Disclaimer: I do not own any characters created by J.K. Rowling.

Author's Note: It's with a heavy heart that I inform you all that on Monday night -31st August -my grandfather lost his battle with cancer. When I eventually get this chapter uploaded, I may need to take a break from writing while I grieve as well as deal with my own -still as yet undiagnosed -health problems.

18/9/20: The funeral is later today and I have spent the last few days with barely any sleep and a lot of crying.

21/9/20: It took three months -one of which was me harassing the hospital for some information about my 'lost referral' -but I finally have an MRI appointment for next month!

Thank you for the continued support.

B x

Chapter Twenty-Six

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~March~

The time leading up towards the Easter holidays was filled with numerous ups and downs at Grimmauld Place.

Draco was still coming to terms with the fact that he refused to see Dr. Lisa anymore. As of yet, there had been no word from the Ministry as to what actions they would be taking, however the very thought of the impending consequences was enough to make him lose sleep and weight. Sirius often commented that he was looking paler than usual and would insist that the Ministry would send word immediately if they had wanted Draco arrested. Since that hadn't occurred, perhaps they were deliberating on how else to approach Draco's mandated therapy.

Draco knew Sirius meant well, but that didn't stop the little voice at the back of his head hissing degradations late into the night.

It didn't help that he also had had no word from his father since he'd written his letter. It had only been two and a half weeks, but the waiting made him itch.

He tried to busy himself with his schoolwork, and as much of the practical side of things as he could muster. He still barely trusted himself to cast more than a few simple cleaning charms around the cellar after he was done brewing some potions. He hated being afraid of his own wand, his own magic, but whenever he smoothed his fingers over the hawthorn, the urge to vomit rushed up his throat.

He needed to get a grip on himself.

He could feel himself spiraling, little by little, every day.

There was absolutely no way he was going to be able to pass his practical exams if he was unable to stand touching his wand. The exams were in four months … was that enough time to harness his magic after so long without it? Even his 'scourgify's seemed to stutter as the word fell from his quaking lips.

Harry provided a good distraction though. He was now nine years-old and -according to his previous height markings -he was now over an inch taller than when he'd originally been nine. It truly was a testament to what could be achieved through sheer love and nurturing.

Whenever the weather was nice, they would enjoy going to the muggle shops on the high street or to the local park to feed the ducks. Always with either Remus or Sirius in tow, much to Draco's relief. He still didn't feel comfortable being outdoors, muggle neighbourhoods or not. He felt as though he were a sitting target waiting for his attack.

On dreary days they brewed potions, watched movies, entertained Teddy as he began crawling and waddling all over the floor. There were many cushioning charms erected every morning after breakfast to ensure that the child didn't hurt himself.

Throughout all of this, Sirius never seemed to run out of energy often, always there to scoop Harry up if he fell down the concrete steps in the garden, or train him on his kid-sized broomstick. He took great joy in cooking and dancing around the kitchen in muggle jeans and socks -the shirt seemed to be optional depending on what he was cooking -as he blared music from a muggle radio. He sang along, his wild black curls knotted at the back of his head with his wand.

When that had happened last week, Remus had walked into the kitchen and dropped his tea. The mug had shattered at his feet and his cheeks blushed bright red at the sight of all of the black tattoo's littered artistically across Sirius' body.

He'd stuttered, vanished the mess at his feet, and hurried out of the kitchen faster than Draco had ever seen him move. He had watched the entire incident with fascination; had this been what Sirius had been like in his youth? Loudly singing along to David Bowie and Queen with his shirt off? For a man who had gone through two wars -died -and loved to indulge in as much chocolate as his sort-of-boyfriend, he looked incredibly fit for his age.

Then there was Remus.

Whilst Remus had agreed to staying on with Teddy, and allowing a courtship between himself and Sirius to finally bud, that didn't mean that the lycan didn't continuously berate himself when he thought no one could hear him, or that he was so frazzled and tired after a full moon that he could barely make it through the fireplace and into the office.

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There was one such morning where he had to help Sirius with some organisation for practical duelling classes, and so the man had asked Remus if he felt up to being his partner to help demonstrate some basic defence spells to the second years. As aching and old as Remus had felt, he couldn't help but smile fondly at the memories of all those silly duels they'd had as teenagers. He hadn't been able to duel just for the fun of it in years.

