Dilwiddy-on-Pond was the most thoroughly nondescript place one could ever imagine. Not quite picturesque enough to be charming, and not quite shabby enough to be considered depressed, it sat on the edge of a fen, connected to the outside world by a rutted strip of dirt that passed for a road.

A few scrubby Muggle farms lay on the outskirts of the cluster of cottages and small necessities that made up what passed for the mostly wizarding village.

It suited a young man who went by the name of R.J. Moony just fine, though, thank you very much.

He had applied for the vacant post of teacher in Dilwiddy's one room primary school with a very nice recommendation from none other than Albus Dumbledore himself. The pay was almost non-existent, and the little stone cottage they'd rented him for the stay of his employment was in need of dire repair, but he didn't mind.

He didn't mind one bit.

Young mister Moony was well-liked by the children, and their parents, even if they all thought he was a bit too delicate to be living out in a rather cold, damp place like Dilwiddy. He took sick with almost alarming regularity, prompting the village mothers to provide a constant stream of soup and home-made remedies at his door.

Dilwiddy had a one-owl postal system, and Moony used it with fair regularity. It seemed only natural to the villagers, as, when one was abed sick as often as the young teacher was, well, one had to have some sort of hobby.

So, when the owl tapped on the window one dull and rainy Saturday afternoon as he was grading a spelling test, Moony, who's last name was really Lupin, wasn't that surprised.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Remus pushed open the heavy window and let the little owl in. The poor thing was soaked, and shivering.

"Shh.. now, there, there.." he murmured reassuringly, holding out his hand and bringing the little bird near his fire. "Let's get you something to eat, then we'll see what you brought, right, then?"

The owl hooted and nipped his finger gently, fluffing out it's feathers on the back of the battered chair he had positioned in front of the old fireplace.

While the owl hopped down to nibble at the snack he brought for it, R.J. Moody, Late Professor Remus J. Lupin of Hogwarts Academy, sat down to read his mail.

At first, he thought it might be from Harry. He worried about the boy, even though he knew he was in good hands overall. But the handwriting gave him pause.

He'd written, and thrown out, more than one letter to Sirius Black since the old friends had been briefly reunited in Hogsmeade months ago. He never quite found the right words to say, and every one of them had ended up in the fireplace.

Now, in front of the crackling fire, the familiar messy handwriting was as welcome as any voice or touch.

*******************
My Dear Moony:

I know you understand my abrupt departure, but I'm still sorry we didn't have a proper reunion. So much of my past still requires mending.

I hear from Harry now and again, and he tells me you've found another teaching post. I'm glad to hear that, and those are some lucky children.

I think I will be passing through your area soon on my journeys, and I hope it will not be an inconvience if I call on you.

Please let me know.

Fondly,

Padfoot
*************

Remus sat back in the old chair, as the news came on, tinny from the portable radio tuned to the Wizarding Wireless Network, and smiled, digging in the box next to his seat for a quill and parchment.

*************
Dear Padfoot:

You never need to ask. My home will always be open to you, no matter where I should be.

This is a small town, though. It might be wise to leave your traveling companion out of the village.

I look forward to seeing you.

Yours,

Moony
*************

He looked at the letter once more, trying not to picture a hippogriff in his front yard. No. Sirius was much more careful and discreet than that. He had to be. With a firm nod, he held out his hand to the little owl.

"Now, be careful then. The weather's still foul out there. Will you be alright?"

The little bird hooted and fluffed out it's chest in a burst of self-pride, and Remus laughed softly. "Go, then, my brave little friend, and good speed."

He pushed open the window, and the owl took flight, vanishing into the grey skies.

