on a mission now by smartlikejustin
Title: on a mission now
Author: smartlikejustin
Summary: he's got quite the mind for strategy, that one
Rating: PG-13
Recipient: yeats
***
on a mission now
Remus tumbles more than vaults over the bar and crouches on the dirty floor, knees bent, head resting in his hands, panting heavily. He listens as the shouts die out behind him and rips a strip of black cloth from the bottom of his robes. Wrinkling his nose, he tries to shake off some of the dust that has collected on the fabric. It doesn't do much good, but he shrugs out of his sleeves anyway, the shirt slightly more difficult than the robe, and begins wrapping the gash that runs from his shoulder to the middle of his arm.
When he got caught with an Expelliarmus curse meant for Peter, Remus managed to lose his wand and now he's glad for all the times his mother tended his wounds the Muggle way when he was a child. Hopefully he'll be able to find the wand again when the fight is over. Some of the dust or maybe a bit of broken glass gets into his cut and he thinks that it would really be rather the perfect time for those werewolf healing powers to kick in.
"Bloody hell," James shouts from somewhere in the pub. "Won't you just stay down, then?"
"Petrificus totalus, you git," Remus shouts back and James repeats the curse a moment later followed by a hurried, "right, right. Thanks."
Remus grins a bit as he ties the knot in the fabric that's already wet with blood. The sounds of the fight are dying down and Peter's laughing, high and wheezing, the way he does when he's not sure if something's actually funny.
Remus is thinking about standing up and searching through the wreckage for his wand when Sirius comes around the bar, holding out the thin piece of birch, eyebrows raised. "Lose something?"
Reaching for the wand with his uninjured arm, Remus shrugs. "Medicor," he says waving at the gash. He can feel it start to close up and shivers a little at the sensation.
Sirius leans down and presses his fingers lightly over the cloth and then stares at the trace of red on his skin. "You'll still need to see the healer." Sirius frowns. "That was rather a mess."
Remus sits down and spreads his legs out straight. "Might have gone better if you hadn't punched Zabini's bloke before James could signal for the rest of the group."
Sirius rubs Remus's blood off on his pants. "Might have." Remus should get up and help James and Peter explain to Weasley and Dorcas exactly what happened because they're not coming up with much of a story. But, Sirius leaves his hand on Remus's thigh, so Remus doesn't move and they sit quietly, listening to the flustered conversation on the other side of the room.
*
Sirius knows that the reason the Order exists is bad and in no way is he actually happy about the war. And no matter what some people might think, he knows all this not just because Remus told him so, but because he's not a complete bastard. Still, though, sometimes the whole thing is rather fun. Like three weeks ago when they spent a weekend chasing some Dark Wizards through the countryside. Or last Saturday when they helped arrest a group of Death Eaters in a bar in London.
And especially now when Sirius is running down a dark alley, unable to even breathe from panting and brain so slack with fear that he can't think about anything other than the feel of his feet against the brick.
"How far back are they?" James shouts from up ahead and Sirius risks a moment's pause to turn back. He only sees Remus and so he slows a little more.
Sirius knows Remus won't stop in time at least ten seconds before Remus crashes into him, but he doesn't do anything about to stop him and the brick that was hard under Sirius's shoes is even harder under his shoulder blade.
"Bloo-- Mov--" Remus starts, but he doesn't have the breath to go on and just waves one hand in untidy circles, pulling at Sirius's robes with the other in a futile attempt to stand. Sirius manages to shake his head and point in the direction they came from until Remus turns and sees that they're no longer being followed. "Oh," he rasps against Sirius neck.
Sirius lets his head fall against the ground and doesn't think about how one of the other fun parts of this whole business is the weight of Remus on Sirius's hip bone and the scratch of Remus's unshaven skin against the place where Sirius's collar opened just a bit as he was running. Instead he thinks about James who is probably still running and might be all the way back to the portkey by now.
"James?" Remus asks, lifting his head, apparently thinking the same thing.
"Running," Sirius says, starting to sit up a little. They still need to get back, even if no one's after them. It might only be a momentary reprieve.
Remus pushes down against Sirius, pressing him back to the brick. "No, stay." Sirius blinks and wonders what kind of things Remus doesn't think about. Sirius holds his breath, but it's a bad idea under the circumstances because he's coughing and gasping a second later and Remus shakes his head and stands up quickly, looking slightly confused.
