“Save the domestic violence for the bedroom.”
Saturday, January 20
“I’LL JUST TAKE MY VAULT TO THE STATES THEN!” Sirius shouted at the huge marble doors of the bank he was just physically thrown from. “WHAT WILL YOU DO THEN? HUH?!”
A passerby stopped to gawk at Sirius and he bared his teeth and snarled at them.
“Keep bloody walking!” Sirius shouted.
Sirius Black was not having a good day.
He started his day with a row with Stephen—
“I need you to trust me. It isn’t time yet.”
“I need my godson to live! Tell me how we’re getting the horcrux from his head!”
“‘We’ aren’t doing anything, Sirius. I will remove it when it’s time.”
Bloody arrogant bastard.
After their row, Sirius left for England.
If Stephen wouldn’t get the damn thing out of Harry, then Sirius would find someone who would. He started with the goblins. Sirius thought they might know of anything - a ritual, a spell, even a curse - that could remove the horcrux. And for the right price, Sirius hoped they’d share it with him.
Instead, the hateful little gits got offended as hell when Sirius said what he was after. They acted like it was an insult that Sirius would come to them for ‘nasty, immoral, magic’.
It was a compliment.
But since they probably didn’t know anything (Sirius was sure they’d be all for taking the Black vaults in exchange for information), it meant Sirius had to swap to plan b.
Moody.
Sirius brushed himself off before he turned on the spot and disappeared for Hogsmeade.
When Sirius had briefly trained to be a Hit Wizard - before the first war, before James went in hiding - he did it under the vigilant eye of Alastor Moody. Sirius had liked the man, as much as he could like someone that hexed his students when they weren’t paying attention, but that was before Moody let Sirius get locked up without ever saying a single word in his defense.
Still though, if anyone knew anything about horcruxes, aside from Albus, it might be Moody.
And Sirius rather desperately hoped Moody knew something. Sirius couldn’t ask Albus, he wouldn’t risk it.
If Albus knew Harry was the last horcrux, well… Sirius wasn’t confident that he wouldn’t kill him to end Voldemort permanently. It was a cold thought to have, but Sirius couldn’t trust Harry’s life in Albus’ hands.
Sirius wouldn’t trust Harry’s life in anyone else’s hands ever again.
Besides Tony, obviously.
Sirius sent a patronus up to the castle after arriving in Hogsmeade. He sent his little three-legged Padfoot up to find Moody and ask him to meet him at Rosmerta’s place. The Hogs Head would be more private, but it also carried the risk of Albus’ brother that owned the pub overhearing his conversation.
The Three Broomstick’s was packed, Sirius didn’t realize it was a Hogsmeade weekend for the students, and Sirius barely sat down with a drink before he was approached by Molly’s twins.
“Sirius! Old buddy, old pal!” One of the twins slapped Sirius on the shoulder and grinned at him while the other stood on Sirius’ opposite side.
“I don’t reckon we can ask our favorite Marauder for a favor, can we?”
Sirius took a sip of his drink and looked between the identical shit-eating grins cautiously. Sirius liked the twins enough, but they were conniving little shits. They were sneaky in a way that Sirius never could have pulled off at their age. Truthfully, they made a good argument for Slytherin.
“You can ask,” Sirius said casually.
“Brilliant.” The twins sat on either side of Sirius and one of them pulled out a parchment and quill from his pocket.
“What do you know about the shopping district in the States?”
“I know it’s got a bloody lot more than Diagon,” Sirius snorted. He squinted suspiciously at the twin with the quill. “I thought you boys bought a place in London?”
Sirius was certain of it since he’d invested in their joke shop. As conniving as the twins were, they were also a bit brilliant. They had products stocked, plans made, and a hefty investment from Harry that Sirius matched.
“Oh we did,” one of them said. “But we’re thinking three steps ahead, you see? So if we hit our profit goal between opening day in June and the end of the quarter, we’re thinking expansion.”
“I wanted to open a shop here in Hogsmeade for the students, but Freddie decided he likes New York.” George, apparently, sighed at his brother. “So we need to know everything about pre-existing joke shops in Landfara Way and the average cost to buy a business there.”
