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Chapter Text

Remus Lupin was bored, and getting somewhat antsy. Sirius should have come back hours ago. He was supposed to lie low, for Merlin’s sake, not wander around the countryside! Of course the man said that his Animagus form was his protection, as well as a mean to reconnect with himself and nature. Remus would have accused him of having taken that straight out of a book if he hadn’t known about the man’s dislike of unnecessary reading.

He sighed in relief when he heard a scratch at the door, and had to stop himself from running to it. As he opened, he was surprised to find not a big, black dog, but a much smaller grey tabby cat. Its markings were like glasses around the eyes, and it was more drenched than he thought a cat could be without being entirely dipped in water.

The cat meowed. He meowed back, before thinking to himself that that was a really idiotic response. The cat dashed past his legs and into the kitchen, waiting for him to follow.

“I’m assuming you’d like something to eat and drink?” He asked, politeness taking over. A moment passed before he realised he wouldn’t get any answer, and he went to the cupboard, retrieving two small plates. In one he put water, wondering if the cat would need any given how drenched it was. On the other, he put bits of chicken. He noticed the cat looking at each, then at him, before going for the chicken.

He was fairly certain the cat’s eyes followed him as he went to the bathroom, retrieving a small towel. He felt the cat tense as he approached again. He thought that, though not seeming feral, the cat would definitely claw at him if he tried to dry it. He then set the towel in front of the fire burning nearby, and stepped away from it.

Nothing happened, other than some water drinking on the cat’s part, and he went to the sofa to pick up the book he had forgotten amidst all the pacing he had been doing. He picked it up, and a few seconds later heard a small impact on the sofa. The cats meowed faintly and curled itself into a ball, pressing against his side and effectively making his sweater damp.

“Should have known.” He sighed with a smile. Then realised just how bad an idea it was letting the cat in with Sirius coming back any minute.

Just as the thought crossed his mind, he heard scratching at the door, and this time he knew. As he got up to open it, the cat followed him. He readied himself for a reaction that didn’t come. Padfoot came in, shook himself, effectively soaking Remus and soaking the cat even more so. The cat in questions growled, and the dog growled back, before changing back into Sirius.

“Remus, why is there a cat in your cottage?”

“It was on the doorstep, this is the only house in sight, so I let it in.”

“I thought you were a dog person?”

“I am a dog person.”He said, proving so as he put his arms around the other man’s waist, approaching slowly to kiss him. “But I wasn’t going to let that cat out in the rain.” He added, deepening the kiss.

“I don’t like cats.” Sirius said, pouting.

“That’s Padfoot speaking.” Remus replied, but Sirius’ eyes had already drifted to where he had put the food and water.

“You even ‘fed’ the thing? You’re aware it’ll never leave, right?” Sirius said, sounding so offended Remus has to muffle a laugh.

“I wasn’t going to let the thing go hungry.”

“But that’s my chicken!” Sirius replied, pointing at the plate with a childish tone.

“There is more. Now go get changed before you catch something. Dumbledore would never forgive me if you did.”

“Can you come with me? I mean you’re wet now so you need to change too.” He asked with a glint in his eyes that Remus knows way too well.

“Plus, Dumbledore can get stuffed, he has no idea what it’s liked being stuck so far from everything and everyone, having nothing other than books and a handsome man to occupy myself with.” Sirius added, making his friend simultaneously shake his head and smile. Remus noticed the cat seemed to look offended, but maybe it was just a trick of the light.

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They ended up heading to the bathroom with their change of clothes, which was basically two sets of Remus’ clothes, which Sirius pretended to find infuriating and yet seemed in no hurry to correct.

The whole thing was a terrible idea, and Remus knew he should not have let Sirius convince him otherwise. The bath was small; Remus, on his own, had trouble fitting in it. Trying to fit two grown men without some sort of magic would be plain impossible.

Even with a larger bath, it took, as expected, a lot more time than it should have, thanks primarily to Sirius’ wandering hands to which Remus quickly surrendered. Once they both managed to get as clean as they wanted, they realised they had flooded the tiny bathroom, the two towels and change of clothes hanging from the hooks on the door having miraculously survived their antics unaffected.

“We left our wands in the kitchen, didn’t we?” Remus sighed, the question rhetorical. Sirius laughed and was thanked for his input by a pointy elbow coming in contact with his ribcage.

“If we open the door, we will flood the outside too.” He remarked, pouting.

“Well, you might or might not have noticed, but given how crooked that door is, I am fairly sure it has done a really poor job at stopping water getting past anyway.” Remus replied. He stepped out of the bath into the puddle, wrapped himself in a towel and opened the door, tiptoeing to where he had last seen their wands.

He noticed the cat sitting near the edge of the puddle that had reached the kitchen. It did not look amused. Remus shot it an apologetic look and went back to the bathroom.