"Sorry, I, um--" Remus scrubs his hand through his hair and when he pulls it out, the hair falls down into his eyes. Sirius's eyes are watering from the coughing, but he grins and stands up. "We should--"
So the whole war thing, it's not good, but as Sirius pulls Remus along toward the portkey three blocks away, he can't help but think it has its merits.
*
Peter scowls at the paper in front of him, staring until the letters blur into one large inky blob. He's not particularly good at anything, but he's particularly crap at decryption. Either Moody doesn't realize this or he doesn't care, because he's given Peter an entire stack of parchments covered in an incomprehensible code. Peter took it, figured he'd just pass it off to Remus, but Remus and Sirius went out on a mission four hours ago and haven't come back yet.
Peter blinks and flips the pages of the book Moody said would help. Peter's tried every spell in there, though, and the closest he came to figuring out the mess of symbols was when they all rearranged themselves into dirty limericks. This, he admits, killed some time, but probably wasn't what he was supposed to discover.
"Bugger," he says to the empty room and then sighs heavily. He's rather tired of being assigned all these non-critical, indoor tasks. If he wanted to be a scribe, he would have gotten a respectable job rather than following his mates into the Order.
He stands up, stretching, and walks over to the window. It's dark outside, the streetlamps lighting the street and reflecting off the windows of the house across the way. He glances at the clock and wonders where Remus and Sirius have gotten off to.
Last month Sirius and James went on a mission-- Peter had been given yet another tedious task and Remus had stayed behind to help him-- and they had a run-in with a pogrebin which James said had Sirius reduced to such a state of gloom by the time James found him that it's a wonder he hadn't already been devoured. When James knocked on the door of the flat Sirius shared with Remus, Peter followed Remus to the door just in time to hear James say, "See what you get letting him go off alone?" Remus frowned as Sirius wailed "Oh Remus! No one ever really knows anyone, do they?" Remus dragged him past Peter to the kitchen to find some tea and chocolate. Peter left with James, confused as usual and forced to listen to the account of the evening in exhaustive detail.
Peter's starting to worry that this time Sirius really has been devoured by something, when he sees them coming up to the house. Sirius is laughing and leaning on Remus more than he should have to just to walk down the street, but Peter squints and decides Sirius isn't injured, except perhaps in the head. Peter sighs and opens the door for them, preparing himself to hear another story of another great adventure.
*
"Right, 'til tomorrow then," James says and Sirius turns his head to nod slightly. Over his shoulder Remus smiles and waves, but turns his attention back to Sirius almost immediately. James frowns and shakes his head, watching another second of their conversation before apparating home.
Lily's at the kitchen table, head bent over a stack of newspapers and James smiles as she blows a strand of hair out of her face just to have it fall back again. He walks up behind her and bends, pressing a kiss against her temple.
"Oh," she turns quickly, knocking James's glasses to the floor. She waves her wand and halts them mid-air, floating them back to his face. "I didn't hear you."
James adjusts his glasses and drops into the seat next to Lily. "Any more news?" Lily's been searching the papers of towns in other countries, looking for signs that the Death Eaters' influence is spreading.
She sighs and nods, pointing at the parchment covered in her messy handwriting. "Too much." She reaches out to take his hand and squeezes before standing to make tea. "How was the meeting? Moody have anything to say about the mishap in Hogsmeade?"
James rolls his eyes. "Somehow Remus convinced him it was all part of his plan." Remus had, in fact, come up with a pretty impressive plan on the spot in order to cover the fact that Sirius's temper had gotten them in trouble again. James wonders if maybe they never gave Remus enough credit in school and it's the kind of thing that James should have appreciated, but something feels off about the whole thing.
"Of course he did," Lily says, placing a mug in front of James. "And it was probably a better plan than the one Moody had laid out." James nods and then blinks as Lily reaches out to stop him from sipping his drink. "Wait, it's hot. So, Moody forgot all about the fight, Sirius was held entirely unaccountable, and all went forward as usual?"
James nods. "Remus is in charge of intelligence now." Lily watches him as James waits another moment and then says, "Since when did Remus become the one who gets Sirius out of trouble?" Because that was what was so strange, it was supposed to be James solving Sirius's problems-- when he wasn't creating them, anyway.
