Author's Notes: I am totally skimming over some stuff just so we can get to the next chapter. You'll see where I start skimming – my muse apparently wants Sirius to join the fun because she's not helping at all! I'm having major writer's block, I've been working on this part/chapter for a couple weeks and it's just frustrating me so...I'm just posting as is. Um…next chapter will be up on Sunday. (Do I update too often? Can an author update too often? Hmmmm)

Chapter 37 Signs

"They did the Dark Mark?" Remus felt his knees go weak, he sat down quickly. Clara looked pale.

"Yes. Someone did. All the other Death Eaters scattered when they saw it." Stevens brushed his hand through his hair as he sat down, he looked shaken. "Bloody fools, of course they're scared if Voldemort is back, since they've all denied involvement."

"Where's Cass?" Remus asked, seeing visions of Cassius bleeding or…

"With the other aurors, trying to find the ones responsible. He said to tell you he's all right. He'll come back here." Remus nodded. "It was just like when Owen was killed…that mark was still in the sky when…God, if I never saw that mark again it would be too soon." Stevens shuddered. Clara crossed to him and hugged him tightly, murmuring words of comfort.

Remus knew Stevens and Cassius had been the ones to identify Owen because Owen's parents, vocal opponents of Voldemort, had also died the same day, killed by Death Eaters in separate coordinated attacks. He swallowed hard, wishing Cassius was there with him. He wished Cassius had let him go with him but he knew Cassius would be distracted if he thought Remus wasn't safe.

"Does anyone want tea?" Clara asked quietly.

Remus and Stevens both shook their heads.

"Let's go to bed." Stevens took Clara's hand. "Come on, Remus."

Remus changed into his pajamas and then went into the room where Clara and Stevens were already in bed in their pajamas too. Clara patted the bed beside her and Remus climbed in. It felt better to be with Clara and Stevens. To know they were all together, even if Cassius wasn't there too. The campground was eerily quiet. Many people had already left.

"Exploding Snap, anyone?" Stevens asked.

"What about Truth or Dare?" Clara sat up straight in the bed.

"All right." Remus and Stevens chorused. The dares were very silly and the questions even sillier. Remus knew they were all trying to avoid thinking about the current situation and by the time Cassius got back, they were hysterical with laughter over Stevens's admission that his first crush had been Professor McGonagall. "That look when she gets mad - it always made me hard."

"Glad you weren't worried." Cassius drawled from the doorway. A moment later, he was tackled by three very relieved people.

Padfoot,

I was going to regale you with stories about my trip to the Quidditch World Cup, which was a great match, but it was rather overshadowed by events that happened after the match was over. I've enclosed the clipping from the Prophet so you can see what they said…of course, my husband says the Prophet is a bunch of lies but at least it gives you some idea of what happened.

Seeing the Dark Mark in the air reminded me of those days before James and Lily died…when everything seemed so threatening. And then Harry was born. He was a light in those days, wasn't he? You said you are keeping in touch with him? I think that's wonderful that you are getting to be his Godfather again. He's a wonderful boy, as I'm sure you're finding out.

Moony

"Harry Potter is the fourth contestant for the Triwizard Cup." Remus looked up from the Daily Prophet. "Surely that's a typo."

"No, apparently, someone put his name in and tricked the Goblet into picking four names." Tabby pursed her lips. "Powerful magic. It's a wonder Moody didn't suspect something."

"He's got his hands full teaching classes." Remus picked up his tea cup. "Hasn't written Cass in weeks."

"Remus, would you ever leave because you were mad at me?" Cassius walked into the sitting room and sat down next to Remus on the sofa. He'd just been over at Stevens's flat.

"What are you talking about?"

"Would you leave, to get away from me, because you were mad?"

"No." Remus smiled. "You'd follow me, so it wouldn't do any good."

"I wouldn't follow you."

"You would. You'd want to know where I was, if I was safe."

"There's nothing wrong with wanting to know where you are and if you're safe."

"Oh, no."

"It's not like I need to know where you are every minute of the day." Remus looked over at Cassius and arched his eyebrow. "That makes me sound like a controlling, psychopathic boyfriend. I just…like knowing where you are."

"Every minute of every day."

"I don't need to know exact location, I just like the general idea." Cassius started to chew at the nails on his left hand.

"Riiiight. I know the only reason you got me that clock last Christmas was so you could keep tabs on me."

"You can keep tabs on me with the clock too, you know."

"I know – and I freely admit I like knowing where you are, every minute, of every day." Remus grinned, taking Cassius's hand in his.

"So…you wouldn't leave then."

"No. I mean, I might leave the room, but I wouldn't leave home."

"If you did leave home 'cause you were mad, where would you go?"

"Cass, why on earth are you asking me this?" Remus was starting to get exasperated.

"Just, please, where would you go?"

"I'd go to…I'd to Clara's, I suppose."

"All right." Cassius looked down at their joined hands. "Clara went to her mother's."

"She didn't mention she was going to visit her mother. Is she sick?"

"No, she got mad at Stevens and told him she was going to her mother's and wasn't coming back until he realized what he'd done and apologized."

"Ah." Remus finally understood why he'd been subjected to all the questioning.

"You wouldn't do that, would you?"

"I've never met Clara's mother so I could hardly just show up at her doorstep." Remus said teasingly.

"Remus! I meant you wouldn't leave me like that."

"People in relationships fight in different ways and just because they fight doesn't mean they don't love each other. And no, I wouldn't leave Windy Corner, but I might lock myself in the library. All right?"

"All right." Cassius nodded. "Stevens wants to go out drinking. Could I go?"

