1975
“To sing a song of when I loved
The prettiest star”
July 2017
The paintings hanging on the wall take Harry's breath away.
There was so much life in them, so much heart, it felt like he was looking at a story unfolding in front of his own eyes instead of merely colors and shapes. Given that they had been supposedly made over nearly a decade in time, it made sense. The fact that Sirius Black, businessman, rumored genius, and self-taught artist, was the one who had made them added to the feeling, too.
Harry had been surprised if not startled when his senior editor told him that Black personally requested him to be present at the unveiling of his final gifts to the art world. After all, he was the artist, and Harry was just a journalist trying to come by. However, after several meltdowns and a fight with Draco, his co-worker, rival, and sometimes-friend, Harry had recognized that that could have been the chance of a lifetime; it could have kick off his career. Especially if Sirius actually delivered the full story behind the paintings and, more importantly, his infamous personal life that his assistant had promised over the phone.
Harry had probably spent way too much time staring at the paintings before finally getting out his notebook and noting down a few things he would’ve included in the article and going over the questions he’d prepared for the interview.
At precisely twelve o'clock, a young brunette woman with buck teeth tapped Harry's shoulder and guided him to what he assumed would’ve been Sirius's office. He almost stumbled over his own feet in the rush to follow her.
“Nervous?” the woman asked and pointed at the tag on her chest “My name’s Hermione. Mr. Black's assistant”
Harry silently laughed, to dissimulate his clumsiness “A little”
“Don't worry. He’s a good boss. I'm sure you’ll like him”
“Yeah, uh. Thank you, Hermione” he said and bowed his head after they stopped in front of a door.
Hermione gave him an encouraging nod and knocked at the door “Mr. Black, it's Potter”
The man who opened the door was an elderly gentleman with piercing grey eyes that somehow looked definitely too tired, though his smile was gentle when he beckoned Atushi in. Despite his age, Black looked good. His hair was graying at the edges, there were deep-worn wrinkles on his forehead, but it wasn’t hard to see the young man from the pictures of him in magazines, the one England called the man of a generation.
“Harry” Sirius said, leading him inside the room and towards a comfortable-looking couch across from an armchair “It’s so nice to meet you. Come on, sit”
“Oh, the pleasure is mine, Mr. Black! Thank you so much for this opportunity”
“Oh, trust me, you’re making me a favor. And call me Sirius”
“Sirius”
“Good. Shall we start?”
Harry stumbled his way over the first few questions before finally relaxing, seeing that, just as promised, Sirius was a pretty laid-back man no matter his reputation. They talked about the techniques he had used for painting and rendering, how much time it had took, what he intended to do with them, and finally, the inspiration behind them.
“There's the same person in every painting” Harry said, remembering the dark curls and so realistic brown eyes “Are they fictional or someone that actually exists? And did they inspire you to start this project then?”
Sirius settled back in his chair at that question “The story I'm about to tell you might take a while. I suggest you cancel any plans you have for today”
“Oh” Harry blinked and then shrugged “No, it's fine. I'm free for today”
“Good. Please, take notes. I want you to remember this and include it in the article”
“Of course, Sirius. I'm ready when you are”
His right hand was making his rings that are wrapped around his wrist, Sirius says “It all started when I was fifteen. It was 1975, I believe. Yes...”
1975
“Oi, the fuck are you doing in there?”
The voice that interrupted his afternoon break was coming from a boy standing outside the fountain. Sirius was only able to make out the brown curls on the other side of the water that separated them, but it was annoying enough as it was. Turning his head, Sirius decided to just ignore him until he would’ve left.
“You know I can see you, right? You were just looking at me!”
“And now I'm not” Sirius replied “Go on. Be on your way, I won’t disturb you”
“Yeah, I don't think so. I can't allow some brat to hide in the fucking water fountain. How'd you even get in there? Shouldn't you be drenched?”
“Your brain wouldn't understand”
“Get out!”
“Who are you to tell me that?”
“I work here” the boy snapped “So if you don't get out and my employers catch you, Imma get in trouble!”
Now that was interesting. Maybe even worth getting out for. After a moment of hesitation, Sirius got up from the ceramic bench and crawled out, only getting minimally wet, unlike that guy assumed. He was wading through the water when he saw the boy for the first time. Surprisingly, even though his features were much common, something in him was different. His curls weren’t even the thing that caught his attention then.
