Archive of Our Own

Sirius was tucked under a blanket on the couch, the fireplace crackling with a new fire that Marlene had just finished starting. They didn’t necessarily like or need warmth, but they knew it was essential to their human counterparts, so they decided to let it slide.

Remus walked into the room with a tray of mugs containing tea, his brown wool jumper sleeves pulled up. He quickly gave them out, setting the one for Mary on the coffee table for when she returned from getting dinner. He moved to the couch, Sirius sitting up to allow space for Remus behind them. Remus let one denim-covered leg stretch out along the couch and had Sirius sit half on his other leg half in the space made between his legs. They got situated and Sirius let out an audible sigh, entirely content with the new position and getting to feel the steady rise and fall of Remus’ chest on their back. It was slowly lulling them to sleep.

Marlene cleaned her hands off from the logs she had been playing with and sat against the front of the couch, looking through a notebook filled with hunt entries from months prior. It had been a while since she and Remus had gone on one, which Sirius knew they both missed. However, neither gave it much thought and would always say that their new life was much better.

Sirius felt a press of lips onto their hair and Remus settled a hand on their thigh, absentmindedly rubbing small circles into the fabric of their jogger pants.

“Where’s Mary? She should be back by now,” Remus asked, slight concern lacing his voice.

“It’s snowing and dark out there so hopefully she didn’t get lost or something,” Marlene responded, anxiety visibly filling her as she started to bite at her nails.

“Hate to break it to you, Marls, but we can see in the dark,” Sirius corrected, taking a sip of the tea.

Marlene slumped back, seemingly defeated at where her girlfriend was, and pulled the sleeves of her hoodie over her hands to prevent further damage to her fingers. The cottage was warm and inviting, what with the fire going and the Christmas tree and lights still being up. Remus said he’d take it down in the new year- though even Sirius knew that was a lie and that it’d likely be up until, the latest, February. Sirius had never felt so at ease, this feeling of home a foreign concept to them. But they were getting used to it now after the six weeks it had been since Mary and Sirius had moved into Remus and Marlene’s cottage. Things were finally feeling serene for the vampires.

There was a sudden small knock on the door, causing the blonde to rush up to answer it. Remus and Sirius stayed where they were, Remus, starting to hum a quiet melody in Sirius’ hair as he moved the sleeve of the borrowed jumper Sirius was wearing up so he could grab Sirius’ hand and entwine their fingers together.

Marlene’s alarmed tone cut through the happy mood, “James! Lily! What a wonderful surprise, what brings you here?” She said from the front door, her voice purposefully loud enough for the couple to hear from the living room.

Remus stiffened at hearing the names, his breathing picking up when a female voice carried through. “James and I were getting worried, we hadn’t heard from you two since the beginning of November after you got a trail on Black and Macdonald. Any updates on that case?”

Both Sirius and Mary knew that Remus and Marlene were vampire hunters who were sent after them. The four of them had had a long time relationship that consisted of fighting, tension, and underlying feelings no one wanted to poke at. It wasn’t until Halloween when the four nearly killed each other that things reached a tipping point.

~~~~~~~~

Mary had Marlene pinned to the wall, her forearm against her throat, and Remus had Sirius in a tight hold, his arms firm around their middle, his other hand holding a stake loosely to their side. They all had bleeding cuts somewhere- Marlene on her arm, Remus on his eyebrow and nose, Mary on her leg, and Sirius on their chest- a result of the ruthless fighting.  

Everyone was panting, begging the stiff air for mercy to allow them to breathe. Marlene and Remus had made eye contact, a desperate one that caused Remus to loosen his grip. He swallowed and let out a defeated sigh, Sirius craning their neck to look at Remus.

“We can’t keep doing this, Cherry. This is getting too agonizing,” Remus breathed out, his honey-brown eyes looking incredibly sad.

“Remus, we-” Marlene whimpered, a sob trapped in her throat, “we have to finish this.”

“Good luck with that one, babe, I like to see you try,” Mary smirked.

It was an attempt at a joke that failed. Marlene actually did start to cry, a silent roll of tears down her cheeks. Mary’s expression shifted to one of confusion and unease. Sirius, still loosely in Remus’ grip (their back to Remus’ front) turned easily in his arms. He looked somewhat forlorn. An easy distraction . Sirius thought.

“Lupin, if you want to kill us, you’re both going to have to try a bit harder,” Sirius smiled then kneed Remus in his gut, getting out of the grasp.

Remus simply fell to the ground, letting go of the stake in his hand. He let out a horrific sob.

“I can’t keep doing this Marlene. I can’t kill them.”

“Rem,” Marlene started. Her gaze shifted to look pleadingly into Mary’s eyes, begging for…something.

Sirius considered the two of them for a moment, then the realization hit them like a ton of bricks. They were in pain trying to complete their job. It would kill them if they killed the vampires. “Mary, let her go.”

“Are you crazy, Siri? They’ll kill us!”

Sirius crouched down in front of Remus, placing a hand lightly on his jaw, him moving into the touch. Love. They were both in love . They couldn’t believe it. The two of them truly did love them back- something neither Mary nor Sirius wanted to accept as a possibility. This changed everything for them. It made things uncomplicated.

“No, they won’t. Listen to me, they don’t want to hurt us anymore,” in a softer tone only for Remus, “and we don’t want to hurt you.” Remus looked up, the two of them breathing hard, the feelings clear in both of their eyes— gold trained on silver.

~~~~~~~~

Remus held Sirius tighter for a moment, then tapped them to indicate that he needed to get up. Sirius shifted to let him up, and he brisked off to the front door.

“Lils! Prongs, good to see you two. How have you been?” Remus questioned. Sirius could hear the fear deep in his voice.

“Remus, what has been going on with the two of you? You’re the best hunters we know. It isn’t like you to suddenly go silent on us,” the female voice, likely Lily, spoke.

“Oh, er,” Remus started, “we, uh, lost them for a bit, then started to get a track of them again,” He was lying through his teeth, and even Sirius who couldn’t see him knew it was poorly done.

