Once in a Blue Moon (COMPLETE)

A/N: Thanks as always to everyone who has taken the time to leave a review. Sorry for the slight delay on this chapter - my beta has computer problems. Therefore this chapter is being posted unchecked - so apologies also for any errors in it. I'll keep posting a chapter every couple of weeks and hopefully there will only be a few unbeta'd ones before she gets back online.

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Face the Music
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Sirius and Remus stayed in Hogsmeade until the week following the next full moon. Partly it was so that Remus could decide what he wanted to pack for London, and what he wanted to leave in Scotland. But mostly it was because Sirius was eager to put off listening to whatever it was his mother would have to say about Rita’s article and the gossip that would surely have followed it. He wondered what she would have to say for herself when she found out he had bonded with Remus, and knew that she would be furious.

“Are you really worried about what she’ll say?” Remus asked in between raining kisses along Sirius’s arm, tracing the pattern of spirals with his lips and tongue.

Neither Sirius nor Remus had ever really thought of their arms as being particularly sensitive, but they had found after the bonding ceremony that their right arms were highly sensitive in a way they had not expected. It was almost as though the pattern stretched under their skin and was directly connected to the groin. One touch of lips to the pattern and it caused an instant reaction that demanded to be attended to.

“No,” Sirius replied, his breath coming faster. “I just don’t want to listen to her ranting on for hours.”

“I’m surprised she hasn’t turned up here.”

“Actually, so am I. Guess something more important has demanded her attention. Thank Merlin for small mercies.”

Remus chuckled as he nuzzled Sirius’s elbow.

“Sweet Salazar, are you two still at it?” Romulus muttered as he came into the room.

“Couldn’t you cough loudly or something before you enter a room?” Remus asked without taking his eyes from Sirius.

“Couldn’t you two use the bedroom for once?” Romulus retorted with a grin before turning round to leave once more.

“He has a point,” Sirius commented as Remus tugged off their robes and straddled him eagerly.

“We’d have to do the laundry,” Remus reminded him. “No clean sheets.”

“It takes all of a minute with a spell.”

“Or we could just apparate out to somewhere with clean sheets…”

“I don’t think St Mungo’s would like it if we just popped in to use their beds.”

“I was thinking of your flat.”

“Better go get your things then, hadn’t we?”

Remus chuckled and leaned down to kiss Sirius on the lips. “We’ll come back for them later,” he said right before grabbing their wands from the table and apparating them both out of the house.

“Fuck!” yelled Sirius as the comfortable sofa vanished from beneath his back and something cold and hard appeared instead. The coffee table Remus had landed them on cracked beneath their combined weight and Sirius groaned in pain as they fell to the floor. “Where the hell were you aiming for?” he asked.

“The bedroom,” Remus replied, somewhat sheepishly.

“I’ve come to the conclusion that women are right about one thing,” Sirius muttered. “Men can’t multitask.”

Remus opened his mouth to reply, but whatever he was going to say was cut off by the sound of a high-pitched scream coming from behind them.

Remus’s head whipped round and he came face to face with a blonde-haired girl who looked even more surprised than he was. “Sirius, this is your flat, isn’t it?” he asked nervously.

“Looks like it,” Sirius replied as he struggled to sit up and see around Remus without exposing himself even more than he already had.

“Hi, Sirius,” Regulus said in a cheery tone as he walked into the living room from the bedroom. “Have you said hello to Chloe?”

Chloe looked like she was wanted to sink through the floor and had her eyes trained firmly on the ceiling.

“Erm, no,” Sirius replied. “And, I don’t mean to be rude or anything, but what are you doing here?”

“Needed a place to crash,” Regulus replied. “I’d have asked, but you were in jail and then you didn’t come back here, and I’ve not got the money to get up to Scotland, even if I could get through the barrier at King’s Cross.”

“Why aren’t you at Grimmauld Place?” Sirius asked. “Or in Cornwall at the house Uncle Alphard left you?”

“Cornwall is too far for Chloe to commute to, and as for Grimmauld Place, it’s a long story, and I think everyone would be a lot happier if you two put some clothes on before I start telling it.”

