Remus' POV
"Moony, I love you," I hear my Mate. "I'll see you tonight."
"Mmm? Sirius?" I reach of him blindly.
"Hey," he catches my hand and presses it to his cheek.
My eyes flicker open,
"You're going?"
"I have to go to work," he nods. "Are you going to be ok?"
I smile weakly,
"Sure. Please don't stay late."
"I'll leave early," he grins. "I love you."
"Love you, too," I smile happily, then retreat back under the duvet.
I hear him laugh then a crack as he leaves. I sigh softly then roll over and peer at the clock.
"7 o'clock?" I groan aloud. "Padfoot, are you insane?"
I bury my head and try to get back to sleep. After a few minutes I hear footsteps on the stairs, then Wolfcub climbs up onto the bed beside me. He pats the duvet I am hiding under and I lift it a little to look at him. He smiles and slips under the cover to curl up against me.
"Hey, Devlin," I cuddle him, "are you ok?"
"Couldn't sleep…" he murmurs.
I nod,
"Yeah. I get that after the Moon sometimes."
I don't bother to tell him that having a Mate helps.
I stroke his hair gently and he sighs happily. He snuggles a bit closer to me, and I wrap the duvet around us.
"Padfoot gone to work?" he asks quietly.
"He's at the Ministry, yes," I nod.
I feel him tense against me,
"Ministry?" he looks up at me with wide scared eyes.
"Yes," I smile reassuringly, "but it's ok. Not all at the Ministry are evil, ok?"
He bites his lip and nods.
"You sure you're ok?" I stroke his cheek with my thumb.
He nods again,
"Hurt a little, then was fun," he smiles again.
I can't help but think we were lucky that he fainted. I think it probably spared him from the brunt of the pain.
Sirius seems to think that he could cope because, as a child, Devlin doesn't understand that turning into an animal isn't a normal occurrence.
Either way we were lucky.
"Good," I smile back. "Try and get some rest, ok?"
He nods and curls up closer to me,
"Love you…"
I feel heartened,
"I love you too."
Sirius' POV
I apperate over to the Burrow where Prongs is waiting for me.
"How's things?" he stands up from the doorstep.
I raise an eyebrow,
"When I said I wanted you to wait for me so we could go together I didn't quite mean that…" I flick my hand towards where he was sitting.
He grins,
"Ah, well, I couldn't chance you coming in and getting comfy. You would only forget what we plan to do today."
I smirk,
"Charming. Well, shall we?"
Prongs shrugs, smirks and then Disapperates. I follow him to the Ministry.
"So," he claps his hands together as we head for the lifts, "what is our plan of attack?"
"Well, I was thinking we could go with the old flour-and-water tack," I tell him mock-seriously.
"Darn," he slaps his forehead; "I left mine at home. We'll have to think of something else…"
I laugh,
"Well, I'm not sure it would have worked anyway, Prongs, as much as I hate to burst your bubble."
"You're joking?" he grins. "How could a classic like flour-and-water fail to aid our attempt at breaking into the top secret Headquarters of the Ministry?"
"I really hope no one is listening to this conversation…" I roll my eyes.
"Which level is it?" he changes to subject as we enter the lift.
"Four," I murmur, then lounge back against the back wall.
"Right," he presses the button, then every other button on the panel.
Thanks to Prongs' mature behaviour we make very slow progress in the lift, as it insists upon halting at every floor. By the time we reach theforth floor I am surely looking rather irate and Prongs is giggling like a madman.
"I worry about you…" I mutter as we walk off down the corridor.
He matches my stride effortlessly as we make quick work of the long corridor.
"Reminds me of back at Hogwarts," he grins.
I laugh,
"Yeah, we strode around then too."
"All we need is Snape and we complete the picture," he shakes his head.
"That's the stuff nightmares are made of," I mock shudder.
We walk in silence until we arrive at the cages. We observe them without speaking, or moving to check for inhabitants, each thinking our own thoughts.
"You had nightmares in Azkaban," Prongs states rather than asks.
I tense momentarily, then turn to look him in the eye,
"Yes."
"What of?" he asks quietly.
"Why?" I ask.
He looks away,
"I just… I feel guilty I suppose. I should have left some sort of will…"
We fall into silence again.
"You and Lily," I murmur, "and Harry of course. Seeing the house on fire… that featured rather heavily… Watching Peter skulk off into the drains…" I shrug, "it wasn't your fault, though. It was my idea to use Peter…"
"Don't," he clasps my shoulder suddenly, "it's ok."
