When Remus agreed to come back to hogwarts and teach, he never could of expected this very odd series of events to play out.
It was the night of the full moon and he was using his pre-transformation hyperness to hurry down the tunnel to the shrieking shack as fast as he could because waiting at the other end were three of his students, an infamous mass murderer and, strangest of all,his old school friend who was supposed to be dead.
He knew it was a risk leaving his office to go save the day on a full moon, but he had to. Because one of the three students was his dead best friend's son, who was the only piece of them left in his life,and really Harry was the only reason he was still living. And they were in danger because of him. Because he failed to tell Dumbledore the truth, about why James and Peter and...and...him would also all be late to class the morning after every full moon,the reason they would never return to the Gryffindor common room after dinner on every full moon and why Remus considered them his pack and knew they would always be there for him.
Because he felt like if he told Dumbledoor that last secret the marauders would be out and there would be nothing left of that old school-boy mischief,of the thrill of breaking the rules with your best mates. So he didn't tell him and now look where thats gotten him. Atleast he had taken his potion before he left.
Remus reached the door to the shack and could already smell the gathered group of misfits and, yes he could deffinately smell Peter along with the group. He hurried upstairs and stopped at the door where -- especially with his hightened werewolf senses-- he could hear the conversation clearly.
"I’LL KILL YOU!" Harry was shouting. He was, obviously from the tone of his voice, going on about how Sirius betrayed them and all that bullshit.
He burst through the door and said" Expeliarmus" as he took note of the wand being held at Sirius' throat as all the information he took in in that moment was that one of his pack members was in danger and he needed to help them. Remus had brought Harry up with only a censored version of his parent's death and how it came to be, Harry only knew that Voldemort had come to kill his parents and had also tried to kill him but had failed, He had been so careful about trying to keep the fact that the reason he was in the care of Remus and not his parents was because they were betrayed by someone who was supposed to be their friend but it wasn't enough and Harry had figured it out. Ofcourse he didn't want to lie to him but he didn't want him doing something stupid when he found out.
'No, Harry, it wasn't Sirius,it was Peter' Remus wanted to shout back but ofcourse Harry didn't know who Peter was so instead he looked away from Harry and instead of seeing the 'mass murder' he'd been seeing in the daily profit he just saw Sirius,the love of his life,the man who changed his whole world,the man he loved. His face melted at the sight of him in tattered old robes,his hair tangled and matted,his nails black with grime and his once gorgeous body bony and covered in wierd tattoos --Remus didn't really mind the tattoos,he thought they actually looked kinda sexy to be honest--finally he looked up to his face and met the same stormy, grey eyes that always used to make him submit to any crazy plan him and James had organised.
Sirius' bottom lip was trembling as he met the gaze of Remus' chocolate,caramel eyes.
"Remus?" Sirius asked like he thought his eyes were lying to him," Wh-What are you doing here?And why are you here? Isn't it a full moon?" Sirius said as he pulled down the colar of the robes so he could see the tattoo he had gotten when he was sixteen; the moon,enchanted to look exactly like the real moon outside. He was right ofcourse but he had taken his potion like normal.
"Every month he takes the wolfsbane potion so he can keep his mind during transformation" Harry answered before Remus could even open his mouth. Remus didn't break eye contact with Sirius as he nodded and said "Yes it had been very helpful whilst i have been teaching here. Its one of the reasons im teaching here actually,part of the offer is an endless supply of wolfsbane potion each month. It works like a charm but sadly does not stop the transformation completely."
"Thats what im here for" Harry cut in excitedly, " As an animagus i can keep wolfy mcwolf undercontrol"
"I know, I put 3 years of work into becoming one myself. Quite extraordinary to see that you accomplished it by your third year,well done Harry!" Sirius said rather proudly
"Shut up,you murderer I wasn't talking to you!" Harry looked offended that he was being told well done by who he thought was the person who betrayed his parents to Voldemort.
