Once in a Blue Moon (COMPLETE)

iGlow - Yes, Sirius is pretty clingy in this story generally, although the previous chapter was deliberately over-the-top clingy, as he was smothering Remus ever so slightly in his enthusiasm.

Rose - I am not sure about "gruesome", but their revenge is now executed...I hope it is to your (and everyone else's) satisfaction.

MewMew2 - You're welcome. I would reply to everyone by PM if only that facility were available here.

------------------
Last Christmas
------------------

Sirius and Remus grinned at each other as Rita Skeeter found herself earning her second detention of the day.

“She’s so much easier to listen to when you can’t understand what she’s saying,” Remus whispered.

The spell had been found after Sirius’s first legitimate foray into the restricted section of the library. It was relatively simple and caused the person it was cast upon to speak nothing but a long died out language that sounded like little more than gibberish. That several of the ancient words spilling from her mouth sounded extremely vulgar was an added bonus.

They had cast it on her several hours ago and it was showing no signs of wearing off.

The best thing about it though, was that the person it was cast on had no idea that they were speaking anything other than their regular English.

“That’ll teach her to mess with us,” James whispered from the desk behind them.

Sirius tried to hide his smile as Professor Flitwick lectured Rita for a few minutes more before returning to the lesson. It was clear that the Professors knew that Rita was under a spell, but it was her refusals to remain quiet when told to do so that was landing her in trouble.

Although it was some time before anyone told Rita what had happened to her, it took her only minutes to figure out who was responsible and she approached the Gryffindor table with fury in her eyes.

“Sorry, what was that, Rita?” Remus asked innocently.

“Couldn’t quite make out what you said there,” Peter added.

Rita screeched something unintelligible and pointed her finger at each of them in turn.

“What was that?” Sirius asked.

Rita reached for her wand, but the four boys were too quick for her and had their own wands trained on her before she could even raise her own.

“You really don’t want to be doing that,” James warned. “No telling what you might do if you don’t enunciate your words properly.”

Rita looked even more furious, but at least saw the truth of his words.

“It’ll wear off in a few days,” Sirius said. “In the meantime maybe you should take the time to keep your mouth shut and reflect on what you say about other people, both on and off of parchment.”

Rita made a noise that didn’t sound entirely like agreement before she spun on her heel and stalked over to the Slytherin table.

“Well, I think that went pretty much according to plan,” James commented.

“Yeah,” Remus agreed. “Pity it wears off after a few days. We’d be doing everyone a favour if she stayed like that forever.”

-o-xXx-o-

Once the initial buzz about the newsletter had died down Sirius didn’t think much more about it. It seemed that most people were now used to Rita’s fabrications, and took most of what she wrote with a healthy pinch of salt. Best of all, Remus didn’t seem to be upset with him for the whole mess and they were just as close as ever.

From Sirius’s point of view, they weren’t getting any closer though. He was being as attentive as he could be and spent pretty much all of his spare time with Remus. He cheered him on at Quidditch practice, helped him catch up on his studies, snuck down to the kitchens late at night, went with him to feed the thestrals early in the morning and did everything he could to prove himself the perfect attentive boyfriend.

The one thing he hadn’t done was to make a move that would show Remus exactly what direction he wanted their relationship to go in.

They were sitting down near the lake on the late November morning, taking a well-earned break from their studies when a familiar owl swooped down towards them.

“A howler,” Sirius stated as the bird dropped the letter into his lap. “Want to guess at what I’ve done this time?”

“Only one way to find out,” Remus replied. “There’s no one else out here to hear it, you might as well open it.”

Sirius reached out to break the seal and cringed as his mother’s voice echoed through the grounds. Remus took a hold of his hand in silent support and Sirius basked in the moment, concentrating on the warm hand wrapped around his own, instead of the screaming of his mother.

“SIRIUS BLACK, YOU’RE A DISGRACE TO THE FAMILY, AN ABSOLUTE DISGRACE! HOW DARE YOU TAKE UP WITH A HALF-BLOOD HALF-BREED LIKE THAT LUPIN CREATURE? YOU CONTINUE TO BRING SHAME ON THE HOUSEHOLD WITH YOUR BEHAVIOUR AND ACT AS IF YOU’RE PROUD TO BE HIS FRIEND. YOU SHOULD BE PROUD TO BE A BLACK AND I DON’T WANT TO HEAR OF YOU ASSOCIATING WITH THAT MONSTER AGAIN!”