And then, all that was left for Remus Lupin to do was wait.

~~~~~~~~~
It was the following Friday evening, and he was just sitting down to yet another dinner of soup (potato this time, from the Kenswick family down the lane), when there was a scratching at his door. The rain of the previous week had turned into an unseasonable and unpleasant sleety-sort-of affair, and the great black dog sitting on his front step looked positively miserable.

Without a word, Remus stepped aside, and let him in, the dog pausing briefly to shake itself madly, spraying both the young man, and his front entry with water.

"SIRIUS!!!" Remus sputtered, wringing out his shirt as the soaking, grubby dog transmogrified into a soaking, grubby man.

"Hrm. Sorry about that." He offered by way of apology, and Remus took the moment to look over his old friend.

He looked a bit better than he had the last time they had seen each other, but Sirius Black was still a terrible mess. Twelve long years in Azkaban had left him a gaunt shadow of his former self, and life on the run as a fugitive was not exactly doing anything to improve his health. His black hair was still long and matted, and his clothes were a collection of tattered dark rags.

Sirius watched the appraisal, and frowned. "What, I don't even get a hello?" He said with a glimmer of old humor.

"You're not taking care of yourself." Remus muttered, before tipping his head, and pushing his prematurely grey-streaked hair out of his face, with a small smile. "Hello, Sirius."

He was startled when Sirius bypassed his extended hand for a fierce hug. For a long moment, Remus relaxed into it, before feeling his face turn warm against the cold-sodden clothes, and he pushed Sirius back with a firm hand.

"You're freezing, you're filthy and you're probably starving." He put on his best teacher's voice. "Come with me. Where's Buckbeak?"

"Off in the fen… hippogriffs are excellent hunters, he's doing quite ..well…." He trailed off as Remus dragged him into the kitchen and sat him down, promptly plunking a bowl of soup in front of him.

"Vitaesemignas" Remus muttered with a flick of the wand resting on his kitchen counter, and the the soup made a brief burble before a comfortable steam rose out of it.

"It was getting cold anyways. Now. Eat." He added, realizing as the soup and bread on the table practically vanished in the next instant that he didn't even need to waste his breath. "eating out of garbage cans, lately, have we?" He asked, concerned as he brought the remainder of the pot to the table.

"I find it difficult to get to the grocery store." Sirius shrugged. "Thank you, Remus. Really."

The teacher waved it off, pushing the rest of his meal towards his friend as well. "It's no trouble. But if you don't take care of yourself, you're not going to be able to very well take care of Harry if there's trouble, you know." He knew he sounded like an old woman scolding him, but Sirius could be single minded to the point of neglecting everything else at times.

Not that he could complain, Remus thought. That single-mindedness saved Sirius' life in the hell of a prison that was Azkaban.

Sirius, for his part frowned mightily as he stuffed another chunk of bread in his mouth. "Yes, well."

"When you're finished, we'll see about getting you cleaned up." Remus scolded gently again, leaning his chin on his hand while Sirius proceeded to barely stop short of eating the bowl. "you don't want to eat too much to start, you'll get sick."

"You were always more rational about these things than me." Sirius finally admitted, the echo of his good humor brightening his eyes.

They chatted inanely, idly as Remus set a kettle on the stove, and went to run a bath. The bathroom was as dilapidated as the rest of the house, the plaster chipping on the walls, and lone painting in the house, a field full of listless sheep wandering about, looked as if it needed a good cleaning.

"You. In." He pointed absently at the hot water as he rummaged through the little medicine chest on the wall. From behind him, he could hear the heavy rustle of Sirius' rags collecting on the old tiled floor. Remus set his jaw, feeling the heat return to his face as he finally found the jar of "Christobel's Concentrated Cleansing Cubes (use one tenth of a cube per bath)" and dumped an entire pearly dice-sized cube into the water after his friend settled in.

The cube fizzed and popped, expanding into a tsunami of white foam, oozing over the edges of the old iron tub and Sirius gave Remus's back a dirty look as the young man continued to root through his things.

"Is this a hint, I take it?" He muttered, but he sank happily into the water with a sigh.

"If you want to call it that. I'd think it was more along the lines of a statement." Remus replied, producing a pair of scissors and setting them on the edge of the tub as he sat down. "I don't think we're going to be able to get all these mats out, Sirius." He sighed, taking a handful of the dense foam and slapping it on his friend's head.

