Controlling
"Hey." Remus said, making his way to the kitchen table and sitting down next to Sirius, who was wolfing down a plate of burnt bacon and toast.
"Hey." Sirius responded.
"I just got an owl from Molly; she, the kids, Arthur and Hermione are arriving later today. They decided they might as well come a little early and help with the Order."
"Good, Molly can cook in future." Sirius said, looking at the scorched breakfast that Emmeline Vance had prepared. Emmeline grinned at him from over the cauldron of congealing porridge, which she offered to Remus.
"No thanks, I'm not hungry." Remus said hastily. Sirius snorted and Remus threw him a reproachful look.
"When's Harry coming?" Sirius asked. Remus hesitated.
"Well… I'm not exactly sure. Dumbledore seems keen that he stayed with his aunt and uncle for a bit first."
"What? Why?"
Remus shrugged.
"I'm sure he has his reasons."
"Yeah." Sirius said darkly "He just likes locking people up."
"Now you know that isn't true." Remus said "Dumbledore's actions are unfair, but there must be a reason for it. Have you been writing to Harry?"
"Yeah, told him to be careful, don't do anything rash… I know I would if I was locked up in a muggle house with those people…"
Remus sighed.
"I know you wish that you could have Harry live with you here…"
"But why can't I??" Sirius asked "Why is Dumbledore so insistent on making his life a misery? I know what it's like living with a family who don't understand you, who bully you. It's hell. I ended up running away to live with James because I hated them so much. Harry already ran away once, in his third year. If he does it again he'll be in a lot of danger, now that Voldemort is back."
"I know." Remus said "I don't understand it either. But we must trust in Dumbledore."
"Yeah, well I'm finding that a bit hard at the moment." Sirius grumbled. "And I wish the paper would stop picking on him. Ministry morons…"
"They're just trying to compensate for all the rumours he and Dumbledore started." Remus said "Fudge is terrified of the very idea that Voldemort may have returned, if he makes Harry seem unstable then who's going to believe his story?"
Sirius muttered something that sounded like "bastard" and Remus smiled.
"We've got the Order meeting before dinner tonight, are you going to come?" he asked. "Uh, Snape might be coming, just for the meeting."
Sirius groaned.
"Nothing would give me more pleasure." he sighed and Remus laughed. They were ambushed at the kitchen door by Tonks, clutching a stack of blackened toast.
"Are you feeling okay, Remus? You didn't eat anything." she said anxiously, proffering the food.
"I'm fine." Remus insisted, pushing the food away. Her face fell and she went back to sit at the table. Sirius smirked despite himself, and followed Remus upstairs. Remus was rummaging in the trunk he had brought with him.
"Aha!" he announced, holding up a bar of chocolate. Sirius laughed.
"Still obsessed with chocolate after all these years…"
Remus grinned, unwrapping the bar.
"Is it good for you to eat chocolate so early in the day?" Sirius asked mock-anxiously. "Remus, you have a problem."
Remus stuck out his tongue childishly, snapping part of the bar off. He stowed the rest of the chocolate inside his trunk lovingly and Sirius rolled his eyes with a smile.
"You haven't changed a bit!" he laughed.
"I could say the same for you." Remus replied. Sirius chuckled.
"Yeah right. I know that I haven't looked the same since Azkaban…" he sighed. "I feel weaker somehow, and more afraid."
"You aren't weak." Remus insisted "And being afraid is human. And as for your looks…"
Remus' eyes slid over Sirius' angular features and the muscles that were slowly creeping back to his arms and chest.
"… you've got nothing to worry about." he finished. Sirius flushed.
Suddenly somebody knocked on the door, and Tonks peered around it.
"The Weasleys are here, Sirius." she said, staring at Remus. Sirius felt like yelling "I'm over here!"
