Remus was convinced that London was where he was meant to be and nothing was going to stop him from getting there. Sirius had left for the city almost a year before and since then the house, which had already felt much too large after Peter and James left, might as well have been a mansion. It had hurt a bit to list the house for sale but whenever he considered where he was going, he was immediately robbed of all thoughts of remorse. To him, the once warm cottage served as nothing more than a cold and hollow reminder of happier times. Sirius had been back to visit on several occasions but had never stayed for long, and despite the briefness of these touches, they only served to cement Remus' decision to leave.

They had been lovers from almost the very beginning. They had a romance that had literally blossomed over the course of their seven years at Hogwarts, but somehow they had grown apart. Though they still engaged in a fleeting touch or a romantic tryst, they had begun to shy away from each other. Suddenly, their every interaction was marred by suspicion and secrets. The pair had just begun to work over this growing rift between them when Dumbledore called Sirius into the heart of the city, placing him in a comfortable flat near the Ministry where he would "be of more use".

Remus had simply ignored the incident, as he was apt to do when faced with unpleasant realities, and was quite content to live on his own until his neighbors had been killed. It was not so much a fear for his own life that had suddenly triggered the panic in Remus, as it was a fear for what he would leave behind if he was gone. Remus, who was not one to act rashly, had of course considered his options for several days before concluding that what he needed was Sirius. He needed Sirius and he needed to be where he was. It occurred to him vaguely that he had, in all honesty, simply been blocking out his uneasiness ever since the day Sirius had left and now was the time to do something about it. He had to regain the calmness that had once flooded him, the comfort of knowing he was loved and cared for.

And so he had sold the house, and was slowly allowing the movers to pack away what was left of his belongings. But, as he stared wistfully at the many memories held within the walls of the home a familiar voice came from the doorway.

"What do you think you're doing? Remus?! You here?!"

'Tell 'em that the house is not for sale
We're still livin' here, how come nobody can tell
They're takin' all the furniture, movin' our things
Come on little honey, put your head on my knee
Tell 'em that the house is not for sale
And calm down, calm down, calm down
Calm down, calm down, calm down'

"I sold the house." Remus stated bluntly, "What on Earth are you doing here?"

"I was gonna surprise you." Sirius remarked crestfallen, "They can't take this stuff. These are our things. This is our home."

"This was our home." Remus said, stressing the tense bitterly.

"It still is." Sirius said, sitting on the couch in the near bare living room, despite the protests of the movers who were preparing to remove it.

Sirius stared at Remus for a moment before motioning him over.

"Here. Lay in my lap. I want you to see what I see."

'Do you remember when we even bought this thing?
I danced you across the wooden floor and you signed the lease
What happened in the car that night?
What happened in the car that night?
Tell 'em that the house is not for sale
And calm down, calm down, calm down
Calm down, calm down, calm down
Calm down '

"Now, do you remember when we finally decided on this place?" Sirius asked, stroking Remus' hair gently.

"Yeah, we couldn't all move in at once because the muggles next door made it impossible to use magic and between the four of us we only had one car. I think it was rather nice of us to let Peter and James move in first. We had to sleep in the car."

"It was better than the hardwood. And sleeping is not all we did." Sirius said smiling wistfully.

"It was my first time being taken."

"In that shitty little car. You deserved better."

"I wouldn't have traded it for the world."

"And do you remember our anniversary? The first one right after James moved out. We danced to Beatles records all night."

"Yeah, about that. Dancing and you don't really mix." Remus giggled.

"We live here Remus."

"But you left."

"I had to. I was pretty much ordered to. But I told Dumbledore I can't take it anymore. I'm here now, and I wasn't planning on leaving."

'Tell 'em that the house is not for sale
We could grab a couple sheets, yeah, give 'em quite a scare
I remember lyin' on the bedroom floor
You were holding me, little honey, kissin' my soul
Tell 'em that the house is not for sale
And calm down, calm down, calm down
Calm down, calm down, calm down
Calm down
Calm down'

"Do you think it's too late to make them stop? Suddenly I'm not so willing to give this up. I look in the living room and I see us making love in front of the fireplace. I look in the bedroom and I see you holding me on the floor, when I fell out of bed, the night we decided that I really need to upgrade to a bigger bed."

"Couldn't hurt to ask."

"Excuse me." Remus called out as he sat up, "Do you think you could move everything back? The house isn't for sale anymore."

"Now?" asked a burly mover, regarding the two lovers as Remus considered.

As Remus paused, Sirius swooped in delivering a searing kiss, proud of his decision to come home, and of his lover for stopping the evacuation of it.

"No, later." Remus whispered returning to Sirius' lips.

They could move stuff back in tomorrow. After all, Sirius' stuff was back now too.