Author's Notes: Thanks to noone, Mon2, and peegchica for the reviews of chapter 37. I apologize again for speeding through the events to get to Sirius but…I hope you will all be happy with the result! Read on for answers to your questions!

Chapter 38 The Guest

Remus had just finished fire talking with Dumbledore. He wanted Sirius and Remus to reform the Order of the Phoenix. He'd told Sirius to go to Windy Corner. Remus needed to owl Sirius with a portkey since Windy Corner was unplottable and had other various protection spells on it.

Remus ran upstairs to the library to ask Cassius to make the portkey. Due to his status as an auror, Cassius was allowed to make portkeys without having to go through the official paperwork first. And making a portkey so that only a blood relative could travel to his home wouldn't be a problem.

Remus walked up the stairs slowly, thinking how different things had been less than twelve hours ago, before Voldemort had returned. The night before, Cassius had been summoned to Hogwarts. He had found out that during the Third Task of the Tri-wizard Tournament, Voldemort had been returned to his full strength, using Harry Potter's blood in a ritual. According to Harry, who managed to escape murder once again, Voldemort was back at full strength and had summoned his Death Eaters, including Cassius's brother, reestablishing their allegiance. Fudge didn't believe Harry, since there had been so many articles in the Prophet questioning Harry's mental state all year. Almost more disturbing than Voldemort's return was the news that Barty Crouch Junior had imprisoned Moody since the beginning of the school year in order to manipulate the Tri-Wizard Tournament as Voldemort wanted.

Cassius returned home many hours later, on the edge of a panic attack, to tell Remus and Tabby the news. Remus had immediately felt sick to his stomach. Tabby had collapsed with the shock of the news and Remus had had to take her to Saint Mungo's. By the time he got her settled in hospital and himself back home, Cassius had chewed all his fingers bloody and was rocking back and forth in the corner of their bedroom. Remus cursed himself for not thinking to summon Stevens before he'd gone to Saint Mungo's but he'd been so worried about Tabby who looked like she'd had a heart attack and had been barely breathing.

It took two doses of the calming potion and a full hour of being held by Remus for Cassius's panic attack to subside. Remus had had the stomach ache ever since. He absently rubbed his stomach as he walked down the hall.

"Sirius is coming here, Dumbledore's sending him. He wants us to reform the Order." Remus stopped a few steps into the room. He noticed Cassius' back tense up from where he was bent over his desk.

"When's he coming?" Cassius looked over at Remus. He was researching protection spells. Moody was still in the infirmary at Hogwarts. When he was released, Cassius would stay with Moody to help him recover and make sure he was safe and that his flat was well protected against any further attacks. Cassius wanted to be with him, to make sure he recovered from the ordeal of the past nine months. Cassius couldn't believe he was fooled by Barty Crouch, Jr. He felt responsible for letting Moody down, letting Moody get hurt.

"He needs a portkey to bring him here. You could make it so only he can use it, can't you?"

"Yes. I'll do it now and you can owl him. If he gets here before Moody is released, I'll just go stay at Moody's anyway."

Remus felt his stomach lurch. "Cass-"

"I don't want him to know about us."

"I've already told him I mated with a wizard, who's an auror -"

"And that's all he needs to know right now. I don't trust him yet." Cassius leaned back from the desk and ran his hand through his hair. "Come here." Remus crossed quickly to Cassius and sat down in his mate's lap. "We'll be all right." He kissed Remus's temple as his arms encircled him. Remus nodded but the knot in his stomach didn't relax.

Two days later, around 7 am, there was a knock at the front door.

"Remus – Sirius is here!" Tabby's voice called up the stairs. Remus had a flashback of the times when Sirius used to come over to visit when he lived at his parents' house. How different things were now…

"Just a minute!" Remus yelled down to Tabby as he sat up. They'd been snuggling in bed after Cassius had woken Remus up by making love to him.

"Owl me at Moody's when he leaves." Cassius's hand trailed down his bare arm, making Remus shiver.

"I will."

"How long do you think it will be?"

"I don't know – a week?"

"A week?" Cassius whined.

"We had sex barely twenty minutes ago, you can survive a week." Remus smiled, in spite of the fact that the knot in his stomach was tightening again. He didn't want to be separated from his mate, not when everything was so scary again. Being together made Remus feel safer...he smiled inwardly, realizing that he had grown just as dependent on Cassius as Cassius was on him.

"Hmm…" Cassius rolled over and got out of bed. "Damn Sirius."

"I know you don't like him..." Remus got up and walked to the closet.

"He hated me… I wanted to like him…when I was young, I thought he was wicked cool…and I was envious of him, when we were at school…I had a huge crush on one of his friends." Cassius quickly pulled on his clothes and sat down to put his boots on.

