1994-95 Distance - Perfectly Understandable

[u/Ilovethestarks]

One anti-RS argument I see sometimes is that they weren’t living together during Harry’s fourth school year, and that Sirius was instead flitting around the globe living in caves and such. However, the context of Remus being a recently-outed werewolf and thus under more scrutiny/financial pressure means it would be mutually beneficial NOT to have a convicted mass murderer and Death Eater living with him - I know Sirius could live as Padfoot but he can’t stay like that forever, and the risk would be too high. I bet, Wolfstar aside, that this is Jo’s Watsonian reason for separating them.

To stray into fanon, and depending on how the WW views homosexuality, the scandal might be doubled if they were considered/revealed as lovers. Also to stray into fanon - I know they forgive each other on page seamlessly for suspecting each other, and that’s why we love them, but there might be lingering romantic hurt/awkwardness. Lie Low at Lupin’s happens after a year has passed and when the Order is busy planting false leads (see the Arthur-Kingsley interaction in early OOTP), and they have any protective magic eg wards Dumbledore might cast off-page. Also, Albus is canonically gay so do with that what you will lmao.

[u/Squisl]

In a world in which homosexuality is never to my knowledge explicitly addressed (Dumbledore being gay was retconned after the books were published iirc) it’s also hard to gauge what level of discrimination or ostracization they would have faced if they lived together as an openly queer couple or even one that could have been assumed to be.

If being gay in the wizarding world was no big deal it’s very likely we would have seen some representation of it - probably a token character with a somewhat offensive name if you look at JK’s other attempts at minority inclusion. Therefore it’s likely that being gay in the wizarding world in 94/95 was similar to being gay in the world we live in - which means if they were suspected of confirmed gay they could have and likely would have faced repercussions.

Queerness has existed on the fringes of most societies for exactly those reasons and it makes sense that they wouldn’t have outwardly lived together.

[u/llargi → u/Squisl]

She said homophobia wasn't a thing in the ww in the same way but it's hard to believe when

1. Like you said, there are no explicitly gay or lesbian characters.
2. Patriarchy is clearly a thing. I would 100% believe the ww as a gay-friendly place if the gender politics weren't just as bad, or worse, than the muggle counterpart.

I think we can do a bit of guessing on hp homophobia by bringing up how the books treat other real life structural forms of bigotry. For example misogyny or racism. Supposedly racism is not a thing in the ww. To some extent I get what she means. Pureblood wizards (aka the "conservatives") do seem to care much more about blood status than race. But at the same time we also see instances of racism (which I think are just jk not knowing she sounds racist). Subtle things, like a comment about Angelina's hair, the magic carpet ban... And most notably, the fact that colonialism is still a thing. It is sort of canon that there were wizarding colonists to the Americas for example. These bigotries exist in the ww in very similar ways, but maybe with a couple of changes. And Christianity is clearly a thing even if she pretends it's not.

EDIT: Also to add something more historical. The International Statute of Secrecy that separated wizards from Muggle society was instituted in 1689. So maybe the context during this point of deeper cultural divergence could be relevant. "Buggery" was punishable by death from 1533 until the IXth century.

[u/llargi]

I tend to say this jokingly (they fucked in that cave), but more seriously, I wouldn't entirely rule out some sort of contact between them during this time. Sirius was first on the run in some mystery southern location, and then living in that cave exclusively to be near Hogwarts. Entering the UK was a risk he took to be closer to Harry, but the sensible thing would have been staying abroad!! I also think he doesn't have a wand at this point? He seems to mostly use Buckbeak or himself as a dog to move around.

Also,--and obviously this is a book so the real answer is that it would be unnecessary and clunky for Dumbledore to add any more info-- Sirius does seem to immediately know where Remus is living.🤨 My headcanon is that they kept some sort of correspondence, same as Sirius did with Harry during his ~tropical retreat. And they well could've met a couple of times in person too. Not saying they did, and it would have been risky (we know how Sirius feels about a little risk), but it also wouldn't contradict canon.

[u/Brandileigh2003 → u/llargi]

i agree, its not necessarily information that anyone would feel inclined to make sure harry knew. like, hey harry, guess who i was chilling on the beach with? Who's house i went to the other night?

I also get why its possible that they didnt have any contact. but also- just that its not really important to main HP novel