A Promise
Sirius had never been more miserable in his life, and that was definitely saying something.
Since Walburga had decided to lock him inside his own damn bedroom, Sirius had only seen James twice. On the first time, he’d given the other man a letter and asked him to give it to Remus. On the next day, James had showed up very early in the morning, holding a tray with Sirius’ breakfast and the response from Remus carefully hidden bellow the plate.
It was the day after that, when his friend stopped coming, that Sirius naturally assumed that his dear mother’s brief period of clemency had ended and she wouldn’t let him see James again anytime soon.
In the morning of the seventh day of his private incarceration, Sirius woke up with a jump at the sound of his mother’s high pitched voice reaching his sensitive ears. He didn’t know it yet, but that would be the morning that changed his entire life completely. Forever.
“Get up, it’s almost 9 o’clock already! Do you even know how to do anything other than sleep?”
Sirius suppressed a grimace and let out a tired sigh as he rolled over to look at Walburga, who stood in the middle of his bedroom.
He wasn’t surprised to find her there, of course, since that woman seemed to ignore all sense of manners when it came to him, including the precious art of knocking.
“Good morning to you too, mother. You look lovely today. To what do I owe you the pleasure of your company?”
Walburga narrowed her eyes at Sirius’ tone, “Don’t start playing your little games with me, Sirius Black. I am fed up with you already.”
Sirius opened his mouth to argue and say that she had been fed up with him since he was just a little child, but seemed to think it was best to stay silent and not cause anymore trouble than necessary.
Seeming to calm down a bit after the lack of confrontation, Walburga turned around and slowly walked towards the small sofa next to the wall. Once comfortable, she didn’t waist a second before going straight to the subject.
“I came to see if you have made your decision.”
Sirius couldn’t hold on a sarcastic laugh at that. It was quite funny, actually. There he was, being held prisoner by his own mother until he chose a woman to marry, but he didn’t even know what the options were. The paper containing the three names had been long burned.
“And why do you think my answer will be any different than the one I gave you before?”
“Because even someone with a head as thick as yours can be smart enough to know not to mess with me,” she answered, and the danger in her tone was as clear as the sun outside, “You only have three days now, Sirius, you know that.”
“And what are you going to do about it, mother?” he got up from the bed and raised his chin, trying to look defiant despite his crimped pijamas and messy hair, “Choose someone yourself, drag me down the aisle and then tie me up as the cerimonial marries me?”
Sirius almost turned around and ran out of the bedroom as he finished that sentence, afraid that Walburga would finally lose it an choke him with her bare hands.
“I will do whatever it takes, and I swear to God that I will—“
However, whatever threats that were going to be thrown at him were suddenly interrupted by the loudest noise Sirius had ever heard, an explosion so loud that the ground trembled and he had to place a hand on the wall to steady himself. Not even two seconds after that, the gunshots started.
“What was that?!” a squeak gained Sirius’ attention and he looked to his side to find his mother standing up, and at that moment he could have sworn that was the first time he ever saw fear in those soulless eyes.
“I don’t know.”
They didn’t have to wait to find out, because on the next moment Sirius’ bedroom door was bursted opened without any knocks for the second time in less than ten minutes.
That time, though, it was the two officers in charge of guarding Sirius’ chambers that came in, and the panic was clear on their features.
“Your Majesty,” one of them stepped forward and turned to the queen,” It’s an attack. They’re here. They’re inside the palace.”
The air caught immediately up on Sirius’ throat and he almost forgot how to breathe. He had experienced many attacks to the palace during his life, but that was the first time the rebels managed to get pass the walls and gates.
“How the hell did they get inside?!” his mother demanded to know, face as pale as a ghost.
“We don’t know yet, Your Majesty. But we need to get you to the safe place, and now!”
It was at that moment that Sirius seemed to break out of the state of shock he was currently in. He saw, almost in slow motion, as one of the men moved towards him and reached his hand to grab his arm, definitely intending to drag him down to the royal family’s safe spot along with his mother, his father and Regulus.
However, just as the hand was about to close around his upper arm, Sirius swiftly dodged from the man’s grasp, one thought set firmly on his stubborn mind. In a matter of mere seconds, he looked at his mother one more time, then turned around and ran.
“Sirius! SIRIUS!”
Her desperate yells reached his ears as he distanced himself and made a turn into one of the corridors, but that didn’t slow him down. Sirius would be damned if he was going to go anywhere without his Remus.
~
The first thing Remus noticed when he stepped into the kitchen that morning for work was that he was late. Again.
Remus was a very hard working and professional young man, who took his job at the palace extremely seriously (and siriusly, as well), but his sleeping and eating habits had basically fallen apart on the last few days.
And as if that wasn’t enough already, he would spend his entire free time crying and worrying over Sirius, who he hadn’t received any news from in a week. Summing it all up, Remus was beyond exhausted.
The second thing Remus noticed was that Peter wasn’t there. Frowning in confusion at his friend’s absence, he strode over to where Lily stood washing some dishes.
“Good morning, Lils. Where’s Peter?”