"Do you think you'll be alright with Harry and Teddy?" Remus asked Draco as he fiddled with the buttons of his shabby cardigan. "You can always go to Andromeda's if you feel like you can't cope."

Draco swallowed the bite of toast in his mouth. "I'm sure I can cope for a couple of hours."

Remus bit his lip. "It's just … I know Teddy is a bit of a handful right now."

"And you think keeping Sirius waiting is going to give you an easier day?" Draco cocked an eyebrow. "Go, before my cousin starts sending students to the headmistress for blinking at him funny."

"At this point I honestly don't know why Minerva agreed to hire both of us," Remus mumbled, raking a hand through his already messy hair.

"Maybe she thought to incompetent idiots would equal one half-decent teacher?" Draco shrugged, fighting to hide his smirk.

Remus leaned over the table and swatted the blonde upside the head. "I so wish I could give you detention!" he grunted, rubbing his eyes. "I hope I can be home by lunchtime. Then how about we work on some of those spells for your classes?"

Draco choked on the tea he was drinking. "Why -why would you want to waste the rest of your day doing that?"

Remus arched an eyebrow at him. "Don't think I don't notice that you avoid using magic as much as you can, Draco. The more you fear it the harder it will be." He came over to the table and gave Draco's hunched shoulder a squeeze. "Please, let's just try for a couple of hours when I get home. Just some simple things. Get you used to using your wand again."

Draco felt the hot burn of ugly emotions thrumming up the back of his skull. His eyes felt hot but there were no tears. He clenched his jaw, possibly to make a sarcastic retort, or just to outright refuse, but in the end, he just sighed and gave a weary nod. There was no use avoiding it. He needed to learn this stuff for his practical exams. He had a whole notebook of spells he needed to master, and a lot of the wand work was complicated enough.

"Okay. Only for a few hours though."

"Of course, we wouldn't want to exhaust you on the first try." Remus gave him a tired smile over his shoulder before grabbing his briefcase and taking a pinch of floo powder from the kitchen mantle. Stepping up into the grate, he called the name of his office before tossing the floo powder at his feet. Draco flinched as the flames roared loudly, the whole kitchen glaring green as the flames engulfed Remus. When the flames died away into smouldering embers, Remus was gone.

Draco sighed and dropped his head into his hands, "Guess I'm well and truly fucked then."

~0~

Remus was spat out of the office fireplace and grunted as he collided into the large adjoining desks. Bracing himself against it, he hissed through his teeth, dropping his briefcase on top of the scattered papers of Sirius' side, before dropping into the vacant chair. He needed a moment to himself before he faced all those children.

After the Easter holidays there were going to start teaching the children about magical creatures and what the different was between light and dark creatures.

Remus was silently hoping that Sirius would take those classes.

It was no secret -and really, there was no way it could be -that he was a werewolf. It had taken a lot of convincing on Minerva's part for him to even be on the school grounds. In his own mind, one of the only reasons the School Governors had agreed to it at all was because, as far as they were aware, Remus was living away from the castle every night, thus their children were safe.

Really, Voldemort had barely been dead a year and a werewolf was the greatest threat to their children?

He suddenly felt very old and tired.

"Oh, good you came!" Sirius grinned as he kicked the door shut behind him. Remus jumped a little, shooting the older man a glare. Sirius frowned a little. "Are you okay? You look a little tired."

"I'll be fine," Remus waved him off.

Sirius raked a hand through Remus' hair and the younger man tried his best not to croon into the touch and bury his face in Sirius' palm. The man smelled almost sweet; it was that damned bodywash again! This time he did turn his face into the older mans hand, grazing his teeth along the edge of his hand in a bold gesture of affection. Sirius grinned down at him and pressed a chaste kiss to the top of his head. "You ready to face the next lot?"

"What are we teaching this time?"

"Second years."

"Eurgh."

"What's wrong with second years?"

"What's right with them?" Remus sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I just remember what colossal shits we were at that age."

Sirius chuckled. "Yeah we were right little bastards. It'll be fun, don't you worry."

"If it's not fun, you owe me big time you masochistic wanker."

"Hey now, we all know you're my little masochist and no one else can hold a candle to you," Sirius crooned as he teasingly scratched Remus behind the ears.

He swiped at Sirius, more so out of embarrassment of liking being scratched in such a way. He glowered up at the man before rubbing a hand down his face. "So what's the lesson plan?"

"Well …?"

