*

And so they walked. Sirius pointed the party Northeast, and they walked. For the better part of the day no one said anything, still trying as they were to make sense of everything that had happened since Harry had left Hogwarts.

They journeyed well into the night. Remus and Sirius had deemed it best that they travel in darkness and sleep during the day. The temperature plummeted; the four men drew their cloaks increasingly tightly around themselves and walked ever more closely together, hoping to draw body heat from each other. Harry’s eyes looked more and more glazed with every mile that passed, and when he suddenly tripped over nothing at all and staggered into Ron, Ron called a halt.

“Harry’s done for,” he said wearily, his arm around Harry’s waist half-propping up the smaller wizard. “It’s time we stopped.”

Remus looked his companions over. “I agree. I’ll pitch the tents. A fire, please, Sirius?”

Nodding, Sirius began gathering fallen branches from the surrounding woods, building them into a base for a campfire. Ron eased Harry onto the ground by the fire pit, crouching at his side. “All right now, Harry?”

Harry managed half a smile and lay the back of his hand against Ron’s cheek. “Yes, Ron. Thank you.”

“Somebody’s got to look after you,” Ron said gruffly, turning his head to shield his eyes from Harry. “Merlin knows you don’t pay attention to mundane details like whether you’re about to pass out.”

Harry laughed softly. “I love you, too, Ron.”

Ron snorted and went to help Remus with the tents. “I was thinking of putting them on opposite sides of the fire,” Remus said. “What do you say?”

Ron flashed him a grateful look. “I think that’s a brilliant idea.”

“Sirius will object, I’m sure.” Remus crossed his arms over his chest and regarded the tents lying on the ground. “But I think it’s what’s needed, don’t you?”

With a nod, Ron leaned down and separated the tents – ordinary Muggle tents, to avoid attracting attention - carrying one across their impromptu campsite. As predicted, Sirius stopped him halfway there. “Where d’you think you’re going with that?”

Ron pointed vaguely in Harry’s direction. “Over there.”

Sirius leapt to his feet. “We have to keep the tents together. It’s safer.”

Remus appeared as though from thin air at Sirius’s side, putting a hand on the other man’s arm. “It’s one day, Siri,” he said gently. “Today I think we need privacy more than safety.”

“Privacy more than—“ Sirius spluttered. “Moony, privacy is never-“

“Just for today, Sirius.” The three arguing men turned towards Harry, who swayed uncertainly behind them. “Please?”

Sirius’s eyes narrowed, but at last he shrugged. “Today. But they’d best be right on top of each other tomorrow.” Remus gave him a relieved smile that he pretended to ignore as he went back to building the fire. Ron and Remus made quick work of the tents before Remus went to work on dinner. Every time one of them passed Harry, he’d protest that he could be doing something to help, but he was so worn down that he could barely stand, so they shooed him back down and told him to rest.

Barely an hour later, with the tents in place, the fire crackling merrily, dinner over and the dishes cleaned, Harry was half-asleep with his head pillowed on Ron’s shoulder. Ron nudged him gently and he snorted awake. “I’m sorry,” he said sheepishly. “I dropped off again, didn’t I?”

“It’s been a hell of a day, Harry,” Ron insisted. “Why don’t you go to bed?”

They expected him to argue, because he was Harry, and that’s what he did. Instead, he shrugged and rose. “I think I will, at that. You’ll wake me when it’s my watch?”

Ron had risen as well, and he leaned in for a brief kiss. “Of course.”

Harry smiled at him and squeezed his hand before heading for their tent. “G’night, Remus, Sirius.”

“Good night, Harry,” they called.

Sirius, Remus, and Ron sat in front of the fire for almost another hour, sipping tea from thermoses Remus had brought from the Wishing Well and charmed to stay warm. They still didn’t speak much, beyond, “More tea, Sirius?” and, “Throw on another couple of branches, would you, Ron?” It was all still too much.

Finally, Remus yawned and looked at his companions. “I think it’s that time.”