It was the scars all over his face. But he really tried not to stare. All, in him, was kind of interesting. He was tall, taller than him, but skinnier, although his shoulders were bigger, wearing faded, worn-out clothes that looked kind of small for him.
“Why are you dressed like that?” he pointed out the totally amiss elegant clothes he was wearing “What, did you just escape a dress up party or something?”
Sirius climbed out of the basin and stalked over to the boy until they were standing directly face to face “I'm your employer”
“Uh?”
“This…” Sirius waved his hand around their surroundings; the alley, the yard, the tennis court, and the mansion in the far back “…is where I live. So it's my garden and my water fountain, and I'm allowed to do whatever I want. And you…” he poked his fingers into the boy's chest, noticing how it elicits a flinch “…are about to get fired. What's your name?”
Silence.
Sirius raised his brow “Well?”
“Remus, okay! The hell did you expect hiding in there? No one told me there would be some weirdos hanging around inside a water fountain!”
“Sounds like a you problem” Sirius said as he started walking down the lane leading back to his house.
“You… ah, fuck. What d'you want? Money?”
Sirius snorted. Remus must not have been the brightest. Money was something that his family, and therefore he, had more than enough. As far as the eye could see.
“Hm. Tell me about yourself, and maybe I will consider keeping this between the two of us”
Catching up, Remus throwed him a furious glare like the question alone was an insult “About me?”
“You heard me”
“Well… what do you want to know?”
“When did you start working here?”
“Two days ago”
Sirius looked at him “Aren't you a bit young to work?”
“I'm old enough”
“Yes? How old are you then?”
“Fifteen”
“Me too, so you are too young. I don't work”
“Well” Remus snapped “Not everyone lives in a mansion the size of fucking London. I need money”
Sirius savored that information and brushed a tree branch out of the way as he crosses the tree line “I have never seen you around before. Did you just move here?”
“Kinda”
“That's not an answer, Remus. Unless you want to find another job-”
“Jesus, fine. I got adopted by a family a few days ago” he nodded over his shoulder “A few blocks away from here”
“Adoptive family” Sirius repeated with a hum. Interesting “May I ask what happened to your parents?”
“You don't have any sense of tact, do you?” Remus huffs, but his voice lacked any heat that would have been there if he were upset. When the only answer he got was silence, Remus casted his gaze away from Sirius, shrugging “No clue. Never met ‘em. Or, at least, I was too young to remember anything”
“So, how are they?”
“Mh?”
“Your new family. Are they nice?”
Remus kicked the air “They're fine” one might have thought he wasn't talking about people he would have had to spend the next three years with.
“They must be very nice since they're already making you work just days after they took you in” Sirius observed.
“Yeah” Remus's tone suggests this is self-evident “I gotta earn my keep”
How very stone-aged of him. They crossed the backyard and reached the house, and Remus grinded to a halt a few feet behind him, acting like there was an invisible wall forbidding him to overstep it “What’re you doing?” Sirius asked.
Remus returned the stare “I've got work to do unless you forgot” then he raised his chin, making Sirius narrow his eyes at the subtle act of defiance “And you're not gonna talk to your parents”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“Because you would’ve already done so if you actually planned to rat me out. Instead, you chatted me up. You're a kid living in that gigantic mansion. You hide in water fountains. You must be really bored”
So maybe Remus was not that stupid, but that didn't change anything. Sirius still had the upper hand here “I could change my mind anytime, so you will have to play by my conditions either way”
“What conditions? I work for your parents, not for you, moron”
“But, I'm still your employer”
“That's not how it works” Remus looked around then and cursed “Shit, what time is it? I should’ve been done with mowing the grass already”
Sirius gave him a gleeful smile “Wouldn't you like to know... I do have a watch, but why would I tell that to an ungrateful brat who calls his employer a moron?”
“Fine” Remus growled “I'll do whatever sick games you want to play. Now tell me”
Sirius raised an eyebrow and took his time lifting his hand “It's... twenty past four...”
Remus nodded and then took off across the lawn towards the shed on the other side.
Usually, Sirius didn't spend a lot of time out there. It got hot with his usual shirt, and there was no TV or radio to drown out the white noise in his head, but today he made an exception, also because he didn’t really want to have to talk to his parents, that had became a lot more strict since his little brother had gone to some high level high school, in London.
After grabbing lemonade, Sirius found a chair to sit on and made himself comfortable, watching Remus effortlessly manhandle the grass mower despite his bony body.