Lily laughs a little and then shrugs, "When you found someone else to deal with your troubles, perhaps?"
James frowns and sips at his tea when Lily gestures to indicate it's all right. She laughs again and runs a hand through his hair as she stands up, carrying her newspapers into the sitting room. James watches her walk away and thinks about the way Sirius stared at Remus as he explained to Moody exactly how Rosmerta's strongest firewater featured in his plan to uncover the identities of at least six prominent Death Eaters. After a few more sips of tea, James licks his lips and decides maybe Lily's right.
*
Sirius has a cramp in his leg and he could probably fix it with a spell, but it's as good an excuse as any to stay collapsed on the sofa, so he doesn't, just frowns and bites his lips when his muscles spasm. Remus has been gone for over twenty-four hours now and Sirius isn't exactly waiting up for him, but he's been awake all night and even Peter could see through that.
Remus is Moody's current favorite, a "lad with a real mind for strategy, that one," and has given him more and more responsibilities. Sirius was on an intelligence mission with James when Moody sent Remus to Ireland to meet with a spy the Order has placed in with You-Know-Who's followers. The note Remus left on the kitchen table was in code and it read, "Meeting in I. Back this evening. Curry from the Muggle place?" That was yesterday afternoon.
Sirius lifts his wand and says, "Accio mirror." The mirror flies out of his bedroom with a bit too much force. He's never bothered to figure out how to get things to glide gently the way everyone else can. Sirius ducks his head and lets the mirror land on his lap. He stares into it and whispers, "Prongs? Prongs, wake up, yeah?"
The mirror clouds and there's a few seconds of darkness and then James's large eyes, blinking under mussed hair. He coughs and blinks again. "Padfoot?"
"He's still not back. It's been ages. What--" Sirius stops because he can't ask what if something happened to Remus because nothing can happen to Remus and for Sirius spells still only work when said aloud. "What do you think is keeping him?"
James presses his lips together, tired and pale in the dim light of what Sirius thinks is the hallway outside of James's bedroom. "He was traveling as a Muggle?" Sirius nods. "You know how they're always having train problems. Something on the tracks or--"
Sirius nods. "Yes, yes. I'm sure you're right." He glances up at the door and wills it to open, but nothing happens.
After a few seconds, James clears his throat. "So, do you need me here, then? For all the staring at the door action?" He grins and Sirius returns it with a half-hearted smile. "Padfoot, really. I'm sure he's fine. Haven't you heard-- he's got quite the mind for strategy?"
"Are you implying that I don't?" Remus lets the door click quietly behind him and walks towards the sofa.
"Moony." Sirius starts to leap up, but his calf muscle spasms and he lands awkwardly, half off the cushions, one leg stretched too far out onto the floor.
Remus raises his eyebrows and reaches to take the mirror. "Nice hair." Sirius can't see anymore, but he knows James is reaching to pull at the black mass on his head. Remus smiles. "Thanks for keeping him company. Go back to sleep."
"Good night," James says and Remus sets the mirror down on a nearby table. He watches as Sirius rearranges himself on the sofa and tilts his head questioningly when Sirius winces in pain.
"Cramp," Sirius says pointing at his leg. Remus shakes his head and waves his wand, muttering "Medicor." Instantly, Sirius's leg feels better and Sirius gets the feeling that it wouldn't have worked as well if he'd just done the spell himself.
"I can't imagine how you get on without me," Remus says, sitting next to Sirius and resting his head on the back of the sofa.
Sirius doesn't say he has no idea, just huffs a skeptical breath as he moves a bit closer to Remus and asks, "What took so long, then? And what happened to the curry?"
*
The bed Remus wakes up in is not his own-- too flat and too many blankets-- and it takes him a minute to remember that he's in France, on a mission for the Order, that it's fifteen days to the full moon and Sirius is in the chair on the other side of the room keeping watch. Remus breathes in three shallow breaths and tries to let go of the dream he was having, something confusing about running and stars and flashes of dark hair and eyes. He pushes several of the blankets back.
"Hot?" Sirius asks and Remus has to squint to make out Sirius in the darkness. His hair hangs just past his collar and is the exact color of the robes he's wearing.
Remus shrugs and then says, "Anything?"
