Chapter 1
Remus almost started to believe in god when Dumbledore had come to him requesting his help on an important project. The days had begun to blur together and it was difficult to get through a day without thinking it was three. He lost his faith in said god when Dumbledore said he couldn’t tell anyone about any of it. Remus didn’t think that would be the best idea, Sirius trusted him obviously but keeping him from a big project like this, something seemed wrong about it. Like it would backfire.
“If you work on this it will be the biggest step to winning the war we have taken.” Remus had heard that line or some variation of that line at least half a million times. He didn’t believe it all that much when he had first heard and he believed it even less now. Though he was willing to hear him out.
They talked for an hour and Dumbledore answered every question Remus had even if some of the answers were vague and it felt like he was solving puzzles for each answer, but in the end Remus didn’t refuse.
He was willing to do it. If he could actually figure this out it might actually do something for the Order. What he had to do was research a weapon the Order believed Voldemort was using. It was called a horcrux and he needed to find out what it was and how to destroy it. He would have to report back to Dumbledore directly and he had to keep it a complete secret from everyone.
He didn’t particularly enjoy lying to his friends but he would if it meant the war could end quicker. That means Peter and Dorcas could stop being spies, her and Marlene could get back together, Lily and Mary wouldn’t be in danger, and James could come back. So it was worth it no matter what. It was the least he could do.
Remus felt as if he hadn’t done much to help with war efforts. Him and Sirius had mainly been doing patrols while the people around them were putting their lives at risk daily. It’s not that Remus wanted to put his life at risk constantly but he wanted to help with the load his friends were carrying.
The first few weeks had been slow. Very very slow. It was close to impossible to find anything on the thing. He had only been able to find a short mention of the object in some dusty old book that had such an intricate title it had more letters than the alphabet three times over. All it said was that it was very dark and dangerous. Remus wanted to burn the page, the whole book even! Use it as kindling while he and Sirius smoke out on their balcony. He couldn’t do that though so instead he threw it onto the top of the dresser and promptly forgot about it.
He didn’t know how long he had been whittling away at his desk but eventually he heard the door burst in followed by a set of tired footsteps. Remus kept working away while Sirius shuffled around the rest of the flat. There was a few minutes of silence before there was a loud shatter and banging metal.
“Fuck!” Sirius's voice was muffled but he sounded angry. Remus sighed and got up to check on his partner. When Remus walked into the kitchen he saw Sirius leaning up against the counter and there was broken glass on the floor.
“Sirius, are you okay?” Remus asked and Sirius didn’t look up at him, he just kept staring at the counter.
“I fucking dropped it.” Sirius mumbled. Remus wasn’t sure what he was referring to but when he took a closer look at the display of shattered glass he saw that it was a deep red with some white text. Remus recognized the mug and began to collect the pieces.
“What are you doing?” Sirius asked. His voice was groggily
“I’m going to fix it.” Remus darted to grab his wand and flashed it to Sirius when he re-entered the kitchen.
“We are wizards after all.” Remus began to transfigure the mug back together while Sirius watched with a little smile. Sirius was better at transfiguration than Remus was it was something they both knew but Sirius let him take care of it.
Back in school Sirius would have fought him tooth and nail, back then he didn’t really like it when people did stuff like that for him. He tended to try and fix stuff like this on his own, it had taken a while for Sirius to let Remus start taking care of him.
Sirius was usually the one that preferred to take care of people. Him and James were similar in that way. Though their approaches to it are rather different. James is more sweet, he listens to you talk and helps you with advice, checks in on you later and is always open to listen again. Sirius on the other hand usually gives joke advice but he’s always good at making you laugh. He’ll also help out with revenge if you want it, he also listens well and goes along hating with you on whatever it is you're talking about.
“All fixed.” Remus was not like that. He wasn’t all that good at helping with stuff like that. Lily always said that was because he thought too logically which he thought wasn’t all that bad and neither had Lily but that didn’t stop her from telling him repeatedly he should work on it, and he has.