He was not sure why. Maybe Remus was right, and it was the boredom. All the people in his class were snobby and shallow, only caring about getting their hair and nails done. He supposed there was nothing wrong with that, but it was terribly dull. Remus, on the other hand... was like a firecracker. Crackling with energy. And in a world that was painted in grey hues, something this bright and infectious is bound to stand out.
It took a good hour, but eventually, Remus finished and stomped over to Sirius to demand a glass of lemonade. Sirius figured he might had as well granted him that wish since he was already there.
“So my conditions” Sirius said “If I'm bored, you entertain me. If I'm hungry, you make something to eat-”
“Uh? Do I look like some maid to you?”
Sirius reached up and played a strand of his hair “I'm sure you would fit into the costume”
It was not as pronounced that time, but the flinch was there. Remus quickly stepped back and stuffed his fists into the pocket of his jacket, glaring at him “I'll kick your scrawny ass before ever feeding you. You know, you could ask me to be your friend like a normal person would do”
“Do I look normal to you?”
Remus huffed “Fair point”
“I've never needed friends” Sirius continued, watching the way Remus took that without even blinking “So, why would I want you to be one?”
“Ugh, never mind. You're annoying. Anyone ever told you that?” a lot of times, really. He turned around before Sirius could answer, though, and started walking away “Gotta go, uh… whatever the hell your name is”
“Sirius”
“See you never, Sirius”
Sirius only smiled, though. A hunch in his stomach told him this wouldn't have been the last time they would’ve seen each other.
July 2017
Harry's brows furrowed as Sirius paused to take a sip of the whiskey standing on the coffee table. Pretty early for a drink that strong, but he supposed that stopped mattering to someone like Sirius a long time ago.
“So” he said, glancing down at the notes he had taken so far “The inspiration behind your paintings was that garden boy? Remus, you said?”
Sirius offered him a slow smile “You're smart, Harry. You'll figure it out yourself”
1975
Throughout the next week, Sirius saw Remus come and go to trim his parents' bushes, water the poor flowers, and swept the leaves. He obviously noticed Remus avoiding him every chance he got as well.
Stupid, smart slug.
It was Remus, though, who approached Sirius when he was leaning against the fountain's edge, running his fingers through the water.
“You're not gonna go in there again, are you?”
“Yes, I am”
Remus blinks at him, frowning furiously “Why would you do that?”
“It's easier to show you” he jumped over then and waded through the water before turning around expectantly. Remus hesitated for a moment, looking very skeptical of that whole process, but eventually, he kicked off his shoes and socks and followed Sirius inside the fountain.
The water surrounding Sirius and Remus cut them off from the rest of the world, creating a bubble of quiet, alien noises. It drowned out every sound aside from the soft lapping of the jet and the breathing of whoever was inside.
“Oh” Remus murmurs “It's... peaceful”
Sirius leaned back against the cold stone, watching him stretch out his hand and break the silence. The sound changed. His long-sleeved shirt rode up around his arm, revealing a set of deeply-colored bruises on his wrist.
“You can come here” Sirius found himself saying “If you want to”
Remus's nose crinkled as he looked at him “Yeah, no. I can't work when I'm drenched”
“After work is fine, too. I can give you a towel”
The act of inviting Remus there whenever he pleased defied that place's entire purpose, yet Sirius didn’t regret doing it. That kind of peaceful silence could have been found with someone else as well.
One day in August when the heat hanged so oppressively thick in the air that Sirius could barely stand moving around, let alone go outside, he spotted a hard-working tall guy crouching in the yard below his window and fixing one of the broken lawn chairs. It appeared that Remus not only had a knack for gardening.
Sirius's mother came up behind him, and stayed there in silence, so he spoke “Don’t you think he could take a day off? He must be dying out there”
“It’s his job”
“I told him he could’ve not come, but he won’t go home until you tell him to” he said with a leveled stare at her “He insists he's fine”
“If he says so the problem doesn’t exist”
“If you say so”
“I would like him more if he came clean, at least. Doesn’t his family have the dignity to give him the money to get clean?”
Sirius blinked, watching the way Remus's hands skillfully handled the screw and bolts “You know the people he's living with?”
“I don't need to” she shook her head then and glared at Sirius to make him move from the window “Go tell him he can go away. The Malfoy's are going to come here to take tea in the garden, I don’t want them to see him”
“I'll invite him in”
“What?”
“You don't want them to see him, so I will invite him inside”
“He'll get the house dirty with his clothes”
“Then I'll offer him new ones”
“You're too small for him”
“Potter’s one would”
“You would have to ask him for them”
“I will” her face became angrier, almost like a grimace.
