The Calm Before The Storm
Remus Lupin was a man who asked many questions, but this was not the time for questions. Not when Dumbledore was sending him on an important mission in Glasgow, for the Order of the Phoenix, trying to rally more werewolves for the Greater Good. Remus had been wary to leave his husband for extended periods of time, but they had two-way mirrors to communicate with, so it wasn't too hard on his heart. Remus was unaware to the fact that Dumbledore had purposefully send him away. He didn’t know of the plan that was ruminating in the old codger’s mind. He knew of Voldemort’s plans more than he let on the to the rest of the members of the Order of the Phoenix members.
He looked to Sirius Black, who was sitting in an armchair by the fire with one of Remus Lupin’s jumpers on, since the werewolf was away and had been for three weeks. He looked utterly lost, and was being consoled by James Potter, who was trying to cheer his friend up.
Sirius quietly spoke to James, “I just don’t know what to do without him. There’s no one to snuggle when I can’t sleep.” James patted his shoulder, “He’ll be back before you know it, Padfoot.” Sirius nodded, “I suppose you’re right. Well, night Prongs. See you in the morning. Tell Lils and Har I said hi.” Young Harry was three months old at this time and at home with Lily, who was very happy with her little boy. James nodded, “’Course I will, Padfoot. Night mate.” Sirius nodded and returned to his room where he put heavy wards on the door as well as a silencing and locking charm. He took out the two-way mirror and softly spoke, “Remus.”
The scarred face of the amber-eyed man appeared in the mirror. “Hello, love.” he greeted, making Sirius smile softly and miss him even more. “I want nothing more than to hug you so close and not let go, darling.” he replied with a sad smile. Remus offered him a sad smile in return, “That would be amazing. These wolves aren’t like me, Padfoot. They’re unhinged and dangerous. There’s only two others here that are kindly at all. One of which was enquiring about the mate mark on my neck.” he smirked a bit.
Sirius grinned at his husband, grey eyes looking softly at his eyes of amber swirled with gold, “What did you tell them?” Worry in his tone, as well as a note of slight insecurity, he always feared someone would steal his husband away from him.
Remus smiled, a glint in his amber eyes, “That I was mated to a gorgeous but incorrigible man who I adore. Nothing more than the truth, sweetheart.” He knew of Sirius’ insecurities, the feeling that he would leave him but he had assured him that nothing could take him away from his starry eyed lover, he’d been more than a bit insecure himself for similar reasons.
Sirius smirked, noticing the glint in his eyes, insecurities soothed at the werewolf’s warm words in that soft, dependable, smooth voice that had the potential to not be so soft at all, “Good. You’re mine, Moons.”
Remus smiled warmly, the bringt stab of possession easing off a little in the otherwise animalistic environment, it wasn’t exactly doing him any favours, but he focused on his husband for now, it would help him to stay grounded, “And you’re mine. How have you been sleeping?”
The curly haired wizard snorted, looking at him with a longing gaze as he admitted/, knowing that caffeine wasn’t the best way to stay awake, but he had to try something, “Precious little without my handsome personal heater here to keep me warm and cosy. Coffee has been great these cold nights without you.”
Remus shook his head, a sterner tone filling his voice without him even knowing, he was the Alpha of their pack and Sirius was his mate, so it made sense that he got defensive on his part, “How many have you had today?”
Sirius noticed the change of tone immediately but cheekily grinned, “Four, which isn’t that bad, for me, darling.” Remus shook his head fondly, “I’m not happy with Dumbledore for sending me away from you in such a dangerous time, Pads.” He nodded, also quite pissed with the Headmaster of Hogwarts, “I swear sometimes, Dumbles doesn’t know what he’s doing, Moons. He’s a brilliant wizard but just sometimes… I don’t know, he seems dodgy or something. You know?”
Remus chuckled a bit, “I know exactly what you mean, love. I know one thing anyways; I don’t like this...being away from you, I mean.” His tone lowere, he sounded tired, exhausted to the bone more like as he admitted, “I haven’t been sleeping either, as you can probably tell, The cycle’s in four days and I can’t stand the idea of going through it without you, James and Pete.”
Sirius took a huge shuddering breath, worry making the oxygen leave his lungs in a whoosh, “I don’t want you to be alone during the moon cycle! I’ve seen how pained you look and how much it hurts.” He sighed, “Oh Moony, I’m sorry, but fuck Dumbledore! I’m Apparating there right now.” He didn’t care about essentially travelling to a werewolf pack as long as he knew that his husband would be there to be with, he just wanted him to be safe during the full moon.
However, Remus looked startled at the very notion that his husband might be in this wretched place where everyone was animalistic and sometimes cruel, “Sirius, no! As much as I want you here, so much that it hurts baby, the other wolves would hurt you, probably in front of me. That would hurt me more than a hundred full moons, it would kill me slowly. I’m so sorry…”
Sirius looked at him with a deadly serious expression, “I’ll shift before I go and you can explain that I’m your mate. They’re required by laws not to harm me as your mate, right?”
