A/N: Okay, this may seem like a bit of a filler chapter, but there are details here that I will come back to later that are important! Eek.
The rest of May passed relatively quietly. Almost too quietly, thought Remus. It was like the calm before the storm.
The storm of what?
His marriage with Tonks finally seemed to be getting back on track; he could sense her attempting to make an effort as opposed to the defeated aura that had smothered her for the past few weeks. The string of late work nights and coming home past midnight had lessened. Just yesterday they had gone out together to have dinner. An actual date. He couldn't remember the last time they had one prior to that. And it had been enjoyable – she had been in a good mood, laughing and eating with a hearty appetite, even flirting with him. It almost seemed like old times. Almost. But it was good enough.
No. At the moment, that wasn't what was bothering him.
He bounced Teddy up and down as he considered.
Harry was hiding something.
He hadn't been certain at first, putting the lack of recent contact down to Harry's duties as an Auror-in-training. But when another week passed since his rejected dinner invitation and no word came from Harry, he knew it for sure. He was being avoided.
The reason for the avoidance was something a lot more difficult to pinpoint.
He was (almost) quite certain he hadn't done anything. Which meant that Harry was avoiding him for reasons of his own.
He told himself that it was really none of his business. It was probably personal and he needed time to figure it out. He was an adult. He would treat this situation like an adult. When Harry was ready to talk, he would contact Remus again.
If only he wasn't so damn curious.
Looking down at his peacefully sleeping son, Remus asked aloud, "What do you think Uncle Harry's hiding, Teddy?"
To his surprise, Teddy woke up, gurgled and contemplated him with one eye. Evidently considering his father's problems wasn't important enough to disturb his sleep, he closed his eyes again.
For a moment, Remus thought back to his own childhood. His main memories of that revolved around the discovery and dealings with his lycanthropy.
He gave his son a fierce kiss on the forehead. At least his own child didn't have those problems. And Remus swore he never would.
###
Two weeks since Sirius's sudden return from the Veil, Harry's life had resettled itself into a new routine. He woke up at seven, made breakfast (or more accurately, set out the cereal box and a loaf of bread from the cabinet on the kitchen table and put on the kettle) and skimmed over the headlines of the Prophet. He left for Auror training at seven thirty, leaving breakfast on the table for Sirius whose morning wake-up time depended on his mood and varied from nine till noon. During lunchtime, he would order an extra portion and give it to Hedwig to take back to Grimmauld Place for Sirius. As yet, no one had questioned him on his suddenly doubled appetite. Ron would drop by the house in the afternoon for an hour or so to keep Sirius company while he waited for news from England's Quidditch team, and as far as Harry was concerned these afternoon sessions were spent largely discussing the detailed pros and cons of the current top Quidditch players.
Then, when he returned home after training, he would either pop something into the microwave (a Muggle invention he thought worth every investment) otherwise Hermione would come around and cook a little something. The rest of the evening was spent chatting with Sirius, and Harry was slowly getting to know his godfather better little by little. No topics were off limits during their chats except for one noticeable exception: Remus. Every time Harry mentioned his previous professor's name, Sirius would clam up and changed the subject. It was frustrating, but Harry knew what his godfather needed was time, and it was with visible effort that he quelled his increasingly intense desire to know more about their mysterious relationship and gave it to him.
But as June rolled around, Harry realized there was going to be a disruption to the routine they had settled into so nicely.
"Ginny's back in two weeks," he told Ron and Hermione as they had lunch together on the sixth day of June. "She'll want to stay with me for a while, at some point… what do I tell her about Sirius?"
They had all come to a consensus the night of Sirius's return that they would not tell anyone what had happened. "At least," Hermione had said, "not until we figure out what's actually going on here – people don't come back from the dead just like that."
They'd known it couldn't last forever. But none of them could agree on who was the best person to tell, and the entire question had disintegrated as they focused on the everyday aspects of their lives.
Ron paused with a mouthful of turkey sandwich in his mouth. "Term is over already?" He said, sounding amazed. "Bloody hell… that means Ginny's finished her seventh year."
Hermione chewed her pasta with more force than necessary, looking a little disgruntled. Harry watched silently. He knew that Hermione loved her job in the Ministry working as the youngest Unspeakable apprentice, but had always suspected that she always slightly regretted not returning to Hogwarts to finish her final year. It had seemed like such trivial thing after the war. Changes were happening left and right, and a stable career seemed like the more important choice for a reliably happy future.
Lots of things seemed trivial after the war, really. That was the trouble: war warped all previous perspective on life.
"You should tell her, mate. It's just Ginny," said Ron, interrupting his thoughts between mouthfuls.
Hermione was busy ripping off chunks of garlic bread so hard half of it flew across the table. "I think we should be more careful. Ginny might tell someone else, and then it'll spread like wildfire—"
"My sister is not a blabbermouth," Ron snapped.
"I didn't say she is, I was merely emphasizing our need to be cautious—"
"Hey," Harry cut in, feeling a little irritated. "Can we get through one meal without you two arguing? Thank you," he added as his best friends looked a little shameful. "Now can we get back to the issue? What should I tell Ginny?"
"Tell her the truth," Ron swallowed the last bite of his sandwich with a swig of pumpkin juice and gave Harry's untouched soup a serious stare. "You gonna eat that, mate?"