Sirius nodded. “Who’s taking the first watch?”

“I will,” Ron said immediately. When the other men looked over at him, he shrugged. “After the day I’ve had, I highly doubt I’ll be sleeping anytime soon.”

Sirius smiled and patted Ron’s shoulder. “I’ll come spell you in two hours.”

“Thank you, Sirius. Good night.”

“Good night, Ron.”

“Night, Ron.”

“Good night, Professor.”

Remus chuckled. “Ron, I stole you away from your studies in order to bring you along on a possibly life-threatening mission. I think it’s safe to call me Remus.”

Ron grinned. “Then, good night, Remus.”

Remus smiled and headed into the tent, reaching out to drag his mate behind him. But Sirius paused, considering Ron across the fire. “Ron?” he called softly.

Looking up, Ron frowned. “Yeah?”

Sirius’s brows knitted together as he struggled for the words he wanted. “Your brother—“ Ron stiffened but didn’t try to interrupt. “I know it’s hard, finding out he’s not what you thought he was. But he’s the best there is at what he does, and the Order’s damned lucky to have him. You should be proud of him.”

For a while, Ron just stared into the fire. Then he sighed, and his body relaxed visibly. He smiled up at Sirius. “I am. Thank you.”

Sirius nodded and followed Remus into the tent. The other man was already shedding his traveling clothes but paused and smiled when Sirius closed the tent flap and murmured a sealing spell around it. “That was sweet of you.”

He shook his head. “I know how hard it is, your whole understanding of something as fundamental as the members of your family getting shattered like that. I remember the day my mother—“ He stopped, blue eyes shutting briefly. “Not that the situation’s the same at all.”

“No,” Remus agreed quietly. “It’s not. Still, what you said to Ron was very nice.”

“It’s the least we can do, now we’ve ruined his life.” When Remus didn’t say anything, Sirius looked over to see a look of faintly amused irritation on the other man’s face. “I’m laying it on thick, aren’t I?”

“Just a bit,” Remus said. “Come down here, why don’t you, and I’ll make it better for you.”

With a feral grin, Sirius dropped beside Remus. He yelped as his ass hit the ground. “Tell me again why we can’t charm the floor or something.”

Remus considered. “No reason, I suppose.” He cast the spell, and instantly they had thick carpeting underneath them. “Poor Harry and Ron,” he mused, “they’ll probably sleep on real ground all night.”

“They’re smart boys; they’ll figure it out.” Sirius shook his head. “Besides, Harry was probably out the second he sat down. Doubt he’ll mind much.”

“He’ll mind in the morning.”

Sirius’s hands had fallen to the hem of Remus’s shirt. “Why don’t we leave Harry and Ron to Harry and Ron, eh? See what kind of trouble we can get ourselves into.”

After putting a silencing charm on the tent, he slid his hand under the shirt and up Remus’s chest, and Remus inhaled sharply before leaning forward to nuzzle at Sirius’s neck. Sirius’s hand faltered briefly as Remus’s lips nipped at that spot beneath his ear. Pulling his other hand from under the shirt, Sirius held Remus’s face and kissed him fiercely. Remus moaned and surged up, knocking them both to the ground. Sirius laughed as his shirt went flying to somewhere on the other side of the tent. Remus’s eyes glinted wildly as they roamed over Sirius’s chest. “Mine,” he growled before leaning down and kissing a path down the middle.

“Yup,” Sirius agreed cheerfully as Remus’s hair brushed softly on either side of Remus’s kisses. Sirius buried his hands in it, moaning as Remus’s wickedly talented hands began a new exploration further down and his tongue swirled around Sirius’s navel. “Gods, Remus!“

Remus paused and grinned widely. “Too much?”

“Too much, not enough – and if you stop again I’ll kick you out of this tent and you can sleep in the fire pit.”

Remus laughed softly and hooked his fingers into the waistband of Sirius’s pants, yanking down hard.

