"Sirius..." Mum knocked on his door two hours later. She didn't look him in the eyes. She didn't complain about mess. She didn't ask him to open his curtains. "I'm sorry about earlier. I shouldn't have let you hear that." She sighed "I let my mouth run away with me, I suppose."

And with that, she left. Sirius heard her heels click their way down the stairs, then back up again.

"I'd like you to pack tonight. I'd like to leave for your grandfather's tomorrow. Father Crouch will drive us." Sirius glared at the carpet. Half willing it to burst in to flames. He glared at Mum in her silly, strappy, black heels. She was dressed like a woman twice her age, long skirt and a blue woollen cardigan, but had the shoes of a twenty two year old on a night out.

He wondered why his mother had such an aversion to sensible footwear.

*

His pants went into the bag first, followed by jeans, then his trousers, after came his t-shirts and his shirts, then his school tie and jumper. Finally, books were carefully lain out on top of these, followed by two handfuls of socks, a pen and a jotter.

The door opened, suddenly. It was pushed, and whined open with a soft creak. The mass of straw coloured hair and half closed brown eyes indicate this was going to be one of the rare occasions Barty spoke to him.

Sirius couldn't quite work out what it was that was... off about him. But there was. Something very off indeed, that set Sirius on edge and made the air around the room stiffen and turn cold.

"Why are you leaving?" he asked.

"Mum says. Doesn't want to live in a place where Dad can get to us."

"Why?"

"Mind your own business." Sirius said curtly. He walked the short distance from his bag to the door, pushing it closed. Barty's foot got in the way.

"I don't want Regulus to go"

"Well he has to"

"Why?" Barty's head cocked to one side. Sirius scowled.

"Because he has to stay with family."

"Why can't you stay here? I had to come here when my Mum died."

"Don't be thick Barty. Crouch is like, your Godfather or something, isn't he?" Sirius asked. Barty shrugged.

"All I know is, he's an old friend of my Mum's and we have the same first name."

"Why aren't you staying with your dad?"

"Dunno who he is" Barty said coolly "Could be anyone"

"Surely your mum had some idea?" Sirius said sceptically. Barty shrugged again.

"Nope. She was a whore." He said flatly.

"Oh." Sirius was very suddenly added another thing to the list of things he didn't like about Barty. Too forthright.

*

Sirius was pulling his pyjamas on that night, when he heard a soft knock at the door.

"Sod off" Sirius muttered, picking a book from his bag and climbing onto his bed. There was another knock. Sirius scowled and opened at the page he's last been at but, when a soft whine of his name followed a third knock, Sirius rolled his eyes.

"What?" Regulus opened the door, his eyes just peeking through the crack he made.

"Hi"

"... What do you want?" Sirius sighed. Regulus shuffled into the room, twiddling with the hem of his pyjama top.

"Are you in a huff because we're leaving?" he asked. Sirius scowled and folded his arms.

"I'm not in a huff!"

"Right." Regulus said in that I'm humouring you tone he could have only picked up from mum "I don't want to go either. Don't want to leave my friends wither... and I don't like Granddad."

"Neither do I... last time we saw him he told me to call him sir get a haircut and left it at that"

"He smacked me on the back of the head, told me to stop clinging to Mum, call him sir and to get a hair cut."

"Fine, so yours is worse." Sirius admitted. Of all the relatives mum had picked to hide behind. She'd picked Granddad. Sirius huffed and twisted his face, he knew without looking Regulus was doing the same; contemplating the next god knows how many months cooped up in that horrid, dusty, old house with a horrid, dusty old man.

"You had a fight with Dad." Said Regulus, suddenly. Sirius rolled his eyes.

"Ten out of ten, Sherlock"

"But I mean... like a proper fight. With proper shouting and hands and um..." Regulus said, loosing his train of thought. He cleared his throat, shuffled on the spot and asked "Were you going to hit him?"

"I was trying not to" Sirius said sharply. Not hitting him was bloody difficult.

"You should have, he hit mum so you should have hit him" Regulus nodded. "Eye for an eye. Tooth for a tooth."

