Sirius straightened his tie in the mirror before leaning over to adjust Harry's.

"There you are, Handsome." Sirius smiled, ruffling Harry's hair. "Now don't you drool all over this."

Harry pulled his fist out of his mouth and let out a string of babble.

"Is that so?" Sirius asked, running a brush through his hair for the third time.

Harry laughed and fell backwards onto the mattress and rolled around. Sirius smiled and set the brush down onto the wardrobe before scooping the wriggly baby up into his arms.

"Best behaviour now." Sirius said into the top of Harry's head as he carried him into the hallway.

Sirius had spent the better part of the day completely consumed by anxiety and right now wasn't much better. When Remus had climbed out of bed earlier that morning he had pretended to be asleep even when Remus patted him on the shoulder and kissed the top of Harry's head. Harry had slept in until 9:00 for the first time ever and he had used the time to lie in bed and stare at the wall, thinking about his life.

Sirius had no idea where he stood with Ainsley, and the irrationally defensive part of him told him that he didn't care to find out. While Ainsley had been an instrumental part of him being able to settle down and find himself here in Edinburgh, he had Remus now and they had their own routine again. Sirius had been infinitely disturbed by Ainsley's show of jealousy the night before and he wasn't sure if he was willing to have someone in his life who didn't understand his and Remus' relationship. Sirius had never had room in his life for people who didn't understand him and Remus. Why start now?

We're just sleeping in the same bed again, Sirius thought bitterly as he strapped Harry into the pram. It's not like we're fucking.

The night was bitterly cold and Sirius made sure to bundle Harry up as tightly as he could. The wind was biting through Sirius' thinning leather coat and he stood in front of the bakery after having pulled Harry and the pram down the stairs waiting for the bus to take them to the university. Once again, Sirius found himself wishing for the much milder London winters and for enough money for a new winter coat if he was going to have to stay here for the whole winter.

At least Harry's warm, Sirius thought as he listened to Harry chirping away happily underneath his multitudinous layers of winter protection.

Sirius was shaking with cold as he stepped onto the bus and dragged the pram up the narrow set of stairs into the front row of seats, displacing a set of surly-looking teenagers. He could feel the cold in every part of his body and his stomach growled uncomfortably. He had been far too anxious to eat anything at all today. The bus ride went relatively smoothly while he and Harry played a rousing game of peek-a-boo that made a few elderly ladies sitting across from him giggle with delight.

I've still got it. Sirius smiled, jamming the same Weasley burgundy woolen hat Harry had been wearing all winter back over the baby's tousled black hair.

As their bus pulled into the winding streets of the university, Sirius peered out of the foggy windows to try to see Remus. They were supposed to meet at exactly 8:30 outside of the university centre where the social was being held. The trouble was that Sirius had no idea where that was or how to find it. As they rounded the corner after several minutes of navigating snow-covered roads, Sirius spotted a tall, thin shape being whipped by snow. Sirius grinned, rang the bell, jumped to his feet and started pulling Harry towards the door.

"Sirius!" Remus yelled, his voice shaky with cold as he rushed forward to help Sirius off the bus with the pram.

"It's fucking frosty out here." Sirius said, his bare hands shaking against the pram's handles.

"It sure is." Remus said, "And mind your language, Sirius."

"Oh right, sorry." Sirius said. "It's bloody fucking frosty out here."

Remus laughed and swatted Sirius on the arm. "I'm serious."

"So am I, what a coincidence!" Sirius exclaimed, knocking Remus playfully with his hip.

Remus rolled his eyes and held the door to the university centre open. Sirius was infinitely grateful for the rush of warmth as much for Harry's sake as for his own. They could already hear the din of the social coming from within and Sirius eyed the medieval architecture of the university with scepticism. As they passed portrait after portrait of important looking people, Sirius began to feel rather self conscious. He became acutely aware of how underdressed he was as Remus led him to the coat room.

"Sorry, this is all I had." Sirius said apologetically. He was wearing a pair of black slacks, a white button-up shirt and a black tie. Simple, but hardly the attire he had caught sight of on his way here. One woman had even been wearing a full-length ball gown.

"I'm wearing pretty much the same thing." Remus shrugged, pulling his coat off and hanging it up. He was wearing a pair of navy blue slacks, a white button-up and an argyle blue and beige sweater vest. "Some of these people are dressed to the nines but it's all for show."

"Clearly." Sirius said, eyeing the rows of elegant fur coats in the coat room.

"We'll be fine, come on." Remus smiled, pulling Harry out of his pram and peeling off layer after layer of clothing. "Sweet Merlin's beard, Sirius! You're lucky he didn't suffocate under here."

