CHAPTER 25:
Glad Tidings and Christmas Cheer

Spring back elastic heart, We are not angry now,
Somehow we both dissolve,
All our weight is gone, and tenderness is ours again
~Neil Finn

Lupin Lodge, July 1994

Sirius approached Remus's little cottage in his dog form, watching the man through the windows as he moved around his house. He wasn't sure if Lupin was ready for him, but as with much of their history, he was willing to take the plunge. After all, Dumbledore had told him to take refuge here, and Remus hadn't actually told him he was unwelcome.

He let out a dog howl that stopped Lupin washing dishes and made him stare out the window. Moony scanned the bushes and went to the door with his wand drawn defensively. Sirius stood to four legs and showed himself while Remus let out the breath he'd been holding.

"Come in, Padfoot," he said as he opened the door wide.

The Animagus trotted into the house and then switched back to his human form, eyeing everything curiously. "I haven't been here since that night..."

He couldn't finish the sentence, but they both knew it was the night that they'd fought so hard that the remaining fabric of their relationship was completely torn in two. It had been vicious with soul damaging words that could only come from someone whose love had been perverted into hate. It was not a proud moment for either one of them.

Remus stood awkwardly as if not sure how to talk to Sirius, and he wasn't. How did you talk to someone who was more distant to you than a complete stranger? No one had ever told him about the ache of strangers with once beloved and familiar faces. If they had never known each other, they could have started fresh, but to get to know each other again now would contain the weight of years of baggage. It was so strange.

That part was completely left out of all the clichés one was told after failed romances. It was too much of "You'll find someone new" or "You'll get over it" or worst of all, "Time heals all wounds." He hated those clichés. They never did him any good anyway.

After a long silence, they both tried talking at once, and then laughed nervously as they tripped over their words. Sirius told him to go ahead, and Lupin nodded in distracted acquiescence.

"Do you ever wonder if things would have gone differently if we'd made different decisions?" Remus asked. "Maybe James and Lily would still be alive. Maybe..."

"You can fill an ocean full of 'maybe.' It won't change anything. I'm not going to get my years in Azkaban back. We won't have James or Lily. We won't have all those missing years you and I should have been together. But we can start new right now. If you want," he added as his eyes narrowed to study him.

At Lupin's obvious hesitation, Sirius acknowledged, "It's not going to be easy."

"It never was," Remus agreed.

"But it will be an adventure," Black proclaimed, adding his wide usually convincing smile. That fact was in itself usually the best selling point.

"What do you want from me?" Remus asked, reaching his hand out tentatively to Sirius without actually touching him. It had been such a tense year not knowing what he would do and not yet believing he had been innocent of all his crimes.

Before Black could answer that question, Lupin closed his eyes and said, "I'm so sorry, Sirius. I shouldn't have doubted you. I should have believed your innocence. You were my friend first before things between us went wrong, and I should have known better."

"Yes, you should have, but that is another one of those maybes we can't change," he replied, sounding tired to his soul.

"Then what do you want to do?" Remus asked him. He sat down at his little dining table and waited, his elbows propped and clasped hands in front of his face as if in some prayer pose.

Sirius took the seat opposite him at the table, feeling too large for such a delicate little chair. He shuffled to get comfortable with his body and mind before he spoke. "There are few things in this life I still want. I want Harry to be happy, and I do, too. I want to begin again, Remus. I want you to look into your heart and remember the part where you still loved me. I want that the most, I think."

Remus looked at Black's once young and handsome face. They had both aged nearly twice a lifetime away from the Sixth Year boys they were when they first fell in love with each other. There was so much time and distance between them and all the other words of separation that made the best clichés that he still hated. He thought that they were going to be bumbling and awkward, just like those boys all over again.

As if reading his mind, Sirius said, "It's just like riding a broom, Remus. You never really forget even if you're out of practice."

