'Til The End

Scars and Stars

Sirius grunted as he heard Moody enter, not bothering to move. 'Dumbledore's expecting you two at Grimmauld Place in half an hour, lads.' He said, then hobbled away. Sirius and Remus apparated back to their place most weekends, unless they wanted to see Harry and the others, and more often than not Molly invited them over for dinner. This time they had declined, in hopes of a weekend alone. Apparently not. 'Moony.' Sirius said softly, shaking Remus. 'Moony, we need to go to Grimmauld Place.' Remus growled in frustration and tried to sit up. Yesterday had been a full moon. A bad one too. 'I'll owl him and say we're not going.' Sirius said, reaching for the quill and parchment on his bedside table. Sirius had worried about Remus anyway, but when his Moony layed back down without protest it concerned him even more. He scribbled a quick note to the old bugger, then settled himself back down beside Moony. 'I love you.' Sirius whispered, leaning up to kiss Remus' cheek. 'I love you too.' Sirius felt Remus' lips press against his forehead, then less than a minute later Remus was asleep again. 

'Why is Dumbledore in our bedroom?' Remus growled from beneath the bed covers. 'Go back to sleep, Moony.' Sirius said softly. He was sitting upright, talking to Dumbledore quietly. He had refused to leave Remus until he was awake. Moony's eyes blinked shut again, and Sirius finally crawled out of bed. As soon as he and the old man made it downstairs, Sirius slammed the door and cast a silencing charm. 'I told you we weren't coming because of the moon! What didn't you understand?' Sirius demanded, as loudly as he currently dared. Dumbledore watched as Sirius punched the wall, repaired it with his wand then turned back around. 'I understood all of it perfectly well, yet this meeting was very important.' Sirius gazed at Dumbledore for a second, burning with... Hatred. 'Oh yes, I forgot, everything you have to say is more important than my fiancé's health. Silly me.' Sirius said sarcastically. 'I apologise if I don't have much time for the man who basically killed my best friends, put me in prison, left Remus alone for twelve fucking years and failed to catch the man who framed me for murder. You offered Snape help, yet you wanted nothing to do with Remus or Mary. You have time for Death Eaters, not people who fought your fucking battles the entire way through, and not the people who needed your help the most.' Sirius paused for a second, waiting to see if Dumbledore would defend himself, but he stayed silent. 'And, you have let my Godson come close to death every single year so far at your damn school, yet he hasn't with Remus in charge. What's your excuse, or are you going to play your 'old man's mistake' card. It was an 'old man's mistake' when you thought I was guilty. It was an 'old man's mistake' when you couldn't prevent Voldemort from coming back, it was an 'old man's mistake' when Pettigrew got away. 'It was an 'old man's mistake' when you failed to save the Weasley's daughter, and it was an 'old man's mistake' when you've hired dodgy fucking teachers for Defence almost every bloody year. No, not just dodgy. Let's count. One had Voldemort living on the back of his head. One was a fraud. One was an escaped Death Eater and one owned illegal quills she used to torture kids. You managed to find one decent teacher. One.' 

'I do not have an excuse, Sirius, I only have reasons.' Sirius snorted, but didn't interrupt. 'I would do nothing to jeopardise Remus' health, nor do I intend to. I didn't help Remus in those years because I couldn't. Remus shut himself off from the entire Wizarding World and no one knew where he'd gone. Miss MacDonald has done perfectly fine on her own, I believe she has two children who are happy and healthy, and attend Hogwarts, currently in their Second year. You must agree with me in that Harry put himself in danger, I did not ask Harry-' 

'No, you didn't fucking ask him, he did it to save people. I'm sorry, but if you dare blame Harry for all of the shit that's happened over the last five years I will leave the Order, and you know you need me.' The unsaid words 'and Remus' hung heavily in the air, because both Sirius and Dumbledore knew that if Sirius left the Order, Remus wouldn't think twice about following his lead. 'Harry might see it necessary to save people, but we never asked him to.' 

'And why is that a bad thing? If Harry wants to save people when the staff can't be bloody bothered then...' Sirius paused. 'Don't put this on Harry. It was all your fault.' Sirius started to pace again, one hand raking through his hair and the other clenched into a fist. He was still angry, but just as distressed. 'I could not have done anything to stop Harry and his friends doing all they did.' 

