Taking a deep breath, Remus opened the door and tried not to wince at the noise assaulting his ears as he entered.
As he had become accustomed to, the pub was dark but clean but he tried not to meet anyone´s eyes as he passed a rowdy group of five playing cards while others looked up from where they were nursing their drinks scattered around the small area or sitting together.
Loud boisterous laughter made him startle as one of the card players clearly won, the others grumbling and he hurried to the bar where Aberforth was wiping a glass clean while looking absolutely murderous.
"He's upstairs," he grumbled before Remus could even work up the courage to address him and relieved he moved around the bar to make his way up the rickety wooden staircase to the sitting room; wet cloths wiping every surface while a broom was sweeping by the fireplace.
"Sirius?" he called out; relieved when an answer came almost immediately and he made his way towards where the sound had come from.
Passing open doors where beds were magically making themselves and mops mopping the floors; he simply leaned into the door opening to watch his friend work for a moment as he placed clean towels in the tiny bathroom.
"Aren't you a little early?" Walking over to the small cleaning cart, Sirius picked up three pieces of chocolate and placed two on the pillows of the now neatly made beds before tossing one at him.
"Maybe," grinning he unwrapped the chocolate and popped it into his mouth. "Abe's wiping glasses with his rag again."
"It's a clean rag; I made sure there are several of them stocked below the bar."
Closing the door behind him, a sweep from his wand had all the materials return to the broom closet and neatly stack themselves as Sirius returned his little cart there as well.
Making a final check of the rooms, he placed chocolates on all of the pillows and closed the doors before making his way downstairs so Remus followed him. "Butterbeer?"
"Sure," taking a place at the bar, he accepted the bottle slid to him and watched as Sirius made his way to the card playing group with refills of various drinks; being greeted with loud cheering as they gamely collected their empty glasses for him to take back.
"Alice and Fab both said hi and you've missed the excitement," his friend commented quietly when he returned and took a wet rag to wipe down the counter-top. "Dung got kicked out."
"Who is Dung again?"
"The scruffy ginger with the disgusting tobacco smell hanging around him."
"Really? What happened?"
"He insulted Abe when he refused to give him a good price for a stack of golden goblets and as a result Abe threw him out," Sirius said. "He didn't even use his wand, just picked him up by the scruff of his neck and bodily tossed him out."
"What did he say to piss Abe off badly enough to do that?"
"Called him a wanking goat minger," it was harder to decipher the look in Sirius' eyes with the brown contacts and half his face hidden by the cap he wore, but Remus had the distinct feeling the other was laughing at him as he choked on his drink at hearing language only Peter ever used come from his best friend's lips.
"Wow, that's..."
"Yeah," deeming the counter clean, Sirius tossed the rag back into the water. "And that at ten in the morning."
Suddenly the more than thunderous look on the Inn owner´s face made sense and Remus blew out a low breath. "That's some nerve."
"More like utterly idiotic as this is the only place he can openly sell his stolen goods," a small smile crossed his lips. "And well, you know Abe."
"He's good at holding a grudge," he leaned forward to place his empty bottle behind the counter. "And he never forgets anything."
"Exactly."
Pulling his book out of his bag, he spent the remaining time alternating between reading a little and watching Sirius interact with both Abe and the costumers as he finished his shift.
Eventually Sirius pulled out two bottles of chocolate milk and two mugs before disappearing into the back for a moment to return with two pieces of tart on plates and Remus closed his book.
"Where'd you get the pie?"
"Tiffy and I made it last night since I promised you to eat pie with you today," he informed him as he placed the plates before him and poured the chocolate into the mugs. "It's gooseberry tart."
"A new creation, huh?" Eyeing the tart curiously, he sniffed to take in the smell and noted it smelled neither overly sweet or sour. "Smells nice."
"I hope it tastes good as well," Sirius turned to Abe; who immediately looked up with a much kinder expression than he'd given Remus. "I'm done."
"You left me any pie for later?"
"Two pieces, they are in the fridge," Sirius disappeared through the back door, returning with both another piece of tart, his wallet, jacket and mirror; which he all left with Remus before disappearing into the back again. "I've stocked your fridge with fresh food while I was at it so you better eat it all. If I come in on Wednesday and it's not all gone, we're going to have words."
"Of course we are," shooting a silencing look at Remus, Abe picked Sirius' wallet up and slipped three Galleons into it before returning to his spot and resuming his cleaning again.
Hiding a smile at the action, Remus looked up to see Sirius reappear; apron, contacts and cap all missing as he pocketed his possessions before tapping both cups to heat up the chocolate and slipping around the counter to take a seat beside Remus.
