This Time - Chapter 13 II

That morning, we ate our stomachs full of croissants, bacon and pancakes, exchanging pleasantries with each other and sharing in the Christmas cheer.

"I don't know how I'll be able to eat lunch after this!" Hope said, laughing merrily.

"You'll have to manage it somehow. Minerva, our boss from work, cooks one mean lunch" Remus told her.

Lily then explained that they had Christmas lunch together last year and had agreed to again. "Minerva loves to do the cooking. The turkey is absolutely incredible." she said.

"In that case, I'm going to go for a walk around Edinburgh to try and burn some of it off." Remus says.

"Mind if I come too?" I ask.

"Yeah me too!" Lily says.

"Nah please, I'd love the company." he says. "Mum?"

"Not for me darling. I need to call your aunts, let them know what's happening, wish them Merry Christmas and the like."

We set out of the apartment block soon after. The air was crisp but pleasant, and the sun shone down on us as we entered the main city. We toured some of the sights, for the city was quieter than usual, most people staying in for Christmas. The only other people we saw were others clearly walking a hefty breakfast off. We took a break up at the castle and sat down. Lily produced a thermos of tea and we took turns sipping the hot sweet liquid.

"Sirius." Remus says.

"Yes Moony?" I reply.

"Can we get a dog?"

"A dog? Where has this come from?" I ask him.

"I don't know, maybe it was from walking past the Greyfriars Bobby, but it struck me that I'd quite like a dog."

"I guess we can get a dog."

"And I don't know if it's a soft subject. But, you've met my mother, you live with us now, and we're probably getting a dog together, so I'd say we are quite serious now. I'd like to know what you could never tell me before, about how you came to be here."

My chest tightens slightly. "It's a long story."

"We have time. It's just, you now know so much about me from Mum's embarrassing stories. And..."

