Sorry, I wrote this after three ciders. Hopefully it's not too bad :P


Criminals
Skating To Freedom

Sirius flew and flew. Where he was flying to, nobody knew. The cold wind against his cheeks in the middle of the night was welcoming. Flying was difficult when you'd just been beaten to almost-death by your parents. He was sure he'd broken his ribs. It hurt to breath.

It finally became apparent after about half an hour of pointless flying that the only place he could go was Remus's. James wasn't talking to him, and he was unsure of what Peter's reaction was to him being gay. Remus it was.

He made his way to Remus's house. When he finally arrived some time after four in the morning, he was knackered. All the lights were off in Remus's house and he desperately didn't want to wake him or his family up.

He headed round to the back garden and looked up at Remus's window. He was glad to see that it was open. Leaving his things in the back garden, he scaled the walls of Remus's house. It was extremely difficult given his physical state, but after a lot of trying he managed to climb into his friend's window and land on the floor successfully without waking him.

He tiptoed over to Remus's bed and slipped under the covers, fully clothed and wearing his shoes. He was sure Remus wouldn't mind.

He let himself drift into sleep, trying to forget the pain that had been inflicted on him earlier.


"Sirius?"

"Ugggghhhhh"

"Sirius, what are you doing here?"

"L'me alone..."

"Sirius?"

It finally registered in Sirius's mind that it was Remus's voice that was speaking, and then like a tidal wave, it all came back to him. The arguments, the revelations of his sexuality, his leaving, and his climbing of the walls of the Lupin house.

He sat up wearily, clutching at his painful ribs and looking at Remus.

"Can I stay with you for half term?" Sirius asked.

Remus shook his head and laughed. "Do I really have much of a choice?"

Sirius pouted. "Not really."

"Well," Remus said. "I suppose I must let you."

"Thanks, man."

"Sirius, what happened? You look awful."

"Thanks Rem," Sirius croaked. "I left."

"Well, I gathered that much," Remus rolled his eyes.

"My cousin sent my parents an owl saying she saw me and James kissing," Sirius said.

"James and I," Remus corrected. Sirius threw a sock at him.

"Wow, thanks."

"I don't even fancy James, and I was tortured for five hours for kissing him. Fucking idiots."

"Wait , you were tortured for five hours?" Remus asked with wide eyes. "Please tell me you're kidding."

"Cruciatus curse," Sirius said. "A few kicks and a few punches in between."

Remus looked as though he wasn't sure what to do. He settled for lunging forwards and pulling Sirius into a tight embrace.

"I'm so sorry, Sirius."

"It's okay. Thank you."

They pulled apart and Sirius smiled. "You're awesome. You know that right?"

"Not really," Remus said. "Please talk to me if you need someone. That's a terrible thing they did."

Sirius smiled at him. "I will. So what are your plans for today?"

"I'm meeting up with Lily, want to come with me?"

"Sure," Sirius said with a shrug.


They met up with Lily at one o'clock outside Remus's house. Obviously Lily had no idea that Sirius was invited as she looked disgusted when she saw him. All he could do was smirk at her.

"You invited Black?" Lily whispered to Remus, loud enough for Sirius to hear.

"Well, actually, I just got disowned from my family and I now live with Remus," Sirius said with a grin.

"You don't live with me," Remus said.

"Yeah, I do. For half term anyway."

"Well, I'm sorry to hear that," Lily said, looking away from Sirius. "I do hope that Potter isn't going to make a surprise appearance."

"Not after the kiss," Sirius said.

Lily pursed her lips. "Is he-"

"-No," Sirius finished. "I am. He hates me now anyway for what I did."

"Oh," Lily said. "I'm sorry, Sirius. You should know, I have nothing against you being gay. I just have some problems with you being... well, you in general."

"Was that a compliment?" Sirius asked with raised eyebrows.

"It's the best you'll ever get from me, so take it."

Sirius grinned. "Where are we going?"

"Well, Lily and I were going to go to the library to study," Remus said. With one look at Sirius's face, he sighed and rolled his eyes. "But let's do something different, Lily. Sirius isn't up to studying."