"Yes, but you have the department meeting first thing tomorrow morning."

"I'll make it. Could I have some money?"

"I'll give you 10 galleons but that's it. Is Stevens coming over here?"

"Yeah." Almost on cue, there was a knock at the front door.

"Hello!" Stevens called

"We're in here!" Cassius answered. The door shut and Stevens appeared in the doorway.

"Hey, Cassie, you ready?" Stevens asked.

"Yeah, Remus just needs to give me money."

Remus got up and went into the kitchen. He kept the money in the sideboard. "Here. And when the pub closes you come back here, all right? Both of you. And you're using the Floo, do you hear me? No Drunken Apparating, I mean it." Remus fixed them both with his best intimidating glare.

"Yes, Remus." Stevens and Cassius chorused obediently.

"Have fun."

Cassius leaned in for a kiss. "I love you."

"I love you too."

Stevens kissed Remus' cheek before Remus could push him away. "I love you too."

"I'll put in a good word with Clara. Now go."

"So I hear you visited your mother." Remus said as they settled into their favorite table at Betty's Tea House in York.

"Did you?"

"Cassius was almost traumatized by the fact that people could actually leave in the middle of an argument."

"He just made me so mad! Stevens, that is, not Cassius." Clara sighed. "I normally do work things out."

"I know. Must have been something to get you so upset. What'd he do?"

"Flirted with a witch at this pub. After a match. There are all sorts of groupies, I try to ignore them. But there he was, cool as can be, laughing with this tall, leggy, black haired witch and putting his hand on her arm."

"He could have just been being friendly."

"I told myself that too. But then he…he did this thing…it's how he picked me up, he…oh, I can't describe it. I'll show you." Clara reached for Remus's hand. Her thumb rubbed along his palm as she pulled it up towards her lips. She kissed his knuckles, gazing deep into his eyes. "My flat's just around the corner." Her voice was a seductive purr. She let go of Remus's hand. "Now, tell me that's just being friendly, and I'll apologize to Stevens for getting mad."

"Wow." Remus rubbed his hand, it was still tingling. "I might not be straight but if your flat really was around the corner, we'd be there." He sighed. "No, that's not just being friendly. So what'd he say?"

"He didn't know what he'd done! I walked over to him right after I saw him do that thing – only I don't think he quite got to the actual pick up line – and I was raving mad and he just looked at me and said 'baby, I missed you at the match, did you just get here?' and tried to kiss me. Which made me even madder! Because if I hadn't gone over to him, that floozy certainly wouldn't have said no, I can tell you that."

"Probably not, but he would have come to his senses, I'm sure of it." Remus stated. Clara took a bite of the chocolate cake they were sharing and didn't answer. "How long have you been dating?"

"A year and a half." Clara sighed. "A whole year and a half. Of course, he's been gone a lot of that time, with the Quidditch."

"He does love you. I know that."

"I know he does." Clara sighed. "I just wish…"

"What?"

"I wish I could put a big sign on his forehead 'property of Clara Endicott' and I wish he wouldn't flirt."

"You could tattoo it on there." Remus grinned.

"Hmm…you're right."

"He does feel very badly about what he did. And Cass gave him a big lecture too. Told him he shouldn't drink if he can't handle his liquor, that you're the best girl he'll ever meet so he shouldn't screw it up."

"Did he really?" Clara smiled. "That makes me feel better."

"He is a huge flirt." Remus took a bite of cake. "And I think the…after the World Cup, it shook him up."

"I know. He's had a few nightmares since then." Clara sighed. "I'm not going to let him push me away just because he doesn't want to be hurt again, like when Owen died. And I sure as hell am not going to let him get away with flirting with every witch he sees."

Remus read with interest the article in the Daily Prophet about the first task in the Triwizard Tournament. Sirius had also written him a letter, having heard about it firsthand from Harry.

For their ninth anniversary, Cassius took Remus to the Lake District. Remus had forgotten about the conversation after the World Cup match, but apparently Cassius hadn't.

For Cassius's 31st birthday, Remus gave him another bottle of the cologne he'd made last Christmas. Cassius was thrilled as he'd used his other bottle up months ago, but kept forgetting to ask Remus for more.

"Remus! Cassius! Tabby!" Clara came running through the front door. "He asked me!" She held her hand out, a gold ring with a round diamond sparkled on her left hand.

"Congratulations!" Remus hugged Clara tightly. Tabby hugged Clara immediately after.

"We're going to tell my parents, we're having Christmas dinner with them." Clara's eyes were shining with happiness.

"Congratulations, Clara." Cassius lifted her into a hug and swung her around.

"I'm so happy for you both." Remus hugged Stevens. Cassius put Clara down and hugged Stevens too.

"We have to figure out the date but we're thinking maybe June?" Clara looked at Remus and Cassius. "And you're both coming."

"Tell Remus the date and we'll be there." Cassius said with a grin.

Remus was getting more frequent owls from Sirius who had traveled to caves outside of Hogsmeade to be closer to Harry. Remus was worried that Sirius would get caught, but since Cassius was telling the Ministry that Sirius was last seen near Gibraltar, Remus supposed he shouldn't be worried after all.

Sirius wrote Remus all about the second task in the Triwizard's Cup. Remus again felt proud of how Harry handled himself, he only wished James and Lily were there to see it.

Thank you to Padfoot, AffectedMangoO, peegchica, Mon2 and Drastic Diner! I love hearing your thoughts!

And…drumroll please…Sirius comes to Windy Corner NEXT chapter!!! Cue the fireworks! :-) I will get review greedy again next chapter so be prepared! :-)