Chapter 2

"Transfiguration was always one of my strong points actually Tonks, the one class I saw as entirely relevant to my life." Sirius grinned at Remus, who tried not to look too amused in front of Molly. "Now you go, which subject would you teach at Hogwarts?"

"Honestly Sirius, couldn't you talk about something less childish?" Molly was sipping a glass of wine and feeling entirely uncomfortable not bustling around.

Tonks and Sirius shared a look that went unnoticed, and Molly continued, "Some of us can't afford the time to be playing make-believe." Molly's disapproval was cut short as she took in Tonks' presence. She turned a deep red and started muttering that of course everyone would have some time for make believe, and if an Auror could do it, so could she.

"Excellent! Go on Molly." Sirius leaned back on his chair and beamed at her.

"Well I always had a knack for it, so it would probably be – CHARLIE!"

"Mum! And the blokes!" Charlie saluted Remus and Sirius. "And there's Tonks. I kissed Tonks! You remember don't you, it was truth or dare. I didn't want to kiss you, but you're lovely and you pretended to look like a bloke."

Tonks pretended to drop her wand and ducked her head under the table. "Charlie, you're very late coming home," Molly started weakly.

"It was lovely because I don't like women!" Charlie looked crossly at the room, until he spotted his mother. He enveloped her in a hug and whispered furtively, "Except you of course. I like you, because you're my mum, and you make me lasagne and potatoes and brown bread and..."

Molly searched the room in desperation, and her gaze settled on a certain Marauder. "Sirius, can you take Charlie to his room?" He muttered mutinously but took Charlie away from her hands with a firm grasp on his forearms.

Molly sat down, and gave Remus a small smile. Suddenly she jumped up and started cursing.

"Molly what is it?" asked an alarmed Remus.

"Fred and George haven't come back!"

"And bacon and cabbage and fried eggs and-"

"Alohomora." Regulus' bedroom door opened. "Bedroom's there, bathroom opposite. Lock the door unless you'd like to wake up to a perverted old elf in your room. Goodnight."

Charlie was taken aback by Sirius' abruptness. "Mate," Charlie whispered. Sirius turned around.

Charlie's hips swung independently of his mind as he walked up to Sirius. And if he stopped a little too close to Sirius, neither man said so.

"I went out, and Fred and George came too. I thought I'd get you something, next best thing to coming with, you know?" Blue eyes tried focussing on grey, and then gave up. Charlie settled on presenting a silent Sirius with a bottle. "I asked Tom, the bartender at the Leaky Cauldron, you know the place don't you? And he said, well he said Remus Lupin tended to... he liked that stuff," Charlie finished off, helpfully pointing at the bottle. "Couldn't very well ask him what you liked! Or James, you and him were closer, weren't you? Can't ask what a dead man's favourite drink is though, he wouldn't appreciate the gesture."

Sirius' lips were pressed tightly together, soft-looking lips, deeply coloured. Charlie's hands were grabbed, he realised he'd been reaching, trying to entwine them in Sirius' silky black hair, use them to pull himself towards those lips-

"Get in." Charlie was brusquely pushed into the room, door snapped shut behind him.

Sirius was sat in his windowsill, bottle long empty and himself looking through a charmed window, showing the night sky where another terraced house should have been. He was trying hard to make his brain understand that this was what a window was supposed to look like; it was supposed to give the viewer a clear view of the world outside, and there definitely shouldn't be vertical bars blocking his vision. He heard a vague knocking on the door. "Come in," he said, sliding down from the window.

Charlie Weasley stepped in. "Sirius, the bed keeps telling me I'm a blood traitor and a filthy little-"

"Nice to be proven innocent, is it?" Sirius snapped. When he saw a well built Weasley in the doorway of his room, rather than his godson, he huffed. "Oh don't mind it, blasted thing used to call me a ... uh, never mind. It'll get bored eventually," he said in a neutral voice.

"Are you oka-"

"Drink?" Sirius pulled his facial muscles into a resemblance of a grin. As he rummaged around under his bed, Charlie settled himself on the foot, and when Sirius found his target, he threw himself on the bed to take a drink. He put the cork in and tossed it to Charlie. Charlie's mouth dried the tiniest bit as Sirius turned on his side, one arm supporting his head, and the other playing with his open shirt. "Drink," Sirius commanded.

Charlie tore his eyes away from the man to take a large sip of the Firewhiskey, and as grey eyes drew him back, Sirius nodded with an air of acceptance. "You tell me your story; I'll tell you mine."

The younger man swallowed. "Fred was partially right. I managed to break up the arranged marriage between two of the oldest wizarding families in Romania, again. The man is a repressed homosexual with a thing for redheads, what can I do?" Charlie smiled up at a stony-faced Sirius.

"Sirius, are you okay?"

"Thrilled. Harry's been proven innocent, Molly made me cheesecake and you're having the time of your life ruining people's love lives. What more could I want?"

"Yes," said Charlie gently, "What more do you want?"

Sirius' breathing was fragmented, filling the room with his hesitancy. Charlie held the bottle up to Sirius, who sat up and shifted closer to Charlie. Sirius' hands were trembling; Charlie removed the lid from the Firewhiskey. The red head hadn't felt the ache to protect someone so badly since his years at home with his family, and its return at this particular moment made his heart pound with ferocity. Suddenly, Sirius spoke.

"I want a trial; I want to prove I didn't do it." Sirius looked up at Charlie balefully. "I want people to tell me it wasn't my fault that I didn't kill, didn't kill..."

Sirius took a sip of Firewhiskey and put his head in his hands. Charlie almost broke the long silence, but Sirius began with a whisper, "I never cried for them Charlie. I never cried for my best friend or Lily... She was so sweet to me sometimes..." The urge to sooth the confusion and desperation he had induced overcame Charlie. He knelt in front of Sirius, took his right hand and forced him to look up.

Charlie looked Sirius directly in the eyes.

"Tell me what happened that night."

Thanks again to my beta, SpiritedDreaming, and please review!