I nod,
"Thank you."
He nods,
"What about Moony?"
"I had no memories of Moony when I was inside…" I sigh. "Remembering him would have been a happy memory."
He winces,
"Yeah, I guess so."
I smile suddenly,
"He was the first thing I remembered when I escaped. You have no idea how brilliant that felt…" I see Prongs grinning at me. "Yeah, I'm gone. I know."
"It's scary how far gone you are…" he shakes his head.
We stand in silence for a moment, then I rub my hands together,
"Well, we'd better see if there is anybody here."
We move to the first cage and look through the small window. There is nobody inside.
This trend continues through all the cages. I release a sigh.
"Well, I guess this is good news," Prongs claps me on the shoulder as we head back to the lift.
"I guess," I agree. "But I think it is more likely that they just haven't arrived yet. It might take a few days for them to be well enough to be moved."
"People might have read the papers and followed our example," Prongs suggests.
"You take the whole optimist thing to a whole new level," I tell him.
Remus' POV
Before today I had no idea how long it took to teach children how to write.
I was a teacher before, sure, but those students did at least know how to read.
"No, Devlin," I say for the hundredth time. "You're doing really well, but look at how I wrote it above."
I watch as he scowls in concentration and tries to write his name. He looks up at me hopefully and I smile reassuringly,
"There, that's great!"
"Got it right?" he grins.
"Yes, you did," I smile as I look down at the crude scrawl that vaguely resembles 'Devlin'.
"Show Padfoot," he clutches the piece of paper.
"He'll be proud of you," I stroke his hair.
I hear the front door open and voices drift down the stairs.
"Padfoot!" Devlin yells as he runs up the stairs clutching his paper. "See what I did!"
I follow him up the stairs and smile at my Mate. Padfoot offers me a grin, then turns back to our son.
"Oh wow," he grins. "We'll have to put that on the wall or something."
Wolfcub beams again then turns to Prongs,
"Read story!" he requests, then drags him away.
Padfoot smirks at Prongs' distressed look,
"You two have fun."
"Oh, we will…" Prongs rolls his eyes so that Wolfcub cannot see. "Come on then, Devlin, what story to you want?"
They walk up the stairs and I'm alone with Sirius.
"Hi, Moony," he smiles then rubs my check gently with his thumb.
"Hi," I close my eyes and step into his arms. He holds me close.
"What's wrong?" he murmurs in my ear as he rocks me slightly.
"I'm tired," I tell him. "I've spent the last six hours teaching Devlin to write his name…"
He kisses my neck,
"You're exaggerating, I don't think Wolfcub's attention span is even half as long as that."
"Ok," I smile, "but it felt like six hours."
He laughs gently,
"He needs time, I don't suppose he had much human interaction at all at the Ministry, and they certainly didn't teach him anything."
I pull back suddenly,
"The cages?"
"There was nobody in them, Love," he kisses the end of my nose. "Prongs and I both checked."
I nod,
"And Prongs is here now because…?"
"He hung out with me at the office today," he shrugs, "I invited him home. I think he is getting claustrophobic at the Burrow."
I laugh,
"He spent the day in your poky little office instead of in the countryside because he's getting claustrophobic?"
"Yeah, well, Prongs always has been a little peculiar."
Later, Sirius' POV
"See ya, Prongs."
"Whatever, Padfoot," he smirks, then Disapperates.
"Charming man, is Prongs," I tell Moony.
Moony just rolls his eyes,
"I've put Devlin to bed."
"Ah, so we have some time just for us!" I grin and pull him into my arms.
He smiles and rests his head against my chest,
"I love you."
"Well, that's good, because I happen to worship the ground you've walked on."
He laughs, then turns more serious,
"You will check the cages again tomorrow?"
"I will check them everyday," I promise him.
Author Notes:
It's a short one, I know… I have seriously lost where I'm going with this story… Anyway! I'll muddle through, I'm sure. In the mean time, and suggestions are welcome.
Miss Anonymous hp- Lol, I'll think about it!
Silverone3- Hermione? Oh yes… I seem to remember her… (Hits self over head…) heh heh… Yes, I'll try to fit her in somewhere… I had her rather absent in Rewards and explained it by her studying, but then Harry is studying too and still manages to appear… Hmmm…. (Mind runs riot with possibilities…) Thanks!
Gil de hu- Danke! And I am willing to bet your English is better than my German!
Shadow Cat17- Lol, how many reviews did you leave anyway? Thanks though, and as requested, I have updated!
Thanks to everyone else who reviewed!
