POA - Reunited (an rp)
Seamus and I did this rp, and wanted to present it to y'all for your entertainment. Enjoy!


Who: Remus and Sirius
Where: Hogwarts
When: Harry's Fifth Year
What: a reunion of the greatest magnitude
Rating:PG13



Twelve years. Twelve long and indeterminable years, blending, merging, passing without seeming end, and with a beginning that was marked by death and betrayal and treachery - and loss. A loss so great that it was unfathomable. Unthinkable. And yet it existed, and it was a hole in the heart of Sirius Black which never healed. He missed Remus every minute of every day, held him close to his heart, hid him away in the recesses thereof, and that was what kept him sane. Relatively speaking, for he was damaged, as well, harmed. And it was the knowledge that Harry was in danger that gave him courage. Slipping into his canine form, he escaped the vile prison and swam to shore. He travelled to Harry's home, saw him leave for school, then began the long journey to Scotland himself, his weary heart wondering if he would ever see his one true love again.

It had been a decade and then some and despite what anyone ever said, his heart never lightened of the burden, of the deep hurt. Day to day life was harder for him than anyone might realize, but Remus Lupin put on his natural facade of normality, as if nothing was wrong and most were none the wiser to his pain. If having lost Lily and James wasn't enough, the loss of Peter and Sirius was worse. What was more was the deep feeling of betrayal. Sirius was the absolute love of his life and Remus just couldn't bring himself to believe that he would ever do something like that. Recently, to occupy his ever churning mind and aching heart, Remus had taken up the position as Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts. He didn't know if he would ever see Sirius again, but his heart desperately needed so and a part of him couldn't help but think that he would. Like many nights, Remus took himself away to the lake, simply to look out over the glassy surface and lose himself.

It was a long and weary journey, and by the time that Padfoot reached the school, he was filthy and emaciated, but his eyes wore a look of dogged determination. He would get to Peter and he would take care of the rat - and he meant that in the worst possible sense of the word - and thereby save his godson. Harry. His last link with James and Lily. How that thought ached, how it tore at his throat, caused a deep and abiding howl to exit into the night sky in an attempt to assuage his pain. And Remus. HIs love. Where was he now? Probably far away. A maddening thought indeed. And even if he weren't, it was obvious that he had no wish to see Sirius, for he had not come to see him in Azkaban. Not once. He loped along the familiar paths leading to the school, saw the castle gleaming in the moonlight, and he stopped, exhausted, just outside the Forbidden Forest, raised his voice in a mournful howl of what once was, and may never be again.


There had been so much he didn't understand and misunderstanding alone was enough to bother him without the truth of the subject behind it. Sirius was ever that sort, no matter what anyone else said...no on knew him the way that he did. So many times he had thought of going to Azkaban, but for reasons not entirely clear to him, he could never bring himself to go. He was so lost in thought that the howl made him jump and his heart skipped a beat. Even after all these years he knew that voice. But how could it really be? Remus' heart thudded in his chest as he got to his feet - his senses couldn't mistake who that was, not ever. He scrambled his way back up the slick grass, his topaz eyes frantically scanning the lining of the trees and he could hardly believe what he saw. The black dog was unmistakeable. Every logical thought fled his mind and it seemed his voice was trapped somewhere in his throat, for there he stood, speechless.

Padfoot became aware of the presence of Moony before Sirius was aware of Remus, his senses being keener in that regard, even if weary and road-tired. The dog stumbled in the direction of the familiar scent through sheer instinct, and he followed his nose til he found him, there, beside the lake. But it was at that point that the weary animagi found he could not keep up the complex spells, a combination of weariness, surprise, shock - and the too rapid beating of his own heart. He transfigured back into himself and fell, a tattered torn bundle of rags, helplessly at Remus' feet, dizzy with emotion, as his dry parched lips attempted to work, his long unused voice to utter some sound. One word, and one word alone. "Remy....."

For a long moment, Remus stared down at the man at his feet completely dumbstruck. It was more than a shock and it wasn't until he truly came back to his senses that he realized he wasn't crazy, that this wasn't a hallucination. Tears stung at his eyes and he wasn't sure if relief or that deep betrayal was the prominent emotion, but he threw that all to the side as he sunk to his knees. He found none of that mattered right now, not how or why, just that he was here. He took Sirius' face in his hands, his eyes desperately searching his face - for what he didn't know, something, anything. "Sirius," he whispered softly, his voice shaky with the sheer emotion he was feeling. He didn't know what to think or how to feel - he loved Sirius and that was what mattered.

Remus' voice helped to pull Sirius from the torpor in which he had lain for so long, for his heart supplied him with the information which his brain was too dumstruck to take in immediately - he was here, Remus was here, right before him, and twelve years of pain seemed to dissolve in an instant. "You're here...." he whispered thickly, in a voice choked with emotion. "You're here.... how.... why....." But his parched throat would allow him no more, and he collapsed against his lover - for he still considered him as such until given evidence to the contrary - and clung to him with what strength he possessed.