"Remus… you don't need to …" Sirius started, then immediately stopped at the gentle pressure of fingers on his scalp. Had he been in his canine form, Sirius was certain his back leg would have started thumping. "…that is.. you always had… such nice hands…" he added a bit dumbly.

Remus looked down at him, at the nasty marks scarring Sirius' broad shoulders, as he massaged the foam into his tangled hair. Their brief reunion all those months ago had made feelings that he had thought permanently tucked away come stumbling back and he was certain old Padfoot would be positively appalled if he caught scent of any one of them.

Ever since the sorting hat had dropped a fairly shy youth into the Gryffindor table, squarely between the two boys who would become his dearest friends, Remus Lupin had a terrible crush.

His unfortunate lycanthropic curse had made it very easy to avoid attachments with anyone, a perfect excuse to brush off the girls who passed him notes in class, and a perfect excuse to remain close with the friends who had even learned how to become Animagi so he would not feel quite so alone.

He loved James like the brother he'd always wished he had. He even liked their tagalong, Peter. But Sirius… Quidditch-playing, prank-pulling, homework-shunning Sirius Black and his mad grin made his mouth dry and his heart beat just a little bit faster.

Remus had been very good at hiding it, even when the two of them would have to practically lock themselves in the library before exams for Remus to try and prep him enough to pass.

It was why the death of Lily and James Potter, years later, carried with it an extra helping of bitterness. He'd thought, like everyone else, that Sirius had a hand in it, and somehow, it was betrayal on more than one level.

The truth revealed had left him, in the deepest part of his heart, stunned and blinking, as the old pain found itself competing with a fresh bit of guilt, and an even healthier portion of something that Remus had always managed to avoid calling anything at all.

He let one hand drop slightly to gather up the remainder of Sirius' hair into the foam, and watched the broad shoulders shiver as his fingers ghosted over the nape of the other's neck.

He was very glad indeed that Sirius was making busy with the washcloth and not able to look him in the face at this moment. But it was Sirius who finally broke the long silence.

"Remus? You're awfully quiet. You haven't scolded me in almost ten minutes." He joked gently.

"Eh? What? Oh.. sorry…" Remus shook his head, soft grey-brown strands falling into his face. "just woolgathering I suppose." He gave Sirius' head a particularly quick lathering and leaned back against the wall as his friend turned in the tub.

"Are you alright?" Sirius asked, dark eyes searching, and Remus felt his face grow warm again.

Fortunately the whistle of the kettle interrupted before he could say anything he might regret later, and he got up with a random, apologetic sound. "Back in a moment. Rinse your head, will you?" He added, brushing bubbles off his pants as he hurried out of the little bathroom.

"I am most decidedly not fifteen anymore." Remus sternly reminded himself, pouring out the water into a teapot as steam curled out of the spout. "and I am not going to make a fool out of myself."

With that thought firmly in mind, he brought the teapot and some cups into the bath, where Sirius sat, looking as much like a water-soaked, ragged dog as someone could, without actually being a dog at that particular moment.

"That's what I was afraid of." Remus murmured, setting down the teapot and taking up the scissors. "It's going to have to come off, Mister Padfoot. These are too far gone for a detangling charm" He added lightly, sitting on the edge of the tub. But Sirius was surprisingly quiet, watching him with that single-minded stare, and finally, midway through shearing the tangled mess of his friend's hair, Remus finally stopped and looked at him.

"What?"

"Put the scissors down a moment, would you, Remus?" He asked politely, despite the fact that he was still looking at Remus as though he was dissecting him.

The teacher set the scissors down on the tiled floor, and looked at him expectantly.

Very calmly, Sirius grabbed him by the suspenders that held his worn pants in place, and Remus toppled over into the tub from the force of the sudden motion. Water and foam sloshed over the side onto the floor, and Remus was immediately soaked, legs hanging over the edge.

"That's TWICE today!" He was not amused, and was on the verge of climbing out and casting some sort of a flea and tick attractor hex on his old friend, when Sirius held him in place.

"Rem… what's going on? You've been acting squirrelly ever since I showed up." There was a note of not-quite-yet-suspicion in his voice.

Remus started to demur, to dance around the topic but then he stopped, and sighed. Lack of communication between the two of them had given Peter.. no Wormtail. Wormtail was a much better name for him now… the opening he'd needed to slip in and betray Lily and James… and everyone to Voldemort.

