"Where Nobody Knows Your Name"
Rating: "M", for slash and minor language
DISCLAIMER: This story is fictional – that's F-I-C-T-I-O-N. It never happened, and is not real. It is the product of my own imagination. It contains descriptions of male slash (that's male/male homosexual relations). If you do not like this type of content, or if you find homosexuality or its practice offensive, please click the "Back" button or close your Internet browser NOW, and do not read any further. All characters and copyrights are owned by J.K Rowling and Warner Brothers™ (AOL Time Warner), but this story is owned by me and is all my own work.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: X-Bäär is a real place, and is Tallinn's only gay bar – most of the gay Tallanians pop across the water to Helsinki on the weekend. Olga is also a real woman, one of the bar's proprietors (although I may be mistaken about her name!) She is Russian and owns the bar with her Estonian "wife", whose name I can not remember at present. I thoroughly recommend the bar, even if you're straight, if you're ever in the area, although you will need a phrasebook or decent grasp of Estonian, Russian or Latvian to get served as neither speaks any English. Oh, and don't worry – Olga is not really a werewolf!
"Is this far away enough, Padfoot?" half-shouted an exasperated Remus Lupin as the couple trudged through the thick snow of Tallinn's Old Town.
"Now, Moony, there's no need to be like this, is there?" Sirius replied.
"Why not? You said that you wanted to go somewhere far away. Somewhere where nobody knows your name."
"I s'pose…"
"And where better than a random country like Estonia? Or we could always cross over into Russia, if you'd like?"
"Now you're just being ridiculous." The pair walked on through Vanalinn in silence. It was nearing full moon. 'I shouldn't have made him come', thought Sirius. But he was desperate to go out onto the gay scene with his lover, and he couldn't risk it back in the U.K. Not when so many people knew who he was, what with that nasty business of escaping from Azkaban and all. But he needn't have worried. Remus wasn't really angry with him. He had wanted to come back here ever since he had done those two weeks work with the Baltic werewolves for Dumbledore. But he had had to keep up this pretence of annoyance to make the Apparition to the Estonian Republic seem like an angry, sarcastic gesture, because Sirius would never have come otherwise.
"D'you know where you're going, Moony?"
"Yes, dear." Of course he did. He had spent every night of those two weeks here, with his friend, Tavi. In fact, they had been a bit more than friends at the time. "Aha. Säuna. That's the street. And… here we are," Remus proclaimed as they turned left into the street and stood face to face with the yellow coloured wall with the waving Rainbow Flag painted on it. "X-Bäär!" The par of them crossed the threshold and made their way to the bar. The kindly-looking woman behind them caught Sirius's eye and made her way over to him.
"A beer and a vodka, please." The woman gave him a blank look before replying
"Ma ei räägi inglise keelt. Eesti, Rysski, Latviski."
"Er… Moony?" Sirius fumbled, looking at his partner.
"She informs you that she does not speak English, and suggests that you might try speaking in Estonian, Russian or Latvian next time."
"Well, you're the one who was good at languages," Sirius grinned. Remus sighed.
"Tere õhtust, Olga."
"Ah, Remus! Tere õhtust!"
"Üks õlu, üks viin palun."
"Jah, jah!" Olga turned and poured the drinks while Sirius danced from one foot to the other, looking nervous.
"Tere. Kolmkümmend-seitse kroon, palun".
"Tere." Remus handed over his money.
"Aitäh." Olga replied, and gave him his change.
"Aitäh, nägemiseni. Right," he said, looking back at Sirius again. "Shall we sit down?"
"Sure. And since when could you speak Estonian? Or be on first-name terms with the barmaids?"
"Olga? Oh, she's a werewolf. I met her when I was out here last." He replied as they walked to one of the small, round metallic tables down from the bar and sat down.
"Oh, for Dumbledore?"
"Yeah. And there's no sense in going to a country if you can't communicate with the locals, is there?"
"S'pose not."
"Sorry about acting all pissed off earlier. It's just that I really wanted to come here, and it was the only way I could think of getting you to go along with it."
"S'okay. I had my suspicions that it was something like that."
"So. Here we are. Out on the gay scene, having a drink in a gay bar, where nobody knows your name."
"Thank you." They clinked their glasses together. All around, people were chatting, dancing and kissing, while music played in the background. And nobody was looking at them. Nobody was pointing at Sirius and screaming. Come to mention it, nobody was speaking English, either.
"Here's to us," Remus said, raising his glass towards his lover.
"To us." Clink!
"And our first proper date outside of Grimmauld Place."
"And here's to many more," Sirius said, draining his glass of beer.
"So," said Remus, his own glass of vodka knocked back. "Where next?"
"Well, that depends…"
"On what?" A devilish grin crept across Sirius's face.
"How good is your Hungarian?"
"Why? How good d'you want it to be...?"