Notes: Thanks to all reviewers of chapter one, especially those reading in
the wake of New Depths. There's obviously more Remus/Lucius fans out there
than I anticipated. I'd also like to note that this fic, and ND, is now
hosted at Scribble Central's Snape and Malfoy shrine. I don't think I can
post the link here, so your best bet is to see Novek Dace's author bio. She
might have linked SC there.
. . .
It was hard to tell when morning had come in the chamber of Lucius Malfoy, but Remus noticed the slightly greyer shade to the black when his eyes flickered open after several hours of sleep, and he clambered out of bed. He padded softly to the window and threw open the heavy velvet curtains, bathing the room in bright morning sunlight. In bed, Lucius curled into the foetal position, pulling the covers over his face. Remus climbed back in beside him, and poked him gently until he was rewarded with a disgruntled stare.
"Wstfgl?" said Lucius. He wiped at his eyes and coughed violently, then focused on Remus again. "I said, what the hell are you playing at?"
Remus shrugged. "Letting a little light in. I have to go soon, and I wanted to see what I was doing properly."
"You're a werewolf. Use your X-ray vision."
Remus rolled his eyes. "I don't have X-ray vision, Lucius. I have night vision, but it's not perfect. Besides, it's no good long-distance."
"Hence the glasses. . .I did wonder."
Remus nodded, adjusting his spectacles on the bridge of his nose. "Long- sighted," he explained. Lucius gave him a withering glare, then lay down again.
"Go back to sleep," he muttered.
"I can't, I told you."
"Oh. Well then." Lucius slid a hand round Remus' waist, but it was batted away again. Too tired to argue, Lucius nestled against the pillows and watched Remus collecting up his crumpled clothing. Once he was fully dressed, he leaned over the bed and kissed his lover lingeringly. Neither of them was sure exactly what they felt for the other, but a kiss was a kiss and Lucius, as usual, responded hungrily. Remus managed to prise himself away, offered the blond a faint smile, and disapparated out of the Malfoys' estate.
A fraction of a second later, there was a crack as Remus appeared in the middle of his own kitchen. Unfortunately, this was also where the table was located, and he sprawled over it, scattering Sirius' breakfast and the morning's Daily Prophet.
"Watch it!" Sirius yelped, jumping back to avoid getting covered in hot tea. Remus pushed the hair out of his eyes and grinned apologetically.
"Sorry, Padfoot. I never really did get the hang of this apparating lark."
"You're not supposed to do it without a license. You know that."
Remus jumped off the table and helped himself to a slice of toast. "Now who's Mr Law-abiding?" he teased. "What? Not the illegal animagi!"
Sirius glared groggily at his flatmate, whose grin faded. Remus pulled up a chair and sat down heavily.
"What's the matter, Sirius?"
"Meh."
Remus stared as Sirius took a shaky sip from his teacup, then rushed to the sink to vomit the mouthful back up again. Remus was at his side in a bound, placing a comforting arm around his trembling shoulders and getting ready to support him if he threw up again. Thankfully there was nothing else to be expelled violently from Sirius' system, and Remus helped him back to his chair.
"Long night?" asked the werewolf, smiling faintly.
"Yeah. All bloody James' fault. We were pissed off you weren't there," Sirius added, glancing at Remus with a spiteful glint in his eye. "Rather ruined the Marauders' Night Out, only having three Marauders there. And not even all of the most fun ones."
Remus gave him a stern stare. "Be nice to Peter."
"Yeah well. Where the hell were you all night?"
"You know where I was." Remus had the decency to go red as he spread some jam onto a slice of toast.
"No I don't. All I know is, you were somewhere shagging someone. I'd quite like to know who and where."
"Why?"
Sirius' mouth opened. Then he shut it again. "Because this is my house, and you can't treat it like a hotel!" he snapped eventually.
"But it isn't your house," said Remus simply.
"But it could be! If I bought it and then I could kick you out. I'd get some piece of mind then, maybe."
"Knowing I was, in fact, safely out on the streets you mean?"