"Harry it wasn't him,someone did betray your parents and until resently i thought it was Sirius too but its wasn't. WAS IT PETER?" Remus said, the last bit a shout his head snapping towards the corner where Ron sat on the bed, ankle sticking out at a funny angle,Hermione sat next to him watching on with equally confused and scared expressions, Peter the rat clutched in the hand not on his broken leg.
"What are you lookin' at me for i'm not Peter. Don't trust 'em harry they're both mental." Ron said,face more terrified than ever.
"Not you,Ron,the rat, Pettigrew is an animagus like Harry. He became one with Sirius and Harry's father to help me with transformations,Peter, the smallest,being able to crawl through to the knot on the tree trunk to allow them safe passage,was very usefull as a rat. Until he went and betrayed us all to Voldemort!" He said the last bit as he bodily turned and shot the spell to reform Peter into his human form and then another to freeze him where he stood (Ron had dropped him the second he started transforming) "Exuse my insensitivity, Peter, but aren't you supposed to be dead?"Remus asked,fake curiosity evident as he peered down at the frozen man trapped,lying on the floor. "Remus,we should go before you transform i don't think the kids will want to see that." Sirius said after a moment of shocked silence. "Yes i think so but not before this..." Remus pulled Sirius into a kiss and he didn't even care that Harry,Ron and Hermione were there all that mattered were him and Sirius. The kiss was like water after a drought,food after starvation and whatever other cheesy things you could say about it but all that he cared about was finally here,all in one room:Harry,Sirius,the key to proving Sirius' innocence and Sirius and Harry but mostly Sirius. They both pulled back at the same time as another person burst into the room exclaiming "Yuk!" before adding,"I knew it, I bloody knew it" Snape,Remus thought annoyed,always ruining the perfect moments, "I knew something was going on between you two,back in sixth year when we were brewing amortentia you said," he pointed at Sirius, "' I smell: wet dog fur,old books,mowed grass and chocolate. And you!" He pointed at Remus now, " You said you smelt: leather,motor oil and Sirius' shampoo!" He exclaimed with a look of utter excitement on his face, " Hah Minerva owes me sixty galeons:ten for you being gay and fifty for you dating Black." For the first time Snape looked around and saw that he had just let his hair down infront of his mortal enemies, three school pupils and a stunned man who is supposed to be dead,his expression turned to one of confusion as he looked back at the two marauders " I guess this isn't just a social gathering" he said looking sheepish and guilty for being so insensitive. "No, Severus,as you can see Peter Pettigrew is still very much alive and Sirius here may not be as guilty as thought." Remus replied,still slightly blushing from the interupted kiss.
They made it back just in time for Remus to get back to his office to transform and thought Sirius should be released by the morning as they had filled Severus in on the details on the way up and they were heading in the opposite direction towards the headmasters office with Pettigrew stunned and chained Ron,Harry and Hermione bundling on behind the two men carrying the rat. Back at school Severus had hated all the marauders but had definitely hated Sirius the most but since then and before Lily and James were killed, Lily had insisted on making up with Severus as they had planned to make him Godfather to their second child,who was two months from being welcomed into the world when they had been killed,but that plan obviously failed when they were murdered. The healers had tried to rescue the baby but it had been too long and the unborn baby had died as well,but Sirius and Remus had still made up with Severus so he thought it safe to trust him with getting his boyfriends name cleared. He made it to his office just in time and felt his skin start to tingle as he locked the door and put a silencing charm on the room as to not disturb anyone in the castle and the last thought he had in his mind before it went blank with pain was that he hoped the other group wil be just as lucky as he was at accomplishing their task.
