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"Filth! Werewolf filth! Begone from the house of my fathers, half-bred scum! Blood traitors and werewolves, besmirching and befouling the noble name of Black-…"
Remus did not waste words on the portrait of Sirius' mother, merely flicked his wand and let the heavy drapes fall over her once again, muffling the rest of her spittle-frothing rant. He had been trying his best to enter 12 Grimmauld Place in silence, but his exhaustion had made him careless, and a foot on the wrong squeaky floorboard had aroused the wrath of the Black family's vitriolic matriarch, or at least the oil painting that represented her.
A metallic clattering from upstairs drew Remus's attention, despite his yearning for a seat and a rest. He limped up the creaking old staircase, and found the door on the first floor landing ajar. He brushed some of the dirt off his frayed grey robes, but it hardly made a difference. The day's events had left him with a cut on his lip, smudge marks on his face, and less eyebrow hair than he'd woken up with that morning.
Pushing the door open, he was just in time to see a giant pewter soup tureen emblazoned with the Black family crest go sailing across the room and landing in a cardboard box with a loud bang. A disbelieving whimper let Remus know that Kreacher, the family's house elf, was witness to this irreverent performance.
With another swish of his wand, Sirius Black sent a hideous tea set following the soup tureen, the old china pots and cups smashing together in a heap of ruin. Sirius grinned mischievously as he caught sight of his old friend at the door.
"Remus! I thought I heard Mother welcome you at the door," Sirius said cheerfully. Kreacher took the moment of distraction to dip his hand into the box, until Sirius shot him a warning glare. Kreacher snatched his hand back from the box as if it was on fire, and bowed so low his long nose almost scraped the floor. Remus ignored the house elf; Kreacher despised him, and would certainly follow no request or order of his.
"You've caught me in the middle of some spring cleaning," Sirius explained, gesturing to piles of boxes stuffed with everything from flowery doilies to candlesticks to almanacs on Black family genealogy. "Thought I'd make this place feel more at home by clearing out this old junk."
"I suppose if I told you that centuries-old Black family heirlooms would sell very well at Borgin and Burkes…" Remus joked, a smile momentarily lighting up his careworn face as he saw Sirius' expression of absolute horror.
"Good point Remus. We should dump all these boxes into the Thames before Mundungus gets ahold of them."
Remus laughed, but his slouching posture and disheveled appearance must have given something away to Sirius. His old friend started forward as if he thought Remus was about to collapse, then stopped, and snarled at Kreacher.
"Go on! Out! Make yourself useful somewhere."
Kreacher scampered out of the room, shooting Remus dirty looks, and Sirius came to the door, locking it behind him with another jab of his wand.
"Remus you look more and more like a scarecrow each time I see you. Come on, I'll put some tea on."
Remus nodded his head gratefully and followed Sirius downstairs. Once they were safe and secluded from any more foulmouthed portraits or house elves, Sirius turned around to embrace him. Remus felt a twinge of embarrassment; he hadn't had a chance to clean himself up yet. Sirius, typically, didn't care.
"You're about to faint on me," Sirius pointed out. Remus blinked and shook his head. He hadn't realized how much he had been leaning into Sirius. He was more ready to collapse than he'd realized. He broke off the embrace and stumbled in the direction of the living room.
"It's time of the month again," Remus muttered. "I had no reason to look forward to it before, but now…"
"Dumbledore asks too much, as usual," Sirius answered, and Remus thought he detected a bitter note in his tone. He decided not to pursue the subject further; Sirius' confinement was a sore point that Remus didn't want to start poking at again. Sirius busied himself around the kitchen, teacups and saucers floating out of cupboards and onto a tea tray. Remus had known Sirius long enough to notice that when he started using magic for every task, something was up. Remus decided they might as well talk this one through sooner rather than later.
"Nasty business at King's Cross last night." Remus said, as he sat heavily on the worn old couch. He leaned back, his pale, worn features betraying little emotion. "Unusual for Death Eaters to choose such a public meeting place. Clever, since they know we're not willing to fight openly."
Sirius had gone quiet, but Remus could hear him fiddling with the teacups and saucers as if the exercise of making tea required the utmost concentration.
"Fortunate that I managed to arrive at the scene before the Ministry," Remus went on. The floorboards creaked as Sirius came back, stepping slowly as to not disturb the tray in his hand. The teapot poured its contents into both cups, and two spoons began to stir the tea, a lump of sugar dissolving slowly in one. Remus accepted his gratefully and blew over the surface of his tea, before taking a sip. It was a sweet and welcome change from the Wolfsbane potion. Sirius lowered himself onto the couch beside him.
"There wasn't much left of the public toilets, just a few burst water pipes and rubble. The Muggle papers are being fed a story about a gas leak," Remus said, giving Sirius a small smile. "Though, one sensationalist rag is running a story about a witness who thought the whole thing was some kind of bombing orchestrated by men in dark robes. How foreboding."
"Any idea who the Death Eaters were?" Sirius said abruptly, scratching his bearded chin and trying to look nonchalant. "Any big names?"
"Not yet, though the level of destruction gives me a few ideas." Remus said, turning his head to look at Sirius. "Only so many wizards who favour Reductor curses in as small a space as a toilet cubicle. I'm not sure how the poor Muggles are going to manage removing all those bits of plumbing from the ceiling."
Sirius chuckled, and set his teacup aside. Another wave of his wand, and the fire roared up in the grate. Remus stretched his hands out, grateful for the warmth.
