Disclaimer; I do not own anything, just the plot and any OCs.

Warnings: A bit of smut.

A/N: Sorry this has taken so long. Happy late Valentine's Day! I hope you're all well. Enjoy this chapter. :)

Epilogue

The light streaming through the window is blinding; curse the almighty, rising sun. It's about six or so in the morning.

'Are you awake?' breathes Remus, lying on top of his boyfriend in a position that is fast becoming uncomfortable. Sirius's bare skin is burning up and it's scorching to be pressed naked against.

'No,' grunts Sirius somewhere from above him. 'And neither are you.'

'Come on,' Remus replies, kissing his boyfriend's chin and then un-sticking himself from Sirius. 'I've got to be at Hogwarts in two hours, and you're coming with me.'

This day has been coming for a two weeks now. You're probably wondering how long it has been since that … that day - it has been five years. Five of the hardest, and in hindsight perhaps most rewarding years of Remus Lupin's life.

Remus enrolled into University five years ago to start a History degree in the much-esteemed University College London. Lily gave birth to a beautiful baby called Harry, and has since then had one more child; a gorgeous little girl called Katy. James has the pleasure of training the most prestigious boys' football club for under 15s in the whole of London. His salary keeps his family very comfortable.

As for Sirius...

That Night was a big wake up call, most certainly for the one person who had the power to do something - himself. He went to Azkaban's Extensive Rehabilitation Centre for thirteen weeks, three painful and lonely months. Yes, Remus got to stay for a night or two a week, though for the price they were paying that definitely wasn't enough. But the point is-

He's free now. He's been clean for five years and has never looked back. That's a lie of course, he always looks back. His blind eyes searching for that small, missing thing in his life. But as always, Sirius remembers what he has and looks forward to the future. With Remus, James, Lily and his godchildren.

The sheets are ripped off his body when Remus returns into the room, some trousers hanging low on his hips and a pout on his delicious lips. Whining softly and curling into a ball, Sirius moans, 'It's too early!'

Remus replies with, 'I don't care. Get in the shower. If you're good, I'll get in with you.'

The fuss about today is because a few weeks ago, the Headmaster, Professor Dumbledore, claimed that drugs had been used on the school premise. This is of course the third time in the space of two months that this has happened. Considering this is an expensive, infamous and very popular boarding school, well of course the professors were ashamed.

The relationship Dumbledore and Remus share is strange; the old man knows of his past, what he's done to rid himself of such a past and of course, Remus's struggle to build a future for himself. Dumbledore also knows quite a good deal about Remus's boyfriend. Which is strange. Very strange. Until of course, Sirius reluctantly told Remus that Hogwarts was his old school before his brother died and things turned to hell.

Remus remembers sitting in the Staff Lounge, drinking some tea and eating a chocolate muffin whilst he spoke to the leading Maths teacher, Professor McGonagall. Then of course, in comes Dumbledore, followed by Professor Slughorn. They're both a little red in the face.

'If you could all quieten down for a moment please, I have an announcement to make. It won't be long.' Dumbledore calls, his piercing blue eyes twinkle and his white beard dances with each word he utters. Everyone puts down or stops whatever it is they're doing and give all their attention to the powerful, intelligent man before them.

'Mr Slughorn found two students in his House who were using drugs on the school premise.'

'What drugs?' asks McGonagall.

Dumbledore sighs and says in a very soft voice, 'It was white powder. We're not completely sure yet. It might be-'

'Dear God, Albus. Who was it?' one of the professors shout.

He shakes his head. 'Who it was isn't what's most relevant right now. I need your opinion as to what I should do. They have been temporarily suspended. But I want to know what you all think I should do.'

'Well,' chirps a crackpot textiles teacher, Professor Trelawney. No one really pays attention to her, but for once everyone is staring at her, entranced to hear what she will say next.

'Yes, Sybill,' says Dumbledore slowly, almost like he knows he's going to regret asking her to elaborate shortly.

'You can't get them to stop completely if they choose to meddle in drugs.' Her dreamy voice says, 'But you can educate them. I'm sure there are people out there who would come in for a bit of money to deter kids from getting mixed up in drugs.'

