A/N: Okay I know it's been awhile, but I've been very productive in my absence. Productive in real life, I mean, not in terms of writing. Sorry.
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Harry fidgeted as he waited in front of his floo. He'd just rung Sirius and Remus, unable to contain his excitement about the night before.
He was, in truth, waiting to speak to Remus. He'd never told Sirius about his and Draco's fling in Hogwarts, and just knew that he'd latch onto it as an opportunity to tease him. Remus, on the other hand, had figured it out for himself. It hadn't taken too many of Draco's visits to their house for Remus to pull Harry aside, and inquire about the tension. It hadn't taken long for the whole story to come pouring from Harry's mouth.
Sirius' face appearing in the fire interrupted his train of thought.
"Harry!" His face was flushed and his breathing hard, but he looked quite happy to see his godson.
"Sorry, did I interrupt something?" A tiny suggestion of what that something might be made Harry a little uncomfortable.
"Uh..." his eyes darted, "No, no, nothing."
Harry's fears confirmed, he realized he'd just caught his godfathers mid-coitus again. Why the hell they answered their floo during sex was beyond him.
At least he'd called first.
"Merlin, Sirius. Call me back later, will you?" His face must have shown his distaste for the situation.
A spark came into Sirius' eye as he tried not to laugh. "I don't know what you're talking about, but will do. Give us... er, give 'me' a half hour, will you?" And his face was gone.
Harry sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Remus and Sirius had said vows in front of their friends a little over four years ago, and they were still inseparable. He didn't quite appreciate the knowledge that they were getting laid more often than he.
It was at that moment that Ron stumbled out of his room. It was rare that the redhead slept later than Harry.
"What were you up to last night?"
Ron looked up, surprised. "What are you doing up?"
Harry smirked. He must have been hungover. "It's quite late, Ron."
He frowned and snatched his wand from the kitchen table. "Tempus." The floating numbers told the room it was a quarter to eight. On a Saturday morning.
Harry's brow creased. How odd. He'd been awake for at least an hour. Perhaps it had been his excitement over the night before...
"Anyway," Ron said, as though reading his mind, "How was your date?"
Harry felt a dreamy smile cross his face, and take up residence. "It wasn't a date."
He snorted. "Fine, fine," he rolled his eyes and gave Harry the distinct impression of not believing him. "How was your 'night out' with your oh-so handsome best friend, who happened to show up looking immaculate and holding a gift?"
The faraway smile parted, and allowed a very unmanly giggle to pass. Harry immediately closed his lips in protest. "It was alright, I guess." He shrugged but once again got the feeling that Ron had formed his own opinions.
They shared the duty of putting together a traditional English breakfast and gorged themselves. When the floo later rang for Harry, Ron made a quick escape.
It wasn't until later that he realized Ron had never answered him when he'd asked where he'd been the night before.
OOOoooOOO
"Harry!"
He was immediately enveloped in a hug, before he even saw the interior of the house.
"Pdfft!" He tried to cry, but found his face muffled in a shoulder.
"What was that, my little Buck?"
Of course, Sirius could speak properly. He was the taller of the two.
Harry finally wrestled himself from his godfather's grasp and smiled. "Hello."
"Harry!" his face turned stern so quickly that Harry had trouble registering it. "Don't you ever bloody go that long without coming to see me. If not for floo, I wouldn't have seen your face in weeks! Skipping our dinner...!" He threw his hands up in a decent imitation of Molly Weasley. "Poor Remus is at the end of his tether!"
Harry rolled his eyes at Padfoot's antics. He could be slightly dramatic when he chose to be.
"Speaking of Remus, where is – "
"What?" cried Sirius. "That's all you can say? After weeks and weeks of no contact?"
He resisted the urge to roll his eyes again, and wondered for a moment how he'd turned out to be so normal.
He pushed Sirius aside and entered the house without invitation.
"Remus?" he called. "Your husband's getting to be too much."
The greying man appeared at the top of the stairs, apparently already on his way down.
"So I hear. Sorry about that, but he's missed you. Always going on about it... Why he doesn't call you himself, I'm not sure."
"Because!" Sirius spluttered from behind Harry, "He should 'want' to see me!"
"I think it's his time of the month. Excuse him." Remus ushered Harry into the kitchen. "Would you like tea? I'm afraid we've run out of milk, but..."
"No, that's fine," Harry brushed off the offer. "I thought I'd make us lunch, in apology for missing supper the other night."
Remus' face lit up. "How thoughtful of you."
Harry glanced at Sirius, who had closed the door and was looking skeptical. It had been awhile since Harry had cooked them anything, and he hadn't exactly been renowned for his culinary successes, as a younger man.
"What did you have in mind?" he asked warily.
Harry held up the shopping bag that had gone unnoticed until that moment. "I wanted to try out this Asian Stir-fry.
Sirius, who was no chef himself, glanced wearily into his tidy kitchen. "You promise to clean up?"
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As it turned out, Harry's cooking skills had improved since the last time Remus had tried one of his creations. Or perhaps it was the point that he had actually followed a recipe this time.
Either way, he and Sirius were quite pleased with the result, even offering to clean the kitchen in his stead.
It wasn't until Sirius was finishing the quick spells in the kitchen that Harry turned to him and quietly said, "Do you think you could get him out of the house for a bit?"
Remus frowned but didn't question it.
"Padfoot!" he called from the living room, where he and Harry were enjoying a cup of tea.
"Yeah?" came the answering cry, accompanied by a crash from the kitchen, and a wince from Remus.
