AUGUST 7th 1994

San José, Costa Rica

"Welcome to San José, capital city of our beloved country and home to over three hundred thousand Costa Ricans," the tour guide paused for comic effect, before adding, "As well as numerous Americans attempting to evade the law!"

The small group of tourists laughed feebly as the sun beat down from high above, scorching their pale skin, and causing beads of sweat to melt out of their pores.

"As you know, Costa Rica is a tropical country with several distinct climactic zones. We are also host to the widest variety of animal species you will find north of the Panama border into South America."

The tourists, unsure of how to respond to this gem of information clapped half-heartedly, one man removing his sun hat to fan away the heat. Realising that he was losing the crowd, the tour guide changed the subject slightly.

"But you don't need me to tell you about the climate or variety of life you will see in Costa Rica - you've all experienced it for yourself! Instead, let me give you a brief history lesson. Can anyone tell me what year Colombus first arrived in Costa Rica, and met our early indigenous inhabitants? Anyone at all?"

A throaty response in an articulate English accent replied. "September 18th, 1502."

The tour guide turned towards the man, whose face was shrouded in the shade his wide-brimmed sunhat provided. "On his third and last voyage to the Americas, I believe."

The guide looked stunned, and a few of the bloated Americans stepped aside.

"Wow...your knowledge is impressive mi amigo. Do you speak Spanish too?"

"Sí, hablo español fluido aunque tengo mis dudas si igual podría ser dicho de usted. ¿Tengo razón?" The man raised an eyebrow and grinned, safe beneath the shadow over his face. The guide looked nonplussed for a moment, swiftly recovering with a smile.

"May I ask your name, Amigo?"

The enigmatic stranger tipped up his hat, revealing a worn, tired face. "My name is Remus James Lupin."

*

On the other side of the city, a clean-shaven and wide-awake Padfoot sat at a café table sipping a cup of real coffee. Unable to procure a job, he had been relying on weekly envelopes from Remus filled with as much money as his under appreciated friend could acquire. It was a selfless [and truth be told, rather foolish] act from the impoverished Moony, but Sirius was too desperate to reject his friend's kind donations as they were almost the only thing that stood between himself and capture. The Dementors had been sent back to Azkaban after the horrific incidence at Hogwarts, but numerous Ministry officials were still scouring the world in search of the fugitive known as Sirius Black.

Sirius finished his coffee, and began to raise himself out of the wooden deckchair; a black speck was growing on the horizon. His attention was drawn towards it as it came closer, eventually revealing itself as Harry Potter's snowy owl, Hedwig. The owl swooped downward, dropping a piece of parchment on his lap, then settled itself down on the floor and began to peck at a few crumbs lodged in the pavement cracks. Frowning at the bird, which was drawing a little attention from the other customers, Sirius unfolded the parchment and began to read.

Dear Sirius,

Thanks for your last letter, that bird was enormous, it could hardly get through my window. Things are the same as usual here. Dudley's diet isn't going too well. My aunt found him smuggling doughnuts into his room yesterday. They told him they'd have to cut his pocket money if he keeps doing it, so he got really angry and chucked his PlayStation out of the window. That's a sort of computer thing you can play games on. Bit stupid really, now he hasn't even got Mega-Mutilation Part Three to takes his mind off things. I'm OK, mainly because the Dursleys are terrified you might turn them all into bats if I ask you to. A weird thing happened this morning, though. My scar hurt again. Last time that happened it was because Voldemort was at Hogwarts. But I don't reckon he can be anywhere near me now, can he? Do you know if curse scars sometimes hurt years afterwards? I'll send this with Hedwig when she gets back, she's off hunting at the moment. Say hello to Buckbeak for me.

Harry.

Sirius frowned. This wasn't the first strange occurrence of the last few weeks, and if things continued deteriorating.well, it would not be the last either. Folding the parchment back up again, he stood and exited the café thoughtfully, analysing the situation.

*

Sirius lay asleep under a pile of blankets, snoring loudly. This was apparently immensely irritating for Buckbeak, who angrily covered his ears with his wings and moved towards the back of the cave as far away from the noise as possible.

Outside, a shadowy figure narrowed his eyes to avoid the light from the crescent moon, and began to approach the cave opening. Sirius continued to snore, as the figure raised his wand, and stepped inside...cautiously and nervously. He opened his mouth to speak, lowering his lips so they were only an inch from Padfoot's ear.

"Well, well, Sirius Black. Fancy meeting you here."

