Bohemian Rhapsody

moment thirty-five: rock and a hard place (October 23, 1981).

Sirius blearily wiped his eyes, and staggered down the concrete path to the front door of the small semi-detached flat he shared with Remus Lupin, after having parked the motorcycle on the curb, locking it safe with a charm. Work today had been rather busy - well, abysmal actually. He'd been run off his feet all day, and then he'd had to race over to meet Lily and James, and discuss exactly how they were going to protect themselves, and his godson. In the midst of conversation, Sirius had had a brainwave, and luckily, his brainwave had been agreed on.

It had been relatively easy to contact Peter, and he had apparated over immediately, signalling his own agreement. As far as the world would know, Lily and James Potter, plus their infant son, would disappear off the face of the earth within the next few days. The majority of the world would also know why: the Potters had been very strident in their support of Dumbledore, and as such, they'd received death threats. A detonating charm had been found just two weeks ago at their last house, and to avoid further detection they had moved four times in the past twelve days. In addition, Voldemort and his Death Eaters were getting more personal, attacking specific ministry officials or wizards with a connection to Hogwarts and Dumbledore, as if to undermine his reputation, and cruelly mock the protection Dumbledore had offered whilst they were at school.

The Potters' location would be known only to a select wizard, known as the Secret Keeper. Thanks to the Fidelius charm, which altered the sight of any wizard not enacted within it, no-one but the Secret Keeper would even be able to recognise Lily and James' location, much like Muggles who walked past the entrance to Diagon Alley every day, unknowing. Of course, the vast majority of the world would believe that Sirius was the Secret Keeper: this was certainly the original intent, and the one Dumbledore knew about. But they had decided this evening to throw Voldemort off the scent by choosing as Secret Keeper the last person anyone would suspect: an old friend of James and his from school, Peter Pettigrew. Peter was widely thought to be too easy a target, too weak and liable to snap. It was like hiding out in the open: a desperate measure, certainly, but these were times of desperation.

Sometime over the next few days, the Charm would be enacted in secret by James, Lily and Peter, with his parents acting in Harry's stead to involve him as well, and then all any of them could do was to wait it out. No-one would suspect Peter, chiefly because the other people who knew of the plan, Dumbledore, and dear Remus, still believed that Sirius held the knowledge within him.

Sirius turned the key in the lock and staggered inside, dropping his satchel, and was immediately overwhelmed by a man nearly half a foot shorter than him. "Missed me, I see?" he managed to choke out.

Remus nuzzled against him, lightly curling his lip along Sirius' firm jawline. "Boring day at work. Missed you horribly. Started getting jittery because I needed this. Needed you."

Sirius chuckled, somewhat cautiously. Remus could very well get like this, he knew from experience. Remus would survive forcing the wolf down every minute of every day for months, save only when the full moon came, and then one day, he would just no longer be able to win, not entirely, and the hunger of the wolf would take him. And from what he could feel, the hunger of the wolf was very much alive now, and the wolf wanted his mate.

"Had to go see Lily and James," he said, excusing his lateness, feeling Remus almost rip his shirt out from his trousers, the other man still continuing to nuzzle and lick against the pale flesh of Sirius' neck.

"Hmmm", Remus responded, somewhat distracted, forcing Sirius' legs apart with one of his knees, gently sliding his leg against the taller man's crotch. "They're well, I trust?"

Sirius gasped at the sudden contact, and Remus chuckled throatily in response. "Yes, they're fine," he managed to stammer out, feeling the wind being driven out of him as he was knocked up against the wall, Remus' nimble fingers attacking his buttons, dragging his leather jacket off.

Smoothing his hands across Sirius' chest to rub his nipples, Remus started sucking wetly at the pulse point on the other man's neck, flicking it with his tongue, the iris of his eyes dilated to a point where they looked almost black with pleasure. "And the Fidelius charm?" he asked, somehow managing to maintain some semblance of his composure.

The taller man groaned, and ran his hands down Remus' back, along his shoulders, arms, anywhere. "It's in hand," he said. "I'll be their Secret Keeper, and then they'll lay low until this bloody War is over," he continued, lying, desperately hoping that Remus was too distracted with lust to notice the falsehood that must tinge his scent.

Remus had now expertly stripped his lover to the waist, and was firmly gripping Sirius' leather-covered arse, still growling softly as he marked the man's neck. "Good," he said huskily.

Sirius arched his neck up, offering more skin, his eyelids fluttering softly at the stimulation. "Sure...you don't want to take this into the bedroom?" he asked, panting.

He was greeted with a wicked grin. "Takes time to get to bedroom. Time that could be far better spent fucking you." Remus bent his head to lick along Sirius' collarbone in one swift sweep, and lowered his body so that he could suck one of Sirius' now painfully hard nipples into his mouth, teasing the nib with his tongue.

Sirius arched into the touch with a cry, before sinking back against the wall, feeling Remus scrabble at his trousers, rubbing his erection through the leather. He sighed, and closed his eyes, willingly submitting to his partner's slightly rough affections. He knew he would wake up tomorrow with bruises, and marks, and possibly even worse. And Remus would look at him with his sad gentle eyes, and damn himself for it.

But right now, they both needed to lose themselves in the other, and tomorrow was a distant possibility.