How and when exactly Sirius has made a habit of showing up at Remus' house every morning, - or almost every morning - Remus doesn't know.

It started two weeks ago, when Sirius announced that he would be helping Remus with his potion making. "Just to make up for being an asshole when we first met," he said. Remus never imagined him to actually commit himself to it.

A bird pecking at his window almost makes Remus fall out of bed. Not just any bird, a raven. Or a crow. He can't see well enough through the lace curtains.

His cats are nowhere to be seen. Sighing, he quickly gets out of his bed. He draws his curtains apart to tell whomever it is to wait for him.

He expects a customer.

He doesn't expect Sirius Black.

"What do you want?" Remus yells, opening his window. The raven bursts into a shower of silver sparks.

Sirius looks around for a minute, trying to locate Remus, before finally looking up. "To come inside-" he halts himself. His eyes slowly part from Remus' face, freely trailing down his body. "I was feeling quite cold, but I don't think I am anymore," he smirks, looking at Remus.

Remus looks down. Of course he's not wearing a shirt.

"Shut up," he glares at Sirius and closes the window. If he's not cold anymore, he can afford to stay outside while Remus gets dressed.

"You left me out there to freeze!" Sirius pouts when Remus finally lets him in. "You turned up at my house at five in the morning-" something warm rubs against Remus' legs. He looks down to see Marshbutton, literally wrapping herself around his calf.

"There's another one!" Sirius grins, bending down to pet her. She hides behind Remus. "Why doesn't she like me?"

"Beause you don't have food..." Remus leaves the door open for him and goes to the kitchen. He rattles the tin of cat food loudly, which makes the other three cats come bouncing in.

"Oh Merlin, there's more! Why haven't I seen them before? Hey, Mavis!" Sirius picks Mavis up and kisses her nose as Remus pours the cat food into four bowls. Mavis jumps out of Sirius' arms and darts towards her bowl. "Wow, okay," Sirius scoffs. Remus can't help his laughter, which makes Sirius throw himself on to a chair, pouting like a small child.

"Tea?"

"As long as it's not that muddy shit,"

"Don't worry, I wouldn't expect a pig to have good taste," Remus rolls his eyes as he waves his wand at the kettle. Sirius merely shrugs his jacket off, offering no response.

"Thanks," he sighs as he accepts the tea. He holds the mug close to his face, letting the white curls of steam warm his cheeks. Remus watches how his cheeks take a soft rosy colour, as if the sun is rising from beneath his skin. It hurts a little to breathe. 

"You're welcome. Now will you tell me what you're doing here?" Remus regains himself, looking away from Sirius' face. He can, for some reason, feel the beat of his heart from behind his ribs.

"Can't I come see my friend?" Sirius tilts his head.

"We're not friends."

"Oh," Sirius says quietly. Remus looks at him again, worried he might've upset Sirius. And he has.

The air stills, and Sirius Black fades away into what Remus can only describe as grey. It's as if nature itself bends at his will, and now that he's been rendered sad, it no longer has cause to show beauty. Remus remembers the day he found Sirius in James' shop. He remembers how the sun itself seemed to carefully avoid him, leaving around him a cloak of shadow.

"Sirius?" He calls softly.

Sirius looks up at him, eyes of storm and face of ash, and once again Remus sees him in black and white. There's a smile on his lips, but it's a little wrong. "I was just joking," Remus offers him a small smile, which somehow dances through the air and finds its way on to Sirius' own lips.

Smiles, they seem to have their own way of working. They're like catalysts, they trigger another smile on a foreign face, but remain undiminished in all their bright and shimmering happiness. Then that second smile feeds the first, widening it, and it goes on and on until some external force breaks their equilibrium. To have two people smile like that at each other, each adding to the happiness of the other, it's a rare and beautiful thing.

Sirius is the first to look away. "Anyway," he clears his throat. "I have an idea," his dark eyes sparkle as he looks at Remus, who simply quirks an eyebrow.

"And that is?"

"You know how you have no shop?" Sirius sips his tea.

"Yes," Remus replies flatly.

"And how you don't get a lot of customers because you can't advertise?"

"Yes," Remus doesn't like the conversation unfolding between the two of them.

"And how you also can't afford a separate store?"

This makes Remus' heart drop. Having been cursed with poverty since childhood, he was never held in high esteem by most of his peers. In a community where your bloodline was what spoke the loudest about you, it was difficult to be a veritable nobody. And Sirius... Sirius Black, he's rich. Filthy rich. In every sense of the phrase.

"You don't need to remind me," Remus' voice is strained.

Sirius shakes his head. "No, I'm sorry," he says gently, leaning across the table to touch Remus' hand. His palm is warm from cupping the mug of tea, and it soothes Remus. "I didn't mean to..."

"It's okay," Remus says, mostly out of reflex. "What were you trying to say?"

Sirius takes a minute to gather himself before speaking again. "I was thinking... maybe... we could open a shop. An actual shop."

Remus frowns, "We just established that I can't afford one,"

"See, but you don't have to. We can build one."

"Where?"

Sirius gives a small laugh. "Here!" He replies, as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. "Come," he stands up, pulling Remus along with him into the garden. "Right here," he points at the right wall of the house.

Remus frowns. "Sirius..."

"Oh, come on, Lupin. It will be perfect! We make a little door right there, and you can enter through your living room. Then hang up a sign at the front, and you're done!"

Remus is not convinced. "How do you suppose we build it?"

"Well... I think, the two of us... we can... And we'll get my brother. And Jamesie. He'll help."

"I don't know..." Remus can't hide his smile, or his excitement.

"Well, it's just three walls and a roof. How hard can it be?"

Remus shakes his head, accepting that there's no more room for argument. He turns to look at Sirius fully. The grey of the night is being swept away by sprays of pink and orange as the sky wakes. Sirius is surveying the garden, and Remus surveys him.

Remus releases a small sign as Sirius turns to face at him. The early morning air has tousled his curls, pushing them on to his forehead and his cheeks. He looks at Remus with an encouraging smile.

"Yeah," Remus smiles back, "how hard can it be?"

***

Author's Note

So I'm back and I have no idea what I'm writing but... can I at least get an A plus for trying?