Present - In the previous chapter, Sirius finally gets to see Harry and they discuss stuff (essentially what happens in the film)

After the last of the children had scattered from their places and left the room, I turned to Remus and gave him a look of painful disparaging.

"No…? No? Is your heart intent on breaking my Jame-ry Potter? We're engaged, is it that hard for you to agree with me?"

"Jame-ry Potter, Sirius, Jame-ry Potter? I think that says it all," he sighed, rising from his seat and placing his plate in the sink "I'll be going to bed now, goodnight, see you all in the morning."

"Wait, what? Don't just leave in the middle of a conversation!" I growled.

His eyes flicked to me in unimpressed reason. "I don't know what you consider the middle of a conversation, but it's certainly not that. Goodnight, Sirius."

Part of my soul crushed under his words. What did he think being like this would accomplish? I mean, he remembered what had happened last time – he'd made that perfectly clear during the meeting. So why?

I dropped my head onto the table and breathed warm, subtle breaths across the shades of brown. Or maybe it was just me. He had as much a right to an opinion as I did – we weren't in the 1800's and he wasn't a woman – even if I did prefer it if he agreed with me. If I had wanted someone to beckon to my every waking call I might as well have proposed to Mundungus.

A warm, spindly hand rested itself on my shoulder. "Come on, Sirius. Remus is a great guy, I'm sure he wouldn't be like this if he didn't have a suitable reason." Her voice danced in a cheerful little wave "At least he wasn't shouting and arguing, right?"

I stood and shrugged the young witch off. "I'm not in the mood, Tonks. Please leave me alone."

"Why? I'm only trying to help." She hummed, tone flat and disheartened.

I fought against the growing urge to say 'because you want my fiancé's dick' and gave her an acute smile. "I just don't feel like talking to people at the moment."

X

I made my way up the staircase, a little light slipping through the windows from near by street lamps and defining my surroundings in crude orange lines. The house was quieter at night, alone, without Remus, each footstep swaying the house in course movements, dipping, stretching, whining under the weight. I was very much relieved when I finally reached my bedroom, afraid that simply walking around like that would break the tired old house. I peeled open the door and whispered into the darkness.

"Remus… are you in here?" The silence stretched "Remus, if you are, I'm sorry." I moved towards the bed, stroking the vague lump in the light and playing with snug glint of gold hair that sprawled across the pillow. "You're ignoring me, aren't you?"

He nodded a fraction and then rolled closer to the wall.

"If you really wanted to ignore me you would have slept in your own bed…"

"Just because I don't want to have that discussion with you, doesn't mean I don't want to sleep next to you." He groaned, voice groggy, low, in a state of half sleep.

"But I said sorry…"

"Yes but if we got into it you'll just end up fighting your case and it'll turn out you weren't sorry in the first place."

My head shifted, lowering to place a delicate kiss on the back of his head. "You're wonderful, Remus. But I hate your logic…"

X

The morning light shuffled through the curtains in crystal white strips, illuminating the dust that waltzed within the walls, scattering, stirring like fairy powder, glistening in and out of the sun's beams. It was hot enough for late August, the sky crisp and clear, blue, opening up for beatings of light to assault the buildings and shelter themselves in the surfaces, radiating from the walls as I curled next to my sweetheart. I didn't want to get up, it was perfect here just like this: tranquil, child-free, dirt-free, Kreacher-free; but I knew that sometime I'd have to get out of bed. My body slid closer to Remus and drew him into a messy hug, placing my head in the crook of his neck.

"Morning, beautiful" I whispered into his ear, words laced with a quiet undertone of drowsiness "Sleep well?"

He gave a subtle grunt and sighed, "Until you woke me…"

"Dream of anything nice?" I chuckled, nuzzling against his cheek and kissing about his face.

"Hmm… I had a dream my partner wasn't a paedophile…"

"Oh, Moony… I had a dream my partner loved me more…"

He let a faint snort of laughter escape is nose and swivelled to plant a dainty kiss on my lips. "What a shame he doesn't, Padfoot."

My throat hummed in agreement. "Remus… We need to talk."

"Oh, Sirius, no. Please don't tell me you're getting cold feet…"

"No, actually, my feet are quite warm."

He gave me a stone cold look that clearly meant he was not up for any 'funny business'.

"Look… I want to talk about the whole adoption thing… because I've been thinking about it… really thinking about it… and this is what I want. I know that you didn't think anything of it at first but we haven't actually discussed it more than we did on the day we announced it. And, well, I think it's for the best. What's the point in getting married if we're not going to become a prop-"

He pushed his finger against my lips, calm, controlled, silencing me. "It's too early for this sort of discussion."

"No. No, it's not. Because I know you, Rems, it's going to either too early or too late or too close to the children. You're the most rationally thinking man I know, regardless of whether you've just woken up or not." I huffed, sitting up a little and sinking my palm into my eye socket to clear my mind. "Even that fact that you're trying to get across the point that you don't think in your right mind in the morning, in itself, proves that you are!"

"Oh for Merlin's sake, Sirius Black! If I say it's too early: it's too early. How do you think that you can look after a child if you can't even look after that Hippogriff? It hasn't been fed in 3 days!"

I folded my arms and smirked at him. "If you knew that he hasn't been fed in 3 days, why didn't you feed him yourself?"

He shook his head in dismay. "Because he's your pet."

"He's not mine actually, he's Hagrid's!"

"Even more a reason to keep him alive!"

"Well then, if I keep him alive will you seriously consider the adoption?" I grinned, tilting my head towards him and batting my eyelashes.

"Ok then, but don't be surprised if he's dead when you get up there," He laughed kissing my cheek before collapsing back under the covers.

"Adieu, mon amour, I am off to feed a Hippogriff!"