They went behind the curry shop, down into the alley they'd used as their disapparation point for years. Sirius paused in the alley, looking up the stairs to the door. Somebody had painted it - it was blue now, and there was a floral wreath hung upon it, a child's bicycle parked and locked under the stairs, training wheels still on.
"You ought to have a cloak on," Remus said, "Something to give yourself some sort of cover... If somebody finds out where you are..."
"Then they'd better take me in the moment," Sirius said. "We're not going to be sticking around very long."
"We're not?"
"Of course not, Remus! The whole point of meeting up was to get away, wasn't it? To get out of London, get away from the threat... to escape."
Remus felt his stomach twist with the thought of it.
Sirius looked around, "C'mon. Let's go and get your things, I'll explain everything when we're safely tucked behind some security charms."
"Alright," Remus nodded. "I have to warn you, I - I'm honestly a bit poor at disapparation at the moment, I've been doing a lot of side along and muggle transportation lately..."
Sirius looked at Remus with concern in his eyes.
"I splinched pretty badly a couple years ago," Remus explained, "And I've been sort of... hesitant... especially close to particularly bad moons, like the one we've just come through."
"What did you splinch?" Sirius asked, concerned.
"My entire left leg. Luckily I was able to get it mended, but I had a right scare, I'll tell you what..."
Sirius's eyes went to Remus's left leg and stared at it for a long moment. When he looked back up, Sirius hooked his arm and offered his elbow. "I can bring you."
"Are you... you know... in practice?"
Sirius laughed, "Always the cautious one, aren't you Moony?"
Remus slipped his hand 'round Sirius's arm and Sirius led him back behind the dumpsters and turned... pointing at the large hippogriff laying on the ground, hidden by the bin.
"I didn't mean to disapparate."
"Buckbeak!" gasped Remus under his breath.
"Shh!" Sirius hissed. "He goes by Witherwings now! He's on the run as much as we two are!"
Remus was stroking the hippogriff's face, having bowed and been given permission to approach the beast. "Can he carry us both?"
"Can he carry us both?! Remus --" Sirius laughed deeply, throwing his head back, "Moony, darling, have you seen us? Between the pair of us we can't weigh even 20 stone. Blimey, of course the hippogriff can carry us. I'll reckon he could add on about three more of us before he struggled.
Remus looked down at himself, already swimming in even the clothes he'd been wearing at Hogwarts all year, and Sirius - well. Azkaban's effects were still clear, even if he was clad in something other than the striped robes they'd issued him. Sirius was right, they couldn't possibly weigh much, even combined.
Sirius bowed to Witherwings and they both climbed onto the creature's back, Sirius in front since he knew how to steer and guide Witherwings along and Remus wincing as his hips smarted and he straddled the back of the creature, his knees on either side of Sirius, hugging onto him from the back.
"How do you keep from being seen by muggles?" Remus asked.
Sirius grinned, "He has a chameleon charm on him."
"A chameleon charm?" Remus asked.
"Yes, it makes him appear like whatever muggles are looking at to camouflage his appearance from a distance. Looking up, muggles will only see what looks like the sky... I couldn't make him invisible, but a chameleon charm seemed a good second option."
"That's... extremely brilliant actually," Remus said, very impressed.
Sirius laughed, "Did you doubt that I had a good answer? Like I was flying about on a giant horse-bird about the city?"
"I didn't know how reckless you were after --" he paused, "After everything."
"Reckless enough to kidnap my werewolf boyfriend and fly a hippogriff to Costa Rica."
Remus shouted as Witherwings rose up from the ground without further discussion between the two men and he spread his great wings, which Sirius had his knees hooked over. "HANG ON TIGHT, REMUS!" he shouted and Remus thought of the shrunken head on Ernie Prang's rearview mirror as he hung on tightly to Sirius, his eyes wide, watching the alleyway as they went up, the the bench where he'd been sitting waiting, indeed the entire park, the entire neighborhood, grow smaller and smaller, and soon they were high above London, in the cloud coverage, and Remus was exceedingly thankful he'd worn a jumper and even wishing he'd gone for two.
His arms wrapped tightly around Sirius and it occurred to him just how gaunt Sirius's body had become, just how much of the muscle mass he'd lost in those twelve years. There was scarcely anything to hang onto - and he could easily feel Sirius's ribs. He felt delicate, breakable, as fragile as that old rose from Freddie Mercury that sat on the mantel back home...
Witherwings swept over the city and arched in a long, lazy turn, headed North and they followed the roadway as it jutted along through trees and suburbs, across the countryside and away from the City. As Sirius guided the hippogriff's direction and Witherwings flapped along majestically, Remus found that the air was too loud going past their heads to talk more than a shout or two here or there and he fell into deep thought, considering all the things that might follow between he and Sirius, all the conversations that they had to still work their way through, all the levels of forgiveness and understanding they would need to extend to one another, and he shivered at the thought of the things they would say - the necessary exchanges, good and bad and all the in-between.
