Disclaimer: Harry Potter, all places and characters, the names etcetera belongs to Mrs J.K Rowling, her publishers (such as Bloomsbury Publishing Plc and Scholastic), and Warner Brothers™. All rights reserved. This is not meant as theft or insult—I wrote it for the enjoyment myself, and (hopefully) of other people. No copyright infringement is intended. I own the stories themselves.
Additional Warnings: Slash.
Author's Note: Happy 43rd Birthday, Mrs Rowling—and Happy 30th Birthday, Harry Potter!
Rating: PG-13
Word count: Total: 6,639 words. This piece: 2,526 words.

Part III

Carefully, like a scared fox hunted by treacherous, blood-thirsty wolves, Sirius was pattering around silently a couple of miles away from the Headquarters of the Phoenix: his parents' house, which he hated even though it was easier to live there when Remus was around—and Harry had made the summer and Christmas far more delighted than Sirius had expected. With Remus at home, it was much easier to endure Kreacher's muttering and portrait of his mother's insane shouting, and even the house's constant reminders of his childhood and adolescence. But he still did not like living in the house he despised most in the whole wide world, and yet, Dumbledore made him.

Deep down, Sirius knew Dumbledore was right to make him live in his old house, not mainly because the Death Eaters were a threat to him, but also because a wide portion of the wizarding world thought he was guilty of murdering thirteen innocent Muggles—even though it was Wormtail's deed. Peter was also the one responsible for betraying James and Lily to Voldemort and thus responsible for the fact they were dead and Harry had no parents. And, ultimately, he was responsible for the twelve years Sirius had had to spend in Azkaban, away from Remus, too …

Peter was responsible for Sirius' vile suspicions of Remus being the traitor, that he had been the one giving the information on James' and Lily's whereabouts to Voldemort … Because of him, Harry did not have any parents and had had to live with the Dursleys for all these years … And, indirectly, he was responsible for the argument he and Remus had had this morning—had Sirius not been locked in, he would not have been so paranoid and would not have thought Remus had been captured by Voldemort.

Though deep down Sirius knew this was no ones' fault by his—everything of it. He should not have behaved like this towards Remus; he simply wanted to surprise Sirius on what would be their own, special day, and now, Sirius had ruined all of it. Would Remus be able to forgive him?

Could he return home? Would Remus still accept him, love him, crave him back? Would he possibly forgive Sirius for acting so inconsiderately?

Sirius started going in the direction of Grimmauld Place, his tail between his shins. When he was standing before the houses numbered eleven and thirteen, he thought of Dumbledore's words, and tried to calm himself down as he watched his house, his much hated and unwanted house, taking place between the other two buildings, pushing them apart. Sirius quickly leapt up the stairs, and then rose to stand on his back shins. He doubted for a moment or two—what if Remus wanted to be left in private?—but then made himself swallow the bitter pill: he pushed the door handle down. After all, the house was his property.

He opened the door, entered the hallway silently, and then closed the door after him; turning into human shape, he wondered where Remus was. Probably in the kitchen: it was nearing dinner time, and the kitchen was indeed the place where Sirius had left his lover that horrible morning. Sirius opened the door even more silently than he had opened the front door; so slowly and tenderly no one was able to hear it, least of all Sirius himself; and there he was, sitting by the kitchen table. He sat with his back turned against Sirius, apparently staring into the brick wall before him. The table was set with two plates, or at least Sirius supposed so: he could only see one plate placed across from Remus, he assumed Remus had a plate before him, too. There was a definite smell of meet loaf in the air—meat loaf was Sirius' favourite meal, and he realized Remus must have made it just for him …

Sirius starting descending the stairs rapidly, uncertain what to do next: whether he should call out his lover's name, go down to him, or remain silent on the stairs. He decided the second alternative was the best choice, so he went down into the kitchen as discretely as he could, and waited for a few minutes. When Remus showed no reaction, Sirius went over to sit on his opposite side, where the plate was. Remus was also having a plate before him—as Sirius had suspected—though it was empty. And Remus' face was hidden within his hands.

'Remus?' Sirius asked softly, reaching out to put his right hand on his lover's upper arm.

Remus flinched, looking up at Sirius. His face was wet, filled with grooves after his tears. For a moment, Sirius thought he would rage at him, have an entirely justified go with him for playing with his emotions—instead, he whispered, 'You came back,' and dissolved to yet more tears.

Sirius, confused by this reaction, awkwardly went over to Remus' side, and put a hand on his shoulder.