Remus shot Regulus a wicked grin before informing him that he didn’t actually have any clothes at the flat. He suggested he apparate back to Hogsmeade for some, but Sirius was not prepared to let him risk it. He pointed out that with Remus’s recent track record for apparating he’d probably end up arriving stark naked in The Three Broomsticks instead, and wind up back in jail again.

Sirius snickered as Regulus urged Chloe to turn round so her back was to the two of them. “Come on, Remus. You can borrow one of my robes.”

“Sharing clothes already?” Regulus asked with a snicker of his own. “How sweet.”

“Oh, we were sharing clothes back in third year,” Sirius replied as he scrambled to his feet and steered Remus into the bedroom. The last thing they heard as they went through the door was Regulus calling after them that he was glad to see that Sirius had apparently figured out how two blokes went about shagging each other.

“So, what are you doing here?” asked Sirius, once everyone was fully clothed, the coffee table repaired, and Regulus had finally finished making sarcastic remarks about Sirius’s sex life.

“Avoiding Mother,” Regulus replied, as though the answer was obvious.

“What have you done now?” Sirius asked. Knowing his brother and his penchant for trouble it could be pretty much anything.

“Well, first of all I asked if I could stay on at Shuttleworths for another two years: big mistake. Father says he’s not going to waste any more money than he has to on the education of a useless squib.”

“I’ll pay if you want to go back,” Sirius offered. “Uncle Alphard…”

“Nah, that’s okay,” Regulus interrupted. “I’m not fussed about the school, I just didn’t want to be stuck at Grimmauld Place if there was any other choice.”

“Okay, what else happened?”

“I invited Chloe home for dinner,” Regulus said. Chloe, who had made no noise at all since her initial scream, gave a small sniff at this. “Chloe works in a record store.”

“She’s a muggle?”

Regulus nodded. Sirius couldn’t say that he was entirely surprised; Regulus had been kept apart from the wizards and witches who called on the Blacks to the extent that many of the magical community had probably forgotten that Sirius had a younger brother at all. It was only natural that he had made friends from the muggle world.

“And you invited her back home?” Sirius shook his head in amazement. “What were you thinking?”

“It was a moment of madness,” Regulus replied grimly. “Anyway, Mother went ballistic and threw Chloe out, threatening hexes I haven’t even heard of if I let her back in.”

“Mother kicked you out, too?” Sirius guessed, but Regulus shook his head.

“I thought I’d show Chloe that not all witches and wizards are as awful as our loving parents and took her to Diagon Alley. Then when I got home Mother was screaming and yelling in the study, and so I figured I’d come here out of the way for a bit.”

“When was this?”

“The day you hit the headlines.”

“Great.”

“Yeah, it was brilliant. Took the heat right off of me, I can tell you.”

“Still doesn’t explain why you and your girlfriend are in my flat though,” Sirius pointed out. “Surely she’s calmed down by now?”

“Don’t know, don’t care. They probably haven’t noticed that I’ve gone anyway. I’m looking for my own place.” He looked at Chloe. “We’re looking for our own place,” he amended. “I’m looking for a job and we’ve got some money saved. Should be enough to rent a decent place until I’m of age and can sell the place in Cornwall.”

“So, you just decided you’d had enough and left?”

“That’s about it. Chloe and me are going to get married, and you know once we are, Mother won’t let me back in the house at all.”

“You can’t get married yet,” Sirius pointed out. “Muggles have to be eighteen to marry without the permission of their parents. Wizards have to be seventeen.”

“Chloe was eighteen last month and I’m a squib… seems to be a bit of a loophole if you ask me, and I don’t fancy waiting around for another year or more. Can’t anyway, we want to get married before the baby’s born.”

“Baby?” asked Sirius as Chloe flushed scarlet.

“You’ve been back from school how long? A month? How can…?”

“It happened over Easter,” Regulus interrupted. “Chloe was visiting and er, we slipped up.”

Sirius snickered. “So much for the brilliant extra lessons you had in your school,” he teased.

“It’s not funny,” Regulus muttered. “It could happen to anyone.”

“Didn’t happen to me.”