Sirius shrugged. "At least he didn't get frostbite."

"Let's leave the hat on, though." Remus said, putting the hat back onto Harry.

"Good plan." Sirius said, inspecting the hem of his shirt.

Remus swung Harry onto his hip, straightened his little tie and planted a kiss on his forehead, "There you are, Handsome."

Sirius smiled.

The main room the social was being held in was absolutely enormous. At one end, a string quartet was playing a classical piece that was being broadcast around the room by means of an electronic projection system or, at least, that was what Remus had told him. There were tables full of food and men and women of all walks of life dressed elegantly in odd muggle fashions. The room itself was incredibly large and reminded him distinctly of the Great Hall at Hogwarts. He felt enormously out of place and had taken to following Remus around like a dog – nodding politely at people, answering vague impersonal questions and participating in small talk. He had taken Harry from Remus several minutes after arriving; he found that often people were far more interested in Harry than they were in him. He didn't mind.

Remus led them around the room slowly until he found a group of middle-aged men huddled around a woman who looked rather like a librarian. Remus stood awkwardly behind the group for several minutes but the men didn't seem to notice. Or, Sirius suspected, they didn't care. After waiting long enough, Remus cleared his throat and they all looked over at them after

"Ah, Lupin." said the oldest of the men, peering over his glasses at Remus. "Glad to see you have arrived."

Sirius fought very hard not to roll his eyes. Remus had been there for over five minutes waiting.

"Thank you, Professor Chadwick." Remus said, inclining his head slightly towards him. "A lovely evening."

"Isn't it?" the Professor asked, swirling his snifter of brandy. He peered over his glasses at Sirius and Harry and wrinkled his nose ever so slightly. "And who might you be?"

Sirius narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth to speak, but Remus placed his hand on Sirius' arm and slid it around to his back.

"This is Jonathan Smith," Remus motioned up at Sirius "And his son, Harold."

Sirius turned ever so slightly to look at Remus, but Remus stepped carefully on his foot.

"Ah, Mr. Smith." Professor Chadwick extended a long-fingered hand to Sirius. "A pleasure. And what is your relationship to Lupin?"

Sirius shook his hand. "We live together."

Professor Chadwick froze for a moment and the smile flickered on his face ever so slightly. Though it was a subtle change in expression, Sirius caught sight of it and felt anger starting to pool in the pit of his stomach.

"We were roommates at boarding school." Remus said quickly, dropping his hand from Sirius' back. "Turns out we were both living in Edinburgh and thought, why not relive the old days?"

Professor Chadwick nodded, but the distaste in his expression was clear. "We were just discussing the research I will be beginning next term."

Remus nodded and Sirius blinked once or twice.

"I have been thinking of delving more heavily into the world of Milton." Professor Chadwick said, his hand trembling slightly around his glass.

"Oh, interesting." Remus began. "Paradise Lost is an excellent example of..."

Sirius lost interest and grabbed a glass of champagne from a passing waiter. He had always enjoyed wizarding literature and he read quite a lot, but the world of Muggle literature was something he knew absolutely nothing about. It was the one part of Remus he knew he could never access to, never get close to. He remembered being envious of Remus and Lily when they would sit together in the Common Room on Sunday afternoons and discuss the latest in literary criticisms, in poetry and film. Try as he might, Sirius just could never get interested in Muggle novels. They were part of a world he never belonged to and it was hard for him to become wholly immersed in their stories.

Sirius bounced Harry impatiently and was about to leave when the conversation caught his attention. He recognized the unmistakable signs of a conversation going south very quickly and Sirius looked up.

"I do agree with most scholars that those who are of a half-breed should be registered with the Ministry." said a rather stuffy-looking professor in an over-large tweed coat.

How the conversation got from stuffy medieval literature to "half-breeds", Sirius wasn't sure. He was reminded right away of the argument he and Remus had had last night at dinner and he tried to force himself to stay quiet.

Remus was twisting his hands together hard behind his back as he spoke,

"Professor Lawrence, I have to disagree. So long as these people aren't posing a threat to society-"

"My dear boy, how are metamorphmagi not a threat to society?" the tweed-coated Professor Lawrence asked. "If there is anything I've learned from living through the reign of two dark wizards it's that you can never trust a person to always be who they claim to be."

"Anyone could easily brew a Polyjuice Potion." Remus retorted. "Anyone could change their looks in an instant if they so chose to."

"'Easily'?"Professor Chadwick scoffed. "It takes over a month to brew a Polyjuice Potion. A metamorphmagi can transform at a moment's notice, becoming anyone or anything imaginable!"

