A/N: All right, I'm really sorry for the lateness. My area had a storm on Monday and my neighborhood has been out of power since then. I was able to work on the chapter because my laptop has a battery, but our Wi-Fi was out so I haven't been able to submit it until tonight. And...there is only going to be one more chapter after this, plus an epilogue. Sorry for the abruptness, I would have warned you sooner, but I didn't realize myself how close I was to the end until I finished this chapter. Oh, also, I've noticed that the number of reviews I've been getting each chapter has been dipping down again. Could we maybe do something about that please?
—
It was the best Christmas holiday that Sirius had ever had. And that was an understatement. True, when he held Remus close to him in the night before he fell asleep, thoughts of what happened with his family ate at him and refused to go away. And even after he managed to fall asleep, he would often wake up in a cold sweat, heart racing after a nightmare in which Orion's Avada Kedavra had not missed.
He would cling to Remus whenever this happened, letting himself be held as his lover hushed and comforted him, but he did not tell Remus what the nightmare was of.
Daytime, however, was a constant joy. He helped the Potters decorate for Christmas, relished in the freedom having no homework for the first time since September, and indulged in the many delicious holiday treats that Mrs. Potter was so adept at baking. He even enjoyed himself when the Potters had family over in spite of them all being strangers to him—for the first time, he had his best friend and boyfriend to talk to during family gatherings, and he actually had fun. All three Potters loved the Christmas gifts he'd gotten them, Mrs. Potter gushing that there had been no need for him to go through the trouble, and bestowing him with hugs and kisses that the other two teenage boys teased him about for the rest of the day.
"Looks like I've got competition, haven't I Sirius?" Remus asked once Mrs. Potter let Sirius go to check on dinner, nudging him in the arm.
"No competition at all," Sirius contradicted, giving Remus a quick peck because Mr. Potter had also left the room. He flipped James the bird when the young man coughed, "Get a room!"
"Although," Sirius admitted, getting up from the floor, stretching, and inhaling the deep aroma of Christmas dinner, "I'll admit she can cook."
"Well, maybe I'll learn someday," Remus murmured, getting up as well and going into the kitchen.
Sirius almost did not want to return to school after the holidays, for the first time he could remember. Mr. and Mrs. Potter treated him—no, him and Remus both—like a second son. They'd even bought Christmas gifts for Remus, which had almost overwhelmed the young werewolf with gratitude, and when they found out what happened with Orion on the first night of break (Sirius had only intended to tell James, but apparently his best friend felt entitled to let his parents in on it), they reaffirmed their offer to let them stay summers and even offered to buy Sirius his school supplies for next year.
He'd turned down their second offer—they were doing too much for him already—but made it clear he was very grateful that he and Remus would have somewhere to stay between school years.
"You don't know how lucky you are," Sirius said to James the night before their return to school. All three were sitting in James's bedroom, but Remus had fallen asleep in his chair nearly half an hour ago, and the two best friends had been conversing in whispers since then. Sirius shook his head, watching the snow fall over the already white land surrounding the Potters' house. "I would give anything for a family like yours."
"No you wouldn't," James disagreed, and Sirius turned to him, eyebrows raised. The Potter boy nodded at the sleeping werewolf curled up in the chair next to Remus. "You're the one who's lucky," James continued. "You know Lily still won't even look at me? And you...with almost no effort, you land the guy of your dreams. I see the way he looks at you, the way you look at each other when you think no one's watching, and I keep thinking, what I wouldn't give to have that. To have Lily look at me that way, to be allowed to kiss her and hold her whenever I want because I know she loves me as much as I love her. You may have drawn a lousy hand as far as family, Sirius, but you wouldn't want to trade places with me because you're the luckiest guy I know when it comes to relationship stuff."
Sirius smiled. "I know I've been lucky with Remus," he admitted, taking his sleeping boyfriend's hand and squeezing it. "What are the odds that out of all the werewolves in the Containment Center, I'd choose the one who also happens to be gay?" They both chuckled softly. "But you must love your parents," Sirius murmured. "Hell, I love your parents. I've seen the way you look at Lily, but you wouldn't give them up for her, would you?"
