Safe As Houses
It was one of the few things Remus had saved when Sirius began trashing family heirlooms and artifacts, a small plaque with tiny hands and feet imprinted in plaster, a picture of a sleepy baby, who occasionally stretched and yawned, and a curl of dark hair preserved under glass.
Sirius would have laughed had he known, and accused Remus of being a girl, but after poring over the Black family grimoire, Remus learned he had what he needed to call Sirius back from beyond the veil.
With careful, trembling fingers, he used tweezers to pull a single strand of hair from beneath the glass, holding his breath so he didn't accidentally blow it away.
Complex Arithmancy equations covered six inches of parchment, and below that, in Remus's cramped script, were runes representing the Black family bloodline, and its relationship to the foundation stones of the house.
Tonks had provided a small vial of blood, and Remus dropped Sirius's hair into it, then pricked his finger and let his own blood drip into the glass. He shook the vial, and poured its macabre contents onto the parchment, muttering a spell that would have got him arrested had anyone else known what he was doing.
Then he set the parchment on fire, and gathered the ashes into a small silk bag covered in yet more runes when it had finished burning.
He slipped down the stairs to the front door, and with the skill of someone who'd spent his life casting defensive spells on houses, brushed precise, powerful runes on the lintel and the doorstep with the ashes.
After one final wave of his wand to activate the spell, Remus left the door open and sat down on the floor to wait for the master of the house to return.
An hour later, he began to worry. Perhaps he should have let Tonks do the casting; they'd argued over whether having a non-family member do it would work. Remus thought his outsider status would give the house more reason to recall its master, while Tonks argued that the house would respond more readily to her, as a current heir.
He went over each step in his mind, the ritual collection of Tonks's blood, the runes written at the dark of the moon, the lock of Sirius's hair, so they didn't accidentally bring back his father, or summon the wrong, living family member.
The wind picked up, stirring the ashes, smearing the runes, and Remus closed his eyes and let his shoulders slump. He'd failed once again to rescue Sirius, though he'd been so sure that this spell would work.
"Moony?"
His eyes flew open to see Sirius, leached of all color by the pale light of the waxing moon, standing in the doorway, eyes wide and pupils dilated, circled by a ring of silvery grey. He looked at the ashes, which had begun to glow faintly in his presence, recognizing him.
Remus rose in one smooth motion, ignoring the ache in his back and knees.
"You --" Sirius's voice was rusty from disuse, but lacking the mad edge it had had the last time they'd met under such stressful circumstances. "You did this?"
"Yes. Well," Remus qualified, "Tonks and I."
Sirius cocked his head. "I never thought it would actually work. Thought it was just one more of Mother's mad stories about the family."
Remus laughed, a short, sharp, mirthless sound, and tapped the doorframe. "This house was consecrated with blood, Sirius, Black blood over the foundation stones, and then mixed in with every layer of brick and mortar. Any threat of it falling into outsiders' hands is taken seriously."
Sirius nodded, still leery, and Remus tentatively put a hand on his shoulder, to make sure he was really there, it was really Sirius, that he was not dreaming the whole thing. Then they were embracing, and Sirius felt thinner, lighter, but essentially the same, his scent slightly dusty and edged with frost, but still Sirius.
"What now?" Sirius asked, his lips so close to Remus's ear, warm, living breath sending shivers down Remus's spine.
Remus coughed, slightly embarrassed. "Well, yes, there is a last step." He felt the tops of his ears burning, though he hadn't blushed in years.
Sirius pulled back and looked at him. "Professor Lupin, are you blushing?" he asked, lips quirking into a smile.
"Prat," Remus answered affectionately, sliding a hand down Sirius's chest to rest on the waistband of his trousers. "You have to-- er, mark the house."
"You mean I need to change into Padfoot and raise my leg?" Sirius asked with the barking laugh Remus had thought he'd never hear again.
"Not exactly." He slid his hand inside Sirius's trousers, enjoying the way Sirius's muscles quivered under his touch. "A little death to hold the big one in abeyance."
"Ah," Sirius said, eyes lit with unholy amusement. "Here on the doorstep?"
Remus spoke with his lips against Sirius's ear, his hand curling around Sirius's rapidly hardening cock. "Yes. The magic of the house will protect you until you produce an heir of pure blood."
Sirius laughed again. "And we both know that'll never happen."
"Exactly." And then he covered Sirius's mouth with his own. Sirius shoved his trousers down so Remus had more space to fondle him. Remus's own cock ached in response to the feel of Sirius's hot, smooth length in his hand. He stroked firmly, quickly, brushing over the head with his thumb and causing Sirius to jerk his hips. Remus swallowed his moans, breathed him in desperately, greedily, as if he'd been denied air in the months Sirius was gone.
Sirius didn't last long. With a hoarse cry, he threw his head back and spilled himself over Remus's hand, spattering on the doorstep, and the remains of the ash-drawn runes.
The house glowed blue for a moment and Remus thought Sirius had never looked as beautiful as he did in that moment, revived and alive, and finding release in Remus's touch.
Everything went dark again as Sirius slumped forward against Remus, spent.
Remus dropped a kiss on the top of his head and stroked his hair soothingly. "I reckon death really takes it out of you," he murmured, earning a huff of laughter, Sirius's warm breath against his neck. "Come on, let's get you inside."
In the morning, they would tell Harry, but for the moment, Remus wanted to keep Sirius to himself.
He did up Sirius's flies and pulled him inside the house, and the door swung shut behind them.
The house would protect its master.