Sirius' house is massive.

Remus looks around him in awe. They're inside this outbuildig that Regulus is using to grow plants. All four walls are lined by dark shelves bearing pots of all shapes and sizes, each carrying a plant. Some are plants Remus has seen, some he's only heard of, and some are so whimsical he can't help but reach out to touch them. At the centre of the room is a long worktable, on which there are more pots, some watering cans and a small rack of vials with different coloured liquids in them.

"So this is what you do," Remus breathes, taking a look at a dark maroon coloured rose. "I do the hard work," Regulus says. "And I'm the creative director behind the operations. Smell that," Sirius says, nodding towards the flower. Remus bends down towards it and takes a deep breath. "Chocolate," he grins.

"Sirius came up with the idea of chocolate flowers last month when he was moping over not being able to see you," Regulus smirks, making Remus blush. Again. "We got the smell... But the taste is a little harder to develop."

"Well, now we have our own chocolate connoisseur to see how we're doing," Sirius laughs. Remus rolls his eyes. 

"I'm sure I know what chocolate tastes like," Regulus scoffs. "No offense, Remus."

"None taken," Remus smiles at him.

"Oh, oh," Regulus perks up. "You need to see my spit-spitting spitflowers," he grabs Remus' hand and drags him over to a plant that was placed on a special shelf which carried what Remus assumes to be plants with certain demands. Regulus walks up to a small glass panel that was fixed in front of a pot. Inside the pot is a sunflower, looking innocent enough with its cheery yellow. Sirius comes over to them, smirking.

"Look," Regulus grins, and taps the glass with his knuckles. With new found vigour, the sunflower straightens its stem. Remus watches, surprised, as it draw back and suddenly split neatly down the middle in a horizontal line. When it flies back forward, a giant glob of transparent liquid shoots out of the slit and hits the glass with a sickening thwack. Cringing, Remus watches the splatter start to slide down the glass.

"Very aggressive," Regulus laughs, "but isn't she just so precious?"

"Why not call it just a spitflower?" Remus wonders out loud. "Because Sirius loves unnecessarily complicating everything," Regulus rolls his eyes.

This is the most accurate description of Sirius that Remus can think of.

"Hear me out," Sirius says, climbing on to the worktable. He just loves sitting on things other than chairs.

Such a rebel, this Sirius Black.

"We wanted to call it a spit-spitting sunflower. But it doesn't follow the sun, so... Spit-spitting spitflower it is. And 'spit-spitting' becasue it spits out spit." Sirius pauses, noticing the look on Remus' face. "I mean," he says slowly, "as opposed to... say, fire-spitting."

Remus doesn't want to say it out loud but it kind of does make sense.

Laughing, Regulus pulls Remus over to another line of pots. "Alright, come over here. There's so much to show you..."

***

Regulus thinks it's a wonderful idea to leave Remus alone with Auguste. "I'm sorry," he grins, "I need Sirius. Auguste doesn't bite, I promise. Well, he does. But he won't bite you." Shoving Remus into the library, Regulus slams the door shut. Sirius doesn't get a say in any of this, of course. He's practically an unpaid employee by this point. Intellectual slave is the term he would use.

After an awkward minute of staring at the door, Remus turns to Auguste. He's sitting on an armchair, a book on his lap. And he's smiling at Remus. Remus feels like he's going to faint.

"Hello, Remus," Auguste waves. "Come have a seat."

It's a little strange to go and make friends with Sirius' boyfriend. Remus realises that this is why Sirius didn't want to kiss him. How could Remus expect someone as attractive as Sirius to not be taken?

"I promise, I won't bite you," Auguste laughs. Now Remus has to walk over to him. His cheeks are a little pink. He hopes Auguste doesn't already think he's weird.

"I've called the Aurors," he said in a softer, more serious tone. "They will be here tomorrow morning."

"Thank you, Auguste," Remus says shyly, looking at the scars on his hand. Auguste follows his gaze and gives him a sympathetic smile. "Listen, I'll just get straight to the point." Remus looks up when he hears that. He feels nervous. Has Sirius told him about the kiss they shared in Remus' bedroom? Oh God, he's going to die.

"Sirius is going to run away from you, but you can't let him."

Auguste's words send Remus into a state of shock, which lasts several painfully quiet seconds. "I... What do you mean?"

Auguste pulls his chair a little closer, looking at Remus earnestly. "I'm saying that you make him happy, but he's afraid of it. Of being with you. And I know that right now is probably not the best time to bring this up, but... I don't know when I'll catch you alone again."

Remus just sits there in shock. Auguste? Sirius' boyfriend? Telling him that... whatever this means.

"But... you..." he stammers, unable to form a proper sentence.

"What about me?"

"You... You're his boyfriend!" Remus says, exasperated. Auguste raises an eyebrow then laughs. "I'm not his boyfriend, oh God," he laughs. He has a really beautiful laugh, Remus notes.

Everything about him is beautiful. It's like he was made for Sirius.

"But... I saw you kissing... at the party," he says quietly, remembering how much it hurt.

"Oh," Auguste says, sounding a little guilty. "Well, I'm not his boyfriend."

Remus gives him a look.

"We're friends, I promise."

"Friends?" Remus looks at him more pointedly.

"With benefits." Auguste offers. Remus frowns. What?

"Listen, Remus. I've known him since we were both toddlers. He's one of my best friends. If not, why would I be having this conversation with you now?"

Remus has to admit he's got a point. But that kiss, it looked so... so real. 

"Oh," he says, biting his lip. Well, this is awkward.

"I hope I don't come off as forceful or anything... it's just that Regulus told me you like Sirius too-" he catches himself. "Wait, I wasn't supposed to say that."

Remus can't help his laughter. Auguste rubs the back of his neck, flustered, but then starts laughing himself. Somehow, Remus finds him a lot more human now, more than just a beautiful boy with a beautiful voice.

"Thank you for taking care of my cats," Remus says when they stop laughing. "I really can't put into words how thankful I am..."

Auguste smiles at him, leaning forward to pat his arm. "That's what friends are for, right?" he asks.

Friends.

Remus returns his smile. This is still new to him, after having spent so much time closing in on himself. But he likes it.

It's almost maddening how everything in his life is going so, very wrong, and yet he feels more complete than he ever has.