Finding Home

(the sequel to "No Better Mistake")

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, James Potter, or any other related characters from the world of Harry Potter. I also don't own the setting, plot lines, relationships, etc. ANYTHING ASSOCIATED WITH HARRY POTTER BELONGS TO J.K. ROWLING, not me.

NOTES:

We're backkkk!

I am very happy and excited to bring to you the next installment of this series (which is currently unnamed...)! It should all go really quickly, as I am done with the story.

I hope to get the same amount of great feedback as I did with NBM!

In case you were wondering, Peter is not in this at all...

Also - important: I guess you could consider this story AU. There is no Voldemort. Sorryyy...

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1

"Sirius, stop."

Remus Lupin edged further away from the long, tan fingers that were deftly grazing the underside of his arm. Book clutched to his chest, he fought to suppress the laugh that was making its way up his throat, pushing against the inside of his tightly pressed lips. He tucked his feet, which were bare, even further into his crossed legs, hoping they wouldn't be next. "Stop," he repeated, more firmly.

Sirius Black, a tall, thin, eighteen-year-old boy, grinned at him from behind his falling dark hair. He had long since abandoned the book Remus was now so desperately trying to cleave to, opting, instead, to torment his boyfriend. As Remus tried to scoot toward the end of the bed, Sirius grabbed him behind, yanking him back to where they sat together. In spite of himself, Remus grinned, reaching behind his head to try and hit Sirius over the head with the worn-out novel.

"You stop," Sirius growled, sounding more like a dog than a human, wrenching the book away from Remus and throwing it down, pulling the other with him to sit back down on his bed. He wrapped his long legs around Remus' torso, who laughed, feeling Sirius pull his back into the front of his chest and wriggle his jaw into the space where Remus' shoulder and neck met. "N.E.W.T.s are over, Moony, stop trying to learn."

"Stop trying to distract me!" Remus countered, but he didn't make any real effort to extract himself from the arms that held him. He felt Sirius' chin, unshaven, scratch against his neck; Sirius' long hair fell forward to graze his chin, he could smell his breath, mint, chocolate, and smoke, as Sirius breathed lightly near his ear. Sirius' hands were pulled tight around his chest, so much that he could feel the heartbeat of the other boy through his back… The delicious feeling that was so distinctly Sirius…

"How about you both stop," growled James Potter, sighing, from across the room, looking up to glare at them both.

Sheepishly, Remus struggled to extricate himself against Sirius' grip as James continued: "before you make me sick. Come on, Lily and I are never this bad."

"He does have a point," Remus muttered, blushing, but Sirius ignored him, wrinkling his nose at his best friend from across the room and pulling his boyfriend even closer to him. James lobbed a shoe at them.

The three boys, Remus Lupin, Sirius Black, and James Potter, were all sitting in their dormitory in various states of packing and organizing. This explained that shoe James had at the ready, as well as Remus' book—he had re-discovered it as he tried to clean out his trunk. Sirius, the least prepared of the three, however, had barely moved a sock in any attempt to get ready for their departure from Hogwarts. As Remus had reminded him, though, he should be the most excited of them for the upcoming summer; after all, he was moving in to his own house, with Remus, as soon as they left, and had been speaking of nothing else since they'd ended their exams a few days ago.

It was a rather long, and strange story that explained how this (miracle, in Remus' opinion) had all actually happened. James, Sirius, Remus, and the fourth in their group, Peter, had all been friends since their very first year at Hogwarts, but it hadn't been until the past fall, shortly after the start of their seventh year, that Remus and Sirius had become more than friends. What had started as a stupid, drunken mistake had changed into their eventual confession of feelings for each other, and after hiding their relationship from James, and others, for several months, the secret that had desperately tried to keep had finally been discovered that past January. After hearing their side of the story, though, James had been very supportive, helped, in large part, to the girlfriend he had just mentioned; Lily Evans. Now, in mid-June, the friends were finally complete with their education, and it was only a few more days until they would climb back on to the Hogwarts Express for the seventh and final time.

All three of the young men in the room would be attempting to pursue their own careers and lives in the months that would follow their graduation. James would, to everyone's shock, begin living with Lily. At eighteen, they were young, but very committed to one another—very much like the newer, but equally as intense couple of Remus and Sirius. James, who was still unsure of what he wanted to do job-wise, was completely focused on his one and only clear goal. He had wasted no time in telling his friends—and seemed completely unashamed of it as well—that his main focus was to marry his girlfriend, and begin a family. James (though he had been, in the past, rather cocky about it) was quite a talented athlete, and he had been approached by a small local team to play Quidditch; so, for the next few months, he had some things to do. Despite the constant badgering by Professor McGonagall, the head of the Gryffindor House, to continue his Transfiguration studies, James seemed to want love, and companionship, more than anything else. Perhaps that, Remus mused, watching James turn once again to pack his trunk, was why he had been quick to accept the rather unorthodox relationship between his two best friends.

It seemed everything Remus had done this past year was like one big dream—from committing himself to the person he'd loved for years, to his new living situation, and now, the fact that Sirius and himself would attempt to get into the jobs they had fantasized over last summer as they'd lain in Remus' tall, grass fields. Sirius had an upcoming internship at the Ministry of Magic (he was trying to learn more about becoming an Auror), but, unfortunately, Remus had not been quite as successful in his endeavors to become a professor, due largely to the fact that he was quite young, and, by most people's standards, fairly dangerous, as he would be forced to tell employers that he was a werewolf. For the time being, he had plans to look for some sort of work near the home he was moving into in only a week's time.

Remus was pulled slightly away from his thoughts as he felt Sirius tug at his chest again, pulling him back down to lay on his bed. James scoffed from across the room, but as Remus saw him stifle a smile, he felt a rush of affection. Only a few days after discovering that the two were a couple (and had been for a number of weeks), James had been comfortable enough to see them climbing into the same bed at night—providing, of course, that they performed a few tricky charms around their drawn curtains. James, who was Sirius' best and closest friend (Sirius had even lived with James and his parents up until this summer), knew all too well just how excitable Sirius could be. It seemed like ages ago that Remus had lain awake at night, staring at the bed next to him, wishing he could climb in with the dark, gray-eyed boy lying near him. Because the two were not "out" to the majority of the school, it was a great relief to know that, at least within the confines of their old dormitory, they could be themselves.

Feeling Sirius' long hair fall over his eyes as Sirius made himself more comfortable, Remus felt utterly and completely content. Best friends, a fantastically sexy boyfriend, and the prospect of a new, fresh start had him in such a good state of mind that he felt nothing could bring him back down. Starting next week, his new life would begin—a new life filled with his friends, his goals, and hopefully—he grinned to himself—free range in the house to be with Sirius whenever he pleased.

A new life… A new home. Remus breathed in the smells and sounds of their dormitory, cherishing them, remembering all the good times they'd had… but, finally, after seven years, he was ready for something different. He was ready for something bigger, something better, and something, hopefully, filled with the most important people he'd ever known.

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Beginnings... A bit of a recap, but - thoughts? Don't you love them as a real couple?