[Podfic] Hope's Cottage by thewholeofthemoon

Dinner the first night of Harry’s arrival in what he learned was called Hope’s Cottage consisted of spaghetti, garlic bread, and sparkling cider. Remus and Sirius’ meal was the same—except they substituted sparkling cider for champagne.

“A toast,” Sirius said as they sat down at the small wooden table in the brightly-lit kitchen, “To freedom.”

“Freedom?” Remus asked, raising a brow, glass raised to meet Sirius’ and Harry’s.

“Yep,” Sirius nodded, grinning, “I’m free from…well, we know. And Harry’s free from the Dursley’s, and you’re free to be you.”

Remus’ cheeks went faintly pink as he smiled softly, “To freedom,” he said.

“To freedom!” Sirius and Harry chimed, and they clinked their glasses.

Sirius insisted Harry not fret an ounce on cleaning up after the meal, and Harry wondered into the living room to see about the crammed wall of books.

“Free to be me?” Remus whispered as he leaned one hip on the counter beside the sink where Sirius was scrubbing the plates, “Did you mean my being outed at Hogwarts as a werewolf?”

Sirius looked up at him, “I meant you have nothing to worry about here, Moony. You can be you.”

Remus titled his head towards the living room, “We talked about hiding us from Harry, Sirius,” he murmured, but he wasn’t chastising or fretting, only gently reminding, “We had an agreement.”

Sirius nodded again, “I know, I know. But it’s just until he’s adjusted. We’ve both…suffered, Remus. We deserve to be happy. Free. I was just reminding you of that fact, you know.”

Remus leaned in and kissed Sirius gently on the temple, “I’m perfectly happy right now, with you wearing a pair of marigolds and having had a few glasses of champagne…”

Sirius growled softly in his throat, “I draw a line in wearing these gloves to bed.”

Remus chuckled, “I wouldn’t dream of you hiding those hands.”

Sirius whined quietly, “You great tease.”

“Oh, but that’s most of the fun of hiding us, don’t you remember?”

Sirius barked a laugh, “Sneaking into broom closets did have its perks.”

Remus gave him a brisk nibble on the jaw before pulling away, “I doubt we’d fit in one now,” he said with a smile, “I’ll go light the fire.”

Harry had never been a fan of reading—that was Hermione’s thing and he’d never had much of an inclination, but to his surprise, he found Remus’ bookshelf was fairly tempting.

“Anything catching your eye?” Remus asked him as he stepped into the living room, pulling his wand from his sleeve and coming to crouch before the staked fireplace.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Harry said, struggling to fight the habit of seeing Remus as his professor who might assign him summer reading. Remus waved his wand and a fire roared within the logs. He stood briskly and went towards the shelves, looking thoughtful.

“How about…this one?” Remus said, reaching a long arm to a higher shelf and pulling down a thin paperback.

“Ah, Moony,” Sirius said, striding into the living room and grinning at them, “Be gentle with the poor lad. He’s just finished school!”

Harry supposed he’d have to get used to the image of Remus Lupin blushing—something he’d never seen the man do during the last year he’d known him. Something he’d never seen Remus Lupin do, in fact, until Sirius Black had come back into his life.

“It’s just Treasure Island,” Remus said with a shy look at Sirius.

“Ah, I see. Well, in that case, best of luck, Harry,” Sirius winked at his godson and flopped down on one side of the sofa, “Fetch me one, Moony.”

Remus handed Harry the book with a soft smile, and then turned back to the bookshelf, thoughtful once more.

Harry joined his godfather on the other end of the sofa, looking at the book’s cover of pirates and an old wooden ship. Sirius winked at him and whispered, “I can tell you the summary for the quiz later.”

Harry grinned at him.

“Too on the nose, Sirius?” Remus piped up from the shelves, holding a novel aloft in one hand, his face was mild but there was a clear mischievous glint in his brown eyes. The title was in particularly large font—The Count of Monte Cristo.

Sirius burst into uproarious laughter, clutching his chest and wheezing.

