the brightest star ;

Hearing a familiar timbre questioning her statement made a small mischievous smirk appear on Charitys’ face. Sirius had a knack for bringing out her most feisty and vivacious side, and she enjoyed every moment the two of them spent with one another. Most would say that it was an unlikely pair of friends, Sirius and Charity - but they had met through mutual friends in Hogwarts and unlikely as it was, they’d found they were quite compatible as friends. The brunette had always enjoyed the banter and wit that Sirius brought to the table, his mind quick and his tongue sharp. 

“Oh, a life sentence surely!” Charity smiled as she moved away from the cauldron - now half inclined to just chip the cauldron just slightly, to see what happened. She fought the impulse, and turned to smile at Sirius “They’ve sent witches to Azkaban for less, haven’t they?” 

The chilly morning was starting to slowly turn in to early afternoon, and Diagon Alley was slowly beginning to fill up with all sorts of random people. Some straggling about groggily, others walking with clear purpose and a pep in their step. Charity definitely felt like the former, not entirely sure she was wholly awake yet.  “A peculiar spot to place a cauldron, I think…” Charity frowned, before shrugging “Enough about that, though - what brings you here? I’m so glad to see you, although a bit surprised at seeing you here so early,” if Charity recalled correctly, Sirius wasn’t much of an early riser. 

“Don’t tell me you actually never went to bed last night and went out because you got restless?” the brown haired witch smiled at her friend. 

“Oh, they certainly have.” Sirius agreed, shaking his head a little bit. “Whatever will we do? I dunno if I’ll be able to make the trip to Azkaban regularly. Very out of the way,” his nose scrunched up a little bit, “I suppose we’ll just have to go on the run. I think we could make it, two thrifty people such as ourselves.” he smiled.

What had brought Sirius to Diagon Alley? What brought anyone anywhere, honestly? In a sense, pure boredom brought Sirius to Diagon Alley he supposed. If he hadn’t been someone who needed some sort of constant entertainment, or at least somewhere to be, he wouldn’t have taken his job up at Borgin and Burkes and thus, would not be in Diagon Alley on his way to work. Certainly something to think about. “Lovely to see you too, it’s been ages.” Sirius smiled. Ages was a bit of an exaggeration, it had maybe been two weeks or so. They’d met up for drinks around last month... Perhaps it had been awhile.

“Work.” Sirius supplied afterwards, “Diagon Alley and through to Knockturn, and I certainly could’ve apparated but what’s the fun in that when I get to run into clumsy little witches, hm?” he teased lightly, before his head fell back with a sigh, “Merlin, I wish I’d gone out last night. We have to go out, Char. I’m dying. I’ve been stuck up for so long. Do you know what happens when people get stuck up for so long? They get ugly. You don’t want me to get ugly, do you?” he dramatized, practically pouting. 

Sometimes Remus did think about how things could be different should one important aspect of his life not happened or changed just slightly. What if he hadn’t met James first at Hogwarts? What if he hadn’t gone to Hogwarts at all? What if Grayback had broken into the wrong house, the wrong room? What if Sirius hadn’t shown up to class that day? Mostly, this wasn’t a good path for him to walk down mentally. He always ended up in darker corners of his mind. The places that reminded him of days filled with a deep longing to belong somewhere and to someone. Some of those feelings still lingered while others had been fought off by those he held closest to him. However, now and again he couldn’t help but think about it. Thinking really was one of Remus’s greatest strengths and most crippling weaknesses. His mother used to scold him for being a chronic overthinker. When he was a child he didn’t understand but these days he got what she was saying and had to agree with her. 

Regardless of what could have happened, what did happen, happened. Their was no going back or changing things now. Honestly, he wouldn’t want to. Remus had far too many good things going for him to want to change things. After all, a perfect life wasn’t possible. 