Sirius, after all, was the future of his family, and beside some “dishonorable” things he had done in his youth, soon hidden by his parents, he reflected what they were expecting.
He went in his brother's room and found him immersed in his books, studying or reading, Sirius didn't know, and that guy, James, was looking through his shelves, apparently searching for a book to read too.
James was staying in their mansion for the summer, like he had the year before, but honestly Sirius had only saw him at meals and to take him home or to the station, since his parents wanted to accompany him, probably due to a poorly hidden distrust in him.
Regulus was kind of possessive of James, like if he spent too much time with Sirius or his parents he would have changed his mind about him, but James seemed to not have noticed that, because he acted so nice, like he wasn’t even aware of who he was with, night and day.
“What d'you want now?”
“Oh, don’t use that tone, I’m no there to kill you or anything”
“I asked you what do you want”
“I was actually here to talk to your friend” James turned around, like Sirius had hit him with a rock on his head “James, right?”
“Yup”
“Listen, I need clothes from you”
“What?!” Regulus put away his book almost immediately
“Listen, I need now some clothes to give to the gardener, mine are too small, I’ll buy new ones for you tomorrow” he looked at James, and saw him staring at Reg, waiting for some form of green light
“Do whatever you want, Potter” he smiled, and went back to Sirius
“Sure, you can take some” his face was almost angelic, and Sirius started asking himself how had Regulus been able to attract the attention of such an innocent person.
Remus didn't go out of his way anymore to ignore Sirius, mostly just huffing and rolling his eyes whenever he said something, sometimes even gracing him with an answer. A few times, he came by the fountain, and they didn't talk at all, simply sat there in the purling silence.
They were not friends.
Sirius was still not sure what it entailed and had no desire to go and find out. Except that there was this itch... whenever the tallish guy was around. A primal urge under his shirt, under his skin, to poke around and discover the name of stars he had never bothered to learn.
Sirius walked down the stairs, down the hallway, through the living room, and finally reached the backyard. Remus's eyes briefly flicker up at his arrival, and then he huffed out an unhearable sound, carrying on his work.
“You should come inside” Sirius said, hiding in the shadow of the porch “Before you get a heatstroke”
“I'm fine”
“Your face is red, and you're sweating. It's gross”
“You're gross” Remus muttered “Leave me alone, Padfoot”
Sirius paused at this new development.
Padfoot.
Huh.
Then he pursed his lips “I'm not going away until you come inside and drink something”
Letting out a dramatic sigh, Remus got up “Fine, you asshole. Is there anything you can do without turning it into blackmail?”
As they went inside, Sirius's brows furrowed “No. It's the easiest and fastest way to get what I want”
“You're such a brat”
Sirius pretended not to notice Remus's eyes curiously taking everything in, even the boring crystal lamps in the hallway. In the kitchen, Sirius told him to sit down while getting a bottle of water out of the fridge.
“Don't tell me what to do”
“And yet you sit” Sirius commented before handing over the glass which Remus, despite his initial refusal, eagerly downed in one go “Do you want another one?”
“Sure. Whatever”
They stared at each other when Remus raised the glass to his lips, a silent unplanned competition of who will break first. In that moment, James came in, though, and ruined the contest “Oh, hi” he said, evidently not expecting someone other than Sirius there “Here, take it” he gave a bag to him and he looked inside it. There they were, the clothes he had asked him earlier
“Thanks, will repay you” Remus bowed his head, clearly asking what was it about, and Sirius just smiled, thinning his lips
“Well, thanks for the water, Sirius, but now I’m going back to work”
“Don't you worry about it, Uh, and my mother asked you to not go outside, since she’ll have guests for the next few hours”
“What?”
“Yes, so maybe you wanna come to my room? I’ll give you a change of clothes, you must be dying in those” James’ eyes widened, understanding what Sirius was doing and went out of the room, probably returning to Regulus
“I’m fine”
“If you insist on working, you should do it without boiling yourself, and you still have to stay here, so…”
Pressing his lips together, Remus nodded before following him upstairs to his room.
“Oh, fuck” he looked inside the bag. Just short sleeved shirts and some short jeans, he was dumb to not have thought that James wasn’t like he and Regulus, and in fact dressed as a normal person in summer
“What?” Sirius gave him the clothes
“This are all I have that’s your size”
“I don’t have to change, I’ll stay in these, I’m good”
“The fact is that my mother said I must have given you this or you…”
“Or I?”