"Old hag took some food to the stray cats about an hour ago. Nothing since." Sirius leans forward to look out the window and in the light from outside, Remus can see the not-quite healed cut running just under Sirius's eye. "Did you sleep well?"
Neither of them has had more than two hours of uninterrupted sleep in the week they've been traveling, following a group of Death Eaters whose trail they lost three days ago and who are more likely following Remus and Sirius at this point. Remus coughs and gets out of bed. He stretches and walks over to where Sirius is sitting, pulling his shirt down where it's ridden up a bit at his waist. He stops several feet away from Sirius and shrugs again.
"All right. Strange dreams."
Sirius looks back at him, worried and maybe happy to have something to think about other than war and all the nothing he can see from their rented window. "What about?"
Remus hasn't been sleeping and they've barely managed time to eat and he's more than a little on edge, so there are enough excuses for later, when they're back in the real world. "Being chased. Constellations." Sirius's face falls a little and Remus doesn't care about the excuses. "You."
Sirius swallows and the light hits his throat just right so Remus can watch it move. He keeps staring at the skin there and thinks of his softer bed in his cooler room in London. This never would have happened there.
"Was I chasing?" Sirius's voice is quieter than Remus remembers it ever being and Remus breathes in twice before looking up at Sirius's face. The lights from the window are reflecting off his eyes and Remus is very glad they're in France.
Remus laughs a little bit. "You always have been, haven't you?"
Sirius stands up, too fast and moves towards Remus, nothing like graceful, just forward motion until they're flat on all the blankets on the bed that doesn't belong to either of them. Sirius is heavy on top of him, their jutting hipbones clashing until Remus flips them over and aligns their bodies so all the angles find the right hollows.
"Apparently not any more." Sirius laughs, so dry it's nearly a cackle, and his fingers scramble over Remus's chest until they're thoroughly lost in the fabric of his shirt.
Remus hovers, thinks of all the times they've done this, all the falls that left them panting and too close but never close enough. It starts to seem like a plan and later, when they're back in London and the war is over and it's time to tell stories, Remus will be sure Sirius tells everyone that Remus has quite the mind for strategy.
For now, though, he inhales once before letting himself fall all the way at the same time Sirius surges up so that their lips meet with a clash and they laugh into one another's mouths.
***
Author: smartlikejustin
Summary: he's got quite the mind for strategy, that one
Rating: PG-13
Recipient: yeats
***
on a mission now
Remus tumbles more than vaults over the bar and crouches on the dirty floor, knees bent, head resting in his hands, panting heavily. He listens as the shouts die out behind him and rips a strip of black cloth from the bottom of his robes. Wrinkling his nose, he tries to shake off some of the dust that has collected on the fabric. It doesn't do much good, but he shrugs out of his sleeves anyway, the shirt slightly more difficult than the robe, and begins wrapping the gash that runs from his shoulder to the middle of his arm.
When he got caught with an Expelliarmus curse meant for Peter, Remus managed to lose his wand and now he's glad for all the times his mother tended his wounds the Muggle way when he was a child. Hopefully he'll be able to find the wand again when the fight is over. Some of the dust or maybe a bit of broken glass gets into his cut and he thinks that it would really be rather the perfect time for those werewolf healing powers to kick in.
"Bloody hell," James shouts from somewhere in the pub. "Won't you just stay down, then?"
"Petrificus totalus, you git," Remus shouts back and James repeats the curse a moment later followed by a hurried, "right, right. Thanks."
Remus grins a bit as he ties the knot in the fabric that's already wet with blood. The sounds of the fight are dying down and Peter's laughing, high and wheezing, the way he does when he's not sure if something's actually funny.
Remus is thinking about standing up and searching through the wreckage for his wand when Sirius comes around the bar, holding out the thin piece of birch, eyebrows raised. "Lose something?"
Reaching for the wand with his uninjured arm, Remus shrugs. "Medicor," he says waving at the gash. He can feel it start to close up and shivers a little at the sensation.
Sirius leans down and presses his fingers lightly over the cloth and then stares at the trace of red on his skin. "You'll still need to see the healer." Sirius frowns. "That was rather a mess."
Remus sits down and spreads his legs out straight. "Might have gone better if you hadn't punched Zabini's bloke before James could signal for the rest of the group."
