Care to Remember
Chapter One: Just a kiss, Love.
A week ago the Order received a tip that there would be a Death Eater hand off in a local pub. This would be the second time the Death Eaters chose this pub, the first time came and went without confrontation.
For Sirius Black it was just a typical order mission. At this point in his Auror career he could have done it in his sleep. It was simple; just go to the pub wearing a glamour and listen for any 'interesting' conversation, or that tell-tale white noise sound one experienced when hearing the effects of the Muffliato charm. Sirius had done it successfully a hundred times by now. James usually went with him, however today was the day that they found out the gender of their baby and Sirius knew that James had to be there. Obviously, Sirius didn't have a gender preference; he would still teach the little sprog how to fly and prank and to call James Prongs.
Sirius entered the pub wearing the guise of a grayed, hardened wizard with a nose that had obviously been broken and bad. Brushing aside his tattered robes, he chose a corner barstool he ordered a Firewhiskey but immediately transfigured it into water as he needed to remain completely aware, routine mission or not.
It had been no longer than five minutes when Sirius noticed two wizards walk in and choose a booth to Sirius' left. Both had their hoods drawn, preventing Sirius from seeing their faces and more or less labeling them as Death Eaters. Almost immediately Sirius heard the very faint buzz and crackle associated with the Muffliato charm. This one was cast particularly well as he had to strain to hear it. Fortunately the Order had found a discreet way around the Muffliato charm. Using something as ordinary as a pebble or a piece of wood, the Order created a spell that would transmit the sound the object received directly to the castor's ear, similar to those Muggle walky-talk devices. The only the issue the Order had found was that the object could on cross the barrier of the Muffliato after it was cast. The spell canceled out on the object and lost its ability to transmit sound. However, the spell worked fine if the object was already in its barrier prior to casting. Thankfully, someone from the Order had the foresight to cast the spell on corner of every table. Casually, Sirius let his left hand drop to his side. His wand was attached to his forearm so he could stealthily point it at that particular table and then nonchalantly move his left arm to his ear. He made it seem as if he was scratching an itch.
There was a pause.
"Listen, Nott, I know you have more than four. I was instructed to take every one you managed to unearth in those forsaken Egyptian runes and take them to Malfoy. Do you understand? Now give me the rest of them before I tell Malfoy that you are deliberately with holding them."
"Fine, Black-" Sirius gasped. Regulus was here. It was known to Sirius that Regulus had joined the Death Eaters, but this was the first time the brothers had met.
Nott shoved a dark, lumpy sack across the table. "I don't even know why Malfoy would bother with –"
However, Sirius never received the chance to hear what it was that Malfoy wanted so badly.
"Hang on, Black. Look. Our spell's been triggered. Wormtail told us that they would wire the corners." Sirius snapped his head upwards and gasped. Wormtail? He prayed they didn't look to where he was sitting. He so badly wanted to send a Patronus with the information he just learned.
"Who's the unlucky sod who thought he could spy on us, Black?" Before Sirius could release the spell there was a searing pain in his left ear. He yelped and fell off his bar stool. Finally he grasped his wand and said, "Finite Incantatem," and the pain stopped.
The only other wizards in the pub had the sense to apparate when the Death Eaters rose. Nott then handed a small sack to Regulus.
"Take 'em, Black. I'm leaving. You're of age and I'm not wasting my time with a single Order member. Make sure he doesn't leave. He's heard too much," he said, as he disapparated.
Regulus turned steel grey eyes to meet eyes of an equal shade. Quickly, too quick for Sirius to deflect, as he had just risen from the floor, Regulus flicked his wand and dissolved the glamour Sirius was wearing.
"Shite, Sirius," Regulus' voice betrayed his conflicting emotion, but his wand never wavered an inch from its ready position. Something Sirius noticed and felt oddly proud of.
"Nice to see you too, Reg," Sirius said cautiously, wand also in the ready position. "How's mum?"
"As if you care. You ran away. This is the first time I'm seeing you since you graduated from Hogwarts." Anyone else would have heard these words as a declarative, almost unemotional statement, but Sirius could feel the pain that hid behind the Black mask that both he and Regulus employed when attempting to hide emotions.
"I'm sorry, Regulus, but you know I couldn't once you became a Death Eater."
Regulus scoffed, "Because I had a choice!"
"Gods, Reg," said Sirius, anxious. "Just come with me now. The Order can hide you –"
"That would never work," Regulus interrupted, eyes wide. "The only way out is death and we both know that… The bastard will call me to him until the day that I die."
"Or until he dies," Sirius said, clenching his fist. "We are working to bring him down. Don't give up, Reg."
There was a silence before the younger brother spoke. "Sirius, I can't let you leave knowing what you know. I'm just going to perform a simple memory spell -"
He was cut off by the jet of light reflecting off his shield spell he just barely put in place.
