Why do I have to go?

Archive: Padfoot...Snuffles, SBRL, Azkaban's Lair, (under the name 'Toofdap'), Meant to Be
Summary: Sirius will have to go home for Christmas, even though he hates his family. James and Peter try to help, but in the end it's down to the clever (and very much in love) Remus to rescue him.
Pairing:Remus Sirius
Disclaimer: All characters etc belong to JK Rowling - I just 'borrow' them from time-to-time
Spoilers: None as yet
Author's Notes: MWPP era. Written for the SBRL Christmas fic exchange, in response to Ray's challenge of:
Sirius will have to go home for Christmas, even though he hates his family. James and Peter try to help, but in the end it's down to the clever (and very much in love) Remus to rescue him.

"I must say in my years in the fandom, I don't think I've considered the idea of Sirius having trouble with transforming, so it was an intriguing idea. And can I say that my favourite scene was the interaction between Moony and Padfoot; there's not too much written on those lovely boys while in their canine forms, so this was a nifty treat:-D" Nezad (Azkaban's Lair)

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Streaks of sunlight came through the window as the Gryffindors polished off their breakfast in the Great Hall. The entire house was looking forward to the owls arriving that morning, as they would bring news of whether they were to go home for Christmas, or stay at Hogwarts for the holiday. Most of the students were hoping to be told they were to go home, but James, Peter, Remus and Sirius were silently hoping they were allowed to stay. They wanted to check on an apparently new corridor leading from Hogwarts straight to Honeydukes. Sirius didn't particularly like his family's company, and they had all but disowned him when he was placed in Gryffindor instead of the traditional Black house of Slytherin, so he was certain of being able to stay at Hogwarts for Christmas.

The chattering stopped as the first group of owls descended on the hall. Slytherin's owls came first, followed by Hufflepuff's and Ravenclaw's. Finally, the Gryffindor owls appeared, and every student had a letter lying on the plate in front of them. All apart from Sirius. James and Peter ripped open their letters and cheered when thy realised they were allowed to stay. Remus opened his, but before he could read it, looked at Sirius, who was frantically looking round the room.

James and Peter looked up, and their cheering stopped abruptly as they noticed Sirius' anxiety.
"What is it mate?" asked James.
"Where is it? That dam owl. It's just got to be here somewhere."
As Sirius was frantically looking around the Hall, one of the Professors approached the table.
"Ah, Mr Black."
Sirius looked round sharply as if woken from a nightmare. "Professor Dumbledore, sir?"
"Would you come with me please."
Sirius felt confused as his stood up and followed Professor Dumbledore out of the Great Hall. He was sure that he'd not done anything wrong recently. He knew there was a remaining detention he had to take that afternoon, but apart from that his nose was clean.

They turned left out of the Hall, and into an empty classroom. Professor Dumbledore gestured to Sirius to sit down at one of the tables, and drew up a chair next to him. "No doubt you are wondering where your owl is."
Sirius looked up, and gave a slight nod.
"Well, your mother decided to transfer your letter by floo rather than owl, and I have agreed to pass on the message to you. I must point out, that
I am merely repeating the contents of your letter, and do not necessarily agree with it."
Sirius felt his heart sink. Did this mean his family was actually going to make him come home for the holiday?

"You are expected," Dumbledore continued, "to attend Christmas lunch at your parents' house in Grimmauld Place this year. Their reasoning for this, and I quote, is so 'you will not be lead astray by a half-breed, a half-blood and an idiot'."
Sirius gasped.
"May I remind you, Mr Black, that I am merely repeating the contents of the letter. I can assure you, that I absolutely detested doing so, but I had given my word that I would. Now then, you had better rejoin your classmates in the Great Hall before they think you are in trouble."