Everyone turns to her, shock on their faces. Perhaps for the first time in her whole life, Sybill made sense.

'That's actually a good idea,' Slughorn replies, nodding his fat little head hard.

Long story short, Dumbledore asked later on if anyone had any suggestions and of course, Remus would put his hand up and explain that his boyfriend was a recovering heroin addict and would gladly talk to the students.

When Remus told Sirius what he was going to have to do as a favour for the brilliant head Remus had only just been giving him moments before revealing the truth, well … Sirius didn't take it very well.

'I don't want to tell a bunch of kids about the hardest few years of my life, thank you.' Sirius replies tersely. He's still laying down with his trousers down his thighs and Remus's head nestled under his chin.

'Sirius, it's been five years.'

'Five very personal years Remus. I can't tell them about the months and months of pain I went through in ... in a few minutes. My past deserves a lot more recognition than that baby.'

Remus bites him hard on his collarbone and Sirius grunts and elbows him. 'Don't call me baby, I've told you before-'

Again, a quick skip because this part is just boring cute, lovey-dovey stuff. In the end of course (thanks to a few more blow jobs, incorrigible as Remus can sometimes be) Sirius complies and promises to go into Hogwarts and talk to the kids for a while.

Which all leads to this moment: the day that Sirius has to open up to a bunch of kids. For their own good. What about his own good?

'I can't believe I fucking have to do this,' Sirius says tiredly. 'It's so early and I'm exhausted.'

'Your fault,' Remus says with his mouth full of chocolate truffles. He has chocolate smeared on the corner of his mouth and is grinning at his boyfriend like he knows something Sirius doesn't. But Sirius is too busy staring at the smudged chocolate longingly to even care if Remus is plotting something.

He leans forward to kiss the chocolate away but Remus leans back. 'Nope, no kissing. Get in the shower, we need to be gone in an hour.'

'An hour is more than enough time for a quick romp,' he places his hands on either side of Remus's hips and leans forward. 'I'll also let you drive the bike.'

'I don't want to drive your god-forsaken bike, thanks.'

It's slight exaggeration to say that they had the steamiest sex they've ever had. It's rushed, Sirius accidentally came all over Remus's face without warning when they 69-ed each other, and Remus choked the former with his own bucket-full of come. But they stayed true to their word and within half an hour, were showered and changed.

The flat they live in is very very nice. It's enormous for starters, courtesy of Sirius's sacks full of money. But the most important thing about the flat is how far away it is from where they used to work. On the other side of London.

Sirius stares at his reflection and ponders. He's come far. Five years and he's built a ruddy good life for himself; a house, they have a stable income, and he has a man who he loves. They don't say it to each other often; Sirius can count the amount of times he's told Remus he loves him on one hand.

He said it first of course whereas it took Remus a number of months to say it back. It was during rehab, when Sirius was going out of his mind and Remus visited him, pleasured him and stayed the night.

Arms come around him and a nose begins to nuzzle his neck. 'You look fine, your hair looks fine, let's go.'

Sirius nods slowly. He stares at their reflections and a warmth settles around him. He can't imagine life without Remus.

'You owe me,' he replies, leaning into those strong arms and looking into his boyfriend's eyes.

'You fucking owe me, coming on my face like that. You know I don't mind as long as we're staying at home. Not when I'm off to fucking teach my students. Imagine if one of them pointed at me and said I had a bit of come left on my face or in my hair? I'd get sacked straight away I reckon-'

Sirius kisses him to silence him, 'That would never happen,' and then takes the keys from the cabinet under the large mirror and cocks his head to the door. 'Come on then.'

On the bike, Sirius hates it when Remus is in one of those playful moves because despite being in his mid-twenties, and working in a Public School, one of the most infamous, and therefore having to be mature and orderly, he has a cunning, cheeky streak a mile wide.

He thrusts against Sirius's arse and when that doesn't work, starts licking and nibbling on his neck and jaw because of course, they're too cool to wear helmets.

'You never told me how the interview went yesterday.' Remus says whilst tracing the curve of Sirius's clear cut jaw with his tongue.