“Moony, if there’s a problem, you have to let us know,” a male voice spoke with alarm, “Marlene, is everything actually okay?”

A two-tap hit to the window took Sirius out of the conversation, drawing their attention to it. Mary was stood there with a bag held up and a perplexed look on her face. Sirius quietly got up and indicated to her to go through the back door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mary walked to the back garden where the other entrance into the cottage was. She had noticed two strangers at the front and knew better than to walk right up behind them. Her hair was beginning to puff out more from the wet snow and, though she wasn’t exactly cold, she was desperate to get back inside.

Sirius let her in through the back entrance, both of them speaking in hushed tones as she set the takeout and cow blood on the kitchen counter.

“Siri, what’s going on?” She immediately questioned.

“I don’t know. Seems like two other hunter friends of Marlene and Remus are outside.”

Mary stiffened. It was like confirmation of her worst fear. Marlene never really loved her. How could she? She was a vampire and Marlene was a hunter. “Those bastards. I knew it was a setup. I knew she could never rea-”

“No! No, not like that!” Sirius reassured, placing their hands on Mary’s shoulders. They sounded desperate, their grey eyes wide. “They didn’t know the two of them were coming and Remus has been lying, albeit horribly, trying to cover for us.” 

Mary closed her eyes, a sigh escaping her and anxiety filling her body. “This was supposed to be a fun holiday. They said we could start fresh and use today to forget about everything from this past year.”

“We will,” Sirius said, pulling her into a hug, “the four of us are going to get our new beginning, we just have a small bump in the road.”

Mary went to say something when a slam of the front door and feet walking towards the living room startled the two vampires. Remus stumbling over his words cut through, as did Marlene’s voice.

“Oh, you guys don’t need to go in there, we were just having tea and, you know, getting ready for the new year.”

“And what, you didn’t want to invite us over?” a male voice said with a laugh.

“No! It’s not that, we, er, we just wanted to have an early night and get up early to go looking again!” Remus mumbled out.

The four of them were outside the kitchen door, Mary could smell it. Remus’ cinnamon and earthy scent, and Marlene’s citrusy and lavender scent, both mixed with unfamiliar ones that she couldn’t distinguish and didn’t like. It smelled like firewood and fresh clean clothing. Sirius went towards the door, but Mary grabbed their wrist, causing Sirius to spin. Mary held up a finger to her mouth, silently telling them to stay quiet. 

Remus let out an audible sigh, likely at the sight of the living room being empty.

“Hm, if it was just the two of you, why four mugs?” a female asked.

“Oh, well, you know Remus, always needs a cup of tea in his hand. Better to have them ready to go than get up a bunch of times,” Marlene attempted to lie.

“But they’d go cold?” the male voice pointed out.

“You know I don’t mind that, James. You guys always make fun of me for it,” Remus spoke thoughtfully.

The female hummed in acknowledgment, “Hm, that is true. So,” there was a sound of the couch dipping from someone sitting on it, “what leads do you have for Black and Macdonald?”

The first thought in Mary’s mind was that they knew the two of them were there and were here to finish what Marlene and Remus couldn’t. Mary’s grip tightened. 

Sirius had the two of them move to a corner further away from the door. Mary wasn't nervous, if she had to fight they would. But she would be damned if they let the two mysterious hunters get them that easily.

She quickly went over everything the two of them would need should things go sideways. She chucked her winter coat off, placing it on a chair, and dusted the rest of her sparkly lavender jumpsuit off, snow falling to the kithcen floor. The two of them stayed in the corner for what felt like half an hour.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Er, do you two want anything?” Remus questioned, after a while of James and Lily interrogating the hunters.

“Actually, yes. We do also have some news that you both may or may not like,” the female voice spoke, concern now attached to her tone.

“Uh, how about I get you both a cup of tea and we can discuss it? Yeah?” Remus said, seemingly walking to the kitchen without an answer.

Remus slowly peered through the door and relaxed, his face scrunching up in relief at the sight of Sirius and Mary in the corner. He took two large strides to gather Sirius into his arms, Sirius hugging him back just as tightly, digging their face into the crook of his neck. Remus was shaking, a small whine left him when Sirius placed a hand in his sandy-brown curls.

“Darling, what’s wrong?”

“I was so scared. I can’t lose you, sweetheart. I can’t,” Remus cried into Sirius’ ear. His breath felt warm against Sirius’ neck. There was a gentle kiss placed on their neck.

“I hate to break up the reunion, lovebirds, but what the fuck is going on?”

Remus backed off of Sirius and turned towards Mary, somewhat still protectively holding Sirius. “James and Lily, they’re close friends and work with us on occasion. We had no idea they were going to come over. Honestly didn’t even think about the fact that they knew the location of the cottage.”

“They want us dead,” Sirius said matter of factly.

Remus rounded on them and held their face in his hands, a slight tremor in the hold, “I won’t let them harm you, either of you. You both mean way too much to Marls and I,” Remus spoke earnestly.

“So how do we get rid of them? They sure seem like they’re settling in,” Mary voiced.

“Leave that to Marlene and me, we’ll get them out of here. It may just take a bit. I’ll try to convince them to go back to London, there’s still time for them to make it back home before the new year starts.”

“Remus, I don’t think they are going to-”

“No! James, it’s fine! He doesn’t need-” Marlene’s apprehensive voice harshly said from the living room.

Next thing the three of them knew, a man with glasses and dark wild hair dusted with fluffy snow was bursting through the kitchen door. His chinos and henley shirt were tight-fitting and made his strong build clear. Sirius readied themself for a fight.

Remus stood in front of both vampires, a possessive arm behind him to further guard them. The man turned towards the group, his thick eyebrows furrowing together with his chocolate brown eyes gaining a look of knowing what was happening.

“Moony, did you need any help?” he asked flatly.

“Nope, got it all under control, James.”

He nodded his head towards them. Sirius could hear Remus’ heart beating out of control. “Who’re they, then?”

“James, let me explain-”

“Lily!”

