Remus Lupin paced. It’s what he did when he was nervous, when he was waiting for something, and it’s what he did when he was trying to wrap his brain around some kind of abstract concept. Sometimes he blamed it on the wolf inside of him, but deep down he knew that it was just how his mind worked best.
Severus had suggested that they invite Sirius to join them. At first, he wasn’t sure what his lover had meant by that. No, he corrected his own thoughts, At first, I thought he was actually talking about inviting him into the shower.
It was not at all what Remus had expected while Severus’s cock was pounding his ass.
He had Severus clarify just what he meant several times. So many times, in fact, that Severus had begun to lose patience with him, and insisted that he had better things to do, dressed himself, and left Remus standing there alone. In Severus’s room.
“It just doesn’t make any sense to me,” Remus said to himself as he picked up his robe. He shrugged into it and straightened out his jacket, then dusted some invisible dust off of his trousers and sleeves. “He doesn’t even like Sirius. No, he loathes...”
Finally, what he thought was the truth dawned on him. Severus didn’t hate him anymore. The perspective of years had changed all of them. Remus saw Severus for who he was - a good man at heart who had a childhood just as miserable as his own. It was true that Sirius and James especially had been bullies when they were younger, but they’d both grown out of it, and when it came down to the important decisions, they had made the right choices.
With Peter Pettigrew alive, that was made abundantly clear. Everyone made mistakes at one point or another. Sirius had paid dearly for mistakes that weren’t even his, and Severus had been reduced to a life that offered him few options or comforts.
So, perhaps this could work.
Remus went down the corridor, around the moving staircase, and opted to take the long route down to the Great Hall. As he passed the statue of the Green Giant, he thought he saw a flash of black fur through the window behind the giant’s right arm. It was just a moment, but looked as if the animal dashed across the lawn near the gazebo, and into the wooded area that rested between the lawn and the black lake.
“Sirius,” Remus whispered.
“What’s serious?” Headmaster Dumbledore asked Remus from over his shoulder.
Remus was startled at first, but then regained his composure and took a deep breath, then sighed it out. “Nothing... and everything.” He forced a smile and stuffed his hands in his pockets.
“Everything is a very large word.” The headmaster motioned for Remus to lead the way toward the Great Hall. He clasped his hands behind his back and tilted his head to the side. “When everything is serious, things get very complicated very quickly. My suggestion is to choose only a few things to remain serious. Just the things that matter and that seem to be going badly. Then the rest of your worries can relax.”
“Thank you, but this is--” Remus stopped when the Headmaster held up his hand.
“You do have friends, Professor Lupin. Perhaps more than you think. Let them decide what your worries should be.”
As they entered the Great Hall, Remus looked up at Severus standing behind his place at the long faculty table. “I think I might just do that,” Remus replied, smiling. “Thank you, Albus.”