Sirius rubs Remus's blood off on his pants. "Might have." Remus should get up and help James and Peter explain to Weasley and Dorcas exactly what happened because they're not coming up with much of a story. But, Sirius leaves his hand on Remus's thigh, so Remus doesn't move and they sit quietly, listening to the flustered conversation on the other side of the room.
*
Sirius knows that the reason the Order exists is bad and in no way is he actually happy about the war. And no matter what some people might think, he knows all this not just because Remus told him so, but because he's not a complete bastard. Still, though, sometimes the whole thing is rather fun. Like three weeks ago when they spent a weekend chasing some Dark Wizards through the countryside. Or last Saturday when they helped arrest a group of Death Eaters in a bar in London.
And especially now when Sirius is running down a dark alley, unable to even breathe from panting and brain so slack with fear that he can't think about anything other than the feel of his feet against the brick.
"How far back are they?" James shouts from up ahead and Sirius risks a moment's pause to turn back. He only sees Remus and so he slows a little more.
Sirius knows Remus won't stop in time at least ten seconds before Remus crashes into him, but he doesn't do anything about to stop him and the brick that was hard under Sirius's shoes is even harder under his shoulder blade.
"Bloo-- Mov--" Remus starts, but he doesn't have the breath to go on and just waves one hand in untidy circles, pulling at Sirius's robes with the other in a futile attempt to stand. Sirius manages to shake his head and point in the direction they came from until Remus turns and sees that they're no longer being followed. "Oh," he rasps against Sirius neck.
Sirius lets his head fall against the ground and doesn't think about how one of the other fun parts of this whole business is the weight of Remus on Sirius's hip bone and the scratch of Remus's unshaven skin against the place where Sirius's collar opened just a bit as he was running. Instead he thinks about James who is probably still running and might be all the way back to the portkey by now.
"James?" Remus asks, lifting his head, apparently thinking the same thing.
"Running," Sirius says, starting to sit up a little. They still need to get back, even if no one's after them. It might only be a momentary reprieve.
Remus pushes down against Sirius, pressing him back to the brick. "No, stay." Sirius blinks and wonders what kind of things Remus doesn't think about. Sirius holds his breath, but it's a bad idea under the circumstances because he's coughing and gasping a second later and Remus shakes his head and stands up quickly, looking slightly confused.
"Sorry, I, um--" Remus scrubs his hand through his hair and when he pulls it out, the hair falls down into his eyes. Sirius's eyes are watering from the coughing, but he grins and stands up. "We should--"
So the whole war thing, it's not good, but as Sirius pulls Remus along toward the portkey three blocks away, he can't help but think it has its merits.
*
Peter scowls at the paper in front of him, staring until the letters blur into one large inky blob. He's not particularly good at anything, but he's particularly crap at decryption. Either Moody doesn't realize this or he doesn't care, because he's given Peter an entire stack of parchments covered in an incomprehensible code. Peter took it, figured he'd just pass it off to Remus, but Remus and Sirius went out on a mission four hours ago and haven't come back yet.
Peter blinks and flips the pages of the book Moody said would help. Peter's tried every spell in there, though, and the closest he came to figuring out the mess of symbols was when they all rearranged themselves into dirty limericks. This, he admits, killed some time, but probably wasn't what he was supposed to discover.
"Bugger," he says to the empty room and then sighs heavily. He's rather tired of being assigned all these non-critical, indoor tasks. If he wanted to be a scribe, he would have gotten a respectable job rather than following his mates into the Order.
He stands up, stretching, and walks over to the window. It's dark outside, the streetlamps lighting the street and reflecting off the windows of the house across the way. He glances at the clock and wonders where Remus and Sirius have gotten off to.
Last month Sirius and James went on a mission-- Peter had been given yet another tedious task and Remus had stayed behind to help him-- and they had a run-in with a pogrebin which James said had Sirius reduced to such a state of gloom by the time James found him that it's a wonder he hadn't already been devoured. When James knocked on the door of the flat Sirius shared with Remus, Peter followed Remus to the door just in time to hear James say, "See what you get letting him go off alone?" Remus frowned as Sirius wailed "Oh Remus! No one ever really knows anyone, do they?" Remus dragged him past Peter to the kitchen to find some tea and chocolate. Peter left with James, confused as usual and forced to listen to the account of the evening in exhaustive detail.
