Chapter 7 of 9
Taking Action
"Hey pup, dinner’s ready,” Sirius called as he started serving their dinner on the plates.
This had been a long day. He had taken the tomes he had found in Grimmauld place to the Healers and had discussed their plan for a long time. Then he stopped by the Ministry to see how the adoption process was going. He wanted to legally and blood adopt Harry to avoid any problems and to make him the next Black Heir. He sure as hell didn’t want Lucius Malfoy’s son to inherit the title. He was glad to arrive there and see everything was almost done. Apparently the Ministry was bending backwards to make him happy. The paperwork was done and his signature had sealed the deal. Now Harry just had to take the blood adoption potion, which he would as soon as the whole Horcrux in him thing was dealt with. The healers felt it was safer that way. But legally, Harry was already his son.
A smile came to his face every time he remembered when he had asked Harry if he was okay with being adopted.
“You want to adopt me,” Harry had asked surprised. “Me?”
“Well, er, yes, if you’re okay with that,” Sirius had said awkwardly. “I don’t want you to think I want to replace James, but you’re my pup and I want to make sure you’re protected and-“
“You want to be my dad?” Harry asked still with a shocked face. “You want me to be your son?”
“Well,” Sirius said with a nervous smile, “To me, you already are my son, now I just want to know if you would accept-“ he was cut off as the air rushed from his lungs when Harry launched himself into his midsection.
“Yes,” he heard coming from his stomach and Sirius held Harry back stroking the messy hair. He had been so nervous, he shouldn’t have. The mind healer had told him that Harry would probably accept and that it would do wonders for Harry to accept that Sirius was serious. That he was reliable and wouldn’t be abandoning Harry.
Then when he had gotten home Remus had just left without a word to Sirius. Nothing. He didn’t even mention his outburst of yesterday. Not when he arrived for the class and Sirius left for Grimmauld to get the books he had left there, not when he arrived home. Apparently that was to be Sirius’s punishment for punishing Remus for so long.
He guessed that was why Sirius had taken Moony's actions so hard. He had loved him. He still did. They had been together. Shouldn't Remus had known him better? Had fought for him more? Had fought for Harry? Hadn't they said Harry was the pup they couldn't have? He didn’t want to think of Remus leaving so angry with him. One thing was when he was angry at Remus, he felt justified. Now he just felt worried because he wouldn’t see Remus again until Monday and he knew Remus and Dumbledore might be heading towards danger tomorrow. He didn’t want Remus in danger angry at him. He was confused, he wanted to be angry at the man and at the same time he wanted to have his arms around him. He huffed as he gave the salad a final stir. Stupid confusing thoughts. Sirius shook the thoughts away and looked at Harry had sat on the stool in front of him instead.
"So, I met these kids yesterday at Hogwarts,” he said slowly and Harry narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “They wanted to talk to you. Said they wanted to apologize. Bushy haired girl. Boy with freckles. Sound familiar?"
"Why did they want to apologize?"
“They reckon they messed up. They wanted to explain.”
“They don't hate me?” Harry asked quietly.
“No,” Sirius smiled sadly. “They were scared pup. Not of you,” he hastened to explain at the look he got. “Of the other kids. You were scared weren't you?” Harry nodded. “They were too, and sometimes people are just too scared to stand up for what's right.”
“Like Moony?” Bugger, Sirius thought.
“Yeah, I guess,” Sirius tried to change the subject back to Ron and Hermione. “Would you like to meet with them? Maybe in Hogsmead. The Three Broomsticks has a killer butterbeer. We could go there, you can talk and then you can decide what to do.”
“I guess. I would like to see them,” Harry said slowly. “And hear them out. Like we heard Moony out. And I miss them so- I don’t know. I guess- depends on what they say.”
Sirius smiled and ignored the Moony comment. No, he was not thinking about that. He’d just write to the two kids later and see when they could meet.
Crap, he was thinking about that, he couldn’t stop thinking about stupid Moony. He shook the covers off him, well, what little was on him. He had been tossing so much since he tried to go to sleep, operating word, tried. He got up and grabbed his leather jacket and put it on top of his pajamas. He hastily shoved on some sneakers. He loved them. He hadn’t been able to use them often because he had to be presentable as Lord Black to command respect on those Board and Wizengamot meetings but he’d take sneakers over boots any day. He checked on Harry who was peacefully sleeping. Cheeky little bugger.