Sirius awoke with a startle, rolling over and knocking the stranger to the ground. He leapt to his feet and grabbed a log of wood from the embers of the fire, swinging it backwards and preparing to strike. "WHO ARE YOU?" he growled. The stranger stood and slowly turned, Sirius lowered his weapon in relief. "Remus! What are you doing here?"

Remus J Lupin brushed a little dirt from his shabby blue cloak and smiled mischievously. "I came to see you of course."

Without stopping to think of exactly what Moony was doing in Costa Rica, Sirius found himself pouncing on his old friend and embracing him warmly. Remus, unsure of how to react, raised his arms in retaliation and patted Sirius on the back several times. "Sirius...I er... can't breathe!"

"Oh! God... Sorry!"

Sirius loosened his hold on his friend and they separated, until he was merely grasping the other's hands. If Remus was at all disturbed, he was polite enough not to mention it. Sirius had been alone for a long time after all.

"How did you find the cave? How long have you been out looking?!?!?" Sirius garbled as he attempted to speak as many words as possible in one sentence.

"I met a tour guide, pointed me in the direction of the beaches. I naturally assumed your cave would be here. You always did love the sea." Remus replied, contentedly.

"Not just the sea, Moony my old friend.everything about it. The sun, the sand, the way the tide comes in and deposits my lunch in the rock pools..."

"Your lunch?"

"Crabs usually... sometimes other shell fish."

Remus wasn't sure whether this was supposed to be funny, but Sirius was grinning wildly for the first time in weeks. He shook his head and grinned back. "After I was in roughly the right place it was only a simple matter of following what sounded like an earthquake to its source."

"Ha. Ha." Sirius replied sarcastically. "Were you always this funny?"

"Yes, I believe I was." Remus's eyes twinkled. "I don't remember you snoring quite so loudly though. You're lucky I wasn't an auror here to arrest you."

"Siriusly.....I mean...er... seriously though...why are you here, Remus?"

Sirius had lowered himself into a sitting position on a rock, expecting to be entertained with a long and probably exaggerated anecdote. He was not to be disappointed. Remus took a deep breath, cycling through his thoughts quickly, and began to speak, pacing back and fourth.his shoes scraping across the sand.

"After everything that happened, I just had to get away for a while and clear my head. It was quite a lot to take in you know, Sirius. So I went back to stay at my parents' house for a few weeks, before starting to look for a new job. I co..."

"Why did you leave Hogwarts?" Sirius interrupted sharply.

"I told you in my letter..." Remus looked haunted. "I could have killed six people that night; I won't forget that. It's hard enough for me to live with, without even considering the possibility that it could happen again. Another accident would have been inevitable. What other choice could I make? Now Sirius, if you are done interrupting....?"

Sirius couldn't help but think that there was too much teacher in Remus sometimes. He gestured his friend on with a wave of his hand.

"Anyway...I stayed at my parents' house for a few weeks before starting to look for another job. I considered applying for a job in a muggle school, but it turns out the government now requires additional qualifications that I cannot afford to take. So. I've been doing nothing really; a couple of days part-time work at St.Mungo's has been the best I could get." Remus sighed. Sirius couldn't help but feel a little upset. For someone who always tried so hard, Moony never got a break.

"How did you manage to send me that money then?"

"I sold the house." Remus muttered under his breath.

"You WHAT!" Sirius screamed, surging to his feet. "You grew up in that house Moony! What the hell would your parents say?"

"Sit down," Remus sighed. Sirius sat. "They didn't seem to mind. They agreed it was the best thing for me to do, so I could get a little money together to help you out."

Padfoot shifted uncomfortably on his rock, a little embarrassed that his best friend had gone to such measures. "Remus...If you had said something, I would never have accep...Wait a moment, you asked your parents if it was okay to sell your house?!...Your parents died years ago." Remus smiled weakly, Sirius wouldn't have noticed it if he hadn't already anticipated his friend's reaction. "I have a portrait of them. It's not them really but it speaks on their behalf. They acknowledged that the past is not as important as the future."

"An admirable sentiment."

"Yes. Well...I'm your friend; your only friend now. I only have two purposes in life. One of them is to make sure you are okay." Sirius could see Remus smile slowly fade.

"And the other?"

Remus looked at him sincerely. "To watch your back."

Sirius pondered the meaning of this statement for a moment, before realising the truth behind Remus' visit. He spoke quickly and anxiously.

"The Ministry...are they in the country?"

"Shacklebolt arrived this morning. They tracked your location."

Sirius mouth gaped open in confusion. "But how? None of my letters have been intercepted."