'You never gave me the chance to. You pounced on me when you got home, fucked me all night and then fell asleep before we even had a conversation.' Sirius says in a strained voice, like he's struggling to focus on Remus and driving.

'We can't be overly romantic today. I don't want to involve my personal life with my work life.'

'Are you ashamed of me? Scared that-'

When Sirius turns to face him, Remus silences him with a quick kiss; they've slowed down now. 'I could never be ashamed of you silly. I can however, be really worried about you.'

Sirius turns a corner and stops when he meets traffic. The motorbike can usually weave between cars but he'd prefer to just settle into Remus's arms and enjoy the adoring kisses being layered onto his face.

A car beside them beeps and Sirius looks around to see a bunch of girls giving him and his boyfriend the thumbs up. Tiredly looking away, Sirius kisses Remus once before taking off. Arms wind around him whilst he weaves through the cars until he is at the red light itself.

It takes a further fifteen minutes before Remus recognises where they are. Apart from his first day and on his birthday earlier that year, for six months now he's been taking the train to Hogwarts, obedient as ever. Sirius is too lazy to get out of bed and drive him to work and Remus is still scared shitless of driving the bike all alone. Besides, that would leave Sirius with no means of travel for part of the day.

'So how did the job interview go?' Remus asks again, a little exasperatedly now.

'Obviously I didn't get the job Remus-'

'Why?'

'I don't want a job. I like the life we have.'

'What? Living off the money your late Uncle left to you?'

Alphard died two years ago, you see. It's sad, and Sirius thinks of him all the time, but on the plus side, Alphard left three quarters of a million pounds to his nephew.

Sirius glares at his boyfriend as he drives around and stops before the almighty gate. He leans forward and presses Remus's swipe card to the little digital box on the side. The gorgeous, authoritarian gates open with a groan and he drives in as soon as the gap is big enough.

'No. That's not what I mean, though it certainly helps. What I'm talking about is how I like living with you, waiting at home for you to come everyday, painting in my free time and writing sappy poetry if I run out of paint. I like this quiet life because life for me has never been quiet before now.' He looks around quickly and then kisses Remus lovingly.

'Yeah, but I don't like you being alone when I'm working.'

'You know I'm not alone. I always have Katie and Harry, Lily and James and you bab-'

'Don't call me baby. I hate it. I hate it!'

They park the bike and get off, glad that no students have seen them. It's not that Remus is ashamed of Sirius. He is telling the truth when he says that. It's just, he doesn't want to mix personal and work life. That happened before and it didn't end fantastically for either of them.

Moreover, he's anxious as to what his students will think of him if they find out he's gay. They probably won't care but Remus has always been self-conscious about his sexuality thanks to the issues his foster family had with it. He strokes Sirius's hair, right about the eyebrow piercing he recently got, and then kisses his forehead.

'Don't speak until I introduce you.' His voice has retained its bossy, brusque nature - the sort of tone that makes Sirius hard like rock.

'Yes sir.'

'And don't go 'round flirting with students.'

'I would never!' Sirius protests but when Remus raises an eyebrow his shoulders slump. 'Fine. But I wouldn't do it at your work place.'

'Come on,' Remus says and they walk together towards the Main Office. There's space between them and their hands aren't touching anymore.

'Hi Poppy,' he calls out upon entering. 'How're you?'

'I'm fine Remus darling. Is this the man you've brought in for the talk?'

The blond man nods and turns to look at his boyfriend. 'Yes. His name is Sirius Black.'

'Lovely to meet you ma'am.' Sirius replies, taking her hand and kissing it.

Remus elbows him inconspicuously and then smiles at Poppy. 'I'll see you later. We're in a bit of a rush.'

'It's enormous in here.' Sirius says, looking around in mock-wonder.

'Oh shut up, you fucking went here-'

'Shhhh, you can't say that out loud.' Laughs Sirius. 'So where's your office, Professor?' he shakes his pierced eyebrow in what is supposed to be an attractive flaunty way but only succeeds in being cute and dorky.

'Down this corridor.'

Sirius winks flirtatiously at him. 'Wanna fuck me on your desk, Professor? Bet you've had fantasies of that.'

Remus gulps and looks around. 'I have.'

