The people at school know about us.
It took longer than I had expected, but less time than I had hoped. Do you know how? Was it Luna?
It was me. I let it slip by accident.
By accident? Are you certain?
I promise.
I know. I am joking. I knew what I was signing up for when I made my decision.
It'll probably get worse once the tabloids hear about it. It's been a while since they've had anything fun to say about me. I'm sure they'll go crazy over it.
As I said, I am prepared.
They might accuse you of trying to steal me away.
I might 'steal you away'. Would it truly be so bad if I were? I recall that you quite liked France.
It wasn't the country so much as it was other things.
Oh, very smooth. Well said. Regardless, it may be beneficial. If such things are in the tabloids, perhaps my co-workers will finally start to believe me.
That would be nice.
Careful, I can see your jealousy in your quill strokes.
No, you can't.
Call it a hunch then. Do not worry. I have no interest in the dullards that push papers for the DMLE. I doubt they have an ounce of the substance you do between the lot of them.
I don't know about that.
Now I can see your blush in your words.
Quit it.
I think I shan't. Though, I should probably get back to work.
You're at work?
Yes. Dumbledore has asked me and my father to help him sift through Auror reports for potential Death Eater activity that wasn't reported as such. Considering most of the Ministry will not believe him until he proves what he is saying, it is rather slow going. I have been working a few extra hours each night. It is a boon for my finances, but less so for my free time.
If you aren't getting much time at home, you don't have to come help us every weekend.
I am going to continue to disabuse you of the notion that there is anywhere else I would rather be than near to you. If the time comes that I need a restful weekend at my apartment, I promise that I will let you know. Until then, please assume that I count down the days until we can spend time together.
Do you really?
It is much less embarrassing to imply such than it is to admit it outright. But yes. I do.
Me too.
I can practically hear Gabrielle calling us gross. As I said though, I must go. Goodnight, Harry.
Goodnight, Fleur.
Harry set down his quill with a quiet sigh and stuffed his notepaper back into the drawer of his nightstand. Ron looked over from the book he was reading and grinned.
"Dean and Seamus are going to take the absolute piss out of you if they catch you doing that every night."
"I don't do it every night," Harry said. "And they might be too stunned to find you reading every night."
Ron colored and snapped the book shut, mumbling something about; 'A little side project.'
Harry grinned, feeling lighter after having told Fleur that he'd been the one to spill their secret. It wasn't as though he didn't want to brag. At least a little. He had somehow managed to date the most beautiful, fierce person he had ever met. That any of them had ever met.
But bragging would lead to questions, and those questions would lead to what happened following their study group. And he wasn't about to share even an inkling of how passionate Fleur's fiery kisses could be.
XxX
Remus stepped out of the spinning green flames into a room he hadn't seen since he was a small boy. It was as drab and unchanged as he remembered, save for two well-worn chairs that sat a few paces from the fireplace with a cluttered table between them. One chair was, at present, occupied by one of his oldest friends.
Said friend was baring his teeth in what was either the poorest smile Remus had ever seen or an outright threat.
"Do you mind telling me," Remus said, peering down at Sirius, "why Andromeda felt it necessary to reach out to me and tell me I needed to come over?"
"Mind telling me why you'll dodge my floo calls for months, but hop to it when Andy snaps her fingers?"
"She is scarier than you are."
"I'll show you scary," Sirius growled. "I'm not screwing around, Remus. Where in the hell have you been?"
An edge in Sirius's tone set the small hairs at the back of Remus's neck standing on end. Grey eyes flashed and Sirius wet cracked lips with his tongue.
"Where were you?" Sirius snapped, getting to his feet.
"I wanted to come see you, of course," Remus said, taking a step back as Sirius towered over him, despite their considerable difference in height. "It…it was just-"
Two hard fingers in his chest pushed him back against the mantle, the embers of a fire warming his legs through his thin trousers.
"I don't give a single shit about me. You were Harry's teacher in his third year."
Remus nodded, a black pit settling in his stomach, stoked by the fury dancing in Sirius's eyes.
"And then you got sacked and just fell out of his life. Forgot all about him, even after everything he'd been through with those dementors."