"It's okay. I'll start. Are you sitting comfortably?"

~~~ Two Years Ago ~~~

The sun rose early that December morning. I hadn't slept at all, but I didn't feel tired. There was a tightness in my chest, because tonight was the night, the night.

The final straw had been the dog. A stray, black and shaggy, hair wet and matted with dirt had scratched at the door one night. As my room was on the ground floor, I naturally went to see what the scratching and whining was. I had always wanted a dog, and now here one was. Checking it, I found no collar.

"Someone must be missing you." I said to him, giving it a scratch behind the ear.

He bent his head towards my hand, leaning in to the scratch. Sitting up, I took a towel from the nearby airing cupboard and began to rub the dog down. This he enjoyed immensely, rolling around so I could get the wet of its tummy. Next, I went to the kitchen to get some form of left over for the dog to eat. The sounds of footsteps behind me told me I was being followed. Stopping at the fridge, I turned to look at the dog, standing there, wagging his tail excitedly.

There's no way I can put this dog out back in the rain. I had always wanted a dog, and mother and father always gave us something we wanted at Christmas. I made up my mind, I would ask them if I could keep the dog.

"Come on boy." I said, leaning down to pat him. "You can sleep in my room."

Up to this point in my life, I knew enough about my family to know they were a bad bunch. It was not uncommon to see men with bodyguards holding guns go into my father's study, or to hear my mother speaking of not-so-legal matters on one of her many phones. Perhaps it was my naivety talking, but deep down I believed they were good people, simply ones who did the dirty work to provide for the family.

There were times however where I had my doubts. My brother's first girlfriend who he had to stay over for the night was attacked by my mother the morning after. Thrown out of the house, my mother warned him never to see another girl again, for he was to be married off to somebody else. And we never saw her again, for the land they and a few hundred others was quickly bought up and they were forced to move away.

Then there was the case of cousin Iola, who eloped with another woman. She died a few months later, having spent some time in poverty. I saw the papers in father's study, the ones cutting her off from all the funds of the family.

There were many more, crimes ran through the family like blood. When we all got together there would be talk of others - assault, laundering, fraud and even murder. One great Uncle was said to be involved in human trafficking.

The dog was the last straw however. It takes a being of pure hate to hurt something so happy and pure and generally loving. When the rest of the family rose, the dog was quickly discovered. I pleaded with them, I really did, to let me keep the dog. But they refused, for it was not something of pedigree and class, and was a mangy animal. Dejected, I said I'd take it for a walk, and would let it go. I emerged not ten minutes later, to find them abusing the poor thing. It stood there, wimping, as they kicked it, threw things at it, hurt it. They pushed it outside, and my father went for the shotgun.

I knew I had to act fast - the world of my parents apparent kindness crashing down around me. All I had on was a coat, my clothes, my phone and my wallet which contained family bank cards, Id and the like. Hoisting the dog into my arms, I left the house, my mother screaming after me. I made up my mind then, without hesitation, and left the family. I kicked open the gate, carried the whining dog through and kicked it shut again.

At the time, we were at the Australia Winter Holiday house, only about half a mile from the outskirts of Perth. I carried the dog there, the whole way. It was bleeding, and after some time the blood had soaked through my clothes enough that I could feel it against my skin.

I knew from many excursions from the family house that there was a small vets on the outskirts of Perth. I took the dog here, and due to his wounds the vet took him in right away. I stood by the table anxiously as they examined him, stemmed the flow and applied stitching and bandaging to the badly affected areas. The vet there asked me about what had happened, to which I told him that I came across the animal injured on the road after I had left home.

He kindly let me leave the dog there, and my first stop was into a bank. There, I asked to speak with a friend of my mother's - a young, short lady who my mother had deemed easily corruptible. Flashing my best smile, I managed to convince her to set me up a new account and discreetly transfer a lot of money into the new account which I would use in emergencies. I also got her to transfer my own money into a new account and close the old one. My mother had been right about her, because with a bit of flirting it was easy to convince her what to do and not to tell anyone - clearly some form of a family trait I had from my parents.

Returning to the vet, I sat outside until they closed and they let the dog out. The vet stepped outside with me and the dog.

"Are you going to take him home." he asked me, curiously.

My mind whirled as I figured out what story to give him, and in the end I simply told him I had been kicked out of my home.

He smiled at me, patting my shoulder with his hand. "I have a spare room, and some food for the dog here."

Too tired to argue, I accepted his offer. That night, the vet gave me some wine, and we chatted while the dog and his dog played in the kitchen. He was a widower, his young daughter sleeping in the room across the hall. And that night, another man took me for the very first time. I had never had a gay experience before in my life, never even thought of it, either by chance or because I subconsciously knew the consequences of homosexuality in my family. The vet not only lay me down, toyed with me, then with a single thrust eliminated the shadow of heterosexuality I lived under, but he made me realise that all people are not so bad.

We had sex three times that night, each time better than the last. This was a new world that I was glad to explore, one of pleasure and of slight pain, but one of enjoyment and lust. I left him that morning in bed, changed silently. He had told me his daughter loved dogs, so that was where I left the dog. He would not have been happy travelling with me, and I couldn't give him the love he deserved. Leaving a plentiful amount of money on the kitchen table with a note, I set out from the house.

I trekked across Perth that day, ending up in a hotel for the evening. I seduced a rather attractive Italian in the hotel bar. Long after he went to sleep, I rose, and left the hotel. Tonight was the night.

My family would be flying back home after Christmas. I picked a destination off the board, an afternoon flight to Edinburgh in the U.K. and waited in the hotel lounge. I ate a modest lunch at one of the chain restaurants in the departures lounge and boarded my flight a few hours later. I slept through most of it for I was exhausted, and woke as the descent began.

The air was cold as I stepped out the plane, and hit me like a wall. It was a pleasant change from the previous heat of Perth, and I liked it immediately. A new set of scenery, for a new Sirius Black.

From here, the rest is quite short. I had qualifications, so enrolled to do a master's at Edinburgh university in Film. I picked it as something I could pick up relatively quickly, even though I had a fair amount of stored money from my family I wanted to live independently. I had always been good with arithmetic, so got a job doing accounts at a firm owned by a guy I met in one of the pubs. It earned me enough money survive, living in a small flatshare on the outskirts of Edinburgh.

~~~ Present ~~~

"So that how you came to be here" Lily states.

"Well, the recent events from it anyway." I reply. "I mean, there's a whole lot of fucked up history in my family I could go on and on about. The dog was just the bit that pissed me off."

"Understandable, what kind of asshole do you have to be to hurt a dog." she replied. "You could have cut out the gay sex, I mean I love you guys but that's not for my ears thanks."

Remus and I both laugh. "We both know what you're ears want to hear, and those sounds come from one Officer James Potter."

"Shut up!" Lily laughs back. "I don't want to hear any more about James. I've only seen him a couple of times."

"You put out though."

"Remus! How did you know? How dare you!"

"Chill Lily, it was a guess. Though you did prove me right." he giggles.

"And how long did it take you two." she says, giving us both a look. We turn and look each other in the eyes, before replying in unison.

"You said it wasn't for your ears."