Sirius glared. Remus blinked and concentrated on his toast. Truth be told he wasn't in the mood for one of Sirius' hung-over mood swings. He ached and was due at work almost exactly three minutes ago. However, having just been asked to come back to bed by his boss, Remus reasoned that it wouldn't matter if he took half an hour or so to clear his head and get ready. He glanced at Sirius once or twice as he munched his way through several pieces of toast and a large bowl of cornflakes, but not once did the Animagi look up at him. A deep frown creased Remus' brow.
"Padfoot. . ." he began. Sirius rolled his eyes up from the newspaper to stare at him.
"Yes?"
"Have I done something? Something wrong?" Remus sounded almost scared that he had offended Sirius, and the other's expression softened involuntarily.
"Nothing." Sirius shook his head and reached out a hand for Remus', but he stopped himself and picked up the salt instead. Remus stared at the salt, then at the bowl of cereal in front of Sirius, then at his own hand.
"There's something, isn't there?" he persisted.
"Nothing," Sirius repeated. "I just worry about you, that's all. I didn't know where you were all night, anything could have happened and you -"
"Shh!" Remus tried to sooth his friend, as Sirius' voice almost went up an octave. "I was fine, Sirius, really."
"Well at least tell me where you were."
Remus wondered what sort of information he should give. Finally he settled on, "Wiltshire."
"Wiltshire! That's miles away! And Christ – you apparated all that way and you don't even know how!"
Astonished, Remus grabbed his friend's arm. He had never seen Sirius so worked up before. It was almost like being berated by a spouse, which was an unbearably strange thing from Sirius. It was Sirius who had showed him how to apparate years ago, before he had got his own licence, and it was Sirius who went hopping off to Scotland or France or Spain without telling anybody. A terrifying change had come over him recently, and it made Remus' spine tingle to see him like this.
"Sirius, snap out of it," he said firmly. "I don't know what's wrong with you-"
"Of course you do. Nowhere is safe, Moony! Absolutely no where. If you stayed right here under my nose the whole entire time, I'd still worry about you."
Remus' own nose wrinkled. "How do you manage when you leave Lily and James' house?" he muttered. "Oh no, what if they suddenly get attacked by bogeymen!"
"What?" Sirius went to stand up, realised Remus was joking, glared at him, then finally sat down again. "Don't do that!" he snapped.
Remus shrugged. "You're being paranoid, Padfoot. We can all look after ourselves. And now I have to go to work, and so should you."
Sirius watched as his friend tidied away the breakfast things. "Are you coming back tonight?" he asked eventually.
"I don't know. If I'm not I'll send an owl to tell you," he added softly.
"If I don't get an owl, I'll panic," said Sirius, glaring pointedly. "In fact," he added, "Don't you dare apparate. I'll give you a lift. And if you want to go somewhere tonight, I'll take you."
"Don't be ridiculous, I can take myself-" Remus began, but he knew Sirius. There was no point at all in arguing over this. "All right," he sighed. "I'm coming home tonight. Happy?"
Sirius wasn't happy, but he nodded.
. . .
James had a day off work, and Lily never worked Mondays anyway, so today promised to be blissfully lazy. Harry was still sound asleep when James checked on him, so he returned to the living room and his wife, a contented smile on his face. She looked up at him and returned the smile.
"Happy, James?"
He nestled down on the sofa next to her, and drew her into his arms. "Blissfully. It's been a quiet month, hasn't it?"
She nodded. "Let's not get complacent though. You Know Who could be simply rallying his forces and-"
"Shh." James pressed a finger against Lily's lips. "No talk of that, not today."
She sighed and leaned against his chest. He wrapped his arms protectively around her and placed a soft kiss on her cheek. "It's all going to be okay," he murmured. "This time next year, we'll be the ones with the upper- hand, and we'll send You Know Who packing. I promise you. And then we can sit back safely and watch Harry growing up, and maybe he'd like a brother or sister. Then we can buy a bigger house with an enormous tree in the garden."
She smiled. "Always the enormous tree. Why is that?"
"Well I never had a swing and I think every father should make his children a swing. But I need a bloody big tree first."