"What was I supposed to do? I've heard the general idea of what happened with him from Andromeda. I couldn't have taken him in or helped him. I could barely afford to live in the dingiest of flats. More than once I slept without a roof over my head. What sort of life is that for a young man?"
Sirius's fist gripped the front of his tattered jumper with more force than his bony fingers should have allowed.
"You didn't need to raise him, but nobody expected you to abandon him."
"Abandon him? Sirius, what could I have done? Relay fond memories of parents he'll never know? Visit once a year when I can afford to stay in Hogsmeade? He doesn't need that sort of transience."
Little white lights burst across his vision the moment Sirius's fist connected with his cheek. The world tilted and spun, but with a frantic hand on the mantel behind him, he managed to stay upright.
"He needed somebody." Sirius shook his hand and took a step back. "Do you know how I found out you were his teacher?"
Remus brought a hand up to his cheek and tested his jaw. "I…assumed you knew. You were around Hogwarts that year."
"He told me earlier today when he told me he had managed a corporeal Patronus. A spell that you, apparently, tried to teach him years ago."
Remus's eyes went wide and he stood up straight. "But that's incredible. Clearly, he's doing fine-"
Sirius was a growling blur as he grabbed Remus by the front and slammed him into the mantel, the stone digging painfully into his back.
"We were all he had! I was in prison, so it was up to you to do something, anything!"
Sirius jerked Remus forward then knocked him against the stone again, eliciting a sharp grunt.
"Because vengeance was more responsible?" Remus shot back, his own slow anger bursting alight in his chest. He pried Sirius's hands from his front.
"I made a single idiotic choice in my grief and lost my opportunity. You made a choice every single day for thirteen years to keep away from him."
"Then hit me!" Remus bellowed, planting his feet and shoving Sirius back. "Because you're right! I didn't try. I hid! So go ahead!"
Sirius's swing was wide and predictable, a far cry from the frantic manic jabs of an addict who jumps you on the street. Remus let it land, an underpowered blow that rattled his jaw but little else.
The second hit, however, he blocked with an arm moved by raging adrenaline coursing through him. A jab forward caught Sirius on the jaw, splitting an already cracked lip.
He should've expected the rush forward. It was what Sirius had always done when it came to blows when they were younger, but the red that tinted his vision kept Remus from such idle memories.
They collapsed to the floor, Remus landing a blow on Sirius's ribs that made the man grunt and let out a sharp breath. Sirius maintained the advantage though, grappling Remus's hand under an arm and landing a pair of hits to his face. The second caught his nose and sent a jolt of electric pain swimming across his vision.
Hissing through the pain and blood spilling through his teeth, he swung blindly into the side of Sirius's head, his hand connecting with a loud, painful thump.
Sirius shook his head, eyes wild as he gritted his teeth. Another punch to his ribs toppled Sirius to the side with an angry growl.
Remus rolled to the side, spitting blood as he leaped to his feet, fists raised protectively in front of his face.
He was met by the furious eyes and spittle-flecked jowls of a jet-black dog. A throaty growl seeped out through bared teeth.
Though dangerous, the sight gave Remus pause. When they were friends at school he had never-
Andromeda's pleading voice sliced through the fog of pain and adrenaline.
'He's been doing so well, but it's a really bad day. I'm worried he's going to throw all their hard work away.'
Remus spared a glance over to the cluttered table where a full tumbler of auburn liquid sat next to an empty glass of water.
The sight cooled him off as surely as though the glass had been upended over his head. He let his hands drop, not bothering to wipe away the still-flowing blood that coursed through his mustache.
"We should stop," he said, his voice deep and clear. "Else there will only be one battered old man to take care of Harry."
Another, quieter growl filtered through the dog's teeth before it twisted and shuddered back into Sirius.
"You should go," Sirius snapped, touching the back of a hand to his lip.
"I don't think I will," said Remus, touching a gentle hand to his nose. "Seems like you're having a bad day."
"Getting worse by the second."
"I'm a bit of an authority on bad days," Remus said, nodding towards the table where the empty tumbler sat, damning. "Get me a glass of water too. Need to wash the taste of blood out of my mouth."
"Get it your damn self."
Remus couldn't help but smile at the surly allowance and made his way into the kitchen. Maybe Andromeda would come and fix them up? The two of them had always been utter pants at the finer spellwork needed for healing charms.