“You… couldn’t have come in”
“What the- you knew about this, didn’t you?”
“I could. But she really said she had guests over, she just didn’t want them to… see you”
“Sirius, I could have just gone away!”
“Yes, but I didn’t want you to go”
“Fuck… ok, whatever, give me that”
“I can turn around” Sirius said as soon as Remus took the clothes from his hands “I don't have to look”
“Wha- Why are you saying this?”
With a sigh, Sirius laid in his bed, playing with his rings “You looked like a deer in front of a car when you saw the clothes. Your eyes immediately looked for the nearest exit. You have bruises around your wrists. It's not hard to piece together”
“Fuck you”
This wasn't personal. This was his usual defense mechanism. Sirius just shrugged.
“Don't treat me like I'm some fucking doll” Remus spat and pointedly didn't turn around when he took off his shirt “I've got nothing to hide, bastard”
Sirius expected it. Still, the map of purple-colored flesh accompanied by all those scars scattered all around his torso and arms took his breath away. He had to force the air back into his lungs before speaking “You're an awful liar”
“So what?” Remus huffed, voice ever so slightly wavering “I fight a lot. I've got a bit of an attitude problem”
There was no use arguing with him, so Sirius didn't bother. He stayed utterly still as Remus changed into the red shirt, covering up a big bruise below his hip.
Remus bared his teeth when Sirius attempted to take his old clothes, so he left them there, silently walking down the stairs. He saw his mother by the window, talking with some platinum haired boring looking people.
But this time Regulus and James were on their way, laughing in the living room, but their attention went directly to the two boys that had just entered their bubble “That looks bad, d’you want me to go take some ice?” James asked, looking at the bruises on Remus’arms, making Regulus look, too.
“Yeah, I’ll take some” he got up from the couch
“No, I’m fine, I just fall easily” Remus smiled and slipped away, nearly running down the hallway and into the garden, the one where his mother wasn’t, just to avoid them.
Sirius was not sure why he followed him, but he found himself going back into the awful heat anyway. Remus noticed and snapped.
“Stop following me around! I said that so my employers won’t think bad of me”
“I didn't even say anything”
“Well… fine. Good” Remus then turned and went out of the gate. Sirius watched him for a while before starting to feel dizzy and escaping into the safety of his acclimated house, watching out of the window just hoping that tall guy would’ve came back.
After some time, Sirius tore himself away from the window and rummaged through his drawer until he found a spotty set of watercolors, a faint buzzing under his skin, not allowing him to sit still for the rest of the day.
The next day, Remus didn't come to work. Nor the day after that.
His parents were annoyed that they hadn’t been notified, sure, but it wasn’t the end of the world. Finding a garden boy wasn't hard. And Sirius was pretty sure Remus was working way more than they actually needed him to anyway.
But it was not that easy.
That itch under Sirius's skin kept him tossing and turning at night and looking at the world through a haze during the day. He still sat down at the window and waited and waited for Remus to come back, but he never did.
So Sirius took it into his own hands.
At the start of Remus's employment, his parents had taken his address and phone number of his guardians in case of emergencies. It took Sirius three minutes in his mother's office before he had memorized the address and then he walked all the way down the main street, a tabby dog following him.
He had never actually been in that part of the city, only having passed it by car, but he had heard a few of his classmates giggling and whispering about it whenever it had come up in talks.
That street was packed with overcrowded rubble houses and people who've been abandoned by society. In the back of his mind, Sirius knew Remus wasn't well off, but it only now occurred to him that he came from a completely different world. The realization left him occupied as he wound his way through the narrow streets past shabby corner shops, children playing soccer with empty plastic bottles, and groups of men sitting on steps and sneering at him.
Sirius paid them no attention. The only thing he was searching for was a tall scarred guy and curly brown hair.
The house he arrived at looked like it was barely holding itself together. Sirius hesitated to knock, worrying it might have brought it down altogether, but in the end, risked it.
He heard a kid starting to wail. After several long moments, a woman with a cigarette in her mouth opened the door and gave Sirius a clear once-over before saying “Mh?”
“I'm looking for Remus. Does he live here?”
“Who?”
“Remus” Sirius repeats patiently “Tall. Brown hair, brown eyes, always wears jumpers?”
“Oh, that brat. He's not here. What d'you want from him?”
“He's my-” stopping himself from saying friend, Sirius pauses, earning an irritated look “He works for my parents” he left out the part where Remus had ditched work, not wanting to get him into more trouble than he might had already been in.