Instead he thanked her politely, and went to show them their rooms. Hermione and Ron were gazing open mouthed at the dark hall, and the rest of the Weasleys were chatting to Order members. Fred and George were whispering to Mundungus Fletcher, clearly trying to buy something off him. When they saw Sirius, they beamed and waved. Sirius returned the gesture with a smile. Hermione squealed and hugged him and then Remus, who looked surprised but pleased. They shook hands with everybody, and then led them to their rooms.
"It's so big!" Ron gasped, staring around at the numerous doors on the first landing. "So many rooms…"
"Yeah, and we have to clean them all." Sirius said.
"Well, we'll all chip in." Molly Weasley said briskly. Sirius could see her mentally pulling on a pair of rubber gloves. "The children are too young to go to the meetings anyway…"
Fred, George, Ron and Ginny groaned.
"Mum!" the twins chorused.
"No buts." she said firmly. "Now go and unpack."
They slouched off to their rooms, scowling. Hermione followed, carrying the wicker basket containing her ginger cat Crookshanks. Crookshanks was spitting and clawing at the inside of the basket, but started purring when he saw Sirius. Sirius smiled.
"Can I look after him for a while?" he asked. Hermione opened the basket and Crookshanks leapt lightly out, meowing happily. Sirius scooped him up and scratched him behind the ears. Remus stroked the cat's head, the tips of his fingers brushing lightly against Sirius' chest. Sirius practically purred himself.
"Now." Mrs Weasley said, clapping her hands "About this cleaning. I see the bedrooms and kitchen are done, which leaves…?"
Sighing, Sirius reeled off the rest of the rooms in the house.
"All right, I think we'll make a start on the bathroom after lunch." she said, pursing her lips. "Excuse me."
She bustled past them, towards the kitchen, followed by Arthur Weasley, Bill and Charlie.
"Told you." Sirius muttered. Remus grinned. Two identical red heads peered around a doorway.
"Psst, Sirius!"
They beckoned to Sirius, who entered the room, nonplussed. He and Remus sat down on one of the beds, and the twins on the other.
"Now, what's going on?" Fred asked in a low voice. "Why all the meetings?"
Sirius opened his mouth to answer, but Remus said quickly
"Only those in the Order are allowed to know… confidential… sorry boys."
"We want to join!" George said hotly.
"Maybe later on." Remus sighed "You're mother insists you do not sign up yet; she thinks you are too young."
"Oh." the twins said, disappointed.
"What's going on?" Ron asked, pushing the door open, closely followed by Hermione and Ginny.
"Don't you ever knock?" Fred asked
"Very rude." George agreed
"Never mind that!" Ron said eagerly "Is somebody going to tell us..."
"No." Remus said firmly. Ron's face fell.
"Personally, I think they should be told, Remus." Sirius argued. Remus shook his head
"It is not up to us, Sirius; it is up to Arthur and Molly."
"Please, Sirius!" Ginny pleaded "Professor Lupin…"
Sirius sniggered, and Remus glowered at him.
"Ooh, Professor Lupin's sulking." Sirius teased, nudging him. Crookshanks wriggled out of his grasp and ran over to Ginny, who was dangling a Butterbeer cork on a string for him to play with.
"I am not sulking!" Remus laughed, nudging him back. "Ginny, this isn't school; you don't have to call me Professor."
"Okay," Ginny said. They heard footsteps outside, and Fred hissed
"Its mum, probably trying to check you aren't telling us anything."
"Well she has nothing to worry about." Remus insisted "Since we aren't going to tell you anything."
Eventually they could hear Mrs Weasley going back downstairs.
"You're boring, Moony." Sirius pouted, poking Remus.
"Ow! Act your age, Padfoot!" Remus protested. Fred sat up straight.
"Moony…?" he asked in wonder
"Padfoot…?" George gasped. They stared from Remus to Sirius.
"You're not…"
"They aren't…"
Sirius and Remus exchanged confused looks.
"Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs!" Fred said.
"You wrote the Marauders Map!" George said excitedly
"You're our heroes!" they finished together. Sirius laughed.
"So Prongs…"
"Harry's dad."
"And Wormtail?"
