HARRY POTTER AND EVERYTHING RELATING TO THAT MAGICAL UNIVERSE BELONG TO JK ROWLING, WARNER BROS, BLOOMSBURY BOOKS ETC. AND I AM VERY LUCKY TO BE ALLOWED TO PLAY WITH IT ALL.

Seeing Eye Dog

By the time Sirius had got his mother's portrait back under wraps, and his temper back under control, he was alone. He sat down on the stairs, attacked by the dusty smell of old carpet. Stretching out his right arm he let the cold brick and plaster of the wall cool his wrist, calm his blood. He knew his boyhood nemesis was on the other side of that wall luxuriating in smugness. He would be trying to work out how best to damage Sirius with his new information. Bill would not figure in his calculations.

Sirius tried to think things through. What would be the worst thing Hooky-Drip-Nose could do? Tell Dumbledore? Bill's parents? Then what? That would depend on Bill's reaction. His worst fears would have been realised. Sirius would have to support him. He could comfort him. Then what?

Snape wouldn't tell everybody all in one go. He liked holding other people's secrets too much. He loved to have leverage and make complicated plans. How could this secret destroy Sirius? That would be what Snivellus was working on, working the nasty, greasy cogs of his mind on. The worst thing he could do to Sirius would be to stop him from seeing Bill. Pathetic but true.

He'd always been a sneaky little worm. At school there was never a direct attack, it would be something snide and underhand. Sirius hated the power shift that had happened since then. As teenagers the Marauders had been cool and confidant; the under-developed, friendless Slytherin had been easy meat. Sirius had been brought up to kick House-Elves to relieve tension. Snotty Sev had been easy to despise and made a neat substitute.

It had been no surprise that he'd become a Death Eater. But to escape Azkaban and find that Dumbledore expected them to work together, that had been a nasty shock. For both of them presumably.

Sirius lay back and rested his head on the musty wool of the carpet. He stared at the water-stained ceiling. When had that happened? It was a long way up, through three floors, outside his own bedroom. Where he and Bill had made each other happy. Was that going to happen again?

If Shampooless did leak their secret, if Bill's girlfriend found out what her beloved had been up to and finished with him, then … Ah! Would she? That would be good. Having been found out, would Bill come clean? Could he and Sirius be openly in love? Happily ever after?

Or would it all be over? Would Bill walk away? Why would he? With nothing left to lose?

Of course the Slipperus probably thought that Sirius was desperate to have the affair kept secret. He couldn't know that, actually, it might suit him very nicely to have things out in the open. The worst thing actually, would be for Sevvy-baby to quietly hold onto his knowledge and wait for a devastating opportunity to use it. They would both know that he knew, the three of them watching each other. They would be forced to side with him in any Order politics. It was a very good thing that Snape had no way of reading Sirius' thoughts.

There was a sound on the stone stairs up from the kitchen. Sirius hadn't meant to stay there, he should have gone back upstairs instead of lying around, lost in his thoughts. He stood up just as Tonks emerged into the hallway.

"Wotcher Cuz!" she called up.

Sirius put his finger to his lips and indicated the curtains beside him.

"How you doing then?" Tonks whispered.

He shrugged. With her face angled so that only he could see it, she transformed her features into a caricature of Snape's greasy, sombre, hook-nosed features. Sirius laughed, then clapped his hand to his mouth and jumped away from the portrait. Shacklebolt and Mad-Eye came up the steps behind her. Shacklebolt and Tonks left together but Mad-Eye fiddled round by the door for a moment.

"What are you up to, Alastor?" came the chillingly unmistakeable sneer of the man Sirius hated.

"Checking the wards," Moody replied, "can't be too careful!"

For some reason, Snape then came up to Sirius, and, while the oil-ball said, "We'll leave you to your Hippogryph, then, Black", Sirius found himself running through his recent thought processes and feeling very grateful that the other man could not hear them. Looking Sirius straight in the face, Snape smirked and then swished round and walked out of the front door.

Sirius stared after him until Moody snapped at him, "No wandering! You stay here! Got it? You'd be far too useful to them! Understand?"

"I'm not a complete idiot!" Sirius barked back.

When Moody left too the house felt empty. Too much space, too much time to fill until Bill finished work and came round. If he hadn't been scared off. Another evening alone would be dreadful, the weekend had been unbearable.

He wandered down into the kitchen. The sink was full of unwashed coffee cups from the meeting. Ignorant bastards! They thought they were too important to clean up after themselves and that he had nothing else to do. He would find something to do, just to prove them wrong.

The gift Bill had brought round was scattered over the table still. He sifted through the plastic. He tried to get to grips with the Discman, most of his time taken up trying to open the thing. The Boomtown Rats disc was a compilation, not one of the L.P.s he'd had before, though he recognised most of the titles. He pushed a chair up to the range and sat with his back to it. Autumn was settling in now. He was pleased with himself for managing to get everything working, the music pouring straight into his ears.

Gradually, he let himself go, shouting along with the familiar tracks:

"I wish you'd stop whispering, Don't flatter yourself, nobody's listening. But it makes me nerv … AAAH!"

A hand on his shoulder! He jumped out of his skin and fell off the chair. When he looked up, pulling the earphones out of his ears, he saw Remus standing over him, laughing his head off.

"Bastard!"

"You screamed like a girl! You should see yourself!" Remus was actually wiping tears from his eyes. He hadn't seen the werewolf this happy since before James died.

Sirius got up off the floor. "Yeah, Moony," he said, "almost as good as the look on your face when Molly whisked you away the other night."

