The Pensieve

Handmade Heartbreak

Remus had gotten a scant few messages from Sirius ever since he'd officially been on the run from the Ministry that summer, (from tropical birds of all things), but the last had just been the forbidding message he was going back to Hogwarts to keep a closer eye on Harry. Then nothing.

Silence, again, for the next several months, and there were only the papers and those horrid articles to keep him in the loop.

A knock on the door jolted him from reading one such paper now, Rita's latest drivel over Harry's insanity issues, the nerve of that woman. He wasn't in the best temper from that alone, and yet another shiver rolled down his spine as he looked around at the sharp noise.

The last time someone had done this to his home in the middle of nowhere had been Dumbledore requesting him to come back to Hogwarts. He swallowed and tried to push that memory away as he uneasily pulled himself from the couch and gripped his wand, telling himself if the Ministry still had any comments about how that debacle had ended they wouldn't have waited a whole nother year to come calling.

An old familiar sight darkened his doorway, like a nightmare and an echo all coalescing into this one moment.

"Voldemort's back and Dumbledore told me to come lay low here." Sirius stopped there as if that was all the explanation needed. He was still wearing the filthy robes of Azkaban, once bright gray eyes seemed dull...almost bored with having to be the one to inform him of this.

When further explanation was clearly not going to be provided right this moment, Remus instead felt obligated to at least address the absurd part of that. "Of course you can stay." He attempted rolling his eyes, but he couldn't take them off Sirius for even a moment.

This was not surprising news; Dumbledore had sent him a warning that something was coming as well after Harry's name had come out of the Cup. It's not as if Remus had ever sent a message to Sirius to confirm he knew, it had felt too obvious, but he'd never been able to cobble anything else to ink out either.

'It was supposed to be casual, him stepping across your doorway,' he firmly reminded himself.

Sirius stayed hovering near the doorway the whole time Remus went about preparing a meal, almost like he was deciding whether or not to bolt at any second. Remus tried not to let himself hold onto any emotion as he gently set two plates down at the table and gave him an obvious look.

Sirius finally came in properly, still eyeing every corner and flicker of movement before sitting on the edge of the seat and devouring the food. He didn't use utensils. Remus opened and closed his mouth at least a dozen times to at least ask how staying in Hogsmeade had been, but couldn't get the words out. Sirius never even caught his eye.

Remus was used to silence. He loved the shows they used to put on, but he'd been more than happy to sit alone for hours reading just as much. He'd spent far too many years wondering if he wouldn't have just been better off doing that far more than letting them get so involved in his life. He'd tried telling himself, in recent weeks anyway, that it was just old bitterness, but Sirius must have still felt something of his unease he hadn't worked through.

Sirius hadn't even bothered to clean his hands; his hair was shorter than it ever had been and uneven but at least decent-looking. It occurred to Remus he didn't even seem aware of how unnaturally still he was even as his eyes kept flinching over nothing.

"Are you going to tell me what happened?" Remus finally asked as he took up his plate and set it in the sink. He'd meant about Voldemort. He should have known better.

As much as Sirius used to love jokes, Remus had to be really obvious about it and heavy-handed with the sarcasm if he were going to play along, or he'd think Remus was trying to make a biting comment instead, just like his parents had for so many years.