"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind." Sirius sighed. Maybe, a few years ago, he'd have agreed with Regulus. Not anymore, though. He wondered if it was because Remus didn't like violence, didn't like any kind of hitting, that his opinion had changed. He wondered if he'd just... grown up. Regulus frowned

"He's still a... twat" he said tentatively. Sirius rolled his eyes and scoffed.

"Barty been widening your vocabulary?"

"Maybe" Regulus answered, sharp and defensive. He bit his lip after a moment of silent. Examined Sirius "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine!"

"No need to snap!" Regulus huffed "I'm only checking."

"Just piss off Regulus" Sirius sighed again. Making sure he sounded utterly bored with the younger boy. He waved his hand toward the door "You're annoying me" he added brusquely.

"Is this all 'cause you have to leave Remus?" Regulus asked, cocking his head to one side.

"Out. Now." Sirius stood, shoved his brother out the room.

"Take that as a yes." Regulus said dryly, smirking.

"fuck off." Sirius slammed the door. Regulus lay flat against the gap between the floor and the bottom of the door.

"What's going on with you two?" he asked

"I mean it Regulus-" Sirius growled. Regulus interrupted him.

"You're not... queer... or anything, are you?"

"No Reg, I'm not a fucking queer. And neither is Remus. He's the only friend I've ever fucking had, so pardon me for not wanting to leave."

"Alright! Sorry... I mean... I don't think you're queer... it's just-"

"What?"

"I heard Lucius Malfoy talking to Narcissa, who heard from Alecto Carrow who heard from a girl called Carolyn Prewett, who heard from her friend that you and Remus were... well, you know"

"Well we aren't. So you just go and tell them they're talking a load of bollocks."

"Alright..." Sirius heard Regulus heave himself up off the floor "G'night Sirius"

"G'night." Sirius sighed.

*

Sirius waited. He waited for Crouch to start snoring. For Barty and Regulus to stop talking. And for Mum to stop pacing. Then he waited another hour, just to be sure. He crept down the stairs, his heart his his throat, almost ill with panic when he put his toe down on a creaky stair.

He reached the bottom of the stairs, pulled on his coat and slipped on his shoes. He unlocked the door, slowly, painfully slowly. The unsnapping of the latch on the door sounding fifty times louder than it did during the day time.

The door creaked open and Sirius slipped out, closing it very carefully behind him. He tiptoed out into the street, starting in the direction council estate.

The street the rectory sat on was dead and silent. Noise died down at six, downstairs lights were out by nine, upstairs by ten. The only sign of life he saw, was a fox streaking through a garden down to a nearby wood.

Slowly, the trees became less frequent, less leafy, gardens becoming more unkempt and houses smaller, the level of dilapidation steadily increasing the closer he got to the council estate.

The closer he got, the more lights were still on. The more people there were on the streets, gathering at bus stops or moving toward the far off city centre.

Sirius began to move quicker. Moved from the centre of the street to the sides, ducking behind bins, bus shelters and phone boxes when he could. When he reached the council estate, he thanked every deity that leapt to mind that Remus lived in the first house on the second street.

The small, old house was at the end of a long row of terraced houses, Sirius remembered from history lessons that these would have been built during Victorian times, for miners, or factory workers, and their families . Not nearly as old as his own house, certainly no where near as old as his Grandfather's manor house but far older than the new houses in the city.

Sirius walked round the side of the house, hopping the damaged fence with the peeling paint and landing with a thud in the small, unkempt garden. He was careful not to wipe the mud on his hands onto his pyjamas. He fumbled around on the ground, for a moment, looking for stones, scooping a few up when he found them and standing.

Remus' bedroom window was the only one on the first floor of the house, aside from the small, frosted window of the bathroom. Sirius threw the smallest of the stones in his hand, hitting the window with a quiet tap.

He waited a moment. No answer.

He picked a slightly larger stone next, hitting the window again, with a quiet tap. There was still no answer. Sirius rolled his eyes. Remus was obviously, a selectively heavy sleeper. If Sirius got up in the night to use the loo while one was staying at the other's house, Remus would be awake right away, sitting up and gasping in fright, making Sirius feel horribly guilty.