Lupin put his hand across the table to take Black's fingers in his own. "You were always the one of us who was so sure about everything. I always admired that, Sirius. I can't promise I'll always get it right. But… I do love you, and maybe we can remember how to do this together. Remind me and keep reminding me until there's no possibility I'll ever forget."

Sirius looked across the table at Remus who as a mature adult had the filled out manly features that belonged to the younger man he had loved. The grey peppered his hair more than it had once done, and his eyes held a haunted quality that wasn't the same as the one the young Lupin used to have. Yet he was still his Moony underneath it all.

Then he leaned forward across the table to give him an almost chaste kiss. The stubble on Lupin's face brushed his own bushy beard, and he laughed because it was such an odd surprise. His laughter faded as Remus kept kissing him until all sense was lost.

By the time the morning came for them, they were wrapped in each other's arms sleeping in Moony's small bed. Their love making had been all over the house and would perhaps later spill out into the yard. It was just as awkward as Lupin had anticipated it was going to be, but it was also filled with laughter and a love that had never really gone away, only forgotten itself for a while.

###

On Sunday evening after the visit from the Weasley couple, Jonathan found himself curled up in his study reading the book on werewolf mating rituals that Bill had found. He really hadn't given the rituals any thought because they were merely animals with human faces. It had never seemed important for him to truly understand the drives that the beasts had other than the obvious ones about maiming and killing. Love and mating for werewolves was a completely novel idea.

Robert found him in the room as he brought him his evening night cap. Jonathan waved it away so that his butler set it on the table beside him.

"Interesting," Moss said while the other man was still hovering.

"Sir?" he asked politely.

"A book," he said holding up the slim volume and then reaching to sip his drink. "What do you know of that werewolf we have in the basement, Robert?"

"I'm not quite sure what you mean, sir."

"Did you learn anything about him after I found out his name?" he asked while taking another drink. He nodded appreciatively at his butler's drink making skills.

"I thought you would have researched that. I'm sorry I didn't anticipate your desire, but it seems Frank had been researching on his own," he added with a polite cough. "From what he had told me, it seems the werewolf was Sirius Black's lover."

"Sirius Black? You have to be joking!"

"No, sir. Again, this is hearsay, but it appears they had a history before his imprisonment in Azkaban, and there were rumors of them reuniting after his escape."

Jonathan fully closed the book and thought about this new development. "I wonder if Black is still out there somewhere looking for him. Daft Muggle lovers and inept curse breakers might be one thing, but to have a murderer on the trail could be quite interesting."

Robert set down the drink tray and fingered the book curiously. "Does it work like wolves in the wild? You know they mate for life, so he is likely still with Black."

"I don't know about Black. The Ministry hasn't been forthcoming about all the details of his escape. There has been no news about his capture or his continued existence. He might still be out there, but he's not going to break his cover to come find his lover. At least, I wouldn't," Moss said as he tried to figure out his motives. "Or he could be dead, and that werewolf is alone."

"So how are you going to use this information?" Robert asked.

"I don't know yet, but I'll do something. If I can't figure anything amusing out soon, I think I may just kill him and the girl. I tire of their presence with me," he said as he stood up and stretched.

"The guests have worn out their welcome, sir?" he suggested.

Stifling a yawn, Jonathan agreed with him. "I can't believe he killed so many of the men. That's not entirely true. I can believe it, but I'm still surprised he did it. It just shows me good help is hard to find. You are an exception."

"Thank you, sir," he replied as he gathered the dishes to take to the kitchen while Moss excused him self to go to his warm bed to sleep.

###

The last few days leading up until Christmas and the end of the calendar year were busy for Jonathan at the bank. He avoided Bill who had the good graces to have thanked him for the invitation, even if Fleur forbade him to ever visit the man's house again. He was going to have to talk to his wife about her bossiness, but he agreed with her on this one point.

It was Tuesday morning before he was off to work that Jonathan walked into Ginny's cell, interrupting the fire practice that she had been doing. She snuffed the fire quickly enough that she hoped he had not seen the evidence of her magic. She wasn't sure how she was going to use it, but she was going to give Jonathan a surprise he wouldn't soon forget.