“Good morning,” she greeted him with a small smile before shrugging and darting her eyes back to the sink, “I don’t know, actually. He hasn’t shown up today. We can pass by his bedroom later and see if he is ill or something.”
Remus nodded in agreement and proceeded to grab some dirty plates, immediately beginning to scrub and turn them as shiny as they could possibly be. After all, they worked in a palace, and a work done poorly would not be accepted.
“How are you doing, Re?” she asked him a minute later, and Remus turned to his right only to find a pair of eyes looking at him with a mixture of worry and pity that made him want to let out an exasperated sigh.
It was the pity that bothered him the most, really, because he knew he looked as terrible as he felt and couldn’t blame Lily for her concern.
“As fine as I can be, I guess,” Remus tried to sound as casual as possible, but he couldn’t even fool a fly, much less Lily.
He was right, of course, because he saw from the corner of his eye as her eyebrows furrowed even more, not even a bit satisfied by his answer, but thankfully she didn’t press on the subject much more.
Silence fell between them for a few minutes after that, the sound of the water falling and some other coworkers making small talk the only things to be heard.
However, despite the quiet atmosphere, Remus’ mind didn’t let him rest for even a second. He had been so worried that he had even considered risking everything and bursting to Sirius’ chambers just to see if he was alright.
“I just miss him so much, Lily,” the words came out of Remus’ mouth like a sob and he quickly moved his hands to cover his mouth, but not before Lily heard it.
“Oh, Remus,” she instantly dropped the dishes and moved closer, pulling him into a comforting embrace, “I know you do.”
They stayed like that for a while until Remus stepped away and tried to subtly wipe his red face with his sleeves. Needless to say, it wasn’t subtle at all.
“I’m sorry,” he apologized looking down at his feet, his cheeks heating from embarrassment and adding even more color to them.
“Remus John Lupin, you have nothing to apologize for! You say that one more time and I promise I will make you regret it, young man!”
That successfully got a genuine laugh from Remus, the first one in a whole week, and Lily smiled triumphantly up at him.
“Well, I’m not crazy enough to mess with you, am I?”
“I hope not.”
Yeah, Remus really loved that girl. He definitely understood why James has been in love with her for so long.
He was just about to hug her one more time and suggest they headed back to work when it suddenly began.
Plates and cups shattered on the floor, people lost their balance and fell on top of the pieces of broken glass. The noise was so loud that it disoriented Remus, and he looked in confusion at the door when it was abruptly bursted open, revealing a tall man in an officer’s uniform.
“It’s another attack! The rebels are inside the palace, so it’s not safe to take any of you to the safe place. Stay here, don’t get out under any circumstances!”
And with that, the man turned around and ran outside, leaving complete caos behind him. It took a while to Remus’ brain to process what was going on, but when it did, it was like living a deja-vu. A really terrifying one.
However, even as almost everyone in the kitchen started to scream, run and push each other around in desperation to hide, to live, Remus could only focus on one thing. He kept remembering what Lily had told him weeks ago while they hid behind a supply closet.
‘They want to take down the royal family.’
Sirius.
Completely ignoring the guard’s warnings, Remus began to make space through the caos and moved towards the exit.
“Remus, wait!” Lily’s small fingers closed around his wrist before he could leave, “What are you doing?!”
“I have to go, Lily!” he shouted so desperately that her eyes widened in surprise, “I have to find Sirius! They will kill him!”
Without waiting for a response, Remus swiftly freed his hand and ran out of the room. Apart from a lot of officers running around, the corridors were empty, and Remus immediately went in the direction of Sirius’ chambers.
At that moment, he didn’t give a damn if someone found out about them. He just needed to make sure Sirius was safe.
The kitchen was far from Sirius’ bedroom, so Remus made sure his feet were carrying him as fast as they could. He got to the second floor only a few minutes later, and was about to go up to the third when his heart made a loop and he stopped dead on his tracks.
Turning around a corridor a few meters away from Remus and running like their lives depended on it (which they probably did), was Sirius. He was still wearing his pijamas, his hair was a total mess and he was barefoot. He also looked completely terrified, which made Remus’ heart ache in his chest.
“Sirius!”
Remus watched as the man stopped at the sound of his voice and turned his head to where he stood. Sirius’ eyes widened and the next thing Remus knew they were throwing their arms around each other, crying, laughing and sobbing, all at the same time.
“Remus, I missed you so much!” Sirius eventually managed to say.
“I missed you too, love! I was so worried about you!”
“Don’t be,” Sirius told him, although his eyes were puffy from crying and he had dark shadows underneath them, “I’m okay. Now that you’re here, I’m okay.”
They smiled at each other and Remus didn’t waist any time before pulling him in for a passionate kiss. As they stood there, with their arms around each other and their mouths locked together, Remus felt like he could finally breathe again. God, he had missed that man.
The kiss lasted way less than any of them wanted it to, because Remus’ mind suddenly began to function properly again and he pulled away in a hurry, trying to ignore the pout in Sirius’ lips as he did so.
“Sirius, you have to get out of here! You’re in danger!”
The other shook his head fervently at that, “No! I won’t leave you again!”