The letter then burst into flames and the remnants of the parchment fell to the grass.

“Guess someone sent her the newsletter,” Remus finally commented.

“She was going to hear about us sooner or later,” Sirius replied easily.

“Did you send it to her?” Remus asked curiously.

Sirius shook his head. “I just wrote and told her about our friendship. I figured that way at least she got my version of it and not Rita’s. I asked if you could come visit in the holidays.”

“Wait a minute?” Remus shook his head in confusion. “You’re saying you wrote to your mother and told her you were friends with me?”

“That’s right.”

“But why? You know she’ll never approve.”

Sirius turned so that he was facing Remus directly. “Remus, you’re my best friend, and I’m not ashamed of you, or our friendship. My mother was going to find out about you and me being friends sooner or later, especially if someone sends her this newsletter like they did last time.”

“Sometimes I think you go looking for trouble,” Remus said with a sigh. “But I’m glad you’re not ashamed of me.”

Sirius smiled and took a deep breath. This was the perfect time to have the talk with Remus. There was no one around to interrupt them, and it wasn’t like Sirius hadn’t planned it all out in his head already a hundred times or more.

“Remus?”

“Yes,” Remus replied cautiously, clearly wondering at the serious tone.

“Um…do you remember when we talked about –”

Unfortunately Sirius’s words were cut off by the cry of a second owl as it dove towards them, also carrying a letter in its beak.

“Who’s that from?” Remus asked as Sirius took the letter from the clearly exhausted bird.

“My Uncle Alphard,” Sirius replied as he tried to stop his mother’s owl, which was still hanging around for some reason, from attacking the older and less healthy bird of his uncle.

Sirius opened the letter and quickly scanned the contents. He gave a snort of laughter when he read his uncle’s warning that his mother was sending him a howler.

“Something amusing?” Remus asked.

“Enid here has flown like the wind to try to warn me that my mother was sending a howler in reply to my letter. My uncle says that I should have known better than to write to her about my friendship with you.”

“I agree.”

“He also invites us both to Cornwall for Christmas, and Regulus is coming from Australia, too.”

“I’m invited?”

“Yeah, he’s getting a port key organised for us two, while he picks up Regulus from the airport. Apparently, his plane lands at the same time the Express arrives in London and he doesn’t like to leave us to make our own way around the city or to Cornwall.”

“A port key? How’s he going to fix that? Students who go home for Christmas are supposed to go by train.”

“He’ll sort it, he’ll probably talk to Dumbledore or something. It won’t be too much trouble, he is a Black.”

“Er…Sirius?”

“Yeah?”

“You remember the other week when you asked me to tell you if you were ever saying something that other people might think is snobby?”

“Yeah? Oh crap, I just did it, didn’t I?”

“I don’t think you can help it,” Remus said. “You’re a Black, and you’re all used to getting your own way.”

“Just slap me upside the head every time I do it,” Sirius ordered.

Remus dutifully obliged immediately.

“I didn’t mean now,” Sirius muttered as he hurriedly straightened his hair.

“What’s your uncle mean about heeding his earlier advice?” Remus asked as he read over Sirius’s shoulder.

“Just reminding me about keeping on my mother’s good side as much as I can,” Sirius hedged, reluctant to tell Remus about what exactly he and his uncle had discussed now that the moment he had chosen for his confession had well and truly passed.

-o-xXx-o-

“Where is he?” Remus muttered as he scanned the stands for the ghostly presence of his brother. It was his first Quidditch match and he really wanted Romulus to be there to see him play.

He could see Sirius sitting at the very front of the Gryffindor stands, waving a banner like the rest of the house.

He could also see that Sirius, too, was searching for Romulus.

“Lupin!” Charlene called from across the pitch. “Would you bloody well concentrate!”

Remus shook his head to clear his thoughts and tried to concentrate on the match instead of the absent spectator.

Thankfully for Remus, his lack of concentration didn’t lose them the match, and an early catch of the snitch by the seeker secured them a victory only twenty minutes into the game.

Remus flew to the ground with the rest of his team, but his smile was forced as he tried to quell his disappointment at Romulus’s absence.

“Don’t worry about it,” Sirius told him as they talked in the common room later. “I’m sure he had a good reason for not being here.”

“What good reason could he possibly have?” Remus snapped. “He’s a bloody ghost for crying out loud! What else could he possibly have to do that is so much more important than being here today?”

