The village of Devonshire was bustling when Lupa and Remus arrived. The small village was not usually this busy but a performance group was passing through and so there were more people than usual walking around. It was a good thing as it meant that people would be less likely to notice two children on their own. As far as the villagers were concerned, they belonged to a family that had come to town to see the group.

Lupa directed her horse towards an inn located on the eastern edge of the village. The inn had a stable where they could keep their horses for a few days while they rested. The full moon had only been three days ago and Remus hadn't fully recovered. They had been forced to move sooner than Lupa would have liked.

A traveler had come across them and had been horrified at the sight of Remus lying bloodied on the ground. It had been a rough transformation and the wolf had torn Remus pretty badly before Lupa was able to distract him. The traveler had said he was going for help and spurred his horse in the direction of the village they had just come from before Lupa could begin to try and explain. As soon as he was gone, Lupa has roused Remus and they had packed quickly before jumping on their horses and riding hard in the opposite direction for a solid half day. After that, they had taken it a bit easier but Remus was still weak and exhausted from the transformation.

A stable boy came up to them and held the reins of their horses while the siblings dismounted. Remus stumbled when he landed on the ground and Lupa reached out quickly to stead him.

"Alright?" She asked.

Remus stood still for a moment before nodding his head. "I'm alright. Just tired."

"Just a few more minutes and you'll be able to rest."

Remus nodded tiredly and followed his sister in to the inn. Lupa went immediately to the front desk and began speaking to the woman standing there. Remus collapsed in one of the chairs by the fire. The quiet crackling of the flames and the gentle warmth started to lull Remus to sleep.

Before Remus could get too comfortable, he was startled awake by a hand on his shoulder. Turning to look, he found Lupa standing there with a smile on her face. She motioned towards the stairs in the corner. Remus quietly followed her up the stairs, taking care not to attract attention.

He didn't have to worry. The inn's lunchtime crowd had more important things to be concerned about than a young boy seemingly on his own. Lupa led him up to the third floor and into a room at the end. Remus stumbled wearily past his sister and collapsed on the nearest bed.

"Rest not Remus. We have the room for a while." Lupa said.

Remus barely heard her and a second later, he was out. Lupa smiled as she watched Remus instinctively curl up on his side. She pulled the blankets up over him and lovingly tucked them in. Then she went and laid down on her own bed intending to get some rest herself.

The next thing she knew, she was being woken by the sound of knocking. Lupa sat up and glanced around the room in confusion. It took her a minute to remember where she was. When she did, she also remembered that her exhausted brother was asleep on the next bed. She quickly got out of bed and went to answer the door. A kind looking woman was standing on the other side of the door.

"Can I help you?" Lupa asked.

"I'm Mrs. Jones, the innkeeper's wife. I came to see if you would like me to do your laundry for you."

Lupa thought about it for a minute. It would be nice to have clean clothes. They hadn't had clean clothes since they had left home over a month ago. She and Remus had just washed their clothes in a river whenever they came across one.

"That would be nice." Lupa said.

Mrs. Jones smiled. "Wonderful. I'll be back in a minute with clothes for you to wear while I wash yours."

She was gone before Lupa had a chance to respond. Deciding to ignore it, she gathered up their clothes and had them ready by the door when Mrs. Jones came back a few minutes later.

The clothes were returned an hour later by which time Remus was awake and hungry for dinner. They dressed and went downstairs to the dining room where Mrs. Jones insisted on serving them big bowls of soup, fat pieces of bread and thick slices of chocolate cake. Lupa would normally protests that they didn't need quite that much food but she knew that Remus was still hungry from the transformations.

Besides, it's not like they didn't have the money to pay for it. Lupa had sold one of the rings her parents had given her and received more money for it than she had expected. Apparently finely crafted Italian rings were worth a lot. She had kept the other two for the time being. The ring Remus had given her to go with her locket would never be sold.

"Lupa?" Remus said.

Lupa looked up from her cake.

"Are we going to stay here?"

Lupa swallowed her bite of cake and asked "Do you want to?"

Remus went quiet. The look on his face told her that he was thinking carefully about the question. Though he never like to admit it, Remus did know what the wolf thought and felt. Lupa got the feeling that Moony was why Remus had asked.

"Not really. Moony doesn't like being surrounded by so many strange people in a strange and unfamiliar place." He finally said.

"Then we won't stay here." Lupa said.

"Where will we go?"