Sirius gasped again. “Remus, please—“

They didn’t have the luxury of long and drawn out, and Remus knew it. The wicked grin still firmly in place, he lowered his head.

Outside, Ron smiled to himself and hummed a song his mother had often sung when he and Ginny were young. Hearing the absolute, unnatural absence of sound from Remus and Sirius’s tent, he wandered around to the opposite side of the camp.

He trusted that tomorrow, when Harry was more awake again, Sirius and Remus would extend them the same courtesy.

* * *

PART 11: The Pre-Shag Apology
This where I address something that’s rankled since my first reading of Prisoner of Azkaban. Once more, to those who wanted smut.

The next night was much the same as the one before. Harry had the last watch, and as the sun began to disappear over the horizon, he roused the other men. They dressed and ate quickly, dismantled the tents, and returned to the road. It was rougher going here; the trees were thicker, the trail less defined, and the ground bumpier. At several points, the undergrowth had encroached so far onto the path that they had been forced to pull out their wands and blast the weeds away. Ron was quickly learning his new wand, but still there were a few tense moments when the men found themselves battling tiny forest fires that he had accidentally set, or staring in dismay at meter-wide swathes of cleared growth where a few centimeters would easily have done the job.

They talked a bit more than the night before, though not much. They talked about the war, Ron and Harry’s studies, and the isolated area of Wales that Remus and Sirius now called home. For the most part, they were quiet, each man lost to his own thoughts of the mission ahead of them.

They’d been walking for six hours when the sun began to edge over the horizon. “We should start looking for a likely camping spot,” Sirius said quietly, and Remus nodded, but they walked for nearly two hours more before Ron at last pointed off the path and asked, “There?”

Remus nodded. “Looks like a good spot.” They left the trail and quickly assembled the tents – side-by-side this time, as they had promised Sirius. Then, Ron and Sirius prepared dinner (it was about eight in the morning, but Harry supposed dinner was the right word) as Remus and Harry gathered enough wood to keep their fire burning through the night.

The quiet conversation went on into the morning, but the men continued to shiver, even as the sun rose ever higher in the sky. Winter was on its way; this was not the time any of them would’ve picked to begin a journey, but circumstances could seldom be made to conform with personal wants.

At last, Remus brought his hand to his mouth, covering a wide yawn. Sirius looked at him, concern creasing his forehead. They’d planned the journey as far from the full moon as possible, but he could worry about the effect of the moon on his mate’s health on any day of the month. “You all right, Moony?”

Remus smiled reassuringly. “I’m fine. Just tired. We covered quite a lot of ground today.”

“Maybe you should go to bed, then,” Sirius suggested anxiously.

Raising an eyebrow, Remus feigned astonishment. “Strangely enough, that’s just what I was about to do. It’s as though you read my mind!”

“All right; no call for cheek,” Sirius muttered, scowling.

Remus laughed, a light, carefree laugh that seemed out of place on such a dire mission. They were grateful for it, though. He unfolded himself from the ground with a grace the others could only envy, squeezing Sirius’s shoulder as he made his way to their tent.

“Uh, Remus,” Ron blurted as the other man was half inside the tent. Three sets of eyes turned to Ron, who blushed.

Remus paused, folding his hands in front of him, and looked at Ron. “Yes, Ron?”

Still scarlet to the roots of his red hair, Remus stared fixedly at the mug of tea in his hands. “There’s something—“ He sighed but kept talking, quietly, intently. “Something’s been bothering me for a very long time now, something I need to say to you.”

Remus took two steps away from the tent, back towards the fire. “All right,” he said carefully, trying not to spook Ron.

Ron raised his eyes, not to Remus but to Harry, who held his breath and nodded for Ron to continue. He thought he knew what Ron was about to say; they’d discussed it enough times over the years, and he hoped fervently that Ron had at last gotten up the nerve to get it out.

At last, Ron looked at Remus. “That night in the Shrieking Shack, at the end of our third year, when...” He shook his head. “When you and Sirius explained everything to us.”