Lily laughed out loud, and James pulled her tighter to him. He was scarcely sure if he believed his own words, and he knew that she did not. But they comforted both of them, and simply being here in each other's arms was enough for today. He knew well enough why Sirius was paranoid; his best friend's work took him all over the place, and Sirius had seen more deaths and curses at the hands of Death Eaters than James had hexed Severus Snape, which was a considerable amount. Sirius had always been protective over his friends, even when it was him leading them astray, and now the danger was real and he had seen it, he had gone into overdrive. James had been the first target of Sirius' obsessed overprotection, but Lily had had words with him about decency and privacy and respect for other people's space, and he had eventually left them alone. Remus had become the new target, and his adoration for the werewolf only amplified his defensive urges.
"James?" Lily murmured, prying his hands away from her. "I'd do almost anything for a cup of tea." She gave him a smile, and batted playfully at him until he groaned and stood up.
"I'm going to get you a house elf for you birthday, Lily. That way I'll be able to cultivate my beer belly without interference."
He ambled into the kitchen, then moments later ambled back out again. Lily looked up at him expectantly.
"Tea?" she asked.
"Wizard," said James, and beckoned her into the kitchen, where Professor Dumbledore was seated at the table sipping tea.
"Oh hello, headmaster," said Lily, hastily pulling her dressing gown tightly around herself. "We weren't expecting you," she added, blushing.
Dumbledore peered at her gravely from behind his spectacles as James handed her a mug of tea. "No," he said. "I should hope not. No one would expect this kind of news."
Lily glanced at James, who shrugged. Dumbledore set down his teacup and patted the table.
"James, sit down. And Lily, go and get Harry. Bring him here to me."
Without another word, they obeyed. James sat opposite Dumbledore, and shifted nervously until Lily was back by his side. He took Harry from her and they both stared at Dumbledore. He cleared his throat.
"I am afraid you two will have to leave this place," he said gravely. "I realise-" and here he paused to tug his beard out of Harry's grasp. "I realise that You Know Who hasn't been seen or heard of for some time. But this is because he has been working on you two. He did not know where you were, but now he has found you. He knows where you live."
Lily let out an audible gasp, and James grabbed her hand, holding Harry close to him. "You're not serious?" he whispered, glancing at the window.
"Don't do that," groaned Lily. "You'll start turning into Sirius."
"Sirius has every reason to be scared," said Dumbledore seriously. "You have to leave here. Gather up everything you'll need and I'll meet you back here in an hour."
Moments later, Lily and James were alone again. They stood in the middle of the kitchen floor and stared at one another, stunned. After weeks of calm in their usually chaotic lives, this sudden change was almost completely unexpected. James struggled to keep his grip on Harry, who was wriggling furiously for his freedom. Nothing happened; James' mind was a complete blank. He didn't know what to do. He wife was staring desperately at him and his son was starting to wail, but it wasn't until a tear broke free and ran down Lily's cheek that James' brain snapped into gear.
"Right," he said, hefting Harry up and resting him on his hip, a technique learned after months of watching Lily do it with ease. "What do we need?" he asked, and started towards the living room.
But Lily stood her ground. James stopped in front of her, staring questioningly.
"I am not going anywhere, James Potter!" she snapped. James looked frantic.
"But he's coming! He knows where we are! I have to get you and Harry out of here, now-"
"I'm not an invalid." Lily snatched her son and went to put him down on the sofa. James trotted after her. "I can look after myself. Maybe it's you who needs to run away, but not me!"
James grabbed her arm as she tried to stomp back into the kitchen. "It's not running away, Lils, it's saving our skins! Now, I'm going to get Remus and Sirius round here, they'll help-"
"Help me knock some sense into you, yes." Lily folded her arms. "Where's the man I married, James? He wouldn't run away! He'd stand his ground and defend what's his!"
"I'm trying to defend you-"
"Not ME! I mean all this. Our house, our lives, what we have here and now. I'm not going to drop it all and run away, and neither are you."