Suddenly a freckled face ginger-haired woman wearing denim jeans and a black long-sleeve turtle neck came through the door, her green eyes piercing holes into Sirius’ head. It didn’t take long for her nor the man, likely James, to understand what was happening.

“Marlene, Remus, care to explain yourselves?” She questioned as Marlene came through the door as well, sighing with relief to see that Mary was also in the room.

Marlene ducked her head and walked over to the group, going to Remus’ left to be closer to Mary. Her heart was also starting to gain a somewhat concerning rhythm.

“Lily, listen they aren’t what you think,” Marlene started calmly.

“I think these are the vamps you two were sent after months ago. What are they doing in your kitchen?” Lily bit out.

Remus and Marlene shared a look that spoke of a full conversation. They sighed, each taking one of the hands of Mary or Sirius. The strangers seemed to catch on immediately, a knowing look growing immediately.

“What happened?” James asked.

“It’s…a lot. But, we can’t do it. They-” Marlene cut herself off to look back at Mary, longing in her eyes, “They mean the world to Rem and I. Please, just, hear us out.”

The other pair shared a long look and nodded. Lily walked up to Remus, looking deep into his eyes and then around him. She stared right into Sirius’ grey eyes, her green eyes shining with curiosity and sadness.

She sighed, “Get those teas. It’s gonna be a long night. For the two of you as well. We,” she paused empathically, “We have to explain some things too.”

“You guys are just, okay with this?” Remus questioned suspiciously.

“Two things: you are way too easy to read and I have a feeling Black is like their cousin, so a deal can be made. As for Macdonald, well, we need to discuss all of that.” James explained.

He and Lily walked back into the living room. Mary and Marlene were left dumbfounded staring at the door. All Sirius could do was stare at where James had been standing.

I have a feeling Black is like their cousin.

Andromeda was alive? Had James known her? Did they meet recently? What happened to her? Where was she? Why would James know but not Sirus? If she was alive then what about-

A warm hand caressing their cheek took them out of their thoughts. They looked up to find Remus staring down at them brows furrowed in concern.

“Love, are you okay?”

Sirius cleared their throat, noticing that Mary and Marlene had disappeared too, likely going into the living room. The vampire nodded their head lightly, avoiding eye contact. Their eyes fluttered close at the feeling of lips lightly kissing their forehead, a sigh of breath being released.

“Come on, love, let’s go figure this out,” Remus kindly said leading Sirius out of the now tense kitchen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It wasn’t for another half an hour that the group sat down and began to discuss everything. Remus had gotten James and Lily those cups of tea, Marlene gave Mary and Sirius a water bottle each filled with blood, and both hunters took their respective takeout meals, eating only some of it before deciding the intense silence was too much.

Marlene and Mary were sitting on the armchair, Mary sitting sideways on Marlene’s lap. Lily had been pacing the entire time in front of the fireplace deep in thought. Remus and Sirius placed themselves on the couch, a small space between Remus and the arm of the couch, Sirius decided to set themself there, stretching their legs out over Remus’ lap. When his hands were no longer occupied by a takeout container, one found its place on Sirius’ ankle. James, who had been standing near the kitchen door observing everyone, went over to Lily, placing a tender hand on the small of her back and whispered something in her ear.

It’s surprisingly Marlene who took everyone out of their stupor, “Okay, well, we are all here now, go ahead and explain then yell at us, you two.”

Lily stopped pacing, looked at James, and nodded. James had taken a chair from the kitchen out before all of this and sat heavily on it when he finally gained the courage to speak.

“Both your families are dead.”

Silence.

It's uncomfortable and suspicious.

“He’s talking to you two. Black and Macdonald,” Lily added, helpfully for the vampires.

A small gasp came from Mary, everyone turning towards her. “Wait, did you go after my family? I haven’t seen them in years. They were human!”

“Not for long after you were turned. They were turned shortly after you were,” Lily responded, somewhat apologetically.

“No, no! That’s- that can’t be tr-” She was hyperventilating.

Marlene guided Mary to the crook of her neck, a soothing hand rubbing up and down her back. She was whispering kind words into Mary’s ear. James and Lily seemed to know to give the two of them a moment, James turning his attention towards Sirius. 

“Can I ask, how does a vampire from one of the longest-living bloodlines still eat if not on human blood?”

Sirius stiffened, “Mary. She was turned more recently-”

“By your cousin,” James interrupted.

“Yes, thank you for that,” Sirius rolled their eyes then sighed, “She was at my place for a bit when she asked if we had to live off human blood. I asked what she meant and she said she had gotten by for a few weeks on farm animals’ blood. Yes, still killing, but not humans.” Sirius concluded, a frown on their face. Remus simply held their hand in reassurance.

Sirius had always struggled with the killing part. To them, it was horrible to kill a living being, humans included. They yearned for a better way and thankfully found it five years prior when Bella turned Mary. Sirius had gone to Mary one night, about four months after she had been turned, and discussed the idea of the two of them running away. They knew that only one other member of the family had accomplished this decades prior- their dear cousin Andromeda whom they still missed.

The two of them planned for a week and finally were able to run late in the night when no one was paying attention to them. They made it about 200 miles away by the time Sirius’ brother alerted them that the family knew they were gone. Initially, they never stayed in one place too long- both because of the fear of the Black family catching up to them and the suspicion that grew over time as farm animals were being killed.

It wasn’t until four years of running around Europe that they finally settled in a flat in northern Scotland. They were living life as normal, even finding a butcher who- to their surprise- was another vampire and helped supply them with animal blood to feed off of. They were comfortable and forgot about the Black family until Remus and Marlene came crashing into their lives eight months later. It wasn’t until two weeks after that fateful night when they couldn’t kill each other that they left their life in Scotland for good, trading it for an easy life with Remus and Marlene in the Welsh cottage.

It hadn’t even hit Sirius until that moment what James had said. Mary still sobbing, James staring them down, Lily giving sympathetic eyes as the realization dawned on them, that their family was gone. Well and truly gone. Every last one of them. Wait, Andy.