"Oh, this makes up for it. Oh, Pads, I wish you'd had a bigger audience."

Sirius growled good naturedly. "You forgiven me for Friday, then?" he checked.

"I have now." Remus picked up a six-pack of beers from the floor by the fire and placed them on the table. "Actually, I had anyway. I flooed in with these to check we were OK again."

"You could have fire-called before barging in," Sirius muttered. "Shall I get glasses?"

"Only if you've suddenly turned into a Duchess. I did stick my head in first, but you didn't hear me. What is that?" he pointed at the Discman on the floor.

"It's a music thing," Sirius said, helping himself to a can of beer, "Bill gave me it."

"A little gift to keep you sweet?" There was a definite edge to Lupin's voice'

"You want a go?" He handed it over, ignoring his friend's tone.

Remus fastidiously wiped the little plastic earpieces on his robes before popping them into his ears. Typical Moony. How many body fluids had they shared? It was endearingly familiar.

"One day you'll grow up and discover classical music!"

"You're shouting!" Sirius laughed at him.

"What? What's so funny?" Remus pulled one wire out.

"Let's take these up to the sitting room and get a Sonorus on this thing," Sirius suggested. Loud music and beer and his best friend. It had been years!

Hours passed quickly. Bill walked in on them pogo-ing on the furniture.

"You've got company, I'll …" The redhead backed out of the door.

Remus sobered up instantly. "No, I'll leave you two to get on with things."

It suddenly felt desperately important to Sirius that his best friend and his lover like each other.

"Sit down! Both of you! There's more beer!"

He leapt off the coffee table and lunged for the door, prepared to drag Bill back in if necessary. Bill held his arms up in surrender and made his own way into the room.

"Did he say anything?" Bill asked.

Snape! Of course! Sirius had forgotten all about him. Bill must have been worrying about it all afternoon.

"Nothing. Just told me to get back to the Hippogryph."

Bill bit his nails.

"Am I allowed to know what you're talking about?" Remus asked.

Sirius gave Bill a questioning look. Was he? Bill sighed then and, to Sirius' surprise, told Remus the whole story. He managed to make it sound funny, though Sirius knew he wasn't really amused by the situation.

Remus was though. "It would have to be old Soap-Dodger Snape who caught you!" he chuckled, when Bill had finished.

"You've worked with him, Remus, what do you think he'll do?" Bill asked, letting his anxiety show a bit more.

"He's a funny old snake," Lupin muttered pensively. "Couldn't say for sure. It would have to be in his interest before he'd share any information, though. And he didn't actually see anything, did he? To be honest, if he started any unsubstantiated rumours about Sirius, most people would take it with a pinch of salt anyway. Everyone knows you two hate each other."

Bill looked relieved. "We could still bluff this out, couldn't we?"

"I've got to go!" Remus announced. "I've got some furry friends to cuddle." His flippancy was unconvincing. "I expect you've got plans tonight, Bill. With your girlfriend?"

"No. Actually." Bill's defensive stance showed that he'd picked up the implied criticism. "I'm on Watch Duty tonight. I've got a few hours before the Ministry will be empty."

Sirius felt his blood run cold. He hadn't liked the thought of Remus spending the night with werewolves, but this was much worse. Bill shouldn't be in any danger.

"I'll do it!" he said with enthusiasm.

Remus was clearly watching Bill to gauge his response.

"Don't be daft. That's far too … If Dumbledore thought it was OK for you to be on the rota then you would be. It's only sitting in a corridor all night. The most exciting thing that'll happen to me is getting piles!"

Remus laughed. "It is bloody boring!" he reassured Sirius.

Nice to know that he was the only one not trusted with something so innocuous!

As soon as Remus had gone, Sirius swept over to Bill and got his arms round him.

"Be careful!" he whispered, then took the younger man's ear lobe into his mouth. He pressed him tight to his chest, snaking his tongue inside his ear. He was trying to mask his desperate fear, to make it look like lust.

Bill, his voice thick with the real thing, murmured, "You'd better get up those stairs. I need to see your Hippogryph."

They made it up one flight, tripping each other as they grabbed at enticing anatomy.

"Why is your room right at the top of the house?" Bill demanded gruffly.

"There are other bedrooms!" Sirius grunted, but he aimed his wand at one of the doors to slam it shut before they got to it. "Nosey grassing portrait," he explained, breathlessly, as they fell to the floor on the landing.

The smelly carpet didn't matter, nor did the uneven wooden boards beneath it. They pressed their bodies into each other, the pressure unyielding from mouths, through chests and groins, to shins. They ground their clothed erections into each other.

Sirius knew that if the Death Eaters came for the Prophecy tonight, this could be his last chance to do this. He wanted to print the shape of Bill's body onto his own. He slid his hands away from the broad, muscular shoulders, along Bill's long arms and gripped his wrists. Hard. He rolled them both until he was lying on top, Bill's arms above his head. All the time their lips kept contact and they shoved themselves onto each other.

Sirius adjusted his hip movement, making it vertical, pulling up and down Bill's shaft with his own. Bill grunted with frustration, attempting aborted little thrusts. Sirius shifted both wrists into one fist and forced the other hand between their crotches, wriggling and fighting to unzip them both and force down fabric.

Bare skin on bare skin pulsed with heat. Sirius anchored his free hand on one strong shoulder and pulled his length along Bill's again. They both howled. Bill's teeth sank into his neck and Sirius moved down again. He pushed himself up and down, the pace getting more frantic until the explosion of completion thrilled through both of their bodies at the same time.