It was a long while before they were coming down over Yorkshire, down into Haworth, out of the village center and over the hill from the village to the yellow house, sitting there, sad and lonely looking, the giant tree in the yard, the stone wall with the gate and the porch with the squeaky old porch swing still hanging on, creaking in a wind.
Witherwings landed in the yard and Sirius slid down quickly, turning to help Remus down, bracing him so he didn't land in a way that would be hard on his knees. Sirius turned and looked at the house, his eyes searching the front of it, wide with amazement. "Bloody hell," he whispered, "It's exactly the way it was thirteen years ago."
"A bit worse for wear," Remus answered, "Especially given what I'm capable of by way of home maintenance. Some things about home repair simply need to be done the muggle way in these old homes... and I'm just not capable of it."
Remus led the way inside and Sirius tethered Witherwings to the rail and followed Remus inside.
"I don't have much," Remus said, "But I went yesterday and I got the things to make the stroganoff that - that Lily used to make that you liked so much..." he paused in the living room. Sirius was marveling about, his eyes taking in the familiar room, which had so few changes, like a time capsule.
Suddenly he let out a cry and Remus watched as Sirius took several steps to the fireplace, his hands gripping the mantel as he looked at the fragile old rose in it's plain black vase. He stared at it, eyes filling with tears. "My - my rose... my rose from Freddie Mercury." He reached out a tentative finger, not quite touching it, but hovering just a breath away from. "You kept my rose."
Remus nodded, even though Sirius wasn't looking at him and couldn't see the motion.
"I heard on the radio..." Sirius was quiet a moment, just staring at the rose. "I heard he's dead."
Remus had been hoping Sirius wouldn't find out. "Yeah, he is," he said quietly. "A couple year ago."
"They were talking about it after another singer died, back in April... Kurt Cobain?"
"Yes, Tonks was very upset."
"Tonks was?"
"She loved him. Cobain, I mean."
Sirius stared at the rose.
"They were talking about it constantly on the radio."
"Cobain dying was a very big deal in the muggle world."
"Is Nymphadora okay? I mean... about - about her favorite singer being gone?"
"She seems okay," Remus replied.
Sirius turned around suddenly. "What else did you keep? I see you have our - our ties from the wedding." Sirius pointed to Remus's throat.
"This one's honestly yours. I have... a lot of your things. I have your records." He pointed to the box on the shelf. "But you know that, you messed with those quite a lot back at Hogwarts, didn't you?"
Sirius grinned. "Every chance I could get..."
Remus was standing on one side of the room and Sirius on the other, facing one another, their conversation building an invisible bridge between them, Remus thought. They were fording some great chasm that had opened up between them.
"Do you have - do you have anything of James?"
"He left quite a bit here in the old room... and there were... some bits and pieces that were salvageable from the house..." Remus paused. "The two-way mirrors, for example. I have those. I have bits and odds and ends of dish ware and in the kitchen - you remember the prism of photos we made for Lily? For her nineteenth birthday? It's in the window out there."
"Pictures?"
"I have few."
"Wizarding ones?"
"Yes, they're moving," Remus said, knowing what Sirius was asking. "Do you want to see them?"
"Not yet."
"When you're ready."
"Yeah. Pack them."
"Pack?"
"Obviously we're not staying here. Eventually the Ministry will come looking and we need to be gone by the time they think to look in this place..." His voice darkened as he spoke the words. He looked around at the windows and suddenly seemed nervous, waving his wand to draw curtains and close shutters.
"And where do you suggest we go?"
"Exactly where James said to go."
Remus joked, "Hell?" He chuckled.
"Well I've already been there, haven't I?" Sirius murmured.
Silence fell between them.
"Costa Rica," Sirius said quietly.
"I actually wondered if you'd gone to Costa Rica, honestly," Remus said, surprised he hadn't been too terribly far off in imagining Sirius Black headed to Costa Rica. He just hadn't expected himself to be included in the list of things Sirius needed with him when he went. "I wasn't sure how to get across international disapparation lines now, with all the new controls and requirements, as well as being nervous about disapparation in general, like I've said already... That's exactly the worry that's kept me in England, honestly, otherwise I might have gone back to stay with Newt Scamander..."
"Newt Scamander is still alive?" Sirius said, incredulous. "How blood old --"
"Very," Remus murmured. "He's retired of course - actually retired, not that retired-but-not sort of retired like he used to be. He and Tina were in Brooklyn last I knew, in the old brownstone in Brooklyn that used to belong to her sister... There was some talk about his grandson, Rolf, coming to Hogwarts, but they chose Ilvermorny for him instead."
"And Bradley - he - when he turned eleven - ?"
"Muggle," Remus replied. "He's in uni in America... I don't think he's graduated yet, but I may be wrong... He had to take a short course load, in order to navigate being a werewolf, of course... the laws are less restrictive in America for the werewolves in general, I've heard. MACUSA keeps a registry but they don't monitor as closely as here. They regulate a better Wolfsbane distribution there, and there's a fair amount of purposeful werewolf transformation practice among the tribal lands so that it sort of keep it mostly outside of MACUSA's jurisdiction."
"You're still not registered... right?" Sirius asked.
