felt to return could not have been fabricated.
Nevertheless, the longer Remus spent on his own, the more he began to lament his position.
Was this who he was now – the Master's lover? Would he live out the rest of his life completely dependent upon the Beast's kindness as well as his fortune?
Remus had already lost count of the number of times he wished the Beast would return and make him forget all of these questions. They had not mattered to him before.
He wanted to do something more with his life – something useful – but he knew, without a doubt, that if he had to choose between personal ventures and love, he would choose to stay with the Beast.
Remus rested a hand against his chest where the ache had settled and turned to stare up at the high ceiling.
"Come back," he breathed.
Before I drive myself mad.
"She is out there again, Lumiere."
The servant's head snapped up and he frowned across the room at the maid. He did not need to be told who she was.
For the first time since he had begun to serve in the castle, Lumiere was not sure how best to solve a problem.
The Master had ordered him to keep Remus safe inside the castle until he returned but he had not instructed him on how to deal with such a persistent – and undoubtedly dangerous – visitor.
The pale, cold-eyed woman who had come to the castle requesting an audience with Remus on the night of the Master's departure had become increasingly relentless in her desire to enter the castle. Despite Lumiere's firm refusal to allow her inside without the Master present, she spent hours lurking around the grounds looking for a way in.
Although he was not sure what the woman wanted, every time he saw her cruel, cunning eyes in the moonlight, he silently prayed for the Master's return.
"Should we warn Remus?" the maid asked worriedly. "He is such a dear boy...if she did get into the castle he might not realize that she is one of them. He might listen to her...and try to help her...oh, Lumiere! She might talk him into leaving with her and then what will the Master do? He has waited all this time. We've waited all this time."
He raised his hand to stop her from uttering anything further.
"Speculation like that will only frighten the staff," he replied firmly. "We must just hope for the Master's swift return so that he may deal with her as he sees fit."
"But it has already been three weeks, Lumiere. Last time he was back within three days!And that woman has been coming more and more often. We can only keep her out of the castle for so long..."
Lumiere sighed heavily.
"The Master has been gone for longer than three weeks at a time," he reminded her, "and the wards will keep this woman out until he returns. Until then, we must just be vigilant and ensure that none of the staff allows her entry into the castle."
"And Remus?" the maid asked.
He shook his head.
"We cannot say anything...we must not say anything," he told her firmly. "The Master wants him kept safe."
"But if–"
"No," he repeated.
He watched the maid bite her lip in worry but she left without another word.
Lumiere stood in silence in the darkened room. The sound of rain pelting sharply against the glass echoed loudly in the small space.
The Master was running out of time.
And rain, Lumiere could not help but think, is not the weather of happy endings.
Remus fidgeted uncontrollably in his chair.
His heart had not slowed since he'd overheard one of the servants earlier that day. The Master had sent word that he would be returning that evening.
The Beast had been gone for over a month and as much as Remus would have liked to feign indifference and force the Master to seek him out upon his return, he could only think of the relief he was sure to feel at the sight of him.
Several weeks before, Lumiere had assured him that the Master had had good reason to leave.
"He would not have gone away so soon after your return," the servant had told him. "Not if it wasn't imperative."
A dozen more questions had arisen at the man's statement but all of them had retreated to the back of Remus' mind at the prospect of seeing the Master again.
Would everything be the same? Could they pick up where they'd left off?
Shivering at the thought, he turned to stare at the clock across the room.
It was already after eleven but he knew the Beast would be returning any moment. A few hours earlier, he had felt the pull – which had once again become almost unbearable – begin to lessen slightly.
Leaning back in the chair, Remus closed his eyes and let out a sigh.
He just had to be close.
Just as the thought sprung up in his mind, there was a sharp knock on his bedroom door.
Remus' eyes flew open and he bounded across the room, wrenching the door open without hesitation.
His heart skipped a beat in disappointed surprise.
The maid stood at the entrance to his room, a sympathetic frown on her round face.
"Remus," she greeted softly. "Are you well?"
Remus hoped his disappointment hadn't shown on his face. He had been so sure...
"Yes, thank you," he said politely. "I'm just...waiting."
"Yes. Of course."
Remus felt his heart rate quicken again as another disappointing thought occurred to him.
"Is he not returning tonight? Is there something wrong?"
The maid hesitated.
"No, nothing is wrong, Remus," she said carefully. "The Master has arrived."
Remus' heart sped up.
He was trying to decipher the reason behind the woman's concerned expression but found his head was already filled with too many questions.
"Remus," she began quietly, her eyes scanning the hall behind her anxiously. "Perhaps it would be best if you spoke to the Master in the morning. It is... very late. I could tell him you've already retired..."
"No!" he said quickly. "I won't keep him up long. I just want to speak to him...to see that he's really back."
The woman stared at him for a long time, studying his face with concern, before finally giving him a reluctant nod and slipping quietly from his room.
Crossing to the window, Remus stared down into the darkening courtyard at the front of the castle.
From high up in his room, he could see the Master's proud, dark horse being led through the rain to the stables by one of the younger servants.
Before he could rush from his room to greet the Beast, his eyes caught a flash of white and he saw another proud looking steed being led behind the first.
He felt his heart jolt in surprise.
The Master may have finally returned home.
But he was not alone.
The servant knew that, had he not learned to trust his master all those years ago, his voice – and his hands – would have shaken at the sight that met him as he opened the grand castle door.
"Welcome home, Master," he said evenly.
"Forgive me, Lumiere," the Master rumbled from beneath the hood of his cloak. "I should have warned you I'd be bringing company."
Although the Master wore a cloak, his face was clearly visible from where Lumiere stood.
There was not a single patch of fur on the handsome, youthful face.
Had the curse been broken?
Instead of looking elated, as the servant would have expected, the Master's face looked pale and tense. As the gray eyes bored into his own, he noted the warning in them with growing concern.
"Shall I prepare a room for the lady?" he inquired.
"Yes," the Master replied quickly. "It was a long journey...I am sure my guest is quite fatigued by now."
Lumiere turned to nod at the Master's guest in polite confirmation but the woman's dark eyes, wide and alert, were fixed on the staircase leading up into the depths of the castle.
"No," she said. Her voice was low and harsh and the servant suppressed a shudder at the sound of it.
Lowering his hood, the Master's jaw clenched tightly as he followed her gaze.
"I believe it is youwho is fatigued, Sirius," she continued softly. "Perhaps you should retire for the evening..."
The Master's back stiffened at her words, making his significant height even more noticeable.
"Not yet," he replied tersely.
Glancing at him, the corners of the woman's mouth turned up slightly in a small, sinister smile.
"Then I think it is about time you introduced me to your other guest."
