fatal love

chapter 147

The next couple of weeks consisted of a lot of boredom, which Sirius guessed was better than some things. On Sunday he went back to the Potters' for the day, while Remus went back to Wales to see his parents, and Sirius realised how much he had missed Euphemia's cooking. He went house-hunting with James and Lily, who ended up finding a place they liked in Godric's Hollow.

It was a quaint little place, but bigger than where Sirius and Remus were. No one said anything at the time, but James mentioned to him casually later that evening that it would be big enough for a family. Sirius knew James wanted lots of kids - his childhood had been almost perfect, except for the loneliness before Hogwarts and during the holidays. But the fact James was already planning for that stuff was more than a little shocking, even if he didn't think they'd be using all the space for a long time.

Sirius wondered if Godric's Hollow would be the best place; it represented everything Voldemort and his followers were against, and therefore an obvious place to target, but at the same time, everyone living there could be trusted. James and Lily wouldn't have to worry about neighbours having issues of a pureblood and muggleborn living together, which had been a problem for them in other areas they'd looked at. So maybe it was for the best. After all, nowhere could be perfect.

Sunday evening he went back to Chicory Cottage, and the next morning he got his first assignment from Moody, in a short and to the point Patronus. He was sent to a coffee shop opposite the Leaky Cauldron and told to sit there the whole day and make a note of everyone going into and out of the pub.

It made sense that he was the one saddled with the shit job, he figured. He hadn't proved himself yet, he was hardly going to be sent off into a duel or doing anything that actually mattered. But he knew everyone in the Sacred 28, all the offshoots and all their sketchy associates, had had the whole social network beaten into him since he was a little kid. So when Borgin's nephew met Gordon Flint for a drink, he clocked both of them easily.

But he spent twelve hours in that crappy coffee shop, and that was all he saw. And that became his new normal. He'd spend most days just killing time with Remus, and every so often he'd be sent to sit in a discrete coffee shop or on a park bench and just people-watch.

It might not have been so bad if it felt like what he was seeing was important. But even on the rare occasions that he did see someone he recognised, none of it seemed that interesting or that useful. And when he wrote to Moody, the man never seemed grateful. Half the time he didn't even bother replying.

Of course, if boredom was bad, it was nothing compared to the fucking hell that the full moon brought. He and Remus had been doing really well since they moved in together, it had been like a little slice of heaven in an otherwise drab existence, but the day before the full, they had their first fight.

"I think I'm going to leave now," Remus had said abruptly at about midday.

Sirius frowned in annoyance. "But the moon isn't until tomorrow."

"I know," Remus sighed, "but I don't wanna travel all the way to Scotland and immediately try and find the pack. You know how shit I feel before a transformation anyway. I'll leave now and spend a night in a hostel near the forest or something."

"So when am I going to see you again?"

"I don't know, Sirius!" Remus exclaimed, going from civil to angry in less than a second. "I don't know what's going to happen after the moon! Maybe they'll make me leave, maybe I'll be able to talk to them, I've no fucking clue!"

Sirius glared at him. "Fine," he snapped, turning away, "off you go then."

"Seriously?"

"Yep. Guess I'll see you when I see you."