Author's Note: This is an epilogue only in the strictest sense of the word; written as a comment, because after the intentionally vague "what if" ending, which neither hinted towards reconciliation nor ruled it out completely, many wondered.
Note that I wrote this chapter eight years after the original story; the story stands firm without it.
Alpha, Beta
Sirius, feeling wronged and furious and humiliated after Lupin leaves him, spends fifty minutes charming a classmate out of her notes, works through the night, and hands in the essay bleary eyed and weary the next morning.
Somehow, he's not surprised to find it in his pigeon hole by lunch, marked with an "F".
James laughs at him for a week, bursting into snorty giggles whenever Sirius sees him.
Through some careful probing, Sirius finds out that Lupin is considered to be one of the youngest and most brilliant Professors in the country. He's incredibly prolific, and Sirius only realises, as he seeks out a reference for his next essay, that the university library is filled to the brim with books he wrote.
It takes Sirius all of two seconds to find out, after that, that Lupin did his undergraduate degree at the Sorbonne.
Hic et ubique terrarum, he writes on his next essay, in the corner, under his name.
He receives another "F".
Despite this, Lupin does not appear to hate him, as Sirius thought he might.
Lupin doesn't look at him, much, but sardonically raises an eyebrow whenever Sirius goes out of his way to try and convince him in class his argument is wrong.
Lupin, he soon finds out, is never wrong.
'Remember,' Lupin is saying, easily commanding everyone's attention, somehow a scary blend of confidence and sharpness. 'It is an honour that you were given only because I will be coming there with you.'
The trip to the High Court is the next day.
Sirius dresses smartly.
Maria won't stop talking to him.
'Your Ladyship,' Remus greets the red-and-black robed judge in front of them, smiling brightly at her. Sirius feels a faint tingle of recognition.
'Remus,' she responds warmly, her face bright and sunny, shaking his hand. 'Thank you so much for coming.'
She then turns to face them. 'As for the rest of you,' she sneers, all kindness forgotten, 'don't get in the way.'
Lupin disappears with the judge into a room, and the rest of them are escorted to the library by a prim-faced woman, who tells them they are not to wander outside of this room.
Their assignment, officially, is to try and find evidence for the case in the library. Sirius knows, unofficially, that that's not really possible. There's no precedent for the case that Lupin is advising on; the scope and violence of it so barbaric, even Regulus paled slightly when Sirius told him about it (Regulus wisely said nothing about Sirius's venture into the Muggle world, but would always listen when Sirius wished to tell him about a case).
Sirius is shocked, then, after he's randomly pulled a book off a shelf from an author he recognised as one of his former Professors, when he finds something interesting.
He waits, politely, in front of the door he saw Lupin and the judge disappear into, in the corridor he's not meant to be in. Maria hissed words of warning at him when he left, but he ignored her.
It takes four hours for them to emerge. Lupin is the first to leave, almost crashing into Sirius, who had hastily jumped out of the way to avoid being hit. Lupin looks at him sharply, a dark, dangerous warning written all over his face.
'I just –' Sirius fumbles, thrusting out the judgment as the High Judge appears, her eyes narrowed and annoyed. 'I found a case. It's not quite a precedent.'
He sounds unsure, uncertain, and his stomach clenches painfully at his own voice.
Lupin takes the book from him wordlessly. The High Judge doesn't even bother to follow along with his reading, looking murderously at Sirius.
After what feels like hours, days, years, Lupin looks up, meeting his eyes and then looking at the judge, holding the book out to her. She glances down at it, her eyes flying over the page.
'Maybe,' she says primly, but invites Lupin back in. Sirius stands lost in the corridor, for a second, until Lupin turns around.
'Mr Black,' he says, dismissively. 'You will return to the library.'
When they return to university, Lupin calls Sirius into his classroom. He invites Sirius to take place in one of the seats, and starts packing his bag.
'You will receive an A on this assignment,' Lupin tells him, taking off his glasses and pinching the bridge of his nose. 'However,' he adds after replacing them and spotting Sirius's look of surprise, 'You will not be allowed to attend the trial.'
Sirius opens his mouth in outrageous protest, but Lupin holds up his hand to silence him.
'You were told to remain in the library,' he says, shortly, slinging his bag over his shoulder and leaving the classroom, not looking back.
The trial takes two weeks, taking up the rest of their semester. Their final essays are handed in, but Sirius doesn't even pay attention to his mark, only wondering what the hell is going on with the trial.
His classmates aren't allowed to tell him, and he doesn't see Lupin at all.
'It's not fair,' he tells James, who's now moved in with Evans. They're ridiculously in love. It's sickening.
'It is,' Evans points out. Sirius ignores her, and the fact that she's wearing a Holyhead Harpies shirt that shows off her long, shapely legs. She was three years below them at Hogwarts.
James merely shrugs at him.
'Tell him you're sorry, then,' he says eventually.
Sirius hexes his nose off-centre.
When he Apparates to the front door Grimmauld Place a couple of hours later, dark and moody and drunk, he finds Lupin sitting on the stoop across his house. Sirius takes a split-second decision, and then walks down the stairs, the house shimmering out of view behind him.
Lupin looks at him levelly, only his widened eyes showing surprise as Sirius appears in front of him. He looks tired. Sirius holds out a hand to help him.
'We won,' Lupin announces, getting up without the aid of Sirius's hand.
'Right,' Sirius responds, putting his hands in his pockets, and simply looking at him.
'Okay,' Lupin says, then steps forward, and kisses him, warm and soft and completely unexpected.
Sirius kisses him back.
Translations
- Hic et ubique terrarum: here and everywhere. It's the motto of the Sorbonne.