Harry looked from him to Remus in confusion and Remus smiled at him, “It’s about a man who was falsely imprisoned without trial on an island fortress.”

Harry’s mouth fell open in shock and he startled a laugh, looking at Sirius whose laughter was fading as he wiped his eyes. Harry had been worried—worried a lot actually—about how Sirius might handle any mention of Azkaban, and he’d noticed that his godfather did avoid saying the word or anything about his imprisonment. But Remus Lupin—his soft-spoken, gentile, and people-wise former professor—had made a joke (a proper joke!) about his best friend’s horrific experience and Sirius had whole-heartedly laughed!

What???

“Oh, give it here, Moony,” Sirius was saying, still chuckling, “I’ll use it to inspire my revenge.”

“Best not then,” Remus said in faux-seriousness, setting the book back and putting one hand under his chin in thought, staring at the shelves once more.

Eventually, Remus settled on The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy for Sirius and Watership Down for himself—he’d read it countless times as a child, but found that what he needed tonight was something familiar and soothing.

Sirius and Harry made bold efforts to read, but within a few minutes Harry’s eyes had started wandering and Sirius conscripted him into a game of Gobstones on the carpet. Remus was happy to sit in his armchair and watch them play in between pages of the adventurous rabbits.

He watched Harry’s bright green eyes flash excitedly, mirroring Sirius’ expression almost exactly, and he watched Sirius’ long white hands flick the stones. He looked so young, and even cast in the dim glow of the firelight, he shone so brightly. He’d always shone, and even though Remus was not the only one who had ever noticed it—and the two young women in the café earlier that day had proven that twelve years in Azkaban would never dim Sirius Black’s light—it still felt like it was a brightness made just for Remus. It had always been Sirius, for him. He wandered if he’d ever told him.

When Harry’s yawns grew more frequent, Sirius declared they’d continue the game tomorrow.

“Ready to check out that mattress?” Sirius asked his godson, “Make sure it’s up to standard?”

Harry smiled sleepily, “Sure, Sirius.”

Sirius piled up the Gobstones and set the box back on the lamp table beside the sofa, stretching.

Harry rose and stifled another yawn, “Night, Sirius. Night, Remus.”

“Good night, Harry,” Remus told him from his armchair, “We’ll see you in the morning.”

Sirius gave Harry a parting hug and watched his godson climb the stairs. The two men listened for the sound of his closed bedroom door before they too took the stairs and went quietly into the en-suite bedroom on the opposite end of the hall, past the guest bath which was now Harry’s.

Sirius no longer changed into Padfoot—not since after the Full Moon—to sleep. That first night, as they lay beside each other as men, Sirius had gone quiet and fidgeted, and Remus waited, knowing that Sirius would speak when he had readied himself.

“Moony?” He had said, looking up at Remus with baleful eyes.

“Yes?”

“I…I just want you to know it’s not you,” he started in a quiet but rushed voice, “I want you, but…I don’t… it’s been so long, and…and what it was like in Azkaban…I just…I don’t think I’m ready yet.”

Remus had taken Sirius’ clenched hands into his own, massaging them once more, “Of course, I understand, Sirius. I’m just happy you’re here. Whatever you need, whatever you’re comfortable with, just tell me, alright?”

Sirius had nodded, exhaling, his body relaxing, “I love you, Moony.”

“I love you too, Sirius.”

Now in Hope's Cottage, laying with Sirius in his arms, tight against his chest, Remus remedied the earlier uncertainty that evening, watching Sirius and Harry play Gobstones.

“Sirius?” He murmured.

“Hmm?”

“It’s always been you, have I ever told you? Always has and always will.”

Sirius turned his head, eyes open now to meet Remus’, they were bright in the dark room. He squeezed Remus’ hand and pulled the other man’s long arms tighter around him, “It’s the same for me. I may not have known, at first, but—you’re my Moony.”

“Yours,” Remus said, kissing Sirius tenderly on the lips.