Bewitched | wolfstar au

Eighty-seven (part three)

The two boys are both stuck in a place with no words, not quite sure of what to say, when they are, thankfully, saved by a persistent scratching on the door.

Sirius frowns in its general direction.

Remus can't help his smile as he goes to open the door. Just as he thought it would be, it's Marshbutton. Or in other words, Sirius' new best friend. She jumps on Sirius' bed straight away, as if it's her property, and starts sniffing at the box.

Remus pops his head out to see if any more of his cats have been waiting to get in. The corridor, however, is empty.

"Hi there," he hears Sirius say, voice still scratchy. He turns around to watch Marshbutton paw at Sirius' hand as he tries to pet her.

His face is still shiny with dried tears, but at least he's smiling. There's something poetic about sad boys smiling through tears.

"Oh," Remus gasps when another half of fur darts inside the room, immediately hiding under Sirius' bed. And of course the third one comes bouncing immediately after. It's Mentos, and he starts looking around the room for poor Mittens, probably so that he could bully him some more.

"No, Mentos, leave him alone. Come on," Remus picks him up and carries him over to the bed, setting him down next to Marshbutton, who's rubbing her cheeks on the edge of Sirius' box.

True to his blood, Mentos immediately jumps off, scurrying under the bed. Remus flinches as he waits for it, and sure enough, a minute later, the cats emerge from under the bed at the speed of light, darting outside the room as suddenly as they appeared.

Remus rubs his forehead, sitting down next to Sirius.

"There, there," Sirius sniffles, patting his back. "I'm sure they'll grow up to be very well-behaved young boys,"

Remus looks up to find Sirius grinning at him. His eyes are a bit puffy but he smiles through it like the sun peeking out from behind a cloud. Remus can swear he just melted a little bit.

"Thanks," he sighs, "It's hard, being a single parent,"

"We should change that," Sirius grins.

Remus blinks. "Did you just-"

"No," Sirius blushes, pale cheeks glazing over with pink. "No, I didn't." He clears his throat quickly, averting his eyes, gathering the string of photos up as quickly as he can.

"Marshbutton, no," he groans when the cat starts grabbing at it. Remus can't help laughing as he watches Sirius try to get Marshbutton to stop.

"A little help would be appreciated, Remus," Sirius grumbles.

Laughing, Remus picks Marshbutton up and gives her a little kiss on her nose. "Be a good girl, Marshbutton," he says, placing her on his lap and stroking her head in hopes of getting her to stay in place.

Sirius shoves the photos back in the box. "So... that's my life story," he shrugs, "Thanks for listening to my speech, I guess. Any questions?" He gives Remus a half-hearted smile.

Remus bites his lip as Sirius reaches over to tickle Marshbutton's chin.

"Actually, yeah," Remus tells him. "When I came home... You mentioned your-" Remus pauses cautiously, "-parents," he clears his throat. "Did... Did something happen?"

Remus is thinking maybe they paid Sirius a visit. Or gave him a call. Or sent him an owl, if they're as adamant about preserving the Wizarding culture as Remus has heard them to be.

Sirius taps Marshbutton's paw with a finger. "Nothing happened," he shakes his head. "I just wasn't thinking straight. I mean, obviously. Cause I'm... you know, gay," Sirius grins. Catching Remus' blank stare, he visibly deflates a little. "Sorry," he mumbles. "It's just... I don't know, I just remembered them."

Remus holds back a sigh. "Out of nowhere?" He prompts.

"Yeah?" Sirius gives a small grimace. "Okay, maybe not out of nowhere. Every time something goes wrong in my life, I just remember them," he sighs, but then gives Remus a smile so big that Remus has to look away. "It's because they were such a positive influence, of course."

"Don't joke about that," Remus says.

"Sorry," Sirius mutters, his smile dropping along with his eyes. Remus instantly feels bad. "I... Didn't mean it like that," he says quickly, reaching for Sirius' hand. "I just... I'm sorry," he says.

Sirius rolls his eyes. "You're turning into a sap, Remus," he tsks.

But Remus doesn't let him go.

Sirius looks at their hands and then back up at Remus. "Is it bad that..." He bites his lip, "That I still want them to love me?"

Remus feels his throat go dry. He shakes his head.

"It's so fucked up," Sirius sighs. He removes a hand from Remus' to start petting Marshbutton once more. "I wonder if Reg's back yet," he mutters.

"I don't think he is," Remus replies. "We would've heard him,"

"Unless he Floo-ed," Sirius reminds him.

"Do you want me to go see?"

"No," Sirius says quickly. He blushes then, lightly as he always does, but it's so pretty how his cheeks go pink. It's like watching a flower bloom through frosted glass. "You can stay," he adds softly.

Remus doesn't really know what he's doing when he takes his hand off of Marshbutton and reaching forward with it, but he doesn't get to find out anyway. As soon as his hand leaves her, she jumps right out of his lap, knocking Sirius' box over.

"Marshbutton," Remus groans.

Sirius bursts out laughing as a bunch of photos spill out of the box. There's a lot more than Remus saw before.

Sirius catches him trying not to look.

"It's okay," he says. "You can look. They're just photos I didn't have room for on my wall,"

Remus feels his cheeks go red. "Uh, okay," he mumbles. There are some more photos of Sirius and James together. It's adorable.

But not all of the photos have people on them. Most of them are actually void of anything human. Moons and sunsets and flowers...

But then, all of a sudden, Sirius grabs a photo and clutches it to his chest. "You can't look at this one," he chokes out.

Remus gives him a confused look.

"Stop it," Sirius tells him, "I'm... No." He turns around and shoves the photo under the pillow he's leaning against.

Remus looks at Marshbutton who's now happily squeezed inside the box. He returns his gaze to Sirius' face, but Sirius is still looking away.

They stare at nothing in particular for a while. And then Sirius speaks up with a sigh. "Fine, I'll show you," he mumbles, reaching under the pillow and pulling the photo out. Remus wants to tell him that he doesn't have to, but before he can do that, Sirius quickly shoves the photo into Remus' hands and pulls his knees up, burying his face in them.

Remus looks at the side of his face for a minute before shaking his head, a small smile tugging at his lips. He turns his eyes to the photo.

His smile falls just then, his mind going blank for a second.

The photo has been taken inside the Hogwarts library. Surrounded by tall bookshelves lining the walls, there's a small wooden desk with a magic lantern on it. And sitting at the table is a boy, hunched over a book with his head down, hair tinged gold from the light. His cloak is draped across the back of his chair, and he's surrounded by books.

There's a quill in his hand. His tie is red and gold, and his sleeves are rolled up. And his arms... They're lined with long scars, visible clearly even in the dim light.

Remus feels his lips part in surprise.

Because it's not just any boy. It's him.