When he unlocks his office, after ushering an excited Sirius inside, and slamming the door, Remus turns his lustful glare to his boyfriend. They have fifteen minutes until lessons start. Maybe they can make this work...

Remus walks towards Sirius, who backs away until his arse hits the edge of the desk. The former lifts the dark-haired man and sits him on the desk before situating himself between Sirius's legs.

They start making out and it turns pretty steamy quite quickly. The heels of Sirius's feet come up to dig into the fleshy globes of Remus's arse. He pants as those godforsaken lips trail down his throat and suck particularly hard at the tattoo on Sirius's neck.

'Have you really had fantasies of fucking me on this desk,' the silver-eyed man whispers before moaning low in his throat. 'Right where I'm sitting now … between my legs … thrusting against me...'

'Yes, yes, yes!' Remus hisses, grabbing at his boyfriend's hair harshly and pulling his head back so his throat is all the more revealed.

'Well, you topped all last night so it's my fucking turn-'

The door opens and they hear a startled gasp. Remus and Sirius look up and their heads bang together painfully.

'Oh fuck,' Sirius moans, massaging his pierced eyebrow and swearing under his breath.

'Dorcas!' shouts Remus. 'Lovely to see you!'

'S-sorry sir,' she murmurs, her pretty face bright pink and currently being veiled by long dark hair. 'I thought t-that y-you wouldn't b-be busy.'

'Busy is one way of putting it,' Sirius interjects lightly, as he tightens the hand in his boyfriend's hair.

'Sirius!' Remus cries, pushing himself away from his nightmare of a boyfriend and running a hand over his face. 'No, I'm sorry Miss Meadows. I shouldn't have-'

'I'll come back later sir.' She looks so awkward, it's endearing. Her eyes are still looking at every other surface save the two flushed men in the centre of the room. Without another word, she hurries out of the office.

'Thanks Sirius. Thanks a lot for scaring her off.'

'Me? Scaring her off? I think the fact that she saw us going at it like a bunch of-'

'Shut up!'

Sirius laughs and unsuccessfully dodges the punch that lands on his shoulder. The bell goes off and Remus leans forward to quickly kiss Sirius on the lips. 'We have a special hour long assembly today, so I'll see you at eleven o'clock.'

'What the fuck Remus? You never told me I'd have to wait! What am I going to be doing for the next two and a half hours?'

Remus shrugs. 'There's a great library on the third floor, and some shops nearby if you get hungry and bored. Stay away from the pub though. I won't have you embarrassing me.' He traces the tattoos on Sirius's neck and collarbone protruding from beneath his shirt and kisses him very quickly after sparing a glance at the door.

'Well where shall I meet you?'

'Meet me at five to eleven here. I'll see you soon.'

'Remus.'

'I'll see you soon.' A parting kiss and then Remus leaves the office.

'Bye.' Sirius says to the empty room.

xo

For two hours, he is utterly and completely bored. He notices when he's up in the library that some girls are staring at him. Finally, one of them gets up and walks towards him. Sirius places the book he is reading down and devotes all his attention to the pudgy, cute girl coming up to him.

'Are you Professor Lupin's boyfriend?' she asks without even saying hello.

'Er, who are you?'

'Well, are you going to answer my question?'

'Who the hell are you?'

She turns around and then shouts to her friends, 'It's him!' Turning back to face him, the girl says in a quiet voice, 'I'm really upset to find out that Professor Lupin bats for the other team. He's just so dreamy and gorgeous. But if he has a boyfriend who looks like you well, I'm not so adverse to the idea anymore.'

'Wait, what?'

'Don't you know? Like, every girl in this school is fucking in love with Professor Lupin.' The pretty, chubby girl points at a table not very far away. Three girls sit around it. 'You see that group over there? That girl with the red hair ... whore … anyway, she started an I Love Professor Lupin fan club. It has over thirty members, very popular it is.'

Sirius's eyes glow and he doesn't know why, but he feels very jealous. He and Remus being who they are, they hate labelling themselves and prefer to think that regardless of gender, they're attracted to anyone. But that being said, Sirius still cannot help but feel a little intimidated to know that a group of girls that spend a lot of time with his boyfriend have formed a fan club in honour of him.