Harry, who felt like he had more important issues to worry about, pushed the soup across to Ron. "You're saying I should tell her my dead godfather has miraculously returned and has been living with me for almost two weeks, and he's also currently avoiding his secret werewolf lover because he just found out he's married?"
Ron choked on a mouthful of soup. "Well, when you put it like that…"
Looking more amused than anything else, Hermione raised one eyebrow and repeated, "'Secret werewolf lover'?"
Harry winced. "I kind of regretted that even as the words were coming out of my mouth."
Hermione rolled her eyes. "Look, all I'm saying is, we can't even tell Ginny much anyway. We know next to nothing about Sirius's return ourselves except for what he's told us, and I for one think he's not telling us everything. I think it's just a better precaution to do a little more research and try to find out more about what's really happening here before we go around spreading news that the dead are coming back to life, can you imagine what kind of mess that would cause? And we also have to consider…" She paused, looking suddenly wary as she glanced at Harry.
He had a sneaking suspicion that he knew what she wanted to say. He didn't want to hear it. He opened a bottle of water and started drinking instead.
Being Hermione, she said it anyway. "We have to consider that it might have something to do with the Death Eaters and Voldemort's supporters, Harry. Or even some new mysterious force at work here. We don't know what that means." We don't know if this means a revival of war. We don't know if he'll be able to stay.
Harry continued to drink, glad that he had given Ron his soup because his appetite had now vanished completely. He didn't want to think about it.
After a moment, he realized he was sucking in air. The empty bottle in his hand had crumbled in on itself. He tossed it into the trashcan and stood up.
"I'll tell Ginny that I'm still renovating and she can't stay with me yet," he said abruptly. "Let's take it day by day."
And he left before either Ron or Hermione could say anything else.
###
That night when Remus slept, the dreams started.
He was back in Hogwarts with Sirius, James and Peter. It was their fourth year; the year when Remus had finally realized that his overwhelming crush on Sirius wasn't about to go away anytime soon. They were in the Quidditch pitch; Sirius and James competing broom tricks in air while he and Peter sat on the wet grass, heads tilted up, watching and laughing.
"Watch this!" James flipped himself upside-down on his broom and released his hands so that he was hanging only by his legs.
"Beginner's stuff, Potter," Sirius imitated the trick easily, before unhooking one leg so that he was dangling from his broom by one knee. Remus felt his heart flip-flop.
James snorted. He swung himself back upright effortlessly, then without warning turned his broom and headed straight towards Sirius at full speed.
There was a frantic shout that Remus realized came from himself. In the air, Sirius swung himself sideways and latched onto his broom again with both hands, pulling himself back on top just as James zoomed through the empty space he had been hanging in a second ago. "You arse," Sirius called, laughing easily.
James was grinning, hair sticking up straight from the wind. He adjusted his glasses and glanced down at the two figures standing in the pitch. "I think we'd better stop it before Moony has a heart attack."
Sirius peered down. "Wonder if he'll live through this, then?" He mused. He turned his broom and headed downwards, aiming towards the other two Marauders.
Remus saw him coming. Previous relief that both Sirius and James were all right was quickly turning into suspicious dread. As Sirius got closer, Remus started backing away. "Oh, no no no…"
"Oh yes!" Sirius crowed. In one smooth motion he released both hands from his broom and grabbed Remus under his arms, using the momentum of his speed to lift him up and sit him in front.
"ARE YOU MAD?" Remus yelled, holding onto the broom with both hands for dear life.
"This is fun!" Sirius let out a triumphant whoop and pointed the nose of the broom back up into the sky, flying them towards James, who was clinging onto his broom in fits of hysterical laughter.
"IF I LIVE, REST ASSURED THAT I WILL KILL YOU."
Remus squeezed his eyes shut against the wind, steadfastly determined not to look down and started muttering a prayer to every god and wizard he knew under his breath.
His eyes snapped open a moment later and he forgot what he had been doing as he felt two strong skinny arms snake around his waist from behind and pull him close. "Relax," he heard Sirius whisper right next to his ear. "I know what I'm doing."
So Remus did. He leaned back slightly against Sirius, savouring the warmth of the other boy's skin, and closed his eyes again. He felt the wind whipping his cheeks as they soared towards the clouds, felt Sirius's arms wound tightly around his waist. And it was the memory of this feeling that helped him endure the next year and a half in which he kept his feelings tightly secured from Sirius's knowledge. Because at that moment, it was enough.
Then the broom dipped and Remus let out a high pitched, very un-manly screech. He heard Sirius chuckling as one hand was released from his waist. "Whoops, sorry, forgot to steer."
As they headed back towards the ground, Remus gazed up towards the watery blue sky and swore that he wouldn't forget this moment as long as he lived.
He woke with a start, heart pounding and palms sweating. Beside him, he could hear Tonks's soft snores. He fisted his pillow and buried his face into the cotton sheets, muffling a groan.
He didn't sleep at all for the rest of the night.
If it seems like I'm preoccupied with getting the dates right, that's cause I am. Reason of which will become clear in the next couple of chapters, if none of you clever readers can guess it first! I want their reunion to coincide with a very particular date (which I genuinely hope I'm right about...). Oh, and Hedwig is alive here because, well, I like Hedwig.
Review, review, review!