Harry decided that he thought Remus and Sirius were a good couple,he could see the love in their eyes when they looked at each other but he could also see that there was much more going on behind their smiles that could only be caused by pain and mistrust. Probably brought on by the war,he thought as they walked through the corridors to the headmasters office. When they reached the gryiffin-door -- Hah,get it? Gryffindor,Gryffin-DOOR-- Professor Snape gave the password and they were allowed entry. They climbed the stairs and knocked on the door three times and were told to come in. When they entered, Professor Dumbledore was sitting behind his desk, his peircing blue eyes felt like they were x-raying him as usual. The stern sparkle of kindness and school-boy mischief was replaced by a look of utter disgust and confusion when he spotted Pettigrew. "Professor Snape,as you are the only other adult in this room who isn't a convicted mass murderer or supposed to be dead,would you care to explain why Peter Pettigrew,who is supposedly dead,Sirius Black ,a convicted mass murderer, and three pupils,who are supposed to be in their common rooms,in my office looking like you have just had a battle against an army of biting books?" Dumbledore asked once the shock had settled and he'd come to his senses. "Well as you can see,Peter Pettigrew is very much alive which means that Sirius never killed him and went into hiding and may i suggest that it is possible that he framed Black." "Well yes that is ofcourse possible but extremely unlikely. Severus would you be willing to go get some veritaserum from your stores,i can handle them is anything happens,i think enough to question Mr Black and Mr Pettigrew." Dumbledore spoke about Sirius and Peter as if they were still his pupils. "Yes headmaster." Snape replied as he hurried through the door that led back out into the corridors of Hogwarts. "Harry," Dumbledore spoke calmly now, "Would you care to fill me in on how this group of misfits have come to be in my office,while Professor Snape is gone?I'm sure I can trust you to tell the truth."
" Yes headmaster, well me ,Hermione and Ron all wanted to go down to Hagrids to talk to him about...something...and we made sure to go a couple hours before curfew so we deffinately wouldn't end up roaming the halls at night because knowing us we could probably have somehow ended up in Australia if this hadn't happened. But anyway when we left Hagrids,Ron found Scabbers, or shall I say, Peter in the grass running away from a big black dog,it dived for Peter but Ron got in the way and picked him up before Sirius,the dog,could. Ofcourse,if we had known what he really was we would have let Sirius take him. So after that,Ron was dragged into the tunnel underneath the womping willow,and i transfromed into my animagus form to allow me and Hermione to follow. We hurried through the tunnel until we reached the door and then we followed the paw prints up stairs to a room with a bed and Ron sitting on it,clutching his broken leg," "Yeah,sorry about that" Sirius cut Harry off. "Don't worry about it Madame Pomfrey will be able to fix it in seconds." Ron replied a little nervous from the attention. "Anyway,carry on ,Harry," Dumbledore said still calmly. "Ok well once we were inside we ran over to Ron but couldn't see the dog anywhere until Ron pointed to behind the door where Sirius was waiting,back in his human form. I,still thinking he was evil,put my wand to his throat and pinned him againts the wall," He heard Sirius mutter under his breath 'God, I wish it was Remus who pinned me against the wall'. He turned around and glared open mouthed laughing slightly. "What??? Sorry I'll be quiet"Sirius said in defense. He turned back around to catch a whiff of a smirk on Dumbledore's face and continued ,"But then Remus burst into the room and disarmed me. They then started explaining how it wasn't Sirius but Peter who betrayed my parents,then Professor Snape burst through-" "Aww Harry,why are you skipping the best part?" Sirius cut him off. "Sirius,not now. Anyway we returned to the castle and Remus went to go transform in his office and we came here." Harry finished. "Thank you,Harry. Ahh and Professor Snape,perfect timing, we'll do Black first shall we. Sirius,would you like to take a seat?" Dumbledore said. Sirius sat down and drank some of the veritaserum and Dumbledore started to question him, " Who are you?" "Sirius Orion Black" "Good and twelve years ago did you betray Lily and James Potter to Voldemort and kill twelve muggles?" "No, I was framed by Peter" "Ok and last question, were you ever a deatheater even if you aren't one now,was there any point in your life when you were a deatheater? "No" Sirius answered the last question without hesitation. "Ok good, now Severus," Dumbledore said as he walked over to Peter still stunned on the floor, "when i say go i want you to pour the veritaserum down his throat while i undo the stunning spell and replace it with ropes to keep him bound as we don't know what he is capable of," Dumbledore thought for another moment, " On second thought i should also put a spell on him so he can't transform back into his animagus form." After a short pause he raised his wand and said, "Ready Severus, GO!"