'Yes … Why wouldn't I return?' he smiled. 'It's my house you know, and –'

'Oh … OK, I can leave –'

'Leave?' Sirius pushed Remus back into his chair. 'Who asked you to leave? The main reason I returned is that you're here, stupid. Though, you may if you want to, of course … I'd deserve it; I've been an arse …'

'No, you haven't; it was a natural reaction. If there's anyone that's an arse, it's me. Though … you have to confess it was a bit irrational to run away from someone that's making you breakfast. And I've been so worried for you—what do you think would have happened if the Death Eaters got you?'

'Well … I wasn't rational—I told you: I was an arse.'

Remus rolled his eyes; he had stopped crying now. 'Well, the arse looks awfully cold in just its underwear. Does it want me to go fetch its dressing gown?'

'Yes please.' It was not until then Sirius realized how cold the kitchen actually was—and that he had left the house with basically no clothing at all.

'You should eat. I assume you haven't had any food all day?'

'No, actually I haven't,' Sirius replied, walking over to the oven. 'In fact … I haven't had any coffee, either.'

'Hint noticed,' Remus said, lifted his wand, and suddenly, there was a pot of coffee and a mug before him.

'Thanks,' Sirius smiled as Remus went out.

'Oh, if I where you, I'd put a heating spell on that food. It's been a while since I made it,' Remus said, and turned.

'Oh, sorry,' Sirius said.

'Don't be,' Remus replied, exiting the kitchen.

Sirius loaded his pate with potatoes and meat loaf: Remus had made lots of both. He added a liberal amount of sauce and then went back to his table, sat down and started eating, the food tasting deliciously good. He poured a mug of coffee and ate and drank with furious apetite, ignoring the fact coffee and meat loaf did not go well together. When he was on his third bite, Remus returned to the kitchen, wordlessly handing Sirius his dressing gown.

'Thanks, Remus,' Sirius said, stood up, and donned the gown. As he sat down, Remus turned around, taking food. As he sat down, he pulled out his wand from his torn robes, thought for a bit, and muttered, 'Expecto Patronum,' and a giant, silvery dog emerged.

'I promised to tell Dumbledore when you returned.'

'Oh,' Sirius replied, realizing Remus must have contacted Dumbledore when Sirius had disappeared … Perhaps several members of the Order were searching for him at that very moment …

They dined in silence; Sirius did not know what to say, and Remus did not seem to want to talk at all. Sirius felt very uncomfortable, at the end he avoided Remus' gaze, looking in every direction other than straight forward.

When they were both finished, Remus spoke. 'What the hell was all that about this morning?' He fixed his eyes upon Sirius, looking intensely at him for several moments. 'Well?'

'I …' Sirius trembled, carefully putting his cutlery down at his plate in order to win time. 'I was terrified; I thought you had been captured. Hell, I worry all the time, about the Ministry, the Order, Harry, you … I thought you were captured by the Death Eaters. Seriously! And then I thought you'd left … that you'd left without telling me!'

'I'd never do that.'

'I know. That's why I thought you'd been captured. And Harry … I'm always worried about him, what if anything happens to him?'

'Nothing will happen to Harry, Sirius. Dumbledore is on Hogwarts, and so is Harry. And as long as Hogwarts has Dumbledore, it is by no doubt the safest place for everyone to be—and especially for Harry.'

'I know, but Umbridge is at Hogwarts, too. What if the Ministry –'

'The Ministry won't hurt Harry. They can't. Spread out lies about him—yes. Throw him in jail—perhaps. But they'd never, ever harm him.'

'How can you be so sure?'

'I just am. Come here,' Remus said, stretching his arms widely apart.

Sirius rose from his chair, going over to his lover's embrace.

'I'm sorry I scared you this morning,' Remus mumbled into Sirius' hair. 'I didn't mean to—I only wanted to surprise you. I promise I won't do it again.'

'And I'm so sorry I over-reacted. I ruined the complete day for both of us,' Sirius whispered. 'I was wrong to do as I did, you had done your best to surprise me, and I ruined all of it with my paranoia. I'm so sorry.'

'Me too.'

They simply sat there for a while, holding each other tight. Sirius leant his head onto Remus' chest, listening to his heart beats; Remus rested his chin on the top of Sirius' head, breathing slowly and heavily.

'Are you tired, Sirius?'

'Yeah … yeah, I really am.'

'It's been a long day.'

'Long and wasted.'

They went up to their bedroom, where Sirius undid the sash of his dressing gown and threw it over a chair, watching his lover undress. As Remus climbed into the bed, Sirius crept as close as he could, again leaning his close onto Remus' chest, almost instantly falling asleep.

#¤#

A few hours later, Sirius opened the door to his bedroom slowly, carefully balancing a tray in the hand other than the one he used to open the door, during this time trying to be as silent as possible—a very difficult task, that was. He cursed himself for closing the door when he had left the room earlier that morning: everyone with an adequate amount of intelligence should realize closing the door was stupid if one intended on returning with a tray.