Since Sirius rather liked the idea of the twins expanding to the States, he told them everything he knew. And he even agreed to do some digging for them to find out about any competition and legalities involved in opening a shop in the States.
By the time Sirius was tucking a parchment of information he promised to get in his pocket, a familiar clunking noise registered behind him.
“Professor Moody!” Fred quickly swept away all his plans and turned to beam at Moody. “Charming to see you!”
“Positively delightful!” George cried.
“You’re looking dashing!”
“Is that a new scar on your cheek? It really brings out your eye.”
“Scram before I remember that you two were supposed to be in detention with Severus today,” Moody growled. The twins were quick to dart away with final winks for Sirius and Moody took up Fred’s seat on Sirius’ right-hand side.
“Interesting patronus you’ve got,” Moody muttered. He waved a hand at Rosmerta when she looked as if she would come check on them and watched Sirius from the corner of his magical eye. “I guess the rumors about Potter are true?”
“I’m sure Albus filled you in already,” Sirius said drily. Moody and Albus were two heads of the same snake. Sirius just trusted Moody a millimeter more than he did Albus.
Moody took a swig from his flask and turned a lopsided grin toward Sirius.
“I don’t believe anything I don’t see for myself,” he grunted. “Tell Potter to get a wooden leg. He’ll get the hang of it eventually.”
“I’ll do that,” Sirius lied. He looked around at the rest of the patrons at the bar and leaned his head closer to Moody when it seemed as if nobody was paying them any mind. “How’s your occlumency?” he murmured.
Moody didn’t so much as raise a brow at Sirius’ question. He kept his eyes, both of them, aimed straight ahead and spoke subtly from the corner of his mouth.
“Impenetrable,” he muttered. “Can’t get too relaxed when I live with scum like Snape.”
Sirius grinned a little. That was the other reason Sirius trusted Moody just a bit- Moody didn’t believe in second chances like Albus did. Moody would never trust Snivellus with that nasty tattoo on his arm and it raised Moody in Sirius’ estimation.
Enemy of my enemy, and all that.
“Excellent.” Sirius lifted his mug to his lips to mask them from anyone watching and pretend to take a drink while he whispered to Moody. “You know anything about horcruxes?”
If Moody was shocked at Sirius’ question, he didn’t show it.
“I think they’re a handy way to live forever if you don’t mind being batshit crazy.”
That was another thing Sirius liked about Moody. For one of the greatest aurors in magical history, Moody didn’t give a damn about right or wrong, not really.
Sirius reckoned that if Moody hadn’t had a squib daughter that died young, he might have joined Voldemort and they’d have been royally screwed.
Moody could take over the world if he wanted, nobody could stop him.
“You ever heard of a human horcrux?” Sirius asked quiet as he could.
Moody laughed then and clapped Sirius on the shoulder hard.
“Laugh now in case anyone’s watching,” Moody said, paranoid bastard. Sirius did though, forcing out a cheery laugh as if the two of them were sharing a joke.
“By human horcrux, you mean a person with someone else’s soul in them?” Moody asked once he seemed sure they weren’t being spied on. His magical eye was spinning around quickly, lingering here and there on people he must have found suspicious.
“Mhmm,” Sirius hummed.
Moody went quiet and when Sirius glanced at him, he could see wheels turning in his real eye. It wouldn’t be a stretch for him to guess at Sirius’ predicament, but Sirius wasn’t keen to confirm it either.
All at once, Moody’s face crumbled and he put a hand on Sirius’ shoulder for a moment.
“It’s one or the other, Black. Potter dies or Voldemort lives.” Moody seemed genuinely sorrowful when he said it. “Don’t ever talk about this again. The walls have ears and there’s a lot of people that would say Potter’s life isn’t worth much.”
Sirius felt his chest aching at Moody’s genuine words. Moody was as close to dark as anyone on the right side could be, if he didn’t know how to save Harry, then Sirius didn’t know that the option existed.
“What would you do?” Sirius asked Moody. He stared hard in the eyes of the man that had once been his mentor and once his captor. “If you were me, what would you do?”
“I’d tell Potter to take an extended vacation as far from this world as he could,” Moody said without hesitation. “Change his appearance, his name, just get the hell out and don’t ever look back.”