He ran a soapy hand through his hair, momentarily slicking it back and looked his old friend squarely in the eye, with a thrill of unease settling in his stomach. "Sirius… for as long as we've known each other… we've never had much luck talking, have we?" He asked, eased somewhat when Sirius gave a brief, guilty nod, and sank lower into the cooling water, his legs sliding comfortably underneath Remus.

Remus tried to ignore that for the moment and pushed forward before his natural reticence took hold again. "When we were at Hogwarts.. the time I spent with you and James was the best I'd ever had in my life… before, and frankly, since." He held up a hand before Sirius could butt in. "The very …best times… though. They were the ones I … spent alone with you." He couldn't believe just how inane that sounded in his own ears and he sighed again. "I mean…"

"Rem." Sirius' low voice broke his train of thought, and his resolve threatened to vaporize like a boggart in the sun.

"I… know." Remus could almost hear Sirius thinking, as one soapy, callused hand came up and cupped his cheek. "I always did, in a way. It was how… Peter slipped doubt in my ear… why I thought you might be a spy…" He sounded ashamed, but his hand, or his gaze didn't waver. "He played on… something I thought I understood."

Remus closed his hand over the one resting on his face, forgetting about his sodden clothes. "How long has it been since…" He started, then stopped, feeling silly, before starting again. "Since… you….?" There. He said it. Sort of. Remus felt silly again at Sirius' momentarily blank stare.

When he finally spoke, the hand on Remus' cheek wavered for a moment. "Since before… I went in that hellhole." Sirius smiled ruefully. "The dementors.. feed on all pleasant thoughts and ..feelings."

Remus squared his jaw and leaned forward awkwardly, placing a schoolboy's kiss on Sirius' lips, prepared to beat a hasty retreat from the tub, the room, and the situation he'd just dropped himself squarely into.

The response was not what he'd expected. Sirius' hand slid along his cheek, tightening in his hair, drawing him in closer and removing the possibility of flight. He caught the kiss and transformed it into something hungry, and fierce.

Like as a wolf might kiss, Remus thought, bemused, no longer caring if his shoes were going to be soaked as he found himself shifting to take advantage of this turn of events. Sirius was acting as if the world had compressed to the space where their lips met, his tongue ungentle in Remus' mouth.

(They took every good feeling) It took an enormous amount of effort to push himself back from Sirius with that thought, his old friend's eyes dark and wild. Before he could register a complaint, Remus pressed two fingers to Sirius' lips, taking his kisses to the bony curve of jaw, leading down into the tendons of throat and shoulder.

Sirius' hand closed so tightly in Remus' hair that it hurt, but it wasn't to stop him, it was to hold him close as the teacher's lips slipped lower, into the hollow of his throat where a low sound, nearly a growl caught.

He took a long time, just exploring the terrain of Sirius Black's throat and chest. In human form, Remus' nose wasn't as good as when the change took him, that moment before consciousness would slip from his grasp and the world would bloom into scents that he could barely grasp, but it was still sensitive, and under the minty-soap smell, there still lingered the musk that would drove his fifteen-year old self to utter distraction.

There had been others, humans and painful pairings with his own kind. Remus had always regretted them the moment sense had returned, and they largely served to underscore just how lonely he felt.

But this…

"Rem… this is…" Sirius murmured, hoarse, into his hair, rubbing his cheek against the damp tawny strands.

"Thirteen years late…" Remus finished, hands slipping through the persistent, soapy foam, pale against Sirius' darker skin. "Sir…" He was kneeling between those lanky legs cresting up from the frothy water, hands resting lightly on Sirius' chest. His heart was doing doubletime, unfortunately out of sync with the mad trembling in his stomach. Doubt was settling firmly on him again.

There was no way to laugh this off as a prank or horseplay as the Marauder Moony would have done, though.

Sirius was looking at him with a mad, fathomless gaze, hands fisting in the threadbare fabric of Remus' shirt. "Off.. please… I want it off.. now…" He whispered. "your skin…" He mouthed the words against' Remus' lips, hands trembling with the effort of not simply shredding the worn cloth then and there.

There was an awkward moment, the clumsy untangling of limbs, and decidedly ungraceful struggle to get the sodden fabric, and Remus' only really decent pair of shoes off, the lot whapping against the floor with wet splats.

It would have been funny, it probably would be later, Remus mused, if it weren't for Sirius' earnest need.

(Thirteen years without a kind touch… without… )

"You're so much braver than I am." Remus murmured into the soapy hollow of his friend's throat.