"Sirius Orion Black I AM NOT winging this; do you hear me?!"

"Jeez, yes dad!" he quipped. "No, I wasn't going to wing it. I was going to with some basic defence spells and maybe bridge into the theory behind a patronus."

"That's a little advanced for second years."

"I know, but it always helps to give them a little insight into what they can learn later on in their schooling."

Remus licked his lips, momentarily surprised that Sirius was thinking so far in advance. A lot of these students about to walk in probably wouldn't even dream of taking DADA at the NEWT level, interesting subject matter or not. Eventually, he bowed his head. "Alright, let's go and teach this lot some basic defence," he sighed, heaving himself out of his chair.

Following Sirius down into the classroom, Remus felt himself tense up all over as the bell chimed and students started to file into the room. The murmuring was quick to start up as the class realised that both of their professors would be teaching them today.

"Alright everyone, enough yammering! Hurry up and find your seats!" Sirius yelled out across the rising babbling.

Remus winced at the shout right next to him, but forced a smile as the last few kids scurried in and practically flung themselves into the only vacant chairs near the back.

"As you can see, Professor Lupin is here to help me teach you guys today," Sirius grinned at their awestruck faces. "Now, do you lot remember what I said we were learning today?"

A hand shot up in the air. Remus saw a muscle tic in Sirius' jaw.

"Yes, Tippet?"

"You said we were going to learn about some basic duelling, sir!"

"Correct. Now, has anyone done any of the reading I set over the weekend?" More than one pair of eyes averted themselves; clearly not a lot of these kids were avid readers. Mores the pity. Sirius sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I hope you lot do the reading Professor Lupins sets for you, because Merlin knows you don't want to get on his bad side."

Remus shot his companion a glare.

"What does he do if you get on his bad side?" another student chimed. Remus vaguely recognised her. Was her name Claire? Clara? Something like that.

Before Sirius could say another word, Remus cut in. "I don't share my secret stash of premium chocolate," he lied smoothly, shooting Sirius another glare. To his chagrin, the older man grinned brightly at him.

"Okay class, I want you to push the desks to one side and partner up whilst Professor Lupin and I set up the duelling stage!"

The scraping of chairs against flagstones grated on Remus' ears. Turning his attention to Sirius, he cocked an eyebrow, awaiting his directions. Between them, they managed to elongate their desk at the front of the class until it stretched from one end of the room to the other. Wards were erected to stop anyone flying into a wall or out of the window and cushioning charms were used to pad the length of the stage.

Once satisfied, Sirius hummed to himself and took his robe off, slinging it onto one of the desks lined up under the windows. "Right, class. You are to pay close attention to how proper wizarding duels are conducted. First, you face your opponent!"

Turning sharply on his heel, Sirius smirked as stood in the centre of the stage, his fingers flexing over the smooth wood of his wand. Remus rolled his eyes and tried to school his features into one of annoyance, but the teeniest peek of a smile shone through. That was all the encouragement Sirius needed. Disrobing himself, Remus cleared his throat and strode to the middle of the stage until he was a few feet away from Sirius.

"Wands at the ready!"

Both men raised their wands with a flourish, whipped it down to their side and then bowed.

Straightening up, Remus said, "Always make sure you bow! This is basic duelling etiquette and must always be adhered to!"

"Even if it's a matter of life and death?" someone piped up.

"You'd be surprised how many lunatics have a comedic side," he grumbled drily, more so that only Sirius could hear him.

Said man chuckled. "Now, now, of course if it really is a matter of life and death, we can all assume the rule book has gone out the window. But in general practice, you must always follow the rules and etiquette."

"Now, the aim of these duels is going to be to disarm your opponent. There will be no foolishness or unwarranted spell-work."

Remus was momentarily surprised by Sirius' choice of words -honestly, if there was a rule out there forbidding something you could almost guarantee Sirius had broken it thrice over -and to hear him waxing on about safety was … disarming.

"Now, to begin any proper duel, you must face your opponent," Sirius spun on his heel, his devilish grin making Remus' heart stutter in his chest. "And bow!"

Remus watched as the older man swept into a low deliberate bow, the dark curls falling over his shoulder and into his eyes. Peering up through said dark hair, Sirius shot Remus a wink at the tell-tale blush creeping up his neck.