Sirius was forcibly reminded of his favourite cousin's young daughter who was able to transform any part of her body at will. Remus's fists were clenched so hard at his sides that the knuckles were white.

"Registration of human beings is a fundamentally flawed system." Remus argued. "During the Muggle Second World War Adolf Hitler tried the same thing."

"This has nothing to do with Adolf Hitler." Professor Lawrence laughed. "The registration of animagi continues to prevent crime all over the United Kingdom."

"I concur." Professor Chadwick continued. "Why werewolves have not been required to register with the Ministry has always mystified me."

"An excellent example of a way we could eradicate werewolves and their bloodlines." Professor Lawrence exclaimed. "Registration and incarceration during transformation could effectively end lycanthropy once and for all."

Sirius felt the anger from earlier seethe up inside him, but willed himself to stay silent for Remus' sake.

"With all due respect, I don't think you know what you're talking about. You want people who have involuntarily given part of their lives to painful transformations be punished even more by having to be forced to confine themselves in a hospital or jail cell every time they have to go through a full moon?" Remus said with a laugh. "Do you even hear how stupid that is? Why punish someone even more for something they had nothing to do with causing in the first place?"

Both professors and Sirius stood with their mouths hanging open. The last thing any of them had expected was for Remus to argue back so viciously.

"It may not be their fault," Professor Lawrence began, a nerve twitching in his forehead, "But it is someone's responsibility to protect the rest of the world from the affliction."

"If it were such a dilemma, don't you think the entirety of Britain would be a werewolf by now?" Remus asked, his hands shaking.

The professors exchanged exasperated looks.

"Son, I don't think you understand what you're saying." Professor Chadwick said, his voice heavy with condescension.

"Listen, Professor," Sirius interjected. "You sound to me like you're the one who doesn't understand what he's saying."

All eyes turned to Sirius who had heretofore been completely silent.

"I hold a doctorate in Zoology and sit on the Council for the Control of Magical Creatures." Professor Lawrence said, clearly affronted. "I work with men and women who have been maimed for life by werewolves. Have you any idea that merely a scratch from a werewolf can bring life-altering biological changes to one's genetic makeup? How dare you say that I do not know what I'm talking about when I wrote the book on the topic."

Harry squirmed and started to fuss in Sirius' arms. Sirius had begun to realize that even though Harry could barely string more than a few words together, he was quite empathetic. He knew that if they stayed here for much longer Harry would throw an enormous tantrum and then they really would be the centre of attention. He turned to Remus to ask him to leave, but before he had even opened his mouth to speak, Remus exploded.

"You listen to me." Remus snarled, one finger pointed at Professor Lawrence's face, the other hand balled tightly into a fist. "I have had enough of listening to pompous old bastards lecture from their pulpits about how much they know about a topic when all they've done is read about it in dusty old books. You get back to me when you've lived through being an outcast and when you have to go through what these people do every single day. You can lord your doctorate over me when you've lived on the street after having been outed to your friends and family as a dirty half-breed liable to kill at any moment. You can talk to me about job experience and scholarships when you've lost every job you've ever had because of something that happened to you against your will and will continue to happen to you every month for the rest of your life."

Both professors stared in absolute shock, until understanding registered on Professor Lawrence's face.

"Let's get out of here." Remus growled, turning on his heel and storming off, pushing through crowds of people.

Sirius could only follow, struck absolutely speechless by what had just transpired. This was not the Remus he was used to; the Remus he knew would have quietly stood by and not absorbed a word of it. Sirius would never have recognized this person had he not looked absolutely identical to Remus Lupin as he stalked through the crowds, his fists still balled tightly at his sides. Sirius followed Remus out into the coat room and then out into the snow.

Remus didn't say a word the entire time they stood at the bus stop. Sirius watched, fascinated, as vapour curled away from Remus' nose and mouth and mixed with the thick white snow falling slowly and steadily. Remus refused to look at Sirius and only spoke when he helped carry the pram up onto the bus when it finally arrived. Even then, it was only to curse when he crushed his finger under the pram's wheel and the bus floor.

Sirius sat awkwardly beside him, feeling incredibly ill at ease in this odd reversal of emotional roles. He was so used to being the angry one that he had no idea how to act. He played with Harry the whole ride home and didn't make eye contact with Remus once during the ride. He could feel the energy coming off Remus in waves; he had seen Remus angry before, but never like this.

Harry was asleep by the time they rounded the corner from the bus stop to the apartment. The bakery's lights were out and snow had collected, once again, in the stairwell up to their place. Remus pulled the pram up single-handedly and jerked it away from Sirius when he went to grab it to help. When they unlocked the front door, Remus swept Harry delicately up into his arms and disappeared into the bedroom.