"The Ministry have more refined techniques of finding people then intercepting letters, Sirius. Aurors have been arriving in every city from Panama to Guatemala. The Dementors may have been packed back off to Azkaban, but the search is far from over. If anything, your appearance at Hogwarts has only furthered Shacklebolt's desperation to find you."

"Why does he want to find me so badly? I'm not doing anything to anyone at the moment." Sirius replied pleadingly.

"The world's most wanted wizard.big catch. Shacklebolt is only our age...could be looking at early retirement if he reels in someone like you. All these Ministry types love the idea of leaving the job before forty with a large pension. I don't blame them." Remus considered the idea for a fraction of a second before replying.

"He'll find you Sirius; it's what he does. You have to leave the country. Head North. Go back to Britain. An old fashioned double bluff. It's the last thing they'll expect."

Sirius looked upwards at Remus, wondering if he should tell him that the perpetual concerned expression on his face was only deepening the lines of premature aging. Then, as if by magic, he remembered Harry's letter.

"Harry sent me a letter this morning."

Remus frowned. "Sirius, I know how important Harry is to all of us, and to you in particular, but he's safe and you aren't; now really is not the time to be thinking about him."

"No...no...it was important. He told me his scar had started hurting again."

"And what relevance does this have to the several dozen aurors slowly closing in on you?"

Sirius glanced around subtly, realising fairly quickly that Remus wasn't being literal. "It has no relevance, but I was thinking it is another good reason to go back to Britain. Something isn't right."

"You may have a point there..." He paused thoughtfully. "I heard an equally worrying rumour a few days ago. It appears that Dumbledore has hired Alastor Moody as my replacement."

"Mad-Eye? I thought he was retired."

"Exactly. Why would Dumbledore hire him unless he suspects that something is amiss?"

Sirius nodded and brushed a little hair out of his eyes. "We leave first thing tomorrow morning."

"Ah no." Remus grinned wolfishly. "I'm afraid you must be mistaken. There's no 'we' here Sirius; I have a hotel room booked for the next three days. I intend to enjoy the weather whilst I'm here."

Remus was smiling again. Sirius began to laugh. "Unbelievable...twelve years, and you haven't changed a bit!"

"Well...what do you expect, Sirius? I'm Remus J. Lupin."

"I would have been extremely disturbed if you weren't."

Remus was grinning broadly as he lifted his hat from the ground and placed it firmly back on his head.

"I'm sure our paths will cross again, Padfoot. I'll try to see Kingsley Shacklebolt whilst I'm in the country."

Sirius frowned. "Surely Shacklebolt will be suspicious if he sees you here. Chances are Snape has been at the Ministry, telling them everything that happened at the Shack. Better to keep a low profile."

"I disagree. I think I can talk him into staying out here a little longer...give you a little time to speak to Harry without the aurors breathing down your neck."

A sudden thought occurred. "...Maybe I should tell Harry I'm returning before randomly showing up."

"Good idea. Send him a letter tomorrow before you leave. Are you flying?"

Sirius sighed condescendingly. "Well...I can't just leave Buckbeak in a cave for the rest of his life!"

Remus laughed, slightly surprised that the years in prison hadn't diminished Sirius' wit. "I'll speak to you soon Sirius, but my hotel locks its doors at midnight. I have to run!"

"Remus! You're a wizard... apparate."

"I told you Padfoot, I'm on vacation."

Remus winked, and jogged away down the beach, kicking sand over his friend playfully as he left. Sirius shook his head to knock away the loose grains, and climbed back into his cave.

The game had begun.

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Authors Note

Okay, first things first...I hope you liked the first chapter! I started getting bored, so felt it was time I tried something serious (no pun intended) again, and it arrived in the form of a semi-sequel/continuation to my 'Azkaban: Tale of Revenge' story. Over the next few chapters I hope to introduce Kingsley as a major antagonist, and play with his relationship towards Sirius in a cool cat-and-mouse style. With some luck, future chapters will be longer and better then this fairly concise introduction. Also...let me make it clear that in my opinion Sirius and Remus are not gay, and harbour no feelings towards each other outside of friendship. Obviously all stories are open to personal interpretation though, so I won't do anything as blatantly unfair to the fluff fans as writing Sirius a girlfriend or anything...I am fairly confident that a percentage of those reading will have seen that it stars S/R and thought "ooh.... fluff", so I am appeasing those people by keeping their relationship averagely ambiguous. Think what you will.... but in my opinion, everyone in this story is as straight as an arrow. For those who do dig the fluff aspects though, check out some stories here (www.fanfiction.net/~polkat), I am sure she will appreciate a few more reviews for 'Suddenly'...a story that frankly terrified me. Read and Review!

Enjoy!