“You got them all?” Their voice came out small. Remus’ hold on them grew tighter, him shifting a bit to place an arm around their shoulders.

“No. Only one member was to be spared. Though, now it may seem two may need to be,” James said darkly.

“Andy, is she…”

“She was only spared because she gave up on the rest of the family. We talked to her directly and she told us that she was living her life as normal with her husband and daughter. From what we’ve researched and observed, her town and general area have had no incidents in the two decades she’s lived there,” Lily explained.

A daughter.

“We told her if anything were to go awry, the deal would end and we’d go back after her. Possibly the daughter as well as she’s half vampire.”

Half-vampire.

Sirius’ mind raced with thoughts. Their brother- gone. The fact that they were free from their parents. That Andy was alive and well and happy.

Remus’ voice appeared through their thoughts as though it were underwater- unclear and muffled. Sirius needed to be pulled from their thoughts again.

“Baby, hey, talk to us, what’s going on?” His voice, though distant sounding, was soft and pleading, his touch equally as gentle.

“Andy,” Sirius barely whispered.

“Who?”

“Andy. Andromeda. I haven’t- I thought she’d- She’s really alive?” 

James confirmed with a nod of his head and a small smile, “Very much so. She’s well. We spoke to her about a year ago,” he let out a small chuckle, “To be frank, she said we likely wouldn’t have to worry about you. She said you were ‘too much of the black sheep of the Black family.’ Something about irony.”

Sirius huffed out a laugh. They laid their head on Remus’ shoulder, thinking back to their childhood when, despite the many dark and scary times, Andromeda was there to protect and care for Sirius. She was one of the only people in their family whom they trusted entirely. She had left a note apologizing before she left. Sirius thought it was silly of her to apologize, but kept it to this day, tucked neatly in their pocket.

“If you’d like, I can give you the last known address. Could be nice to hear from family again. Or well-” James suddenly tsked at himself, realizing rather swiftly the mistake he’d made.

Lily had gone over to Mary and Marlene while James spoke, taking one of Mary’s hands.

“Can we possibly go somewhere private so I can explain what happened? I understand if you’d rather not be alone with me, but I feel like it’s important you know everything,” she said in a surprisingly calm tone.

Mary, who had significantly settled but was still breathing hard, nodded. Her eyes looked far away and haunted. The three girls stood and walked towards Marlene’s bedroom. There was a lull of silence then, just their breathing heard. Remus continued grounding Sirius by playing with their hand and providing quick kisses to the crown of their head. It felt like it lasted for hours, though Sirius knew it was only a mere few minutes.

“Sweetheart, do you need anything?” Remus’ voice cut through.

“No. Just Andy.”

James grew watchful, “I just told you the rest of your family was dead, and you have barely batted an eye about it. Why?”

Sirius sighed, not wanting to explain, but knowing one was needed. “As Andy said, black sheep. The rest of them are vile beings. Killing for the fun of it, turning innocent humans as though it were a sports game to be won. They don’t deserve to live.”

“And, what, you never participated?”

“I was forced to,” Sirius spat out, “At least, for a while I was.”

“You’re, I’m assuming, 200 years old?” James jokingly questioned.

“237,” Sirius supplied.

Remus gulped. They had never discussed age, though Sirius knew that Remus was 26 years old. Hopefully, this didn’t change anything.

“I was what you’d consider 96 years old, though I looked about eleven when I realized that something was amiss in my family. Other vampire families I interacted with, well, sure they killed sometimes but it was usually an accident. Or they did it sparingly and to make less of a show. The Black family,” Sirius took a steadying breath, “they did it because it was…‘fun.’ They had no care in the world.”

Remus’ warm palm came to their hair and it helped to keep Sirius calm. 

Sirius continued to explain the rest of the Black family's misgivings in a monotone voice, Remus continuing to keep Sirius’ mind at ease, James nodding along and listening intently.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Marlene had Mary sit against the bed frame, placing her hand in her lap so Mary could play with it should she want to or take it for comfort. The decision was hers to make for once. She wasn’t being forced to go to completely uproot her life, again. Nor having the decision made for her. She had control.

Lily sat at the foot of the bed, and Mary wasn’t sure she liked it. Lily was the one who told Mary the devastating truth she didn’t want to accept. She allowed the couple to have a few moments before starting whatever was about to happen.

“Would I be able to explain what happened?” Lily asked with a kind, apologetic tone.

“Will it result in my family still being alive?”

Silence. Mary knew it was mean of her to say, but the sudden grief made her almost need that lie. Need the idea that her family was still healthy and walking around in their Bristol home. It was vital that what Lily had said ended up being a lie. She had been determined to eventually make her way back to them. To explain and make things better again. She no longer could.

She sighed, closing her eyes and feeling Marlene’s hand nudge her own. She gladly accepted it, squeezing it tight.

“Sorry, go ahead.” Mary regretfully said.

“It’s alright, I understand. My parents were killed about seven years ago on Halloween night. Not by you of course, but by vampires. Still don’t know which ones. My sister found them and gave me the news.”

“Where were you?”

“Uni. I was only nineteen when it happened. It tore me apart.”

“She couldn’t get out of bed for a week straight,” Marlene added. Mary’s eyes blinked open, her head whipping to see Marlene playing with a loose thread on her comforter, head hung low.

They’ve been friends for years. Vampires killed her parents. Betrayal. That’s why Lily seems so mad. It all clicked in Mary’s head. Lily thought Marlene and Remus had somehow betrayed her by hooking up with vampires. How is she being so calm about this?

“Yes, well it took both Malene and James to get me out of my somber state and we all agreed that we needed to go after the beings that killed them.”

Marlene chuckled, “They were such kind people, the Evans. They didn’t deserve to be brutally-”

“Marls,” Mary’s hoarse voice interrupted, “I get it. You know that pain. Tell me what happened with my family,” in a smaller pleading voice, “please.” It pained Mary to hear of another tragedy. While she was sympathetic, she had to know what occurred with her own family.