James shrugged. "I don't know. They're getting old, my parents. They spoil me because it took so long for them to have me and they're so grateful for it, but they're not gonna be around forever. Before I know it I'll have to give them up anyway. I don't want to lose them, of course not, but...Lily and I could have a lifetime. When I compare the time I've spent with my family to the time I could have with Lily...I mean, I don't think I love her more than them, but Lily and I have a chance to be together forever. My childhood's been great, but I'm moving out after school and I won't see them as much. You've already moved out—you never have to see them again. All you have are your friends and your boyfriend. Now that you don't have to worry about your family anymore, don't you think having him makes up for all you went through?"
"Yeah," Sirius said quietly. "But having him is worth going through anything. I'd face a thousand Dementors, Chimeras, Voldemort himself and still be ready for more if it means having him."
"Yeah, well..." James shrugged, also looking out his window at the falling snow. "I feel the same way about Lily."
They were both lost in contemplative thought for a long time, before Sirius finally roused Remus and took him back to their room to go to bed.
—
"Sirius," Remus whispered into Sirius's ear, and the sound sent a chill up his spine. An inconspicuous hand rubbed his thigh. "Now that we're back in school...you want to go...to the Room of Requirement?"
Sirius shivered. They'd been at Hogwarts for about an hour—enough time to arrive and eat dinner, which they were just finishing up—and Sirius was more than tempted to take him up on his offer, drag him to the secret room right this instant. They hadn't made love during the holidays; at first neither could really get into the mood after what happened, and even after they began to get over it, Remus hadn't felt right doing so when they were guests in the Potters' house. As such, Sirius was quite apt to make up for two weeks of celibacy as soon as possible, but...
"In a bit," Sirius whispered back, squeezing the hand on his thigh and willing his body to calm down from the thrill it had caused. "There's something...important...that I need to do first. And I want you to come with me."
Remus nodded and took his hand back. He did not ask why they continued sitting at the table even though they'd finished eating. Sirius sipped at his water occasionally, though he wasn't thirsty, and glanced up at the staff table often.
Eventually, the tall man with the long white beard rose from the table, and Sirius got up to meet him at the entrance.
"Professor?" Sirius said, Remus in tow. "May I have a quick word, please? It's rather important."
Dumbledore surveyed Sirius over his glasses before nodding at him with a slight smile. "Come with me. There will be more privacy in my office."
Sirius and a bewildered Remus followed the headmaster up to a stone gargoyle which, upon seeing Dumbledore, let the three of them ascend a staircase to the circular office where the old wizard lived.
Dumbledore gestured at the two chairs in front of his desk, and the teenagers sat down before Dumbledore himself did, behind the desk. He crossed his fingers and smiled at Sirius and Remus. "So, how can I help you this evening?"
Sirius took a deep breath. If there was a time for needing Gryffindor bravery, it was now. "I know you've given Remus permission to sit in on classes with me. And I suspect you've given permission for him to do so without having to be tied up. You've given him a place to stay and be secure on the full moons, you've allowed him to eat at the table in the Great Hall. You have allowed Remus, who came here as my pet, to act almost like a student.
"Professor, I appreciate that you haven't prevented him from being treated like a student, but I'm going to ask you for something else. After a long time of thinking and denial, I've come to realize that Remus isn't the animal I always thought he was, the animal I've been told he was from birth. He is a human and a wizard. Professor, I want you to enroll him as a student here. I want you to let him take OWLs with us."
"What?" Remus exclaimed, staring at Sirius. The dark-haired boy, however, kept his eyes on Dumbledore, who had not reacted to his request.
The older wizard's light blue eyes were fixed on Sirius in return, and he seemed to contemplate the adjuration before responding calmly. "I'm afraid it's not possible for Remus to take his OWLs, Sirius." Hearing the headmaster say Remus's real name made the young boy recall that he had not reintroduced the werewolf. He supposed Dumbledore had simply deduced from the context who he was talking about. "As intelligent as I'm sure he is, and despite sitting in on class with you and reading about magic, there is simply no way he can learn all the necessary spells in less than five months."