“I don’t know,” Sirius admitted.

Remus sighed. “Me neither.”

Sirius stayed up until long after the rest of the Gryffindors had gone to bed, and somehow he wasn’t surprised to see Romulus appear in the common room that night.

“Where were you?” he asked.

“How mad is he?” Romulus asked instead of answering the question.

“Very,” Sirius replied. “So, where were you?”

“Around.”

“But not around at the match,” Sirius pointed out. “In fact it seems to me that you’re not around a lot of the time.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Romulus looked half nervous and half challenging as Sirius glared at him.

“You missed his first day at school,” Sirius commented casually. “The day he’d dreamed about for so long, and you missed it.”

“Maybe I was trying to let him enjoy the day without forcing him to remember sadder times?”

“You could have been,” Sirius agreed. “But somehow I don’t quite believe that. Then you missed being with him when he got his exam results, and the Quidditch tryouts and now his first match. The best and most important days of his life at Hogwart’s, and you’re never around for any of them.”

“Maybe they’re the best days because I’m not around making him sad…”

“That’s a load of crap and we both know it,” Sirius argued. “He wanted you at the Quidditch match today and you let him down. Why? What could be so important to a dead man, that he would miss so many important days in his younger brother’s life? Especially since that same ghost made the choice to remain here with his brother instead of moving on?”

“I can’t be here all the time. Remus has to learn to get along without me.”

“He does get along without you,” Sirius snapped. “But there’s a difference between letting him stand on his own two feet and abandoning him.”

“I’ve never abandoned Remus!” Romulus shouted back. “Don’t you ever say that to me again!”

“Then what else do you call it?”

Romulus didn’t reply; he merely left the room the way he had entered, leaving Sirius staring at a tapestry and wondering if he had done more harm than good during his confrontation with Remus’s brother.

-o-xXx-o-

Christmas in Cornwall was very different from Christmas at Hogwarts, and Sirius had almost forgotten how it felt to spend the holiday season with his family.

“What does Mother think about us being here for Christmas?” asked Sirius, with a gesture to encompass Regulus in his question.

“I didn’t tell her,” Alphard replied with a wink. “I wasn’t invited to Christmas lunch at Grimmauld Place, and I didn’t see any need to tell her about my plans.”

“You mean she doesn’t know we’ve been pulled out of school for the holidays?” Regulus asked in surprise.

“I mentioned it to your father, had to have a parent’s permission after all, and he knows better than to tell your mother.” Alphard chuckled, clearly amused at having got one over his sister without her even knowing.

“Thank you for inviting me, too,” Remus offered quietly.

“Well, if I hadn’t I’m sure Sirius would have refused to come and stayed with you at Hogwart’s instead,” Alphard pointed out. “You’ll have to travel back by train though. We’ll all get the train to London; then I’ll drop you two off at King’s Cross and travel on with Regulus to the airport.”

“Can I see the Hogwart’s Express?” Regulus asked eagerly.

“I don’t think we’ll have time,” Alphard replied apologetically. “You need to be at the airport in plenty of time for check in.”

Regulus looked disappointed, but soon cheered up when Sirius and Remus expressed their own jealousy of Regulus for getting to fly on a plane.

Sirius grinned at Remus as they placed their presents under the tree and finished the decorating by hand, so that Regulus could join in completely. “He’s right, you know?” Sirius whispered. “I would have refused to come if you hadn’t been invited. too.”

Remus smiled back before casting a look over his shoulder at Alphard. “Sirius?”

“Yeah?”

“Is your uncle all right?” he whispered. “He looks a lot thinner than when we saw him in the summer.”

Sirius turned to look at his uncle and frowned when he realised that Remus was right. In fact, now that he looked at him properly, his uncle didn’t look that well at all.

-o-xXx-o-

“Sirius?”

Sirius groaned and turned over in his bed. “It’s far too early in the morning to be awake,” he replied.

“I want to ask you something,” Regulus whispered.

“What?”

“Is Remus, you know, gay?”

Sirius opened his eyes and looked over at Remus’s bed. The snores made it clear that he was still asleep, but Sirius had to see for himself. Once he was sure that Remus couldn’t hear him, he turned back to face his brother. “Why do you ask?”

“No reason, just thought he might be.”

“Why do think that?”

“He…” Regulus hesitated a moment before he spoke again. “He kind of touches you a lot.”

“He does?” Sirius couldn’t say that he’d noticed and was surprised that his brother had been that observant.