Peter's starting to worry that this time Sirius really has been devoured by something, when he sees them coming up to the house. Sirius is laughing and leaning on Remus more than he should have to just to walk down the street, but Peter squints and decides Sirius isn't injured, except perhaps in the head. Peter sighs and opens the door for them, preparing himself to hear another story of another great adventure.
*
"Right, 'til tomorrow then," James says and Sirius turns his head to nod slightly. Over his shoulder Remus smiles and waves, but turns his attention back to Sirius almost immediately. James frowns and shakes his head, watching another second of their conversation before apparating home.
Lily's at the kitchen table, head bent over a stack of newspapers and James smiles as she blows a strand of hair out of her face just to have it fall back again. He walks up behind her and bends, pressing a kiss against her temple.
"Oh," she turns quickly, knocking James's glasses to the floor. She waves her wand and halts them mid-air, floating them back to his face. "I didn't hear you."
James adjusts his glasses and drops into the seat next to Lily. "Any more news?" Lily's been searching the papers of towns in other countries, looking for signs that the Death Eaters' influence is spreading.
She sighs and nods, pointing at the parchment covered in her messy handwriting. "Too much." She reaches out to take his hand and squeezes before standing to make tea. "How was the meeting? Moody have anything to say about the mishap in Hogsmeade?"
James rolls his eyes. "Somehow Remus convinced him it was all part of his plan." Remus had, in fact, come up with a pretty impressive plan on the spot in order to cover the fact that Sirius's temper had gotten them in trouble again. James wonders if maybe they never gave Remus enough credit in school and it's the kind of thing that James should have appreciated, but something feels off about the whole thing.
"Of course he did," Lily says, placing a mug in front of James. "And it was probably a better plan than the one Moody had laid out." James nods and then blinks as Lily reaches out to stop him from sipping his drink. "Wait, it's hot. So, Moody forgot all about the fight, Sirius was held entirely unaccountable, and all went forward as usual?"
James nods. "Remus is in charge of intelligence now." Lily watches him as James waits another moment and then says, "Since when did Remus become the one who gets Sirius out of trouble?" Because that was what was so strange, it was supposed to be James solving Sirius's problems-- when he wasn't creating them, anyway.
Lily laughs a little and then shrugs, "When you found someone else to deal with your troubles, perhaps?"
James frowns and sips at his tea when Lily gestures to indicate it's all right. She laughs again and runs a hand through his hair as she stands up, carrying her newspapers into the sitting room. James watches her walk away and thinks about the way Sirius stared at Remus as he explained to Moody exactly how Rosmerta's strongest firewater featured in his plan to uncover the identities of at least six prominent Death Eaters. After a few more sips of tea, James licks his lips and decides maybe Lily's right.
*
Sirius has a cramp in his leg and he could probably fix it with a spell, but it's as good an excuse as any to stay collapsed on the sofa, so he doesn't, just frowns and bites his lips when his muscles spasm. Remus has been gone for over twenty-four hours now and Sirius isn't exactly waiting up for him, but he's been awake all night and even Peter could see through that.
Remus is Moody's current favorite, a "lad with a real mind for strategy, that one," and has given him more and more responsibilities. Sirius was on an intelligence mission with James when Moody sent Remus to Ireland to meet with a spy the Order has placed in with You-Know-Who's followers. The note Remus left on the kitchen table was in code and it read, "Meeting in I. Back this evening. Curry from the Muggle place?" That was yesterday afternoon.
Sirius lifts his wand and says, "Accio mirror." The mirror flies out of his bedroom with a bit too much force. He's never bothered to figure out how to get things to glide gently the way everyone else can. Sirius ducks his head and lets the mirror land on his lap. He stares into it and whispers, "Prongs? Prongs, wake up, yeah?"
The mirror clouds and there's a few seconds of darkness and then James's large eyes, blinking under mussed hair. He coughs and blinks again. "Padfoot?"
"He's still not back. It's been ages. What--" Sirius stops because he can't ask what if something happened to Remus because nothing can happen to Remus and for Sirius spells still only work when said aloud. "What do you think is keeping him?"
James presses his lips together, tired and pale in the dim light of what Sirius thinks is the hallway outside of James's bedroom. "He was traveling as a Muggle?" Sirius nods. "You know how they're always having train problems. Something on the tracks or--"
Sirius nods. "Yes, yes. I'm sure you're right." He glances up at the door and wills it to open, but nothing happens.
