(A/N: The slash is more obvious in this chapter, although it's not anywhere
near the NC-17 it originally had.)
The Visit
For the fifth time in the last twenty minutes, Natalie Black had to re- measure one of her potion ingredients. The Burn-Healing Potion was simple enough to prepare, but it required extreme precision. If done incorrectly, the potion would aggravate burns, not help heal them. She needed to concentrate, but she kept losing count of how much of what ingredient she had measured out. It was a good thing she followed the precaution of measuring each ingredient into its own separate container before adding it to the mixture. If not, she would have already ruined this batch.
Pouring the dish of aloe sap back into the bottle, she started over, mentally screaming out the number of tablespoons, while trying to ignore the rapid, insistent, utterly maddening tattoo the heels of her son's boots were beating on the floor.
'Six and three quarters.' Thank everything holy, that was the last ingredient. She carefully poured the liquid into her cauldron, while stirring rapidly. Now she could let it simmer. She turned to look at Sirius, who sat at the kitchen table, staring vacantly out the window. He was absolutely motionless except for his furiously tapping feet. She briefly considered throwing a Jelly Legs jinx his way.
"You know, if you're that interested in tap dancing, perhaps you should consider taking lessons," she commented dryly.
Sirius looked at her blankly, his feet blessedly still. "What?"
She stared pointedly at his boots.
"Oh. Sorry," he said, realization dawning.
"Not that I'm trying to chase you out of my kitchen, but wouldn't it make more sense to wait for Remus by the fireplace in the study? That's where he'll show up, right?"
Sirius grinned sheepishly. "Dad chased me out of the study. Said he couldn't concentrate on his numbers with me squirming about like a pile of maggots on rotting flesh."
"Eeew! Sirius!" She winced, groaning at the image.
His smile broadened. "*He* made it up, not me. I'm never that crass."
She was about to retort when they both heard the door of the study open and Remus Lupin's voice in conversation with Altair Black.
Sirius leaped to his feet and bolted from the kitchen. Natalie smiled, her suspicions confirmed.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Remus dropped his suitcase on the bed in the guest room. "I need to hang a few things in the - mmmph!"
His words were smothered by a hot, ravenous mouth that flattened his lips against his teeth. A pair of strong arms swept him tight to the firm body he'd missed over the last week. Without conscious thought, Remus' hands flew up to bury themselves in the rich, silky hair, twisting locks of black silk against his palms. He kissed back, all thoughts of clothing banished under the spell of the dancing tongue invading his mouth and the muscular thigh rubbing against his groin.
Breathless, they broke the kiss, but not the hold they had on each other.
"Happy to see me, Moony?" Sirius asked conversationally. His hand slid between them, replacing the firm thigh, its movements much more precise and concentrated. It found what it sought. "You're quite the eager boy, aren't you?"
"Ohhhh," Remus breathed, trying unsuccessfully to recover his equilibrium, lost in his lover's playful and single-minded assault. His pants were suddenly too tight. His hips seemed to think they could wriggle free of the binding cloth by thrusting towards that talented, clever hand. And, mmm, Sirius tasted so good.
There was a soft thump as Remus' shoulders and back met the wall. He hadn't even realized that Sirius was propelling him backwards, gently pushing and nudging with his hands, his hips, his thirsty mouth. Remus had no choice, really, except to surrender to his lover's whim. It would be a sweet surrender, he knew, tingling under the touch of those magic fingers. But, he wouldn't go down without a fight, he determined, taking firm hold of Sirius' head, forcing him to keep still while his own tongue explored the warm cavern of Sirius' mouth.
But, those hands! Insistent, demanding, petting, teasing hands. Squeezing and stroking the swelling in his pants, lightly undoing the snap and coaxing the zipper down. All the while their mouths feasted and licked and sucked on one another.
Remus was left gasping into the empty air, as the ebony head slipped down past his chest. Sirius dropped to his knees, his face leaning into loosened clothing. Remus couldn't stifle his moans. Sirius looked up at him, grinning with anticipatory lust. "Shhhh." Sirius whispered. "Don't get too loud."