"Er..." Sirius murmured guiltily, shifting from one foot to the other. His initial burst of disappointment at Dumbledore's words had subsided once the headmaster cited the reason for his refusal as the fact that Remus was inexperienced, not the fact that he was a werewolf. He was surprised, actually, that the issue had not even been mentioned. "Actually...professor...Remus already knows all the spells I and the other fifth years do. I know we shouldn't have, but...we've been practicing in the Room of Requirement. I've been letting him use my wand, and for some Defense spells I've been borrowing James's wand. We discovered by accident that he could do magic back in first year, and ever since then he's learned the spells when we learned them in class."
Sirius swore he saw Dumbledore's mouth twitch into a smile for a moment and hope surged through his heart. "Even so, Sirius," he said calmly, "He will not be able to borrow your wand during lessons or for OWL exams."
"Sir, that's not a problem either," Sirius said, looking into Dumbledore's eyes. "He has his own wand. I bought it for him over Christmas, telling Mr. Ollivander that he was a foreign-exchange student. The wand chose him."
Sirius definitely did not imagine it; Dumbledore smiled. "Do you have your wand, Remus?" the headmaster inquired, turning to the taller boy for the first time.
Remus began to shake his head, but Sirius interrupted. "I've got it, professor," he said, pulling it out of his robes. He held it out to Dumbledore, but the old wizard just shook his head and gestured toward Remus. Sirius handed the wand to him.
"Remus, could you please Summon me the hat in that cabinet over there?" he asked kindly, gesturing toward a display case in the corner.
Remus glanced at it. "If you want, sir," he said softly, and then raised his wand. "Accio hat!"
The doors opened and the hat flew across the room to Remus. The young wizard murmured, "Wingardium leviosa," and levitated it into Dumbledore's lap.
"Thank you, Remus," he said.
With a glance, Sirius realized the hat was none other than the Sorting Hat. He wondered if that meant Dumbledore was accepting Remus, or if that just happened to be what he was testing the young man with.
"There is still the issue of the Ministry," Dumbledore said, turning the Sorting Hat over in his hands and looking it over. "They do not need to be any the wiser about Remus enrolling in class here, but they regulate the OWLs and his name will undoubtably raise a red flag."
"His name?" Sirius repeated. He hadn't even thought about the Ministry recognizing Remus's name. Come to think of it, he didn't even know Remus's last name. Even after he'd acknowledged him as a human, it hadn't even occurred to him that he even had a last name.
"Yes," Dumbledore nodded, looking at Remus again. "Even though I'm sure they did not refer to you by it at the center, they still have your name on record, connected with your werewolf record. I would say your best bet is to register under a different name—a different last name, at least—for your OWLs, and if the Ministry comes around asking questions, we can just tell them what we've known all along."
"What's that?" Sirius asked.
Dumbledore's eyes twinkled at Sirius. "That Remus is a human."
For a moment all three were silent, and then Remus, who had not spoken since his fate had been decided for him, said, "With all due respect, sir, I don't understand how you can allow this."
"What do you mean, Remus?" the headmaster asked calmly.
"I mean..." Remus appeared to struggle to find the words. "Sirius just asked you to let me come here and you just allowed it, you didn't even think about it first. No matter who says I'm a human, I'm still a werewolf."
"Yes," Dumbledore conceded. "However, the decision was not even mine."
Sirius and Remus looked at each other, confused. "What do you mean, sir?" Sirius asked.
"I mean that it is my duty to allow entrance to every student whose name is on the admission list."
Again, they looked at each other.
Dumbledore put the Sorting Hat down on his desk and rose from his chair. "Come with me," he said, and Sirius and Remus followed him down a small hall on the room's left side to a set of doors. The headmaster opened them to reveal a small chamber. Inside was a quill, poised in midair over the longest roll of parchment that Sirius had ever seen. What seemed to be the middle, where the quill was, rested on a pedestal in the center of the room, but the ends of the parchment overflowed over the sides and it seemed to go on forever in both directions. And even as the three entered, the quill touched down and scribbled something on the parchment before rising and hovering over it again.
Both teenagers simply stared in awe at the secret room with the inconceivably long parchment while Dumbledore approached it and tapped it with his wand. Immediately, the quill moved out of the way and the section of parchment resting on the pedestal moved at a rapid pace for a moment before stopping. Once it stopped, Dumbledore beckoned them over, and Sirius peered down.
The top of the visible section of parchment read 1971, and beneath that he could see a list of names, names he recognized. They belonged to his classmates and himself, and there, about halfway down the list before 1972, was the name Remus Lupin.