'A fan club, eh?'

'Yeah, a fan club. And it's not fair, because they sabotage any non-member attempts to speak to Lupin outside the classroom. How can one of the girls ask him last week for his number?'

'What?' Sirius's voice is steadily getting louder. He's not amused in the slightest.

The girl nods eagerly. 'Yeah, and on top of that I've seen that girl before,' she points with a vague flourish at the fan club table once more, 'bending over when he's right behind her, or where he can see those great big fake boobs of hers. God...'

Sirius bites his lip and looks at the clock. 'Alright, I have to dash.'

'One quick question Mr...'

'Black.' Sirius says shortly.

'Erm … how long have you and Professor Lupin been going out?'

'Who's to say we're going out-'

'How long?' she's a little impatient now.

His eyes flicker to the clock now. Turning back to the girl, with cute chubby cheeks and stunning dark eyes, he feels his resolve melt away. 'Five years.' Sirius says softly.

'Five years?' she sounds at awe. 'That's amazing. Good luck Mr Black.'

He smiles at her and responds with, 'I don't need luck. I'm the luckiest man on earth.' Without another word, he leaves the library. He's supposed to meet Remus in twenty minutes, but he's so fucking bored that the pleasure of his company is the least Remus can do to pay him back. What with all the flirting with minors, and flaunting his beauty in front of those most certainly not worthy of seeing such.

He knocks on Remus's office but it's empty. However, it's open. He goes in and decides that with a bit of time to kill, he might as well snoop around for a bit. On the wall is a large, colour-coded timetable. It has the classroom numbers on it, which is usually History 4 but does change on Mondays. There are also a ridiculous amount of essays on his desk; no wonder he's always doing so much work at home. It gives Sirius a headache sometimes. They don't really have the chance to be so much of a couple anymore. Work does consume a lot of Remus's life.

But at least on weekends, and Wednesdays because he has free periods all day and never turns up, Sirius has him.

Has him.

Owns him.

His eyes go to the cabinets of the desk. He opens the top one and inside lies a few pens, paper and a planner. In the second one, Sirius's eyes crinkle up and he grins.

A picture of them when they got their matching tattoos at twenty two, their tongues stuck out and Sirius's tracing the sharp edge of Remus's jaw whilst somehow still managing to grin at the camera. He clutches the picture and berates himself; how can he even think that Remus would flirt with these girls or lead them on. He's being silly. He knows that sometimes he lets his insecurities get away with him. But regardless, Remus is his. He's Remus's too, right. No stupid bint will ever take that away from him too.

He puts the picture back and leaves the office.

xo

It takes Sirius a lifetime to find History 4 because he hasn't visited this school in so long. However when he does, he realises why Remus is so enthralled with this school. His classroom is pretty cool and looks a lot different to the other, older History classes. It has portraits and pictures hung up everywhere, of famous revolutionary men from figures like Henry VIII and Guy Fawkes to Malcolm X and Fidel Castro.

He knocks on the door because people have noticed him staring through the window.

'Hello Professor Lupin,' he drawls when he enters the room. The holes Remus is staring into his face make his hollow dimples stand out. 'Sorry to bother you sir. But I thought I'd just come here now because our meeting's in five minutes anyway.'

'That's fine, we were just packing up.' His voice is a little hard.

Sirius turns to face the class. The majority of them are staring at him; lustfully, distastefully in some cases, but most of all - curiously. They want to know who he is, nosy little bastards. He runs a hand through his hair and appraises the sixteen year old kids. They turn away from him when Remus calls for their attention.

'The homework is to complete the essays you have started today. That doesn't mean...'

Sirius licks his lips. Remus is so hot when he's all self-confident and commanding. He feels a twitch down below and bites his tongue hard. He can't get a stiffy whilst listening to his boyfriend tell a bunch of kids what not to do for their homework.

The bell goes and they are dismissed. Some stare at him whilst leaving the class and he grins at them cockily, because that's what he does best. Being cocky. Even if it is a front half the time.