All Remus' senses swelled to overload. God, nothing was better than this! After a few minutes, Sirius rose to his feet. He leaned in for a kiss but before their lips met, intrusive sounds were heard.
"Sirius!" Altair called out, his footsteps getting louder as he approached the bedroom. Licking his lips one last time, Sirius strolled through the doorway, casually intercepting his father. In a blushing panic, Remus scrambled madly to put his clothing in order. Then he grabbed some shirts from his suitcase and sprang lightly to the closet as father and son appeared, making plans for the next few days.
"That's alright with you, isn't it, Remus?" Sirius asked, nonchalantly lounging against the wall.
"I'm sorry, I didn't hear what you were discussing," Remus replied, fumbling with a tangle of hangers.
"My Dad suggested that we all go down to London on Wednesday rather than tomorrow. He needs to go to his office to clear up some details before he does his final year-end song and dance with the Gringotts representatives."
"Right," Altair continued, cocking an eyebrow at his son's choice of words. "On Wednesday, you boys can amuse yourself in Diagon Alley in the morning while I deal with the Goblins, and we'll meet up later to head to the Tate. Remus, I thought Sirius mentioned that you wanted to go to that Celtic art exhibit at the British Museum. We'd probably have time to do that, too."
Remus grinned with pure delight. "Yes, I do want to see that! It ties in with a project I'm doing in my Runes class. That would be great!"
Altair smiled at him. "It's nice to know that there is someone studious in Sirius' life." He glanced at his son, who was also smiling fondly at Remus, but who suddenly caught his father's implication.
"Wait a minute!" Sirius snorted indignantly. "You said yourself you were proud of my grades! Just because I don't need to spend a minimum of six hours a day with my nose in a book -"
"I'm just teasing," Altair laughed. His face took on an unexpected conspiratorial look. "Your mum will be out all day tomorrow, too. She said something about starting to research her next book, but then muttered vague and frightening things about 'after Christmas sales.'" He shuddered. "So, you'll be left to your own devices tomorrow." Altair turned to leave, one hand reaching out to squeeze Sirius' shoulder affectionately. "I'm sure you'll keep yourselves occupied." Smiling enigmatically, his vibrant blue eyes swept over both boys as he left the room.
"Hmmm." Sirius stared briefly at the empty doorway as his father's footsteps receded down the hall. Seeing Remus questioning look, he crossed to the bed and perched at the edge of the mattress. "I told them."
"Told who what?"
"My parents. I told them I'm gay."
"Oh." Remus came to sit next to Sirius, weighing this news in his mind. "They're okay with it, right?"
"Yeah, they're fine. They told me what they want most is for me to be happy, and find the great love of my life, no matter who that might be." He looked into the warm hazel eyes. "I didn't tell them that I've already found him."
Remus leaned over to place a long, sweet kiss on his lover's lips. "Am I? The love of your life?"
Sirius nodded, all traces of lasciviousness gone. Remus kissed him again. "You're mine, too, Paddy."
He rose to finish unpacking. Sirius watched the smooth, spare movements of Remus' hands and body. He loved the werewolf's elegant bearing, made all the more appealing because Remus didn't see it in himself. It was completely natural, innate and wonderfully attractive to Sirius.
As he watched, he saw Remus' lips twitch and slowly curve into a wide smile. The kaleidoscopic eyes twinkled. "I think your Dad knows about us."
Sirius frowned slightly. "Really? I'm not sure. Although he was wearing an odd expression when he left, wasn't he? And that comment about being sure we'd keep ourselves occupied tomorrow." He stared at Remus, somewhat nonplussed. "You really think he figured it out?"
"Well, if you wanted to keep it a secret you shouldn't have been standing there with that completely goofy grin on your face. The one James calls the 'lovesick adoration face.'"
"I wasn't!"
"You were! And your Dad saw it. He's not an idiot, you know."
A vaguely horrified expression spread over Sirius' handsome features. "Oh, God. So you think he was implying that we'll have plenty of time to be alone to shag ourselves to exhaustion tomorrow?"
Remus shrugged, grinning happily at Sirius' squirming discomfort. He pulled Sirius upright and into his arms. "Are you embarrassed about me?"
