Scourgify

"Scourgify"

After dinner, the three of them - Remus, Sirius, and Harry - took dessert into the living room. After some chitchat, Sirius decided it was time to bite the bullet.

"Harry, there's something we need to talk about."

"We've wanted to tell you for a while," Remus said, and Harry realized this had been planned, "but we weren't sure how -"

"So you guys are shagging, then?" Harry said around a mouthful of biscuit.

Though surprised, Remus and Sirius both fought to control their expressions. That's what the point of this was: there shouldn't be any guilt or secrets between Sirius and his godson . . . and whatever that made Remus.

Nevertheless, Sirius barked, "The hell kind of thing is that to say?"

Remus shot Sirius a severe look. "I thought we were talking about this honestly," he hissed.

"So it's true, right?" Harry said, looking mildly curious but otherwise the calmest person in the room.

"Who taught you to just blurt something like that out!" Sirius said.

Harry raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm not a kid anymore," he said, pouting slightly.

"Telling you or not telling you had nothing to do with your age," Remus said consolingly. "Sirius is your godfather. We were concerned about how you'd take this."

"This isn't the dark ages or the seventies, you know," Harry said. "I don't much care about two guys messing around."

"Well - good," Sirius said, his face returning to a non-beet-like color.

"Are you sure?" Remus asked Harry, because he needed the boy to be honest, for Sirius' sake. "If you did have ... reservations, it wouldn't be such a horrible thing. I mean, it's normal, in our culture -"

"After all we fought for?" Harry interrupted. "Acceptance of mix-bloods and half-humans and all that? Do you really think I'd be prejudiced against, well, anyone?"

Remus smiled, relieved. "Guess not."

"But you two should tell Ginny," Harry said. "Or rather, tell her that you know she knows."

Now it was Remus' turn to feel the rug pulled out from under him. He glanced at Sirius, who, to his annoyance, looked slightly smug.

"She thinks it's dumb that you guys pretend to be 'just friends' around her. She says she's," Harry affected a high-pitched yet bracing tone, reminiscent of Ginny or her mother, "'tired of being treated like a little kid who doesn't understand things.'" Harry stood. "So, is that all? I don't meant to be rude, but I have to be on a dragon at five a.m. tomorrow."

"Just a second," Remus said, just as Sirius was about to let Harry leave. "In the interest of being completely honest with you, you should know that it's more than just 'shagging.'"

Harry looked confused. "What else is there?"

Remus sent Sirius a look that seemed to convey, 'you're his godfather, say something.'

"Well, um," Sirius said, "there's love." He looked more embarrassed over this than anything else in the conversation.

"Oh," Harry said, nonplused.

"We're not just fooling around," Sirius said, still blushing. "We're together."

"Oh," Harry said again. "Wow. I, um." He glanced at his godfather, then at Remus, who was fixing Harry with a level gaze. "Like, together together?"

"Yes."

"For how long? Just since the war, or, like, before? Did you have a commitment ceremony?"

Chuckling, Sirius ticked off answers to the barrage of questions. "About two years; we lived together after school, but, obviously, that was interrupted; and we would have told you if we'd done anything formal."

"It wasn't as if we were keeping this from you," Remus said. "During the war, it - we - just sort of happened. There wasn't ever a moment when we said, 'we're official.'"

"I should have said something this summer but it just," Sirius shrugged, "never came up." What he meant was that he felt lousy that he'd been too busy to find time to have a real conversation with his godson.

This new information was making something shift in Harry's head, causing a new understanding of his godfather and - and the man he loved. Sirius loved someone, and someone loved him. Weird. But nice.

"Well, that's great, of course," Harry said. "I'm glad that, y'know, you guys found someone, erm," he stumbled to a stop.

Remus laughed. "Your intent is well taken, Harry, even if your words are gibberish."

Harry grinned sheepishly. "Thanks for telling me," he said.

"Thanks for taking it so well," Sirius said, clipping Harry on the shoulder in the time-honored, all-purpose fatherly tradition of, 'way to go, sport.'

Harry turned to Remus. "So, I guess that makes you my, um, godfather-in-law, or step-godfather, or . . . how's it work?"