The door closes behind the last student and Remus growls. 'You can't do that Sirius-'

'It's too late, that girl who walked in on us shagging-'

'Kissing-'

'Would've been shagging if she interrupted ten minutes after-'

'No it-'

Sirius approaches him and covers his mouth with his hand. 'Shh. Anyway, that girl told everyone I'm your boyfriend. So your homosexual secret is blown.'

'I love you Sirius. But you're such an idiot sometimes. Really. What happened?'

He shrugs. 'Some girl came up to me in the library and started interrogating me. It was a bit nerve-wracking because I wasn't sure what I should say. But yeah, all the kids know you're a fag. You shouldn't really even care. They seemed pretty happy, though I think it's just because, for them at least, as long as none of their classmates have you then they've won.'

He touches Remus's hand and quickly kisses him before the man pushes him away. A second bell goes and the blond man says under his breath, 'We should head down to the assembly. It's for Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Year so you better not fuck around.' His hand is sharp when it swoops down to slap Sirius's arse. 'Come on.'

xo

'Hello. I'm Sirius Black, a friend of Professor Lupin's.' There's a loud applause and some wolf-whistling. He smiles softly. 'Thank you. I'm here today to talk to you a bit about myself. I'm from Westminster and grew up as a little posh, rich boy. My parents spoon fed me, and when they didn't then my friends would. I had pretty much everything a teenage boy could want; girls and boys at my side and sometimes in my bed too, alcohol at my dispense and a little bit of weed to boot...'

xo

Remus and Sirius stare at the huge sign declaring the building they stand before as Azkaban's Extensive Rehabilitation Centre. His eyes were puffy and red, and he's pretty much begging Remus. But he knows it's for the best, Remus justifies in his head.

'It's for the best,' his eyes water, 'I promise.'

'But you won't be here with me,' Sirius's voice is a moan, unlike the ones uttered in the throes of passion.

'I can't be with you Sirius. You need some time alone. To discover who you are ... what it is you're meant to do with your life...'

Watery, silver eyes meet those of a brilliant golden brown. 'Will you be waiting for me? Three months is a long time Remus. I don't expect you to wait-'

'I don't need to wait Sirius. I'm paying for visitation rights. I'll be here for you and I'll wait for you because I...'

'Me too.'

xo

'… biggest mistake of my life. My brother was dead, I was in a part of London that I didn't recognise and worst of all, I had this … this drug in my hand. I think the biggest mistake of my life is ever trying narcotic substances in the first place. It took the pain away for a bit and I'm not going to sit here and lie to you because then you'll probably trust my words less. It was good. Actually, it was amazing. Like nothing I had ever-' his voice breaks and he looks to Remus, who is watching him in a way he has never watched Sirius before, '-ever tried.' Sirius looks at the teenagers. The youngest of the group are fifteen and the eldest are eighteen. Yes those three years are crucial years, and the transition from childhood into adulthood.

They all watch him, enraptured and completely captured by each word he breathes.

'You know, I'm not sure if I'm allowed to say this, but there's no point of me being here if I can't tell you what I think and feel.' His eyes go to Remus's again, like he's looking for a source of love and light and friendship, and Remus is that source for him. 'But heroin was good. It felt good and most importantly, with it, I felt good.' Then he looks back at the children, ripping his eyes away from Remus's stunning ones, 'You know what felt bad though?'

A few kids put their hands up, and he picks a cute, older girl. Really cute.

Stop it Sirius, you pervert!

'Is it being without the heroin?' she sounded very shy.

Smiling at her bitterly, he nods. 'Yeah. That part kind of sucked. All the withdrawals. It also got me onto other drugs the same way other drugs irrevocably turned me to heroin. I started doing cocaine if I couldn't find heroin. But that didn't stop me from wanting heroin. That only made me yearn for it harder.' He looks down at his hands. 'Try to understand that my life was ruined. Absolutely ruined. My friends gave me an ultimatum, I fought my best friend, basically a brother to me and wasn't on speaking terms to him at that time, My parents cut me off and I didn't have a job. So how else could I feed my addiction?'

'Regardless of what drug it is, bare in mind that all of them,' he wants to laugh because he barely counts weed as a drug, even after all these years, but of course he can't tell the kids that, 'turn into someone you never were to begin with. They make you desperate. You will do anything to get what you want. More often than not, money is what you need. So you start shoplifting, stealing necklaces off old women, selling everything you've managed to get.'

