Please note that the world and the characters I'm using in this fanfic belong to Rowling.
I know this fanfic has been a bit slow lately, but this is the beginning of the end. After this, there's only one more chapter to go. Some reviews would really inspire me to finish that chapter faster though. *hint hint*
There were 11 floors in Grimmauld Place 12, but suddenly the enormous old house seemed way too small for it's two inhabitants, who kept bumping into eachother when they never wanted to see eachother again. Or at least one of them didn't want to see the other.
Remus had gotten a rather mysterious letter from Dumbledore, saying that he couldn't leave this place before it was his turn. This confused him to no end. He also didn't feel like spending time in the library anymore, because of all the memories that came crushing down on him every time he opened that door, so he bid Frederick Blacks' painting adieu, and moved half of the library down to his bedroom on the Fifth Floor with one wave of his wand. It was only when he tried to open the door to his bedroom that he realized his mistake. He could only open it just barely enough for his thin frame to slide inside, because the whole room was completely filled with stacks of books. Remus sighed.
To distract himself, and to make sure nothing went wrong again, he started picking up books from the nearest stacks, and stuffed them onto the shelves, into the closet, under the bed, onto the nightstand, into the bathroom and onto the dresser. When he had filled every possible space, a stack of books still remained, so he levitated it into a corner and then flopped down onto the bed. He wiped off a bead of sweat from his forehead, being cooped up in a house for a year, even a house of this size, had taken it's toll on Remus' body, which was now weaker than ever.
A few floors up, Sirius' body wasn't looking very well either, now that he didn't have Remus to cook for him. He was lying on the big bed he used to share with Remus, staring up into the ceiling. His stomach growled, and he ignored it, as usual. He had lost his appetite anyway.
He cursed himself each and every single day for not burning that photograph earlier, and he cursed himself even more for ever kissing James, even if it was just for fun.
One day, Sirius decided he'd finally had enough, and that he needed to get Remus back, or die trying. So he started plotting and planning. It took him quite precisely a week to plan his mission, and countless trips to the library. A few annoyed sighs too, when the book he was looking for was gone.
He knew Remus' favourite book was Hogwarts: A History, because of how much that castle had meant to him, so the first part of his plan involved that book.
Remus was getting ready to go to bed that night, to curl up with Hogwarts: A History safely in his lap, to re-read it for the thousandth time. To remember the few happy times in that castle that didn't involve Sirius. But before he could do that, he'd have to get some food from the kitchen, the werewolf was starting to wear him down, so he used the hidden passageway from Sirius' old bedroom again. He left the book open on the bed, spine facing downwards so it wouldn't crack, then he peered out into the hallway to make sure Sirius wasn't anywhere around. Since he couldn't see a living, or dead, soul, he decided it was safe to leave the room.
He actually thought hiding and running away from Sirius was a bit childish, but he couldn't help it.
What Remus didn't know, was that Sirius was watching him. There was a passage in the wall of the Fifth Floor corridor, with small peep-holes evenly distributed down the corridor. The holes weren't visible from the corridor, and it was only by luck that Sirius had stumbled upon the passage when he was exploring the house as a child.
Sirius had been standing there for three hours already, ready to set his plan into action once Remus was gone. He knew he wouldn't have a lot of time, so once he saw Remus disappear into his old bedroom, he dashed down the stairs that were hidden behind a tapestry on the Fourth Floor, then he rushed to the Grand Staircase, where he slowed down so his steps wouldn't be heard on the marble, and then he ran into Remus' bedroom on the Fifth Floor, thankful for the thick rug that silenced his steps.
When he got into the room, he was ready to start looking among the stacks of books, horrified by the sheer amount of books that Remus had managed to transport down from the library, but it came as an enormous relief when he saw the book lying neatly on the bed. He silently thanked Remus for that, then he grabbed the book and placed a small piece of parchment on the bed in it's place. He then sneaked away as quickly as possible, and went to hide the book.
When Remus returned, he could immediately smell Sirius' scent in his room, then he noticed that his book was gone, and lastly he noticed the piece of parchment. Quite angrily he walked up to his bed and picked up the parchment, who did Sirius think he was, stealing his most precious book like that?
This game has it's start, where dwelled the brave at heart.
Remus read the line several times, thinking, his brows furrowed. Then he realized what it meant, and when he did, he couldn't believe how self-righteous Sirius was being. He didn't want to play any stupid games with Sirius, so he decided to just follow the trail of his scent to find out where he had hidden the book, but unfortunately, that idea got smashed into pieces when Remus reached the Grand Staircase. Sirius' scent was everywhere on that staircase, and Remus couldn't determine which way he'd gone.