Given the extent of the flood, they had to cast a drying spell, which had the unfortunate side effect of entirely dehydrating Remus’ last living plant without any hope of recovery, magical or otherwise.

“It was ugly anyway.” Sirius had said, and Remus had shot him a weird look.

“What? It was! And it was probably about a week from keeling over anyway, we did the poor thing a favour!” Sirius debated light-heartedly.

“I liked that plant! It was as ugly and desperate as I was!” Remus answered, and Sirius was not quite sure what to make of his tone. He stepped closer to Remus, taking the man’s face in his hands.

“One day, you will have to accept the fact that you are more handsome than you will ever see.” Sirius said, his voice a mere whisper, dead serious.

“And one day you will need to get your eyes checked.” Remus replied on a playful tone, but there was something raw in his voice, something that made Sirius uneasy. Remus turned away from him, and Sirius snaked his arms around his waist from behind.

“There is nothing wrong with my eyes.” He said, kissing his friend’s neck. “Nor will I let you be desperate.” He kissed a spot further up, right under Remus’ right ear. “So long as we are alive, there is hope, even with a war waging around us.” He added, resting his forehead against the back of Remus’ head.

“I am supposed to be the one helping you learn to live again.” Remus said, turning around, their eyes meeting.

“I never forgot how to live, Remus. I just had to stop doing it for a while.” Sirius said, more serious than Remus had ever seen him be. Of all the places to have that conversation, Remus had not imagined his freshly dried bathroom would be the one they would pick.

“I know.” He replied, softly, leaning toward Sirius, kissing him briefly. “But you cannot pretend it is easy.”

“I am not pretending it is easy, Remus. But I can honestly say that having you there with me makes it a lot easier than I could have imagined.” He replied. “And I am not talking about the physical side of things.” He added, almost as an afterthought.

They stood there for a while, words unnecessary as they looked in the other’s eyes, and saw every reply to the answers flooding them. What was it between them? Could they really trust each other? Could they ever trust anyone else? Could they ever hope to go back to how it had once been?

When Sirius had first come through his door, Remus was both overjoyed and panicked. He knew that whatever happened next would set the tone for a cohabitation that could last days, weeks, months...

He wanted his old friend back, but he knew he was long gone. He wanted his lover back, but he knew they had hurt each other so much there was hardly any hope there either. He wanted Sirius there, but he was afraid of who Sirius would be. He was not even sure Sirius would like the man he had become.

After a few moments of awkward silence and insecurities, Sirius had smiled at him, and Remus was fairly sure the frigid cottage had warmed up several degrees. Then he had walked up to him quickly, and they had shared a hug that had lasted a lot longer than would have been strictly necessary. After that, he had relayed Dumbledore’s message, and they had started talking about Harry, and how Sirius had spent the last year.

Day after day, they had found a balance to their relationship, the right amount of physical contact, the right amount of joking and seriousness, and had fallen into a routine that was already comfortable. Remus knew that Sirius would talk when he felt like it. The man had never pressured him when the wolf was torturing him, and he would return that favour.

Remus was dragged back to the present by Sirius’ growling stomach. He rolled his eyes, a smile growing on his lips, and led the way back to the kitchen.

Chapter Text

They prepared dinner in silence. There really was not that much to prepare, there was enough chicken left over from lunch for the two of them, and they picked a few vegetables at random to make a salad. They ate quietly, occasionally exchanging looks and smiles.

Remus had noticed that the cat seemed to avoid Sirius, or maybe the both of them, but every so often it would come close enough to sniff him, and then go back to the sofa which it appeared to have claimed as its own.

After dinner, they went to sit on the sofa, the cat promptly disappearing out of sight. Slowly sipping from a gigantic cup of warm chocolate they passed back and forth, Sirius’ idea, they started talking about good old times, the pranks, the laughter and the comfort of the Gryffindor common room. Every so often, one of them would be deep in thought only to get tugged back to reality by the other muffling a laugh.

“Remember that time...” Remus started, laughing too hard to continue. He was starting to wonder if there was not more than chocolate in that mug.

“You are going to need to be a little more precise than that, Moony.” Sirius smiled at him, the laughter communicative.

“When we made part of the moving stairs invisible?” Remus managed to say between too deep breaths.

“Oh that was good fun.” Sirius replied, grinning. “Not quite sure how we actually pulled that off though.”

“Yes, I think that was the first and last time we managed to get out of detention because we were underestimated!” Remus added.

“I still remember McGonagall and Dumbledore standing there and trying to figure it out. McGonagall was furious, but Dumbledore was actually quite amused.” Sirius said, Remus nodding at the recollection. They heard the cat meowing, and found it in front of them.