It was just as hard for him to accept the fact that this was truly happening, but happening it was and he was too overwhelmed to really think on it. "Shh," he muttered softly, reaching into the pocket of his tattered cloak for his wand, conjuring up a goblet and filling it with water in his shaky hands. "There's time for questions later," he whispered, holding tightly to his love despite the bitter betrayal that still dared to nip at his heart. He never had believed it and he wasn't about to start now. "Drink this," he pulled away just slightly, holding out the goblet to him.

Sirius eagerly slurped at the liquid, spilling it in his haste to quench this terrible thirst, taking long draughts until he could hold no more and he focused his attention on the wizard before him, taking in the changes which time had wrought, for he'd not seen Remus in a dozen years. Others might see a middle-aged man with greying hair and a slight spread, but to Sirius he was still beautiful, and his eyes reflected just that.......before he became too aware of their precarious position. "Don't let them find me," he whispered, "I can't go back there.... I can't, Remus...." His haunted eyes sought those of his lover, his terror more than obvious as he clutched weakly at Remus' robes.

Despite what he may have thought, time and circumstance could never change how he felt about Sirius. Here he was before him a broken man, tattered and tired and ravaged by the years between their last meeting, but he was as handsome as ever in Remus' eyes. "I won't, I won't," he promised softly, his eyes locked onto Sirius' without faltering. How he would accomplish that he didn't know, but there was one place that had always been their sanctuary...he certainly couldn't risk taking him into the castle. "We need to get away from here," he whispered softly, caressing Sirius' cheek gently. "Can you stand? I can't let them find you here," he breathed, trying to keep himself together, "I can't lose you again, Sirius.."

Words that were balm to Sirius' tortured soul. "I can stand," Sirius reassured his love, struggling to do just that, sure that Remus had something in mind - he was the clever half after all, the brains of the outfit, so to speak. He leaned against him, but it was a skeletal weight, with no substance to it. However, there was something of the old fire in the eyes, a spirit that would never die. "Lead on, my love," he said, falling into the familiar term, slipping into it easily, without thinking hard about it.

He pulled himself to his feet, slipping an arm around Sirius' waist with a weary smile. How skinny he was, even more so than he had judged at first sight and it broke his heart to see him this way. There was only one place he had in mind for the moment, one place they could steal away to for the time being. "They still never go up there, you know," he explained, walking carefully with his love toward the Whomping Willow. "We've given them reason to think it's haunted all these years, love, you'll be alright there unitl I can think of something else."

The Willow, and the Shrieking Shack - so familiar. He should have realized, of course. How many months had they gone through the wildly swinging tree, to keep safe the secret which would have caused so much trouble to Remus had it become known, to much unnecessary pain? There was so much to say, questions to ask, warnings to give - vows to exchange? Where had that come from? "Do you still go up there?" he asked. "Why are you here, for the Shack?" His eyes sought Remus', seeking answers to so many things.

There would be time for everything once they were away from the castle, he kept telling himself just that, and there would be. With a precisely aimed hex, Remus froze the deadly tree and slipped carefully into the passage beneath, looking over at Sirius with that weary smile still in place. "Not often," he explained, slipping down the passage slowly, holding Sirius tightly against him. "I've been teaching, actually. Professor Dumbledore allowed me to take up the Defense Against the Dark Arts position. Severus has been making the wolfsbane potion for me since I've been here," he didn't think Sirius would be very happy about that, but it was the truth.

There was a swift intake of breath at that hated name, as Sirius tried to take it all in, his mind whirling with it all. Remus - teaching. Severus - potion? What potion? Why? "Remus, I always believed in you," he murmured, "What does Snivellus have to do with anything?" Ah, some things never changed, never would.

He couldn't help the small laugh that escaped him as he shook his head - Sirius would never change in some respects, some things never did. "The wolfsbane potion makes the transformations...bearable, at any rate. They aren't quite so bad now, I can at least pin myself in my office on a good night and no one is any wiser." He ducked down, leading his love into the dark, dusty room they knew so well, unchanged by the years. "You believed in me when no one else would, Sirius, and I love you all the more for that," he added softly, looking over his shoulder into Sirius' eyes.

"I love you, Remus," Sirius responded without hesitation, "I always have and I always will.... there's so much I want to tell you, so much I need to tell you...... Peter... he isn't dead.... I didn't kill him, or James and Lily.... but I never got a chance.... never got a chance to explain...." He reached for Remus' hand, grasped it tightly. "Please.... believe me," he croaked, "I would have died before I betrayed them.... Peter, he's here... somewhere...."

Before he got a chance to respond, Sirius was going on and it took him a moment to catch up with what he was saying. He looked at Sirius for a long moment, his heart thudding wildly in his chest. "I always believed you...even if I didn't really know," he whispered, never taking his eyes away from Sirius'. Suddenly things clicked in his mind, like pieces neatly falling in on a puzzle. If Peter wasn't dead then...he was the one who had betrayed them all. What a coward, he thought to himslef. "It was Peter..." he said simply, biting the inside of his cheek, mind working wildly for a moment before it stopped suddenly. They would have to do something, expose this whole charade, not to mention revenge was a fresh thought in his mind. He'd robbed them all of so much...of James and Lily, Harry of his parents...and them of what should have been their best years. "We'll find him," he promised, pulling Sirius over to the dusty bed with him, casting a few quick spells to clean it up a bit. "Right now, you need to rest," he insisted.

*Reunited, Peaches and Herb