If In The Future

July 8

An owl from Dumbledore arrived very early this morning. He wants us to come to Hogwarts tomorrow, as Lyrio and Polaris said. "The school is in need of some particularly strong protection spells," he wrote, "and, as you two have expert knowledge of the hidden rooms and crevices of Hogwarts, I could think of no one better. The map is in my office; I'll give it back to Harry when he arrives at the start of the term."

"That reminds me, I haven't written to Harry yet," said Sirius when he read it. "I should have done that when I first got here; I hope he isn't too worried." He took a quill and parchment from the dresser top and started to write as I got dressed.

"Are you going to tell him about us?" I asked as his quill scratched.

He set it down and looked up at me. "Of course I am," he said. "Why wouldn't I?"

"Well, I don't know..."

"Look, Remus," he said. "I'm not hiding anymore. I'm not hiding who I am or what I feel about you. I may have done that before but life is too damn short. If, in the future, anyone asks about us, I'm telling them the truth.

"But I'm not saying too much in this letter," he added. "I'm not even mentioning that I'm here, I'm just saying that I arrived safely. But I will tell him. He deserves to know the truth and we deserve to tell it to him."

At work I researched protection spells whenever Calliope and the rest of the staff weren't around. They've never been one of my specialties.

It really is unfortunate that Tellery only has five magical families, because the library is huge. It also has one of three known copies of The History of Hecate and an extensive section on alchemy, including Nicolas Flamel's notebooks. (His wife was born in Tellery and they maintained a small vacation cottage here.) Before Voldemort, Tellery had one of the biggest populations of wizarding families in Britain, but after he came to power those who weren't killed, fled.

The chairs are worn and so is the carpet, from the wear and tear of hundreds of wizards. Someone had written notes in the margins of one of the books I was reading, and I wondered if they were still alive.

"Sirius," I asked him, over dinner, "how likely do you think it is that Voldemort will be defeated?"

"If I knew that, darling, I'd be a much greater wizard than I am. I doubt even Dumbledore knows that."

"I wish something was happening," I said, spooning more corn onto my plate. "I can't stand the tension of waiting to see what Voldemort is going to do."

He took my hand. "I know exactly how you feel."

After dinner we went directly to bed, as we have to get up very early tomorrow. "Don't worry so much," he said, stroking my neck. "Whatever happens is going to happen whether you worry about it or not. You might as well just enjoy whatever time you have on this earth."

I kissed his cheek. "I know, I know...You know, Sirius, you're right, you have changed. But it's a change for the better. You're a lot more contemplative and less impulsive than you used to be."

He smiled and then we kissed, his lips sweet and soft. "Speaking of enjoying your time on earth," I said.

Afterwards we lay with our arms around each other, drenched in sweat. He rested his head on my heartbeat and I stroked his hair until he fell asleep.