“Don’t agree much with our mischief, do you?” Sirius asked. The cat jumped on his lap, and he petted it, surprised when the cat remained on his lap and started purring. He kept on petting it, and he took the giant mug in his free hand, thanking Remus with a nod.

He glared at him however when he noticed how amused Remus was at him getting on seemingly well with the cat.

“It likes me.” Sirius said defensively.

“Can’t blame the poor thing, you are very likeable.” Remus replied, still smiling.

“Shut up.” Sirius replied, almost pouting, making Remus smile wider.

“Make me.” Remus said cheekily. Sirius kissed him quickly, before moving around a little so he was pretty much laying in the man’s arms, the cat still in his lap.

“Happy?” Remus asked gently. Sirius just nodded, still petting the cat whose purring was almost deafening in the surrounding silence.

“I guess it is right what people say about cats helping people heal.” Sirius said. A moment later, he added: “Though none of them would know how helpful werewolves are.” He felt Remus smile as he kissed his cheek, the nearest extent of skin he could find in their current position.

“How about we head to bed?” Remus asked softly.

“In a moment?” Sirius replied.

“Sure.” Remus said, jokingly adding: “It’s not like I could go anywhere as is.”

“Do you want me to move, or?” Sirius started.

“No, please, this is perfect. So long as we don’t actually fall asleep here. I have a feeling we’d regret it in the morning.” Remus replied. Sirius nodded. He was fairly sure he would not fall asleep like that, not that he did not want to. The cat, however, seemed fast asleep.

It was another half hour before they decided to move to the bedroom, Remus already half asleep by then, as was his left leg, for which Sirius apologised profusely. His proposal to ‘make it better’ led to the both of them staying awake a while longer than anticipated.

**

By the time they got up the next morning, the cat was gone, and they could not help but feel a little disappointed although they had both expected it.

“Can’t figure out where it escaped from though.” Sirius said, puzzled. “It’s not like it could get up and open the door.”

“Cats are more resourceful than most people would think.” Remus said, as if speaking from experience. Sirius shot him a quizzical look. “Don’t you remember the cat invasion in third year? When all the pets got turned into cats?”

“Yes I do, we all got two weeks of detention for something we hadn’t even done! Still can’t believe we hadn’t thought of it!”

“Well some of those were really clever.” Remus punctuated. Sirius was not sure whether he meant the cats or whoever was behind the prank.

Over breakfast, they talked about potential projects. What they could do around the place that would not endanger them, anything to trump the endless wait for news that were not coming. Sirius hoped he would be allowed to see Harry soon, and Remus would really have been happy with any change in their daily life. Not that he was bored, but he wanted to know what was going on, what they could do to help.

They were planning an outing in the forest, with Sirius as Padfoot, when they heard scratching at the door. They exchanged a look and a hopeful smile before getting up and heading towards the door.

Chapter Text

The cat was at the door. It looked both positively dangerous and mostly non-plussed. The first thing Sirius noticed was that it was holding something in its mouth. The first thing Remus noticed was that the glasses shape around the eyes definitely reminded him of something, or maybe someone, but he just could not quite put his finger on it.

The cat came forward, making circles around Remus’ ankles until he crouched down. When he did, the cat deposited the content of its mouth, a very frightened live rat, on his lap. Remus, too busy trying to keep the thing from escaping long enough that he could check the rodent’s well being, did not notice the daring look the cat shot Sirius, who could have sworn he had not been dreaming. After a few more seconds, the cat got back inside the cottage, leaving the two baffled men to contemplate what to do with the toothed gift.

“It’s not Wormtail.” Remus said, as if it needed to be said.

“I can tell.” Sirius replied. Still, he was a little bit tempted to take the rage bubbling inside him, now more than ever, out on the poor creature.

“I think that is the cat way of telling me it likes me.” Remus stated, half-moved, half-worried.

“The thing probably figured I am useless.” Sirius replied.

Remus looked at him for a moment before he spoke again.

“Padfoot, are you jealous that the cat did not give you anything, or are you jealous because you did not give me anything?” He asked, his tone mostly amused.

Sirius did not reply, he merely pouted and went back inside.

“I cannot believe this, you really are jealous!” Remus exclaimed as he closed the door, shaking his head. He had released the rodent, but he feared the poor thing might have some trouble getting home, depending on how far the cat had caught it.

Neither of them talked for a while, Remus was busy trying to figure out Sirius’ behaviour, Sirius was busy ignoring the cat and Remus, and the cat was busy grooming itself. Then it meowed, and they both jumped.

“What?” Sirius barked, the cat taking a few steps back in a defensive pose.

The cat meowed again, softer this time, and approached Sirius slowly. Remus thought that was rather un-feline-like, but he was quickly distracted by how fast Sirius relaxed, seemingly incapable to resist the cuteness. Mere seconds later, there was a cuddle pile on the couch that was half human and half feline, and he was not invited.

