Just me again! Not much to say, except please review 'cause I love you and you're all awesome!

DISCLAIMER: I own no part of the Harry Potter books, films, etc. Everything belongs to JKR/Warner Bros.

All bits from the book(s) are in bold

The Meaning Of Family

Chapter Eleven

'No, no, thank you, Madam Bagnold. It was my pleasure to suggest some advice. Good luck at the Ministry. Goodbye. Ah, Remus. I received your letter, but I felt it might be more prudent to talk to you in person. Have a seat.'

'Er, thank you, Professor,' Remus replied nervously, taking a seat opposite his former headmaster.

It was odd being back in his old school – so much had changed, yet in some ways it was like he'd never left. The statue that guarded Dumbledore's office had grinned in recognition when he'd given the password; the suits of armour creaked and groaned and muttered in exactly the same, fed up manner; he'd seen the Fat Friar drift through the tapestry of Barnabus the Barmy on the seventh floor and smile at him as if he walked through the corridors of Hogwarts every day. He would have loved to bring Sirius back here – he felt it would have given his best friend just the lift he needed, and brought him out of his stupid depression. Then again, if it weren't for Sirius, Remus himself wouldn't even be here.

'Was that the Minister for Magic?'

'Yes, Remus, it was,' Dumbledore replied, his tone rather tense. 'She, erm, wanted to ask for my advice on catching Sirius Black.'

'And what did you say?' Remus asked, instantly on his guard.

'I told her I did not think it a worthy use of her time, and that I fully supported the opinion that Sirius is innocent. Naturally, she asked me of his whereabouts, although of course I feigned ignorance.'

'Good. I actually wanted to talk to you about Sirius, Professor. The thing is,' he began, 'I think I've offended him somehow. He just… He doesn't seem to want to talk to me at all, and he seems really depressed. I sent him loads of letters, but he only sent one really short reply back in December, and that was because I threatened to go to you if he didn't reply. I was really scared, sir, I thought he might have been caught by the Ministry or the Death Eaters or something.'

Dumbledore smiled his infuriatingly serene smile. 'I think Sirius might merely be lonely, and perhaps a little insecure.'

Remus's brow furrowed. 'Insecure? About what?' His mind cast itself back to a few weeks ago, when he and Wendy had been discussing Sirius and the fact that he had not taken kindly to Remus and Wendy's brief relationship (if one could call it a relationship, it was more of a pretence, Remus felt). Could this be what Dumbledore was getting at? He felt his cheeks heat up. Surely Dumbledore couldn't know about… that? He couldn't know about what had happened between them, could he?

'I think that Sirius may be… missing you rather a lot,' Dumbledore said carefully.

Colour flooded Remus's cheeks again, and he did his best to control his simmering anger. 'Well, with all due respect, Professor, you were the one who stopped us living together.'

Dumbledore smiled, but his eyes were piercing and his voice chilly. 'That doesn't stop you visiting every once in a while.'

Remus was too stunned to speak for a moment; his brain tried to process what he'd just heard. 'Wait – I'm allowed to go and visit him? But… You never told me that Professor!'

Dumbledore's smile was kinder now. 'I thought you might have worked that out for yourself, Remus, but I evidently overestimated you. Though I feel that your living with Sirius and Harry permanently would be… dangerous, I think that, if you are careful, a visit once every now and then might do you both good, so long as you do not see Sirius at the full moon, of course.'

'Seriously? I can see Sirius again?'

'There was never a time when you couldn't see Sirius, Mr. Lupin. I never stopped you from seeing him.'

'But I thought…' Remus trailed off. All this time he had been able to go and see Sirius. For four months he had sat at home, doing nothing, staring at his fire instead of searching fruitlessly for a job, living on sour milk and porridge designed for babies. He had had the chance to go and cheer Sirius up, to cheer himself up. They could have had laughs together about the weird company Sirius kept these days. They could have sat up, late at night, and talked about everything. They could have cooed over Harry like proud, blissful parents. And four months, four precious months he had wasted by being depressed and lonely and stupid enough to be sensible.

'Um, thank you, Professor,' he muttered, still amazed at his own stupidity and presumption. 'I'll – I'll go and write to him now.'

'Oh, Remus?'

'Yes, sir?'

'As I am Secret-Keeper, I must tell you the location. Do not forget this, Remus.'

'I won't Professor.'

'Pay careful attention.'

'I will.'

'The whereabouts of Sirius Black can be found at Number Twelve, Grimmauld Place, London.'

'Thank you, Professor.'

