Chapter 1
It was breakfast time and as regularly as it consisted of fried eggs and bacon, it was populated by the singular argument that managed to take over every morning. Every. Single. Morning.
Remus sighed as he scooped some scrambled eggs onto his plate, he was glad to be here, he really was, taking a comfort he didn’t know could exist anymore in the large kitchen, surrounded by giggles from Ginny and Hermione, witty banter between Harry and Ron and menacing grins from the twins- and Sirius, he was always glad to be with Sirius. But it still didn’t ease the sheer boredom that overcame him every morning, during the most important meal of the day. And it goes as so;
“Do we have to?”
“Yes”
“Oh come on mum, I don’t see why we have to help, it’s not our house”
“Enough, we’re staying here all summer and I’m not leaving it in this horrific state, no offence Sirius,”
“None taken,” Sirius chuckled from the doorway. They were all in Grimmauld place for the summer as it would be the new order headquarters, and it seemed to have taken a toll on Sirius.
Maybe he was the only one who noticed, the tension in the other man’s shoulders, the deepening eyebags, the ethereal beauty that still couldn’t hide the soft downward tug of his lips as he looked at the house. He was definitely the only one who felt the sleepless nights, the midnight snacks if only to remind him he could, scorching showers to scrub the rot of the house away that left him overheated and red and the nightmares, he knew he was the only one that knew about the nightmares. Silent episodes that left him shaking and disoriented, calling for someone who would never answer. The house was a horrible place, made even worse by the coatings of dust, dirt and mould Molly was desperately trying to wash away before it officially became headquarters, and she had recruited help.
She had just finished serving breakfast,
everyone accumulating in the kitchen to fuel up before what was sure to be another hard-laboured day.
Sirius walked over and placed a soft kiss to Remus’ temple before he turned his attention to the food, half picking his head up to the conversation at hand.
“What room are you doing today?” He asked distractedly.
“I thought we’d work on that office on the second floor, your fathers I think?” Molly responded.
Remus watched the way Sirius’ hand tightened around his fork ever so slightly before he nodded, “yeah, I uh, I haven’t been in there yet, don’t know how bad it is.”
“Well I’m sure we’ll manage won’t we, George?” Molly asked pointedly.
“Yeah, fine. But we need more breaks, we’re not house elves,” George responded, ignoring Hermione’s pointed cough from the end of the table at the house elf remark.
Sirius stayed quiet throughout the rest of breakfast, seemingly lost in thought and he didn’t look too surprised when Remus dragged him off to the library after he'd finished eating.
Remus sprawled his aching limbs out over the best couch in the library and opened his arms for Sirius to join him. He lay there in silence feeling Sirius’ breathing as the other man lay on top of him, Remus brought his hand up and started to comb through Sirius’ silky smooth hair, how the man went to Azkaban for twelve year yet only took a few washes to conquer his hair again was beyond him.
Sirius let out a big sigh at the extra contact and melted into Remus, “ I hate it here Rem, it reminds me of him and I hate it.”
Remus sighed, kissing the top of Sirius’ hair, “I know, love.”
“That room, that’s the worst, not his bedroom, not my bedroom, that fucking room.”
This time Remus didn’t commiserate, he just tightened his arms and listened as Sirius’ breaths evened out, eventually slowing to settle into a drowsy half-nap and he allowed himself to do the same.
God knows how long they lay on that couch for before someone came to find them. They heard the library door open and, being in the far corner, had adequate time to make themselves a bit more presentable before the possibly adolescent person reached them.
Fred poked his head around the bookshelf obscuring their nook before stepping round fully when he located them, “Mum asked me to come and find you, she can’t open the cupboard,” he said, looking tired and dishevelled.
Sirius tensed beside him and nodded, “yeah, okay, thanks Fred, we’ll be up in a minute.”
“Okay,” Fred disappeared behind the shelves and Remus turned to face Sirius.
“Is that?-“ he started.
“Yeah,” Sirius replied with a sigh, standing up from the couch and offering a hand to help Remus, “come on, it’s just a cupboard, it can’t hurt me anymore,” he laughed but it came out warped and strained. It wasn’t funny. Remus caught his eyes and took his hand, standing up and wrapping him into a hug.
This fucking house.