“Yeah, well, you’re gay,” Regulus pointed out. “Anyway, I thought I’d lie low here for a while. I’ve stocked up your fridge and paid the water bill that came last week.”

“You did?” Sirius dug into his robes, momentarily forgetting that all his money was back in Hogsmeade. “I’ll pay you back later,” he promised.

Regulus waved away his concerns, and Sirius knew instinctively that his brother had been pawning magical coins again and was therefore not having much in the way of money worries. “Anyway, back to the point, me and Chloe got together last summer, so it’s not like we’re rushing into things. The baby’s due in the new year and we’re getting married before it arrives, whether Mother likes it or not.”

“She won’t.”

“You don’t need to tell me that.”

“So, what are you going to do? You can’t marry yet without consent.”

“I’m thinking of blackmailing Father into giving his permission,” Regulus smirked. “What do you have on him?”

“What?”

“You have something on him, don’t bother to deny it. Something went off last summer and I think you know what.”

“He found out about me and Remus,” Sirius explained and he filled his brother in on the events in the hallway closet.

“You think that would be enough to get him to give his consent?” Regulus asked doubtfully.

“You can try. I guess it depends on how much he wants to keep Mother from finding out.”

“You know as well as I do how terrified he is of her. He’ll agree to it. You hear that, Chloe? We can get married just like we planned.”

Chloe looked like she wanted to bolt out of the door and run for the hills. Sirius was actually wondering if the girl could talk at all.

“Can we stay here until the wedding?” Regulus asked. “We won’t get in the way. We’ll take the sofas.”

“I’ll turn one of them into a bed for you,” Sirius offered. “Or you can take the bedroom, it may be vacant after I’ve visited Mother.”

“She was really pissed off at the story in the paper,” Regulus warned. “If I didn’t know that she already knew about you, I’d have sworn that she actually hadn’t got a clue you liked to take it up the arse.”

“From where I was standing it looked to be the other way around,” Chloe said with a small smile.

Sirius was shocked for a moment, having actually convinced himself that the girl was mute, then he began to roar with laughter. “I see why you like her, Reg,” he managed to say between guffaws.

“Would your parents really stop them marrying?” Remus asked as soon as Sirius had stopped laughing.

“Why do you think I didn’t invite them to Scotland?” Sirius replied with a snort of humourless laughter.

“What do you mean?” Regulus asked while Sirius smiled smugly.

Sirius pulled back his sleeve and displayed the pattern of the vines stretching from his elbow to his wrist. He gave Remus a nudge with his elbow and he did the same.

“What is it?” Regulus queried. “Matching tattoos?”

Sirius shook his head. “We got bonded,” he said with a grin.

“What’s bonded?” Chloe asked curiously as she, too, looked at their arms.

“The centaur word for married,” Sirius explained as he wrapped his arm around Remus and hugged him close.

“That’s great!” Regulus said. “Really, congratulations!”

Sirius could tell that Regulus was disappointed to only hear this now and quickly sought to reassure him. “We didn’t tell anyone,” he said. “Only Remus’s brother was close enough to get there in time, and that’s mainly because of him being a ghost.”

“We didn’t deliberately shut you out,” Remus promised.

Regulus nodded. “Does Mother know?” he asked.

Sirius shook his head. “Thinking of using this to take the heat of your own bombshell?” he asked.

Regulus grinned. “Would you mind?” he asked.

“Nah,” Sirius replied. “We can go and see her this afternoon, if you like?”

“Maybe tomorrow,” Regulus amended. “We’re going to see Chloe’s parents this afternoon.”

“Do they know your plans?” Sirius asked.

Regulus shook his head. “Not yet. I’m going to speak with her father and ask for her hand all formally, like the muggles do.”

“You’re really sure about this?” Remus asked quietly.

“We’ve spent more time planning things through than you two did,” Regulus pointed out. “Last I heard, not so long ago, you were straight and my brother was completely miserable.”

Remus flushed under the entirely justified accusation. “Not straight,” he finally whispered. “Just a stubborn idiot. But still, it’s going to be tough for the two of you.”

