It was late that night when the last stragglers finally left the bar, bleary-eyed and several cut up from the inevitable brawl that had begun between several of the regulars. Remus stood up, fingers stiff and back aching slightly. To his utmost relief, Black had disappeared. Dora was gone too. She usually hung around for a bit, she was a nice girl, Remus thought vaguely. He shut the piano and picked his way through the small tables and chairs spread haphazardly throughout the place to talk to Mattie at the bar. He was slowly cleaning up, his habitual glass of red wine stood on the counter, half empty now.
'Anything strange?' Remus asked. His voice was forced into lightness but it held a sharp edge to it that Mattie wouldn't have missed had he been stone cold sober. As it was, he merely laughed his booming laugh. Remus winced at the sound, a headache coming on, he was sure.
'We had a man come in here looking for you,' Mattie said eventually, taking a generous swig from his wine glass. 'British lad. Stared at you for most of the night. Didn't he talk to you?'
Remus shook his head. So Black was there for him. Why had he not come over then? Fearful that Remus still hated him? Then why come at all?
'Well that's pretty strange,' Mattie agreed. Remus nodded distractedly and stretched out in a tired yawn.
'I think I'll head home. See you tomorrow night.'
'Bye Lupin.'
Remus nodded his goodbye and, after collecting his coat, he pushed open the heavy door and stepped into the cold, December air. Dirty snow settled on the edges of the footpath, making passage difficult. He felt his feet slip on the icy ground, and were it not for someone darting from the shadows and catching his arm in a death grip, he would almost certainly have fallen. His relief quickly disappeared however, as he saw who it was holding his elbow.
'Get off me Black,' he hissed, snatching his arm away, expression furious. Sirius fell back for a moment, before suddenly steering Remus back into the cold wall of a boarded-up shop.
'I need to talk to you Remus,' he said firmly. Remus struggled against him but Sirius didn't release him.
'I don't want to talk to you,' Remus replied angrily. 'What the hell are you doing here?'
'Remus, you've got to listen to me-'
'No I don't. Leave me alone, alright?'
'You don't understand-'
'I understand perfectly well,' Remus said shortly, pulling away from the man and striding down the street. As he walked, he turned back to face Sirius. Still walking, he called out, 'I don't want to see you again. Black, I'm serious.'
Sirius gritted his teeth and watched as Remus left hurriedly, without sparing him another glance.
It took Remus almost half an hour to walk back to his flat, by which time his fingers and feet felt numb with the fierce cold. Stamping his snow covered feet clean on the mat at the door, Remus dug for his key in his coat pocket. With clumsy fingers, he fumbled with the lock, eventually managing to get the door open. Four flights of stairs and a short debacle with Mrs Brown's cat later, he found himself outside the grey-painted door of his own flat. He fared better with this lock, fingers slightly more dextrous in the still rather doubtful heat of the grotty hall.
He tumbled into his flat with relief, pulling off his coat and scarf in a fluid movement. He left his fingerless gloves on; the room wasn't exactly a sauna. Shivering slightly, he slid into the worn stool he kept in front of his ancient piano. He stretched his finger slowly over the keys, mind spinning. Before even attempting to play, Remus let his head fall onto the piano, wincing at the jarring notes that rang out in the empty room.
Sirius returned to the bar every night for the following three weeks. And for the following three weeks, Remus stoically ignored him. He found that if he could just concentrate on the music, and how the light caught the sequins on Dora's dress, he could ignore the fact that Sirius had disregarded his request - order really - and persisted to come to the bar anyway.
Sirius, for his part, was growing impatient. He wasn't sure how much longer he could keep this up. The drink wasn't exactly cheap, and he needed every cent he could get. Moreover, he needed Remus to stop ignoring him. He needed Remus to confront him, talk to him. He knew he couldn't try to talk to the pianist again, or he'd drive him further away. But if Remus didn't stop ignoring him soon, Sirius didn't know what he'd do.
AN: right, sorry for another short chapter, it will get better, I promise! (I hopeā¦) Please leave me a review, and the next chapter will be up soon enough