Remus Lupin slid off the invisibility cloak concealing him. "I can't believe the Order sent you here with out back up."
Sirius was wondering how much of his exchange with Regulus was heard by Remus, and was slightly ashamed that he might have witnessed the condition his brother was in under Sirius' neglect. He had no time to dwell on this as both he and Remus were dodging and delivering spells meant to penetrate defensive shields.
"When did you get here?" Sirius asked, casting a hex at what he hoped was the time Regulus was going to drop his shield to cast a spell.
"I apparated to the loo with the cloak a few seconds before the other Death Eater disapparated," Remus said, casting a quick shield before throwing his own spell.
Regulus continued his barrage of spells. Sirius needed to tell Remus that their supposed best mate was the traitor. It was unlikely that Regulus would hit both of them, and he did not have a chance to send a proper patronus.
"Remus! Nott said that it was Wormtail who told them about the listening spell. He's the spy!" "That is an extremely serious accusation, Sirius. I can't believe…are you sure -Peter?" Remus exclaimed. "Do you know another Wormtail? The fucking rat betrayed us." With his anger Sirius was able to blast past Regulus' slowly weakening shield. The younger Black flew back and lay sprawled on the floor, seemingly unconscious. "Sirius, you go look at him," Remus sat in one of the unscathed booths and placed his head in his hands. "I don't think I could deal with it right now." He said, softened voice muffled by his hands. "No problem, Moony." Carefully, Sirius treaded over the debris. Sidestepping a mess of table legs Sirius had to roll a chunk of a table away to see exactly where Regulus was laying. The younger Black was splayed on the remainders of a booth bench, his hood cloaking his face.
"Regulus?" Sirius silently cast a full body bind on his brother. He then continued to move carefully towards Regulus.
Unfortunately, Sirius failed to see that Regulus managed to maintain a grip on his wand and was thus able to cast a non-verbal finite Incantatem on the body bind.
Sirius was less than three yards from the wrecked booth that cushioned the Death Eater's fall when Regulus took Sirius completely by surprise with a flash of his wand. "Obliviate," Regulus' voice cracked just before he disapparated from the pub.
"Protego!" Sirius yelled in shock. He just barely put the shield in place as the memory charm whizzed towards him and rebounded off his shield. Sirius' shoulders sagged, relieved, until he heard the unmistakable sound of a spell hitting flesh. His heart dropped and his breathing became shallow and quick.
Remus was slumped in his booth, head lolled back on the cushion. Eyes wide, Sirius sprinted to his side. There was a scorched tear in the shoulder of his jacket and Sirius prayed to whoever was listening that the spell did not touch him. Sirius sent a patronus to the Order and, supporting Remus' head, apparated directly to the Order's personal ward in St. Mungo's.
1~1~1
In his first moments of awareness, before his eyes even opened, the primary thing Remus noticed was that his head felt as if he flew straight into Gryffindor tower. Remus opened unfocused eyes only a fraction. His fuzzy eyes were met by a mass of black hair.
"Thank Merlin you're awake!"
Still exhausted, Remus closed his eyes again. It was not unusually for Sirius to hug him after a full moon... except the moon was last week. Remus flexed his fingers, feeling the crisp linen of a hospital bed while wondering what other mischief the Marauders had gotten into for Remus to end up in the Hospital Wing again.
"Remus, do you remember who I am?"
Eyes still closed, of course Remus recognized Sirius' -deeper?- voice.
"Of course I remember you, Pads. Don't be redic –" Remus was cut off by a pair of smiling lips joyously attacking his own. His eyes popped open to be met by the same thick black hair. So Remus did the only thing that seemed logical to his bleary brain: he pulled back his right fist and uppercut Sirius right in the jaw. This caused Sirius' lips to drag across the werewolf's face, creating a trail of saliva up his nose and forehead. Remus took both his hands and tried to push the black haired offender off of himself. He was not terribly successful as his arms felt almost as limp as noodles, the weak punch siphoning the little energy Remus had in his arms. Thankfully, Sirius pushed himself off of Remus and sat himself on the hospital chair on Remus' right side.
"What the hell was that, Sirius?" Remus fixed him with a glare, hastily wiping off his face with the back of his hand. For a split second Sirius returned the glare, but then an overwhelming look of sadness and fear consumed his features.
Sirius Black's heart started to hammer while simultaneously dropping towards his feet, "It was… it was just a kiss, love."
Authors Note: Chapter two is finished, but I am looking for a Beta reader for the story. There is going to be a ton of emotion thrown around between Remus and Sirius and I'm going to need not only grammar help but also help with keeping them in character. So, if anyone is interested the assistance would be greatly appreciated!