"You must bow to me, Professor," Sirius' tone had just enough seductive suggestion in it, that Remus dropped into a hasty bow, brandished his wand and hastily retreated to the other end of the platform.

Fuck, it was a good thing he wore loose trousers today. Hopefully his dick would behave until the end of class.

"Now, you will be practising a few basic disarming spells. You should have read up on them for your last homework over the weekend."

There were a few murmurs, but Remus ignored them, his eyes focused solely on the man before him. Being declared innocent after the war had done wonders for him, and there was no chance of him getting a dad-bod which they'd threatened would happen to James. Sirius had defined figure, perfectly suited to both jeans, and fitted robes. How did he make everything he wore look so good?

He'd been so distracted, that he actually yelped when a spark of red shot towards him and he had just enough time to throw a 'protego!' into the air before it hit.

"Sirius!" he snapped, heat rushing to his cheeks. "Warn me next time!"

"I'm not going to warn you when I attack you," Sirius shrugged. "That's just counter-productive."

Remus bit back the quip and forced his anger down. Breathe … two … three …

Flexing his shoulders, he brandished his wand and in one fluid motion, shot a jet of blue sparks towards his opponent, flipping him through the air to have him landing in a heap on the edge of the state. Sirius grunted, blinking up at the ceiling. The class was silent, staring between their two professors, unable to read the thrumming vibe between them.

Through the tense silence, Sirius' familiar chuckle began to rumble through the air. "How long have you been holding that one back, Remus?"

Remus walked calmly across the stage and bent down to offer his hand to Sirius. "Since you left crumbs on the table at breakfast," he smirked as he hauled his friend to his feet.

Shaking his curls back into place, Sirius turned to address the class. "Lesson one; never turn your back on your opponent. And thank MERLIN for cushioning charms."

A ripple of nervous laughter went through the students.

Cracking the kinks in his back, Sirius combed his hair back. "Alright, who wants to give this a go?"

Students turned to one another, worrying their bottom lips and frowning, avoiding eye contact.

Remus clapped a hand on Sirius' shoulder. "How about I pick two? Selkopp and Prattlesnap, come up on stage. The rest of you, get into pairs."

The two students, a pale blonde girl from Gryffindor and a wiry Indian boy from Ravenclaw timidly made their way up onto the makeshift stage. Prattlesnap -The Gryffindor -was beckoned down one end of the stage by Remus whilst Selkopp awkwardly dawdled down to where Sirius was waiting as patiently as possible.

"Now you are to both walk towards the centre of the stage, bow to one another, wands at the ready. When you return to your end of the stage, you will attempt to disarm one another ONLY," Remus adopted his sternest expression. "We don't want anyone ending up in the hospital wing today."

With gentle nudges, the two students walked to the middle of the stage. Remus could almost taste their sweat on the air as they fingered their wands nervously. They bowed, before shakily stepping away ten paces. They brandished their wands, each desperate to be the one to cast first.

"On the count of three. One … Two … Three!"

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~0~

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"Well … that went well," Sirius sheepishly adjusted his robes as he started to make his way down the hall from the hospital wing.

Remus fell into step quickly with his companion, a garbled bluster coming from his mouth. "Are you insane? Somehow Selkopp's tickling charm hit Asha Miller! She nearly had an asthma attack!"

"Poppy can sort her out."

"That's hardly the point," Remus groused. Though, truthfully, he hadn't had any idea of how to counter the badly conceived charm and so a trip to the hospital wing had been in order.

"Mishaps happen, Remus," Sirius shrugged. "Don't you remember that time we forgot the counter-curse to the sticking charm we left on Peter's chair? I almost feel bad that we forgot about him for three hours, the ratty bastard."

Remus rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes, I completely believe you just happened to forget it."

"Hey, I was easily distracted."

"By what, may I ask?"

"A certain wolfy nerd always lingering around me," Sirius smirked. "My brain went to mush whenever he walked in the room. Oh, and there was you of course."

Once back in their office, Sirius abruptly found himself thrust up against the door, Remus' mouth on his. Rough hands tangled into his hair, his robes were shucked up and a leg was forced between his own. His brain barely had a chance to catch up with what was happening until he felt Remus' teeth graze down his throat, his hands roaming down to fiddle with Sirius' belt. Just as the buckle slid loose, Sirius grabbed Remus' wrists and forced them to stop. His brain screamed at him for ruining the first intimate initiation from Remus, but Sirius wasn't going into any of this blinded my lust or anything else.