Remus nodded, taking slow, shaky breaths, his throat thick with tears at being away from his husband for so long, and finally getting to touch that soft skin and hair again made him want to cry with elation. The tears fell down his face and he hoarsely spoke, “Please… please come see me, Padfoot. I’ve missed you so much. This is real torture, being away from you.” He realised he wasn’t being practical but he didn’t care, he wanted his mate.
Sirius’ heart ached at seeing the werewolf he loved cry and not being able to hug him. He softly spoke, “Darling, don’t cry. I promise, I’ll be there as soon as I can. Just let me shift and I can be there in a matter of seconds.”
Remus nodded, shaking as the tears fell down his pale, cold, scarred cheeks, “See you soon, my love.” he just about got out.
Sirius put down the two-way mirror and turned it off by saying Remus’ name again. He shifted into his dog form and Apparated, not thinking twice about it, only seeing the clear image of Remus in his mind. He arrived at a shabby looking place that reminded him far too much of the Shrieking Shack for comfort. He spotted Remus, who almost bowled him over with a tight hug, holding onto him so tightly, other than the usual gentle touch, like he was afraid to break him.
He silently grabbed his hand and brought him to a small room that smelled like Remus, assuming this was his room, Sirius sat down and held the werewolf tightly in his arms, whispering sweet words to calm him down. Remus sniffled and held onto Sirius for dear life.
Once he had calmed down enough, Remus buried his face into the crook of Sirius’ neck, kissing it furiously before meeting his husband’s silver gaze, “Thank you.”
Sirius kissed his cheek, “Come off it, Moony. You needed me and I needed you. That’s why I’m here. What’s it like here?”
Remus held him tighter, seeing him gave him some strength, which he had lost a bit off staying in this dreadful place, “Hellish, but necessary. I’ve gotten three werewolves over to our side. Actually, they’re quite nice. Actually, I think I may have found a…distraction for Tonks from me.” The teenage cousin of Sirius’ had been fixated on getting to be the werewolf’s girlfriend ever since she’s met him at some Order meeting or another. Sirius had been surprised when his husband had growled at her a little, letting her know he wasn’t interested but she was persistent, even if he was twenty-two and she was sixteen, still at Hogwarts.
Sirius smirked victoriously at that, because he was jealous whenever his cousin, who was a pretty and talented younger witch, flirted with his husband, so to know that she would be distracted from his husband, was great, “That’s fantastic. You are mine, and that girl doesn’t want to see what happens when you mess with what’s Sirius Lupin’s.” He forgot that his husband rather liked him saying their last name.
Remus hummed at the surname, pressing a soft kiss to his husband’s neck, “It’s wonderful hearing you refer to yourself as that, my husband.” He tugged him closer to him.
Sirius snuggled him close, “I adore the fact that you married me. And like I’ve said before, when this war is over and we’ve won, we can think about those little shits you want so much.” he winked at him, grinning. They’d talked about adopting or somehow applying to the Ministry for a magical child, or finding some other way to have kids, but he knew that Remus had a lot of love to give, and was caring and soothing by nature, despite his tricksy, commanding, charm and witty ways too.
Remus laughed at this, playfully swatting Sirius’ shoulder, “Not all kids are little shits like you and James were, you know. That sounds amazing though, sweetheart.” he hummed, his heart growing warm at the very thought of them having children, “Just imagine, a cub of our own.”
Sirius smiled softly at him, nuzzling him close, “That sounds incredible. Someone to pass on the trade to, besides Prongslet.” he chuckled and kissed Remus’ cheek, “I love you.” he whispered into his husband’s ear.
Remus kissed his cheek, a slight thrum, not quite a growl in his voice as he replied, “I love you too.” His voice broke a bit as he added, peppering kisses on the shorter wizard’s smooth pale face, “So much that it hurts to be away from you for three hours, let alone three weeks.” He nuzzled Sirius’ neck and told him, “I’m coming back tomorrow. We’ll be able to sleep tomorrow.” he promised, thinking that his husband would stay fror awhile to give him some affection and then go back to their flat or the Order’s headquarters.
Sirius chuckled, soon putting an end to those thoughts that he had any intention of returning back without his husband, “If you think for one second darling, that I’m not staying the night here, then there’s something wrong with that massive amazing brain of yours.”
Remus blushed a bit, noticing his heart wasn’t the only part of his body happy to see his husband, but didn’t mention that, not wanting to spoil their lovely cuddly mood, he had missed him so much, since the Animagus was always overly affectionate with him, “Please do. I’ve missed you so much, my love…” He kissed Sirius’ lips gently, but it quickly turned heated from not having kissed him for far too long.