"No! Of course not! It's just the idea that my parents might know or speculate about.about me having sex. I don't want them talking about.I don't.Argh! I don't even want to think about it!"
Remus burst into laughter at the look on Sirius' face. It was hard to reconcile this suddenly uncomfortable boy with the hot, handsome stud who, not ten minutes ago, had eagerly fallen to his knees and brought Remus to orgasm with his mouth. "You're quite fetching when you're mortified, you know."
"Oh, shut up! Next time I'll let him come in the room while you stand there making a mad grab for the pants puddled around your feet!"
The picture made them both laugh.
After lunch, the boys bundled up against the cold and started trudging through the snow towards town. They took the shortcut through the trees and up over the hill behind the Blacks' house. Altair watched their progress through the kitchen window. They hadn't walked more than fifty yards before a mutual explosion of laughter rang out, and suddenly both boys broke into a run, scooping up handfuls of snow and tossing snowballs at each other as fast as they possibly could.
"We haven't had a good snowball fight in years, Nat. Maybe we should challenge the boys when they come back. The losers will be sentenced to clean up after dinner."
Natalie stepped up next to him, just in time to see the teens disappear, hidden by the boles and branches of the trees. "I'll agree, but only if they look worn out when they come back. We're still relatively young, but I'm afraid they might take us. It would be bad enough to lose to them, but it would be worse to have Sirius gloat about it for days on end!"
Altair smiled. "Oh, I think he has more important things on his mind than lording his snowball skills over us."
"Do you know something I don't?" She asked inquisitively.
"Don't you think they should have appeared at the top of the hill by now?" He said, in an apparent non sequitur.
"Maybe they found something interesting to explore. Animal tracks or something."
"Or maybe they realized that they have a bit of privacy in the trees."
"What are you suggesting? Drugs? Alcohol?" Natalie wasn't sure where her husband's thoughts had taken him.
"They have the most powerful drug in the world with them." His expression held such warmth and affection that she was momentarily confused. He grinned happily. "They have love."
Natalie smiled back at him. "You noticed."
"Sirius is usually quite masterful at keeping a straight face, but way he looks at Remus is unmistakable."
"He *is* pretty obvious, isn't he? Talk about wearing your heart on your sleeve. And I think Remus returns his affection, don't you?"
"Oh, that's a safe bet. Remus lit up like a Christmas tree when Sirius came bounding along to greet him. And, you should have seen them upstairs before lunch. I'm quite sure I interrupted something in that bedroom. Sirius was doing his best to look casual, but he's blatantly smitten with young Mr. Lupin. Who, may I add, also tried to act natural, but his charming blush gave him away."
"So you think the reason we haven't seen them at the top of the hill is because they're silly enough to be snogging each other senseless in the cold and the snow?"
"Of course! They're young, male, and hormonally challenged. It's the perfect recipe for idiotic behavior."
They stood silently, waiting. After what seemed like a long time, the figures of the boys appeared at the top of the hill. They were walking side by side, and even though they were a fair distance away, the Blacks were quite sure they were holding hands. Sirius stopped suddenly and pointed to something. The two stood shoulder to shoulder, looking whatever it was that had caught Sirius' eye. Then, as the dark-haired boy turned to lead the way down the other side of the hill, Remus reached out and grabbed his arm. A second later, they were locked in a tight embrace, the passion of their kiss obvious to the two adults observing from the window.
"We shouldn't be spying on them," Altair murmured, turning his back on the tableau.
A thought suddenly struck Natalie. She said brightly, "Well, at least this gets rid of one worry."
"And that is.?" He sensed from her tone that he was about to receive a dig.
"You don't have to lose sleep at night thinking your son may have gotten someone pregnant!"
Altair grinned sheepishly. Natalie continued gleefully. "Could you have been any more wrong? You were way off base on that one!"
"Yes, yes. Don't rub it in."
"I'm completely dumbstruck at how obtuse you can be!"
"Enough, woman!" He grabbed her and held her tight against him, a wicked smile lighting his features. "I can think of better things you could be doing with that mouth besides taunting me."
"Like what?" Her grin was equally provocative.
"Like this." His mouth closed on hers; stilling her voice with a kiss full of the warmth and passion they had shared for years.