"Woah there, Moony, what's gotten into you?" he panted.

"I want you," came the growl in his ear. It sent a shiver running through him.

"Fuck! Uh … Remus why now? What's made you all hot and bothered?"

Remus clenched his jaw, a growl threatening to rumble out. Clearing his throat, he loosened his hands where they had fisted the hem of Sirius' shirt. "I … Fuck, you're sexy when you're teaching okay? It's a good goddamn thing we've barely crossed paths in that regard, otherwise I'd have had you across that desk a long time ago."

Cocking an eyebrow, Sirius leaned up and pressed a lingering kiss to Remus' jaw. "Is that so? You like it when I'm telling students what to do, hm?" Another kiss. "You like me being stern? Telling them off? Giving … detentions," the last whisper sent a shiver down Remus' spine. He closed his eyes as he felt those hot lips against his throat.

"I mostly liked sending you down on your arse," Remus huffed. Sirius wound his hands through the tawny hair and gave a tug. Remus squeezed his eyes closed, bracing himself over Sirius against the door, his breathing heavy.

"You liked throwing me around? How wicked of you."

"Sirius …" he hissed.

"Tell me what you want, Remus?" Another kiss.

"Y-you …"

"How do you want me?"

Remus grabbed the shorter man by the collar and practically threw him on top of their shared desk. Inkpots and quills rattled into a mess across the surface but neither man paid any mind as Remus was pressed him down between Sirius' splayed legs, his biting kisses barely allowing the older man to gasp for air, let alone moan. They tangled into one another, despite the awkward angle, buttons popping free, belts slid open and all the while their teeth clashes, lips locked, and moans emitted into the air.

They were rutting shamelessly against one another when the office door banged open.

"Oh my God! I'm -I'm sorry!"

Remus leapt away, his hair dishevelled, and his face bright red. Sirius was in too compromising a position to feigned modesty. He snarled a curse and threw his robe over his lap, concealing his erection.

In the doorway stood a horrified-looking Gryffindor. It took both men a moment to realise it was young Tippet.

"How -uh -how can we help you, Miss Tippet?" Sirius asked, trying to mask the croakiness of his voice.

"I … just … uh it's not important!" she gushed. "It can wait until next class!"

Before either man could react, the door was slammed shut again. They heard the young girls footsteps retreat down the stone staircase and fade as she raced across the classroom beyond.

"Fuck!" Remus cursed, slamming his fist against the nearest cabinet.

Sirius barely flinched. He began adjusting his robes, fastening up all that had come undone, and raked his fingers through his hair. "Don't worry about it, Moony. What's the worst that can happen?"

"Sirius, I'd like you to meet the Hogwarts fucking rumour mill!"

Rolling his eyes, Sirius stood up and stopped Remus in his pacing. He grasped the older man's shoulders and tried not to admit it hurt a little when the amber-eyed man jerked a little at the touch. "You don't need to worry, Remus. You realise that the whole school knows we've at least been dating for most of the year, right? And if they didn't, today just confirmed it."

"What on earth makes you say that?"

"For one thing, there's a reason we alternate work-weeks, some of the older students were bound to figure it out. The other is that, usually after a full-moon, you end up coming to work in my clothes."

"I … I do what?"

"You didn't realise?" Sirius chuckled. "I thought it was quite cute actually."

"Oh, Merlin!" Remus dropped his head into his hands. "And here I was thinking I was sly as fuck!"

"Sorry, babe, you're as clumsy as I am," Sirius grinned.

Remus relaxed, a small smile playing on his lips. "I … I like it when you call me that."

"What, babe?"

"Yeah …"

Pressing a kiss to Remus' cheek, Sirius grinned, "I'll be sure to do it more often then."

"Sounds good to me."

Remus curled his arms around Sirius' torso, pressing them together as he captured Sirius' mouth in a kiss. It was soft and tender, a promise of more exciting things to come. It was, at that moment, that the office door opened for the second time that afternoon. Only this time it wasn't Miss Tippet. It was Professor McGonagall.

"Good evening gentleman," she scrutinised them over the rim of her glasses, as they sprang apart a little too slowly. "I've just been informed by a group of students that you were seen … 'banging' … on the desk. What have you got to say about that?"

Sirius' face soured. "Well, I really need to start locking that fucking door."

A/N: Please leave some lovely reviews!

B x