Remus went to the bedroom to get a book, and by the time he came back, it was Sirius who had vanished, the cat sprawled across the sofa, asleep. Remus decided not to bother it, and went to do the dishes instead. Sirius would be back eventually, either once he would be hungry, or had worked out any extra energy he had.

Remus worried that the cat’s gift might have sparked something, memories of that night in the Shack, or the guilt Sirius and himself still felt over not having been able to protect their friends. Still, he had no other choice than to wait and see.

He had lunch alone, for the first time since Sirius had arrived. The more time passed and the more he found himself petting the cat that did not seem to mind. It was calming, and a much better alternative to pacing across the room. By the time Sirius got back, Remus had taken a nap with the cat, and had time to reorganise all the books he owned.

Despite his worry, he could tell that Sirius had been up to something. There was something in the dog’s eyes, a hint of mischief that he was all too familiar with. When he crouched down to run his hand in the dog’s hairs, he noticed Padfoot putting something in front of him. He sighed audibly. As he looked down, he saw a frightened rodent, significantly bigger than the one the cat had brought home earlier.

“Really, Sirius?” He asked. Sirius went back to his human form, and there was no hint of apology in his eyes, but quite a lot of a mix of pride, cheekiness, and devotion. That last bit made Remus want to hug him and never let go, but he decided against it.

“This is not a competition!” Remus said, his tone softer than he had intended for it to be.

“Nope.” Sirius said, slipping past him towards the cat that was a few feet from the door and giving him a strange look. The cat came to sniff the rodent before Remus released it. Once the door was shut, Remus walked toward Sirius, who had his back to him.

“Are you okay?” He asked. Sirius did not turn around, did not even answer. Instead, he just nodded, unaware that the crooked mirror on the wall was well within Remus’ line of sight.

The rest of the evening went on in relative silence, and they went to sleep early. Remus had always been a relatively light sleeper, but he had managed to limit how often he woke up through any given night since Sirius had come to live with him.

When he felt the cat walk across his chest and paw at his face, he reluctantly opened an eye, only to startle when he realised he was otherwise alone. The cat meowed alarmingly and walked to the foot of the bed, where it gnawed at the sheet so Remus would follow him.

He did, all senses in alert, and found Sirius’ tall frame crookedly folded on the sofa. He was having a nightmare, a rather violent one it seemed, and it must have alarmed the cat. He patted it gently and crouched down at one end of the sofa, his face a breath or two away from Sirius. He brushed gently past his cheek, and squeezed his hands in his, noticing how tensed he was, grasping at the shirt he had on like it was chained to him.

It took a while for Sirius to wake up, and when he did the lost look in his eyes made Remus tense as well. He did not say anything; he doubted there would be any words sufficient to even so much as start helping the man in front of him. Instead, he awkwardly climbed on the sofa, trying to make sure none of them were at risk of falling down – there really was no need for additional physical bruises after that harsh a nightmare. Suddenly, Sirius started whispering in his ear.

“I woke up. Middle of the night. Couldn’t sleep. Got up and paced. Didn’t want to wake you. So I fell asleep here.” He said, not quite full sentences just yet. Remus just nodded, placing a light kiss on the man’s neck, the only place he could reach in their elaborate work of human origami. They fell asleep in that position. The next morning, they woke up to find themselves covered in a blanket none of them remembered conjuring.

After a solid breakfast, Sirius left a tentative peck on Remus’ cheek, and went to open the door to the cat who had been demanding to be let out for a few minutes, disappearing after it. A moment later Remus heard a bark, and smiled. For a moment, he wondered what James would have thought of Padfoot befriending a cat. Then he pictured Prongs being afraid of said cat and laughed, the sound echoing oddly in the empty cottage.

Sirius and the still nameless cat came back for a late lunch. Sirius had a big smile on his face, the happiness kind rather than the prank one, and the cat seemed rather at ease with the world as well.

“We went hunting for a bit. It was fun!” Sirius said, and Remus noticed he was a bit short of breath, which tended to happen when he ran as Padfoot for a while. “It’s like...” He continued, then paused. “Like it knew I needed that.” He finished, looking at the cat thoughtfully.

“Well that cat is special! And I am glad you feel better.” They exchanged a look, each seeking in the other’s eyes a confirmation that they were, indeed, alright. Seeing nothing there to prove otherwise, they went to prepare lunch, Sirius making sure there was a treat for their feline friend who now appeared to attempt to trip them whenever they moved around, which was really not that hard considering how small the kitchen was.

“I could get used to this.” Sirius suddenly said contentedly, shooting Remus a half-grin. He immediately regretted his words when they heard knocking at the door. Remus recognised the code and went to open, but Sirius had gotten his wand out and the cat seemed to stand at attention.