Abe tossed his rag down and came over, pulling the third plate to himself and accepting the fork Sirius wordlessly held out to him.
"Dig in."
The tart was absolutely divine; the fruity taste rich in flavour and Remus thought he detected a slightly sweet hint underneath it.
"If I say yes to living with you, does that mean I'll be getting these kind of treats all the time?"
"If you're smart you marry him before some bird can attempt to run off with him," Abe commented between bites. "He's got one helluva skill."
Entirely too used to Abe making this kind of comments by now, Remus barely even flushed any more even as Sirius smiled up at Abe.
"So I take it the pie passes?"
Narrowing his eyes, Abe looked at Sirius calculating. "Are you quite sure I can't keep you after graduation?"
"Careful or I might think you just want me for my baking skills," Sirius teased.
"That and your cooking skills. Not to mention you can clean," Abe indicated to the clean bar. "You're as effective as a House-elf, though smarter and better company, too."
"Back off, he's mine," wrapping an arm around Sirius' waist, he pulled him close and glared at the bartender playfully. "My House-elf, find your own."
"Can I plead clothes?"
"Nope, you are stuck with me," grinning Remus let go of Sirius again to continue polishing his plate off as Abe laughed and held up his hands in surrender.
"Speaking of being stuck, how do you think James is doing?"
"Probably wishing he were here instead," Abe grumbled. "Poor fellow."
"He's the one who said yes to the date," shrugging, Remus pushed his empty plate away and folded his hands around his cup of hot chocolate.
Pulling a can out from under the bar, Abe dumped a generous amount of whipped cream into Sirius' cup before turning to Remus. "Want whipped cream?"
"How come you just dump it on me but ask him?" Sirius asked as Remus happily pushed his cup towards Abe to receive an equal amount.
"Even with your latest grow spurt you are still much too skinny to my liking."
"Seriously, what is it with people and trying to fatten me up?" Sirius complained half-heartedly, but even as the two bantered back and forth, Remus glanced at his best friend to realise it was true and Sirius had grown taller.
Even when sitting, he could see Sirius' legs were longer and he realised he didn't have to look down very far any more to be able to look his friend into the eyes and it was clear as day that his dark-haired companion had finally grown taller.
Relief filled him as it meant the Blacks' damaging influences hadn't completely stunted his grow like they had been afraid of after all and he wondered if James had realised the difference yet.
"Rem?"
"Hmmm?" Looking up to find Sirius give him a bemused look, he realised he'd gotten lost in his thoughts. "Sorry, what did you say?"
"I said that we should get moving if we want to do some shopping before having to return to the castle."
"Right," emptying out his cup, Remus rose to his feet.
"You fed the goats?" Picking up Sirius' beaten jacket, Abe handed it over before dumping their plates and cups into the clean dish water where they cleaned themselves before returning to the cupboard.
"I wouldn't dare forget," Sirius teased as he put it on. "I'll see you on Wednesday?"
"Got no plans to go anywhere, you're coming through the passage again?"
"Yeah, it will be less risky for Tiffy that way."
"I really got to look into buying a painting to hide that passage behind so no one notices it's there," collecting his rag, Abe walked to the door with them.
"I've got a permanent idea for that, but it'll take a few more months to get it together," grinning, Sirius answered the hug Abe pulled him into before they left with a wave.
"So, where to?"
"Honeydukes?"
Now that they were standing, it was easier to see Sirius had indeed grown as he finally came up to his shoulders, though he reckoned his friend was still somewhat smaller than James was.
"What're you staring at me for?"
"I'm just thinking that you need a haircut," reaching out he playfully tugged on the slightly too long locks. "It's nearly reaching your collar again."
"I know, I was thinking of asking you or Pan to cut it tonight," brushing a lock behind his ear, Sirius looked up to him. "Might be wise to cut James' as well."
"I'm not touching that mess, I'm willing to handle Pete's rag, but James is your responsibility."
"Like Pete's going to let you touch his mane without a fight but it's a deal," chuckling they began making their way down the street and as Sirius waved to one of the Aurors patrolling, Remus suddenly remembered his friend had mentioned seeing Alice and Fabian.
"How were Alice and Fabian doing?"
"Very well, Alice and Frank have just finished their training so are qualified Aurors now."
"What are they all doing?"
"You know that's classified," though the tight smile on Sirius' lips told him the other knew at least some of what they were doing, Remus didn't pry as he knew his friend wouldn't be forthcoming with another's secrets.
"Any leeway in the war, yet?"
"No, the Aurors usually arrive at the scene too late to do much more than clean up and wipe Muggles memories."
Glancing at his dark-haired companion, Remus wondered why his words made him feel like he was missing something big. "Why clean up? Muggles wouldn't recognise a murder was magical in nature, would they?"