Snape rushed forward and poured the serum down his throat whilst Dumbledore flourished his wand about ,muttering spells under his breath. When all was done Peter was bound with tight ropes and had both Snape and Dumbledore's wands on him ready to fire if need be. "Who are you?" You could see Peter struggling against the veritaserum but he failed and choked out, "Peter Proditorius Pettigrew"
"Makes sense, proditor in Latin means traitor. Quite fitting don't you think?" Sirius said. After everyone had mumbled their agreement Dumbledore went back to questioning, " Twelve years ago did you betray Lily and James Potter to Voldemort causing their deaths and then did you go on to kill twelve muggles and fake your death,framing Sirius whilst doing so?" "Yes, to all of them" Peter replied planely. "Right,Severus would you mind sending an owl to the ministry. Oh and can you make sure that fool,Cornelius,Doesn't bring another dementor into this school"Dumbledore said replacing the stunning spell on Peter.
*
When Remus woke up the next morning,it was to a sleeping Sirius Black lying next to him in his bed. So he was free, it worked,he could have his Paddy back. They couls live in the country he doubted Sirius would want to live in the city after twelve years in Azkaban.He lay there watching Sirius sleep and thought to himself 'How did i ever get someone so amazing to fall in love with me?' Sirius only woke up when an owl started pecking the window to be let in. He opened his eyes and saw Remus staring,then smirked and kissed him on the cheek before pulling himself up and out of bed,walking over to the window and letting the owl in. It dropped the newspaper on Remus' head and promptly flew back over to Sirius to get paid whilst Remus picked up the paper and started reading.
Sirius Black Framed?
Last night,at Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry,Sirius Black broke into the school grounds in search for Peter Pettigrew,who is supposed to be dead,and found him in the hands of a student disguised as a pet rat. Being an animagus sure is helpful when you need to hide! The unfortunate pupil and black were joined by handful of other people including Harry potter,Hermione Granger,Remus Lupin and Severus Snape. The group of misfits managed to catch Pettigrew and take him to the headmasters office where he was questioned under veritaserum (very strong truth serum) and found to be guilty of betraying Lily and James Potter to You Know Who,killing twelve muggles and framing Black for all of his crimes.Black was released and given an official pardon from the Minister of Magic himself. Lets hust say we can all learn a valuable lesson from this story:Karma is a Bitch.
The end of the story made Remus laugh. Sirius smiled when he laughed and that made Remus' stomach swoop and flip. He got up and gave Sirius a hug,enveloping him with his long,gangly arms. After a minute, Sirius pulled back and brought Remus down to his height by the front of his shirt...
And kissed him... For a while they were the only things in the world. Time stopped and the sounds around them were all muted just like the first time at a Gryffindor house party on his birthday. He remembers telling Sirius a few months after when he was doubting if he was good enough:
'I didn't fall in love with you because I needed you. Or that I wanted someone to hold. Or that I needed you to make me feel loved. I fell in love with you because the moment I met you everything stopped. The sounds around us were all muted and all I could hear was your voice and every time I stared into you eyes i felt home. And I had no other thought in the world but how can i make you happy for the rest of your life. Cuz you were already doing so much for me and you didn't even know it'
And he says the same now ,the same he did about fifteen years ago and he finds that its still true. Every time he looks at Sirius he feels like he is home again,back with the Marauders,pulling pranks every day,sharing their love every night.
And he wants it to stay like this. Forever.