Sirius walked out of the room, and sank back onto the bench at the Gryffindor table. He sat there, staring at the table. "Bad news, Sirius?" asked James, but Sirius didn't look up.
"Bad news?" echoed Peter, but still Sirius stared at the table.
"They want you to back for Christmas, don't they," said Remus, and saw Sirius' shoulders rise, his eyes turn red and his clenched fists making his knuckles turn white.
"Not going," said Sirius, quietly but firmly. "Need a way out."
He looked up at the other Marauders, "I need your help. I can't face going back there. Not after what they said."
Peter looked nervous. "W - w - what was said?" he squeaked.
Sirius looked at their concerned faces, "doesn't matter. No Remus, honest, it doesn't" he added as Remus looked about to disagree.
"We've got a week before the holidays," said Remus, "we'll find a way of getting you out of it."

That evening, James Sirius and Peter sat in the common room trying to sort a way of solving the problem.
"I can only think of one thing, Sirius. Use my invisibility cloak and catch the Knight bus back here," said James.
Sirius considered the idea. "My mother has influence over the Knight Bus - they'd report me to her in a shot," he replied looking downbeat.
James looked disappointed, "sorry mate, that was my only idea. Maybe Peter can come up with something."
Sirius looked over at Peter, "well?"
"You could feign an injury, then Dumbledore and Dippett would have to let you stay here."
"Pomfrey," interrupted James. "She'd see through that in an instant. It would need to be a real injury, not even just a simple hex."
Sirius shot a concerned glance at James. "I'm not agreeing to be on the end of one of your hexes, mate. I saw what you did to Snivellus' face and hair."

"Well, Sirius, how are you going to get out of this?" asked Peter, "neither of us have come up with good ideas."
James looked around the room, "where's Remus? I thought he would have a plan to help you get out of this."
"Detention with Slughorn," replied Sirius, "for his last attempt in potions where his turned pink instead of blue."
/Well, mine was purple, even though every other male students' potion was blue. Wonder why Slughorn picked on Remus, rather than both of us./

James' voice woke Sirius from his thoughts, "looks like you're sunk... that is, unless Remus has a plan."
Sirius sighed There was no real way of getting out of this. Remus may be the top of the class at everything apart from potions, but even he would be unable of planning an escape from the prison of Grimmauld Place.

--

The evening before Sirius was due to go back home, Remus seemed unusually quiet. "Got a plan, Sirius?"
"Nothing. Apart from letting James hex me so I can stay here in the hospital wing."
Remus winced at the thought. He'd also seen the Slytherin victims of James' hexes.
"I may have a plan. Just meet me at the corner of Grimmauld Place tomorrow evening."
Sirius opened his mouth to say that his mother would spot him.
"As Padfoot," Remus added with a grin.
Sirius let those two words sink in, and looked at Remus, a small grin creeping onto his face.
"Then what from there?"
"Leave that to me," Remus replied with a small wink. Or maybe it was just something in his eye. Sirius wasn't sure.

--

Sirius boarded the Hogwarts Express with a sense of loathing that he was having to return home, but also a sense of expectation at his 'great escape'. The journey passed without any hitches, and Sirius arrived home to be met by his mother in her trademark green and black robes. Regulus had already arrived home, and Sirius reluctantly stepped over the threshold. Avoiding the family downstairs, he quickly ran up the stairs to keep out of the way in his old room.

As the clock struck 6pm, Sirius leant over the banisters to see if everyone was still in the front room. Satisfied that they were all busy, he went downstairs and opened the front door. Stepping outside, he took a deep breath of the cool evening air.
"Who's that?" came a voice from the front room, and Sirius could hear his mother approaching.
"I said, Who's That?" she demanded, wand in hand. Mrs Black stood on the doorstep, scanning the path to see who had opened the door, but all she could see was a black dog staring at her.
"Regulus! Sirius!" She bellowed into the house, "come here now!"
"Is this something to do with you?" she asked, as Regulus rushed to the door. They looked down the path just in time to see the dog disappearing from the end of the path, before trotting down the street.
Padfoot was out of earshot, so he couldn't hear Regulus' reply, but he knew that his mother would automatically blame him for this, and discover that he was no longer in the house. Running now, he approached the corner, and leapt around it... straight into Remus who was waiting on the other side, knocking him to the ground.
"Well, I'm pleased to see you too," Remus chuckled as he stood up. "Now to the second part of the plan."
Holding his wand into the street, they saw the triple decker purple Knight Bus appear. As the bus pulled up, the conductor looked quizzically at Padfoot.