"No, but they might raise questions when the surroundings are blasted and destroyed by no concrete cause," the small proud smile that crossed Sirius' lips told Remus he had been right in thinking he had missed something and he had to swallow down a smile at the knowledge he had made his friend proud by detecting it. "There's others fighting the Death Eaters; ones who are not bound to the Ministry."
"Aren't there always some people who stand up against them?"
"This is a whole group."
"Alice told you about this?"
"No, I first heard about them at the Inn," Sirius hesitated, covertly casting a Muffliato before looking up to him. "I need you to solemnly swear you will not speak to anyone about this but us."
"I solemnly swear," he readily said and Sirius nodded in acceptance.
"They call themselves the Order of the Phoenix."
"Order of ...you think Dum..."
"I know so," Sirius cut him off, grey eyes piercing him in place. "And I plan to join them."
"Join...are you insane?," Remus couldn't help but hiss at him, stopping in his tracks to face Sirius fully. "Do you have any idea how dangerous that would be?"
"Less dangerous than to go up against them with just James. At least with a group, we stand a better chance of actually making a difference."
"That's why you want to get your Masteries for Healing and Counter-Curses so quickly, isn't it?" Suddenly connecting Sirius' desire to complete those two specific masteries with what he'd learned now, his heart clenched. "Because they are things you believe you'll need the most immediately after graduation."
Something tight crossed Sirius' expression before he nodded. "I hope to be able to manage Transfiguration and Runes as well, but those two seemed the most important to me to learn as quickly as possible."
Sighing, he ran a hand through his hair; resisting the urge to shake some sense into his friend. "When are you joining?"
"After graduation; they don't take under-aged members and I made a promise to not graduate early in exchange for receiving extra training."
"Dumbledore agreed to train you?" He wasn't quite sure there was any more training they could take to become stronger, not with all the training they already did.
"No," the small smile crossing Sirius' lips made Remus frown, not sure what was causing it but shook it off for the more important topic.
"You know other members of this group?"
"They might be closer than you think," the cryptic answer made Remus' heart jump and his breath stocked as he knew Sirius wouldn't trust strangers to fight at his side and have his or James' back like that, he would only be willing to join if he knew they were trustworthy; if he personally knew and trusted them.
"You trust them," it wasn't a question but Sirius nodded anyway to confirm his suspicions.
"James and I will be asked to join after graduation," those same warm grey eyes met his own steadily; his heart stopping at the revelation.
From the start his friends had known they would be forced to take a stand; even if they hadn't wanted to fight, they wouldn't be able to walk away. They had known what was coming and endlessly trained; learning as much as they could so that they would be prepared for the fight to come.
Even now, Sirius was pushing himself in his studies and it explained why James was so determined to learn as much of what Sirius was passing along of his extra studies as he could absorb; always much more seriously participating than Remus' own half-hearted attempts.
He wondered how he could've been so blind all this time; not truly realising that the war wouldn't just pass them by when it had always lingered around them in every move they made; every step his friends made in their education was planned out with the war in mind.
And rightly so as the Battle of Hogsmeade had already shown the Death Eaters didn't care they were just children and now this so called Order was already requesting their participation for the future; meaning the war wasn't likely to be over any time soon.
"I want you to think about what you want to do. It will be dangerous and joining will mean you become a target; your family will become a target. It will likely mean Moony won't stay a secret and people will react to it so think very carefully on what you want to do. Don't join just because James and I do, you have to think for yourself what you think it's worth doing so."
The seriousness in Sirius' eyes and words turned Remus' throat dry, but also made him realise he had been ready to join just because his friends were going to; not even thinking of the consequences his actions might have on himself and his family. But it was just like Sirius to do think beyond initial consequences so he found himself nodding. "I will, but how can you even be so sure they would accept me if I did decide I wanted to join."
"They know of your capabilities and will ask you in due time so I want you to think about it seriously," came the simple reply. "Do you want to take some candy back for Pete?"
Hesitating at the sudden change of subject, Remus looked out over the crowd of people wandering through the snow in the distance and realised that even with the Muffliato cast, this was not the place to keep discussing this. Deciding to think about what he truly wanted before bringing the subject up again, he went along with the subject change.
"If we were smart, we wouldn't."
"I'd feel bad if we didn't, though."
It really wasn't wise to bring more sweets for Pete to consume, but then it wasn't really up to them to tell their friend what to do with his own body. "Then let's buy a little bit and mostly salty stuff."
"Not sure salty sweets are much better than sweet ones, but all right. And we need to buy some chocolate for you."