He didn’t want to leave Harry alone but short of waking him and making him add Kreacher to the wards he had no choice. And he might have made a truce with the elf but he still didn’t completely trust him with Harry. He inhaled deeply, he’d be away just a moment, twenty minutes at most and Harry was safe. No one could get in here and Harry had been alone here before. Yeah, he’d Apparate, do what he had to do and be back and sleep peacefully. He nodded. He walked out of the apartment, out of the building and then to the alley he used to Apparate. He Apparated to the Lupin’s cottage. He didn’t wait for an invitation. He stormed in with an Alohamora - apparently Remus didn’t change the wards- he stalked up to Remus’s room where the werewolf had the gall to be peacefully sleeping. He shot an Aguamenti at the man who woke with a start. He grabbed him by the shoulders and kissed him.
“If you dare die tomorrow I’ll kill you,” he hissed shoving Remus back on the bed. “I’ll be waiting for you so we can talk. You better show up,” and he stalked out without paying attention to the yell:
“How exactly do you plan to kill me if I am already dead?”
The door opened quietly and the figure in the bed did not stir. The man entered the room quietly and watched the other sleep for a while. He had been positively giddy since last night. He couldn’t believe it. He knew he had failed. He had known it and that is why he hadn’t pushed before. Why he hadn’t even brought up their relationship before. He was glad he did give Sirius that kiss. To be perfectly honest he still didn’t understand what he had done. All his perfect control, his well guarded secrets had just been spilled in a fit of temper. He was grateful though. Because if he hadn’t they would still be at a stalemate.
Sure, he knew it wouldn’t be easy. Sirius would probably take a long time before he believed that this time Remus would not abandon him and Harry. Remus might have been stupid once, made a huge mistake but if there was one thing he knew how to do was learn from his mistakes and he would not repeat them. And he would prove himself however many times he had to.
He took off his shoes and jacket and crept on the bed. He didn’t know if they were ready for this but then again, Sirius had never been one for doing things slowly. He inched closer and encased the man’s mouth in a kiss. The other man responded until his probably fogged brain came into gear and he pulled back.
“What, how- how did you get in here?”
“I’m keyed into the wards,” he said simply. “Then I walked. One foot in front of the other,” he said mimicking the movement with the fingers of the hand that wasn’t propping him up.
He could see Sirius’s glare through the dim light that came from the street.
“Ha,ha, fu-nny,” Sirius scorned, then he made a face and ran a hand through his face and Remus’s clothes. “Why are you so dusty?”
Remus shrugged, “The place was abandoned for years and we had to check it thoroughly for wards. Took us the whole day and part of the night. We destroyed the Horcrux. It was a ring. Albus almost put it on but I stopped him and we used Fiendfyre. Must have had a compulsion charm or something. I preferred not to risk it though. You could have warned by the way. I thought I was about to be attacked by a spirit.”
Sirius gave him an evil grin as he got cozy resting on his side with his head propped up by his hand.
“So, you just thought you could come in here and pretend this was twelve years ago and you just returned from a mission?” he asked nonchalantly.
“Yes,” Remus said simply taking off his dusty shirt, falling back on the bed and squeezing off his trousers. Without even asking, he got under the covers and turned to Sirius lightly.
“If you’re not interested that’s okay. I’m quite beat,” and he turned around and closed his eyes suppressing a smile as he heard Sirius splutter.
“You can’t, get off my bed- this is, go to your own house,” he ignored Sirius and continued laying there. Sirius tried pushing him but Remus did not budge. After a while Sirius gave up and turned facing the other wall.
“Fine, but… just because I’m a good person and you can sleep there… only sleep, mind you! No funny business!”
Remus’s smile grew wider.
“Uhu, I understand,” Sirius said as he chewed on his nails while he was practically thrown over the counter talking on the phone. Remus frowned as he saw him. He had not been pleased when he woke up to find Sirius already gone from the bed. He put on some of Sirius’s pajama’s bottom and a white t-shirt, which had fit too well for comfort. Sirius had always been larger than him, more muscular. But he hadn’t yet recovered from the years in Azkaban and the fact that his clothes fit Remus instead of being loose was a reminder of that.
