A/N: Here it is, all nice and quick to make up for how long I took with part two!

Disclaimer: All the boys still belong to Miss JKR.

Warning: Sex between two boys. That's SLASH, kiddies.

Rating: M – for the boy!sex and what-not.

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Part Three: Remus's Betrayal

He had always assumed, ever since he began his nightly meetings with Regulus, that Sirius would eventually find out. It wasn't as though he wanted to get caught exactly; it was more that he had not really put much thought into the whole affair. Being with Regulus was a nice distraction from the rest of his life, and Remus (who had once been told by Sirius that he over-analyzed everything) was, for once in his life, trying not to think of what they had in context of everything else that had happened. That way, he wasn't using Regulus or trying to hurt Sirius, he was just being, and that made everything much simpler.

Of course, context is not something to be dismissed so easily. 'Real life,' as it is often referred to, always finds a way of inserting itself into even the most well kept of fantasies. And so it was, a little over two months since the incident with Snape, that Sirius decided to follow Remus as he left the Gryffindor common room well past curfew.

Almost the minute that Remus's lips touched Regulus's and the intent of the evening was clear, Sirius removed the invisibility cloak that he had stolen from James's trunk and revealed himself to the two startled boys. Regulus blushed crimson and pushed himself as far back against the wall as possible, but Remus stood still, his expression impossible to read.

It was a moment before anyone spoke and the silence was deafening.

"What are you doing?" Sirius asked finally, his question seemingly directed at Remus.

Regulus withdrew even further, as if he were trying to burrow into the wall itself. Remus, caught off-guard at hearing Sirius's hurt whisper where he had expected angry shouting, all at once realized the full impact of his actions. He crossed his arms in front of his chest, hugging his robes tighter, feeling suddenly cold.

"Let's not do this here," he pleaded when he found his voice.

Sirius nodded once and Remus looked over his shoulder at Regulus, frantically trying to think of something reassuring to say. But Regulus merely nodded at him when their eyes met (mimicking his brother, Remus thought wildly) and then with a brief glance at Sirius, he took off without another word.

Sirius took a step closer to Remus and for a wild moment Remus actually thought he was about to hit him, but then he merely threw the cloak around them both, hiding them from sight. They did not, of course, go back to the dorms. James and Peter would no doubt be there and this was not a conversation to be had in front of dormmates, even sleeping ones. Remus wondered vaguely where they were going, until they reached the third floor corridor and he suddenly recalled the hidden room Sirius and James had found at the beginning of the year. Mostly, it wasn't much more than a spare bedroom, but it seemed to change a bit each time they used it.

Remus's first thought, as he entered the familiar, yet slightly altered room, was that the last time he and Sirius had been together had been there, the night before everything had changed. He remembered how Sirius had taken him up against the wall almost as soon as they had shut the door behind them, too eager even to properly make it to the bed. Recalling that day, he suddenly felt as though he might be sick, and he collapsed heavily into the nearby armchair. He found he could not look at Sirius.

He waited several moments for Sirius to speak, for the accusations to begin, but they did not come.

Instead Sirius sighed and made his way over to where Remus had sat himself.

"Can we just be even now?" he asked, his voice coming out small and defeated.

"What?" Remus returned, finally looking up at Sirius out of sheer surprise.

"I'm tired, Remus," Sirius told him simply. "I am so tired of all of this. I can't sleep, I can't concentrate." – He paused, shaking his head, as if to clear his thoughts. – "Look, if you were trying to hurt me, it worked. Of all the people you could have…I mean, my brother! My fourteen year-old brother. I just…I can't…I'm sorry for what I did, okay? I'm so sorry."

He was crying now. Remus registered that fact somewhere in the back of his mind, as he tried to process what Sirius was saying.

"I just want this to be over," he continued, reaching out and laying his hand on Remus's shoulder. "I can't stand this – being replaced by him! I'm sorry, okay? I love you. I'm sorry."