Moody took another long draw from his flask before he stood up and put his mouth right beside Sirius’ ear.
“And then I’d kill anyone who might suspect anything,” Moody breathed.
Sirius swiveled on his seat and watched Moody clank his way out the door and pondered that piece of advice.
It seemed as if Moody thought precisely what Sirius did… Albus would kill Harry to stop Voldemort. One life for a future hypothetical thousands.
Mathematically, it made sense.
But that one life was worth the entire damn world to Sirius. And Sirius would burn the world for that one life, keeping the horcrux in his head a secret was nothing in comparison.
And maybe Stephen would get off his lazy arse soon and actually do something about it.
Sirius spent another hour in Rosmerta’s pub, having a couple drinks. Everything was crap.
Harry was going through a crap time.
Tony was having a crap time.
And Sirius was sure as hell having a crap time.
All the little good things, like Harry walking again and talking about being in love, were tainted in Sirius’ mind with thoughts that Harry would die young or be hunted by Voldemort if he got a body again.
Sirius wasn’t sleeping. Every time he closed his eyes, he thought of Harry being hit by the killing curse or having a poisoned knife drove through his forehead.
Everything was crap.
Sirius was working on his fourth glass when a familiar quiet sizzle broke through the soft buzz of conversation happening. The pub went quiet, of course, and Sirius didn’t even bother to turn around.
“Leave me alone,” he muttered down at his drink.
Stephen scoffed and took the empty seat on Sirius’ left side. He didn’t seem to mind being the center of attention from the wide-eyed patrons who had never seen portals before. In fact, Sirius was sure he liked it.
Arrogant prick.
“Come home,” Stephen said, a bit bossily in a way that made Sirius want to refuse on principal. “You’re being unreasonable.”
“Unreasonable?” Sirius repeated hotly. He turned his head to scowl at Stephen with everything he had in him. “So sorry that you’ve given my favorite person in the world a death sentence. Let me just hop up and throw a parade, yeah?”
Stephen rolled his eyes up and Sirius ignored the way that arguing with Stephen usually led to the best sex of his life. He wasn’t going to get distracted, not when Stephen was playing fast and loose with Harry’s life.
“If you would just trust me, you stubborn wizard, then you wouldn’t be here prematurely mourning someone who I have no intention on letting die,” Stephen drawled. “Do you really think I would work so hard to train him if he was destined for a tiny coffin?”
Sirius felt sick when Stephen said it like that. All nonchalant, ‘destined for a tiny coffin’. It was irrational, and probably more a side-effect of the whiskey, but Sirius turned and swung a fist toward Stephen.
Someone shrieked, but Stephen caught Sirius’ fist in his hand just before he opened a portal beneath them and yanked them both through it.
“YOU BLOODY PRAT!” Sirius howled when he landed on a hard floor. He jumped up and lunged toward Stephen again only to be dodged and hit his own sofa instead.
“Sweetheart, save the domestic violence for the bedroom,” Stephen said with a cocky lilt that only made Sirius more angry. He leaned against the dining table and smirked at Sirius.
“YOU CANNOT PORTAL PEOPLE AGAINST THEIR WILL!” Sirius yelled. He balled his hands in fists at his sides and glared at Stephen. “I DIDN’T EVEN PAY MY TAB!”
Stephen laughed and Sirius wasn’t sure if he wanted to tie him to his bed and edge him until he cried or just kick his arse.
They were equal and familiar desires when he was with Stephen.
No one could piss Sirius off quicker and no one else could make Sirius feel fifteen years younger and drunk on love again.
Stephen pulled a large note from his wallet and held it up for Sirius to see before theatrically sending it through a portal.
“Ta da,” he said. “Your tab has been paid plus a very nice tip.”
“I hate you,” Sirius snapped.
Stephen’s smirk only grew. “You love me,” he said confidently. “Now quit being a pain in the ass and go out with me tonight. I’m thinking you’ll like this opera and even if you don’t, you’ll definitely like our private seats.”
Sirius was the one who rolled his eyes then just before he quickly snatched a pillow off the sofa and threw it at Stephen’s face.
“I’ve got things to do,” Sirius said evasively. He curled his lip up at Stephen in a slightly unfair sneer. “Someone I actually respect told me to get Harry as far as I can and that’s what I’m going to do.”