“You have to go, Sirius! Please! They will kill you!”
Sirius started to shake his head again, ready to refuse, when a determined look crossed his eyes, “Come with me, then.”
“You know I can’t. I—“
“Sirius, what the hell are you doing here?!” a voice interrupted Remus and the two men looked to their side to see James looking at them with desperation, clearly shocked at seeing his best friend standing there in the middle of the hallway, with nothing to protect him, “You have to go hide!”
“I can’t leave him, James! I just can’t!”
James opened his mouth to protest again, but he must have noticed that Sirius wouldn’t budge, because he almost immediately closed it and let out a defeated sigh. His eyes lit up only a second later, though.
“I can take you to the secret passage. You two can stay there with Frank and Alice.”
“Brilliant, James!” Sirius’ smile was so bright that Remus had to resist the urge to grab him by his shirt and snog him senseless right there. Boy, he really wanted to do that.
However, the joy didn’t last very long. Remus suddenly caught a movement from the corner of his eye and his blood ran cold when he turned to look at it.
Two men wearing identical clothes were standing near the end of the hall, and they had two big guns pointed directly at them. More precisely, they were pointed directly at...
“Sirius, watch out!”
Remus moved without thinking twice and time seemed to slow down almost to a stop as he leaped in Sirius’ direction and pushed him out of the way. The next second, all he could feel was...
Pain.
“REMUS!”
Remus fell on the ground with a loud thud as intense pain threatened to consume him. It all happened so fast that Remus had to take a moment to orient himself and open his eyes, letting out a horrified gasp as he did so.
Blood was already pouring out from a hole on his shoulder and another one on his stomach, painting his clothes in dark red. He saw as three guards, who had appeared like angels out of nowhere, ran towards the rebels and tackled them to the ground.
But the only thing he could really focus on was the image of Sirius kneeling besides him, his usually beautiful and carefree face twisted in agony as desperate tears left his eyes like waterfalls.
“REMUS!” Sirius was shouting desperately at him while trying to stop the bleedings, “No, no, NO! Why did you do that?! Please, God, not him!”
“Sirius...”
Remus was shocked to hear his voice sounding so weak and powerless, but he threw that thought away as Sirius’ eyes met his own.
“Sirius...I...love...you.”
“No, don’t you dare! Don’t you DARE, Remus Lupin! Stop saying that like this is a goodbye! You are NOT dying on me!”
Sirius’ sobs were wracking his whole body at that point, so loud that Remus thought everyone in the palace would be able to hear him even with the explosions still going on.
“Sirius...listen...to me,” Remus’ breath was becoming more and more shallow as the seconds gone by, “You...need to...get out of...here.”
“NO! I won’t leave you, Remus! Hold on, okay? You’re going to be alright!”
With that, Sirius moved his eyes to one of the wounds again and proceeded to make pressure on it, making Remus let out a painful howl.
“I’m sorry, love,” Sirius whispered in his ear between sobs, “I know it hurts, but we have to stop the bleeding.”
“No...you have...to go...please, Sirius.”
Remus could feel his strength leaving his body like water on a sieve, and he needed to know that Sirius was going to be safe. He needed to know that Sirius was going to live.
Just as he said that, Remus noticed a tall figure lower itself to kneel next to Sirius. It was James. He had completely forgotten James was there.
“Sirius, he can’t stay here much longer. I will take him and look for Madame Pomfrey, okay?” James’ voice was calm, probably for Sirius’ sake, but his face made it clear that he was far from it.
“I will go with you.”
“No, Sirius, you won’t! You have to go hide, you were almost killed just two minutes ago!”
Remus saw as Sirius opened his mouth to protest again but called him before he had the chance to say anything.
“Sirius.”
“Yes, love, I’m right here,” he answered and grabbed Remus’ now cold hands between his own.
Then, Remus used the last bit of the strength he had left to tug Sirius down by his collar, and pressed a kiss to the man’s lips. As he savored the so familiar taste of Sirius’ mouth, Remus wondered if that was going to be their last kiss.
“Promise me...you are going to...live.”
“I am going to live, and so are you! We will get married, have a wonderful life and grow old together, okay? Do you hear me?”
A smile appeared on Remus’ face as he heard those words and, for a brief instant, he forgot all about the pain as his heart swelled. A life with Sirius Black. That was all that he wanted.
But the moment passed like a blink of an eye as two of the three officers that had appeared approached them and turned to Sirius.
“We have to get you to a safe place, Your Highness.”
Remus felt the tears begin to cripple at the back of his eyes. He probably wouldn’t get a life with Sirius Black, but he would make damn sure that Sirius Black had a life. Even if it meant a life without him.
With one weak squeeze to Sirius’ soft hands, Remus looked right at those silver eyes that he fell in love with and whispered one more time.
“I love you.”
Then, he looked up at James and gave him a small nod. Luckily, the man immediately understood, took him in his arms and began to take him away.
“Wait, WAIT! REMUS!”
Remus could do nothing but watch as the love of his life struggled to get away from the two men’s hold, yelling, crying, kicking and calling for him.
And then, everything went black.