"He… uh… left the group." Remus said.
"Whoah…!" the twins sighed.
"Hear that, Remus?" Sirius grinned "We're famous!"
"For the wrong reasons!" Remus said playfully, pushing Sirius over.
"Oh, come on Remus, you enjoyed it! Remember when we dyed Snape's hair pink…"
The corners of Remus' mouth twitched.
"And when we spiked all the teachers' pumpkin juice with Firewhisky…."
Fred and George laughed with delight, and Remus struggled to keep a straight face.
"You're just a little trouble maker at heart, aren't you, Remus?" Sirius teased.
Remus smiled unwillingly, giving Sirius a light-hearted punch on the shoulder. Sirius groaned, pretending to keel over onto the bed. Everybody laughed. Hermione gave Sirius an odd look, then shook her head and joined in.
"Lunch's ready!" Mrs Weasley called from outside the door. They followed her downstairs, and tucked into the chicken and vegetable pie she had made.
"More potatoes?" Molly offered. Sirius scooped up a few, dumping them on his plate. He met Remus' eyes and smiled. Hermione was watching them both like an eagle, eyes narrowed slightly. Feeling uneasy, Sirius bolted down the rest of his food and left the table.
That afternoon they worked on the bathroom. Mrs Weasley had set each of them to work on a specific part. Sirius and Remus had got the bath. Remus wiped his forehead, grunting with the effort of scrubbing mould off the taps. Sirius moaned, heat crawling over his skin at the sight of sweat trickling down Remus' face. Luckily it was quickly doused by one of the taps bursting, spraying water over both of them. Sirius swore, grabbing his wand and sealing the metal. He looked at Remus, whose clothes were sticking to his skin, his hair plastered to his face.
"You're all wet." he giggled. Remus grinned
"So are you," he told him, wiping a bead of water off Sirius' nose. Sirius smiled, trying to stop his eyes drifting down to Remus' trousers.
Molly stood over them, tapping her foot.
"When you two have stopped behaving like infants, maybe you'd like to get on with the cleaning?" she asked bossily.
"Yes Sir!" Sirius said, saluting. Remus laughed. Sirius shook his head like a dog, spraying Remus with water.
"What's that drying spell?" he muttered, trying to remember. Remus shrugged
"Maybe we should just get changed."
He stood up but slipped in a puddle of water and fell on top of Sirius. Fred and George laughed uncontrollably.
"Sorry, Sirius!" Remus muttered awkwardly.
"No problem." Sirius groaned, his hair slicked over his eyes.
"Here." Remus murmured, pushing it over his forehead. His hand drifted downwards, tracing Sirius' collarbone with one finger. Then he seemed to realise that they were being watched by six people, five of which were still in school, and the other of which was a bossy totalitarian. He got unsteadily to his feet, pulling Sirius with him.
"We're going to get changed." Sirius informed Mrs Weasley, who sighed loudly as if they had planned this.
Fred and George gave them both a thumbs-up behind their mother's back, and grinned. Sirius collapsed in the corridor outside the bathroom, giggling uncontrollably.
"What's so funny?" Remus demanded, standing over him.
"Remus…."
"What?"
"Remus."
"What??"
"Remus!"
"What?!"
"Nothing." Sirius said, choking with laughter.
"You weirdo." Remus sighed. "Come on; better get changed before Molly's head explodes."
They staggered to their respective rooms, dripping water all over the corridor. A few minutes later, Sirius came out, his hair still damp, but wearing warm, dry clothes.
"You ready, Remus?" he asked, knocking on the werewolf's door.
"Nearly!"
When Remus finally emerged, his brown hair towelled dry, wearing a white shirt and black pants, Sirius was sitting on the floor, idly fiddling with a rip in the carpet.
"There you are, you take longer than a girl, Remus." he smiled. Remus' eyes travelled down Sirius' legs which were encased in black leather. Sirius felt himself going red as he stood up and followed Remus back to the bathroom.
"The Controller awaits." he sighed.