After a few seconds, James clears his throat. "So, do you need me here, then? For all the staring at the door action?" He grins and Sirius returns it with a half-hearted smile. "Padfoot, really. I'm sure he's fine. Haven't you heard-- he's got quite the mind for strategy?"
"Are you implying that I don't?" Remus lets the door click quietly behind him and walks towards the sofa.
"Moony." Sirius starts to leap up, but his calf muscle spasms and he lands awkwardly, half off the cushions, one leg stretched too far out onto the floor.
Remus raises his eyebrows and reaches to take the mirror. "Nice hair." Sirius can't see anymore, but he knows James is reaching to pull at the black mass on his head. Remus smiles. "Thanks for keeping him company. Go back to sleep."
"Good night," James says and Remus sets the mirror down on a nearby table. He watches as Sirius rearranges himself on the sofa and tilts his head questioningly when Sirius winces in pain.
"Cramp," Sirius says pointing at his leg. Remus shakes his head and waves his wand, muttering "Medicor." Instantly, Sirius's leg feels better and Sirius gets the feeling that it wouldn't have worked as well if he'd just done the spell himself.
"I can't imagine how you get on without me," Remus says, sitting next to Sirius and resting his head on the back of the sofa.
Sirius doesn't say he has no idea, just huffs a skeptical breath as he moves a bit closer to Remus and asks, "What took so long, then? And what happened to the curry?"
*
The bed Remus wakes up in is not his own-- too flat and too many blankets-- and it takes him a minute to remember that he's in France, on a mission for the Order, that it's fifteen days to the full moon and Sirius is in the chair on the other side of the room keeping watch. Remus breathes in three shallow breaths and tries to let go of the dream he was having, something confusing about running and stars and flashes of dark hair and eyes. He pushes several of the blankets back.
"Hot?" Sirius asks and Remus has to squint to make out Sirius in the darkness. His hair hangs just past his collar and is the exact color of the robes he's wearing.
Remus shrugs and then says, "Anything?"
"Old hag took some food to the stray cats about an hour ago. Nothing since." Sirius leans forward to look out the window and in the light from outside, Remus can see the not-quite healed cut running just under Sirius's eye. "Did you sleep well?"
Neither of them has had more than two hours of uninterrupted sleep in the week they've been traveling, following a group of Death Eaters whose trail they lost three days ago and who are more likely following Remus and Sirius at this point. Remus coughs and gets out of bed. He stretches and walks over to where Sirius is sitting, pulling his shirt down where it's ridden up a bit at his waist. He stops several feet away from Sirius and shrugs again.
"All right. Strange dreams."
Sirius looks back at him, worried and maybe happy to have something to think about other than war and all the nothing he can see from their rented window. "What about?"
Remus hasn't been sleeping and they've barely managed time to eat and he's more than a little on edge, so there are enough excuses for later, when they're back in the real world. "Being chased. Constellations." Sirius's face falls a little and Remus doesn't care about the excuses. "You."
Sirius swallows and the light hits his throat just right so Remus can watch it move. He keeps staring at the skin there and thinks of his softer bed in his cooler room in London. This never would have happened there.
"Was I chasing?" Sirius's voice is quieter than Remus remembers it ever being and Remus breathes in twice before looking up at Sirius's face. The lights from the window are reflecting off his eyes and Remus is very glad they're in France.
Remus laughs a little bit. "You always have been, haven't you?"
Sirius stands up, too fast and moves towards Remus, nothing like graceful, just forward motion until they're flat on all the blankets on the bed that doesn't belong to either of them. Sirius is heavy on top of him, their jutting hipbones clashing until Remus flips them over and aligns their bodies so all the angles find the right hollows.
"Apparently not any more." Sirius laughs, so dry it's nearly a cackle, and his fingers scramble over Remus's chest until they're thoroughly lost in the fabric of his shirt.
Remus hovers, thinks of all the times they've done this, all the falls that left them panting and too close but never close enough. It starts to seem like a plan and later, when they're back in London and the war is over and it's time to tell stories, Remus will be sure Sirius tells everyone that Remus has quite the mind for strategy.
For now, though, he inhales once before letting himself fall all the way at the same time Sirius surges up so that their lips meet with a clash and they laugh into one another's mouths.
***