Sirius
“You’ll tell me what the present is, right, Poke?” Sirius teased, taking the gift bag from Lily.
Marlene clapped one hand over George’s mouth and the other over Fred’s. “Not on my watch,” she said scathingly, and the twins accepted their defeat.
“Wait! Before you open it,” Lily said, and Sirius’ hands stilled, “let us explain first.”
Missy’s head popped up from the pillows on Remus’ bed.
“Do you want to tell them, Missy?” Lily asked.
Missy nodded. In a perfect display of youthful energy, she threw herself over Remus (careful not to fall on him) and dangled her feet off the opposite side of the bed. Her pinky finger reached towards Remus’ hand, but she focused her attention entirely on Sirius.
“Harry’s parents took care of us after, and they asked us what our favorite memory of the summer was,” Missy started. “And I was going to say when we fixed your bike, because at the beginning I didn’t even know the difference between a nail and a screw. But I was pretty good at it, remember?”
Sirius’ heart melted. “Of course I remember. You’re a fu— really good mechanic.”
Missy nodded, as if to confirm the point. “So I was going to say that, but then I remembered when— I remembered something else. I didn’t know that Fred and George and Percy all said the same thing.”
“We talked to them separately, and they all agreed on their favorite memory,” Lily said. “James sobbed.”
“I bet he did,” Sirius muttered. He was itching to open the bag, and his fingers twitched.
Marlene took her hand off George’s mouth, and he screamed, “OPEN IT!”
“Alright, alright!” Sirius pulled the tissue paper from the bag and froze when he saw what was inside. He looked up. “Lily.”
“We saved it as best we could,” she said hurriedly. “Everything was destroyed with dark magic— everything. It’s not perfect, but—”
“Do you like it?” Missy asked.
Sirius pinched the bridge of his nose and stared up at the ceiling, hoping the tears would sink back into his brain. “I’m turning into James. Everyone look away, I’m turning into James Potter 2.0.”
Lily tried to conceal a smile. “We’ll leave you to rest.” Her voice dropped. “And I mean it, you two, rest up. It’s only just beginning and we need you.”
“Thank you, Lily. Really,” Sirius said, folding the bag and placing it on the bedside table.
Lily nodded curtly. “Fred, George, Missy, Marlene, say your goodbyes!”
Fred and George jumped on Sirius again, then rolled off his bed to attack Remus before they were dragged out the door.
Missy hopped down from Remus’ bed, and Sirius called, “Missy Dorcas Vance, your penmanship is impeccable.”
Her face split into a grin and she threw her arms around Sirius’ neck.
“We’ll work on my bike again sometime soon, yeah?” he whispered, hugging her tightly.
He felt her nod.
Sirius pulled away and looked her in the eyes. “In the meantime, take apart a doorknob and put it back together, just to see how it works. That’s where I learned the mechanical basics. Your parents will love you.”
Missy laughed gleefully. “I will!” she promised, and followed Marlene out the door.
The room immediately fell into silence.
Remus groaned a little as he sat up and gestured towards the present. “What did they get us?”
Sirius lifted the bag gently and turned it on its side. A black vinyl slid out, and he held it up to show Remus.
Sweet Baby James by James Taylor.
It would never play again, that was obvious.
It had played in the background of Sirius’ teenage years, it had played on those thunderstorming days during the heat of summer, it had played for the last time the night before Death Eaters had destroyed the last remnants of love in Effie and Monty’s house.
The children’s favorite memory. Sirius’ favorite memory.
The record was put haphazardly back together, white glue streaking against the rivets and a few jagged edges. Written in shaky, impeccable penmanship with white marker, Missy had inscribed:
THE BETTER MARAUDERS’ CHILDREN’S SOCIETY
(AND AUROR TRAINING CENTER)
JUNE-AUGUST 1981
On the bottom half of the record, beneath the song title, each child had signed their name.
Missy Dorcas Vance
Percy Weasley
FRED
GEORGE
Harry’s signature had been written by James, Ron’s by Arthur Weasley, and Neville’s by Alice.