"Could you pop out for some milk? I hate my tea black."
Sirius' head popped around the corner.
"No you don't."
"Yes I do."
"No you don't. You only take a splash. And sometimes you prefer black." There was a short pause as Sirius thought over what he'd said. He smirked. "As well you should."
Remus crinkled his face pathetically. "But I want milk." He knew it was childish, but his husband had always been a sucker for his helplessness – even at Hogwarts.
Padfoot rolled his eyes but smiled and slid his shoes on. "From the muggle market, right?"
He tried to smile endearingly. "It's my favourite."
Sirius was still smiling when he opened the door. "You disgust me. See you, Harry." With a wave, he was gone.
Turning back to Harry, he saw a look of amused despair.
"What?" he asked innocently.
"That was pathetic. I can't believe you two." He chuckled, dropping his face to his hands.
He was glad that Harry had never had a problem with the two of them getting together. He'd always known that, in theory, he wouldn't mind, but Remus had always been proud of how easily they had all adjusted, and how happy for them Harry seemed. Especially given his recent relationship problems.
"So what is this all about?" he prompted, when Harry didn't start. He watched as a smile grew uncontrollably on his face.
Harry shifted in his seat, suddenly seeming full of energy. "Draco and I went on a date last night." His voice was full of barely contained excitement.
It took Remus' brain a moment to process. "A date? Together?"
"Yep."
He blinked.
"And I'll assume, by your general enthusiasm, that it went well?"
If he hadn't thought it to be impossible, Remus would have sworn that Harry's smile grew.
"So well. It was wonderful, Remus. It felt like a proper date. He paid, he chose where we went..."
Remus was shocked. He would have expected Harry to stumble over the references to 'he'. After all, Harry had always denied suggestions that he might be gay. He'd always brushed off the rare mention of his tryst with Draco as 'experimentation'. And yet here he was, happily proclaiming his date with a man.
Not that Remus was about to mention any of that.
"... And after dinner we went bowling. Bowling, Remus!"
"Mm," he replied, trying to sound enthusiastic.
Evidently, he hadn't quite succeeded, as Harry paused in his ramblings.
"What?"
Remus raised his eyebrows. "Yes?"
"You sound thoughtful. That's not good." Harry had adopted a suspicious look. He knew Remus too well.
"No, I'm quite happy that you're so excited. I just think that..." he stopped, trying to work through his thoughts. "Have you thought this through?"
A defensive edge took Harry. "What do you mean?"
Remus took a reluctant breath. He didn't mean to discourage a blossoming relationship, but it seemed that Harry had jumped in feet first. A wonderful trait he'd inherited from James and Sirius.
"He's your best friend. It would devastate you if things didn't work out. Have you considered that what happened last time could very well happen again? You were broken when he started dating after you had been together. I saw the way you threw yourself into relationship after relationship. There were no happy endings." He frowned at the memory, and looked to Harry.
"It won't be like that this time." Harry's jaw was set.
"How can you be sure?"
"We're..." He floundered for the words. "We've matured. We know what we want now."
"Harry," Remus said gently, just above a whisper. "That may apply to you, but can you be sure it does to him, as well?"
"Bloody hell, Remus!" He stood up angrily, yanking a hand threw his hair. "What are you doing? I was happy about this! What are you trying to accomplish?"
"I'm trying to make you think this through! I don't want you to be crushed again, when it doesn't turn out the way you'd hoped!"
"So nice of you to be concerned." There was a sneer in Harry's tone, but he was no longer shouting.
"Don't be angry. I'm sorry. I don't mean to upset you – I just want to make sure you're looking at things objectively. I saw how happy you were, and sometimes that can blind us."
"You were this happy with Sirius. How's that different?"
"It's... it's not, Harry. We were just lucky."
"So I could be lucky! Who's to say this might not give me everything!"
"But you've tried before." Remus wondered what he was doing. Why he was fighting so vehemently against the idea. He didn't need to wonder long, though. It was because he saw pain and disappointment in Harry's future.
"We're older now, things should be okay." Harry sounded very much as though he were trying to convince himself.
It was a valid consideration. "That may very well be. But please, be careful. Don't give your heart away too quickly."
"You did."
Remus tensed. "I suffered through loneliness for years before Sirius ever looked at me that way." His face grew hot at the admission, but it was important that Harry heard this. "I don't want you to waste years wanting something that Draco's not ready to give."
Harry's throat worked visibly as he tried to swallow. Then, suddenly, he stood.
"I'll see you later. Tell Sirius I said bye." He turned on the spot and disapparated, with little ceremony.
Remus brought a hand to massage the bridge of his nose. He really wished he'd not said that last to Harry: exposed himself. Even Sirius didn't know how badly he'd wanted him, and for how long.
In fact, while he was wishing for things, he wished he hadn't even started that chain of thought in Harry. He didn't know how the younger man would react – whether he would take it to heart and think on it, or whether he would see it as an opportunity for rebellion – another unfortunate trait he seemed to have inherited from Sirius.
He was still nursing a headache when Sirius popped in the front door, holding a carton of milk.
"I'm home, Honey Bunch!"
Remus almost smiled at the ridiculous endearment.
He turned the corner. "Hey, where's Harry?"
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There you have it. Your slightly delayed chapter. Sorry about those few weeks, there. You know, busy, busy. But I have slightly more time for the next few weeks (at which point, I'll be moving cross-continent, and restarting school... soooo we'll see about time management when the time comes). I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please let me know in a review : )