“Yeah,” Regulus replied. “When you slipped from the stepladder he was all concerned and rubbing at your shoulder, and he was always patting your arm at dinner, and nudging you when we were playing that muggle game. He just seems to touch you an awful lot.”

“I don’t mind.”

“Don’t wizards mind that sort of thing?” Regulus asked. “There are a couple of boys in the year above me at school who snog and stuff, and they got beat up for it.”

“I don’t think wizards like it either,” Sirius admitted. “I…” Sirius frowned and hesitated. He wanted to confide in his brother, but more than that he wanted Remus to be the next one he told about his own preferences.

“What?” Regulus prompted.

Sirius chewed on his bottom lip a moment longer. “I wouldn’t mind if he was gay,” he finally whispered.

“Okay,” Regulus replied, his curiosity apparently appeased.

Sirius looked up at the ceiling as he listened to the sound of his brother as he went back to sleep. Could Remus really prefer boys, just like him? It would be perfect if he did, or was it just that his brother reading more into things than he should? Sirius resolved to take a lot more notice of just when and how Remus touched him in the future, hoping it would give him an indication of how his confession might be received.

-o-xXx-o-

Remus was reading the Daily Prophet in the living room when Alphard came to sit down beside him. Sirius and Regulus were still fast asleep and Remus felt some degree of surprise at seeing a member of the Black family up and about so early in the morning.

“Anything interesting in there?” Alphard asked as he gestured to the Prophet.

“Not really,” Remus admitted as he offered the paper to the older man. Alphard shook his head and Remus placed the paper on the coffee table in front of them.

They sat in silence for several minutes, during which Remus formed the distinct impression that Alphard wanted to speak to him about something.

“You’ve been friends with Sirius for a few years now,” Alphard commented. It wasn’t a question, but Remus nodded in response anyway. “I’m glad my nephew’s made friends at school now. That first year was very hard for him. But I guess you already know that.”

“Yeah,” Remus agreed. “But things are much better now. You don’t need to worry about him any more.”

Alphard chuckled and shook his head. “I’ll always worry about him, right up until the day I depart this Earth. That’s part of my job as an uncle.”

“Wish I had an uncle like you,” Remus replied with a sad smile. “I don’t even remember meeting any of my uncles or aunts at all.”

“Tell you what, lad,” Alphard whispered. “You can pretend that I’m your real uncle for as long as you like.”

Remus smiled and nodded in agreement.

“Now, onto less pleasant subjects,” Alphard said with a grimace of annoyance. “I want you to do something for me.”

Remus nodded again. “Of course.”

“I want you to look after Sirius for me.”

“Does he need looking after?” Remus asked with a chuckle. “He seems to spend most of his time looking after me.”

“I know, but he’s going to need you soon, a lot more than he has up until now.”

“What do you mean?”

Alphard cast a quick glance towards the doorway, but there was still no sound from the floor above and no sign of the two brothers. “A long time ago I told my nephews, and the rest of the family, that the only time I would stop my travelling was when I knew the time had come to embark on the final journey.”

“Oh.” Remus looked down at his hands, somehow not surprised at this.

“I don’t have much time left, though I’m determined to see this Christmas through with my nephews.” He gave Remus a quick wink. “All three of you.”

“You don’t want me to tell Sirius, do you?” Remus guessed.

“I think he suspects; I can’t think of any other reason for his willingness to help out with every little thing around the house. But I’d rather he didn’t know for sure. I don’t want the holidays to be ruined with such miserable thoughts. I want to enjoy my last Christmas.”

“I won’t say anything,” Remus promised.

“Thank you.” Alphard reached across and patted Remus’s hand gently.

They sat in silence for a few more minutes. Remus was sure that Alphard had more he wanted to say, and he waited patiently for the older man to continue. Finally, he did. “You’ve not met Sirius’s mother, have you?” Remus shook his head. “I’m afraid my sister is a harsh woman who’ll stop at nothing to see the Black line continue. With Regulus being… what he is… well, her hopes and dreams for a grandchild will focus on Sirius.”

“From what Sirius has said about the last couple of summers, they already do.”

“You’re probably right. My point is, she’ll only get more determined the older Sirius gets, and things are going to get very difficult for him for the next few years.”

“Until he picks one of the girls?”

Alphard looked at him a little strangely for a moment before he continued, avoiding Remus’s question in the process. “I’ve always been sort of a buffer between the boys and their mother, but when I’m no longer around to be the voice of reason things will get very difficult, especially for Sirius.”