Remus felt a tear slide down his cheek and all at once Sirius was kissing him, his sudden weight pushing Remus back into the chair. He hadn't realized how much he'd missed him, until that moment.

He pushed Sirius off him, but only so that he could stand up from the chair, and move them to the bed. He pulled Sirius down roughly, removing both of their clothes without much caution or grace. Sirius whimpered as skin met skin, clutching to Remus as though he might slip away at any moment.

The friction between them was about to explode when Remus pulled away roughly.

"Turn over," he ordered and Sirius balked at the command.

They lay that way for a moment, breathing heavily, before Sirius rolled onto his stomach and then slowly brought himself to his hands and knees. It had never been like this before. It had always been Sirius who had done the taking, Remus writhing below him. Remus could feel every one of Sirius's muscles tense as he touched his hip, his other hand digging in the pockets of his robes to find his wand. Remus knew that he was scared, that he wouldn't even be letting him do this if he wasn't so desperate to get him back. Guilt settled somewhere in the pit of his stomach, but he was already too far gone to stop.

He didn't take as long as he should have to prepare him, given it was Sirius's first time, but he couldn't wait. All the longing and the anger that had been building up inside of him for the past two months came bursting out with his first thrust. Sirius gasped and cried out, Remus's name coming out as a sob as he clutched desperately at the sheets. Remus reached out, stroking Sirius in time to his thrusts, closing his eyes and focusing on the sound of his name being repeated over and over like a prayer.

They lay together for hours afterwards, Remus spooned up against Sirius's chest, his fingers tangled in Remus's hair.

"Do you forgive me?" Sirius asked softly, a break in his voice betraying the weight of the question.

"Yes," Remus answered simply, and he realized that he'd forgiven Sirius a long time ago.

The next night, he went back to meet Regulus, same as always.

"I didn't think you'd come," Regulus said as soon as he made out Remus's silhouette in the dim corridor.

"I had to explain," Remus began, "about Sirius…"

"I've been thinking," Regulus cut him off, shyly, "that maybe it's not such a bad thing he found out, that maybe it's good that it's out in the open now. I mean, I'm not saying we should shout it in the middle of the Great Hall or anything, but I kind of felt guilty lying to him."

"Regulus…" Remus tried.

"No, listen," Regulus continued, "I know it's complicated, and I know we usually try not to talk about it, but I…"

"I shagged Sirius last night." Remus cut in before Regulus could go on.

Regulus blinked up at him in surprise.

"What?" he asked, in the manner of someone who knows they can't have heard correctly.

"I'm sorry," Remus told him, avoiding his gaze. "I didn't mean for you to get caught up in the middle of this, but Sirius and I, we…have a history. I was angry at him and…"

"Right," Regulus interjected, his voice suddenly hard, even though he was smiling. "I was just the next best thing. I get it. It's okay."

"Regulus…" Remus tried again, his voice taking on a desperate edge.

But Regulus was already walking away, taking any chance for closure with him.

Remus slid down the wall and just sat there, his knees pulled up to his chest, staring at (but not really seeing) the tapestry that was bolted to the wall in front of him. It was two hours before Sirius came looking for him and dragged him back up to the dorm.

Within weeks, everything had returned to normal. No one spoke of those two months ever again. But ignoring something doesn't erase it.

For Remus, those two months had changed everything.

Four years later, Remus read the article about Regulus's death, sitting at the kitchen table in the flat that he and Sirius shared. Afterwards, he locked himself in the bathroom for two hours, keeping the shower running so that Sirius wouldn't hear his sobs.

Later that same year, in October, Sirius betrayed him for the second and final time. As Remus read the article about his sentence to a lifetime in Azkaban for his crimes, he felt…not shock but a sort of grim vindication. He refused to let himself shed a single tear.

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So, there it is. It ended up on an angstier note than I meant it to, but I hope you all enjoyed. A final review would be wonderful.