It had been an overall uneventful June morning.
The weather had brought on summer thunderstorms with no end in sight, keeping most people indoors.
This particular morning found Sirius Black entertaining his company, at present the Weasley twins and their younger brother, Ron, with tales of school mischief and humor as they played a game of cards.
It had been peaceful, at least to start.
Until, without warning, Remus Lupin had stormed into the parlor where Sirius and the young wizard's sat, and ignoring Sirius' warm greetings to his best friend, he'd been punched to the floor. A solid punch straight to Sirius' left jaw, sending both Sirius and the card table flying.
"Bloody hell, Moony." Sirius coughed, looking up at his friend, hand covering the now injured jaw. Remus simply glared down at him with an almost homicidal rage in his eyes.
"On your feet, you son of a bitch." Remus growled. Sirius, however, did not oblige the command. He simply looked over to where the three Weasley boys say, all three of them wide eyed and pale.
"Best clear out boys." Sirius nodded toward the door. The three redheaded young wizards filed out, though Sirius knew they'd be on the other side of the door, listening in to what was happening.
"I said on your feet, Sirius." Remus repeated, chest heaving.
"So you can put me back on my ass? No thanks, mate. Once is enough." Sirius replied simply. "Want to tell me what this is about?"
"I think you know." Remus spat.
"You think wrong." Sirius replied, still calm.
"Ramona." Remus growled.
"Haven't spoken to her in nearly two weeks now." Sirius spat, rubbing his jaw. "She's not been 'round."
"And you haven't wondered why?" Remus demanded.
"I assumed she was mad at me. I don't know." Sirius shrugged. "Seems like you do, so why don't you enlighten me."
The tone Sirius had been using shifted. He was no longer choosing to remain cool, at the mere mention of Ramona's name, he bristled. His grey eyes searched his best friend's face for some clue as to what might be happening.
"You really don't know." Remus demanded. Sirius simply looked up at his friend, who still had a fist drew back to strike if Sirius dared move. Sirius shook his head.
"Afraid not." He replied quietly.
"And it isn't your place to tell." A voice called from the doorway. Remus turned to see his baby sister had finally caught up with him. Sirius peered around Remus too, trying to get a look at her.
Ramona Lupin looked tired, her sandy-blond hair pulled into a messy knot of a bun on top of her head, some of the pin-straight strands falling free and framing her face. She had the traces of mascara tears trailing her cheeks, and bags beneath her eyes. She'd not even bothered to change from her pink plaid pajamas, obviously in a hurry to catch her rampaging older brother.
"All I wanted- all I needed was my big brother to listen. Tell me it was all going to be okay. Be there for me- and this is what you chose to do?" She fumed.
"I-"
"I don't care." She spat back, cutting off any argument her brother may have tried to make. "Get out."
"Ramona-"
"Out, Remus. Now." She shouted now. Remus looked down at Sirius once again, narrowing his eyes as he left the room like a scolded child. Ramona stepped inside and shut the door.
"Should I get up, or are you going to also put me back on my ass?" Sirius ask, a smile playing at his lips as he attempted to tease the witch before him.
"Get up." She responded, arms crossed, still standing near the door. Sirius listened this time, and stood, but did not dare get closer.
"Where ya been?" He ask, sadness overlaying his words.
"Work, home, repeat." Ramona replied. "Busy. Look- I'd apologize for my brother, since he didn't have the whole story and obviously couldn't be bothered to wait. But I'm not going to because part of me kind of enjoyed the thought of him actually taking care of me like this again. I'd missed it."
"He's always been willing to die for you." Sirius replied.
"A lot went on while you were in prison, you know. We haven't stayed as close the entire time." Ramona replied.
"Do you want to come in and sit down?" Sirius ask, gesturing to the chairs on the other side of the room- ones Remus had not knocked to the floor in a fit of rage.
"I don't know." Ramona replied, wrapping her arms around her body. Sirius wanted to hurry across the room, wrap her in his arms. Kiss away the tear stains on her face. But their relationship was more complicated than that. And her absence as of late had only reminded him of this fact.
"Do you want to tell me what is going-"
"I'm pregnant, Sirius." She interrupted, cutting his words off.
Sirius felt the air leave his lungs, and his legs gave way beneath him, so he simply slumped into the wall for support. He knew Ramona was waiting for a reply, but he couldn't make his body respond at all. It was like he'd lost all control of his being. He suddenly understood why Remus had been so angry.
Rather than fight it, Sirius simply slid down the wall, his knees to his chest.
"How do you feel about that?" He ask, not looking even remotely her direction.
"I don't know." She whispered, just barely loud enough for him to hear that she'd nearly started to cry again, and was doing everything in her power to choke it back.