Regulus nodded. “At first, maybe. But when I’m of age I can sell Alphard’s old house, that’ll help.”

Chloe reached out to grab Regulus’s hand. “I have a trust fund, too. When I reach twenty one I’ll be able to access it. We’ll be fine until then, at which point we’ll be – what’s the phrase? – Stinking rich.”

Regulus grinned. “I look forward to the day that Father has lost all the Black money and comes grovelling to his useless squib son for a loan.”

Sirius grinned back. “You’ll be in for a long wait. He’ll grovel to all the rest of them first.”

“Maybe,” Regulus agreed. “Except they don’t have any more money than he does. You hear a lot of gossip when you’re hanging out in the kitchens with the house elves, a lot more than you hear around the dinner table. The Blacks are on the brink of poverty; all of them.”

Chloe smiled. “It’s a good thing you proposed before I told you about my trust fund,” she told him with a teasing look. “Otherwise, I might just think that you’re marrying me for my money.”

Regulus laughed and hugged her close. “Come on, let’s go see your parents and leave these two to their honeymoon shagging.”

“I like the sound of that,” Remus said after Regulus and Chloe had left.

“The sound of what?” Sirius replied as he pulled Remus into his arms.

“A honeymoon,” Remus whispered. “Somewhere far away from everyone, just the two of us. Doesn’t that sound good to you?”

“As long as your intention in being alone is to have your wicked way with me,” Sirius teased.

Remus chuckled and pulled Sirius closer for a kiss. “Most definitely.”

-o-xXx-o-

The next morning Sirius, Remus and Regulus arrived at Grimmauld Place, ready to break all the bad news at once. Chloe, at Regulus’s insistence, was at home and safely out of harm’s way.

“Good morning, Mother,” Sirius said as she emerged from the morning room to see who had come in the front door.

Walburga glared at the three of them without saying a word. Sirius privately suspected that she was just confused as to what she should rage about first. He decided to help her out by taking Remus’s hand in his own and pulling him forward. “Mother, I’d like to formally introduce you to my… er…”

“Husband,” Remus supplied when Sirius faltered slightly.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Walburga snapped, focusing her glare on their joined hands.

“It’s not ridiculous,” Sirius replied. “Remus and I are bonded. He’s my husband now, and I’m his.”

“Preposterous,” Walburga barked. “I’m meeting with the Crouches this afternoon. We’ll be discussing the arrangements for your marriage to their second daughter Gladys. We’re hoping to arrange the wedding for Halloween, or failing that, the weekend following.”

“Mother, you’re not listening,” Sirius interrupted.

Walburga turned a patronising smile towards Sirius. “I refuse to listen to this nonsense. This bonding, as you refer to it, can’t possibly be legal. You and your werewolf – in case it has escaped your notice – are both men.”

“I’m fairly sure I’ve already explained to you, numerous times, that I’m gay,” Sirius said.

“And I’m sure I’ve explained to you, even more times, that you have a duty to your family,” Walburga replied imperiously. “You will marry and continue the Black line. Keep your werewolf lover if you wish, but make no mistake – you will marry a pureblood girl and produce an heir.”

“No!”

“You’ll do as I say, or I’ll blast you off the tapestry!”

Sirius glanced towards the study where the tapestry was located and shivered. One part of him didn’t really care if he was removed from the family tree or not, but there was still a small part of him that rebelled against the idea of being cut off. As much as they argued, and as much as his parents wanted to force his life in an unwanted direction, they were still his family.

Regulus, who had listened to the exchange in silence up until now, offered his mother a bright smile. “Never mind, Mother. You’ll be a grandmother soon enough.”

Walburga turned her glare on him. “Did you say something, Squib?”

“Chloe - my girlfriend - she’s expecting a baby.”

“You think I care if your muggle slut spawns a dozen brats?” Walburga spat.

“She’s not a slut,” Regulus argued, his voice rising with his temper. “We’re getting married.”

“Do you think I care?” Walburga replied airily.

“Does that mean I have your permission?” Regulus asked, trying to keep the question casual, and not let his mother realise how much was riding on her reply.

“At least if you wed the muggle, you won’t be further tainting wizard society with your useless squib blood.”