Outside Dumbledore's office, Millicent Bagnold walked quickly away. It seemed funny that Dumbledore, for whom she had always had so much respect, could be harbouring a fugitive and protecting a criminal. And now she had extremely valuable information which would help her win over the public once and for all. To think that she had only just come into office one year ago.

10th February 1981

Dear Padfoot –

You'll never guess how stupid I've been! You're going to be very angry when you read this, but hopefully we'll be able to laugh about it one day when we're old and grey. Anyway, I talked to Dumbledore yesterday and he said that I could have come to yours any time apart from the full moon! Imagine that, Padfoot. I honestly don't know how I passed my NEWTS, I really don't. Probably because I had you and Prongs to help me, that's why I didn't get 'T's in everything.

How is Harry? I bet he's growing really fast now. Can he walk yet? Have you been reading him Tales of Beedle the Bard? I bet The Wizard and the Hopping Pot is a lot different in my book to the version your mum used to tell you! No anti-Muggle propaganda in the original story!

Anyway, is it alright if I come round sometime this week? Maybe tomorrow? Dumbledore gave me the Secret, since you're under the Fidelius Charm. I don't mean to be pushy, I've just missed you so much and I can't wait to see you again, and Harry too of course. I hope you're both well, and that your mother hasn't driven you insane yet. How is she, by the way? And how is Kreacher? I don't think I've asked you a single thing about them! How thoughtless of me, Padfoot!

Send a reply with this owl, please, because I am desperate to see you and hear your voice again.

Lots of love,

Moony

x

11th February 1981

MOONY!

You are literally the stupidest person I have ever met. I suppose you were doing the 'sensible thing' by staying away, and as much as I deplore your sensibility, HOW STUPID OF YOU!

Anyway, Harry is great, walking everywhere and holding fully developed conversations and everything. I think he's going to be an ambassador or something. And my mother and Kreacher are crazy as ever, thank you for showing your deepest concern.

Oh, and you're right about The Wizard and the Hopping Pot! I was shocked to find that the original story is about a wizard who learns to be kind to Muggles and help them out, instead of a wizard who was threatened by them and had his cauldron eat them (because that's completely normal, by the way). I always knew my mother was a pathological liar.

COME ROUND THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW FOR DINNER AT EIGHT AND DON'T BE LATE! Bring wine (unless I stole it all, in which case I will provide it) and we can make a sort of a thing of it if you like – I will make definitely sure my mother and Kreacher are out of the way. I promise.

Lots and lots and lots of hugs and kisses,

Padfoot

12th February 1981

Padfoot –

I don't think you mean 'deplore'. Understand, perhaps? Identify with? (Actually, perhaps not.) Maybe realise it was the right thing to do?

Anyway, I will be round tomorrow at eight sharp, promise.

Have you thought about how it might make the whole thing more interesting if your mother came and shouted abuse at me halfway through dinner? We could take pictures and put them in a scrapbook!

Not that I want you to keep her up past her bedtime, obviously.

Excessive hugs and kisses, etcetera,

Moony

(insert several thousand kisses here.)

'Night, Harry. Sleep tight,' Sirius whispered, kissing his godson on the forehead and tucking in his blankets. Harry murmured softly in his sleep and turned over, clutching the covers. Sirius smiled and headed back downstairs.

He couldn't stop grinning at the thought of seeing Remus for the first time in over four months. He couldn't believe his luck. He'd been reluctant at first, thinking that perhaps Moony really was just pitying him, but what harm could it do? If he was doing this out of pity, he seemed happy enough to entertain Sirius, and Sirius was going to make the most of it. Besides, he'd said in his letter that he was dying to see Sirius. And he'd put a kiss at the end of it.

So maybe…

There was a knock on the door just as he finished laying the table and was considering lighting a candle, or maybe an old Filibuster Firework he'd found in his Hogwarts trunk from three years ago. He checked his watch – Remus was early, it was only ten to eight (not that Sirius was complaining, of course – he was more than happy to spend an extra ten minutes with him).

He ran to the door and flung it open with a cry of, 'Moony you ca–'

'Sirius Black?'

The Auror glared at him, and Sirius's eyes fell down towards his outstretched hand, perfectly steady, and with his wand pointed directly at Sirius's heart.

'You're not Moony…' Sirius whispered, his mouth bone dry.

'Ministry of Magic. You're under arrest.'

'BUT I DON'T UNDERTSAND HOW!' Remus yelled for the fourth time, as, yet again, somebody failed to give him a logical explanation of how the Auror Department had managed to locate Sirius, where they had taken him and how long for, whether he really was going to go to Azkaban, and why Dumbledore hadn't yet convinced the Ministry that Sirius was innocent.