Lily nodded. She took a grounding breath and looked directly into Mary’s eyes. Her bright green eyes were a huge contrast to the sad expression that lay within them.

“It was after you and Black ran. We don’t know everything, but seemingly the Black family wasn't happy that you two were able to escape so easily.”

After a moment of silence, “So, they wanted revenge?” Mary questioned, grief-stricken.

“Yes. We assume it was either Bellatrix or Walburga herself who went after them. All but one were turned and brought to the Black family castle.”

“Which one?”

“Bubs, you don’t have to-” Marelne tried.

“I have to know.” And she did. The person who was killed first was essential for Mary’s knowledge. To her, they had it easiest. They didn’t have to go through the torment of the Black family, nor the grief Mary would forever be stuck with. “Who was killed first?” Mary insisted.

Lily gave Mary a remorseful look, “Your mum.”

Mary whimpered. Her mother had been somewhat sickly when Mary left. She never found out what, but assumably, that was what ended up being the reason she was killed instead of turned, the poison of the vampire turning her ultimately too much for her heart to handle and killing her before it even got a chance to turn her into an undead being.

She swallowed, “And my father and brother?”

“Turned and ultimately killed along with most of the Black family about a year and a half ago.”

A year and a half. Almost entire two years with them gone and Mary didn’t know. She stayed strong, not having any more tears to cry, and simply nodded.

“So you had to go after me too then.”

“Well, it’s complicated now. Both you and Black-”

“Please Lils, they’re both good. I promise. Please call them by their first names. Besides, Sirius doesn’t like being attached to them. Would probably change their last name to Lupin if given the chance,” Marlene reasoned.

It made Mary smile a little, thinking of her best friend fully happy. When the two of them had first started fighting Marlene and Remus, nearly a year prior, Sirius wouldn’t shut up about how gorgeous the hunter was. Granted, Mary couldn’t make fun- she had her own little crush on Marlene- but Sirius was much more vocal about how “Beautiful, absolutely breathtaking that man is. And those eyes! Oh, they are never leaving my mind.”

The two of them truly were desperately in love with each other.

Marlene had taken to running a hand along Mary’s face. Mary blinked and looked at her girlfriend, a soft smile and kind blue eyes staring back.”

“Hi, my love.”

“Hi, pumpkin.”

“Can I finish? I’ll be out of your hair soon,” Lily quietly asked, not wanting to interrupt. 

Mary sighed, resolutely, “Sure. Go ahead.”

“Mary, you and Sirius are different. You obviously still have more human in you than Sirius ever will, but because you were turned by a member of the Black family-”

“I’m part of the bloodline,” Mary nodded, “I know. They explained it all to me and how eventually I’d be killed anyway because I wasn’t ‘pure’ like them,” Mary shuddered a bit at the memory of Walburga Black’s shrill voice. Her pungent perfume had made her feel sick. She hated that woman. “So, now what, do we just continue to battle it out? See who can kill the other first?”

“No. James and I were able to work out a deal with Sirius’ cousin, Andromeda, and now that we have actually met the two of you, it could be possible to do the same with you. Should you both want that.”

“What’s the alternative if I say no?”

Lily sighed, “Fighting, but I don’t think I really should.”

Marlene turned her attention to Lily. “Since when is Lily Evans unable to fight?”

Lily became noticeably quieter. She chanced a glance at Mary, seemingly needing approval before she spoke again. With a frustrated groan, Lily relented.

“Mary, please know I’m not trying to rub anything in and you do have my deepest condolences,” she started a waver in her voice. She clearly didn’t want to voice whatever it was after having given Mary a rundown on the ending of her family, Mary couldn’t blame her for her hesitation to continue with what was likely positive news if her tone of voice was correct. “I’m pregnant. I found out last month after needing to get hospitalized for a couple of broken ribs. I almost lost the baby.”

“How far along?” Mary asked curiously.

Lily was surprised but answered. “About five months.”

The air was uncomfortable and bittersweet. It was obvious Marlene was happy for her friend but also concerned for her girlfriend. Mary, who just wanted the stifling attention gone, sighed and smiled a tight but genuine one.

“Congratulations. Truly. I’m sure you and the baby’s father are excited.”

“James, actually. Um, we are very excited. That’s part of why we were going mental trying to find you and Remus. Honestly, it slipped my mind initially to think of this place.”

That was something that always confused Mary. The cottage. When the four of them arrived, Marlene and Remus had gone around as though they knew it like the back of their hands. It was second nature for them. But they never spoke about them getting the cottage or the importance to them.

“What is it about this place that’s so important? Both you and Remus were hesitant to even let us come here.”

Marlene hesitated. She was hiding something. Mary’s mind began to race with possibilities of what could’ve gone on here. Was this actually a safe house for hunters and Mary and Sirius were never truly safe? Had Remus or Marlene lived here before with a previous lover? Did they steal the cottage from the previous owners?

Mary was taken out of her thoughts when Marlene cleared her throat and gripped tighter at Mary’s hand. “It’s not really my story to tell. That’s up to Remus.”

“How do you mean?”

Marlene and Lily shared a sad, pensive look, “This was where Remus grew up. Where his parents-” she cut herself off shaking her head. But she didn’t need to elaborate. Mary could fill it in for herself.

Where his parents died.

“Oh. Um, okay,” Mary didn’t know how to respond. She shifted and looked right at Lily, wanting to clear things up. Why? Honestly, Mary didn’t know. But she had a gut feeling that if she didn’t somehow fix the feeling surrounding her, it would surely suffocate her.

“Look, I’m not entirely happy with you at the moment. I know you didn’t kill my family, but you are the one who gave me the news, so it feels like you did.”

“You can absolutely hate me, I’d understand it.”

Mary huffed a breath then continued, “I just want to celebrate New Year’s in peace with my best friend, their boyfriend, and my girlfriend. I want things to be okay with all of us, I can tell how important you are to Marlene, so…”

“James and I still need to discuss some things with you two, then, we can be out of the way.”