He sighed, and tried to accept the fact that he'd have to play this game, whether he wanted to or not.
Remus headed back into the corridor, all the way to Sirius' old bedroom, where he found another piece of parchment, just as he'd expected.
To someplace you hold dear, your nose you now should steer.
Remus sighed again. If Sirius was insisting on playing a game with him, why didn't he at least make it interesting? The answer to this riddle was far too simple. He made his way up to the library, where he found a piece of parchment hovering in mid-air. He tried to grab it, but it flew out of his reach, that was when he noticed the Firebolt hovering in a corner.
Looking annoyed, he grabbed the Firebolt. With great difficulty, he managed to swing his leg over it, and then he kicked off from the floor carefully, so he wouldn't shoot straight up into the ceiling. The parchment was now fluttering like it had wings, and Remus steered the broom towards it.
Since Remus wasn't very good as a Seeker, it took him about ten minutes to catch it. James Potter would have caught it in five seconds.
This place is haunted by a ghost, the ghost of burnt toast.
Remus nearly laughed at how childish Sirius' rhymes were, but then he remembered he was supposed to be angry with Sirius. So he instead focused on getting down to the kitchen as fast as possible, it was getting late and he really wanted his book back.
Remus was happy to find out that there wasn't some strange task set out for him this time, that the parchment was just lying on the kitchen table. He picked it up and had to study it for a few seconds before he could understand the messy handwriting. Sirius had apparently been in a hurry while he was writing.
This owl annoyed me to no end, when he to my letters wouldn't tend.
Since there only lived one owl at Grimmauld Place 12, Remus knew it had to be Paddy, so he walked the short distance to the courtyard, thinking about why Sirius was bothering with all of this anyway.
It didn't take Remus long to find Paddy under his usual bush, and the owl seemed very happy to see him. He hooted affectionately, and gladly extended his leg so that Remus could untie the small scroll of parchment.
Here you once heard a crash, many bricks did I smash.
The handwriting was just as unreadable on this one, but Remus soon found himself standing in the Main Dining Room on the Second Floor, looking at a piece of slightly crumpled parchment lying on the dining table.
Climb to the top and look, there you might find your precious book.
Remus winced. There was no doubt about what he was supposed to do, and his weakened muscles weren't looking forward to it. But at this stage, he was actually a bit curious, so he wouldn't have had a choice anyway. At least Sirius had bothered to clean the chimney and to fix the broken steps on the Fourth and the Sixth floor.
Remus suspiciously peered over the top of the chimney after the long climb. What he saw almost took his breath away. A big, bright blue fire was flaming in the air next to the chimney, and Sirius had three blankets and a picnic basket laid out on the invisible platform he'd once again cronjured. His face looked apologetic as he held out the book so that Remus could take it and climb back down if he wanted to.
"I'm sorry Remus, I'm so very sorry. I should never have kissed him.. And I shouldn't have stolen your book, but you've been running away from me every time I've gotten anywhere near you, and I can't take this anymore.. we haven't got much time left, and I don't want to spend that time avoiding you. Will you please accept my apology?" he said, his voice shaking slightly. He fidgeted with the collar of his shirt nervously.
Remus looked at him with sad eyes, he didn't say anything, but he didn't climb back down either. He simply looked at Sirius.
"Please, Remus, I'm begging you," Sirius dropped the book and fell down onto his knees.
The Sirius Remus knew at school would never have done such a thing, at least not seriously. As a joke, maybe, but he would have been far too proud for it.
"Help me out of this chimney, will you?" Remus asked Sirius, whose face lit up, and he rose upp from his knees and pulled Remus out of the chimney, then proceeded to hug him closely.
Remus laughed a soft laugh as they were lying under a blanket on the roof later that night, watching the stars, trying to spot a shooting star. "This reminds me of that night up at the Astronomy Tower. It seems like lightyears away now," Remus whispered.
Sirius held him closely in his lap and leaned his chin on Remus' head. "I agree, I can't believe how much we've been through since then, and in that moment, I could never have imagined that we'd ever have to endure such things."
Remus smiled, "The world certainly was a much happier place at the time. But Sirius, earlier this night, you told me that we don't have much time left.. " Remus' smile died out.
"Yes?" Sirius asked, Remus could notice Sirius was trying to keep his voice casual.
"What do you mean by that? I thought we'd live here forever..."
"I'd like that, Moony, but unfortunately Death doesn't work that way," Sirius ruffled Remus' hair affectionately.
"But what do you mean? What will happen to us?" Remus frowned.
"You'll see," Sirius voice wavered, and he couldn't hide the sadness in his voice anymore.