The Marauders - Order of the Phoenix - Part Two

LXIII: 23 June, 1994

"Expelliarmus!"

Remus's voice echoed through the clubhouse room of the Shrieking Shack, loud and passionate. He caught Harry, Ron, and Hermione's wands and, to Remus's surprise, Sirius's wand as well came up from the floor, where it had rolled under the desk in the recently disturbed dust, where Sirius had been looking for the pictures. Remus had them - all of them - tucked up in the drawer of his desk in the castle. He looked at Sirius, who stared right back at him, the cat rising and falling on his chest as he breathed unsteadily.

It really was Rodger, Remus realized, as the cat's head turned to look up at him. How? He didn't have time to wonder - too much going on right now - but he would have to ask Sirius one day.

For now, there were other things to take care of first - more important things.

For starters, the fact that Harry now stared at Remus with a look of betrayal and disappointment on his face. He looked down at his empty palm, then at Sirius and back to Remus with eyes that were on the verge of tears. Remus knew he was regretting not getting the revenge he thought he'd had within his reach just moments before - but thank the stars he hadn't.

It had been that close - that close. If Harry had had just the tiniest smidge more determination in him -- well. 

The only person Remus had expected to see that he did not now see was Peter. He looked around the room. The old Remus - the Remus of just a couple weeks ago, who hadn't seen the name Peter Pettigrew on the Marauders Map would have been sent into a spiral of doubt. But not now, not this Sirius.

I gotta have faith.

"Where is he, Sirius?" he asked.

Sirius stared at Remus with a stoic expression, unreadable, and for a couple seconds, he didn't move. Remus had a feeling that Sirius had expected him to respond like the same old Remus - doubt and abandonment - and that was fair. After all, Remus had let Sirius down in this department so many times... and Remus regretted every one of them. But he watched as Sirius stared at him and slowly, slowly realized that maybe, just maybe, this time might be different.

Sirius lifted a shaking, weak arm and pointed at Ron.

"ME?" Ron wailed out, "What - what'd I do?"

"But --" Remus looked at Ron, then back at Sirius, "But why hasn't he --" And suddenly stuff was starting to click. "He's hiding... He's hiding from --" Remus glanced back at Sirius. "Unless - unless he was the one who --" he paused, "But you were the -- unless you switched?" 

Sirius's face lit with a small streak of hope as he watched Remus Lupin put the pieces together at last, after twelve bloody damn years.

"You switched without telling me?"

Sirius nodded slowly.

Remus stared at Sirius.

Sirius stared at Remus. 

Suddenly Remus was stepping forward toward Sirius, pushing Rodger Crookshanks off his chest, and he grabbed Sirius's hands and pulled him to his feet.

They stared into one another's eyes for a long moment. 

Remus couldn't help but remember a moment sixteen years before (he felt the ring on his finger and realized it was not quite sixteen years before. It was fifteen years... and 364 days) when he had stood on a beach at this exact equidistance from Sirius, stared into his eyes this exact same way, and made a promise that he had broken a hundred thousand times over. But he would not make that mistake again.

Not ever, ever again.

Because if he'd just bloody had the faith that he should've had to begin with...