There was no worry in his voice. Only curiosity. Lupa marveled at the trust Remus had in her. He was so sure that she would take care of everything. Lupa was terrified that she would one day inadvertently do something to break that trust.

"Well, where would Moony feel safe?"

Remus thought about it.

"Somewhere where he could run and play and hunt. And somewhere where he can be hidden from enemies and hide and watch them."

Lupa thought about places that would meet Moony's requirements. There were only a few places that came to mind and of them, only one was a possibility in England.

"How about a forest?" She asked.

Remus' eyes lit up and Lupa knew she had the right answer.

"Yes." Remus said excitedly.

Lupa smiled at the excitement in his voice.

"Alright then. I'll ask around and see where any forests are. For now, we'll stay here for a few days."

Remus didn't look bothered by the fact that they would have to stay for a few days as he nodded and went back to his cake. A few minutes later they were finished with dinner and went back to their room to get more sleep.

The next day was devoted to exploring the town and for Lupa, making inquiries about forests. It wasn't until supper time that she learned about a forest that suited their needs. It was called the Green Lake forest and located about three days to the northeast. According to the shoemaker, the forest was twenty miles from east to west and twenty-two from north to south. Along the western side of the forest was a lake, the Green Lake from which the forest took its name, and a small town also named after the lake.

The people of the village rarely ventured into the forest, preferring to stick to their lake. The only villagers that did were the fish traders who left to trade the fish for other supplies. It was perfect for them.

Remus agreed and days two and three were spent acquiring supplies. The horses were sold to the town stable master who gave them a good price. Lupa also went to the apothecary where she bought more first aid supplies. Remus went to the market and bout more bread and cheese.

When she heard they were leaving, Mrs. Jones took their clothes to wash again. She returned them with wrapped cookies and good wrapped slices of chocolate cake. These had to go on top of the food pack so they would not be crushed.

By noon of their fourth day in Devonshire, Lupa and Remus were ready to leave. They stopped downstairs for a quick lunch, where Mrs. Jones again gave them a lot, before leaving the town. As usual, Remus' sense of direction was better than hers once they got out into the open. He kept them on course and by evening of their third day walking, they reached the edge of the Green Lake forest. Since the sun would be setting in a few minutes, Lupa decided it would be best if they didn't venture too far into the rapidly darkening trees.

Remus quickly found a patch of ground relatively free of debris and sheltered between a small cluster of trees."

"I like it here." Remus said, flopping down onto the ground. "I feel safe here."

"Do you?" Lupa asked.

Remus nodded. "It's strange. I've never felt this safe before."

Lupa felt both sad and happy. Sad because she had tried hard to make sure her brother always felt safe. Yet she was happy that they had finally found somewhere where he felt completely safe. Some of the sadness must have shown on her face because Remus was quick to reassure her.

"Not that I didn't feel safe before. I always felt safe when you were around. It's just, here…" Remus struggled to find the words to explain what he was feeling.

Lupa smiled at his reassurance. "It's okay Rem. You don't have to reassure me. I'm just happy you feel that way. Besides, it's my job to reassure you, not the other way around. Now, it's time to get to sleep."

Sleep came quickly that night. The next morning, after a quick breakfast of bread and water, Lupa and Remus set off to find somewhere to set up a permanent camp. Two hours later, Remus literally tripped into a suitable clearing. After grumbling about the tree root he had tripped over, Remus looked around the clearing. His heart soared as he realized that he may have just found their new home. Quickly he called out for his sister. A long minute later and Lupa appeared in the trees.

"Yes?"

Remus gestured around the clearing. "What do you think?"

Lupa glanced around. "I think it will work."

Remus' heart soared at his sister's praise and broke into a grin. They had found it. Their new home. A place where they felt safe.

AN: Yes, I know I'm late with the update. Real life keeps getting in my way.

Can any of you think of any other places that would have met Moony's requirements? I have one other in mind. I'm curious to see if you can guess it.

I have a question for all of you. The next chapter after this was supposed to be focused on Sirius. However, it doesn't have a lot going on in the way of action or dialogue. So, do you want me to post it as a chapter of this story? Or should I save it for a one shot posted at the end? I leave it up to you. It will be the last chapter completely focused on Sirius for this story.

On a completely different note, do any of you play the Sims 3? I've become addicted again. I like giving Remus and Sirius the life I think they should have had.

I'll be going on vacation this weekend. I'll be gone from Saturday to next Wednesday and will have no access to a laptop. So I won't be able to update this weekend. I will have eight hours to write though. So updates should be coming next Thursday, provided something doesn't come up.