"Let's go upstairs."
END
The Visit
For the fifth time in the last twenty minutes, Natalie Black had to re- measure one of her potion ingredients. The Burn-Healing Potion was simple enough to prepare, but it required extreme precision. If done incorrectly, the potion would aggravate burns, not help heal them. She needed to concentrate, but she kept losing count of how much of what ingredient she had measured out. It was a good thing she followed the precaution of measuring each ingredient into its own separate container before adding it to the mixture. If not, she would have already ruined this batch.
Pouring the dish of aloe sap back into the bottle, she started over, mentally screaming out the number of tablespoons, while trying to ignore the rapid, insistent, utterly maddening tattoo the heels of her son's boots were beating on the floor.
'Six and three quarters.' Thank everything holy, that was the last ingredient. She carefully poured the liquid into her cauldron, while stirring rapidly. Now she could let it simmer. She turned to look at Sirius, who sat at the kitchen table, staring vacantly out the window. He was absolutely motionless except for his furiously tapping feet. She briefly considered throwing a Jelly Legs jinx his way.
"You know, if you're that interested in tap dancing, perhaps you should consider taking lessons," she commented dryly.
Sirius looked at her blankly, his feet blessedly still. "What?"
She stared pointedly at his boots.
"Oh. Sorry," he said, realization dawning.
"Not that I'm trying to chase you out of my kitchen, but wouldn't it make more sense to wait for Remus by the fireplace in the study? That's where he'll show up, right?"
Sirius grinned sheepishly. "Dad chased me out of the study. Said he couldn't concentrate on his numbers with me squirming about like a pile of maggots on rotting flesh."
"Eeew! Sirius!" She winced, groaning at the image.
His smile broadened. "*He* made it up, not me. I'm never that crass."
She was about to retort when they both heard the door of the study open and Remus Lupin's voice in conversation with Altair Black.
Sirius leaped to his feet and bolted from the kitchen. Natalie smiled, her suspicions confirmed.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Remus dropped his suitcase on the bed in the guest room. "I need to hang a few things in the - mmmph!"
His words were smothered by a hot, ravenous mouth that flattened his lips against his teeth. A pair of strong arms swept him tight to the firm body he'd missed over the last week. Without conscious thought, Remus' hands flew up to bury themselves in the rich, silky hair, twisting locks of black silk against his palms. He kissed back, all thoughts of clothing banished under the spell of the dancing tongue invading his mouth and the muscular thigh rubbing against his groin.
Breathless, they broke the kiss, but not the hold they had on each other.
"Happy to see me, Moony?" Sirius asked conversationally. His hand slid between them, replacing the firm thigh, its movements much more precise and concentrated. It found what it sought. "You're quite the eager boy, aren't you?"
"Ohhhh," Remus breathed, trying unsuccessfully to recover his equilibrium, lost in his lover's playful and single-minded assault. His pants were suddenly too tight. His hips seemed to think they could wriggle free of the binding cloth by thrusting towards that talented, clever hand. And, mmm, Sirius tasted so good.
There was a soft thump as Remus' shoulders and back met the wall. He hadn't even realized that Sirius was propelling him backwards, gently pushing and nudging with his hands, his hips, his thirsty mouth. Remus had no choice, really, except to surrender to his lover's whim. It would be a sweet surrender, he knew, tingling under the touch of those magic fingers. But, he wouldn't go down without a fight, he determined, taking firm hold of Sirius' head, forcing him to keep still while his own tongue explored the warm cavern of Sirius' mouth.
But, those hands! Insistent, demanding, petting, teasing hands. Squeezing and stroking the swelling in his pants, lightly undoing the snap and coaxing the zipper down. All the while their mouths feasted and licked and sucked on one another.
Remus was left gasping into the empty air, as the ebony head slipped down past his chest. Sirius dropped to his knees, his face leaning into loosened clothing. Remus couldn't stifle his moans. Sirius looked up at him, grinning with anticipatory lust. "Shhhh." Sirius whispered. "Don't get too loud."
All Remus' senses swelled to overload. God, nothing was better than this! After a few minutes, Sirius rose to his feet. He leaned in for a kiss but before their lips met, intrusive sounds were heard.