“Thank you.” Sirius said as he picked up the mug and began to fill it with water. He had gotten the mug from James one year as a gag gift and it was Sirius’s favorite mug.
“Do you want to tell me why you got upset?” Sirius glares at him for a minute and he looks like he wants to shoot something back at him but his face falls and he leans forward onto the counter holding his head in his hands.
“I’ve been missing James a lot recently.” Sirius mumbles. Sirius takes his mug of water and stares at the mug like he wishes it would turn into James. Remus wishes the same thing.
“How long can this mission be!?” Sirius shouts looking away from the mug and at Remus.
“It’s been two years Moony, when is he going to come back?” There was a sort of desperation in his eyes and it hurt for Remus to see him like that.
“I don’t know.” Remus lightly wrapped his arms around Sirius giving him the chance to shrug him off but Sirius wrapped his arms around Remus like he was trying to suffocate the other.
Remus hated that he didn’t know. He didn’t even know that James was going to leave and he hates himself for it because he should have known. James had spent three days doing whatever it was his mates wanted to do. James often does things his friends like that he doesn’t particularly enjoy, but for three days? He didn’t even suggest something he thought he would enjoy, he had left it completely up to them and one day they woke up and he was gone.
“Do you think he’s-” Sirius starts but he doesn’t finish the sentence. He doesn’t need to because Remus knows exactly what he was going to say.
“No.” Remus wants to believe himself but he feels like he’s lying. He just didn’t want to believe it, but there was something telling him otherwise and he believed that something more than he does himself. Remus just doesn’t think he can say it out loud yet.
“How about we take a nap sweetheart?” Sirius liked the idea and the two of them trotted off to bed.
Remus hadn’t been getting that great of a sleep lately and he’s sure Sirius hadn’t been either. So they laid down under their comforter and Remus wrapped his arms around his partner's waist. Sirius rested his head on Remus’s chest and slid closer to him tangling their legs together.
He had missed Sirius. He didn’t notice he had but now that they were here he couldn’t imagine why he had been so glued to that desk. He had felt cold but when Sirius rested with him it thawed and he felt warm again. He wished they could stay like this forever but he knew that wouldn’t happen.
He always hated when people said “make the most out of the moments you have” because that was stupid, Remus just didn’t want the moment to end.
He isn’t sure when he drifted off but he knows it was after Sirius had because he remembered hearing his light snores mix in with the noise coming from a busy London street. When he woke up again Sirius wasn’t with him anymore, but he wasn’t far away. Sirius was standing near the dresser looking at something.
“What time is it?” Remus groaned wishing Sirius would lay down again.
“It’s about six.” Never mind then, he needed to get up. Before he could slide out of bed Sirius asked him a question in return.
“Why do you have this?” Sirius flashed the book Remus had wanted to burn.
“Dumbledore gave it to me. s'posed to help with the project but it's shit.” Remus grumbled, he still wasn’t totally against the idea of burning it.
“You know if you have questions about the dark arts I could help.” Sirius said with a smile.
“And how could you help exactly?”
“Moony! I was raised in the Noble House of Black, I know everything you could ever possibly know about the dark arts.” Remus laughed at Sirius while he had his hand to his heart. Sirius didn’t make a lot of jokes about his upbringing and when he did it was often some twisted thing that happened in his childhood that he decided to laugh at.
“You ever have dark artifacts in your house.” Sirius laughed at the question and threw the book back onto the dresser.
“I’m pretty sure my house is a dark artifact.” Remus rolled his eyes. “Why are you researching this anyway?”
“You know why, Dumbledore asked me too.” Sirius didn’t like the answer and he didn’t like the answer when he first got it either.
“Well, reading this is going to do anything for you, it's rubbish.” Remus agreed. “If you want information you should go to a shop.” Sirius says off handedly.
“You mean like Borgin and Burkes?” Sirius shrugged.
“They have some good stuff there but there’s better shops. It depends on what you’re looking for or asking about.” Remus was intrigued, if he was able to ask about Horcruxes and not be recognized then that could do him more help than any of the books he had been pouring over.
“Well what's the name of the places?” Sirius looked at him funny.