'But you could've saved James and Lily.' Sirius said, out of no where. 'IT'S YOUR FAULT! YOU HAD THE CLOAK! YOU... You... You set it up, didn't you? You just wanted the damn war to be over so you could go back to your normal life.' Sirius took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. It didn't work. 'YOU DIDN'T CARE WHO WE LOST! YOU DIDN'T CARE ABOUT ANY OF US!' Sirius practically screamed. He had met Dumbledore's eyes, and was silently daring him to break the stare. Apparently the silencing charm had worn off, because Remus had somehow made it downstairs and flung open the kitchen door. 'What the fuck just happened?' He asked, looking from Sirius to Dumbledore. Sirius could feel himself shaking, now just deflated. Remus was staring at him, eyes narrowed. 'Come here.' Remus said, 'and you.' He turned to Dumbledore, 'can leave.' Sirius cast a dirty look Dumbledore's way as he crossed the room to Remus, glaring at the old man. Dumbledore hadn't even started to move. Remus had placed a hand on Sirius' shoulder, calming him slightly. 'Remus told you to leave.' Sirius said pointedly, raising a hand to the front door. Dumbledore merely raised a snowy eyebrow, and left. 'Fucking moron. Absolute bastard.' Sirius helped Remus to the living room and snuggled up beside him, hatred for Dumbledore bubbling in his stomach like acid. 

'Do you actually think Dumbledore set it up?' Remus asked quietly, stroking Sirius hair. Sirius nodded vigorously. 'Why else would he have the cloak that night?' Sirius had vowed to never speak to Dumbledore again, cursing the old bugger over and over again in his head. Remus didn't have a response, and Sirius wasn't looking for one. They stayed curled up together for hours, and Remus fell asleep. Sirius' hand was slowly stroking the back of Remus' hair, comforting himself as much as Remus. He realised he hadn't checked on Harry all day, and cursed himself for not letting Harry know Remus was ok. Easing himself out of Remus' grip, he scribbled a note and stuck it to the front door, knowing if Remus woke up he'd go out looking, then apparated to Hogwarts. It was freezing, and, shivering, Sirius jogged to the front doors. 

By the time Sirius' had made it all the way to Gryffindor common room, he was considerably warmed up. 'Hey, Ginny, George, Fred. Seen Harry?' Ginny didn't look up from her revision, just pointed at the staircase. Fred and George, however, glanced up and grinned. As Sirius was running up the stairs, he heard Fred say, 'wonder what he's doing here, Ginbug?' Sirius rapped twice on the dorm door, and it swung open by itself, indicating one of the boys had let him in. 'Alright?' Sirius asked, wandering in and leaning on the bedframe of Harry's bed. 'Yeah, is Remus-' 

'Remus is fine. Stop worrying! Honestly, worse than me and Lily put together. You lot ok?' Harry grimaced, and that took Sirius by surprise. Usually Harry would lie anyway. 'Ginny and Luna have been fighting all week, and Ginny is not in the best of moods. According to Hermione, Ginny has been staying up until Merlin knows what time blasting loud music and ignoring the other girls complaints. Fred's been taking the piss, too, so that's making her even happier. Hermione's resorted to charming Ginny's record player to not work while there's bad vibes around, because none of them were getting any sleep, so now Ginny just plays shit in the common room where we can all hear it, but we're all too scared to tell her and get our heads bitten off.' Sirius opened his mouth to suggest giving Ginny a break, but Harry waved him away. 'George and Lee are "not fighting" according to them, but it's painfully obvious. We play the Ravenclaw match tomorrow and while Fred and George and Lee aren't getting along practices are barely going ahead. Ginny is just determined to beat the shit out of Luna tomorrow I think, because Ravenclaw captain has had Luna step in for one of the chasers. So basically that match is going to fall apart. Angelina is going spare, telling Ginny if she doesn't start behaving herself she'll be kicked off the team, telling the twins and Lee if they don't stop acting like two-year-olds she's going to kick them of the team, and arguing with Rodger Davies about his appointment of Luna, which we're all backing her up on...' Sirius let Harry talk, because it was clear he hadn't spoken to many people all day, and he just needed to say it all. 

'And Ron being keeper isn't helping anyone out either.' Sirius could see Harry's point. He had seen a practise, and Ron definitely wasn't the best keeper out there. 'Honestly, just go out there and play as hard as you can. If those four are being assholes just catch the snitch as quick as you can, preferably before Ginny gets hold of a Beater's bat, and end it all. If I were you, I wouldn't pay much attention to Fred, George and Lee, because you and I both know they love Quidditch, and they wouldn't do anything to sabotage the match.' 

'Yeah, you're right. Can I come back and say hi to Remus for a bit?'