"Let's go to the Muggle cinema! Or go to the Muggle ice-rink!" Sirius said. "Let's do something Muggly since I'm free from my family."

Lily laughed. "Something Muggly?"

"YEAH!"

They ended up going to an ice-rink. Sirius discovered that he wasn't very good. He fell over ten times in ten minutes. His injuries only got worse. Sulking, he sat on the benches and watched Lily and Remus skate away like they were professionals.

They were so graceful on the ice. Their movements were so precise and natural-looking. They were both so in-sync.

What would James think?

He watched them more carefully now. The way Remus's hand grazed Lily's and they looks they threw each other. Just why were they meeting up with each other during half term anyway? They couldn't be... into each other? Could they?

Sirius knew this could be bad. He rejoined them on the ice, slipping over on the ice and falling into Lily's arms. He grinned up at her. "Hey."

"Gross," she replied, throwing him off of her.

"I'm gay, remember," Sirius said.

"Remus can have you, then," Lily said.

Next minute, Sirius was in Remus's arms. "I'm not having him either," Remus said, throwing him back.

"I feel so unwanted," Sirius said. "Poor me. Remus, will you come and talk to me for a minute?"

"Sure," Remus said. "I'll be back, Lily."

Remus took Sirius's arm and pulled him off of the ice with him. He folded his arms and raised his eyebrows.

"Well," Sirius said.

"Well?"

"You and Lily seem... cosy."

"And?" Remus said. "Am I not allowed other friends?"

"No, of course you are," Sirius said quickly. "It's just... James is in love with her."

"So?"

"So, tell me you don't have feelings for her," Sirius said.

Remus flushed and shook his head. "Never."

"I can tell, Remus. It's obvious."

Remus sighed. "Just because I'm not as open about my emotions as James is, it means he gets priority over girls?"

"So you do like her?" Sirius asked. He wasn't expecting Remus to admit to it so quickly.

"So what if I do?" Remus said in defense.

"James... you know he-"

"-He loves her," Remus said. "Yeah, I know."

"So?"

"So maybe I love her, too," Remus said, looking down at his hands. "What about me? She knows I'm a werewolf. She still likes me. She makes me feel special and she makes me feel happy. Why can't I get what Iwant?"

"I'm sorry," Sirius said. "I'm not taking any sides. But you know James would never forgive you."

"You know James will never forgive you either," Remus said. "He's one hundred percent straight, and you snogged him in front of the whole school."

"Let's not get off topic – you said on our first night that you'd help James and Lily get together."

"I only realised my feelings recently," Remus said. "Let's just, not talk about it, okay?"

"Fine," Sirius replied, and they went back to ice-skating.


It was Wednesday evening, and Sirius was sitting bored watching Remus study.

"Why do you always look so... studious when you study?"

Remus looked up and smiled. "Because I'm studying, maybe?"

"How do you study, anyway?" Sirius asked. "I've tried studying before but I just end up staring at the pages blankly and thinking about other things like how sexy someone's arse is as they walk past."

"A gentleman, as always," Remus replied dryly. "Who's this guy with the sexy arse?"

"I don't know. You kinda have one," Sirius said matter-of-factly. Remus flushed.

"Don't you worry, I don't fancy you, like, at all."

"Good."

"You just have a nice behind," Sirius shrugged.

"Nice to know," Remus said, looking awkward. "Can we change the topic?"

"How do you know when you fancy someone?" Sirius asked.

"Why?"

"I want to know, for when it happens." Sirius said.

Remus shrugged. "Well, I guess... you can't stop thinking of them. You can't stop thinking of what it would be like to hold them in your arms-"

"-Well," Sirius interrupted. "That's that. I really don't fancy anyone."

Remus rolled his eyes. "Always so stubborn. I'm sure there's someone."

"Nobody I can think of," Sirius replied. "But I'll keep you posted if I find him."

"Good," Remus grinned. "Now can I get back to studying?"

"Fine," Sirius said. He braced himself for a long, boring day, but at least he was away from home. He smiled.

He felt a sharp pang of guilt for Regulus when he thought of what their parents might be doing to him, but it vanished quickly when he realised that it wasn't his problem anymore.

He was free.