Remus blinked, eyes moving from the record to Sirius. The amber around his pupils glowed golden in the sunlight, covered in a sheen of tears. “We did alright, didn’t we?”
“Yeah,” Sirius said, voice cracking. “Yeah, we did.”
“Come over here, then, you big sap.”
***
“We can’t keep the children together anymore, you must realize,” McGonagall said.
Sirius had a sneaking suspicion that Emmeline Vance was McGonagall’s favorite Order member, because she seemed to take over Emmeline’s office whenever possible. She sat behind Emmeline’s desk now, slowly rearranging it to fit her liking.
“We’re aware,” Remus said.
“That would be idiotic,” Sirius added.
McGonagall’s face pinched in a smile. “So it seems we find ourselves in the same position we were in at the beginning of the summer. Except of course—” she quickly motioned between the two of them before turning back to her files.
Sirius snuck a mortified look at Remus, who was burning a bright red.
“Oh, really.” McGonagall looked at them sternly over the top of her glasses. “You two are not very discreet.”
“Minnie.” Sirius cleared his throat. “What are we supposed to do now?”
McGonagall paused, momentarily ceasing the shuffling of papers to read a page in front of her. But her eyes didn’t move and she stared blankly at the desk. “I have offers for you,” she finally said.
“Great,” Remus said, leaning forward. “What is it?”
“They’re separate offers, actually. One for the forests and one for the Ministry.”
Sirius bristled. “And I suppose you’d like us both to guess which one’s ours?” he said, a slight edge to his voice.
Dumbledore saw only black and white, Sirius knew that, but he didn’t like the quick turn-around. It was all too predictable.
“The forests” was code for werewolves, and Remus would go there. Sirius would fulfill his redemption arc from Black family heir to Ministry pet.
And they would be where they were needed. Where they were supposed to be.
Sirius drummed his fingers on the armrest impatiently, slowing only when he realized McGonagall was staring at him.
Her gaze was gentler, softer, and she completely disregarded the papers in front of her. “It couldn’t last forever.”
I know, he wanted to snap.
Nothing ever did.
His life consisted of a million fleeting moments of happiness.
Escaping the claustrophobia of Grimmauld Place and talking to the mechanics downtown. When he made Regulus smile. How the air lifted when James Potter walked into a room. A summer with Moony.
No one needed to tell Sirius Black that happiness wouldn’t last.
He knew.
He snuck a look at Remus, who stared glumly at the wall behind McGonagall. Sirius sighed, putting on a brave face for the both of them. “We know. We’re needed elsewhere.”
If anything, Remus’ expression twisted into a deeper sadness.
McGonagall’s eyes flitted from Remus to Sirius. “We picked you two to look after the children because you are the best at what you do. It doesn’t matter what it is, but you always adapt and commit yourself to learning new skills and new strategies. You have gained not just the Order’s trust, but also our respect. I hope you know that.”
Sirius remembered Effie’s house falling apart around him, and how James had yelled, “Keep them safe!” For the first time, it caused him to swell with pride instead of balk at the responsibility.
Him and Remus were a fantastic team. He didn’t want to abandon everything they’d worked so hard to build over the course of the summer, but he had to and he would. If it meant that James could always rely on him, if it meant that Harry was safe, he’d do anything.
“I’m sorry you can’t continue to work together,” McGonagall said. “But these next few months will be extremely trying. We need you both where you are strongest.”
Underneath the desk, Sirius’ hand reached for Remus’. He squeezed it twice.
The life slowly returned to Remus’ eyes, and his lips pursed into a small line.
Sirius fought the urge to roll his eyes. Don’t be dramatic, you big baby. It’s only a few months.
It was as if Remus heard him. Remus squeezed his hand back, and Sirius could see that he was almost laughing.
His eyes crinkled at the edges as he looked at Sirius. And oh, there was that look. The look he’d loved at age fifteen, the one he’d love forever.
“For the kids?” Remus said, voice slipping into a question.
Sirius smiled. “For the fucking kids.”
THE END