The next stone missed, and hit the bricks of the house next door. Sirius sighed and frowned at the final stone left in his hand. The stone was a fair bit bigger than the others and Sirius did fear for the Lupin's window. He squinted, searching the ground for anything smaller, but, with a frustrated groan, threw the too large stone anyway.

He winced as he heard the stone hit the window with a loud crack and the crunch of breaking glass.

Remus appeared at the window, his eyes wide and panicked, his chest rising and falling too quickly. Sirius waved nervously and saw Remus take, what was likely, a sigh of relief. Remus unlatched his window and pushed it open, leaning on it's frame and rubbing his eyes.

"Sirius" Remus smiled. That rare, full smile he rarely showed.

"What light through yonder window breaks?" said Sirius with a grin. Remus turned behind him then frowned.

"The lights are off" he said

"I was quoting- ... never mind. Can you let me in?"

"'kay. Just go round the front and be quiet" Said Remus, through a yawn. Remus shut the window and stretched, Sirius saw him fade from view and walked round the front of the house.

Remus appeared at the door a moment later, ushering him in and up the stairs, index finger pressed to his lips till they reached his room. Remus looked at him for a moment, and smiled, slightly, at the combination of the tailored, expensive, lamb's wool coat and the old, torn, two sizes too big pyjamas. Sirius opened his mouth to say something but was quickly scuppered by a clumsy, if surprisingly voracious, mouth covering his. Remus groaned softly, crushing Sirius back against the door in his enthusiasm. Sirius could only yelp as the door handle dug into arse.

"Sorry" Remus said, pulling off him, their lips separating with a wet smack "It's been a while"

"Forty six days" Said Sirius, blushing slightly. Remus smiled and kissed him again. Gentler than before, making sure Sirius wasn't being impaled by the door handle. Sirius tried to pull away, but was drawn forward again, by a smooth swipe of a tongue along his bottom lip, pushing his lips apart and sliding into his mouth. He found himself being knocked down onto Remus' bed, with Remus' teeth grazing his ear lobe, Remus' thigh pressed into his-

"Remus" Sirius choked out "I really need to talk to you"

"Less talking" Remus mumbled, tongue and mouth moving slowly downward.

"Remus... this is important." Sirius said, a little pained.

"It is?" Remus asked "Oh... sorry"

"It's fine." Remus climbed off him, and sat on the bed with his back to the wall, his knees beneath his chin. Sirius propped himself up on his elbows.

"It's not-" began Remus, suddenly stopping.

"What?"

"It's not... you don't want to... stop. This, do you?" Remus sucked in his bottom lip. Sirius frowned.

"Stop what?" he asked. Remus blinked at him and cleared his throat.

"... Well, you know... this. This thing we have" he said, pushing a nervous hand through his hair.

"You mean... oh" said Sirius realising he meant... their Thing. Their nameless Thing, with the snogging and the groping and the one blow job that had been quite an interesting experience.

"Oh." Remus said, with a nod. Sirius felt a cold chill run through him. He certainly didn't want to stop. He hadn't thought Remus had.

"Do you?" Sirius asked, swallowing. Remus furrowed his brow and shook his head.

"No. I like you." He said quietly. "I mean, obviously I like but. I like you... I like you like you." He swallowed and looked over at Sirius, not meeting his eye and looking away quickly. Sirius smiled.

"Me too. I like you, like you." He chuckled when Remus smiled, Sirius saw the muscles in his shoulders relax. Sirius sighed, sat up properly and rubbed his eyes. "But today. Erm. Dad came round"

"Uh oh" said Remus, with a pained half smile.

"Yeah... we sort of. We got into a fight. Sort of. And I reckon I scared him off! But ... well... Mum's really worried about him coming back. She thinks... she thinks he's dangerous."

"I thought he was hitting her"

"He was... she reckons he might have... maybe bumped off his first wife." Mumbled Sirius.

"Well, he is dangerous then" said Remus, his forehead crinkling.

"... I suppose. But she's. She's over reacting a bit, I think. Only 'cause she wants us to go and live with Granddad at his house." Remus' face fell from a small frown into a look of panic.