"My dog," explained Remus. "He's very valuable, and several Muggles have been trying to steal him/ Seeing as I'm not of age, I can't put an ownership charm on him, so we travel by night. It's safer."
The conductor looked at them both again, and sighed, "ok, I haven't seen either of you. Now get aboard quickly, we're running late."
They clambered aboard. Padfoot was still grateful for Remus' plan, but where were they heading?
Remus muttered their destination to the conductor, adding something about checking no-one was following them, but Padfoot couldn't quite catch the location.

After several bangs, the Knight Bus pulled up, and the conductor nodded at Remus.
"Come on," he said softly to Padfoot, and they disembarked.
No sooner had Padfoot's paws touched the ground, the Knight Bus was gone.
"Follow me," said Remus, and led Padfoot towards a steel-clad brick built building in what seemed to be a mini forest. Remus knocked on the door, which was opened by a man.
"Hi dad. This is the dog I was telling you about. I'll keep him in with me until the day after Christmas, when we'll go back to Hogwarts."
His dad nodded, bemused, but keep for an easy life.
"This way," Remus said, leading Padfoot to a securely built building at the back.

Remus led them inside, and secured the door. "You can change back now. This room is unplottable, and can only be opened by me."
Sirius changed back, and looked around the room. There were claw marks of varying height on the walls, but the furniture looked unscathed. Remus saw Sirius' face and added, "it's unplottable for safety."
Sirius nodded. He was surprised that Remus had felt comfortable enough to bring him here. It was quite a display of the trust Remus must have for him, but anything was better than Grimmauld Place.
"It's great Moony," Sirius said at last, his voice low and husky from being transformed for so long. Remus wished that Sirius didn't sound so sexy - the temptation was getting too great.
Sirius coughed a few times to clear his throat. He didn't want to freak Remus out by sounding like that. He'd fancied him for a long time, but no one knew he himself was gay, and he couldn't afford to lose a close friendship on a simple mistake.

--

That evening, Remus couldn't sleep. He had given the bed of the room to Sirius, as his hands and feet were aching from all the running he'd done. Remus had made a quick bed on the floor, but his mind was racing. He walked over to the chair, and sank into it. Sirius sat up on the bed at the sound of Remus walking around.
"Trouble sleeping?"
Remus looked round surprised. "I didn't know you were awake."
Sirius shrugged. You might as well sit over here - it's harder to chat with you if you're sat on that chair."
Remus thought about this for a second, then walked over to the bed, perching on the end. He had to be careful he didn't blush at the thought of Sirius sitting there in his bed, just wearing a pair of trousers.
"How long have you had this room for?" Sirius asked, to try and strike up a conversation.
"Long enough," came the curt reply.
Sirius looked at Remus, and saw him looking downbeat.
"Wassup?"
"Nothing. I'm just... you know... thinking," replied Remus.
Sirius thought for a second, and was interrupted by Remus.
"What would be your ideal Christmas present, Padfoot?"
Sirius looked up. "Spending Christmas day with the man of my dreams," he replied quietly.
Remus opened his mouth to speak, then closed it as the last four words sank into his brain. "The man of your dreams?"
Sirius nodded, a red tint creeping onto his cheeks.
"What about your ideal Christmas present?" he asked, trying to shift the attention from himself.
Remus moved closer towards Sirius. "You... on toast," he replied with a mischievous grin. Before Sirius could reply, Remus had leant towards him further, and paused. They were almost nose-to-nose, and waiting for someone to take the first step. Before Sirius could move, Remus had pinned him to the bed, and was kissing him as if his life depended on it. Sirius was taken aback by Remus' enthusiasm, but soon melted into the kiss, enjoying every second of it.

Parting for air, Remus looked at him. Think this will be your ideal Christmas then?
Sirius looked back, grinning. "Definitely."