“I’ll take that as a yes, shall I?”

“If you wish,” Walburga replied before turning to her older son once more. “You will marry Gladys; the pre-marriage contracts have already been signed.”

“I’ve not signed anything,” Sirius pointed out.

“Your father and I have,” Walburga stated. “You will marry her in the autumn.”

Almost as though her words had summoned him, Orion stepped into the room, glaring at each of his sons and Remus in turn.

“The marriage will go ahead,” Orion stated coldly. “As agreed, by all parties concerned.”

“I’ve not agreed to any such thing,” Sirius argued.

“But you have,” Orion replied in a silky tone of voice. “Don’t you remember that day at the Ministry?”

“What’s he talking about?” Remus whispered to Sirius.

“I won’t go through with it,” Sirius said, ignoring Remus’s question.

“You agreed to marry and produce an heir, if I saved your werewolf from the axe,” Orion reminded him. “He’s alive and well, which means that it’s your turn to repay the favour. You’ll marry Gladys as planned.”

Sirius shook his head and gave a small smile. He had been expecting this from his father, and he knew exactly what he was going to say. He slowly released Remus’s hand so that he could roll up his sleeve and show his parents the mark of the bonding. Walburga peered closer before recoiling slightly.

“What is it?”

“Centaur magic,” Sirius replied, nodding to Remus to show her his own mark. “We’re bonded, married, mated, or whatever the hell you want to call it. Bound by vows, by magic and by love. You know what centaur magic is.”

“Powerful,” Walburga whispered, her eyes still on their arms.

“Powerful and irreversible,” Sirius confirmed.

“You promised to marry and produce an heir,” Orion shouted.

Sirius smiled again. “I am married and maybe one day we’ll look into adoption, but as I told you, I’m gay.”

“You agreed to marry where I chose!”

Sirius shook his head. “Think back on that conversation, Father. I only agreed to marry and produce an heir. I’ve married Remus, that’s part of our bargain completed.”

“You knew what I meant when we made our agreement.”

Sirius smirked. “You should have been more specific.”

“Why have you done this to us?” Walburga hissed.

“I’ve not done anything to you. This isn’t about you. It’s about me and Remus and the commitment we’ve made to each other.”

“You have a duty to produce an heir. An adopted child won’t carry the Black blood within his veins.”

“I have a duty to my husband to be faithful only to him, and no contract that I’ve had nothing to do with is going to change that.”

He turned to Remus with a soft smile. “Come on, love. Let’s get out of here.”

“Love?” Remus whispered, and Sirius winked back at him. They had never used terms of endearment before, at least not when they knew the other one was listening, and both knew that Sirius was only doing so now in order to rile his mother further.

“You coming, Regulus?” Sirius asked.

Regulus nodded. “I’d better get back to Chloe and let her know we have a wedding to plan.”

“You haven’t heard the last of this, Sirius!” Walburga called after them. “You will produce an heir!”

“A proper one!” Orion roared from behind her.

Sirius turned back to her with a smirk. “Mother, Father, I hate to be the one to break this to you, but it’s biologically impossible for two men to produce a child together.”

The three of them chuckled as they left the house, though they might not have found the situation quite so humorous had any of them caught the look on Walburga Black’s face as they took their leave.

-o-xXx-o-

Sirius stood up as Best Man for Regulus, and was the only member of the Black family present at the wedding apart from their mother who, tactful as ever, was dressed all in black and gave every impression that she was at a funeral rather than a wedding.

Regulus put a brave face on, but Sirius could tell that he was hurt that no one else from the family bothered to attend, and that his mother was only there to give her consent to the marriage, and not because she was actually pleased for the newly weds.

“You know Andromeda and Ted would be here if she weren’t expecting,” Sirius said.

“I just wish Mother would crack a smile,” Regulus whispered. “She’s already scared off one of Chloe’s relatives.”

Sirius shook his head and when he caught sight of their mother reaching for her wand again, he left Regulus and made a beeline for her, before she did something else that would require him to obliviate the guests.

“So, where’s your werewolf?” Walburga asked as she made her way to the open bar.