They both stood their grounds, locked in a stalemate. But there was as much chance of either of them giving way of their own free will as the world deciding it would rather turn the other way today. James knew this, and his logical conclusion was to give in before Lily completely lost her temper.
"All right," he sighed. "We'll stay."
. . .
It was hard to tell when morning had come in the chamber of Lucius Malfoy, but Remus noticed the slightly greyer shade to the black when his eyes flickered open after several hours of sleep, and he clambered out of bed. He padded softly to the window and threw open the heavy velvet curtains, bathing the room in bright morning sunlight. In bed, Lucius curled into the foetal position, pulling the covers over his face. Remus climbed back in beside him, and poked him gently until he was rewarded with a disgruntled stare.
"Wstfgl?" said Lucius. He wiped at his eyes and coughed violently, then focused on Remus again. "I said, what the hell are you playing at?"
Remus shrugged. "Letting a little light in. I have to go soon, and I wanted to see what I was doing properly."
"You're a werewolf. Use your X-ray vision."
Remus rolled his eyes. "I don't have X-ray vision, Lucius. I have night vision, but it's not perfect. Besides, it's no good long-distance."
"Hence the glasses. . .I did wonder."
Remus nodded, adjusting his spectacles on the bridge of his nose. "Long- sighted," he explained. Lucius gave him a withering glare, then lay down again.
"Go back to sleep," he muttered.
"I can't, I told you."
"Oh. Well then." Lucius slid a hand round Remus' waist, but it was batted away again. Too tired to argue, Lucius nestled against the pillows and watched Remus collecting up his crumpled clothing. Once he was fully dressed, he leaned over the bed and kissed his lover lingeringly. Neither of them was sure exactly what they felt for the other, but a kiss was a kiss and Lucius, as usual, responded hungrily. Remus managed to prise himself away, offered the blond a faint smile, and disapparated out of the Malfoys' estate.
A fraction of a second later, there was a crack as Remus appeared in the middle of his own kitchen. Unfortunately, this was also where the table was located, and he sprawled over it, scattering Sirius' breakfast and the morning's Daily Prophet.
"Watch it!" Sirius yelped, jumping back to avoid getting covered in hot tea. Remus pushed the hair out of his eyes and grinned apologetically.
"Sorry, Padfoot. I never really did get the hang of this apparating lark."
"You're not supposed to do it without a license. You know that."
Remus jumped off the table and helped himself to a slice of toast. "Now who's Mr Law-abiding?" he teased. "What? Not the illegal animagi!"
Sirius glared groggily at his flatmate, whose grin faded. Remus pulled up a chair and sat down heavily.
"What's the matter, Sirius?"
"Meh."
Remus stared as Sirius took a shaky sip from his teacup, then rushed to the sink to vomit the mouthful back up again. Remus was at his side in a bound, placing a comforting arm around his trembling shoulders and getting ready to support him if he threw up again. Thankfully there was nothing else to be expelled violently from Sirius' system, and Remus helped him back to his chair.
"Long night?" asked the werewolf, smiling faintly.
"Yeah. All bloody James' fault. We were pissed off you weren't there," Sirius added, glancing at Remus with a spiteful glint in his eye. "Rather ruined the Marauders' Night Out, only having three Marauders there. And not even all of the most fun ones."
Remus gave him a stern stare. "Be nice to Peter."
"Yeah well. Where the hell were you all night?"
"You know where I was." Remus had the decency to go red as he spread some jam onto a slice of toast.
"No I don't. All I know is, you were somewhere shagging someone. I'd quite like to know who and where."
"Why?"
Sirius' mouth opened. Then he shut it again. "Because this is my house, and you can't treat it like a hotel!" he snapped eventually.
"But it isn't your house," said Remus simply.
"But it could be! If I bought it and then I could kick you out. I'd get some piece of mind then, maybe."
"Knowing I was, in fact, safely out on the streets you mean?"
