to the tune of 'Maybe This Time' by Michael Martin Murphey - c.1993/1994
There was a knock on the door of his little flat. Back in London for the holidays, Remus was still getting used to the sounds of the city again. Hogwarts had felt like a permanent knife in his heart, a chain dangling the memories of his old friends before him but not allowing him to grab them.
Music filled the flat, the sounds of the song overpowering the loneliness that threatened to swallow Remus whole. He lounged on the sofa, book balanced precariously in one hand as the other used his wand to check the timer on his biscuits. He was making them for Professor McGonagall, who he refused to address as anything else, and who had reminisced with him in their spare time at Hogwarts. She always was Sirius's favourite. He pushed the thought out of his head, knowing that it was no good to think about the boy with long hair and a sharp smile.
A loud knock on the door came once again. Assuming it was just the postman dropping off a bill of some sorts, he ignored the knocking in favour of finishing his book. That is, until the knocking turned into an odd scrabbling sound that had Remus on his feet before he could tell what exactly the sound was. Except he already knew. He'd seen the newspapers, he wasn't oblivious. But he couldn't believe that it was happening.
Book be damned, he had to see who was at the door.
Remus flung the door open, preparing to tell whoever was there that they had the wrong flat. Because it couldn't be him. It was impossible, and he was stupid to hope..
The scrabbling stopped as he flung the door open, and came face to face with a large dog, who promptly stood up and became a man. A man who Remus thought was rotting in prison until only a few months ago. A man who Remus had once loved. A man who Remus still both loved and missed, even if he denied it vehemently.
"Hello. May I come in?" Sirius looked shy, and undeniably wary of his surroundings.
Remus simply nodded and stepped back to allow his visitor into the flat.
They both stood in silence for a few moments, the radio still going in the background, swapping to a song that Remus knew far too well. One that had been released only two years after everything happened, and that he refused to listen to.
Two old friends meet again
"Remus..?" Sirius was watching him cautiously.
A pause. An internal debate. A choice.
"Merlin's socks, I missed you." Remus closed the gap between himself and Sirius in a hurry lest his courage leave him, and wrapped his arms around the other man, who promptly began sobbing.
"I missed you too. So much. Unhealthily. I thought you'd turn me away. I'm so sorry." Sirius mumbled the words into Remus's shoulder. "Harry's grown up without any of us there. I saw him. Only once, and from a distance, but.. He's so old now."
"I know, Sirius. I know." Both of them were crying, still hugging like the world would end if they stopped.
A few moments later after they broke apart and once Remus made them coffee just how Sirius used to like it, they sat on his old sofa side by side, talking. Nothing important was said, but they both had missed the other so much and it had been so long that starting with easy, simple discussions seemed like the best idea.
Both men were laughing, and crying, and seemed to be feeling everything at once.
Remus's shoddy little flat in London was now holding (nearly) the most wanted man in Wizarding Britain, but all he could think about was Sirius's laugh, and his smile, and his eyes. Oh, he was still as beautiful as the last day they saw one another, back in 1981.
Two old sweethearts who fell apart
Now they were drunk, and it was hours after Sirius's arrival, and Remus's biscuits were burnt but he didn't care. He had Sirius back with him. His Sirius. That was all that mattered to him now.
Sirius, Sirius, Sirius. Over and over, his brain repeated the name. The name of a boy who he loved once, and the name of a man who he loved still. Maybe he never stopped.
"Shall we make some more biscuits? To make up for the burnt ones?" Sirius had proposed not too long ago. Words came easily when drunk.
Covered in flour like they were kids again, messing around, they baked like their lives depended on it.
They were too young to know when love is real
But somehow, some things never change
The biscuits finally ended up in the oven, and they weren't anywhere near as presentable as the ones Remus had made alone that afternoon, but who was to care?
"Do you have any sprinkles?"
"Why the fuck do you want sprinkles?! Don't tell me you're going to eat them out of the container. And don't lie, I know you! It's the sort of thing you'd do!" It's the sort of thing he had done, and Remus remembered vividly the joy on Sirius's face when James's parents had allowed him to eat as many sprinkles as he wanted.
"No, you idiot! They're for the biscuits after they're done cooking!" Sirius remembered it too, and remembered the joy of decorating gingerbread houses at Christmas with James, Effie, and Monty. Nothing would ever come close to that. Except maybe for seeing Remus again. Yes, he decided. That beat Christmas by miles.
Remus looked at him incredulously. "We are not putting sprinkles on the biscuits. End of."
"I said no!" He shook his head, grinning despite the stern expression on his face. "I don't have any either way, so it sucks to be you."
"But you can go to the shop and buy them? And maybe some chocolate too? I really want chocolate. I've been in prison! I haven't had chocolate for twelve years!"
And so Remus went to the local shop to buy sprinkles and chocolate, despite his protests.
When an old lady stopped to compliment how happy his dog looked, saying that he "must be doing something right", he couldn't help but smile as he replied.
"Thank you, Ma'am. He's a purebred. His mother was a real bitch though."
Judging by the expression on Padfoot's face, he guessed that the joke was much appreciated.
When they got back to the flat and Sirius had eaten most of the sprinkles, Remus decided that he didn't mind having an escaped convict in his home after all. Not when the escaped convict was Sirius, anyway.
Maybe this time love won't end