A loud laugh left Remus’s throat as Sirius recounted his story about the old witch. Without thinking about it he reached out and squeezed, Sirius’s arm as he laughed. It was a quick touch, not one that Remus thought much about. He shook his head. “That’s a great price for eye of newt! Is it on sale? I’ll have to come down and gather some from you.” He admitted with a smile still hanging on his lips as he looked at the taller boy. His hand dropped them as he stuffed it into his pocket to count if he had some change for eye of newt. Though he stopped when Sirius went on. A small redness touched the tips of Remus’s ears and the top of his cheek bones at the knight joke. He shook his head. “Sirius, please, you really need to find yourself a better knight to guard you. I’m not much in the way of wielding a sword.” He teased, scratching the back of his neck as he spoke. “Besides, I am a man of the people. Here to ward of any cursed furniture from any man, woman or child.”

Sirius had nearly frozen up, feeling Remus’ hand touch his upper arm, slim fingers wrapping around quite a few layers of clothing as it was getting colder and colder outside around this time. His laugh absolutely lit up through his entire face, and Sirius certainly felt something in his chest tighten. His heart did have a mini attack, various thoughts rushing through his mind. Mostly thoughts of their various... encounters. Well, their two encounters. Still, thoughts of those two encounters bounced around in his mind, and played so vividly that it nearly made his head spin. Oh, Sirius really needed to get a grip on himself. And luckily, being the absolute master at phoniness as he was, recovery was quick and easy. There was barely a second in between the panic he felt enter his body, and the panic he felt leave his body. He didn’t even flinch, go him.

“No, yeah, hah. You’ll have to come by.” Sirius smiled, absolutely unable to do or say anything but that. Quite a few options had ran through his mind; ripping himself away from Remus’ grip, glaring at him and keeping his distance. Stepping in closer to his space also played in his mind, getting up close to his mouth and... “I’m sure you could hold your own,” Sirius said in the next moment, breaking himself out of his thoughts because he knew if he was silent for any longer than a few seconds it would be seen as completely not normal. “You certainly were quite chivalrous tonight.” he grinned, glancing back at the piece of furniture. He looked back over to Remus, feeling somewhat awkward in that moment. Surely they had more to talk about than curse furniture and very simple catch ups...

 open-

Charity had always managed to be both a night owl and an early riser. It always seemed to waver from one day to the next - sometimes she jumped up before the sun and sang with the birds; and other times, like today, the 18 year old cursed the pale morning sun as she trudged towards the entrance of Diagon Alley. The misty morning, however, with it’s fresh and cold air, seemed to work as a pepper-up potions of sorts, managing to wake the girl who felt half asleep as she meandered the old cobbled streets lined with shops that had slowly begun to stir as the working day begun. She had run low on some supplies and figured today would be as good a day as any to get her shopping done. Running through her mental list of things she needed to get, she muttered softly ‘please, don’t forget quills… char, you need quills. if you leave today without quills I swear to Merlin–’

Almost tripping on a cauldron that sat on the outside of Potage’s Cauldron Shop, Charity let a string of curse words flow past her lips in exasperation. With a quick peek around her, she tried to make sure nobody had seen her slight faux pas. Caught up in the whirl of thoughts of quills and cauldrons, Charity hardly noticed the person who was approaching her on the street ahead.

“–shit, oh! hi, I almost didn’t see you there - I swear the cauldron’s not broken or anything… are you quite alright?”

Bright and early was definitely never something that Sirius had ever been accustomed to. He’d always been a night owl, and he’d always been the last one up in the morning. He’d remembered scolding his roommates in Hogwarts for failing to wake him up when it was getting close to leaving time, but they definitely didn’t want any rogue hexes thrown their way for waking the beast that was Sirius Black. There was something lovely about daybreak though, and Sirius kept trying to remind himself of that as he continued down the cobblestone into Diagon Alley, routing himself the long way towards Knockturn Alley. Though, he was certainly fine with a distraction when a familiar voice hit his ears. 