"No," Remus replied. He was quiet a moment. "I went to register just yesterday, actually, before I saw your ad... Purely because of the stipend they claim to give to registered werewolves. What a bleeding joke... The compensation pay is laughable at best... I got so angry, I just... left." Remus shook his head, remembering the look on the face of the man he'd spoken to, telling him what an undignified amount the Ministry considered a livable amount of money. He shook his head, "I haven't been tagged, either, if that's what you're asking.
"Tagged?"
Remus's eyes met Sirius's and he laughed humorlessly. "Yeah. I forgot you wouldn't know about tagging. They didn't start tagging until the 1986... Blimey, the way technology has advanced, Sirius..."
"What's it mean - this tagged?"
"They give you a mark, a magical tattoo of sorts, a number... and they can trace werewolves, know exactly who they are, where they are..."
Sirius stared, "You've got to be joking."
"I'm not joking." Remus shook his head, "There's no privacy for the werewolves who are registered these days... and although they've improved the cells for the quarantine, supposedly. They advertised it as though it were a new five-star resort."
Sirius snorted. "Leave it to the fucking Ministry."
"Yeah, leave it to the Ministry."
"Anyone told them they've basically created a Dark Mark? Basically recreated Auschwitz?" Sirius asked.
"Oh plenty have told them," Remus replied. "I reckon some of your old roommates in Azkaban were of the crowd that told them. They don't care."
Anger flashed in Sirius's eyes.
"Cornelius Fudge is an absolute joke," Remus muttered. "He's so busy trying to be liked by the people that he has no moral standing of his own, he waffles on every topic depending upon who he is talking to, flying about saving face and taking care of such pressing matters as the execution of a hippogriff but ignores the fact that he has citizens literally being brutally mistreated and forced into extreme poverty... I can't imagine being a muggle werewolf in the UK. I just -- even being a wizard werewolf in the UK is ridiculously impossible, but to be muggle as well, there is not a hopeful thing to speak of. I'm glad Bradley got out. I'm glad he's an ocean away, that Newt and Tina had the choice for him, to - to help him escape."
Remus and Sirius's eyes met.
"What has kept you here? All these years?" Sirius asked.
Remus answered, "Harry."
"You have a relationship with Harry?"
Remus hesitated. "I - I hadn't seen him until this past September. I've always told myself that I would go and check on him and see that he's alright, but I've always been so afraid. And I thought that he - he was better off without me. I didn't want to go and -- and find out that he needed me and not be able to do anything about it... What could I possibly offer him? An impoverished werewolf with nothing to offer him but a good deal of depression and an astounding lack of answers? But I also couldn't bring myself to leave."
"Love."
Remus looked at Sirius.
"You could offer him love."
"I do love him."
"Does he know it?"
Remus hung his head.
Sirius sighed. "You were free, Remus, you were free to be there for him, to be the godfather he bloody needed, the godfather I couldn't be and you didn't do it? How could you keep yourself away from him? How could you bring yourself to live in the vicinity of Harry and not be drawn in out of pure desire to fulfill the last thing that Lily stood for? How could --"
"You didn't bloody make it easy for me to do it, did you!" Remus shouted, looking up. "You with your reckless, wild attack on Peter, like you were doing what Lily had asked of you either. You, who were the actual, legal godfather, the only one who had the paperwork to actually lay your claim and save the boy from next of kin placement! Dumbledore never even asked me - he never even suggested it to me. I asked him why and he said it didn't fall to me, the custody of Harry would NEVER fall to me. I'm not even in the top five of people he would fall to. He would go to a fucking orphanage before he could go to me. I'd have to legally adopt and good luck with that with me being what I am, with my meager financial --"
"You could've taken every knut out of the Black family vault, you idiot! I left it to you!"
"You couldn't leave it to me, you didn't die, you arsehole. I can't touch it! I'm not a member of the House of Black!"
Sirius stared blankly at Remus.
"Gods alive, Sirius... YOU were the one who, if you'd just CALMED DOWN for five fucking minutes instead of flying off the handle like you did -- YOU had the paperwork, the title, the money, the means, the house, the noble standing -- YOU had everything that could have gotten Harry Potter into your care. YOU are the one who threw out the opportunity to be there for Harry properly. Don't you ask me how could I not do what Lily asked of me. Don't you dare put that on my shoulders when I didn't have options. Ask yourself how YOU dared to go against what Lily - and James both! - what they asked for of YOU."
"I LOST MY MIND WHEN THEY DIED, YOU KNOW I DID!"
"You lost your TEMPER, more like. Your mind is perfectly fine. Or at least as close to perfectly fine as it ever was." Remus paused, then, "Sirius - YOU are the one that went against what Lily and James asked of us, AND you abandoned me, your - your own husband."
Sirius let out a barking laugh, "Oh Remus... how quickly we forget."
Remus stared at Sirius.
"Who abandoned who, Remus?"
Their eyes locked... a hundred thousand memories hung between them... and Sirius threw back his head and laughed as the air crackled with the tension of the same old fight that they never could seem to move past.