"You liked James?" Remus teased, as he buttoned his jeans up.

"No, you." Cassius responded solemnly, standing up.

"When was that?" Remus was curious because Cassius rarely talked about being at Hogwarts with Remus. He knew it was because Cassius didn't remember much of that time clearly.

"End of my third year. I used to jack off thinking about you."

"And you say you're not romantic." Remus smiled, crossing to his mate and hugging him tightly.

"I still jack off thinking about you." Cassius smiled back. "When I'm away from you."

"Well, make sure you lock the door, you don't want Moody barging in." Remus began to laugh

"I can't do it at Moody's! He has that damn magical eye, he'll see through the door!"

"Poor husband. I'll send your trunk to Moody's today while you're at work." Remus smiled lovingly at Cassius. "I love you." Remus said fervently, pressing his lips against Cassius's. Cassius's tongue swept into Remus's mouth for an instance, Remus felt warmth suffuse his insides.

"I love you." Cassius Disapparated.

Remus ran down the stairs, he paused for a moment, and then pulled Sirius into a warm hug. "I know it's not the best circumstances, but I'm glad you're here." Sirius hugged him back tightly, holding him close before Remus pulled away. He seemed even thinner than he had in the Shrieking Shack. Remus hadn't thought that was possible, but it was. "I think you could use a shower." Remus wrinkled his nose.

"Probably. I think the last proper one I had was before James and Lily died." Sirius said quietly. Remus had trouble finding his voice as he looked into Sirius's haunted grey eyes. He found himself reaching out and taking Sirius's hand in his and squeezing it reassuringly.

"Come on. After you clean up, we can have breakfast. And I have some clothes for you to wear. Why didn't you tell me you were still wearing these rags?" Remus turned towards the stairs, pulling Sirius after him.

"This place is nice." Sirius said, letting himself get dragged up the stairs. He was looking around in grudging admiration. "How long have you lived here?"

"Over nine years." Remus answered as they went into his and Cassius's bedroom.

"With your mate." Sirius' voice was flat.

"Uh huh." Remus went into his closet and found a pair of jeans and a shirt for Sirius to wear, he grabbed a pair of boxers too. They were the same height and now that Sirius was so thin, Sirius could easily fit into his clothes.

"And where is he?" Sirius asked sharply.

"He just went to work." Remus had decided he would tell Sirius as much of the truth about Cassius as possible.

"This house must be really safe, since he's an auror, right? That's why Dumbledore sent me here."

"Yes, it is. I'll give you the full tour later, if you want. This will be your room. I'll get you some pajamas too." Remus said as he led Sirius through the guest room to the bathroom that was connected to it. "This is your bathroom, so we don't have to share." He smiled.

"I..." Sirius looked overwhelmed as Remus pulled a big fluffy towel down from the cupboard and hung it on the towel bar. He looked at the counter, there was a toothbrush, toothpaste and a hairbrush along with various bottles of lotions and creams. "This is all for me?"

"Of course it is. You're my guest. Only the best for you. I'll have to go shopping tomorrow for some clothes for you."

"I don't have access to my vault anymore." Sirius scowled.

"It doesn't matter." Remus waved his hand dismissively. Since Sirius had been disinherited when his mother had died, she had left her fortune to Cassius, her favorite nephew, who had kept it in a separate vault, refusing to touch it. Remus would use that money to help Sirius, Cassius had gotten out a large amount the day before on Remus's request. "I'll leave you to it. Just come down to the kitchen when you're done. It's at the bottom of the stairs. And...just burn those." He gestured to the clothes that Sirius was wearing.

"You don't think I'll want to keep them as a souvenir?" Sirius asked sarcastically. Remus laughed and shut the door behind him.

An hour later, Sirius came into the kitchen smelling like lavender. His hair was combed back from his forehead and it flowed down his back to his waist. It accentuated his thin face.

"Sirius, this is Tabby – Bettina Sprout, she lives here too. Tabby, this is Sirius Black."

"Nice to meet you. You're the one who baked all the cookies, they were delicious." Sirius held out his hand. Tabby shook it firmly, although she still looked a little pale, she'd been released from hospital the day before. Remus had offered to do all the cooking until she was fully recovered but she'd refused, saying that it gave her something to focus on.

"You look like you could use a good meal – you're thinner than Remus!" She said, smiling warmly.

"I hadn't thought that was possible." Sirius said, his mouth quirking into a grin.

Tabby took a tall plate of pancakes and eggs over to Sirius and set it down on the table in front of him.

"Would you marry me, Tabby?" Sirius said, once he had gotten a bite of her delicious pancakes.

"No." Tabby's cheeks turned pink.

"Everyone always says no." Sirius growled then started to wolf down the food. Remus didn't know what to say so he just picked up his fork and started eating. After a second helping of food, Sirius put his fork down. "Why doesn't your mate want to meet me?"