"Sirius!" Altair called out, his footsteps getting louder as he approached the bedroom. Licking his lips one last time, Sirius strolled through the doorway, casually intercepting his father. In a blushing panic, Remus scrambled madly to put his clothing in order. Then he grabbed some shirts from his suitcase and sprang lightly to the closet as father and son appeared, making plans for the next few days.
"That's alright with you, isn't it, Remus?" Sirius asked, nonchalantly lounging against the wall.
"I'm sorry, I didn't hear what you were discussing," Remus replied, fumbling with a tangle of hangers.
"My Dad suggested that we all go down to London on Wednesday rather than tomorrow. He needs to go to his office to clear up some details before he does his final year-end song and dance with the Gringotts representatives."
"Right," Altair continued, cocking an eyebrow at his son's choice of words. "On Wednesday, you boys can amuse yourself in Diagon Alley in the morning while I deal with the Goblins, and we'll meet up later to head to the Tate. Remus, I thought Sirius mentioned that you wanted to go to that Celtic art exhibit at the British Museum. We'd probably have time to do that, too."
Remus grinned with pure delight. "Yes, I do want to see that! It ties in with a project I'm doing in my Runes class. That would be great!"
Altair smiled at him. "It's nice to know that there is someone studious in Sirius' life." He glanced at his son, who was also smiling fondly at Remus, but who suddenly caught his father's implication.
"Wait a minute!" Sirius snorted indignantly. "You said yourself you were proud of my grades! Just because I don't need to spend a minimum of six hours a day with my nose in a book -"
"I'm just teasing," Altair laughed. His face took on an unexpected conspiratorial look. "Your mum will be out all day tomorrow, too. She said something about starting to research her next book, but then muttered vague and frightening things about 'after Christmas sales.'" He shuddered. "So, you'll be left to your own devices tomorrow." Altair turned to leave, one hand reaching out to squeeze Sirius' shoulder affectionately. "I'm sure you'll keep yourselves occupied." Smiling enigmatically, his vibrant blue eyes swept over both boys as he left the room.
"Hmmm." Sirius stared briefly at the empty doorway as his father's footsteps receded down the hall. Seeing Remus questioning look, he crossed to the bed and perched at the edge of the mattress. "I told them."
"Told who what?"
"My parents. I told them I'm gay."
"Oh." Remus came to sit next to Sirius, weighing this news in his mind. "They're okay with it, right?"
"Yeah, they're fine. They told me what they want most is for me to be happy, and find the great love of my life, no matter who that might be." He looked into the warm hazel eyes. "I didn't tell them that I've already found him."
Remus leaned over to place a long, sweet kiss on his lover's lips. "Am I? The love of your life?"
Sirius nodded, all traces of lasciviousness gone. Remus kissed him again. "You're mine, too, Paddy."
He rose to finish unpacking. Sirius watched the smooth, spare movements of Remus' hands and body. He loved the werewolf's elegant bearing, made all the more appealing because Remus didn't see it in himself. It was completely natural, innate and wonderfully attractive to Sirius.
As he watched, he saw Remus' lips twitch and slowly curve into a wide smile. The kaleidoscopic eyes twinkled. "I think your Dad knows about us."
Sirius frowned slightly. "Really? I'm not sure. Although he was wearing an odd expression when he left, wasn't he? And that comment about being sure we'd keep ourselves occupied tomorrow." He stared at Remus, somewhat nonplussed. "You really think he figured it out?"
"Well, if you wanted to keep it a secret you shouldn't have been standing there with that completely goofy grin on your face. The one James calls the 'lovesick adoration face.'"
"I wasn't!"
"You were! And your Dad saw it. He's not an idiot, you know."
A vaguely horrified expression spread over Sirius' handsome features. "Oh, God. So you think he was implying that we'll have plenty of time to be alone to shag ourselves to exhaustion tomorrow?"
Remus shrugged, grinning happily at Sirius' squirming discomfort. He pulled Sirius upright and into his arms. "Are you embarrassed about me?"
"No! Of course not! It's just the idea that my parents might know or speculate about.about me having sex. I don't want them talking about.I don't.Argh! I don't even want to think about it!"