"Do you know what today is?" he asked her as he crouched in front of her, aiming his wand defensively.

St. Patrick's Day, was the first sarcastic thing that came to Ginny's mind. Instead, she said, "It's the day you're going to let me go home?"

He laughed, though the sound was insincere. "No. Christmas Eve is tomorrow. I think that on Christmas Day you and your werewolf friend will be invited to a feast."

"Are you going to feed us or cannibalize us?" she asked with all seriousness. With Moss, either could be a possibility.

He laughed again, and the sound grated on Ginny's ears. "I have no idea where you get your silly notions. It's Christmas! Of course you'll be eating, and the present I give you will be another day to stay alive and see your werewolf. You'll like that, won't you?"

The last he asked her with the curious head tilt of a bird figuring out a puzzle. It was like some things were falling into place in Jonathan's mind. He got up and walked to the door of her cell, looking at her curiously again before leaving.

###

When Christmas day came in all its sparkling glory, Ginny was nervous for a number of reasons, all of them having to do with whatever torturous version of civility Jonathan had planned for her and Remus. The werewolf had laughed in his own way at her retelling of the invitation because his mordant humor had been brought out while in the place.

§I'll get to see you, at least,§ she had told him.

§Remember your poker face. I think it would not be wise to give him much to see. It would be fuel for too many other games of his,§ he replied.

§But we're both stronger now! I am mastering my fire magic more and more every day, and you can change into a wolf at will. We have the tools of our own escape, Remus.§

She was right, and he acknowledged it. He just didn't want to get his hopes up in case they were dashed. Too many disappointments could wound one's will, and he was being cautious.

Robert came into her cell that morning with his wand aimed at her, and he quickly uttered a spell that she vaguely recognized. It was the sort that made her into the human version of a marionette. He then transported her out of the room and upstairs into a bath chamber.

"Because it is Christmas Day, you will be allowed to bathe. Mr. Moss does not wish to have his dinner guests, you, being anything less than clean. I will allow you thirty minutes to scrub and wash before I come back and help you into your proper dining attire," he explained.

Ginny looked at him askance. She hadn't had a proper bath since October, and the mere thought of it was enough to cause her to whimper. She tamped down on the urge and asked the butler if it was actually safe. "I have heard of Muggles killing other Muggles in bathing chambers. Who is to say that Jonathan hasn't heard this as well?"

To show her that all was on the up and up, Robert drew a bath complete with bubbles and stuck his forearm into the water. When he pulled his arm out, it still looked like a normal arm and not something in which the flesh had rotted away.

"You have thirty minutes," he reminded her before incanting a seal on the room.

She was at a loss because she most certainly did want that bath, but she didn't want to miss her opportunity to escape. After checking with Remus to determine he was being given the same treatment, she allowed herself to take the bath. Upon entering the water, sound sprang to her lips that could only be described as a combination of joy, relief and a little surprise. She could have stayed in the bubble bath until her skin wrinkled like raisins, but she went about washing her still long, though matted hair and scrubbing the dirt and blood and muck off her skin.

Once she was done, she was pink and glowing. She felt almost human until it was Jonathan who showed himself into the bath chamber with her.

"Where's Robert?" she asked with her voice spiking.

Jonathan and many of his men had already seen her nudity before, but that had been in a dank and dark dungeon. Somehow being as exposed to him in the bright and cheery bathroom brought back her sense of embarrassment.

"Who do you think is preparing our meal? I am certainly not going to do it. That is why I have him," he said as if it should have been obvious. "Now put on this robe. We're going to fix your hair."

She turned her head. "Am I still going to have hair when you're done?"

"This time," he said with an amused blink of his eyes.

He then started to brush her hair and put ornamental braids in it. At first she felt surprised about what he was doing, but then she told herself there was little about Jonathan that should surprise her. When he was done, she looked like a medieval lady from one of the tapestries she had seen in Hogwarts. She looked beautiful in a way she hadn't seen before, and she looked at her reflection skeptically as if this beauty was only a by-product of the non-scarification spell that Moss had done.

