Innocent Question

Innocent Question

"Who's the boy in the photo in your study?"

They sat behind the house on a bench, looking out across the garden and the fields that adjoined the property. Both men held a bottle of beer and seemed to be enjoying a balmy evening in companionable silence.

Ron waited for Remus to respond to his question; he waited patiently as he nearly finished his bottle of butterbeer. Every so often he glanced sideways to see if Remus was even reacting. Nothing. No answer anyway. Ron had seen the slight frown and watched the muscles in Remus's jaw work. He had clearly overstepped a line, and his innocent question hadn't been innocent at all. Once he realised that, he began to stumble over an apology.

"I'm sorry if I was nosy. I know it's none of my business. I was just wondering who the guy was. I meant no offence."

"It's okay, Ron. The boy in the photo is Sirius. Sirius Black." He looked at Ron, the pain this conversation caused him evident in his eyes. Somehow, though, Ron knew that he wanted to talk about this, no matter how much it hurt him to do so. He nodded slightly in encouragement.

Remus turned his head to look straight ahead again, at a point somewhere beyond the fields, and began, "It's Sirius Black in his fifth year at Hogwarts. He was still living with his family then, but knew it was only a matter of time before he'd leave, before he'd have to leave.

"His parents chased him out of the house. You know he stayed with the Potters for his last two years at Hogwarts?" Ron shook his head, even though Remus wasn't looking.

"Do you know why he had to leave? It really was only a matter of time, ever since he started Hogwarts really, because he'd been sorted into the wrong house, had chosen the wrong friends. He overstepped that line when he fell in love with one of those wrong friends."

There was silence once more. While Remus was caught deep in his own past, Ron tried to make sense of his words. Wrong friends? Blood traitors, half-bloods and Muggleborns, no doubt. Ron remembered Mrs Black's portrait and could easily imagine what Sirius had had to endure during school holidays.

"That photo was taken down by the lake. I don't even remember when exactly, but I remember how I felt, how Sirius felt. He told me.

"We loved each other, Ron. It was never easy between us. The war after school, the mistrust, Azkaban. Never easy, but we did love each other. We'd only just started to mend things when I lost him again." Remus drew a shuddering breath and pinched the bridge of his nose. Ron reached out to comfort Remus, but wasn't sure if he should. He ended up awkwardly patting Remus on the forearm. Remus briefly rested his hand on Ron's before they both withdrew.

"You never knew him how he really was. He was a good man. I want to remember him that way. That's why I kept that particular photo."

"I'm sorry, Remus."

Remus merely nodded, still looking out across the field.

Ron had overstepped a line, he knew that, but Remus had let him. He couldn't help but feel that good things lay somewhere beyond that boundary.