Remus nodded, although he had the feeling that he wasn’t seeing the whole picture here. He guessed it didn’t really matter. Sirius was his best friend, and of course he would be there to help him after the loss of his favourite uncle.

-o-xXx-o-

Christmas Day was, in the opinions of both Sirius and Remus, the best one ever. There were plenty of presents to go around and Romulus had appeared briefly to wish his brother a Merry Christmas, too. He would have stayed for the entire day, but Alphard had explained that his muggle neighbours were coming around for Christmas dinner and might be a little surprised to see a ghost at the table.

By the time the Mackenzie family arrived all of the Blacks and Remus were wearing muggle clothes and had ensured that anything of a magical nature was safely hidden out of the way.

Mr and Mrs Mackenzie were delighted to be Alphard’s guests and their daughter Libby was equally enthusiastic. At nearly fifteen years old, Libby was older than Regulus, but younger than Sirius and Remus, and had an infectious giggle that brightened up the party considerably.

“That’s a lovely dress you’re wearing,” Alphard said as he pulled out Libby’s chair for her. “Very becoming.”

Libby giggled and blushed.

Sirius grinned across the table at her and agreement. “Very pretty,” he added. “Don’t you agree, Reg?”

Regulus nodded silently and smiled shyly across the table. Sirius nudged him under the table to try to encourage him to pay the girl a compliment, too. Unfortunately, the lack of attendance at the Grimmauld Place dinner parties had resulted in a rather tongue-tied young man when it came to social gatherings and pretty young girls.

Dinner went smoothly, with Sirius spending most of the meal peeking at Remus out of the corner of his eye. Several times he caught his uncle watching him and felt his face beginning to burn.

After dinner the party moved to the living room where everyone joined in the muggle party games whilst Regulus’s new cassette recorder blared out various Christmas songs that had been part of his presents.

Eventually the day had to end though, and the Mackenzies gathered their belongings in order to set off home.

“Hey, Reg!” Sirius called with a grin at his younger brother who was standing across the hallway. “You and Libby are under the mistletoe,” he said as he pointed to the sprig hanging from the ceiling.

“Oh,” Libby said as she giggled and flushed.

“It is tradition,” Mr Mackenzie said with a wink at Regulus.

Regulus looked as red as Libby, but dutifully leaned forward to kiss her briefly on the lips.

Alphard let out a wolf whistle as the two teenagers blushed at the attention.

The older Mackenzies were still laughing as they walked down the path and Regulus closed the door behind them.

“So, Reg, how was your first kiss?” Alphard asked as they sat back down in the living room and Regulus put a new cassette in the tape deck.

“I’d have liked it better without an audience,” Regulus replied after he’d sat down in front of the fire.

Alphard chuckled and began to hum along to the muggle Christmas carols whilst the three boys yawned repeatedly and tried to keep their eyes open.

-o-xXx-o-

Sirius woke up the next morning and looked around the living room with some surprise. The winter sun was shining through a crack in the curtains and he yawned and stretched as he blinked in the bright light.

Regulus was curled up in the comfy chair by the fire and Sirius shivered as he saw that the flames had long since died. He wondered why he wasn’t as cold as he should have been, then he realised that he had the warmth of Remus curled up next to him, his head on his lap.

Remus mumbled something in his sleep and shifted restlessly. Sirius wondered what it was that was troubling his friend and he stroked his hand along the other boy’s arm and shoulder until he settled again.

Sirius didn’t want to move at all. He wanted to stay where he was forever. No worries about his parents and their plans for his life that had everything to do with his duties as the Black heir, and nothing to do with his happiness. He could just stay here with his favourite uncle, his younger brother, and most importantly… Remus.

He smiled down at Remus as he continued to idly play with a lock of his hair. His finger brushed his ear and Remus twitched slightly in his sleep. Sirius giggled quietly and did it again, provoking the same reaction. Remus was so cute when he was sleeping, and he couldn’t resist the temptation to simply gaze upon him and touch him as though he was really his boyfriend… as though he had the right to.

His smile turned sadder as he realised that he didn’t yet have the right to touch Remus as he really wanted to. Instead, he would have to settle for the gentle caresses that soothed the werewolf’s troubled sleep, and the enveloping hugs that warmed him to the very core of his being.

