Raised by Canines {A Harry Potter fanfiction}

16. Secrets Revealed

A/N: Shout out and chapter dedication to ProngstheMesser because they are precious. :)

"So it's for sure? She really is pregnant?"

"It's been confirmed, yeah."

Sirius stood in the kitchen after dinner, arms crossed. They'd sent Harry up to his room for a few moments to play while they talked; both of them knew that arguments between the two could get pretty heated and they didn't need Harry hearing any of it.

Sirius felt like his heart had been ripped out of his chest and he was beginning to understand why he'd been so on edge about Sarah, why he'd always been so weird about Remus dating other people. He wasn't sure how he felt about it, either.

"So you're going to marry her, then?"

"No."

Sirius' head snapped up. "What? But you said--"

"I said I should. Not that I would." Remus ran a hand through his hair. "I don't trust her anymore, Padfoot, and my responsibility was to you and Harry first."

"But what about the kid?"

"We will work all the details out later." Remus bit his lip. "I didn't want this to happen. I wasn't planning on staying with her for much longer, not only because I wasn't sure that I really liked her but because I knew Harry needed me. But now...now I've gone and ruined everything."

For a brief moment, Sirius had the urge to punch Remus right in the nose. He just shook his head, however, and gave into the other urge.

He hugged Remus. Hard.

"It wasn't you." He said quietly. "You didn't ruin anything."

Remus had to admit he was a bit shocked by Sirius' behavior, but he hesitantly hugged the man back. "I'm sorry, Padfoot."

"Shut up, Moony."

Remus snorted. "Way to ruin the moment."

"You're ruining it." Sirius argued, a smile playing on his lips. "Quit talking."

Remus smiled and pulled away. "You don't seem too upset about me not marrying Sarah."

Sirius blinked and crossed his arms. "Because I'm not."

"Why? I know you want me around, but I also know your morals."

The animagus cleared his throat. "I, uh, I...I believe Harry only has thirty minutes before bed and would like to play with me."

Without any hesitation he spun on his heel and nearly ran to Harry's room, not wanting to see the confused look on Remus' face.

*~*~*

"Do you like Uncle Moony?"

The question was innocent enough.

"Well of course I do." Sirius smiled. "I love Uncle Moony. He's my best friend."

"Ron says that he has an uncle that lives with another man and they're getting married. Are you gonna marry Uncle Moony?"

Oh for Merlin's sake! Sirius frowned. Why was everything coming back to anything along those lines?

"No, Harry. I don't think so."

"Oh." Harry frowned. "Do you want to?"

Sirius was quiet for a long time before he answered.

"Maybe."

*~*~*

Remus pressed a kiss to Harry's forehead after tucking the boy in, then smiled down at him.

"Goodnight, Cub. I love you."

"Love you too, Uncle Moony."

"If you need me or Uncle Padfoot, our doors are always open, okay?"

"'Kay."

It was the first night in a long time that they weren't rocking Harry before bed, and both men were worried. He was prone to nightmares, especially when they didn't rock him, and a small part of Remus kind of wished Harry would have a nightmare.

He wasn't ready to give up that part of the nightly routine.

"Okay." Remus took a deep breath and kissed Harry's forehead again before getting up and turning off the light. And then leaving Harry's door open just a crack. He needed to talk to Sirius about the conversation he ha overheard between the two earlier.

If Sirius didn't want him to hear that, Remus wouldn't have. Of this he was absolutely sure.

He caught Sirius in the living room, absentmindedly going through the Daily Prophet.

"So you might want to marry me, huh?"

Sirius dropped the newspaper, his face a beat red. Remus smirked; it was hard to make Sirius blush, but he'd just done a hell of a job doing so.

"So you heard that."

"You wanted me to."

"Did not."

"I know you well enough to know that you did."

Sirius shifted uncomfortably. "Well, I'm sorry."

"Why are you sorry?"

"Because...because you're not gay."

And suddenly, the vase that Remus kept in memory of his mother shattered and fell to the floor as an anguished yell left his throat. Both men paused; Sirius was in shock and Remus was breathing heavily, trying to get his magic under control.

"I. Dropped. Hints. For. Years."

"Moony..."

"Don't 'Moony' me!" Remus nearly bellowed. "If you hadn't been so caught up in your girlfriends and pranking others maybe you would have noticed! It was like you never even wanted to talk about it!"

"I did want to talk about it!" Sirius' pitch now matched Remus'. "For your information the reason why I drowned myself in everything else was because I couldn't stop thinking about you! Even when I was with Marlene, nothing else felt right! It's always been you!"

Sirius was hurt, and it was starting to leak through.

"In fact, I haven't had a relationship with anyone since Marlene! Do you know how much it killed me when Peter tricked me into thinking that you were the spy? I still loved you and I felt so guilty for it! And I couldn't date anyone else, I didn't want to because I only wanted you!"

"Why didn't you just say something?"

"I was scared of losing you. I thought you might possibly be gay but I knew how you were about being different already so I didn't want to bring anything else up." Both of them had stopped yelling at this point. "Losing you, James, Harry and Lily...that's the only thing that's ever scared me. You and Harry especially."

In two quick strides Remus had crossed over to Sirius and, without anymore hesitation, kissed his best friend. It wasn't anything like he'd expected; Sirius' lips were soft and he was hesitant, as if he were scared Remus was just messing with him. Remus just slowly moved against Sirius' lips, trying to assure him that he was safe, that they were okay.

After a few moments Remus pulled away.

"I'm sorry for yelling. That wasn't fair."

"I'm sorry too, Remus." Sirius was shocked, to say the least. He hadn't been expecting Remus to be so accepting; granted, Remus seemed to think the same thing about him. "Are we...are we okay?"

Remus just smiled. "Yeah. I think we're good."