Sirius glared. Remus blinked and concentrated on his toast. Truth be told he wasn't in the mood for one of Sirius' hung-over mood swings. He ached and was due at work almost exactly three minutes ago. However, having just been asked to come back to bed by his boss, Remus reasoned that it wouldn't matter if he took half an hour or so to clear his head and get ready. He glanced at Sirius once or twice as he munched his way through several pieces of toast and a large bowl of cornflakes, but not once did the Animagi look up at him. A deep frown creased Remus' brow.
"Padfoot. . ." he began. Sirius rolled his eyes up from the newspaper to stare at him.
"Yes?"
"Have I done something? Something wrong?" Remus sounded almost scared that he had offended Sirius, and the other's expression softened involuntarily.
"Nothing." Sirius shook his head and reached out a hand for Remus', but he stopped himself and picked up the salt instead. Remus stared at the salt, then at the bowl of cereal in front of Sirius, then at his own hand.
"There's something, isn't there?" he persisted.
"Nothing," Sirius repeated. "I just worry about you, that's all. I didn't know where you were all night, anything could have happened and you -"
"Shh!" Remus tried to sooth his friend, as Sirius' voice almost went up an octave. "I was fine, Sirius, really."
"Well at least tell me where you were."
Remus wondered what sort of information he should give. Finally he settled on, "Wiltshire."
"Wiltshire! That's miles away! And Christ – you apparated all that way and you don't even know how!"
Astonished, Remus grabbed his friend's arm. He had never seen Sirius so worked up before. It was almost like being berated by a spouse, which was an unbearably strange thing from Sirius. It was Sirius who had showed him how to apparate years ago, before he had got his own licence, and it was Sirius who went hopping off to Scotland or France or Spain without telling anybody. A terrifying change had come over him recently, and it made Remus' spine tingle to see him like this.
"Sirius, snap out of it," he said firmly. "I don't know what's wrong with you-"
"Of course you do. Nowhere is safe, Moony! Absolutely no where. If you stayed right here under my nose the whole entire time, I'd still worry about you."
Remus' own nose wrinkled. "How do you manage when you leave Lily and James' house?" he muttered. "Oh no, what if they suddenly get attacked by bogeymen!"
"What?" Sirius went to stand up, realised Remus was joking, glared at him, then finally sat down again. "Don't do that!" he snapped.
Remus shrugged. "You're being paranoid, Padfoot. We can all look after ourselves. And now I have to go to work, and so should you."
Sirius watched as his friend tidied away the breakfast things. "Are you coming back tonight?" he asked eventually.
"I don't know. If I'm not I'll send an owl to tell you," he added softly.
"If I don't get an owl, I'll panic," said Sirius, glaring pointedly. "In fact," he added, "Don't you dare apparate. I'll give you a lift. And if you want to go somewhere tonight, I'll take you."
"Don't be ridiculous, I can take myself-" Remus began, but he knew Sirius. There was no point at all in arguing over this. "All right," he sighed. "I'm coming home tonight. Happy?"
Sirius wasn't happy, but he nodded.
. . .
James had a day off work, and Lily never worked Mondays anyway, so today promised to be blissfully lazy. Harry was still sound asleep when James checked on him, so he returned to the living room and his wife, a contented smile on his face. She looked up at him and returned the smile.
"Happy, James?"
He nestled down on the sofa next to her, and drew her into his arms. "Blissfully. It's been a quiet month, hasn't it?"
She nodded. "Let's not get complacent though. You Know Who could be simply rallying his forces and-"
"Shh." James pressed a finger against Lily's lips. "No talk of that, not today."
She sighed and leaned against his chest. He wrapped his arms protectively around her and placed a soft kiss on her cheek. "It's all going to be okay," he murmured. "This time next year, we'll be the ones with the upper- hand, and we'll send You Know Who packing. I promise you. And then we can sit back safely and watch Harry growing up, and maybe he'd like a brother or sister. Then we can buy a bigger house with an enormous tree in the garden."
She smiled. "Always the enormous tree. Why is that?"
"Well I never had a swing and I think every father should make his children a swing. But I need a bloody big tree first."
