The Hidden House

When Remus woke up on an unfamiliar bed, he assumed he must have died. The last he knew, he was watching a large black dog lunge at him while death eaters were torturing him. Now he was in a small flat with light pouring in through the windows. It did not make sense. He slowly sat up, groaning at the throbbing in his head, and looked around. There was a small couch across the room next to a desk that was covered in blank parchment. It looked as though someone had just finished working there but had forgotten to use ink. 

The smell of bacon drifted in from the open bedroom door, and it was nearly enough to get him out of bed. As the throbbing in his head started to ease, he noticed faint music coming from what he assumed must be the kitchen. Now he was sure he was dead because it sounded like the music that Sirius would blast through the Gryffindor common room every time they won a quidditch match. 

“You know I had a good feeling today would be the day you woke up,” Sirius called as he walked into the room carrying a tray of breakfast food. “It only took you two days to get around to it. How's the head? Sorry about that.” Remus just stared at him in shock. 

“Did I die? Where am I? What happened?” Sirius just laughed at Remus’s questions as though he had been expecting them. 

“Come on. My cooking is so bad you immediately assume you’re in hell?” Remus laughed at that. It had been nearly a year since he had seen Sirius or any of his friends outside of Order meetings. James and Lily had been in hiding since before Harry was born, Sirius had been basically in exile, and Peter and his missions always overlapped. He decided just to enjoy the company of his friend and assume for now that he was safe. 

“You’re telling me you made this? I don’t buy it. Where did you find this?” 

“There is a cafe around the corner, but I did pick the food.”

“Called it. So are you going to tell me what happened?” Remus had noticed Sirius’s poor attempt to dodge the question earlier. He was not willing to drop it, he knew the risks involved in a rescue mission, and he needed to know what had led to him being unconscious in Sirius’s flat for two days. 

“It’s a long story, mate, and now is not the best time to tell it. I need to leave right now to pick up the keys to the new safe house and set up the protections around it. You eat this, rest, and I will explain everything when I get back, I promise.” Remus glared in response. Whatever had been done to recover him could not have been good if Sirius refused to boast about his heroics. 

“Fine, I will leave it for now, but I expect you to explain everything when you get back.” He sat back against his pillow and took the tray of food from Sirius’s hands, giving in to the delicious scent. 

“I don’t know what happened to your wand, and I did not have much time to look. Sorry about that. But I did manage to snag that one,” Sirius gestured to the desk where Remus saw a wand resting. It looked to be about 10 inches, but beyond that, he didn’t know. “Use it to defend yourself if necessary. I will reset the wards around the flat when I leave.”

Remus nodded to indicate that he understood what Sirius was saying. Whatever threat had led to his current situation was not passed. He watched as Sirius walked out the door and waited for the tell-tale sound of his motorbike starting before he set the tray of food aside and got out of the bed. Sirius might not want to explain anything yet, but that would not stop him from investigating. 

He moved slowly around the flat, still trembling a little from the residual effects of the torture. He tried not to think about how long that would last. Once he had slowly investigated each room in the flat, he returned to the bedroom. He knew that the desk would be his best shot at answers. Sirius was careful not to leave information lying around, but Remus knew all his go-to spells to keep information hidden.

He grabbed the wand that Sirius had indicated and attempted a few simple spells to test its responsiveness. It did not feel as natural as using his own wand, but when nothing caught fire, he turned his focus to the task at hand. Determining what Sirius had been hiding from him. It took all of ten minutes before he realized that Sirius had used the same spell that they created to disguise the Marauder's Map back at Hogwarts. Now it was a matter of determining the key phrase. Remus summoned the tray of food to the desk and started nibbling on it while he got to work.

***

Sirius opted to drive his bike through London on his way to his meeting with the estate agent instead of flying. With Remus to look after now as well, he did not want to take any extra risks. Still, he did not mind the commute as he found riding his motorbike soothing. Once he got the keys to the house, he would be able to set enough wards to bring Remus and the Potters there, and Lily would be able to cast the Fidelius Charm. He was one step closer to keeping his family safe. 

He arrived at the estate agent’s office ten minutes early for their meeting, but he felt that it was only fair considering that he had been late for the first. Two hours later, he was back on the road, this time with the keys to his house in his pocket. Mr. Taylor had taken a lot longer than Sirius felt necessary, but it did not matter now. He was determined to get everything set up and ready before he brought his friends out of hiding to join him there. 

When Sirius walked into the house for the first time as its owner, he knew that he had made the correct choice. He spent the next three hours casting notice me not charms, silencing charms, and locking charms on every door and window of the house. He was not satisfied until every inch of the perimeter was protected. It was not as secure as the Potter’s cottage, but it was safe enough for Lily to come and protect it. 