Sirius was left standing, shivering, in the front hallway. He shuffled from foot to foot nervously, staring at the bedroom door before finally starting to unwind the scarf from around his neck. He let if fall to the floor, the sound of his heart hammering loudly in his ears. Then the coat which he let fall, too. Finally, he started to loosen his tie and, regaining a small sense of normalcy, began to walk into the kitchen to find a drink.

The bottle of whiskey was still on the counter from the night before. He unstoppered it and brought it to his lips. The bright, fiery sensation of the alcohol livened him up slightly, bringing warmth back to parts of him he never thought would warm up. He collapsed onto the sofa, swirling the brown liquid in the bottle.

"Padfoot."

Sirius turned around, the bottle halfway to his lips. Remus walked forwards purposefully, letting the bedroom door swing shut behind him.

"Remus?" Sirius said, pulling a face as he swallowed.

Remus came and sat down on the sofa next to him, his hair shooting off in a thousand different directions as if he had spent hours running his hands through it.

"I'm sorry." Remus said quietly, running his fingers along the seam of the sofa cushions, his eyes downcast.

"Don't be." Sirius said, resting the bottle on the coffee table. "I've been telling you to do this for ages. It's good that you stuck up for yourself."

"I've lost myself a job." Remus said. "Again."

"Moony..." Sirius said quietly, his head swimming with the weight of what Remus had just said. They were already out of money and he knew the Order couldn't afford to support them anymore, especially when there were so many other jobless Order Members with large families to take care of first.

"You've still got me." Sirius wasn't sure what else to say. He reached forward tentatively and touched the tips of Remus' long, bony fingers. Remus froze under his touch but, after a few moments, turned his hand over and took Sirius' hand in his.

"We're going to figure it out." Sirius said. "It always works out."

"You know, I never fancied you the optimist." Remus said, glancing over at Sirius from underneath his shaggy fringe.

"Neither did I." Sirius said, falling silent at the look on Remus' face. After a few moments' silence, Remus turned and entwined his fingers through Sirius', his eyes following the lines of their interlaced fingers. When Remus looked up again, Sirius, for once, didn't feel nervous or uncomfortable or anxious.

It was more instinct than anything that caused him to slide sideways across the couch, unlock their fingers and take Remus' face in his hands. Sirius rubbed his thumbs across Remus' face and then, sliding his hands to the back of Remus' neck, pressed their lips together.

The heady scent of Remus' hair and skin and that comfortable sensation of the softness of his lips reminded Sirius forcibly of times long past, of the time they had had together in their London flat, cut too short by mistrust and betrayal. As Remus slid his hands around Sirius and pulled him close, their lips parting slightly, Sirius felt suddenly that this apartment, this country, this foreign place, was home.

Their clothes were off and on the ground before either of them had a chance to change their mind. Breathing hard, Remus pulled them down off the sofa and onto the floor between the sofa and the coffee table. Sirius lay flat on his back, the carpet pressing soft red marks into his bare skin. Remus climbed on top, tracing his finger tips down the thin trail of black hair on Sirius' chest and stomach. Sirius pulled Remus' face back down to his with a fervour to make up for lost time.

Sirius rolled Remus underneath him, his lips gently exploring the spaces they used to know so well – the curve of Remus' jaw, the hollow at the base of his neck, his pronounced collarbones. There were new marks, too, that he had acquired over the past couple months. Sirius skimmed them with his fingers, lips grazing over paper thin skin.

Sirius pulled Remus up and bent him backwards against the antique coffee table, bare chest to bare chest, hands touching anything they could get a hold of. Sirius ached with need for the familiarity of Remus' body and he growled with pleasure and lust as Remus wrapped his fingers against his straining cock. Sirius grazed Remus' neck with his teeth, leaving bright red marks as he bit down while Remus stroked him.

Sirius couldn't take it anymore, he needed to be closer, to be inside. He turned Remus over with strong hands, pressing him down in front of him against the glass, sweat dripping in rivulets down his brow and around his eyes as he guided himself between Remus' legs. Sirius whispered a breathless lubrication spell before sliding into Remus. They moved together, Sirius' hands against the ridges of Remus' hipbones.

Sirius worked himself to completion, breathing hard as orgasm wracked his body. He could feel distantly Remus coming in his hand, and eventually they slid sideways onto the ground, gasping for breath.

They lay together until Remus looked up at him from their embrace.

"I never stopped loving you." Remus whispered, his voice ringing against the apartment walls.