Thanks to all these fabulous, kind, wonderful, sweet, fantastic and altogether brilliant people: Chloe Wagner, Lady-Sirhasisi, freakyfairy, Princess Flame, Rachel Molko (Snape thanks you for not putting him on a bonfire!), Liz (*big hug*), LadyWillow (Your cliff hangers are far worse that mine! theatrequeen217, q, Gwen Potter, JadeWerewolf, Mistress of the Manuscript (Look on the bright side- fanfiction.net banned me for 10 days earlier this year!!!), Aidenfire, noraseye, berethiel (*very big hug*), Destiny Bunny, Demus ('a bittersweet triumph of life through adversity'- you're slightly weird darling *g*), Vela-chan, Yours Truly, Paranoid, I r8ped Riddle, Lady Stone, A.L. Lorraine (It's not a snob school. It just doesn't have Sirius Black *sob*), ScullyCat Marie (Cheers, darling!), Uozumi (I'm glad you're got your 'spiffy Rambo gear' *g*), The Demonic Duo, Robby Moon (I'm quite happy to be called lovey but, alas, have no cure for constant singing of 'Bad Moon Rising'. V. sorry about that, lovey. Now can I call you that?) Ambika-san, Nine1, ddz008, Morissa, chiabojangles, Fade to Black (*hugs*), Sakurelf, Burning-Yami-Rain, Gypsy Lupin-Black, Lady Sundig, BigBlackDog, stonegoddess21, Give the World for Mr. Black, madkornfan and Remus-is-my-sweetie. Love to all!  

This is a 'two chapters at once' update- isn't that exciting?

~Remus' POV, Saturday 20th November, after the concert~

"Do it!" hisses Sirius.

"Okay, okay… Hand me the floo powder!"

I kneel down on the hearth of the Gryffindor common room's fire. For the second time tonight I'm being stared at but Sirius doesn't seem to care so why should I? I take a handful of floo powder off Sirius, accept a lingering kiss (some of the students watching us whoop and catcall), and then I use the floo powder to transport my head and torso to my parent's châteaux.

"Mum! Father! Anyone!" Nobody answers my call and so I'm free just to leave the letter that Sirius and I have written. It says how everybody at Hogwarts understands that the howler meant nothing, how I don't want to leave James and Peter yet and how, as I've said before, I don't have any sort of relationship with Sirius Black.

"You left it then?" asks Sirius as I remove my head from the flames.

"Yes, on their hearth rug."

Sirius grins at me- that mad, happy, toothy grin that he only uses with James and myself. "We're fine then. Your father will get home from bridge club, your mum from pottery class, and they'll find your note."

"And, realising that I'm happy, they'll let me stay at Hogwarts until Christmas."

"Exactly, pup. Now I'm absolutely shattered and will be going to bed. Might I expect you to join me there?"

"I dare say you might."

~Sunday 21st November~

Sirius Black is usually up at the crack of dawn. He says he doesn't want to miss one minute of a day because life's too short to waste time in bed. However, once in a while Sirius just seems to tire himself out and then he will sleep…and sleep…and then sleep a bit more. When this happens nothing will wake him and it will be mid-afternoon before he rises.

            Today is one of those days. When I woke early this morning I was curled up next to Sirius, in his bed, and he was snoring like a baby. Two hours later, unwilling to leave his side as I am, I could not bear to stay in bed a moment longer without some food in my stomach. So I went downstairs to breakfast, found Lily fawning over James like a love-sick school girl (which, in fact, is exactly what she is) and Peter blushing as a Hufflepuff girl with puffy hair smiled at him from across the room. I quickly decided that Peter wasn't going to be good company, and that James wouldn't want disturbing, so I wrapped four slices of buttered toast in a napkin and started to head back upstairs to a sleeping Sirius.

            That was when my father's owl ambushed me. It's a particularly vicious owl, affectionately referred to as Satan, and it pecked me until I relieved it of its letter and had given it a full slice of toast.

            So that accounts for everything that has happened so far this morning and for why I'm lying in bed with Sirius, eating toast and opening the letter that will contain my fathers agreement that I can stay at Hogwarts until Christmas.  

            My Dear Son,

                                    I owe you a thousand apologies for the way I have treated you with the Howler and I know now that you would never fall for that Sirius Black's dubious charms. I understand that the two of you are no longer friends and I am glad- those Blacks have always been trouble…

                                    After receiving your message last night I must salute your bravery, dear Remus. I can only imagine the pain I have put you through with my thoughtless (and extremely misjudged) accusations and I must emphasise that there is no need to prove yourself to me.

                                    Yes, dear son, I know that that is what you are doing- I know you think it is cowardly to leave Hogwarts early. You think that counts as running away. I assure you it does not. And that is why I have arranged for an IWTA taxi to pick you up first thing on Friday morning.

                                    Do not argue with me. And do not think you have to consort with that bastard, Sirius Black, just because you are leaving and you were once friends.

                                    Yours sincerely,

                                                            Jean-Paul Lupin.

            "'Bastard'! You're the bastard, father!"

            I may well be the only person to have ever successfully awoken Sirius Black from one of his 'sleeps'.

            "What is it, darling?" he mumbles sleepily.

            "I've got my father's reply," I say.

            Sirius sits up looking perfectly awake. "And he says you can stay, doesn't he?"

            Wordlessly, I hand Sirius the letter. "The bastard!" he cries after reading it.

            "I do believe that's what I said."

            "You left him a letter saying you're completely happy and he takes that to mean you're actually being brave because you are, in fact, totally miserable."

            "Yes."

            "What's the IWTA?"

            "International Wizarding Transport Association."

            Sirius scans over the letter again "Such a bastard… I hate your father, Remus. 'Those Blacks have always been trouble'," He quotes. "Now that's hardly fair!"

            "Your mother did try to start a 'werewolf concentration camps' movement in our third year, Sirius," I remind him. "The slogan was 'Ban The Beasts'."

            "That's besides the point! My mother doesn't have enough influence in the ministry to get a 'caldron depths inspection', let alone have werewolves put in concentrations camps. Everyone hears my surname and assumes that I'm just like the rest of my family- stupid, rich, arrogant pigs. I love you and-"

            "-Nothing else matters," I say. "I guess I'm leaving on Friday."

            "Five days left," says Sirius. He bows his head so that his electric-blue hair falls down over his face and looks totally heartbroken. I hug him tight and resign myself to my fate.

            ~~~

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