“One day,” he whispered as Remus turned over in his sleep so that he was lying on his back, giving Sirius a clear view of his face. Sirius pressed his index finger to his lips before touching the same digit to Remus’s slightly parted mouth. “One day,” he repeated quietly.

He looked about the room to ensure that no one had seen his overly soppy gesture, but Regulus was still fast asleep and his uncle appeared to be likewise.

Sirius couldn’t see Alphard very well without turning round in his seat and disturbing Remus, but he knew that if he couldn’t see his uncle, then he wouldn’t have been able to see his gesture either.

Sirius sat watching Remus and the first snowfall of the holidays for some time, until finally he realised that he would have to get up and go to the bathroom. He edged his way out from underneath Remus and tiptoed out of the door.

When he returned to the living room, it was to find everyone almost exactly as he had left them. Remus’s arm had fallen to hang down towards the floor and Regulus was looking in increased danger of falling to the floor, but no one had woken.

He was rather surprised that neither Remus nor Alphard were awake yet, both having known to be early risers and not the type to sleep in. He knew Remus was probably catching up on sleep from the most recent full moon, not to mention the late hours he’d been staying up all term studying combined with early morning Quidditch practices. Remus was determined to succeed at everything, but there were only so many hours in a day, and Sirius knew that he had been eager for the holidays to arrive, so that he could relax and catch up on some much needed sleep. Sirius’s uncle’s slumber troubled him more. He felt increasingly sure that his uncle was unwell, and keeping the extent of his illness from the rest of the family.

Resolving to do more to help around the house, Sirius made his way to the kitchen and set about making breakfast. He was just dishing out the fried tomatoes when he heard Regulus calling his name from the living room. Something in the tone of his voice alarmed him, and Sirius flung the frying pan and fork onto the table and hurried through to the living room.

He arrived to see Regulus hovering over their uncle and Remus standing close by, a worried look on his face.

Regulus turned to him with a look of panic. “He won’t wake up,” he whispered. “Why won’t he wake up?”

Sirius hurried across to his uncle and took hold of one of his hands. It was cold, too cold. He shook his head in denial as Regulus continued to try to rouse Alphard from his sleep.

“Sirius?” Remus asked and he felt a hand come to rest on his shoulder. He turned to look at his friend and began to shake. Then Remus pulled him into his arms and held him close until the tremors stopped.

“I’ll have to floo our parents,” Sirius said and he looked towards the fireplace with trepidation.

Remus nodded and guided Sirius to the sofa. “Regulus?” he called and the younger boy reluctantly joined them.

“Is he really…?” Regulus’s voice trailed off and he looked over towards his uncle.

Sirius nodded. Neither of them could bear to say it out loud.

“Do you want me to come with you?” Remus asked as Sirius walked over to the fireplace and picked up the jar containing the floo powder.

Sirius shook his head and stepped into the fireplace. “You stay here with Regulus. I won’t be long.”

With those last words he flooed to Grimmauld Place and made his way purposefully out of his father’s study and into the hallway.

It was still early enough that the Blacks hadn’t risen for the day. Sirius wasn’t surprised. Even though he hadn’t been home at Christmas for years, he still remembered the lavish parties that lasted long into the night.

“Kreacher!” he called out. He looked through all the ground floor rooms, but there was no sign of the house elf. He tried calling again, this time much louder.

“Sirius?”

Sirius turned at the sound of his mother’s voice and saw her standing at the top of the stairs.

“Why aren’t you at school? And what are you doing in your pyjamas?”

“It’s Uncle Alphard…he’s…” Sirius gestured vaguely towards the study and the fireplace.

“Your uncle is in Cornwall,” Walburga stated firmly. “Now, answer my question.”

“We’ve been in Cornwall for the holidays,” Sirius explained.

“We?”

“Me and Reg, and Remus from school.”

“The werewolf?” Walburga hissed. “Have you no sense of proper decorum at all?”

“You have to come back to Uncle Alphard’s with me,” Sirius stated as he made his way towards the study.

“I’ll not set foot in a house with a werewolf,” Walburga declared. “Now, go to your room and I’ll have to make up some excuse for our guests as to why you’re back here instead of at school.”

“But Uncle Alphard…”

“What about him?” Walburga snapped. “Surely he can handle a squib and a werewolf on his own? If he was stupid enough to invite a monster like that Lupin creature into his house, then he gets everything he deserves.”

“Remus is my friend!” Sirius yelled. “He’s not a monster or a creature. He’s my best friend.”