He held the glass under the faucet and let it fill, dismissing the idea. She'd probably just add to the injuries for being grown men getting into a fistfight like schoolboys.
XxX
His fire flared for a second time that day, this time disgorging someone he actually wanted to see. If only to get some answers.
Appraising eyes ran across his face and lips pursed when they found remnants of his earlier…scuffle.
"Children. The both of you."
"You're the one who sent him over."
Andromeda stepped closer to where Sirius stood, a glass of water clutched like a shield in front of him. "Because you wouldn't listen to me and you were about to do something you'd regret."
"It's been months. I could've handled one."
"Which is why you're drinking water now?"
He looked down at the offending glass with a scowl. "But Remus? Did it need to be him?"
A baleful look was his reply. "You'd have rathered Narcissa?"
He barked out a mirthless laugh. "She might be better than before but I'm not so sure she wouldn't have forced me to drink the glass just for the fun of it." His hollow grin faded and he rubbed his thumb through the condensation on his glass. "Um…Sebastian and Apolline Delacour. I'm uh…probably less likely to come to blows with them."
"I should think not," Andromeda said with a smile as she laid a hand on his arm. "Apolline looks to me like someone who could pull you apart."
At that, Sirius grinned. "Maybe but she's a lot more bark than she is bite."
"I wouldn't be so sure," Andromeda said with a pat. "Good work, Sirius. I know that was tough."
"Not as tough as living a nightmare for fourteen years. I'll get through it."
A single dark eyebrow arched above a steely eye. "Most people would return the thanks for dealing with you."
Sirius laughed and downed his water. "Thanks for letting me beat the tar out of one of my oldest friends."
XxX
Following their next study session, which had been focused again on the stunning spell course, Fleur requested Harry produce the same cozy cottage room as before, citing a hearty appreciation of the aesthetic. He, too, had grown fond of the little scene, and not only because the small sofa and roaring fire put Fleur in a cuddling mood.
A smile was his reward when he remembered to have the room place the love-seat as close to the fireplace as she liked it, rather than in its customary 'useless' place. Her smile shifted, though how he couldn't say. She patted the seat next to her, her sky-blue eyes comforting, twisting his insides into conflicting knots.
There was no reason to be nervous. It had been days since he'd agreed to fill her in on some of the specifics of his earlier years at Hogwarts. He had deliberated with himself, deciding, in the end, to keep nothing from her, save his final moments with Quirrell. He wasn't quite sure she would want to know he had burned someone to death with a touch.
Nor did he particularly want to relive the blackening of Quirrell's skin, the cracks that became collapsing valleys in his face, or the way his eyes had stayed open, horrified, until the very end.
"It is all that upsetting?" she asked, her soft, careful voice cutting through the intrusive memory.
"Not all of it, but some."
"You do not have to tell me anything you do not want to."
"I know," he said, settling down next to her, focusing on the warmth of her arm around his shoulder and her thigh pressed against his.
And though his instinct was to skip it, he started at the beginning with his first Hogwarts letter and the pain that had followed. Minutes turned to hours as painful recollections became wondrous ones. The first sighting of Hogwarts and a cat becoming a teacher. Hopping on a broom and finding peace in the sky. Finding friends that somehow, impossibly, made him forget what awaited him come summer.
She barely shifted or spoke as he talked, one hand squeezing his shoulder, the other intertwined with his. Angry fire flashed behind her eyes whenever the Dursleys came up, so he avoided talking about them as much as possible.
It was long past curfew when he drew near to the end of what she didn't know. A sharp intake of breath followed his recollection of Dumbledore's rescue by the lake and his paralyzing terror as he and Sirius were surrounded by dementors.
He had meant to stop there, but the words drew him in. Before a silver phoenix banished despair, to when he was trapped in the darkness of his mind.
Earthy humid air surrounded him, an oppressive blanket brushed away by the oncoming gloom. Mud seeped through the knees of his trousers, the water of the Black Lake reaching up as if to draw him in. Sirius groaned on the ground next to him, a wordless agony that spoke of intimate, horrible knowledge of the creatures that descended upon them.
Black tattered robes hung still in the windy evening air with a hundred hoods filled with inky shadow. They brought screams with them. Pulled them out of the deepest hidden parts of his mind; a protected box without a key.