Mary nodded. Marlene kissed Mary’s cheek and went over to Lily as she stood. She gave her a tight hug and whispered something incoherent into Lily’s ear. Lily nodded and silently walked out of the door. 

Marlene sunk back down onto the bed, Mary holding her in her arms as Marlene laid her head on Mary’s chest.

“I’m sorry, love. I really didn’t know they were coming.”

“It’s fine. I just- I don’t know what to do.”

“Maybe we can see if they know where your mother is buried? That way you can give a final goodbye.” It was a nice thought. And spoken so softly that Mary even considered it. But she knew that it likely couldn’t happen.

“Sure, we can do that.”

“Mary, please don’t shut me out. I know this is going to be hard on you, but you need a support system now more than ever.”

Mary shrugged and settled more in the bed, carding her fingers through Marlene’s blonde hair, eyes distant and staring at nowhere in particular. They remained frozen like that for some time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Remus had moved to get Sirius another cup of tea, the two of them resuming the position they had been in before- Sirius lying between Remus’ legs, a blanket sprawled out on top of them. Sirius cuddled deeper into Remus, their head on his shoulder.

James was in the kitchen making himself another cup of tea. The girls had been in Marlene’s room for an hour at this point. There was still a few hours until the new year.

“Sweetheart, do you want to talk about it at all?” Remus’ sweet and soft voice was the one distinct thing Sirius could hear aside from a buzzing sound.

All they could feel was the wool of the jumper Remus was wearing and the warmth he gave off. Never had Sirius felt so safe as they did in Remus’ arms at this moment.

“Can I actually ask you a question?” Sirius mumbled out, still a bit dazed.

“Anything, love,” He kissed their head again.

“How do you even know James and Lily? You told me you got into this business because of your parents.” It had been something that was confusing Sirius all night. He had never mentioned anyone aside from Marlene, who he had known in his childhood, as being a hunter friend. He’d never even explain what his parents had to do with it.

Remus sighed, his body deflating a bit. “You know how Marlene and I were childhood friends?”

Sirius nodded, “You said you guys lost touch when she moved to Liverpool.”

“Yeah, well, she met Lily and James there when she was in her last year of secondary and they went to uni together. Lily’s parents had been killed by some vamps so the three of them got into the hunting business.”

Sirius felt their brows furrow, “How does that explain how you know them?”

Remus hesitated to speak again, distracting himself by playing with Sirius’ curls. When he did, his voice sounded heavy and pained, “I wasn’t initially hunting vampires. I was actually going after werewolves. Specifically one, but…yeah. We bumped into each other while we were all hunting in the same town ‘bout four years ago, and when we all told each other what happened, we decided to band together, to hunt each other’s…” he stopped suddenly, tears lining his lashes. 

Sirius sat up more when they noticed. “Baby, what happened? Each other’s what?”

His voice was cracked and covered in years of grief that hadn’t been looked at. “The beings that killed our parents.”

Sirius sighed in understanding and wrapped their arms around Remus’ neck, sinking their face into his curls.

“You don’t need to explain more. I’m so sorry, love.”

Remus sniffed and hugged Sirius’ middle tight. “No, it’s okay. It was nearly a decade ago. I just…I miss them sometimes, and being here doesn’t always help.”

“What does the cottage have to do with it? Aside from being your childhood home.”

“This is where it happened,” He explained flatly.

For the second time that night, Sirius froze. They backed off and looked at Remus, eyes now stained glass and red. They shook their head and took Remus’ face in their hands, cradling his jaw.

“Why would you come back here? We didn’t need to.”

“It was the one place I could think of that you’d be safe. I don’t know. I felt safe here at one point and I had come back to make this a safe house of sorts for the four of us a couple of years back, so I figured if no one else was using it, perfect for us. I just wanted you and Mary safe.”

He spoke with such sorrow but also firmness. Confirming that his goal since dragging the four of them out into the Welsh countryside was to protect the vampires. Despite wanting to protect others from those who were like the Black family, Remus knew in his heart that Sirius and Mary were nothing like that. Sirius could do nothing but burrow further into Remus’ hold.

They stayed there for a bit until a door opened and closed and Lily came back out, a few seconds later followed by James from the kitchen. The two of them took residence on the floor next to the fireplace.

Sirius blinked for a moment then spoke up, wondering what the next steps were, “Now what happens?”

“Wait for Mary and Marlene to come back out, and we will discuss it,” Lily said. She had a sad look on her face. Sirius zeroed in on her, hearing more than one heartbeat from that direction. It would make sense for there to be two, James was with her after all. But they heard another. Three? How could that be- She’s pregnant.

Sirius sat up this time, Remus going after them immediately, likely upset from the loss of the weight and warmth. Sirius had a straight face on, eyeing Lily.

“Lily, how far along are you?”

She turned white and slowly turned her head towards Sirius. “What? How do you know?”

“I can hear the heartbeat,” they blurted out, then huffed out a laugh as they listened more, an eyebrow cocking up, “S’good one. Strong.”

Lily was only confused for a moment, “Your hearing. I forgot about that. Mary doesn’t seem to have it.”

“She does, she just doesn’t realize it. She needs to learn how to channel it. Anyway, how far?”

She gave a soft smile, “About to be five months.”

Remus sucked in a shocked breath of air. Sirius turned to him and saw that his eyes were wide. “Are you really?”

Lily’s smile turned brighter and she nodded her head. Remus beamed at her and gently indicated to Sirius that he wanted to get up. Sirius understood and let him up, Remus crashing into Lily and swallowing her up in a tight hug. He then turned to James and did the same thing, James whispering something that made Remus laugh.

If Sirius wasn’t already in love, this would’ve done them in for sure.

Marelne’s door opened and both she and Mary clambered out, rejoining the others, settling back to where they had been before in the armchair. Things suddenly got serious.

Sirius looked over to Mary, whose face was solemn and empty. They got up and went to her, getting to her height from where she was in Marlene’s lap.

“Marci? Everything okay?” They tried for the name joke but it failed miserably, Mary crumbling and just barely saving the tears that nearly escaped her lashes.