Sirius wrapped his arms tightly around Remus’ neck, getting on his tiptoes slightly like he usually had to do to kiss him anyways, which caused him to wrap his arms around his waist tightly, deepening the kiss until they were both breathless.
Remus parted the kiss to breathe for a few moments before crushing his lips against Sirius’ once again, making the silver eyed man moan into his mouth, just enough so that there was room for Remus to slip his tongue into his mouth and they stayed there for quite some time. He picked the shorter wizard up and laid them down on the bed, so that they could sleep, snuggling incredibly close to the his husband, not daring to let him go. They would have to go through the full moon tomorrow together in the Shrieking Shack as usual, Sirius wouldn’t stand for anything less for his husband, it was bad enough they had to even do that.
A few weeks later, it was the month of October, early in the month and leaves just falling on the floor. Around noon, there was a knock on the Lupin’s cottage door, where a startled looking Severus Snape was standing, looking apocalyptic. Remus was alone in the house, since Sirius was out getting groceries for tonight’s dinner. Severus looked around quickly, “Is Black here?”
Remus frowned, “No one of that surname lives here, Snape.” Severus rolled his eyes, “This isn’t a time for hatred or resentment, Lupin. You have to let me in. I don’t know where Potter and Lily live, and I have important news that could mean life or death.”
Remus looked stunned and opened the door, letting him in. “Tea?” he asked politely. Severus looked hopeful, “Coffee would be amazing. I haven’t slept in four days.” Remus looked apprehensive but nodded slowly, making coffee and handing it to him, “Tell me.” Severus explained everything, it’s not like he had much but his life to lose, and that wasn’t much these days.
Remus was worried for James and Lily. He was relieved when his husband came home shortly after, a rucksack on his back with the groceries in it, the thrum of Stella, Sirius’ beloved flying motorcycle he had possessed since he was fifteen just a little before being disowned from the Black family, pulling up in the driveway. Sirius came in and put the groceries down, not spotting Severus. He kissed Remus’ cheek, “I’m back love. Managed to find some chocolate too for later, if we’re still on for reading by the fire.” He noticed his husband was sitting down, so he had height enough to kiss him, so he did, sitting himself down on his husband’s lap contentedly.
Remus kissed back happily but then pulled away to whisper, holding him firm in his arms, but gently turning him around so that he was still sitting on his lap but facing the Potions’ professor, “We have company, and I’d rather not scar him more than I think you just did.”
Sirius looked confused but continued to sit on his husband’s lap, wrapping an arm around him as he face forward, adjusting his legs and resting his head on his shoulder but then spotted Snape and glared at him but softly asked Remus, “Why is he here, darling?”
Remus bit his lip, “It’s about the war. Turns out Dumbles isn’t as stupid as we thought and Snape’s actually a spy.” Sirius glared at Severus and growled, him and James had hated him for years, “Fucking idiot actually trusts you?”
Severus nodded slowly, “Like me or not, Bl- Lupin, you and your husband have little choice but to listen to me. He will come for Potter and Lily. He believes their son to be the one that’s been prophesised about.” Sirius looked confused, furrowing his brow, but his gaze softened if only slightly at his name being corrected, “Good, your realised my proper surname, it’s about time. Right, we have to tell Prongs and Lilyflower. Moons, will you stay here with him while I go tell them or should we all go together, though James might get a bit pissy seeing you, mind.” he nodded at Snape.
Remus nodded, “I’ll go with you, sweetheart. It makes more sense.” So, they went to go and explain to the Potters what would happen. James was indeed, quite pissed at seeing Severus with his two best mates, but he quickly got over it once he heard what was going on. Dumbledore arrived shortly later, commending Severus for his excellent work as a spy and informing the Potters they needed to go into hiding. Peter Pettigrew had been having lunch with the Potters when this happened.
James asked Sirius, “Look, when it comes down to it, I want you to be the Secret Keeper. Moons is excellent but they’d use horrible ways to hurt him and I’m not having that. Besides, you’re almost my brother.”
Sirius nodded sadly, clapping a hand on James’ shoulder, “As much as I want to, Prongs, I’m the first they’ll suspect, aren’t I? Most everyone knows we’re the best of mates, thick as thieves and the rest. What about Peter? No one’ll think him, eh?” James grinned, “That’s brilliant. You’re brilliant, Padfoot.”
Sirius smirked a bit, “I know, but thanks.” Peter nodded, “I’ll keep you guys safe, Prongs.” James clapped a hand on his shoulder, smiling, “Thanks Wormy. We’re depending on you, yeah?” Peter nodded and smiled, his mousy brown-blond hair falling into his eyes, “I know, don’t worry.” He felt his Dark Mark twitch, almost like Voldemort had seen him and was smirking somewhere silently with satisfaction. Peter gulped nervously. No one seemed to notice this.