Remus nodded. Of course that much explanation hadn’t been even remotely necessary; they all remembered those events all too well, and ‘that night in the Shrieking Shack’ could mean no other night.

“I was injured, and you tried to help me stand," Ron continued quietly, “and I reacted out of fear and ignorance. I...I’m not proud of what I did – or what I said.”

Remus closed his eyes. What Ron had said that night was, ‘Get away from me, werewolf.’ And Remus had heard those words, or variations on them, almost his entire life, but somehow it was Ron’s scream that had haunted him most often in the last three years. To hear an intelligent, well-raised wizard child – a Weasley, for Merlin’s sake – not some panicking back-woods Neanderthal, denouncing him, had cut more deeply than even he had realized at the time.

“I just wanted to say how sorry I am,” Ron said. “I’d known and respected you for an entire year, but I let my fear get the better of me. I’ve felt awful about it ever since, and I didn’t want to let this opportunity pass without apologizing for it.”

Remus was stunned. He could only stand between the tent and the fire pit, staring at Ron. How many people had disparaged his lycanthropy, called him less than human, called for his execution? He couldn’t count that high. And how many had apologized for it afterwards?

One.

He rushed back across the camp site and dropped to the ground, hugging Ron fiercely. “Thank you,” he whispered giddily, ignoring Ron’s embarrassed wriggling.

“Remus—“ Ron said in exasperation.

“That may be the kindest thing anyone’s ever said to me,” Remus said, and he meant it. He’d be forever grateful to the Marauders’ easy acceptance when they discovered his secret, but somehow it meant even more for Ron to have so sincerely recanted his ugly words. He pulled away, his eyes bright, and ruffled Ron’s hair, which he knew the young man hated. Looking over at Sirius’s more subdued but no less approving expression, Remus smiled and pushed himself back up onto his feet. “Now I really am going to bed.” He walked to the tent, lifted the flap, and then paused again. “Thank you, Ron.”

Blushing once more, Ron muttered something that might’ve been “You’re welcome,” and Remus went into the tent and dropped the flap behind him.

Ron finally looked at Harry again. Harry had a very strange glint in his eyes. He smiled briefly at Ron, then looked over at his godfather. “Sirius? Would you mind taking the first watch?”

The look in Sirius’s eyes matched Harry’s. “Not at all, Harry.” He grinned at Ron. “Not at all.”

“Thank you!” Harry bounded to his feet, grabbed Ron by the front of his robes, and hauled him off the ground.

“Hey!” Ron protested.

“Come with me,” Harry snapped, dragging him towards the tent.

“Er, Sirius? Help?” Ron asked, but Sirius chuckled and went back to his tea.

Harry shoved Ron to the floor and set a silencing spell around the tent. The floor, Ron noticed, had been transfigured into a mattress. If any other alterations had been made, Ron didn’t have time to notice them, because Harry was suddenly crawling all over him, licking at his shoulder, his neck, his ear, before finally catching his mouth in the most consuming kiss Ron had ever experienced.

“What the hell, Harry?” Ron gasped when he surfaced.

“That was one of the most dead sexy things I’ve ever seen,” Harry growled, making quick work of the fastenings of Ron’s shirt.

Struggling to push himself up on his elbows, Ron kissed Harry briefly, then demanded, “Not to complain, Harry, but – you think my apologizing to Remus was sexy?”

Harry nodded as his fingers traced over Ron’s chest. “So fucking brave,” he murmured, his lips following the same path as his hands. Ron swore and jerked in the wake of the touch.

“Great,” he said, trying not to lose his mind for a while longer. “Taking out a bloody river troll didn’t earn me so much as – ah! - a blink, but an apology, now, that gets – dear gods, Harry! – that gets him hot.”

“You just looked him in the eyes and said it,” Harry breathed. “So honest – didn’t hide a thing.” His lips and hands were steadily working their way down Ron’s body, and Ron was writhing madly. They were neither of them going to last much longer. He unfastened Ron’s trousers and pulled them down as quickly as he dared. “Now, are you going to keep whingeing about how confusing I am, or are you going to fuck me?”