Lily laughed out loud, and James pulled her tighter to him. He was scarcely sure if he believed his own words, and he knew that she did not. But they comforted both of them, and simply being here in each other's arms was enough for today. He knew well enough why Sirius was paranoid; his best friend's work took him all over the place, and Sirius had seen more deaths and curses at the hands of Death Eaters than James had hexed Severus Snape, which was a considerable amount. Sirius had always been protective over his friends, even when it was him leading them astray, and now the danger was real and he had seen it, he had gone into overdrive. James had been the first target of Sirius' obsessed overprotection, but Lily had had words with him about decency and privacy and respect for other people's space, and he had eventually left them alone. Remus had become the new target, and his adoration for the werewolf only amplified his defensive urges.
"James?" Lily murmured, prying his hands away from her. "I'd do almost anything for a cup of tea." She gave him a smile, and batted playfully at him until he groaned and stood up.
"I'm going to get you a house elf for you birthday, Lily. That way I'll be able to cultivate my beer belly without interference."
He ambled into the kitchen, then moments later ambled back out again. Lily looked up at him expectantly.
"Tea?" she asked.
"Wizard," said James, and beckoned her into the kitchen, where Professor Dumbledore was seated at the table sipping tea.
"Oh hello, headmaster," said Lily, hastily pulling her dressing gown tightly around herself. "We weren't expecting you," she added, blushing.
Dumbledore peered at her gravely from behind his spectacles as James handed her a mug of tea. "No," he said. "I should hope not. No one would expect this kind of news."
Lily glanced at James, who shrugged. Dumbledore set down his teacup and patted the table.
"James, sit down. And Lily, go and get Harry. Bring him here to me."
Without another word, they obeyed. James sat opposite Dumbledore, and shifted nervously until Lily was back by his side. He took Harry from her and they both stared at Dumbledore. He cleared his throat.
"I am afraid you two will have to leave this place," he said gravely. "I realise-" and here he paused to tug his beard out of Harry's grasp. "I realise that You Know Who hasn't been seen or heard of for some time. But this is because he has been working on you two. He did not know where you were, but now he has found you. He knows where you live."
Lily let out an audible gasp, and James grabbed her hand, holding Harry close to him. "You're not serious?" he whispered, glancing at the window.
"Don't do that," groaned Lily. "You'll start turning into Sirius."
"Sirius has every reason to be scared," said Dumbledore seriously. "You have to leave here. Gather up everything you'll need and I'll meet you back here in an hour."
Moments later, Lily and James were alone again. They stood in the middle of the kitchen floor and stared at one another, stunned. After weeks of calm in their usually chaotic lives, this sudden change was almost completely unexpected. James struggled to keep his grip on Harry, who was wriggling furiously for his freedom. Nothing happened; James' mind was a complete blank. He didn't know what to do. He wife was staring desperately at him and his son was starting to wail, but it wasn't until a tear broke free and ran down Lily's cheek that James' brain snapped into gear.
"Right," he said, hefting Harry up and resting him on his hip, a technique learned after months of watching Lily do it with ease. "What do we need?" he asked, and started towards the living room.
But Lily stood her ground. James stopped in front of her, staring questioningly.
"I am not going anywhere, James Potter!" she snapped. James looked frantic.
"But he's coming! He knows where we are! I have to get you and Harry out of here, now-"
"I'm not an invalid." Lily snatched her son and went to put him down on the sofa. James trotted after her. "I can look after myself. Maybe it's you who needs to run away, but not me!"
James grabbed her arm as she tried to stomp back into the kitchen. "It's not running away, Lils, it's saving our skins! Now, I'm going to get Remus and Sirius round here, they'll help-"
"Help me knock some sense into you, yes." Lily folded her arms. "Where's the man I married, James? He wouldn't run away! He'd stand his ground and defend what's his!"
"I'm trying to defend you-"
"Not ME! I mean all this. Our house, our lives, what we have here and now. I'm not going to drop it all and run away, and neither are you."
They both stood their grounds, locked in a stalemate. But there was as much chance of either of them giving way of their own free will as the world deciding it would rather turn the other way today. James knew this, and his logical conclusion was to give in before Lily completely lost her temper.
"All right," he sighed. "We'll stay."