"Where's that?" he asked, his eyes wide.

"City Centre." Said Sirius begrudgingly.

"But... but that's almost an hour away!" Remus exclaimed, sitting forward. "And that's by bus as well"

"I know" Sirius sighed. Remus' brow creased again, he flopped back against the wall.

"Bugger" he muttered.

"Yep."

"Will you still be going to school?" asked Remus. Sirius sighed and rubbed his forehead.

"I don't know." He pursed his lips.

"Shit." Remus mumbled.

"Yep." Remus dropped his head into his hands.

"I don't want you to go" he muttered. "I know it won't help anything but... I don't. Why don't you stay here?"

"What?"

"Don't go with them. Stay. Stay in the house with me." Remus said, head jerking up from his hands "I mean, I know there isn't much room but. I don't know. I could... I could stay on the floor, you could have the bed. Um. Food there's always plenty leftover from me and Dad and... and with Flora here so much, and she can cook, you know, so there'd be more food around-"

"Remus" Sirius interrupted "I... I. You know I'd rather stay with you" he nodded slowly "You know... You're my best friend, you do don't you?" he nodded again. "But... I couldn't impose"

"You wouldn't be-"

"And, you don't know what my Granddad's like. Mum would tell him about... our thing, and he'd take me not coming with Mum as a personal insult." Sirius wrinkled his nose "I'd probably be disowned. And Granddad's ten times worse than both my parents combined. He wouldn't let me see any of my family again... " He sighed "And I'm pretty sure dad will have already had me bloody... erased from the bloody family records."

"What?"

"Family records. The Blacks, we're aristocrats aren't we" Sirius felt his eyes roll of their own accord. "Every marriage, birth and death gets recorded."

"So... he would just... erase your existence" Remus curled his lip, disbelief on his voice.

"Wouldn't put it past him" Sirius said with a shrug. Remus frowned, opened his mouth to speak but ended up letting his jaw hang soundlessly. He put his hand to his forehead and rubbed his eyes with a heavy sigh, that was more of a groan than anything.

"We can still meet up though. If they make you move schools, we can meet up at weekends."

"Yeah, 'course. I mean, just because... we won't have to stop seeing each other... I won't let happen."

"'kay" They sat in silence for a while, broken by the occasional mutual sigh. Remus twiddled with his hair, with his face screwed up. "Sirius..."

"Hmm?"

"I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too."

Remus answered with a grin that was almost wicked.

"Could be the last time we're together - at least, in private - for a while."

"Yeah?"

"No point... wasting out time, really. Moping."

"Nope."

*

"Do I want to ask why I heard the front door opening at four o'clock this morning?" said mum sharply as she fastened her seat belt. They were securely bundled in the car. Mum's and Sirius' bags were just barely squashed into the boot, while Regulus' lay across his and Sirius' laps. Regulus had been scowling all morning, his bad mood was beginning to give Sirius' a run for it's money.

"What?"

"The front door. Four o'clock this morning." She snapped. Sirius saw Crouch cringe, his knuckles tighten around the steering wheel of the car.

"You're imagining things." Said Sirius lazily, rolling his eyes. Mum's nostrils flared.

"Don't you dare, Sirius Black, don't you dare talk to me like I'm stupid" she pointed a bony finger at him and slapped him on the knee.

"I wasn't!"
"I know what I heard!" she snarled "Why were you out there?" she glared "You'd better not have been doing, what I think you were doing" Sirius folded his arms, feeling his hands beginning to shake. His brain scrabbled desperately for excuses

"I couldn't sleep, I needed some fresh-"

"Don't lie. I can tell when my own son is lying, Sirius. Truth. Now."

"Oh... oh fine Mum. You want the truth" he snapped. "I went out to smoke. There. Happy?"

"Smoking?" The look on her face looked more like one of relief than anger. "Oh Sirius, I thought... When did you start smoking?"

"When we first moved to the rectory." He sighed. Mum rolled her eyes.

"Well it's a filthy habit" she said sharply, half heartedly. "And if you so much as think about disobeying me at your Grandfather's house" she sighed "Well... you won't know what hit you"