"Yes mum," slipping a hand in Sirius', they strolled towards Honeydukes and he held open the door so his friend could escape the cold wind before him.
"You know the rules," Sirius picked up some Cauldron Cakes and Pumpkin Pastries to put them in the basket he retrieved.
Rolling his eyes, Remus nodded and made his way into the crowded shop with Sirius right behind him.
Picking a variety of chocolates from Chocoballs and Choco-Locos to normal bars and Wizochoc, he was surprised to see his friend picked several other things as well.
"Are you actually going to eat any of that?"
"Maybe some Nougat and Glacial Snow Flakes, most of the rest is for James and Peter to share. And Pan asked me to bring her Sugared Butterfly Wings and Treacle Fudge since she's taking the time to meet Xeno and she knew we were going here anyway," he picked up some Chocolate Cauldrons. "Those are for Dad and I'd like to take some Toffees to send to Mum and your Mum."
"Here," since he was standing closer, he put several in two bags and handed them over. "I assume you want to send Dad something, too?"
"I was thinking of Liquorice Wands?"
"Good choice, they're further down the shop," worming his way through the crowd to pick a few up, he tossed them into the rather full basket and gazed around the shop. "Anything else?"
"More chocolate as this is likely the last visit of the year and I want you to last until we return after the summer and I know you won't buy any then."
"Some more normal bars then," he knew better than to argue and just picked up several bars.
"Register?"
"If you're done?" Grey eyes bore into his own momentarily before he seemed satisfied and turned to the register. "Hello Mr Harkiss."
"Hello boys, stocking up on chocolate again?"
"You know it," grinning Sirius pulled out his wallet and laid out four Galleons; pocketing his change without even noticing the Galleons Aberforth had added.
"One more year left at Hogwarts after this, don't you?" Mr Harkiss bagged their candy into two large bags, handing the biggest one to Remus. "I'm going to miss you boys when you graduate."
"We're not gone yet," Remus grinned.
"I'm glad for that, it will be nice to see you boys a few more times before I stop."
"It's getting time to turn the shop over to Ambrosius?" Sirius asked as he handed Mr Harkiss items from his basket to bag up.
"He knows I'm looking to retire sometime soon so made a very generous offer I couldn't resist," the man smiled. "It's getting time to rest these old bones of mine and Ambrosius will continue the legacy of this shop perfectly."
"He certainly has heart for the business," glancing towards the back of the shop where the other man was cheerfully helping customers, Remus smiled. "Still, I'm glad you're staying just a little bit longer."
"Likewise," the man handed the second filled bag over to Sirius, his wrinkly old hand reaching out to fold around Sirius' to keep him in place as he reached below the counter with the other; pressing something into Sirius' free hand. "I was going to leave this with Aberforth last week but he said you were scheduled to come by today so I wanted to give it to you myself."
"I...thank you," smiling Sirius turned his hand to hold whatever he had been given against his stomach. "You didn't have to do that."
"Specifically made for my favourite customers," he patted his shoulder. "Until next time boys."
"Thank you and until next time," they chorused as they left with a wave and outside Remus took Sirius' bag to shrink them both and pocket them.
"What did he give you?"
"Chocolate eggs," revealing his hand, Remus saw a small gift bag filled with at least two dozen chocolate eggs resting in it.
"That's kind, think he'd mind if we pre-tested them before Easter?"
"Probably not," pulling a green one out of the bag, Sirius handed it over before picking a red one for himself and popping it into his mouth. "Oh, raspberry, nice."
Finding the green one to be filled with pistachio Remus smiled. "It looks like he's made chocolate that's less sweet for you. That's really generous and kind."
"I'll send him a thank you note tonight," Sirius decided as he put the chocolates away. "Do you need anything specific like clothes or school supplies?"
"No, I'm good. So we can just go stroll around if you don't need anything either."
"Why don't we visit the post office to send these off while we're here, you could send a postcard again as well and then just look around?"
Agreeing, they did just that before calmly strolling around; entering shops when deeming them interesting enough.
"They left Madam Puddifoot," Sirius eventually spoke up and Remus glanced at him.
"You can smell him all the way from here?"
"No, but James passed by here not too long ago."
"Training truly is paying off, isn't it?" Whistling impressed, Remus smiled.
"Partly, I can track James' scent for hours without a problem and I can follow yours and Pete's for about two hours if the trail is fresh enough. It's easier as Padfoot, though."
"It usually is," sneaking a hand into Sirius' jacket pocket, he pulled out two chocolates. "Want to return to the castle since we're pretty much done and we shouldn't risk teachers seeing you here?"
"Sure," accepting the egg held out to him with a fond shake of his head, Sirius slipped his hand in his again and they began making their way back.