Panic-filled screams filled his ears, a sobbing woman, clutching her frantic, crying child. Rage filled eyes in a face he had tried to love. The face of a man that had fed him, had given him clothes, and driven him to school. A mouth that had reminded him that they were his only family now cursed him, punctuating violence with epithets that seared into him, scarring deep beneath the welts and bruises.
Worthless.
Fingers touched his hair and he jerked away.
Warm air filtered through him with his sharp intake of breath, bringing with it the cozy room around him and tear-filled blue eyes.
He shifted in his seat and she pulled her arm from behind him but left her hand holding his. She twitched towards him as a tear escaped, just to be rubbed away by the back of her hand.
"I am sorry, 'Arry."
"It's okay," he managed, his voice a far cry from the hoarse scream-torn rasp he had been expecting. "You deserve to know…"
She frowned at that but squeezed his hand, then deftly steered him away from the precipice with stories of Gabrielle learning to play her piano and Fleur's disastrous attempts with various stringed instruments.
She ended her story by telling him of Gabrielle's first proper 'recital' for the family, when she played, however inexpertly, the nameless tune that she had performed at Christmas.
The same that Fleur had hummed while cooking, and when they had shared kisses beneath a blanket.
The same she hummed now, to bring him back fully and finally into the little cottage room with her.
XxX
"You did well, Sirius."
"Oh, come on," Sirius said, rolling his eyes. "I'm sure that almost backsliding and getting into a fight is going to be something like a hundred points against me."
Jacobson leaned back in his large office chair and shook his head. "I want to reiterate; that isn't how this works. I will admit to some disappointment in the way you handled your volatile emotions at first but you allowed a de-escalation and subsequently expanded your support network. This is progress."
"It just feels so…slow," said Sirius, finally dropping into one of the chairs sat across the desk from Jacobson. "Like I'll never be done with it."
At this, Jacobson's chair creaked as he leaned forward, his normally wide friendly eyes serious and hard.
"It is unlikely you will ever be 'done with it' as you expect to be," he said, his voice quiet and steady. "The struggle will lessen, yes, but never vanish completely. Everybody has bad days."
Sirius grunted his reply, sinking further into his chair.
"Keep working at it. Your dedication does you credit."
"Yeah, thanks," Sirius said, silently wishing the other night felt like anything more than a failure.
"So," Jacobson said, relaxing back into his seat. "How is Harry?"
"Good. Dating," Sirius said with a grin. "He and a friend of his got together over Christmas."
"I'm sure he's thrilled. Is it a classmate of his?"
Sirius shook his head. "No, the eldest Delacour, actually."
"Really? I know you had said they were close, but I hadn't suspected romantic interest."
"Then I did a bad job explaining the two of them. Her parents and I weren't surprised in the least."
Jacobson sat in silence for a moment, steepling his fingers in front of his face.
"You have told me that he was neglected by his guardians, correct?"
"Yeah," Sirius answered with a frown. Something uncomfortable tickled the back of his mind at the careful tone of Jacobson's voice.
"Do you think they...explained the finer points of relationships to him?"
It took Sirius a moment to digest the words and when they finally slammed home, he sunk deep into his chair.
"Aw, hell."
His uncomfortable dread grew to new heights as he left Jacobson's office not much later and he, not for the first time, cursed James for getting himself killed. Sure, Sirius had some fun in school, but he certainly hadn't learned anything proper from his parents. How was he supposed to even broach the subject?
In the end, he pocketed the worry, deciding, with reluctance, to ask Andromeda for pointers. She'd managed to raise a good kid. Surely she and Ted had a…procedure? A script?
His thoughts carried him back home, only to be dashed away moments after his arrival by yet another visitor. He grumbled about Grimmauld's newfound popularity as a tourist spot when the fireplace produced Narcissa, her hair loosened from its usual tight bun and an uncharacteristic smile on her face.
"Andromeda tells me you had an interesting reunion the other day," she said, stepping away from the now blazing fire. "A pair of grown magical men using fists."
"I wasn't trying to hurt him badly," he said with a shrug. "Just a little. And since when do you and Andy sit and gossip, anyway?"
Narcissa pursed her lips, becoming a near mirror of her sister. "I suppose I should be thankful she deigns to talk to me?"
