*gapes in pure, unabashed, goggle-eyed shock* Oh… oh my! I have the best reviewers on the planet! Seriously, I was so frightened that everyone was going to hate this; it took me nearly forever to drum up the courage to check my reviews…
THANK YOU ALL! I would just like to say that my reviewers rock! You guys are awesome! So, without further adieu, here is chapter two: (oh, wait, that rhymed, didn't it?)
Sirius (still in dog form, of course) stared at the house for a moment, considering. A slight hesitation struck him, as he moved to lift one gigantic paw and scratch the weathered wooden door.
He was, quite literally, bringing danger to Remus's doorstep. Suppose he was caught? Remus would, of course, be in trouble, too. A convicted murderer in the company of a werewolf… doesn't that look inconspicuous… and if one of Voldemort's supporters were to find us here, well…
He checked that idea, though, quite quickly. That was the entire reason both of them were hiding out here, an Unplottable, nearly inaccessible nowhere spot in the country. There was no one around to come into contact with the werewolf, and (presumably) no one around to catch a glimpse of the (innocent) criminal.
Encouraged, then, the dog scratched on the door. He would have barked, but it could have caught the attention of someone, if there were, in fact, someone mad enough to go wandering around out here as night fell.
Presently, the door opened. On the threshold stood one Remus Lupin, looking much thinner and a bit grayer than when Sirius had seen him last. Life must have been hard on him after leaving Hogwarts…
The werewolf looked down, gasped, and said (for the benefit of whoever might be lurking around – what was to stop someone from donning an Invisibility Cloak?) "Padfoot, old boy! Where have you been? I thought that you'd run off! The next leash I put you on is going to be charmed against you chewing through it, that's for sure…"
Sirius would have smiled at this, if only dogs could smile, and laughed at it, if only they could laugh. As it was, he followed Lupin inside, and, once the door was closed and Sirius was reasonably sure that he was out of the view of the window, transformed into a man once again.
They looked at each other for a moment, slightly lost for words. Life hadn't been kind to Remus, but it hadn't been much kinder to Sirius. He stood in the little rock house in Scotland still wearing his filthy prison robes from Azkaban, skinny, of course, from living off of food that Harry had nicked from the school kitchen and an all-too-small supply of cave rats, and his hair… well, that didn't quite bear thinking about. It was more than a bit too long, and more than a bit dirty, and it more than a bit resembled nothing so much as matted dog fur, but Remus didn't mention any of these things.
Instead, he broke the brief silence with, "Dumbledore informed me of the situation… this place should be safe for you to stay in, I think. There's no one that I can see around for miles…" As he spoke, he drew the curtains. "Just… try and stay away from the windows, you never know who could be watching…"
Sirius nodded seriously, but then a smile that he'd been aching to give found its way onto his face. "Thank you, Moony. And, don't worry, I have no intention of chewing through any leashes, charmed or not…"
A smile slowly snuck onto Remus's face then, growing a bit until it became a full-fledged grin. It made an astonishing change to his image. Now, he reminded Sirius of the man he'd once been… still was… in love with. But there are more important things to worry about…
Those things, though, promptly disappeared from Sirius's mind when Remus clasped him in an all-too-fleeting hug. There was nothing romantic about it (not that Sirius had expected there to be – we've been apart for thirteen years…); it was merely one good friend expressing his jubilation that his good friend hadn't gotten the soul sucked out of him. "I'm happy to see that you're as good as ever at not getting caught…"
"So am I." Odd, wasn't it, how when they were kids getting caught at something had meant not pulling off a foolish prank, and resulted in detention. Now it meant being recognized as a murderer thirteen times over and resulted in an irreversible state worse than death… Grown up, haven't I?
Remus, however, was busy studying Sirius's haggard appearance. "How long has it been since you've eaten?" He was also dying to ask, how long has it been since you've bathed, but that was, of course, beyond rude, even when one was talking to one's… what, precisely? Friend… no, that didn't quite fit… close friend? Perhaps… lover? Well, maybe thirteen years ago... though I do wish it applied now…I wonder what he thinks about it…
He suppressed the thought, resisting the urge to shake his head; there were, naturally, many more significant things that required his consideration, such as secrecy and war on a certain Dark wizard who threatened the existence of the entire world in itself – that, and Sirius was answering his question.
The Animagus opened his mouth speak, and then shut it, thinking a moment. "Three days…" he began, "Or was it four…" He didn't quite remember; Padfoot the dog had been traveling nonstop and taking a very indirect route (just to make it all the more difficult should anyone choose to follow) and every day, fraught with the worry of his godson's safety, of the world's safety, blended into the next. Now that he thought about it, however, he was positively ravenous…
The werewolf's eyebrows rose. "I suppose I'll set about to cooking dinner, then," he decided. "You can… er…" He then desperately tried to think of a way to finish his sentence in a well-mannered fashion. I can't very well go telling him that he smells, can I?
Sirius spared Remus from this potential embarrassment when he noticed the ever-so-slight wrinkling of Lupin's nose. The smile remained on his face – he found Lupin's politeness amusing. He doesn't have the heart to tell me I stink… "I suppose I should take a bath." Or else anyone who's following me is going to be able to smell me from fifty miles away… and there's not much else I can do right now, is there? he realized sadly.
A bit of relief tinted Lupin's golden eyes as he pointed to a door on Sirius's right. "You can if you want to; the bathroom is just there…"
Sirius nodded and expressed his thanks, and headed into the bathroom. A bath would be as good as food; the last time he'd been anything even remotely resembling clean had been when a batty old witch in Hogsmeade had decided that the "poor stray dog" needed a good wash. Though, now that Sirius reflected on it, he probably could have done without the liberal amounts of flea powder…
There was, of course, nothing even resembling flea powder in the little but clean bathroom. Rather, there was a sink, a toilet, and a bathtub, on whose ledge was a bar of soap. He turned the taps on, full-blast, as he eagerly awaited being able to properly scrub off the coat of dirt that covered his skin.
Sighing in a moment's contentment, he got into the tub.
All right, so this chapter is not much slashier than the last… but I promise you, it's building up to something! (I just have to figure out what, exactly… but I kind of have an idea!) So PLEASE, my kind, compassionate readers, REVIEW! Thank you! And I would also like to give everyone a gigantic thank you for not flaming last time!
If you feel the urge to flame, please reconsider! I'm open to negative opinions, as long as you don't use foul language…