"That's you?" Sirius whispered, though he'd never met another Remus and knew it had to be. In his peripheral vision—his eyes were still fixated on the parchment—he saw Remus nod.
"Your name was put down here when you were born," Dumbledore informed him. "All children born to Wizarding families are, and those of Muggle-borns are added once the child in question begins to display signs of magic. And the name cannot be erased or altered. Your being bitten by a werewolf as a young child cannot change that. You have every right to be a student here, Remus. Even if I objected, which I certainly do not, it is your right. Of course, I cannot force you if you do not wish to go. The choice is yours, Mr. Lupin."
Remus started at being called that. He looked at Sirius, then at Dumbledore. "Of course I want to go to school and take my OWLs," he murmured. "I just don't want to get Sirius in trouble."
"I'm sure I can deal with anyone from the Ministry," Dumbledore said. "But as I said before, it would be wiser to use a different last name. Ministry representatives may be cajoled into believing that there is a student here of the same age and with the same first name as the werewolf Remus Lupin, but unfortunately it will be impossible to to convince them either that Remus Lupin is not a werewolf, or that the werewolf Remus Lupin ought to be a student here. We may disagree with it, but legally, Remus is still classified as an animal. Even seeing his name on the admission list will not change their minds."
Both Remus and Sirius nodded, and at a gesture from Dumbledore, all three made their way back to the main part of his office and took their seats once more.
"So," Dumbledore said. "If you are accepting my offer of admittance, Remus, what should your assumed name be?"
"I don't know," Remus murmured, looking at Dumbledore shyly. Then he turned to Sirius. "Why don't you choose something?"
"I'm not your master anymore," Sirius reminded him. "You can make your own decisions."
"Well, I'm not asking you to tell me as my master," Remus said. "I'm asking you for a suggestion as my..." he glanced for a second at Dumbledore, "...friend."
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Well..." he said after a moment. "...as your friend...why don't you take my name?" he asked. "If I have my way I'm going to marry you someday anyway, so if you're agreeable we can just do the name change now."
Remus blushed deeply and looked quickly at Dumbledore again, but the older wizard seemed neither surprised nor affronted at the younger's words. On the contrary, he looked rather amused. "I'm...agreeable," Remus murmured.
"So, Mr. Remus Black, is it?" Dumbledore asked, smiling slightly. They both nodded, glancing shyly at each other. Sirius wondered if this meant they were engaged, and the thought brought a smile to his face. "All right then," Dumbledore said. "Well, Mr. Black, if you're going to be a student here, you need to be Sorted." He stood up, picked up the Sorting Hat from his desk, and placed it on Remus's head.
For a short moment Sirius worried that he might not be in Gryffindor—the thought had not occurred to him before and he did not like the idea of being in a different dormitory and different classes from Remus—but the worry was for nothing, as the hat shouted, "Gryffindor!" a second later.
"Excellent," Dumbledore said, removing the hat and returning it to its case with a wave of his wand. "Now we'll just have to see about getting another bed to the fifth-year Gryffindor boys' dormitories—and we'll have to order you some more supplies. You require more than just a wand as a first-time student, but we have a fund available for you and I can place the order for a cauldron and textbooks tonight."
"Thank you, sir," Sirius said. "But an extra bed...er...won't be necessary. Remus has always slept with me, even when I thought he was an animal, and now..." He trailed off before looking at Remus critically and then resuming again. "Well, he's a person, he can make up his own mind. Do you want your own bed, Remus?"
Remus was blushing again. "I've never needed my own bed," he said. "Lots of things are changing, I suppose, but that doesn't have to. I've always felt most comfortable sleeping in Sirius's bed. You could get one for me, headmaster, but...I probably won't use it."
"It is up to you, of course," Dumbledore said gently. "If you are both in agreement that you prefer the sleeping arrangements not be changed, they do not have to be. If either of you changes his mind, of course, you may, at any time, let myself or Professor McGonagall know."
Both of them nodded.
"All right," Dumbledore said. "Now, if there is nothing else, the both of you had better head off to bed. It's quite late as it is, and you've got class tomorrow—both of you."
They got up from their chairs and, with final good-nights and thank-yous to Dumbledore, headed back down the staircase.