Sirius didn't say anything further. He closed his eyes, banging the back of his head on the wall just slightly, trying to make thoughts come together. What he should say, what he should do. Minutes ticked by painfully slow.
"Look, Sirius, this doesn't have to be a whole... thing." Ramona said, still standing over near the door.
"Are you wanting to get rid of it?" Sirius ask, masking emotion from his voice.
"I don't know. I haven't thought of any of that- I just know that sooner or later, someone in this bloody Order is going to clear your name. I am not going to keep you from anything you want, when you're free."
"I didn't even realize we were officially 'together' and you're breaking up with me?" Sirius ask quietly.
"I don't know anything right now. But I do know that you were who decided we shouldn't 'be together', as you put it."
"I know how being tied to me could ruin your life, Mona. I do." Sirius replied.
Ramona did not reply, nor did she meet his eyes. She simply rubbed her hands over her arms as if she were cold and stared at the floor. Sirius was not completely wrong. She'd been working as a Potioneer for St Mungo's for years now, and had endured plenty of public ridicule in her time, even nearly lost her job for simply being related to Remus when the so called 'scandal' of his condition had slipped from his time teaching at Hogwarts. Having a child with a publicly absentee father like Sirius would have to be, considering he was still a wanted criminal, would raise more suspicion and questions about her that she simply didn't need.
"I don't know how to be a mother, Sirius." She said after a long time. "I don't really remember mine."
Sirius felt her pain in his own chest. Remus had fond memories of their mother, as he was nearly fifteen when she'd died- but Ramona was only six.
"You have Remus."
"Do I?" She scoffed. "He's- I don't know what he's doing. I just wanted to see if he thought maybe I had it in me to do?"
Sirius didn't say anything for a long time. He looked pale, almost sick, and his face stayed stony.
"He thinks you'll be fine. He thinks I'm the problem." Sirius concluded.
"Remus' opinion doesn't matter." Ramona insisted, the anger at her brother still apparent in every word.
"He's my best friend, he's your brother- I think it does a little." Sirius shrugged.
"This is just you and me." Ramona said, suddenly at his side. She was mere inches away from him, he could feel the warmth of her arm next to his. "No one else can really say anything of consequence."
"Can I speak freely?" Sirius ask quietly.
"Hmm?" Ramona hummed.
"I missed you."
"Did you?" She questioned, looking over. For a moment, she tried to keep her face emotionless, but when Sirius' eyes met hers, her resolve broke into a very small smile.
"Yeah, I did. I hate this house, I liked much better staying with you two." He confessed.
"Eh, Remus isn't ever there anyone either." Ramona shrugged. "Just me."
"I don't know what to say right now." Sirius confessed. "I don't know what to- to feel."
"Just let it roll, go with whatever comes up, and wait for the next, then the next. That is what I've been doing. That is what I was trying to express when I was talking to Rem earlier- but I couldn't just express insecurity to him and get level headed logic back. I suppose that is something he reserves for literally everyone else but me." She sighed. "Sirius- I'm scared. I don't know what I'm doing, I don't know what is going to happen tomorrow, I don't know how attached to me you want to be."
"What?" Sirius abruptly sat forward and turned to fully face her.
"You 'care about me', remember? But like- I don't know what that means. How deep that goes, or how you want it to. One day, sooner or later, someone somewhere is going to be able to prove you're innocent" She repeated. "You'll be free for whatever you like. Remus was concerned- or rather- was yelling about-"
"Me being some sort of whore?" Sirius guessed. "That is what you think. I'll get freed and just go off..."
"Something like that. Picking up old habits, making up for lost time." Ramona confirmed. Sirius looked hurt, but he didn't say anything about what Remus had suggested. "I'm not asking you to marry me, you know. I'm not trying to tie you down."
"No, that'll be my job." Sirius replied, maybe too quickly. Ramona's eyes widened.
"Sirius-"
"Yeah, no. Not the time for jokes." He nodded. "Look- I'm sorry. I mean... I don't know what I mean."
"We have been sleeping together, I got pregnant. We were both there, no need to apologize for anything." She sighed. "We have a lot to talk about. But right now, I really just- I am going to go find Rem. I'm going to slap him or something. He ruined this, it isn't a moment we can get back."
"Saw it going differently?" Sirius pondered. His pale grey eyes searched her face.
"I don't know." Ramona lied, her voice harsh, her arms flailing as she shrugged, frustrated.
"You did." Sirius confirmed. "Tell me. Please?"
His voice had softened, and he gently reached out and took her small hand in his.
"I thought, you know, maybe you'd be happy?" Every ounce of emotion she'd been fighting back the entire time was breaking forth now. Ramona closed her large hazel eyes and tears rolled with no sign of stopping. "I thought- maybe- maybe-you would want to see if we were something... If I was something that could... Make you happy? Its stupid I-"
He hadn't planned on kissing her. He wanted her to be able to express everything going on. But watching her cry, her pretty face twisted in pain, in hurt, and in sorrow- the only thing he wanted to do was make it better.