“They're in France.” Sirius states and although Remus doesn’t particularly want to go to France, he will if he needs to.
“What's the name?”
“You can’t be serious? Moony, it's in France!” Remus is aware how insane it sounds but he needed to get some sort of lead.
“If you think there are places in London that could help me I’ll go there, but I will go to France if I need to.” Sirius definitely didn’t like his answer.
“What the fuck!? You’ll just go to France?” Sirius half yelled.
“Well if I get the answers here I won’t.” Sirius seemed to fiddle and play with the words in his head.
“You know Knockturn Alley, right?”
Sirius did not like that Remus was going off to a shop with dangerous objects and hustlers that would sell him out if they were offered enough silver piece's. He especially didn’t like that he was planning to go alone. Sirius still tried to convince Remus to let him go with him but Remus said no every single time.
Although Remus was willing to let Sirius disguise him. He wasn’t sure if he wanted Sirius to momentarily disfigure his face but he also didn’t want it to get back to anyone that he was researching horcruxes so he let him.
Sirius had given him a long nose and ragged blonde hair. He also tried to make Remus shorter but he was able to clue in before Sirius could cast the spell. Remus teased him for being short and in response he gave Remus three giant bumps around his eye.
“How do I look?” Remus asks once Sirius appears to be done. Sirius looks at him for a minute before promptly saying,
“Like you’re about to rob me.” Sirius smirked and Remus rolled his eyes which actually ended up hurting.
“I’ll be back in two hours, okay?” Remus said grabbing a cloak Sirius had picked out for him to try and add to the creepy effect. Sirius caught him by the arm and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
“Patronus me if you need help?” Sirius asked and Remus nodded. Remus left the flat and made the promise to himself that he wouldn’t be getting Sirius involved, no matter what.
Remus appearated right outside the entrance to Knockturn Alley. Remus hadn’t been down Knockturn Alley before but whenever he walked by it made him shiver.
The name Sirius had given him was Asnapper Wheel. Remus had been able to find his way there through the help of Sirius instructions. He had to pass through several back alleys and rusted archways to get there but once Remus stood in front of the building he understood the reason why the place was so hidden.
The entire building radiated magic to the point where it hurt his head. When he tried to step in just as a man burst from the door swearing and threatening to burn the place to the ground. Remus ignored the man and took a step into the building.
There was fog covering the floor and there was a table in the middle of the room with a smokey glass ball sitting on the table. The walls were lined with bookshelves, the windows looked out to a starry night sky that didn’t exist outside the building. Remus didn’t have a clue what enchantment the owner was using to do that but he’s sure Sirius would love it.
“Who are you?” A harsh voice yelled from across the store. Remus spun around and a woman the nearly the same height as him walked from the shadows. She was wearing colorful robes that oddly reminded him of Dumbledore's robes. She had long black hair that cut off at her hips and bangs that covered her forehead.
“Orville.” he grunted, trying to make his voice sound raspy and gross.
“You’ve come for a reading?” She asks as a deck of cards swarms around her, each card is face down and she smirks like she was trying to lure Remus to grab a card. It wasn’t working.
“No. I was told you know things about… dark artifacts.” The cards slipped up her sleeves and she pulled the hood from her face and she seemed unimpressed. The woman spun around and motioned for Remus to follow her. She stepped behind a counter and started punching buttons on the cash register.
How do I already need to pay for something?
A set of buttons popped out of the top of the register and they were a range of different colors. She pushed the black one and the room around them began to shift. Curtains dropped in front of the windows and candles lit a blood red flame. The items on the bookshelves were replaced with skulls and other odd objects that made Remus uncomfortable to look at. The table broke apart and turned into a wooden beam displaying mirrors, lanterns, books, clocks ticking backwards, a blood red beating heart, and a lot of other odd items.
“Now,” the woman grabbed his attention again and she had an entirely different look. Her hair curled around her ears and there was a ponytail being held up with a black ribbon. She had on a long brown coat, a corset over a white button up, with black dress pants and slacks.
“What is it you need?”