Honestly, Ron thought as he surged up to meet Harry’s mouth in a hungry kiss. Sometimes Harry didn’t think he was very smart at all.

* * *

PART 12: The Cell

And that was pretty much the pattern of the next three days. They slept through the daylight hours, walked at night, shared their meals and the watch, and had a lot of sex. Individually. Not collectively. It was almost enough to make them all forget that their lives might well be forfeit at the end of the journey.

Almost.

But the weather turned increasingly cold as they pushed further North and winter rushed in to greet them. The days grew shorter, the terrain rougher, and their nerves more frayed. They were so close to Voldemort’s cell. Sometimes Harry swore he could sense it.

They arrived after five days of traveling, weary and worn in both foot and spirit, aching to do what they were sent to do and have done with it. All the same, when Ron saw the cave entrance Sirius was leading them towards, he stopped in the middle of the path and made a face.

“That’s it?” he demanded. “This is what we’ve been traveling all week for? A cave?”

“A series of them, actually,” Remus corrected. “The cell is housed underground, in a group of connected caves.”

“And we can just...walk in?” Harry asked. “I mean, they’re powerful Dark wizards; shouldn’t they have strong warning and repelling spells around the place?”

Sirius crouched on the ground beside a wide tree. “Yeah,” he said shortly. “You bet they do.”

“Are we going to walk through them?” Ron persisted. “We don’t care if they know we’re here?”

Sirius rolled his eyes. “We’re standing here with two of the original Marauders, the son of a third, and the brother of Bill and Charlie Weasley. If we can’t get passed some simple Dark spells, we should all hang up our hats.” He looked over his shoulder at Remus, who had pulled a small blue bottle from the depths of his pack. “Ready with that yet?”

Remus bit his lip. “Almost. Hang on—“ Pulling out his wand, he tapped the side of the bottle and muttered an incantation under his breath. Something inside the bottle seemed to spark for a moment. Remus looked up at his mate and smiled. “All set.”

Sirius smiled back, rather grimly. “Let’s be done with it, then.” He stood and moved towards Remus, motioning for Ron and Harry to join them.

“What’s going on?” Ron demanded.

“In this bottle,” Remus said, “is a very powerful potion that will allow us to pass undetected through the wards guarding these caves.” He frowned. “Unfortunately, it doesn’t last too long, so we’ll have to be quick about it.” He unstoppered the bottle and drank off about a quarter of the contents, then handed it to Sirius.

Sirius drank as well, grimacing as the liquid disappeared into his mouth. Wiping his hand across his mouth, he handed the bottle to his godson. “Just a swallow – that’s all you need,” he said. Still frowning, he added, “And a damned good thing, too; it’s all you can handle.”

Though he was more than a little frightened of the whole process by now, Harry took a deep breath and tipped the bottle up to his lips, letting a small amount of the potion slide through. At first, he tasted nothing. Then there was a rush as though a whole fireplaceful of sulfurous ash had been blown into his mouth and up his nose. A coughing fit grabbed him, and he bent nearly double from the force of it.

“Harry!” Ron stepped closer, eyeing him worriedly.

Harry waved weakly and handed over the bottle. “I’m all right, Ron. Just – be careful with that stuff; it’s vile.”

Ron finished off the potion, making a face that was so horrified it was almost cute. Remus and Sirius exchanged worried glances, and then Remus nodded. “Onward."

The four men raced towards the caves. As soon as they were out of the cover of the trees, Harry and Ron crashed to a halt, nearly falling over each other. Remus and Sirius were halfway across the clearing before they realized they’d lost half their party. They turned back, motioning frantically for the boys to follow, but Ron and Harry shook their heads emphatically.

“I can see the spells they’ve set!” Harry hissed.

“A side-effect of the potion,” Remus shot back. “Now come on, you haven’t much time before it starts to wear off.”