Despite the small downer of my story, we all had high spirits on the walk back. My nerves were beginning to get to me though as the time drew nearer.

The snow began to fall as we reached the appartment.

"Uh, Remus, can I talk to you about something out here for a second."

"Yeah sure."

Lily took the opportunity to head inside, but a moment later I can see her at one of the windows, watching us.

I take Remus' hands in my own. "I just wanted to say that, well, I feel like I've known you forever. It could only have been minutes, or a few chapters of a book, but I love you more than anything I ever have. You complete me."

"Sirius, what are you doing." he eyes me suspiciously.

"I'm sorry, I'm awful at this. I'll just show you." I pull out the small box I've had on me for weeks, waiting for the right opportunity. Remus' eyes widen as everything I've said fully clicks into place.

"Remus, will you..." I began to ask, falling to one knee.

"Of course I bloody will." He interrupts me, yanking me back up and into the tightest embrace, his lips finding, hot against the cold of the snow and the world and the outdoors. A moment, or maybe a year passes, before we pull apart. "Sorry." he says sheepishly, "I should probably have let you finish that. Got a bit excited there."

I cough and resume. "Remus, will you make me the happiest man alive, by marrying me?"

He nods excitedly and I can hear the faint sound of Lily clapping and cheering from the nearby window.

"I wasn't finished." I tell him, holding up a finger to silence whatever he was going to say. "I want you to be my everything, from my husband to my basic bitch."

"No." he tells me, laughing, "You're my basic bitch."

That exact moment, Lily comes running out the doors again, slips on the stairs and falls head first into the snow.

"Either way, you're mine." he tells me, kissing me again. He stops however. "What am I supposed to do, my mother is here."

"Tell her?" A muffle comes from the nearest snow Dune and as a now white haired Lily emerges.

l

"Whatever you do, I'm there with you." I tell him, taking his hand and leading him to the room, dragging Lily by the arm along the way.

I march us into the apartment, still hand in hand with Remus. Hope is there, waiting for us in the kitchen.

Remus instantly plucks up his courage from somewhere (preferably my hand in his) and opens his mouth to speak.

"Remus I know, and I'm guessing you said yes. Congratulations you both." she says, running over to pull us into a hug.

"You Know?!" Remus yells incredulously in his mother's embrace.

"Of course I know, I'm your mother. Though I probably should have let you tell me, got a bit excited there." she says, beaming at him.

Like mother, like son is all I can think, my arm around Lily's waist as we watch Remus and his mum.

"Now, I know there's celebrations to be had, but can't we get some lunch first." Lily says, to which we all hurrah in agreement. And one huge lunch and present opening session later, we're sat around the fire opening the last of the presents.

Remus gasps at the camera in his hands, to which he can't stop thanking me and blushing like a schoolgirl. "I thought we weren't going all out. Christ!"

"I'll love whatever you've got me I promise. Unless it's extra shifts at the coffee shop like Minerva has already given me." I tell him, carefully tearing the wrapping paper off the present.

It's a sketchbook, the front page of which has the words Remus and Sirius etched across it in golden ink. Flipping through, I see that it's photographs. Some I'm aware of, other's I'm not, but all of them are us together, ranging from ones Lily took when she watched us first meet in the coffee shop to shots outside the warehouse where we found Lily.

As I'm flicking through, Lily takes the book off me and makes an addition to a page in the middle of the book. It's the last filled page, and on it is a large collage of four photographs of Remus and I standing in the Snow. One has us hand in hand, the next me down on my knees, the third a tight embrace and the fourth us laughing together with Lily clearly visible falling face-first into the snow.

"Remus, this is..."

"It's not full." He says, which I had noticed. "Because there's so much more to fill in." and with that he chucks me a small box, different to the one I gave him, but it's contents and meaning are clear.

Remus twiddles his ring on his finger. "Because Sirius, if there is one thing I will never forgive you for, it's for beating me to the punch. You got there with the romance first, well, This Time anyway."

Authors Note: This is officially the end, bar the rather NSFW epilogue that will be following. As of in a couple of days, my work is going up on Archive Of Our Own, this being a fic among it. If you use that, please go give me some support.

Other than that, reviews and favourites are very much welcome. I feel like, as I've written more, I've improved. If you've read my first ever fic, Accepting the Truth, I hope you agree that I've improved, because that fic is honestly awful imo. New fics will be coming, including one rather experimental one (well, unless you've read my new Merthur fic, the Voice of Albion [/end Shameless Plug])

Thank you, the reader, for joining me on this adventure. See you next time.

Thomas