At first, Ramona froze, the feeling of his lips on hers catching her off guard, the slight tickle of Sirius' well trimmed beard against her face making her want to smile into him. His lips were soft, and whether it was true attraction or just hormonal response, Ramona gave in. She let her lips fall open just slightly enough for him to drink her in deeper, and before she'd even known what happened, Sirius had cradled her into his arms. He'd gently taken her cheek in his hand, his thumb stroking the trail the tears had followed down her face.
"Hey." He breathed as she pulled away just enough to look in his eyes.
"Yeah?"
"You do make me happy, Ramona." Sirius explained. "I know you felt like I had used you as some sort of..."
"Relief after twelve years alone in prison." Ramona finished.
"Yeah, that. I overheard you and Tonks about that." Sirius nodded. "Scratching an itch? Really?"
"Should've kept listening. That was about twenty minutes before she went with me to the muggle pharmacy up the way to buy the freaking test." Ramona laughed.
"Well, my feelings were hurt." Sirius said, sticking his tongue out. "I'd never do that to you, Mona. I swear."
Ramona blinked back at him.
"You said-"
"I know what I fucking said- I'm an idiot. I say lots of things." Sirius cut her off. "I am trying to... I don't know. I'm trying, though."
"You wanna do this?" Ramona ask, sliding back to the floor from his lap.
"I really do." Sirius nodded. "All in."
"Alright then." Ramona sighed. "Pick me up off the floor?"
"Sure thing, Mumma." Sirius laughed. "Let's go wash your face."
"Somehow I knew I'd find you out here."
Nymphadora Tonks entered the patio of her 'ancestral' home, finding Remus Lupin hiding behind a cloud of tobacco smoke. She propped herself up on the broken retainer wall he'd been sitting on, looking over at the wizard in question, who simply took another long pull from his cigarette, eyes closed and head tilted back.
"If you're here to tell me I'm wrong, I am already aware." Remus replied, not bothering to open his eyes. He knew his sister's friends voice when he heard her. She'd actually been Ramona's roommate briefly after Hogwarts. He'd not seen her in a few years, but she was not the sort of witch one just... forgot.
"No, I was just going to see if you were okay. I don't necessarily think you're 'wrong', per-say. Just... lacking in the tact department."
Remus' eyes snapped open and met the younger witch's large, honey brown ones. She smiled gently.
"What do you mean you don't think I'm wrong?" Remus ask, before taking the last drag from his cigarette and flicking the butt over the garden wall.
"Last time you had two people you love find out they were expecting an unplanned baby, during a war with You-Know-Who... They died. You're scared." Tonks shrugged. "That's not wrong... Making your sister cry? Probably wrong. Punching Sirius?" Tonks snorted a bit, "I'm sure there has been a time he needed it and didn't get slugged, so we can let that slide. But you're not wrong to worry."
"How'd you pick up on all that?" Remus ask, his eyes searching the brightly colored young Auror's face.
"I listen." She shrugged. "Its not always words, but if you pay close enough attention, you get a good picture."
"Not that I had any doubts, but I bet you are one hell of an Auror, aren't you?" Remus complimented.
"I get by." Tonks smiled in return. "Listen- Ramona has been my friend for several years now, and the one thing I can tell you- is she needs you to be there for her. You're like... her favorite person. I don't have siblings, so its not really something I get... but she needs her big brother to be excited to be an uncle. She may have told you and Sirius one thing- but I know her. She wants this baby, she has her mind made up."
"Well, I can't take it back now, can I" Remus sighed. He pulled the pack of cigarettes from his shirt pocket, tapped one up and started to take it out, then he put the whole thing back. "I could apologize, though."
"Probably a good start." Tonks nodded. "Then you can do the whole 'Professor' thing and threaten the Weasley kids into keeping their mouths shut. I'd say its killing them not to spread gossip like this to Harry."
"Shit." Remus jumped down from the wall suddenly. "Harry."
"Uh?" Tonks ask, still propped on the wall.
"Sirius. Harry... Shit." Remus said again, leaving the younger witch out in the garden alone.
"Yeah, that didn't answer a damn question, did it?" Tonks mused sarcastically to no one, before also heading into the house.
It was still about six weeks until Harry would be joining them, but Tonks couldn't help but wonder how things would go. All she could do was try to be there for her friend and her cousin, and if he'd let her, also be there for the very anxious uncle-to-be.
This summer was going to be a long one.
Trying to get back into writing. Saw an idea like this on tiktok for another fandom, made it my own here.
If ya like it, be sure to let me know and give us a follow