“Just go to your room,” Walburga ordered.

“You don’t understand,” Sirius cried. “Uncle Alphard’s….he’s….he didn’t…”

“Didn’t what?” Walburga asked quietly, the distress in her son’s voice finally getting through to her.

“He didn’t wake up this morning,” Sirius finally blurted out. “He’s all cold and he didn’t wake up.”

“ORION!” Walburga yelled, causing Sirius to take several steps backwards in shock.

Orion Black appeared a moment later; he knew better than to keep his wife waiting for too long. “Sirius, what are you doing here? Why aren’t you in Cornwall?”

Sirius watched as realisation dawned on Walburga’s face, and he felt a momentary twinge of unexpected sympathy for his father.

“Sirius, what is it?” Orion asked as he hurried down the stairs.

“Uncle Alphard,” Sirius said quietly. “He didn’t wake up this morning. I think he’s…”

“Come along then,” Orion stated as he hurried through to the study and stepped into the fireplace.

A few minutes later, he, Walburga and Sirius were in Cornwall. Orion took command of the situation immediately whilst Walburga watched the proceedings stonily.

Sirius had gravitated towards Remus immediately he had arrived back and the three young boys were now sat on the sofa together. Sirius was in the middle whilst Remus and Regulus flanked him. He kept a death grip on Remus’s hand and hoped that his mother didn’t suddenly remember who he was and throw him out onto the street or anything like that.

Once Orion had checked that there was nothing to be done for Alphard, he turned to Sirius and told him to take Remus back to Grimmauld Place.

“Never!” Walburga yelled. “I will not have that creature in my house.”

“It’s my house, too,” Orion reminded her. “And right now we can do with as few teenage boys underfoot as possible. Regulus will have to travel back by train, I’ll put him on it myself.”

“There aren’t any trains running down here today,” Regulus interrupted. “It’s Boxing Day.”

“Then I’ll put you in a muggle taxi,” Orion replied. “That would probably be easier anyway; they can drop you off at the house and there won’t be any need for someone to collect you at the station.”

“He’s a werewolf!” Walburga hissed as she pointed at Remus.

“I am well aware of that,” Orion answered firmly. “Boys, go and get dressed and get your things together.”

Sirius hurried from the room, tugging Remus along with him, eager to be out of sight of his furious mother.

“Your dad seems okay,” Remus commented as they gathered their things.

“He can be, sometimes,” Sirius agreed. “Mostly he just lets Mother get her own way about things though. Have you got everything?”

Remus nodded and they headed back down the stairs.

“Kreacher will get you some breakfast,” Walburga told them as they stepped towards the fireplace. She looked thoroughly dismayed at the idea of a werewolf eating at her table, not that Sirius cared. He nudged Remus towards the fireplace; there was no way he was going to leave Remus alone with his parents. He could tell from his mother’s face that he had correctly anticipated her intentions to speak with Remus, without Sirius, before they left.

“Go ahead, I’ll be right behind you,” he said as he held out the jar of floo powder for Remus. Remus nodded and took a handful of the powder so that he could floo to Grimmauld Place. Sirius stepped into the fireplace as soon as Remus had gone and followed after him.

“So, this is Grimmauld Place?” Remus asked as Sirius stepped into the study.

“Yeah, the Noble House of Black, blah, blah, blah,” Sirius muttered. “Do you want some breakfast?”

Remus shook his head. “You?”

“I’m not hungry,” he replied quietly. “And I don’t think I could bear to listen to Kreacher and his insults right now.”

“What now then?”

Sirius shrugged. “Come on, I’ll show you my room, if you like. You’ll probably have to bunk with me until we go back to school. Mother won’t set up a guestroom for you, even if there is one spare with whoever they’ve got visiting this year.”

Remus nodded and followed Sirius up the stairs.

“It’s a bit gloomy,” Sirius said as he closed the door behind them. “Probably fitting really.” He walked across the room and sat on the edge of his bed. The bed was made, but there was a thin layer of dust over the sheets and all the other surfaces of the room.

Remus remained quiet as he sat down next to Sirius and put his arm around him.

“I can’t believe he’s gone,” Sirius whispered. “I know he wasn’t well, but he seemed okay yesterday.”

Remus didn’t know what to say and so he simply rested his head on Sirius’s shoulder and held him close.

“He was the only one of my relatives I could talk to,” Sirius continued. “The rest don’t care for anything except continuing the family line and keeping it pure and all that rubbish. He was the only one who knew.”