“Mother, keep your voice down,” Sirius hissed.

“Ashamed of him already?” Walburga replied with a smirk.

“Hardly,” Sirius whispered. “But remember, Chloe’s family are muggles. They don’t know about wizards and they certainly don’t know about werewolves.”

“Maybe they should,” Walburga suggested as she downed another shot and waved the bartender over to request another.

“The wedding’s over,” Sirius commented. “Perhaps you should go home now?”

“Home?” Walburga echoed. “Whatever for?”

Sirius sighed and scoured the room for Remus. He spotted him dancing with one of the bridesmaids and waited for him to catch his eye.

“They look good together,” Walburga commented. “The werewolf and the muggle.”

Sirius smiled to himself. “Remus always looks good.”

“I’d keep a close eye on him if I were you,” Walburga continued. “He does seem to have an eye for a pretty lady.”

“It won’t work.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Trying to make me doubt him,” Sirius replied with another smile. “It doesn’t matter who he dances with; it’s me he’s coming home with, and my bed he’ll be in tonight.”

Walburga scowled and took another drink from her glass.

Across the room, Remus smiled at Sirius and his eyes held a promise for what was to come later.

-o-xXx-o-

Sirius stared up at the ceiling and waited for his breath to return to something approaching normal.

“How did I do?” Remus asked with a grin from where he was sprawled across his lover’s chest.

Sirius grinned back. “I’ll let you know when I get my breath back.”

Remus chuckled briefly before turning serious.

“What is it?” Sirius asked.

“In the drawer, when I was getting the lube…” Remus gestured towards the drawer and sighed. “I didn’t mean to pry, but they were just in there.”

“What were in there?” Sirius asked, turning towards the drawer, even though he couldn’t see inside it.

“I know I’ve not got any right to ask you…”

“You have the right to ask me anything,” Sirius told him. “Now, what is it?”

“The cigarettes,” Remus whispered.

“Ah,” Sirius murmured as understanding began to dawn. “I’ve not had a single one since you turned up on my doorstep.”

“You haven’t?”

Sirius shook his head. “I forgot they were even in there.”

“I thought they were supposed to be really addictive?” Remus asked.

Sirius shrugged. “They are, but then again, so are your kisses, and it’s a bit hard to smoke a fag when my mouth is otherwise occupied.”

“Does that mean you’ll quit smoking?”

Sirius smiled and reached blindly into the drawer, pulling out the small box of cigarettes and his wand. A moment later and the cigarettes had literally gone up in smoke. “Consider it done.”

“I don’t think it’s supposed to be that easy to just quit,” Remus pointed out.

“Then you’ll have to keep me really close by, and if you think I’m going to lapse, snog me.”

Remus nodded thoughtfully. “I think you’re craving one already,” he whispered before pressing his lips against Sirius’s own.

Sirius grinned through the kiss as he tossed his wand to the side and pulled Remus back into his arms.

“I’ve been thinking about what you said about a honeymoon,” he said after Remus had moved on from his lips to plant kisses on his chest.

“Hmm?”

“I was with Regulus when he booked his, and I might have sort of booked us one, too.”

Remus looked up from his ministrations. “What?”

“I booked us a honeymoon,” Sirius told him with another wide grin. “We leave two days after the next full moon, just the two of us. Sun, sea, sand and lots and lots of sex.”

“Sounds heavenly.”

Sirius nodded. “I thought we could escape from the real world for just a little while,” he whispered. “The hotel I’ve booked us into is really quiet and out of the way.”

“No one staring at us?” Remus guessed.

“Wouldn’t be much of an escape if they were,” he pointed out.

“Can we escape forever?” Remus asked, equally quietly.

“I wish we could,” Sirius replied. “But it’s only a matter of time before my parents cut me off and we’ll need money.”

Remus groaned. “Jobs.”

“Any ideas what sort of job you want?” Sirius asked.

Remus shook his head. “Let’s worry about that when we get back.”

Sirius nodded his agreement. They would have more than enough to worry about in the future, and he knew that no one would begrudge them a few more weeks of carefree pleasure, at least no one whose opinion they cared about.