"Well. I suppose you'll want some peace and quiet tonight," Sirius said hurriedly. "I don't think Dumbledore would begrudge you recovering your strength. You don't have to come to the meeting."
"Sirius." Remus stated. He could almost feel Sirius' tension. He had to show Sirius he wasn't mad. Sometimes Remus felt like he was the only one on Sirius' side. Dumbledore gave his orders, Moody always agreed with paranoid fervor, and Severus took barely-veiled delight in Sirius' unhappiness. Remus reached out to close his hand over Sirius', a small, weary smile on his unshaven, whiskery face.
"Sirius, I'm hardly one for telling tales to the headmaster, as you well know. I'm just afraid of what would have happened if I had not been there. At least tell me when you're going to do this."
Sirius didn't meet his gaze, but neither did he remove his hand. "I suppose I should thank you for following me. Just tell me you don't lurk outside my bedroom window each night waiting to see if I go out. It's much more comfortable inside, you know."
Remus chuckled. "It was luck, Sirius. I caught your trail while I was scouting. I hadn't scented your dog form in a couple of years, so I decided to follow it to make sure I wasn't imagining things."
Sirius looked relieved, and laughed along with Remus. "So, no harm done, then?"
Remus' smile faltered a little. He hesitated, breaking eye contact to sip his tea. "We'll know for sure once the meeting starts. I fear we may have been seen, and not just by confused muggles."
~~~
Remus had fallen asleep whilst the other members had quietly arrived one by one, sneaking into Grimmauld Place as much to avoid drawing attention from any spies as to keep the insulting portrait in the hall from unleashing a fresh refrain of her scornful howling.
Sirius had gently nudged him awake as the meeting came to order, by way of Alastor Moody thumping the floor a few times with his staff. The night-time meeting of the Order of the Phoenix, or what few members of it that could attend, was not five minutes old before Severus took the floor to level accusations.
"Do you imagine the Dark Lord will simply ignore this incident?" Severus asked, almost spitting out the question. "He is an accomplished Legilimens, do you really think he would not pick apart the memories of his followers piece by piece if he suspected something was amiss?"
"Yes Severus, you are fond of reminding us of all the things the 'Dark Lord' is so accomplished at," Sirius sneered back. "I suppose he's also an accomplished plumber if he's so concerned about some damaged toilets."
"Your disguise is not nearly as clever as you think it is," Severus said, his eyes narrowed to slits. "It's a constant wonder to me just how often you betray the trust of the wizard trying to save what's left of your life. How do you think Dumble-…"
"Are you sure you got a good look at it, Severus?" Moody interrupted, his false eye rolling in that lazy way it did whenever the old Auror was growing impatient. "You seem so certain of your one suspect you could be blind to the truth. And it's more interesting to me to know who the Death Eaters were, than who sent them running back under the Dark Lord's robes."
"I was on the platform when someone reduced the restrooms to dust," Severus answered. Remus had to give him credit, the potions master could conceal his irritation at the interruption very well. Severus turned his gaze back on Sirius with such intensity that for a moment Remus thought he was performing Legilimency. "Once the dust had cleared, the Death Eaters had Disapparated and all that was left was a dog that slunk off with its tail between its legs. How many unregistered dog Animagi do we know?"
"Severus, I'm surprised," Remus said evenly. "After the first two incidents, surely you would recognise the same werewolf by now?"
Severus's dark eyes flicked to Remus, his mouth drawing back to make some curt remark. Remus could read him better than that, though. He could see Severus had already second-guessed himself. Now to go in for the kill.
"I didn't want to admit it at first, but you are right. It was clumsy of me to do battle in plain view," Remus continued, smoothly merging the truth and the lie together. "I had only anticipated doing a little scouting, passing as a large stray dog while the moon made it convenient. Unfortunately, it seems that the Death Eaters are becoming more adept at recognizing werewolves, since so many are being recruited into their ranks."
"You dueled them? How?" Severus interrupted. Remus could see he was clawing at the ice now, trying to find any handhold for his accusations. "Have you taken to carrying around a wand in your teeth?"
Remus turned the collar of his shirt over, exposing his bandaged shoulder. "I'm afraid in the confusion, I couldn't say who cast what. I presume one of the younger Death Eaters panicked at the sight of a fully grown werewolf, and caused most of the damage. Fortunately, a few cuts and a bit of missing fur are the worst of it."
"The Dark Lord no doubt already has access to the Ministry's information on you, Remus, "Moody interjected, "he'll piece together that it was you that put his cowards to flight. Of Sirius though, I am certain as Dumbledore is that the Dark Lord is no wiser about him. And that is the last I want to hear about this matter. There are other things that need our attention."
Remus knew Severus was glowering at him through the remainder of the meeting, but he studiously avoided meeting the potion master's eye. Once the last members of the Order had bundled themselves up and stepped out into the frigid night air, Sirius and Remus were left standing in the hall, the oppressive silence of the old building descending upon them once more.
"Thanks," Sirius said, thrusting his hands into his pockets. "I suppose by way of repayment, I won't even be sneaking past you anymore."
"I don't think it's wise," Remus said. "A lone black dog prowling around Death Eater haunts every night is too suspicious."
"Right." Sirius agreed hastily.
"Prowling around every month is a better plan," Remus went on. "Say, every full moon? I'm free then."
Remus smiled as he felt Sirius ' arms around him.