It wasn’t an unusual sight, Charity tripping over herself and expelling various profanities. Definitely one that Sirius was used to seeing. Their peculiar little friendship sort of just snuck up on him, he wasn’t too sure how she’d completely weaseled her way into his life, but here she was, and here he was, effortlessly loyal to those who even showed the slightest bit of kindness to him. It was honestly a character flaw within itself, he blamed his mother. Still, Sirius regarded Charity highly  -- she was a very sweet girl, could hold her own, and made for exceptionally good company considering she could keep up with his snark. Those were all winning points in Sirius’ book.

“Not broken, hm?” Sirius’ stepped towards her, arms half crossed over his chest, examining the cauldron that was indeed, definitely not broken in front of him. He wondered what he would have done had it been -- likely just grin and tease her, as well as ensuring their quick escape. It was hardly his problem that there were ill-placed cauldrons outside of the shop. “That would be correct. Good thing too that it’s just me that’s caught your little blunder, if it had been broken I could see someone else wanting to turn you in for your crimes. Do you suspect Azkaban?” he raised his eyebrows, smiling at her. 

James could see the contempt in the other boy’s eyes, and he wanted to roll his eyes in exhaustion. His answer had been tame, and on the side of polite, and Sirius still looked like he’d rather throw something at him than be civil for the time it took for James to find what he needed. Part of him understood, truly, he did. James had been the one to push him away, and Sirius hadn’t made it easy for either of them. In the end, James had gotten cold in his attempts at keeping Sirius away, and that was enough to hurt them both. Amusement danced in his eyes, as James’ grin turned into a genuine one, “If it was anyone else I’d say no, but you? I might just believe you,” he mused. James tilted his head in contemplation as he answered, “An old spell book. It’ll be in Greek.”

"Very me.” Sirius agreed. It definitely would’ve been just for a joke though, perhaps one or two customers. This would’ve been pushing it, though, certainly. He’d been chatting with James for far too long without assaulting or yelling at him him in some way, shape or form. Then again, Sirius wasn’t completely certain he’d be fired if he did so. James was an Order member. Borgin and Burkes was technically a neutral zone, but anywhere that dealt dark artifacts probably wasn’t buddy buddy with those involved in the Order. If that wasn’t obvious. “Spell books are over here.” Sirius pushed himself up from the counter, moving around it and over to a large bookcase. He began looking through it, searching for familiar Greek letters. “Am I allowed to know what for?” he questioned, glancinng over his shoulder.  

❀

“It would be a book brought in within the last week. That’s what I’ve been told to look for.” She gave Sirius a smile. It really had been too long since she had seen her cousin. Some may not understand the reason for their closeness but to them, it was natural. “I’ve….well been. Not an easy few weeks. Not to mention Mother has gone overboard with wedding planning. If this is not the wedding of the year, I think she might actually leave the country.” She shrugged her shoulders before speaking again. “How about you? Are things well? How is your brother?” 

“Not an easy few weeks?” Sirius raised his eyebrows, “Well, you know I’m always here to talk. I’m actually begging you to talk. I think I might die of boredom if I sit here without contact for much longer. The last customer came in right when we opened, and didn’t say a single word,” he stressed, rolling his eyes, “Literally not one. It was insane. He like... grunted, and sighed.” his nose scrunched up. Honestly, he was trying to figure out why this job was a good idea in the first place. “I’m fine. Living, breathing, continuing. Regulus is... Regulus.” Sirius admitted, chewing down on his cheek for a moment. He assumed she knew what that meant; things were good, but not good. “So... have you spoken with Ted?” he raised his eyebrows, leaning forward.

Hearing the response was a little disappointing, mostly because he was hoping to get this case done as quickly as possibly. Of course that annoyed him a bit, but he couldn’t blame the person in front of him for his bosses travels. “Hm, isn’t that unfortunate.” He commented, letting out a long sigh as he looked down at his feet for a moment before looking back up at Sirius. “Do you happen to know what part of the states that they are in? Possibly I could reach out to them via owl.” He commented, hoping that the idea he had might be useful to him. While it was a bit of a long shot, he had to take every effort he could in order to reach to goal that he had. 