“Knew what?” Remus asked when it was clear that Sirius wasn’t elaborating any further.

“Knew me,” Sirius replied, after a silence so long that Remus thought he wasn’t going to reply at all. “Knew me, and knew what I wanted. He was the only one who cared.”

“I care,” Remus offered.

“I know you do,” Sirius replied with a small smile. “But it’s not the same as having someone older, who you can ask for advice.”

Remus held Sirius as he began to shake once more. Sirius wasn’t crying, there were no tears falling, but both of them knew that they would come later, once the initial shock had passed.

-o-xXx-o-

The various guests staying at Grimmauld Place were all distant members of the family, and as such no one departed once the Blacks returned and news of Alphard’s death had spread. Instead they stayed on and did what they could to prepare for the funeral.

Sirius stayed in his room with Remus as much as he could, and Regulus joined them as soon as he returned.

Sirius suspected that Regulus wanted the funeral to be over and done with as much as he did.

The burial was arranged for the day before the end of the holidays, and when that day came it was as dark and miserable as Sirius’s mood. The steady downpour of rain was showing no signs of abating as he dressed in his finest black robes.

“I don’t have any dress robes here,” said Remus, in answer to Sirius’s question about what he was going to wear. “And I don’t think I’d be welcome there.”

“I want you there,” Sirius stated as he pulled out a spare set of robes and passed them to Remus. “And Uncle Alphard would want you there too. He really liked you, you know?”

“He did?”

“He thought you were nice.”

“I thought the same about him,” Remus admitted. “Not many people would let a werewolf come visit for the holidays.”

“Or a squib,” Regulus added as he pulled on his own robes that were at least a size too small for him, but had never been replaced the previous summer.

“What are you going to say to your mother about me coming with you?” Remus asked.

“Nothing; she won’t ask. Mother won’t make a scene if she can help it, not in front of the relatives anyway. We’ll go downstairs at the last possible minute and she won’t be able to stop you coming with me.”

“Are you sure she won’t say anything?”

“I don’t care if she does,” snapped Sirius, before continuing in a quieter tone. “I want you there. I need you there.”

“Okay,” Remus replied as he struggled with the robes. Sirius batted his hands out of the way and finished tying them for him.

Sirius’s prediction about his mother had been correct. She looked furious at seeing Remus heading down the stairs with Sirius, but with a crowded hall of relatives she had no choice but to hold her tongue for once.

“Isn’t that the Lupin boy?” one of the mourners whom Sirius didn’t recognise asked. Sirius took hold of Remus’s arm and pulled him closer. They were in the proverbial snake pit and he had no idea from which direction an attack would be coming.

“He’s from Sirius’s school,” Walburga explained. “He was invited for the holidays since he had nowhere else to go. You know how the Blacks are always most charitable to those less fortunate?”

“Quite,” the mourner replied. “And so good of you not to send him back when tragedy struck.”

Sirius scowled as he listened to his mother spinning one lie after another in order to make her appear better in the eyes of everyone else. He wondered how far she would be prepared to go with her lies and decided to find out.

“Mother?” he asked. “Can Remus come stay in the summer as well?”

Walburga hid her fury well, but Sirius could see it quite clearly in her eyes, even if the others couldn’t. “We’ll see,” she replied through gritted teeth. Sirius knew better than to push her any further.

The funeral was well attended and Sirius discovered, much to his surprise, that Remus was getting a lot of attention from his relatives and the other guests, and that not all of them were unhappy to see him there. It soon became clear that Alphard had spoken to some of his friends about Sirius’s friendship with Remus and many of them approached them to offer condolences to Remus, as well as to Sirius and his brother.

That night Sirius’s tears finally began to fall and he sobbed quietly into his pillow as Remus held him in his arms. Remus didn’t say anything, he knew there were no words he could speak that would help. Instead he offered the only comfort he could, that of his presence.

“Sirius?” Regulus called quietly from the doorway. “Can I sleep in here?”

Sirius looked across the room and nodded. Regulus closed the door behind him and scurried towards the bed. He climbed in beside Sirius and gave a sniff of his own. Remus reached across Sirius and took hold of Regulus’s hand, giving it a squeeze of comfort. The younger Black brother gave a small watery smile of thanks.

Downstairs the sounds of various members of the Black family reminiscing about Alphard drifted upstairs to where the three boys who had shared his final Christmas with him took what comfort they could from each other.