It took him about a minute, but he finally managed to get the damned door open, and he could enter the room. He did not bother trying to close it.

He tip-toed over to the bed and put the tray containing some sandwiches and two large mugs filled to the brim, one with tea and one with coffee down on the night stand, and silently crept back on his side of the bed. He lay himself down on his side, planting soft kisses upon Remus' lips. It took a while to wake him up, but soon enough, he did. At first, he looked confused, but after a few seconds of recovery, he smiled, kissing Sirius back.

'I suppose you'd like some tea?' Sirius said, breaking out from the kiss.

'Yes … maybe a few sips … But those kisses were quite nice, too.'

'I'm glad to hear it,' Sirius said, leaned around to fetch the mug of tea. 'Be careful, it's well filled. And hot.' As Remus began sipping, Sirius helped himself to the mug of coffee—the third of the day, on his part.

'What time is it?' Remus asked between the sips.

'A few minutes past seven.'

'That's nice … We've got the complete house for ourselves for several hours, then.'

'Yes …' said Sirius, looking at Remus. Deeply drinking his coffee, he stroked his lover's chest with his free hand.

Remus groaned. 'I'll finish my tea as fast as I can.'

'You'd better, because I'm going to make this day as good as I can.'

'That sounds rather nice, really,' Remus said, now gulping down his tea.

'I love you, Remus Lupin.'

'And I love you, Sirius Black. And when all this is over, I promise you I'll be by your side. Forever.'

'Promise you won't get hurt when you go away.'

'I'll try. But remember, whatever happens, I'll always be there for you.'

'And I'll be here for you.'

Remus smiled miserably at Sirius' sarcasm of being trapped inside this house. 'As soon as all this is over, I'll come and rescue you from this house.'

'Here's my noble knight on his white horse.'

'And you're my fair princess.'

'Oh, shut up!' Sirius kissed Remus' cheek. 'But I do look forward to live somewhere else … And have you by my side all the time.'

'As do I. But, you know I'm with you even though I'm physically absent; you do know that, don't you? I'll always be your friend –'

'Stop that philosophical, romantic speech,' Sirius smiled, leaning in to kiss Remus once more.

Remus put his empty mug down between them, and moved even closer to Sirius; they moved closer until there was only the mug separating their bodies from each other. Then Sirius temporarily let go of Remus' neck, moving even closer and grabbed the mug and put it on the night stand—though, he was so eager he missed the edge and the mug hit the floor, shattering into a dozen pieces.

'Oh my, we're impatient, are we?' said Remus, and the mug mended itself.

Sirius shifted, thus coming even closer to Remus, stroking his bare shoulders and upper arms, while Remus himself untied Sirius' dressing gown, grinning wickedly, and giggled.

'What's so funny, Remus?'

'Well, while you were … gone … yesterday, I thought of what we could have done instead … A picture of us removing each other's dressing gowns was one of the things coming into mind.'

'How curious … Do you want me to get yours so we can fulfil your fantasy?'

'No,' said Remus determinedly, tugging on the sash of Sirius' dressing gown. 'That would take a ridiculously long time, would it not?'

'I think you're right,' Sirius said, pulling the sleeves of the gown down, tugging it from underneath his body.

Remus kissed Sirius heatedly, his hands roaming over Sirius' body.

The sandwiches lay forgotten on the night stand.

This was precisely what they both had been expecting.

Author's Notes: Yes, I know it's been long since I put another story on line, but it will be explained below. Thanks to unknooown and Serpent91, who have reviewed the story; to my sister, and Chivel, DeltaVT, hieressofanor and Koizumi Romi, whom I assume have read the story since they added it to Story Alert. Thanks to any eventual future reader/reviewer—reviews are most welcome.

ANNOUNCEMENT: I would like to announce that I am working with a project other than A Busy Year full of Surprises. As a matter of fact, I placed the final dot on the paper (yes, I do write my first drafts with pen and paper) on 24th July, 1:53 AM. I will be typing it shortly. The thing is that I have written for more than a year, thus, the story will be quite long. And I've written it all at once, for some reason, so it will take a while before the story is finished, I'm afraid. What I mean is that I haven't cut the story into smaller pieces than paragraphs, so when I've typed it I'll slice it into chapters. I.e I won't publish the story before I've finished. Hopefully, I'll be able to publish it this year—and that, when I eventually do post it on line, people will still read fan fiction!

Nevertheless, more information is to come. I can't guarantee everyone will like the story, but I hope someone will read it. All my future fan fiction will most likely be published here. Have a good summer!