Remus burst into laughter at the look on Sirius' face. It was hard to reconcile this suddenly uncomfortable boy with the hot, handsome stud who, not ten minutes ago, had eagerly fallen to his knees and brought Remus to orgasm with his mouth. "You're quite fetching when you're mortified, you know."
"Oh, shut up! Next time I'll let him come in the room while you stand there making a mad grab for the pants puddled around your feet!"
The picture made them both laugh.
After lunch, the boys bundled up against the cold and started trudging through the snow towards town. They took the shortcut through the trees and up over the hill behind the Blacks' house. Altair watched their progress through the kitchen window. They hadn't walked more than fifty yards before a mutual explosion of laughter rang out, and suddenly both boys broke into a run, scooping up handfuls of snow and tossing snowballs at each other as fast as they possibly could.
"We haven't had a good snowball fight in years, Nat. Maybe we should challenge the boys when they come back. The losers will be sentenced to clean up after dinner."
Natalie stepped up next to him, just in time to see the teens disappear, hidden by the boles and branches of the trees. "I'll agree, but only if they look worn out when they come back. We're still relatively young, but I'm afraid they might take us. It would be bad enough to lose to them, but it would be worse to have Sirius gloat about it for days on end!"
Altair smiled. "Oh, I think he has more important things on his mind than lording his snowball skills over us."
"Do you know something I don't?" She asked inquisitively.
"Don't you think they should have appeared at the top of the hill by now?" He said, in an apparent non sequitur.
"Maybe they found something interesting to explore. Animal tracks or something."
"Or maybe they realized that they have a bit of privacy in the trees."
"What are you suggesting? Drugs? Alcohol?" Natalie wasn't sure where her husband's thoughts had taken him.
"They have the most powerful drug in the world with them." His expression held such warmth and affection that she was momentarily confused. He grinned happily. "They have love."
Natalie smiled back at him. "You noticed."
"Sirius is usually quite masterful at keeping a straight face, but way he looks at Remus is unmistakable."
"He *is* pretty obvious, isn't he? Talk about wearing your heart on your sleeve. And I think Remus returns his affection, don't you?"
"Oh, that's a safe bet. Remus lit up like a Christmas tree when Sirius came bounding along to greet him. And, you should have seen them upstairs before lunch. I'm quite sure I interrupted something in that bedroom. Sirius was doing his best to look casual, but he's blatantly smitten with young Mr. Lupin. Who, may I add, also tried to act natural, but his charming blush gave him away."
"So you think the reason we haven't seen them at the top of the hill is because they're silly enough to be snogging each other senseless in the cold and the snow?"
"Of course! They're young, male, and hormonally challenged. It's the perfect recipe for idiotic behavior."
They stood silently, waiting. After what seemed like a long time, the figures of the boys appeared at the top of the hill. They were walking side by side, and even though they were a fair distance away, the Blacks were quite sure they were holding hands. Sirius stopped suddenly and pointed to something. The two stood shoulder to shoulder, looking whatever it was that had caught Sirius' eye. Then, as the dark-haired boy turned to lead the way down the other side of the hill, Remus reached out and grabbed his arm. A second later, they were locked in a tight embrace, the passion of their kiss obvious to the two adults observing from the window.
"We shouldn't be spying on them," Altair murmured, turning his back on the tableau.
A thought suddenly struck Natalie. She said brightly, "Well, at least this gets rid of one worry."
"And that is.?" He sensed from her tone that he was about to receive a dig.
"You don't have to lose sleep at night thinking your son may have gotten someone pregnant!"
Altair grinned sheepishly. Natalie continued gleefully. "Could you have been any more wrong? You were way off base on that one!"
"Yes, yes. Don't rub it in."
"I'm completely dumbstruck at how obtuse you can be!"
"Enough, woman!" He grabbed her and held her tight against him, a wicked smile lighting his features. "I can think of better things you could be doing with that mouth besides taunting me."
"Like what?" Her grin was equally provocative.
"Like this." His mouth closed on hers; stilling her voice with a kiss full of the warmth and passion they had shared for years.
"Let's go upstairs."
END