Being granted the kid's automatic acceptance, despite the unconventional relationship, caught Remus utterly flat-footed.

"How about 'friend who cares a great deal for you'?"

"Guess that'll work." Harry ducked his head, unfamiliar with this overt display of family. "Well," he said with finality, "I really do have work at a horrible hour tomorrow, so I'm sorry to dash, but..."

They said their goodbyes at the door, Sirius and Harry doing the hand-shake/one-arm-hug guy thing.

"I really am glad for you," was the last thing Harry said before he left.

Leaving Remus and Sirius alone.

"Well," Remus said. "That went well."

"That was fucking bizarre," Sirius said. "The nerve of that kid!"

Remus smirked. "Are you annoyed that he knew, or annoyed that he didn't tell you that he knew?"

"Both! Making me worry that he'd freak out if I told him, and then he tells us -- ! More than that, he must have known for a long time."

"And Ginny, too," Remus said ruefully. "All that time studying with her, I must have been terribly foolish to think she didn't know."

"At least we can transfigure the stupid twin beds back together and not have to take 'em apart in the morning," Sirius said.

When Lupin Lodge had been overrun with teenagers and every room had slept two people, Sirius and Remus had started the habit of transfiguring their bed. After the kids had moved out, Sirius had planned on ostensibly taking one of the spare bedrooms, but had somehow never gotten around to it. Maybe we were trying to let the kneazle out of the bag without having to actually say the words, Sirius mused.

Remus slung his arm around Sirius' waist and steered him towards the kitchen, where dinner dishes were still strewn about.

"I'm glad we did it," Remus said.

"Yeah, I guess I am, too."

"I'm very proud of you. I know I pushed you into it, but you handled it very well."

Sirius turned to face him, his hands coming to rest on Remus' waist.

"Thank you for pushing me." Sirius kissed him.

Remus wrapped his arms around Sirius' solid, muscular form. How he loved this man. "Anytime, you stubborn git."

They stood kissing unconcernedly in their living room, in plain sight of anyone who should walk through the door. Remus thought of the twin beds upstairs soon to be united, an unabashed symbol of their relationship uncovered. Such a small thing, but lately, the secrecy had become a burden. Instead of worrying about how to hide his relationship from Harry or Ginny, Remus had increasingly been holding back from just blurting it out. It was why he'd pushed the issue with Sirius to begin with.

Though the sensations Sirius' lips were causing on his neck were severely distracting, Remus finally pulled away.

"Guess the mess in the kitchen isn't going to clean itself until we tell it to," Sirius said.

As they cast scouring charms, Remus asked, "What's a commitment ceremony?"

"It's a Muggle thing," Sirius said. "Like a wedding."

"For everyone?"

"No, only gay couples," Sirius said.

"Why don't they have regular weddings?"

"I think they're not allowed."

So the Muggle world was deathly dull and backward.

Keeping his attention on the self-washing dishes, Remus said idly, "So . . . telling the kids does make us kind of official."

Sirius eyed Remus' back from across the room, where he was Banishing crumbs from the table. After all these years, he had a fair idea of what Remus was getting after.

"Are we telling all of them?" Sirius said conversationally.

"I assume they'll find out, one way or another. Which means in about forty-eight hours, the entire Weasley clan will know. And then, the world. It's not as if we're asking Harry to keep any secrets for us."

"'Course not."

"So," Remus said, making a show of caring more about a spotty glass than Sirius' reaction. "What do you say?"

"Are you asking me to make an honest man out of you?" Sirius teased.

Remus smiled. "The last time we talked about this, you wanted to 'wait and see if we survive.' We're here. I love you, you claim to love me," he joked. "What're we waiting for?"

Sirius slowly crossed the room and, taking Remus' hand, entwined their fingers. "I do love you." He kissed Remus' wrist. "But it's been a big night."

Remus smiled lopsidedly. "All right," he conceded. "But you're not getting out of this conversation for long."

Sirius flashed a devastatingly charming grin. "Oh, I hope not."

They kissed again, this time with clear intent.

"Ginny'll be out for a few more hours," Remus said into that spot below Sirius' ear that made him squirm. "Want to go upstairs and transfigure the beds?"

"Oh, hell yes."

~*~