The flight back to his flat was not as pleasant as his drive earlier in the morning. He noticed a dark mark hanging above Diagon alley. He didn’t want to think about who would be missing the next time he visited. Sirius shook his head to clear the thought and sped up, more determined than ever to get his family to safety. 

He returned home to find Remus asleep on his desk, his various parchments scattered around him. It was pretty much what he had expected him to be doing while home alone. Remus never did know when to stop digging. To be fair, he didn’t either. He debated levitating his friend back into his bed but thought better of it at the last moment. Remus would be safer at the hidden house. He could rest there. 

Instead, he opted to silently pack up the flat. He was determined to leave no trace of himself. With a few waves of his wand, his clothing zoomed into his open trunk. An undetectable extension charm had it large enough to fit everything, even the furniture, if he wanted it. Even with magic, it took him the better half an hour to pack up all of his belongings and clean the apartment. Remus must’ve been exhausted to have slept through it all, even with his attempts to be as quiet as possible. 

Once satisfied with the flat's state, he grabbed one of the actually blank pieces of paper and penned a letter to Dumbledore. By the time it arrived, it would be too late for Dumbledore to find him. The note simply read: ‘Dumbledore, I found Remus, and we are both going into hiding. We are too big of targets with too much information about the Potters and the Longbottoms. My flat is empty and safe. Feel free to move someone else here. Best, Sirius.’

He almost wished he could see Dumbledore’s face when he saw it. He placed a charm on the parchment that would not allow it to be read by anyone but the headmaster of Hogwarts and tucked it into his pocket. He would send it from a local owlery after the Fidelius charm had been cast on his house. He did not want to take any unnecessary chances. 

Two more shrinking spells and his trunk and motorbike were also stored safely in the extended pocket of his leather jacket. Now all he needed to do was wake Remus up. It was the task he had been dreading the most. He had hoped that he would wake up on his own; Remus was not fun to wake up. It was the first lesson everyone in their Hogwarts dorm had learned about living with him. Let sleeping werewolves lie. Still, it was necessary, and once he calmed down, he would realize that. 

Sirius opted for the safest option and backed up to the farthest wall in the bedroom before pointing his wand at Remus and whispering, “Aguamenti.” The jet of water arched through the air beautifully before landing directly on Remus’s face. 

“WHAT THE FUCK?” Remus roared, but Sirius almost didn’t hear him over his own laughter. Maybe it was less that Remus did not like being woken up and more that Sirius always chose the worst ways to wake him. 

“Glad to see you awake, mate!” Sirius called back cheerfully. He was still fighting laughter as he took in his friend's confusion. When he had fallen asleep, he was alone in a cluttered flat surrounded by parchment that he may or may not have succeeded in reading. When he woke up, he was soaking wet in an empty, clean flat with one of his best friends laughing his head off. 

“What. The. Fuck? What is going on right now?” Sirius decided to show a little kindness and sent a drying spell at Remus before finally explaining the situation. 

“Sorry bout that, mate, I couldn’t resist. You really shouldn’t let your guard down like that.” Remus was still frustrated, but Sirius just winked at him before continuing, “We are moving to a new safe house. I had to clean this one out just in case death eaters stumble across it before the order sends someone else here. I did it while you were asleep. You look terrible, Remus, truly.” He barely had time to dodge before Remus had pulled a small rock out of his pocket and hurled it at Sirius’s head. A fair reaction, all things considered. 

“Fine. Let's go. When we get there, I am going back to sleep, and you are leaving me alone until summoned.” Sirius chuckled in response before offering his arm to his friend for a sidelong apparition. He didn’t want anyone attempting to apparate into an underground bunker they had never visited. Once Remus had a secure grip on his arm, he turned sharply to the right, and the pair disappeared with a quiet ‘pop.’ 

***

“Remus, welcome to our home for the foreseeable future.” 

“Lumos. Sirius, we are in what appears to be an underground bunker. Please tell me this is not the safe house we are moving into?” Remus felt his irritation only growing as he was again faced with Sirius’s laughter. He was sure that he might someday enjoy the sound of his friend laughing again, but today it made him want to wring his neck. 

“I am just teasing you. Come on, follow me. I will lead you to the house.”

“Sirius, I am going to need at least another week before you are allowed to mess with me again.” Sirius made the wise decision to only smirk in response before leading Remus down the tunnel, taking care to lock the bunker behind him. Two minutes later, they were climbing through the passage into the pantry. Sirius briefly considered if he was being too paranoid as he locked the door to the tunnel behind them but decided that a paranoid wizard was an alive wizard and added a locking spell. 