He added the finishing touches to the look by clothing her with a dark green crushed velvet off-the-shoulder dress and dangle earrings to emphasize her neck and creamy white skin. He also provided her with dainty golden slippers to match the accent stitching in her dress. He was very pleased with himself once Ginny's ensemble was complete, and she would have liked it, too, had it not come from him.

He reinforced the marionette spell and directed her into the dining room where he placed her in a seat at the opulently set table. As soon as she was seated, wrist and ankle restraints came out of the chair to hold her down. She tested them lightly while he was hovering over her.

"How will I eat?" she asked him, trying to play the role of the reasonable guest.

"You'll have to see. But now to get your werewolf. He's going to need a shave," he added while looking at his wand tip.

§Guard your throat, Remus,§ Ginny warned. She could only wonder if Jonathan might tire of the shaving and civility and try to sever his head. The thought would have turned her stomach, but she was too busy being on alert.

###

Remus had taken Ginny's warning when Jonathan came in to groom him. It was a strange experience because he had never been to a barber. If it had been Sirius doing it, there would have been more sensuality and play. He wondered if Moss was doing the grooming as a reminder of the not-so-subtle dog metaphor that he had been using in reference to him for most of his captivity.

Whether or not that was so, Jonathan wished to keep up appearances, including dressing Remus in some very fine robes that he would never have personally chosen. Though he had never had the money to dress well, that did not mean he was without opinions about what did or did not look good on him. This clothing made him feel foppish and too much like Gilderoy Lockhart.

Jonathan escorted Remus into his formal dining room where the werewolf kept his eyes averted from Ginny. He didn't dare look at her because he was sure Moss was up to some kind of trick. He could pretend some form of indifference if he was lucky.

Once he was in place at his chair the restraints on his hands and feet clamped down and lengthened into chains so he could reach his food on his plate. He glanced to the edge of his setting and saw Ginny's hands across from his and guessed that she was in the same type of binding.

At the head of the table, Jonathan made jolly conversation with himself and tried to act as the brilliant master of ceremonies, but Remus was having none of it. He ate slowly and darted his eyes around the room to gather as much information as possible. His mind was turning with ideas that perhaps he and Ginny could use their combined magics to break free. It would be the greatest of all Christmas miracles if they could use the fireplace as part of the Floo network.

None of that mattered to Jonathan who tired of their quiet reserve. "Well, if this isn't the most awkward of dinner parties. We can't have a great time if we don't have cooperative guests. We have a lady in our presence. Why don't you tell her how good she looks in that dress?"

Lupin turned his head to Moss with a disbelieving expression. He answered with his own steely expression. "Tell her how beautiful she looks."

"You look beautiful, Ginny," Remus said flatly while staring daggers at Jonathan.

"I said tell her," he hissed at Lupin again.

He glowered at Jonathan, and slowly swung his eyes to finally allow himself to look at her. He noticed the tips of her ears blushing while she was under his scrutiny. He could see that she was the most beautiful redhead that he had ever seen, even more beautiful than the incomparable Lily Evans. He would never give her his sincere truth in front of Moss's watchful gaze.

"Green suits you," he said as he tried to fix his gaze on her with no meaning at all.

She turned her brown eyes to him and nodded her thanks.

"That's much better. We have a much more friendly atmosphere now. And do you have something you should tell him?" Jonathan prompted.

"That he looks beautiful?" Ginny asked. She did an obvious eye roll at Jonathan to signify that he could not bully her around, and she said to Lupin, "You look well clean-shaven."

"Thank you," he said as he slowly ate the food that had been placed before them.

In his mind he sent her a quiet message. §I think the food is drugged. I can't seem to make even the smallest wolf shift. Does your fire magic work right now?§

§Not yet,§ she confirmed. §I've been trying to do small sparks under the table, and I have very little in me.§

§Clever,§ Remus assessed. To Jonathan he gave another death stare.