Harry and Ron were scared silly, but there was nothing to be done but to trust their companions. With a shrug, Ron rushed forward, Harry close on his heels.

It was like running through fire. The energy of the Dark spells jumped at them, over them, singeing their hands and arms. Or at least, that’s what it felt like; when Harry looked at his hands there wasn’t a mark on them. He ran faster.

When he and Ron burst through the wards and into the mouth of the cave. “Merlin’s beard, that was hell!” Ron exclaimed. “My hands—“ He stopped, staring at his hands. “They...they weren’t really burned?”

Remus smiled and shook his head. “There’s not a bit of damage done. To either of you. It happens sometimes, when that much Dark magick is concentrated in one place. Those who aren’t of their side feel the sting of it.”

“Did it happen to you two?” Harry asked. The two other men didn’t look like they’d been affected at all.

Remus shook his head. “Dark creatures can’t feel it.”

Sirius shrugged. “After twelve years in Azkaban, I can barely feel anything.”

Ron looked around, perplexed. “So that’s it?” he asked, skepticism heavy in his voice. “There are no more warding spells?”

Sirius shrugged and straightened his robes. “By now, Voldemort’s supporters are so arrogant they don’t bother protecting themselves. They don’t think anyone can get through their gateway spells, so after that, why expend the energy?”

“But all we did was drink one little potion,” Harry protested. “Their gateway spells are crap.”

Sirius and Remus flushed slightly. “Actually, that ‘one little potion’ is extremely rare and very difficult to make,” Remus admitted. “There probably aren’t more than ten people in the entire wizarding world who can do so correctly."

“Where did you get it, then?” Ron said.

Remus shrugged. “Severus. Now, come along; I want you to do something.”

Ron and Harry exchanged a long look. This journey just kept getting weirder and weirder – and they weren’t even to the really dangerous part yet. Then they both shrugged slightly and turned to their traveling companions.

Remus showed them a spell to immobilize their wands within their robes. “What good will that do?” This whole experience was still confusing Ron terribly.

“I’ll show you.” Remus pointed his wand at Sirius. “Expelliarmus!” Nothing happened. “Now, no one can take your wand from you.”

Harry considered this. “But I can’t use it, either.”

“You can – if you can physically touch it.” Sirius lifted the sleeve of his robe to show his wand stuck to the inside. “So you stick it someplace where you can reach it, but someone else would have to come very close to reach. So close that you could stop them with non-magickal means.” At Harry and Ron’s somewhat puzzled, somewhat horrified looks, Sirius shrugged and pushed his black bangs off his forehead. “This is war, boys,” he told them. “We use every kind of weapon we can lay our hands to.”

Slowly, cautiously, the four men traveled through the network of caves and tunnels that housed Voldemort’s cell. Cave after cave was deserted; tunnel after tunnel showed no sign of recent activity. “They’ve gone all the way to the center,” Sirius said quietly after yet another cave came up empty. “They must be getting ready for something very big.”

“Good thing for us,” Remus said. “If they’re all in one place – well, it just makes things a good deal easier.”

For a long while, nothing further was said. While they traveled, Sirius and Remus had explained the Mesmer Infidelis to Harry and Ron, and they all understood what a risk they were taking by attempting it here. They had all found it best not to dwell on the topic for too long.

At a fork in the path, there was a bit of confusion. Remus advocated the downhill path, while Sirius insisted that the one that looked more flat was actually leading into the center of the complex. They chose Remus’s path and ended up at a dead end – a large, high-ceilinged cave with no outlets to any further part of the complex.

Remus frowned. “So sorry about that. I was sure—“

“It’s all right, Moony,” Sirius assured him, running a hand down his arm and linking their fingers together. “We’ll just backtrack to the split and—“

Whatever Sirius was proposing they do at the split was never to be spoken. A figure lounged at the opening to the cave, and a cold, dispassionate, far too smugly certain voice drifted to them across the stone ground.

“Welcome, werewolf.”

*