Growing Up

Part 39.

The months that followed were a consistent attempt at a routine that fit the likes of all three boys. Christmas had been a good start to many, and Remus' birthday had been a decent celebration. Decent to Sirius, since Remus shut down every expression of excitement. Harry was three years old, and it seemed like he learned new words every day. To that thought, he probably did. With these words came the curse of questions.

"Moony?"

"Yea, Bambi?" Remus responded.

"Why do chickens have wings?" He asked, his legs dangling off the chair, swinging. He looked over to the painting on the wall that Regulus had done of a sort of bird that Harry had mistaken for a chicken.

"Because God made them that way." Sirius chimed in from across the parlor.

"something made them that way." Remus added, turning his head slightly. Religious bickering wasn't a popular topic.

"What? He needs a valid answer?"

"And that was one?"

"Why?" Harry asked, ignoring the tension that thickened the air as every moment passed.

"I'm not sure, Harry." Remus' tone lightened.

"Why aren't you sure?"

"Oh, here we go."

***

Harry rambled on about some song he heard on the television, Remus nodded along to the meaningless babbling. He sat at the counter and glanced over to Sirius, whose posture had straightened oddly as he walked in the kitchen.

Remus smiled at him and walked up slowly, moving his hair behind his ear to whisper.
"Eat my frosted animal cookies again, and we're over."

Sirius' smooth face twisted upward into a grin, looking shyly at Harry who had stopping speaking.
"What?" Harry asked.

Sirius watched Harry and tilted his head.

"You ate them?" Remus stood up straight.

"Uh..." Harry added.

"Caught red handed." Sirius laughed.

"They were yummy." Harry mumbled, his mouth full of popsicle.

"I bet they were." Remus nudged Sirius in the shoulder only to watch him draw back instinctually. He froze, then walked on calmly to grab a glass from the cabinet. Sirius hoped Remus' hadn't seen him wince.

"Sirius."

Sirius turned around with a forced smile, slyly grabbing the back of his shirt and pulling it gently. He looked like Harry moments ago, red in the face and caught with something that wasn't his.

"It's nothing, I swear." He grabbed the glass sideways, facing Remus wearing a creepy smile that was clearly a coverup.

"Moony, his shoulder," Harry pointed from the table.

Remus walked towards him and turned him around by his right shoulder, the opposite one that he had nudged moments ago. Sirius stood stolid and unmoving.

"Remus, it's nothing!" Sirius became defensive, backing two steps away. He knew this mechanism, and he knew it well.

"Harry," Remus tilted his head, his eyes unwavering on Sirius' expressionless face. When Sirius wanted to, it was no hurdle to convince someone of anything. A brilliant liar to everyone except for Remus.

"Can you go ask Kreacher if he can explain Regulus' greatest achievements?"

Harry nodded and hopped out of the chair, skipping to the stairs and running up them on all fours. The smacking of his hands and feet on the stairs faded into short conversations upstairs.

"I'm not kidding." He spoke softly, his jaw tightening with his crinkled brows. "Lift up your shirt."

Sirius' guarding stance melted into a softer attitude, he was now smiling again.

"It's taken care of."

Remus paused, the realization finally washing over him like heavy rain in the night.

"It was my fault, you'd think after years of doing this I'd learn my lesson." Sirius sighed, but slowly lifted up his shirt, seering through his gritted teeth.

Two large gashes around six inches at length stood out from his shoulder blade the the middle of his back. The scab had ripped open and blood oozed out in drops that clung to his grey shirt. Parts of it were healed and parts looked worse, displaying itself like a healing spell gone wrong; which is probably what happened. Remus felt his hands go numb, his mind swirling through his memory as an attempt to recall when he-

"Moony-" Sirius put his shirt back down, his hands outward to reach for him.

Remus avoided his eyes, his chest feeling heavy making it difficult to take a breath in that wasn't shaking. He took a cautious step back as if he had some kind of plague, as if he would burst into flames if Sirius touched him. He tried to recall when it happened, but no memories would shake through the fog that occurred when he saw what he had done

Sirius' face twisted solemnly and with deep regret. He wondered what would've happened if Sirius flat out refused, if Remus had never known.

"Moony-"

"No," His voice was almost a whine. "I just- I ha-have to-"

Giving up on his half sentence, he winced and walked away. Remus thought they were cautious, that they were careful. James was his last victim, back in their seventh year. The long scar down his left leg haunted Remus like a reoccurring nightmare. Sirius would be the same, forever branded by the monster he had to live with. Shrouded with grief, the image twinkled under his closed eyelids. His palms pressed into his face, he didn't move when the door opened, it's possible he didn't hear it. A figure came up and curled down next to him. Something made a sound as it hit the floor, and an object unusually light falling over his feet.

His hands parting at the bridge of his nose, his eyes caught on the first thing in front of him.

Padfoot wagged his tail anxiously, his chin and snout pressed to the floor and looking the opposite way. His head rested calmly on his paws and his ears drew back with uncertainty. Next to him was Harry's plastic cup halfway full of animal crackers.

Word count: 983