'Remus, please calm down, for goodness's sake!' Andromeda Tonks cried, doing her best (and failing) to settle him.

'Why has he sent me here of all places, anyway?' Remus demanded.

'Because we're not in the Order of the Phoenix, dear, so the Ministry aren't likely to think we're involved with him.'

'But you're his cousin!' Remus protested.

'Well, we've never spoken, and for your information, Professor Dumbledore thought that this was the safest place for you to be, and he's put protective enchantments and the Fidelius Charm on our house temporarily,' Andromeda replied shortly.

'That bloody Fidelius Charm, it all started with that, didn't it!' Remus raged. 'Much good it did Lily and James, eh? And now look where it's got Sirius! A cell in Azkaban, for Merlin's sake! What the bloody hell is wrong with this world, huh? WHAT HAVE I DONE TO DESERVE THIS?'

There was a silence. Remus realised to his embarrassment that both Andromeda and her husband Ted were staring at him in shock, probably wishing they hadn't agreed to take Remus in tonight, and when he caught sight of himself in the mirror above the fireplace he realised he was a deep shade of beetroot. Brilliant.

'Remus, dear…'

He couldn't look at her anymore – she resembled her sister Bellatrix too much. Bellatrix Lestrange, who'd tortured and killed members of the Order, and driven Alice and Frank Longbottom to insanity…

'I just need to – I need some air,' he muttered, heading out of the living room and almost tripping over Ted and Andromeda's eight-year-old daughter in his haste to get through the kitchen and out of the back door.

'He'll be alright, Remus,' she said, cradling a glass of water. He wondered for a moment about asking her why her hair was bubblegum-pink, just to try and take his mind off Sirius, but before he could open his mouth Andromeda swept through the doorway from the living room.

'Nymphadora! What are you doing down here, darling?'

The girl made no reply, but merely scowled at her mother.

'Nymphadora, darling, I'm not going to call you Tonks, it's silly to want to be called by your last name all the time! It's like calling Remus "Lupin"!'

'Well, I'll call him Lupin, then,' the girl replied. 'I'm Tonks,' she said brightly to Remus, who sighed irritably, which Andromeda used to her advantage.

'See, he doesn't like it, now do you? You still haven't told me what you're doing, Nymphadora.'

'Tonks' held up her glass and said, 'I was thirsty.'

'Well, go back to bed, dear, it's late. Goodnight, sweetheart.'

'Night, Mum,' Tonks muttered, heading out of the kitchen. Moments later they heard her footsteps on the stairs.

'Now, Remus dear,' Andromeda began, laying a hand on his shoulder. He flinched away from her as though it were red-hot.

'I need some air,' he repeated, and walked out of the kitchen.

He could think more clearly outside in the cool night air, even if it meant he was shivering from lack of warmth. According to Dumbledore's latest letter five minutes ago, Harry had been found at Sirius's and taken to his aunt and uncle's house. From the tone of the letter Remus knew that this concerned Dumbledore, and that even he knew Harry belonged with Sirius. Remus needed to find a way to prove Sirius's innocence, to make the Ministry see that he'd done nothing wrong, that Harry belonged with his godfather and not his aunt and uncle, whom he just knew could never love Harry like Sirius did… But how on earth was he supposed to do that? The Ministry wouldn't listen to the only people who believed Sirius's innocence, and besides, they had no proof – the only way they could actually prove to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement that Sirius wasn't a criminal was if they caught Wormtail…

Wormtail.

Screw the Order – they obviously weren't looking in the right places. Remus had known Peter for eleven years, surely he of all people could figure out the most likely place he would go, and track him down. It couldn't be that hard, not if he searched thoroughly and carefully enough. And he would make sure of that.

Now all he needed to do was get out of here and get at least fifty feet away from the house before he could disapparate and begin his hunt. It seemed as though Sirius had taken over his mind – after all, he was the rather more rash of the two – as he formed his risky plan, setting off through the garden, over the wall and across the field behind the Tonks' house.

'Remus, Andromeda wants you, we've just had another letter from – Hey! Where are you going? Come back!'

Ignoring Ted Tonks's outraged cries, Remus ran across the meadow, trampling flowers and ferns in his wake, turning back every so often to estimate his distance from the house. Yes… This seemed a good enough spot. Smiling vindictively at Ted Tonks's plump figure splashing through the muddy garden pond, he waved and turned on the spot, the crushing darkness wrapping itself around him as he was whisked away, far, far from the garden and into the heart of London.

Sorry this chapter's a bit disjointed… I had a bad case of writer's block and it took me ages to get all this down, so yeah, sorry about that! Next chapter will be better, hopefully. :)