After he told Tony why he needed to take Harry to a new country with a new identity and leave their lives behind. Tony would do it, he’d do it without hesitation.
Nobody wanted Harry to live a long life more than Sirius and Tony did.
“First off- ouch.” Stephen put a hand on his chest and feigned a hurt expression. “You don’t respect me? Is that why you let me blindfold you last night? So you didn’t have to look at me?”
Sirius was not going to blush like a first year and he was not going to let Stephen distract him.
“Secondly,” Stephen’s face became serious while Sirius fought down the blush on his own, “do not go telling Stark about the horcrux. You’re going to panic him, he’ll take Harry and flee, and it’ll severely mess up my timeline.”
“TELL ME WHAT YOUR PLAN IS THEN!” Sirius shouted for the eightieth time since he discovered the horcrux. “Please, Stephen,” Sirius’ voice cracked and his knees shook with his desperation. “Please, I can’t sleep. I can’t even look at Harry, I just keep- I see him in Godric’s Hollow with James and Lily… I…” Sirius felt a few hot tears spill and wiped them from his cheeks with the back of his hand. “Please tell me.”
Stephen’s face softened and he crossed the room to Sirius in three long strides. When he put his hands on Sirius’ waist and pulled him closer, Sirius let him.
“Tell me,” Sirius cried in Stephen’s shoulder. “Please. Please. I can’t lose him.”
It wasn’t a selfish thought. It was a fact.
Sirius couldn’t lose Harry. Harry was the single most important person in Sirius’ life. More than that, Harry couldn’t lose the brilliant life that Sirius had worked so hard to ensure for him.
It wasn’t without some damn terrible moments, but Sirius made sure Harry had a family that loved him and a future filled with possibilities.
Sirius removed Harry from the war.
Sirius finally got to be the godfather he’d always wanted to be.
And none of it would matter if Harry’s life was at risk with a horcrux in his head.
Stephen reached up for Sirius’ face and cupped it gently so he could pull Sirius out of his neck and look him in the eyes.
“Give me twenty-four days,” Stephen said softly. He leaned in and pressed a light kiss to Sirius’ wet lips. “Twenty-four days and I will tell you everything.”
“Why can’t you tell me now?” Sirius pleaded. “I need to know now.”
“Because in sixteen seconds an alarm is going to go off and you’re going to go on a little mission with your friends,” Stephen said. His eyes warmed some and it was that look that Sirius craved, the one that said he could trust Stephen as much as he trusted anyone.
Stephen was arrogant, he was a prat on occasion. But Sirius didn’t truly think he would let Harry die… he hoped. Stephen said he and Sirius were inevitable, and Sirius would never be with someone who let his godson die.
Sirius counted to sixteen in his head while he and Stephen stared at each other and then Sirius’ flat was filled with a high pitched alarm.
“Twenty-four days?” Sirius asked Stephen over the sound of the Avengers alarm.
“I solemnly swear,” Stephen said with a glimmer of amusement returning to his eyes. “Go on, your pals are waiting your oh so legitimate leadership.”
“It is legitimate,” Sirius said. He tried to pull off an arrogant drawl like Stephen was so talented at, but he was a bit snotty from his crying fit.
Sirius summoned a pepper-up potion to wash away any lingering drunkenness, his broomstick, and a medical bag. He shrunk it all down and stuffed it in his pocket before he grabbed Stephen by the collar of his black shirt and pulled him in for a quick and heated kiss.
“Will I be back in time to discover the joys of opera?” Sirius asked. He doubted if he’d like it, but he did agree to go with Stephen since Stephen took him to a rock concert in Florida the week before.
Stephen sighed heavily and shook his head.
“You will, but you’ll be busy,” he said. “Fine. I’ll take Wong tonight.”
“No shagging him or I’ll kill you both,” Sirius said brightly. He kissed Stephen once more before he prepared to apparate to the launch pad.
“No promises,” Stephen said with an amused grin. “You know how Wong loves to seduce me with his dirty talk.”
Sirius barked out a quick laugh at what had better be a jest before he turned on the spot and disappeared to go lead his team on a mission.