“Tell me everything,” Sirius whispered.

And that she did. She explained what happened to her family; how they were killed along with the Black family. How her mother was killed immediately. How she was devastated she never got a chance to give a proper goodbye.

Sirius simply nodded and held her hand as she did so. She concluded about the part with Lily saying they were going to try to work out a deal. Sirius explained that James had said the same thing.

They also asked Marlene if she knew the Lupins from her childhood.

“Yes, they considered me a daughter. Hope thanked me countless times that she was grateful Remus had me,” she paused in contemplation, “She would’ve really liked you, Sirius. She would’ve liked your spark.”

Sirius beamed at her. “So you knew then, about what happened here?”

Marlene nodded thoughtfully, “I told Remus it may not be best to come back here, but he insisted. Wanted both of you somewhere he deemed safe. A place that was homely.”

Mary smiled at that, “I do like it here. It’s cozy. Don't much like the idea of what horrors happened, but if Remus says it's safe, then I trust him.” 

“He told you?” Sirius questioned, and in a much quieter tone, “before me?”

“No! Siri, Marlene told me only some of what happened. I’ll imagine he told you everything?” Mary reassured, grabbing one of Sirius’ hands.

“Not everything, necessarily, but enough for me to know that he is,” Sirius looked to where Remus was still speaking with James and Lily in hushed tones, Remus turned and smiled softly at Sirius, “he’s strong. He knows well.”

The groups finished their respective conversations a few minutes late, both coming together to have the important discussion.

Sirius and Remus went back to how they had been before and James and Lily sat on the floor, James on his knees, elbows leaning on the coffee table so he could write in a notebook. 

The snow from James’ hair had melted and flattened it somewhat. He looked like a mad scientist, Sirius thought making themselves laugh. Remus elbowed them fondly, both grinning at each other.

“Alright, look, from what Lily and I have gathered, you are both nonthreatening to anyone or anything, maybe aside from farm animals. Sirius, you told me you were able to find a butcher to get that supply of blood?”

“Yeah, but I think that was just luck, I highly doubt we’d be able to find that twice.”

“I don’t think that’s true. I know of another vampire a few towns over. She’s vehemently against killing and very trustworthy. We can get you in contact with her and figure out how she’s been doing it all these years,” Lily suggested.

“Sure, whatever it takes,” Sirius nodded.

Lily wrote something down and handed Sirius the paper. They looked down at the name given, Minerva McGonagall. Sirius took it in and set it aside to deal with tomorrow.

“Now, we know you guys aren’t likely to hurt anyone but if we hear of any incidents within a 25-mile radius, we will come here first. It doesn’t matter the type of incident, understood?”

Sirius and Mary nodded. James and Lily turned their gaze to Remus.

“Are you sure you want to keep everyone here? You still haven’t found him yet,” Lily prompted.

“Yes, I trust my abilities to fight and wolves usually stay away from where vamps are. I also set traps long ago when I turned this into a safe house,” Remus answered.

The other two hunters nodded, then turned to Mary and Marlene.

“Mary, again, I want to say how sorry I am that you had to find out this way. We won’t bother you again unless absolutely necessary. Is that okay?” Lily said.

Mary’s brow furrowed in thought, “You mean a lot to Marlene. I don’t want to cause a fissure in your friendship. It’ll take time to trust you, but, I can accept that. And you don’t need to stay away. I’m still in shock, that’s all.”

Lily nodded in understanding. She gazed at Marlene, whose eyes were fully trained on Mary, devotion blatant in them.

“Cherry?” James called.

“Hm?” Marlene looked up, finally.

“Will you guys be okay here with them? Will you let us know if you need anything, anything at all?” James stressed the last point.

“Yes, Prongs. I’ll make sure Moony doesn’t act like some big, daft hero all the time and call should we need it.”

Both Remus and Marlene looked at each other and then to Lily.

“Will we get to meet the little one?” Marlene asked hopefully.

Lily giggled, “Yes, eventually you’ll get to meet him. Just may take us a couple of months after he’s born to take the drive over. Are you guys going to go back to hunting?”

Remus sighed, shifting under Sirius and holding them tighter.

“Probably not, at least not vamps. I’ll keep an ear out though for Greyback. Otherwise,” he looked lovingly at Sirius, “I’m set here. Have everything I need.” He leaned in to give Sirius a chaste kiss on the lips. Sirius laid their head on Remus’ shoulder again.

“I’ll probably keep my radar out in case anything happens, but I think I’m set too. I’ll keep looking though. For the ones that got them,” Marlene said, something passing between her and Lily. Lily nodded in understanding and mouthed a ‘thank you.’

James clapped his hands and stood up, helping Lily up as well. “Right, well, I guess we should be off. Only a few hours' drive back to London, and don’t really want to drive in the morning. We’ll keep in touch, alright?”

Everyone nodded. Mary and Sirius looked at each other, knowing that this day did not go the way they hoped, but was going to still end somewhat peacefully.

They both stood up, allowing Marlene and Remus to walk James and Lily to the front door. Mary joined Sirius on the couch.

“We picked good ones, Siri.”

“They’re perfect, Marge.”

Mary’s mouth dropped in shock, “Marge! Sirius what the fuck!” she laughed.

Through laughter of their own, Sirius shrugged, “I thought it’d make you laugh. I was right,” Sirius beamed.

Both vampires laughed for another few minutes and spoke further of what they had discussed with their respective groups. Remus and Marlene shut the front door and walked back over to the living room, Marlene slumped onto the floor in front of the fireplace, Mary crawled over to cuddle with Marlene. Sirius made grabby hands and Remus laid on top of them, his head easily falling onto their chest. Sirius ran their fingers through Remus’ curls which had some fluffs of snow in it. They reached down and kissed the crown of his head, Remus snuggling more into Sirius’ grasp.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mary blinked sleepily at the fire, Marlene playing with their intertwined fingers. The two of them had been in the same place, speaking lowly to each other for a while now. Last Mary knew it was around 9 PM. They had time to be with each other for the remainder of the year. When Mary looked at the clock, however, there were only twenty minutes until midnight.