"Plausible deniability." Remus answered. In reality Cassius didn't want to meet Sirius and didn't want Sirius to know who exactly Remus was mated to…but Remus couldn't bring himself to say that.

"He sounds as paranoid as Moody."

"You have no idea." Remus smiled, glancing over at Tabby who also smiled as she sipped her tea.

"So, really, how many people know about your relationship? You said it's secret, right?"

"Yes, it's secret. We're not legally married, just mated." Sirius nodded. "There's the two of us, you, Tabby, Moody, Dumbledore, Madam Pomfrey at school, his best friend, and my friend Clara. So," Remus looked down at his hands where he'd been putting up fingers as he named off the names, "Nine."

"That's amazing." Sirius took a sip of tea. "Is it because he's ashamed you're a werewolf? Because I was never ashamed of you."

"No! No, it's not that…it's complicated." Remus stammered. Sirius yawned and Remus seized upon it as a way to escape the conversation. "You must be tired. Why don't you go to bed."

"All right." Sirius stood up. "It'll be nice to sleep in a bed again."

Sirius slept until lunch when the smell of food woke him up and drew him back to the kitchen. After they ate, Remus cut Sirius's hair so that it was just shoulder length, the way Sirius had used to wear it, before Azkaban. Then he gave Sirius a tour of Windy Corner. Tabby followed them in her animagus form. Cassius had spent the previous day removing anything that was evidence that he lived there, all the pictures were gone and a spell had been done on the Malfoy portrait in the attic so it was invisible. As they walked around the yard, Remus picked Tabby the cat up and held her close, feeling the reassuring purr against his chest.

That night, Remus was awoken by hoarse shouting. Half-awake, he reached over to the other side of the bed searching for Cassius, to pull him close, to comfort him. When his hand landed on the empty bed, he remembered that Cassius was at Moody's and that the yelling could only be coming from Sirius.

He sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. When he'd had nightmares at school, Sirius and James had both comforted him at different times. It was time to return the favor. He threw his legs over the edge of the bed, shivering when his feet hit the cool floor. He stumbled towards the door and across the hall.

"Sirius" Remus crossed to the bed and sat down next to Sirius. "Wake up. You're dreaming." He shook Sirius's shoulder.

"Moony." Sirius's voice was husky as he struggled to get free of his nightmare. "Sorry. Dementors." He rubbed a hand over his face.

"It's all right." Remus patted Sirius's arm. "I've got some Dreamless Sleep Potion. Helps when I have nightmares."

"That's be good." Sirius sat up as Remus accio'd the bottle. "Could you stay with me?"

"I…I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why? We won't do anything, you can't anyway." Remus blushed as he realized Sirius must know about the traits of the werewolf mating. He wondered when Sirius had researched it, before or after going to Azkaban.

"I…here, drink this." Remus held out a glass of the potion and Sirius gulped it down. He took the glass back and stood up. "I'll see you in the morning."

"Moony, it's just so unfair. You should be mine." Sirius said thickly before he turned on his side, his back to Remus. Remus stood there for a moment, unable to think of anything to say for the second time that day, before returning to his empty bed.

Sirius had been at Windy Corner a few days when Remus received his first owl from Cassius.

Wife,

Could you send over that book that's on one of the shelves by my desk? It's got location spells in it. Please?

I love you,

Husband.

Remus set the scroll down, shaking his head at the vague request. He hoped there was only one book that fit that description.

"Who's that from?" Sirius asked after swallowing some soup.

"My husband."

Sirius looked at the scroll. "He's got atrocious writing."

"I know." Remus laughed, it had taken almost a year for him to be able to read it with ease.

"Is that first word supposed to be your name?" Sirius picked up the scroll and looked at it closely, trying to decipher it.

"No…it's 'wife.' You can see the W there." Remus pointed, it was the only semi-recognizable letter in the word. Sirius didn't look convinced but nodded anyway.

"He calls you wife? Isn't that a bit…weird?"

"Well…I mean…we are mated…married…we exchanged rings." Remus tried not to blush. Whenever Cassius called him 'wife' Remus remembered the first moment Cassius's sharp teeth had sunk into his flesh causing the second jolt of the mating bond to shock through his system. He remembered the impromptu wedding ceremony, naked, on their bed…and he remembered what Cassius had been doing when he tricked Remus into agreeing to the nickname…

"Earth to Remus." Sirius was waving his hand in front of his face.

"What?"

"You looked just like James did whenever he would think about Lily."

"Please don't tell me I looked that idiotic." Remus laughed.

"Yeah, you did." Sirius laughed too, it sounded rusty from disuse but Remus was happy to hear it.

Next Chapter will be posted on the 19th!