He gave Remus the same grand tour that Mr. Taylor had taken him on two weeks previously before letting Remus choose a bedroom and collapse onto the bed. It wasn’t until he heard the snores coming from the room that he realized he may have been a little too hard on his friend. He was still recovering from what the death eaters had put him through, and Sirius was so happy to have him back that he had acted as though nothing had happened. 

Sirius mentally kicked himself before resolving to make it right as soon as the Fidelious charm was cast. He owed his friend some extra kindness for everything he had survived. The world was terrifying enough as it was, and Sirius promised himself that the hidden house would be a little bit of light shining in the darkness. It had to be if they were all to survive isolation. 

He unloaded his trunk and motorbike from his pocket, leaving the bike small and returning the trunk to its original size. The idea of his bike sitting like a toy on his shelf was not appealing.  He consoled himself with the thought of a long motorcycle trip once the war ended. The trunk started unpacking itself into his room as he returned to the bunker to go and get Lily. 

***

“Lily, calm down,” James begged, “you’re wearing a hole in the carpet. I am sure everything is okay, and Sirius will be here like he promised.” In truth, James was just as worried as his wife was. They hadn’t heard from their friend since the night he showed up and handed them the key to survival. He was fighting away thoughts of the worst-case scenario every day, but he didn’t need Lily carrying that burden. 

“You are full of shit, James Potter. You talk in your sleep. Sirius is just as much my brother as he is yours. I am allowed to be worried. He should be here by now. He said he was going to get the keys to the house today. What if they found him?” Lily hated that she was unable to keep Sirius safe in their home. If she could, she would hide the world from Voldemort. Or kill him herself. 

“You’re right. He is your brother too. But still, I don’t think anything happened to him. Sirius survived sixteen years in Grimmauld Place; he will not disappear in two weeks. Besides, he said that he would be laying low.”

“And you believed him? James, come on. This is Sirius we are talking about. He probably took off on that bike of his the second he left our house. I still cannot believe he is willing to go into hiding to keep our secret.” Lily shook her head, still a little bit in shock. Not only had Sirius discovered how to protect them, but he had also been willing to lock himself up to ensure that nobody else ever found out about what they had done. 

Thankfully, Lily’s thoughts were interrupted by a loud knock on the door, a quick spell revealing it was the very friend she was so worried about. James quickly unlocked the door and let him in, laughing as Lily tackled their friend in a hug. 

“Where the hell have you been, Sirius Black? We have been worried sick! Do you have any idea how late it is?” Lily’s panic was surprisingly reminiscent of Remus’s earlier attack, so Sirius decided it would be best not to laugh out loud.

“Sorry bout that, mum. When I show you why I have been gone so long, I promise you will forgive me.” He flashed a smile at James, who was just shaking his head at him. 

“You did not just call me mum.” Sirius did not react quickly enough. The jelly legs hex that Lily threw hit him square in the chest, and he found himself flat on his back, staring into James's laughing eyes and Lily's angry eyes. He wisely raised his arms in surrender, grateful that some things were back to normal. After months of being alone in a flat, he had missed teasing his friends.

“Sorry, Lily, but I mean it when I say you will forgive me. I found Remus.” 

“Where?” James knew better than to accuse Sirius of messing with them. He would never joke about their lives. 

“He had been captured by some death eaters while on a mission. I got there just in time, three days ago. He's at the house right now.” James barely managed to stop himself from forcing Sirius to take him there that instant. He wanted nothing more than to rush to their friend's aid, but he was a dad now. He couldn’t just leave Harry in the house alone, and Lily was the one who knew how to cast the Fidelius charm.

“Next time, I am the one who gets to visit Sirius’s house. I am not waiting for the end of this war to be able to see Remus.” Lily reached out and took her husband’s hand in comfort. She knew how difficult it was for him to stay behind and thanked merlin again for her husband. 

“Maybe next time we get a babysitter,” Lily said with a smile. 

“If it is all the same to you both, I don’t like that I had to leave Remus there alone without a Fidelius charm while he is unconscious.” James let go of Lily’s hand with a nod before stepping back and gesturing them toward the door. 

“Yeah, yeah, get out of here. Come back and visit soon.” James tried to ignore the pang in his heart as his best friend, and his wife walked out the door. He hated that piece of him that questioned whether he would ever see them again. He reset the wards and made his way back up the stairs, already aware that he would not be able to sleep tonight unless he had his son nearby.