Retrouvailles

This is a massive Happy Birthday Fic for @ink_and_fables_4_u to celebrate how wonderful they are at writing things that make me cry.

Remus stared blankly at the Marauders Map, a cooling mug of tea in his hand. After all these years, there it was. He thought it had been lost to Filch's wrath in 1977. But here it was, staring up at him as if it were mocking him.

"We did it! It worked!" James cheered, jumping up and down wildly.

"We're geniuses!" Sirius shouted, hugging Remus close.

Remus grinned widely as Peter laughed out of pure exhilaration. He hugged Sirius back and then James and Peter were joining their hug as well. They all jumped up and down, laughing and crying without much care for the other students in the nearby dorm rooms.

Remus blinked and his eyes focused on the map again. Harry, Hermione, and Ron were going down to the shrieking shack.

At least there's no ghosts there like the townspeople think, he thought with bitter amusement.

He froze with his mug halfway to his lips. No. There was no way. It wasn't possible. Yet, there those two names were, staring up at him with a twisted sort of menace. Sirius Black was in the Shrieking Shack with Peter Pettigrew, Harry, Hermione, and Ron.

His mug fell from his hand but Remus paid the mess of tea and ceramic little mind as he raced from his office, wand in hand. He ran through the castle and across the grounds to the Shrieking Shack as fast as he could. His mind whirled.

Peter wasn't dead. Peter had escaped the blast and ran away. But why hadn't he said anything? It made sense if he was hiding now with Sirius on the loose, but why hadn't he said anything in the last twelve years?

Remus levitated a stick to hit the knot on the Whomping Willow and ran through the tunnel.

"We're up here!" a high pitched voice screamed suddenly. "We're up here—Sirius Black—quick!"

He let out a string of curse words under his breath that would have had Minerva putting him in a month of detention, whether or not he was a staff member.

He sent a blasting spell at the door and hurtled into the room, wand raised. He glanced around and a wave of dizziness cast over him. He forced himself to stay upright. It wouldn't do to faint. Ron was lying on the floor, his leg mangled and bloody. He'd need a splint to get back to the castle. Hermione was cowering next to the door, eyes alight with a type of determination he knew well from his school days. His gaze slid to Harry next, standing in the middle of the Shrieking Shack with his wand pointed at Sirius and gaze angry but hesitant. Sirius was crumpled at Harry's feet, a concerningly familiar orange cat on his chest.

"Expelliarmus!" Remus shouted just a few seconds after he burst into the room.

Harry's wand flew out of his hand, as did the two Hermione was holding. Remus caught them easily, then moved into the room properly. Oh how he hated this room.

"Where is he, Sirius?" Remus asked tensely.

Sirius looked up at him with the expressionless mask that Remus hated so much. He had worn that mask most of their first year, and wore it again every time he came back from holiday before Fifth Year. It was the mask born of living with his parents in a hostile household.

For a few seconds, Sirius didn't move. Then, slowly as if he were afraid to disturb the cat on his chest, he pointed at Ron.

Remus's eyes narrowed. Ron wasn't Peter, he knew that. It wasn't possible. Didn't he have a pet rat though?