He scoffs. 'Well, that's what my friends did. But me? I turned to porn.' There's a collective gasp and he can't find the strength to look up and face these people who know more about him than some of his oldest friends.

'I went into a rehab centre, turned away from heroin for a bit, but that didn't stop me dabbling with other drugs. I was forced away from heroin but that didn't mean I was forced away from other narcotic substances...'

xo

Remus strokes Sirius's face. It's time for Sirius to come home. His time at rehab has finished. He is a free man. Free from the influence of heroin and free from the constraints it had on him.

He's dressed very nicely in freshly laundered clothes; the nurse has always taken good care of him. His hair is neatly trimmed and he's smoothly shaven.

Remus grins at him. His boyfriend looks beautiful, and strangely shy. When they do see each other every week or so, it's for a passionate night. Not for an intimate day.

Remus doesn't get the chance to have love conversations with Sirius, nor does he have the opportunity to admire his beautiful face in the gorgeous sunlight. But now it's strangely real - their separation has been all the more prominent and of course, Sirius has completely changed.

He is going to leave Azkaban without the physical ache for more.

'Hey,' Remus says softly. 'How're you?'

Sirius looks at him and grins but it's not all that honest. Regardless, when he says the two words that send hope and pride through Remus, he knows that with time Sirius's grins will get more real. And he'll be more honest.

'I'm free.' He says again. 'I'm free.'

xo

Sirius wipes his nose and stares at the people around him. He strokes the tattoo of Remus's initials on his wrist and stares warily at the children ahead.

'It's been five years and I'm clean. I'd be lying if I said that I didn't miss drugs. But I'll let you in on a secret.'

His eyes meet Remus's and he grins cheekily. 'I found something a little better.'

'Only a little better?' Remus finds himself saying, and if he's honest he finds himself not caring at all what people think or say. A lot of the staff know he's a fag, and who cares about students? Times have changed and it's alright for him to be gay and have a long-time boyfriend.

'Fine. A lot better.'

There are collective 'ah's from the girls and throat-clearing noises from the boys who have also been reduced to an emotional state that they may well not be used to. It's bought about the feeling of sympathy, fear and pain within each listener.

'Now, I'm not completely sure what I'm here to tell you if I'm honest. Okay, I was supposed to tell you about my drugged up adolescence and how you shouldn't do it because nothing good comes from it. And that's mostly right, nothing good ever comes from mixing with drugs. Maybe sometimes artists smoke a little bit of weed and draw the most beautiful paintings, and sometimes writers get stoned before writing the most excellent story they have ever written. But nothing good comes from it.'

He looks to Remus. 'Except maybe bringing you closer together with people you'd have otherwise never spoken to.'

A hand goes up and he looks at the boy before nodding.

'Do you think you would be here if you hadn't gone to rehab?'

Sirius shakes his head. 'Definitely not. For one, I'd probably be single. I'd also probably still be doing porn. I might not even be alive.' The boy shivers.

Someone else raises their hand and Sirius smiles whilst waving at them in response. 'How're you now?'

He stares at the boy, maybe seventeen or so, with very observant eyes and a stunning smile. 'W-what?'

'How're you now, after everything that has happened.' The young man's ears are tinged with pink. Sirius finds it endearing.

He hesitates, not quite sure how to answer the question. Opening his mouth and thinking hard, Sirius says, 'I'm okay.'

'Are you happy?'

'I am you know. I really am.'

The questions ended there, because Sirius guesses that they realised he needs some time now. He's just relived his worst nightmare - he needs time to go off and think. There's a staggering round of applause for him; in addition to this, they stand up too and he blushes bright red. Remus approaches him and of course nothing romantic happens, they have all night. Instead, he claps Sirius's shoulder and joins the rest of the school in applauding.

'Well done Sirius,' his boyfriend whispers in his ear three hours later when the dark-haired man is buried inside him. 'Well done.'

A/N: I think one more chapter, filled with smut of course, and then that's it. Thanks for reading. Please review; tell me what you think!