She looked at the couch where Remus and Sirius had settled. They were fast asleep, Sirius pressed up against the back of the couch, with Remus, in all honesty, beginning to look like he was about to fall off of it. They were tangled together, but also incredibly adorable.

“Those two are too fucking cute. I hate them,” Marlene chastised with a fond tone.

“They’re charming and disgustingly in love. I’m just happy Siri has someone who worships them,” Mary expressed.

“Mmm, well, luckily for you, you have someone who worships you too,” Marlene smiled as she leaned down to kiss Mary, rather passionately.

Mary pulled away, albeit hesitantly, and turned to look up at the ceiling. She heard the crackling of the fire, Sirius’ soft snores, and Marlene’s humming.

“If you want to talk at all, I’m all ears,” Marlene whispered into Mary’s ear.

She didn’t even know where to start. For one thing, she felt great sympathy for Remus being that he was willingly living in the place that brought him the worst trauma he’s experienced. She felt melancholic for Sirius; she knew they struggled with their relationship with their family, but could tell that deep down they were grieving. If anything, they were grieving for one person in that family who they had hoped to find again one day and apologize to, but now never could. She felt joyous for the two new people she met who seemed to mean the world to Marlene and Remus; they were welcoming a child and, despite the interaction not being long nor the friendliest, could tell they would love that child endlessly. She felt deep love for Marlene who proved Mary’s doubts wrong every single time. She could do nothing but show Mary that she was desperately in love with her as much as Mary was helplessly in love with Marlene.

The thing Mary felt the most, however, that was a gnawing ache in her chest, was grief. Grief for the future she never got. Grief for her family- now gone forever. Grief for the Mary from the past who had to endure it all thinking she’d never find solace. But on top of it, she felt calm. Being here with these three individuals brought Mary to a place she didn’t think she’d ever reach when she was turned five years prior and was forced to live with the Black family.

One person she was forever grateful for was Sirius. They kept Mary entertained while in the Black castle, helped her escape, and helped to figure out a new life for the two of them. They never gave up on her and she never gave up on them. They were thick as thieves and fought to protect each other.

Mary sighed, knowing she needed to answer Marlene, who, Mary could tell, was growing more agitated the longer she took to respond. “I’m sad and should talk about it, but right now I just want to stay here with you and bring in the new year the way I want to.”

“Alright,” Marlene kissed Mary’s neck, “next year will be better I promise. Also,” Marlene had Mary turn to her so they could be eye to eye, “I got Lily to give me the location of where your mum was buried. They also have a separate burial for your brother and father. Should you want to, we can go there whenever you’d like.”

The vampire’s eyes widened, bittersweetness filling her lungs. She lunged at Marlene, gathering her into her arms, and burying her face into Marlene’s hair.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you, you absolutely wonderful, brilliant woman,” Mary cried.

The clock struck midnight, waking the two on the couch. Mary and Marlene laughed and leaned back into the space shared between each other.

“Happy New Year, babe,” Mary whispered.

“Happy New Year, my love,” Marlene whispered back.

The two sank into a kiss, unhurried and magical, the fire crackling behind them, fireworks a distance noise.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The cooing of a coo-coo clock startled Sirius awake. They couldn’t move much as they were being held by Remus, his arms tight around their midsection. They were groggy and looked around, perplexed as to what could be the reason they were rudely awoken.

They eyed the fireplace and saw Marlene and Mary whispering to each other followed by a kiss. Aw, how sweet. They’re a cute couple. Sirius thought sleepily.

Remus shifted below them, groaning at being awoken. He rubbed an eye and spoke up, sleep still attached to his voice. “What’s going on?”

“Not sure, that stupid clock went off.”

“Time?”

Sirius looked over and saw that the big and small hands of the clock were on the ‘12’ meaning it was midnight. Sirius’ eyes widened when they realized, a pang of sadness hitting them.

“No! It’s midnight, we fell asleep! Baby, wake up!” Sirius cried as they woke up more.

The two women by the fireplace chuckled at Sirius’ distress, Sirius giving them a ‘v’.

“Sweetheart, why are you crying?” Remus concernedly asked, pulling Sirius’ chin towards him.

Sirius pouted and sunk back down onto Remus’ chest, listening closely to the fast-paced thumping of his heart.

“I wanted to enter the new year with you like the way you said we could. Kiss and everything.”

“Oh, my love,” Remus sighed, placing his hand on Sirius’ jaw. He gently guided Sirius’ face to turn towards his and connected their foreheads.

“It was supposed to be like you described. I wanted a cutesy New Year like other people have. I’ve never had that before,” Sirius frowned.

“Well,” Remus started before providing a small kiss to Sirius’ nose, making them scrunch their face, “I suppose that means we’ll have to try again next year, won’t we?” He finished voice as soft as a pillow. He had a sly smile and mischief in his honey-brown eyes. So fucking beautiful. 

Sirius couldn’t help the fluttering of their unbeating heart at that. A promise of a full year of love. A full year of being together. The love they felt for this man was indescribable. If they could scream it to the ends of the earth for days, hell weeks on end, they would. All they could do for now though was beam at Remus, who was looking back at them with such reverence, that it could’ve made Sirius sick.

Sirius surged forward and connected their lips, licking into Remus’ mouth to deepen the kiss just a bit. They stayed like that for a few moments before separating.

“Je t'aime à la folie, mon Moony,” Sirius spoke.

Remus released a small gasp at the use of the nickname. He brought their lips together again, responding in his own language.

“Rwy'n dy garu di, fy seren. Happy New Year.”

“Happy New Year.”

They shared one last quick kiss before Sirius laid their head back on Remus’ wool-covered chest. He adjusted himself and Sirius so that they were lying half on him half on the couch. His chest was moving rhythmically from breathing and his heart was beating strong and evenly. It slowly lulled Sirius back to sleep, a wonderful beginning to a fresh new year.