Humor
The door hit the wall with a loud thud as everyone’s necks cracked to see the disheveled heir, looking too worn and too pale. Remus sighed, knowing the stubbornly reckless behavior would come back sooner or later. Although he didn’t let it show, Lupin was relieved that the heir had regained his attitude, it meant he was feeling himself again. After that night in the hospital he had decided to take a step back. Sirius was right, it was just a job. It was his job at that, and he needed to push his personal concerns aside and get the work done. In order to most efficiently achieve this, he had called in the help of Barty Crouch Jr and Evan Rosier, top ranking hires under Madame Black. They had been discussing how to keep Sirius out of harm and best facilitate a sort of rehab situation without the media, or Madame, going mad. Remus suggested it be behind closed doors as to not bring the touchy subject up to Sirius until a plan had been finalized. Honestly, the stress of this job had been weighing on him more than he’d like to admit. His phone was loaded with unread texts and unanswered calls. Every time he went to the kitchen he felt sick, remembering the horrific scene he had walked into only weeks ago. Worst of all, the gnawing guilt never left his side, whispering into his ear that he could’ve stopped it if he just stuck around. After all, he had known going into this that managing both the heir and his police work would be no small task. Now everything seemed to have just gone over the edge. Remus just laid awake most nights, too scared of the inevitable nightmares. He replayed each conversation he’d had prior to the incident, searching for clues that this was about to happen. He scanned his memory for any sign or signal. Most of the time all he could come up with was the sight of Sirius looking at his scars, mapping each one with such care it had made his stomach flutter. Or the way Sirius carelessly pulled his long hair into a sloppy bun on top of his head, curls spilling every which way. Now all of those memories were tainted by the blood that had pooled from Sirius’ wrists and the stains they had left on Remus’ mind.
“Is anyone gonna fucking answer me?”
Lupin snapped back to the present and carefully approached Sirius, holding up a hand to keep Barty and Evan at bay. They didn’t know his outbursts like Remus did, mentally he scolded himself for unknowingly setting off one of his triggers. He should’ve known better than to keep secrets considering the heirs tainted past. He should’ve known.
“Sirius, it’s business, nothing you need to worry about, okay?” Remus tried to be reassuring, not touching Sirius but standing in front of him and blocking the other men that stood farther into the room in an attempt to ground the shaken heir. “We just wanted to make sure details were settled before we brought it to you, I didn’t mean to keep it a secret, I simply figured it would be better to let you rest by dealing with the, well, scrutiny from both the press and your Mother around the incident.”
They hadn’t talked about what happened in detail, deep down Remus knew he couldn’t run from the conversation forever, but damn was he going to try.
“Oh, okay then, just keep the door cracked, yeah? Bloody terrifying not knowing if I can reach someone.” Sirius smiled at the last bit, but Lupin knew it was humorless. Every joke and jab had been empty since the night he woke up. It was a true testament to how wrecked Sirius was, and it scared Remus to the bone.
The boy full of barking laughter had lost his joy, and oh how that melody was one Remus deeply missed.