Considering the way the woman's eyes twitched momentarily, though, Sirius had a feeling that choice hadn't been left up to Remus, to begin with “He ain't working there anymore” the woman eventually spat out and tossed the butt of her cigarette at Sirius's feet “Don't come here anymore” she moved to close the door, but Sirius was faster, putting himself in between and pushing inside, eliciting several cusses and insults.
“Remus?” Sirius called, glancing around the miniature hallway, a few dozen shoes lying around, the tiles half-cracked and dirty “Remus!”
“Be quiet” the woman snapped “You'll wake up the whole damn neighborhood with your yelling. Your boy's not here. Get lost”
“I- my parents adore Remus. They would appreciate if he came back to work” when the woman continued glaring at him, Sirius offered “They’ll even give him a raise”
That made her pause. Her eyes narrow skeptically “A raise, huh? How much are we talkin' about?”
“Make it double” Sirius said, barely suppressing using a snappish tone “Just let him come again”
“Don't try any funny business, boy. I can call your parents and tell them what their kid’s up to”
“I'm not. I'm serious. He'll get double the money than he got before. Please”
The woman pretended to consider it, but everything from her stance to the glimmer in her eyes was betraying her answer. She was going to say yes, whether she acted like the opposite or not. And Remus would have come back. Remus would have come home.
“Alright”
Sirius nodded “Thank you, ma’am”
“I'm not going to be so nice the next time you barge in and shout through my house” she told him with a warning finger “I'll make sure the boy shows up from next week on”
He was so satisfied with himself that nearly missed the familiar sight of a hunched back, oversized jumper, and dark curls falling across a long neck.
Remus was there, a cigarette between his fingers. There were two other kids around him, a ginger and a pink haired little girl, probably 10 years old, 11 at max, and Remus was laughing, loud and clear, before his gaze travelled and found Sirius and fell.
Remus's world was different. That much was clear. But if there was one thing that Sirius remotely wanted, it was to climb over the wall that separates them.
The surprise on Remus's face quickly turned into an infuriated scowl, especially when Sirius made his way over there.
“What’re you doing here?”
The other two turned around “Remus? Who's this?”
“Hello, Moony” Sirius greeted, shrugging “Funny. I was looking for you”
“Why?” Remus's eyes flicked to the questioning gazes of his... friends, and he relaxed a bit, losing his temper.
Mh.
“He's just... someone I know”
If he didn't bother to introduce Sirius, then Sirius wouldn't have either. He ignored the kids and focused on Remus “I came to find you, I talked to your guardian instead. Congratulations, you have a job again. And even-”
Remus blinked. Then his entire arm, stuffed into his pocket, started shaking “You fucking idiot”
“A thank you would be enough too”
“You-” Remus opened and closed his mouth, seemingly not knowing what to do. Then he took a few steps, straight into Sirius, stabbing a finger into his chest “Did you even know what the fuck you were doing when you- when you-” his chest raised and fell heavily, breathing, turning dangerously shallow before he stepped back again and turned around, scrubbing a hand across his face “They're gonna kill me”
Sirius's stomach fell.
July 2017
“Wait” Harry cut in, shaking his head “Just so I'm sure I understand properly, Remus was so angry because the people who fostered him would have punished him for your actions?”
Scratching a spot on his arm, Sirius nodded “They were abusive. When they realized that my parents might have seen Remus's bruises, they punished him and made him quit the job. And when I went there to get him back, they got even more upset, though they still couldn't say no to the money”
“Oh” Harry's eyes widened then, and he winced at his clumsy choice of words, or, lack thereof “I'm sorry! I meant... this was a shitty situation. You were only a kid, too”
Sirius's smile was bitter “But I was safe at home. He wasn't”.
1975
Sirius shook his head, refusing to admit he had made a mistake even if that one might have costed Remus something precious “I doubled your wage. They won't kill you, not if they want the money”
Remus laughed dryly “Oh, thank God for that. Thank you so much, Sirius” his anger slowly ebbed away into resignation, but when he caught Sirius just standing there, Remus let out a gruff huff “Just get the fuck off”
“You will come next week?”
“I don't have any choice, do I?”
Sirius nodded.
It was not perfect, but, at least, he would’ve known Remus was safe.
He would’ve known Remus was alive for a couple of hours every day.
It had to be enough for now.
He turned around slowly, ignoring the kids that gaped at him and Remus, and started walking back home.