Sirius hummed softly, shaking his head, “Nope.” he responded, properly enunciating the ‘p’ sound. Which, was hardly a lie. Both Borgin and Burke had only merely mentioned something about traveling, something about America. Then again, it definitely could’ve been Australia... Nobody could fault Sirius for zoning out when either of them spoke. Their voices were long, drawn out and far too monotoned for any reasonable person to catch onto their words. Plus, he was thankful he didn’t know. It was clearly hindering Frank from... well, whatever he had to do. He was pretty sure it was frowned upon to assist Order members, anyways. “Sure it’s nothing I can answer? At the very least I just wanna know, I’m far too nosy for you to leaver without telling me. It’ll bug me for weeks.”

It had been a simply potions that had brought Remus to Sirius. They’d been told to team up with someone of a different house and as it turns out they made a rather good team. What with Sirius thinking outside the box and Remus’s general knowledge when it came to what worked and what didn’t. They made for a good team in other ways as well. Ways that Remus had thought were a good thing in the moment but perhaps he’d read those situations wrong. He knew that, at the time, Sirius hadn’t come out to anyone. Nor had he wanted to. Which was more than fine. Remus was happy to keep his secret. Then seventh year happened and that was the confusing part really. 

Since then it was like the man actively avoided touching him in public. Remus wasn’t ever sure if it was because they’d kissed or if Sirius suspected he was a werewolf or if it was something completely different. Sometimes Remus worried that the other thought he was pushy. That he’d been to forward back in the day. Not that he was ever that forward to begin with. It prickled his mind to try and sort out just what Sirius might want or not want from him. Even after all these years, Remus had no idea. Right now it seemed best to focus on the moment. 

“I suppose not.” Remus answered with a slight tease touching his voice. To be honest, he was used to trouble. Running around with one James Potter could do that to a man. He had a small love for it now. The thrill of doing something even though it was against the rules could be quite fun under the right circumstances. “Now that hardly sounds like fun.” He pointed out as he rocked forwards on his feet. “Functional, I mean. It’s got its marts sure but I have a hard time believing the great Sirius Black isn’t doing more than just functioning.” Remus stated with a grin. “Me? Oh, I’ve been will. Living with Potter, looking for work. Occupying myself in the mean time by saving passer-byes from demon chairs.”

Simply Potions class. Simply just one project, and here was Remus Lupin somehow tied into his life forever. Which was incredibly annoying when he thought about it, especially considering Sirius had spent pretty much the entirety of fourth year skipping Potions class because he thought it was stupid. If he wasn’t going into any sort of career field where Potions was needed, then way, pray tell, would he need Potions? He could simply just buy any common use Potion he needed instead of brewing it himself. It was simply ridiculous, and he was definitely fine with blaming the entire discipline on why he was in this whole emotions mess in the first place. If it simply just did not exist then he was pretty certain there would be know way that he’d have any sort of connection with Remus. 

Y’know. Unless they’d gotten partnered up in another class. But, that was hardly Sirius’ point.

Sirius was perfectly fine with blaming Potions as a whole concept on why he had kissed Remus on that lovely spring night. Nothing else. What other reason would there be to kiss someone? Certainly not that he’d been staring at Remus’ lips for absolute years, probably since he was fourteen and Remus had kissed him the first time. Certainly not because he couldn’t stomach the thought of kissing a woman in his place. Certainly not because of any other reason besides Potions just clearly hated him, didn’t want him to see daylight again. Obviously.

“Oh, it’s absolutely killing me, I couldn’t be having more fun.” Sirius deadpanned, “I just had to convince a hundred and four year old witch that two galleons isn’t a ridiculous price for eye of newt. I’m living the dream.” he continued, though he smiled. Something else that was incredibly annoying -- Remus was infectious. That tone to his voice, the smile that curled up onto his lips. He’d even mentioned James Potter and here Sirius was, not even wanting to scowl at the very thought because it was Remus who had said it. Merlin, he really had to get a grip on himself. “Well, you know how to make someone feel special. I definitely thought you were my personal knight in shining armor.” Sirius spoke, almost pouting.