"Moony!" Knock, knock, knock-knock, knock. "Open up, Moony!"

Remus, who'd been reading a book on vampire history by the fire, leapt to his feet and went to answer the door with his heart racing. He's supposed to be on another continent, it can't be him….

But there he was, standing on Remus's front steps and wearing a smile that stretched up to his eyes: Sirius Black himself, wanted fugitive and Marauder extraordinaire. He had a rope tied around his wrist with Buckbeak the hippogriff attached to the other end.

The two of them locked gazes for a long moment—then Remus lunged forward and into Sirius's arms. "What are you doing here?" he whispered against his neck.

Sirius squeezed him back and mmmed. "Oh, my God, Re," he murmured. "I've missed you."

Remus had missed him, too—he hadn't hugged anyone like this in longer than he could remember. He sensed the strange sting of tears in his eyes as he finally pulled back. It felt as though a small, lost fragment of his soul had returned home to him.

"You look great," Remus said, smiling and gripping Sirius's arms. He really did: Sirius had somehow managed to get himself a shave and a haircut, and his skin was not nearly as sallow as it had been the last time Remus had seen him. Finally he was beginning to recover from Azkaban. "But you didn't answer my question: what are you doing here, Sirius?"

"I've been back in the country ever since Harry was entered in the Triwizard Tournament—since a little before that, actually." Now that Sirius's grin had faded from his eyes, Remus could see the worry and darkness hidden behind. "Something bad's going on with him, Re—he didn't put his name into that goblet, someone else did it for him."

"I figured," Remus murmured. "There was supposed to be an age restriction on the Tournament. Harry shouldn't have been allowed to compete at all."

"Someone wants him dead," Sirius said gravely. "He had to face a bloody dragon in his first task…."

"He seems to have made it out of that one all right, though," Remus pointed out, stepping back to pick up a copy of the Daily Prophet on his coffee table that detailed the results of the dragon task. Sirius nodded, but he didn't look comforted. There were still two more tasks to go, after all.

Remus set down the paper as Harry zoomed across the front page on his Firebolt. "So you've been back in Britain for months, then," he said. "What took you so long to come see me?"

"This is how long it took me to track you down," Sirius protested. "I knew you were living in Yorkshire somewhere, but I had to be pretty secretive about seeking you out, being on the run and all. And I didn't write to let you know I was here because…well, I thought you'd tell me I was an idiot for coming back," he finished, somewhat abashedly.

"You are an idiot for coming back," Remus said softly. "But I'm very glad you did anyway."

Sirius's lips twitched. "I shouldn't stay for long," he said. "I'll be putting you in danger, harboring a fugitive—"

"I don't care," Remus interrupted. He spread his arms open, inviting Sirius inside. "It's only a few weeks until Christmas, you know. Will you stay till then?"

For a moment, Sirius looked like he was going to protest—then, shaking his head, he gave Remus a happy little shrug. "I think I could manage that," he said.

Sirius did indeed stay at Remus's for Christmas, and he stayed well after the holidays were over, too.

The two of them spent their days gathering firewood for the winter storms and tending to the cottage, patching up the cracks in its decaying walls and fixing all the leaky pipes. Buckbeak, thrilled to be back in familiar territory, was allowed to roam the woods and hunt down his meals of foxes and badgers—hippogriffs were native to Britain, after all, and the cottage was far enough away from Muggle civilization to have to worry too heavily about him being spotted. And when the full moon came, both Sirius and Buckbeak were happy to keep Remus company, exploring the forests with him just like the Marauders had back in their Hogwarts days.

Remus and Sirius cooked meals and read and listened to music together, sharing stories of their past exploits and reminiscing about James and their friends from the Order. Remus told Sirius about his year as Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, and Sirius told him about his time in Africa with Buckbeak. Neither of them spoke about the twelve years before they had found each other again, when Sirius was wasting away in Azkaban and Remus was desperately alone and penniless; they didn't dare do anything that would risk the happiness they'd built together in the cottage.

Their relationship wasn't like it had been before—the passion and lust from their school days had long since dissipated, as if it had occurred between two entirely different people, preserved forever in a better time. But even without their romance, Sirius and Remus's love for each other was as strong as ever. They would lie awake together in Remus's bed for hours after the sun had set, holding each other and enjoying the feeling of their skin pressed together. They couldn't have the Marauders back, but at least they could have this.

As the time passed, they kept their eyes peeled for any news of Harry; Sirius read and reread Harry's account of his fight with the dragon at least a hundred times before he finally tired of it. Once February came, the two of them huddled around Remus's radio to hear Ludo Bagman's play-by-play of the second Triwizard task on the WWN, though there was not much to listen to since the entire task took place underwater. Neither of them were able to breathe properly until Bagman announced that Harry had emerged from the Great Lake safe and sound, behind schedule but unscathed. James's son had pulled through yet again.

"I've got to go," Sirius said suddenly two mornings after the second task. He and Remus were propped up in bed and drinking coffee, their typical way of starting the day. "I said I would meet Harry in Hogsmeade for his next visit, and I need to scout out the area first. I have to get closer to him…there's only one task left now, and he's going to need my help more than ever."

Remus set down his cup, feeling a rock settle in his stomach. "Don't leave," he said quietly.

Sirius leaned forward and squeezed his shoulder. "I have to," he murmured. "I need to make sure Harry's okay. Him in the Tournament, Bertha Jorkins, Karkaroff—it's been killing me, Re, you know it has. I didn't tell you, but I wrote to Dumbledore a little while ago, and he told me about a cave outside Hogsmeade where he thinks I could live for a bit. As a dog, of course."

No. Remus had been loving his time with Sirius; he was worried about Harry, too, but the thought of being left all alone again made him sick. "I'll come with you," he offered.

"No, Moons," Sirius said, as Remus had known he would. "It'll draw too much attention—I'll be transformed the entire time, but if a grown man's seen going in and out of a cave every morning…."

"I know," Remus sighed. "You have to go by yourself."

Sirius looked deep into his old friend's eyes. "I'll be back as soon as the Tournament's over," he said. "I promise, Remus. Everything will be okay after that; I know it will be."

Remus knew Sirius too well to think he'd have a chance at changing his mind. "At least let me pack you some food before you leave. You won't be able to steal much from the village before people start to notice."

Sirius agreed, so Remus put together a sack full of chicken and granola and crackers, with a couple bars of chocolate thrown in for good measure. As the sun began to set that night, the two of them stood staring at each other in Remus's doorway, Buckbeak pawing the ground impatiently behind them. Neither of them wanted to say goodbye.

Remus was the one to break the silence. "You'd better get going, then. The temperature's starting to drop."

"Right." Sirius glanced back to Buckbeak, then returned his gaze to Remus. "Right…I should."

"You'll write to me?"

"Whenever I can."

"You'd better." Remus pulled Sirius in for one final hug and brushed a kiss against his cheek. "I'll see you in June."

"I'll meet you here as soon as I can. Goodbye, Moons." Sirius tugged on Buckbeak's rope, and together the two of them headed off into the snowy woods.

Remus stood on his porch and waved goodbye to their retreating figures until they had vanished into the trees. Then he turned around and shut himself back in his cottage, feeling somehow like it was emptier than it had ever been before.