Author's notes: For this chapter, please listen to Lifehouse: Hanging By a Moment. A link for downloading can be found in my LJ.

Now, Sakai Michiba presents:

Closure

Part 37 of the Smitten series


The funerals for Flora McConnell and John Lupin were quiet and small, consisting of only family and close friends. There was no time for separate funerals, nor was the Ministry willing to shell out the gold for separate funerals. Remus was very quiet throughout the entire affair, only stepping up to the caskets to say a few choked, tearful words to the small crowd before he moved back to his seat and buried his face against Sirius's shoulder to cry in a sort of privacy.

Dumbledore stood up at the funeral to speak, having known the Lupins intimately, and he cleared his throat. "John Lupin was murdered. It was no accident, and it was because of Fenrir Greyback that this family was so torn asunder. John Lupin worked in passing many discriminatory laws concerning werewolves in the beginning of his work in the Ministry, and Greyback took it upon himself to make John realize exactly what he had done." Remus covered his face with his hands and leaned into Sirius's one-armed embrace. "He was not finished, however, and because of his bloodlust and dark ties with Voldemort, John Lupin and his innocent ex-wife were murdered in their homes. It is unjust, but death often is."

When the eulogies were given and the caskets were lowered into the ground and covered, Remus stood in front of his mother's grave by himself, staring down at the freshly-dug soil and allowing himself one last cry before he turned away and went to the road where Sirius waited on their bike, looking comical in black dress robes on the roaring machine. He climbed on behind him and laid his head between his shoulders, thankful for the gentle pat on his knee before they went flying down the road through the countryside.

Remus went to sleep when they got back home, and Sirius let him sleep all day.

Remus woke to Sirius sleeping beside him, glancing at a clock that proclaimed three in the morning. He sniffed and rubbed his eyes before he went to the bathroom and came back, nuzzling into the soft mattress and watching Sirius in his sleep. The window was open, the moonlight filtering through and casting blue-white streaks of light all along his body. He was half out of the covers, wearing boxers and one sock, and when Remus reached over to tuck his hair out of his face, he smiled as Sirius whispered his name in sleep and giggled.

He felt the overwhelming need to wake Sirius up, so he shook his shoulder a little and watched as Sirius's eyes slipped open suspiciously. "Wha' d'you want?" he asked playfully, voice thick with sleep, but as he spoke, he pulled Remus down and kissed him there in the dark. Remus's hands slid up to rest on either side of Sirius's head, his body moving on top of his boyfriend's for the first time in years. "Oh." Sirius's voice was soft, and he shifted the blankets around so they covered them both. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah," Remus confessed, and he blushed as he allowed himself to trail delicate kisses over Sirius's neck and up to his ear. He heard Sirius gasp as his tongue tasted the delicate shell, and when he traced the outer edge, Sirius squirmed and slid his hands into Remus's shirt to caress his back. Remus had quite forgotten about this spot; Sirius could be stoked with the lightest touch to his ears, and Remus's tongue had a penchant for finding a spot within that spot that could make Sirius keen.

Sirius's hands pulled Remus's shirt over his head and tossed it across the room, palms raking over bare skin in reverence when Remus pressed their lips together and let their breathing determine the delicate balance of skin-on-skin. They were heating up quickly, and the blanket was shoved away by one or the other—neither remembered it—before Remus shed his cloth pants and lay there on top of Sirius in only his boxer-briefs, tangling their fuzzy legs together and moaning at the heat passing continually between them. "I've missed this," Remus murmured as Sirius touched the skin just beneath the elastic waistband of his underwear, and he swallowed hard as Sirius's hands slid inside and cupped his bare arse. "A lot."

Sirius nodded and looked into Remus's eyes for a split second before he opened his mouth over his and slid his tongue between those pretty lips, every movement sending tingles right down to his toes. His fingernails trailed the downward curve of Remus's buttocks before seizing the supple handfuls of flesh and using them to pull Remus hard into the kiss. A bead of sweat ran down the bumps of Remus's spine and pooled in his lower back, his breath escaping in pants when he felt delectable friction between his cock and Sirius's that had been absent for too long.

Slowly, they lapsed into silence, only the sound of their movements between the sheets and the light, wet sounds of their lips parting and joining again breaking the quiet. They were going slower than they ever had in the past, two years of growing up having eased if only just slightly the irrational need to have sex immediately. Sirius slowly switched their positions, pressing Remus's back into the mattress and kissing the dip of his collarbone. His tongue tasted salt there, and he licked it away before he moved to kiss his nipples. There were several scars on Remus's chest he had not seen before, and he traced over them with pliant lips.

"Careful," Remus breathed; some of the scars liked to twinge still. His hand lifted to twine itself in the other's hair as his stomach and hips were kissed, and he closed his eyes as Sirius's hands hooked around his boxer-briefs and pulled them down carefully. They fell on the ground with a whisper, and Sirius kissed the bottoms of Remus's feet before he ran his palms warmly up and between those legs, spreading them apart sufficiently and kissing the quivering insides of thighs. "Unnh…"


This scene has been deleted from this version. Please visit (sakaim. livejournal. com) for the unedited version.
He pulled out of Sirius and grabbed his boyfriend's wand, muttering a few cleaning spells before he seized Sirius and held him tightly in his arms. "Je t'aime," he gasped, grinning as Sirius laughed at him and burying his face against his neck.

"Now look who's faking French…I love you, too…" And together, they fell back to sleep.

When Sirius woke up the next morning and found the Remus was not with him, he groaned. He hoped he did not regret it; he had certainly enjoyed himself with Remus despite the light complaints his arse was voicing as he stood up and stretched. Going to the wardrobe, he seized a bathrobe and tied it about himself before he felt someone warm and very clean-scented seize him from behind. Whipping around, he laughed as Remus, who was dressed and ready for the day, seized him around the neck and dragged him in for a sweet kiss. "Morning…I want to go for a walk today, Sirius. It's lovely outside and I'm so hungry…"

Sirius smirked and nodded before heading for the bathroom. "Fine. Keep yourself entertained while I bathe, 'kay? And I'll take you anywhere…" He closed the door before Remus could protest and hugged himself lightly. He had not felt so refreshed in a long time.