Remus looked around and frowned again. He checked Harry’s room but it was empty.
“You’re going to have to wait to shower,” Sirius said. “And by the way, you need it. I shouldn’t have let you sleep in my bed so dirty.”
Remus brushed off the remark and finally noticed the sound from the bathroom. So Harry was there.
“Hadn’t realized you owned a phone,” he said calmly pouring himself some of the juice from the counter.
Sirius looked at the cordless phone he had just hung up, “Yeah, well. I needed it for the Muggle lawyers. Except since we use it sparsely I had accidentally buried it under a bunch of jackets.”
“What did they say?”
“What?”
“The lawyers.”
“Oh,” Sirius stole a look at the bathroom door and lowered his voice. “They think they found someone who can help. A teacher Harry had. She had actually reported her suspicions to Social Services but before anything happened she got fired. The lawyers took some time tracking her down. She said she found out later that Petunia Dursley was in a tea club with someone who was high up in the local Social Services office and that they probably alerted her. The lawyers dug in and it turns out the case was buried but not actually closed so they think they can use it.”
“Is that good?”
“Yes, that means that Social Services has a reason to start an investigation despite the fact that Harry isn’t under their custody anymore. The lawyers said that now they’re investigating if there was any bribery and cover up. And they also found out that Petunia and Vernon never bothered making their guardianship legal, so there is the fact that technically, they had a child with them that was not their ward. They’re questioning how they managed to enroll him in school, take to the doctor and every other bureaucratic thing. They hope that by going this angle they might prove something even if they don’t manage to get someone to corroborate the abuse.”
Remus nodded satisfied, the Dursleys had to pay, somehow. Even if they caught them for something else. Remus cleared his throat and said.
“Listen Sirius.”
“I want a date.”
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me. I love you,” Sirius inhaled deeply. “I still do, but you hurt me, a lot,” he finished looking straight at Remus. “I need you to prove me you won’t again. Or hurt Harry. Now I’m not alone anymore I can’t just let you in our lives on that level without being sure, so you have to woo me. Yep, that’s it. You have to take things slowly and stuff…you know. The stuff we kind of didn’t have the first time around because we were roommates and-“
“Already all over each other?”
“Yeah,” he agreed with a small smile. “I don’t trust you anymore. Not like I did once. You have to prove me wrong.”
“I will,” Remus said leaning on the counter with a smile as he took a sip of his juice. The moment was broken by Harry coming out of the bathroom with his hair all wet. He looked at the two and sighed.
“Great, now you’re married and are going to become weird,” he huffed and went to his room.
Remus looked bewildered at Sirius.
“He thinks married people are weird.”
“Hey pup, can we talk,” Sirius asked opening the door of the room slowly.
“Are we still going to meet Ron and Hermione?”
“Yes, but later. I wanted to talk about Remus,” Sirius said sitting on the bed and patting the spot next to him.
“I told you I don’t mind. I just don’t want you becoming weird,” Harry said sitting down and looking at Sirius.
Sirius sighed, “What do you mean by that?”
“You know,” Harry shrugged. “Like Mr. Weasley and Mrs. Weasley this summer. Mrs. Weasley would say something but not finish and Mr. Wesley would answer- but she never finished! Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia do the same. Drives me bonkers because I don’t know what they’re talking about and then I can’t know what to expect!”
Ah, Sirius understood. It wasn’t the finishing each other’s thoughts that many couples did that worried Harry. It was the fact that Harry was used to having to know what was happening to know how that affected him. Especially because at the Dursleys it could mean physical punishment.
He turned to Harry, “I’ll talk to Remus and we will make an effort to always let the other finish what they’re saying okay?”
“Okay,” Harry nodded but didn’t look convinced.
“But we talked about this with the Healer, you know I won’t hurt you right?”
Harry nodded shyly.
“Or let anyone else.”
“What about Remus?” Harry asked bravely.
“I won’t let him, and he won’t. He hasn’t and you’ve been alone with him right?”
“Yeah, but that’s different. Teachers can’t do stuff that parents can.”
Which in Harry’s mind meant a good beating. Sirius made Harry look pulling his chin up with a gentle finger. “Neither Remus nor I will ever strike you. Ever. No matter what you do. Clear?”
Harry shrugged and Sirius sighed. He hoped one day Harry believed him.