"Don't you like the meal? Robert worked so hard to make it enjoyable for you two. After all, you are a long way from home with no other family around."

"The meal is tasty. Thank you, Robert," Moony said without taking his eyes off Moss.

After they finished the main course, the host threw down his napkin petulantly. "Well, this was not the success I would have hoped. I think we have to liven up this party. I know! Let's dance. More accurately, you two can dance."

Ginny looked unsurely at Jonathan and shot a look to Remus who was looking equally uneasy about the prospect of dancing with her. The other man was busy moving furniture out of the way with his wand, and instructing Robert to bring the wireless out to play music. Once that was set up, he waved his wand at the pair, and the marionette charm took over.

Under different circumstances, Ginny would have been overjoyed for another opportunity to touch Remus, but this pretense tired her. He made them dance to everything for too long of a time to count. She could have picked up the dances easily, but without the true use of her own body, she was just a prisoner to a body that moved convulsively and without an iota of the natural grace she possessed.

"They do well. Don't they, Robert?" Jonathan said from his seat as he released the dancing spell. His leg was resting jauntily over the arm of the chair, and he had a glass of wine in his hand.

Ginny slumped against Remus who caught her and held her close in those few seconds their bodies were released between spells. He made the mistake of looking down at her as he cradled her head to his chest. Jonathan's eyes widened, and he sat up as he caught it. He shot a glance at Robert to see if he had also seen it.

Speaking too loudly, Moss said, "I think it's time to have dessert. Come sit back down. You must be exhausted after such strenuous dancing."

The two sat as they were ordered, and the restraints in the chair came back to hold them down. At that point, Jonathan got up from the table and walked out of the room with Robert following him.

Ginny was still so tired that she couldn't shake it, and she was sure that it was a combination of the dance and whatever had been put into the food. She glanced tiredly up to Lupin, and his silver eyes softened as he looked at her.

§I do know how to dance, Gin, but not like that. I might show you some time,§ he thought to her.

§That might be nice. When we get out. We'll go dancing down the streets of The Hague and have the tastiest chocolate after we see the Escher museum, right?§ she asked, thinking of the promises from their shared game.

He sighed and looked at her again because he knew how weary she was. It was an attempt at holding herself together, but she was quickly falling apart.

§We will do all those things together when we leave. We'll travel the world together if you want it to be so. All you have to do is speak the word,§ he replied.

###

In the other room where Robert was gathering the dessert that Moss had promised, Jonathan was feeling supremely proud of himself. Neither one of his guests knew he could see them, and he was smirking at Remus, whose face revealed much more than the werewolf intended.

"What is it, sir?" he asked after hearing the other man's noises of triumph.

"Look at him. I thought it was a mistake, but no. It's clear as anything. Look at how his face softens when he looks at her. Even the way he moves his hands around her is different." Jonathan paused as the light of revelation struck him. "He loves her!"

Robert stilled his preparations and looked through the secret viewing mirror Jonathan was using. "Well, that's certainly not very teacher-like, is it?"

"No, it isn't," he answered feeling proud of himself once more. "So what was that about him being paired with Sirius Black?"

"I just know what I was told by Frank. It's possible they're not together any more, or he might have a school girl fetish," Robert postulated. "He had a year and ample opportunity to get to know his students better."

"No, that's… that's not what's written on his face. He genuinely loves her," Jonathan said, still sounding shocked to have observed such a major piece of information. "That makes the dance make more sense, too, since the spell wasn't working the entire time. I stopped it every so often just to see if they'd behave differently. Interesting."

"Yes, sir," Robert placated. "Dessert now?"

"Yes, of course." With a satisfied sigh he added, "I think I just got my Christmas present. The poor sod doesn't know he's just given me the tool to destroy them."

A/N: The lyric quote for this chapter comes from "Elastic Heart" performed by Neil Finn on the album One Nil.

Next chapter has the big showdown, so stay tuned!