"That's not what I meant, but also...yeah, a bit."
Her joking expression turned down into a frown and she shrank down into herself. "There's only so much I can do. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to extricate yourself from those people? It's not as though I can spend every waking moment repairing broken relationships."
Sirius blew out a slow breath. Maybe it was Jacobson's influence from earlier in the day. Maybe he really was getting old and lonely.
Either way, it was getting awfully hard not to see the girl that had laughed along with him and Regulus in the midst of their Yule celebrations.
He shrugged instead of saying anything, allowing an awkward moment to pass before speaking again.
"Well, if you didn't come just to give me a hard time, you might as well relax. If you're staying for dinner, Kreacher can set a place for you as well."
"I was actually hoping I could borrow something from the library. Draco's OWLs are coming up and his theoretical knowledge of wards is...lacking."
"Suit yourself," he said, then hesitated. "I hope you won't be too offended when I double-check to see which book you take."
The glare he received in return was a touch less frosty than he had anticipated.
She was not, in fact, offended when he held his hand out for the book she had retrieved. "Warden's Call: The Premier Authority on Ancient Technique" was scrawled across the front in a looping golden font with a shimmering blue hue covering the entire book.
"Studying the old wards, is he?" Sirius asked, proffering the book for Narcissa to take back. "I'd have thought some of those would be NEWT level."
"Some," she said with a nod, "but what he needs is the information on keystones. He knows about them, of course, but never bothered to learn the finer details."
"As much as I'd like to give him a hard time, I'm not much better. How's Durmstrang treating him?"
"Well enough. He's still not happy to be away from Hogwarts, but it's for the best."
Sirius nodded, a pang of sympathy resonating inside his chest. His parents had threatened Durmstrang as well when he went sprinting into his rebellious phase. "Why'd you send him anyway? You know Hogwarts has to be safer."
Narcissa's eyes flashed and he grimaced.
"Right, your…extrication problem."
"Quite. Now, I must go. I am missed if I am gone for too long, even for simple visits such as these."
Sirius opened his mouth but she shook her head, loose swaths of hair swinging with the motion.
"I am working on it. Take care, Sirius. I am glad you are well."
"Thanks, Cissy," he said, offering her a quick wave as she tossed a handful of powder into the fireplace.
With a rush of green flames, she was gone, leaving him alone in the large, cavernous home.
He wondered if he'd be haunted by generations of Blacks if he painted a few walls.
XxX
Narcissa sped through the foyer, book in hand. She bit back the irritation that she had been made to feel like an intruder in her own home and kept a brisk pace to the eastern wing. They had been kind enough to leave her the bedroom she shared with Lucius, but little else. She could hardly call on her house-elf, and when the strange little thing wasn't busy, he was unconscious from excessive punishment.
The halls were surprisingly quiet for the afternoon. Quiet for any time of day, really.
She suppressed a cold shudder. That meant they were out.
Would she read of an Azkaban break in the Daily Prophet tomorrow while she held to tenuous composure after seeing what the horrible place had done to her eldest sister? Would more Ministry officials be stuffed into transfigured cells to howl and plead until their merciful death?
She slammed her bedroom door behind her, refusing such thoughts entry into her sanctuary. Where her home had become a den of filth and violence, her room stayed as it had been for years; clean and precise, save for the rumpled covers on the unused portion of her bed. It lay undisturbed, just as he had left it that final morning. All save for the pillow, which rested next to her own.
Dominique hooted from his floor-to-ceiling cage, the single concession she had made in altering her room. There were plenty of owls in the owlery, but she had no desire to be forced to wander through clusters of Death Eaters just to send a letter.
Besides, having something else in the room had been…nice.
She moved to her desk and penned a quick, sternly worded letter to Draco. Naturally smart or not, studying for OWLs was not meant to be saved until the exams were mere months away. She tucked the letter and book into an expanded pouch and tied it to one of Dominique's legs.
The owl left in a rush of ashen wings and a blur of motion. As it always did, the room lost something with the owl gone. She had grown used to the sporadic motion from his cage and caught herself more on edge without him. She had never cared to find a familiar, not when she'd had Lucius since their school days, but maybe…
Maybe a cat. It'd be nice to have some warmth in her bed again.