First Impressions.
Sirius Black was tall, strong, and handsome with a somewhat mischievous edge. He was a Black, as in a member of the noble house of Black but, thankfully he did not take after the majority of his family. He was different from them; he was brave, true, fiercely loyal and kind, traits other members of his family looked down on. With his raven black hair and fathomless grey eyes, Sirius was a sight to behold. Sirius did not easily like many people. But, all he had to do was catch a glimpse of Remus Lupin on the Hogwarts Express for the first time, and he instantly knew... He knew he wanted to get close to that boy. He knew he liked the boy.
Remus Lupin was a quiet, shy and practically invisible young boy. And he for one would like to keep it that way. Remus Lupin did not like attention, attention would get him noticed, and being noticed could lead to people finding out about the one secret Remus worked at to hide from the world. For Remus Lupin was a werewolf. Though he often seemed sickly and tired looking, with his faintly greying, golden brown hair and his stunning amber eyes he managed to command a very attractive presence. To those who noticed him, of course.
However, Sirius Black was distracted that day from meeting Remus Lupin. Firstly, burdening his mind was his overwhelming self-pity due to his ardent, yet false belief that he would be sentenced to be a Slytherin. Secondly, he was distracted by a messy black-haired, spectacled creature pulling him to the ground, saving him from a dungbomb thrown in his direction. Upon standing up, Sirius was pulled into a strong handshake.
"Nice t'meet ya, I'm James Potter!" revealed the curious stranger.
"Eh, Sirius Black, thank you, I guess," Sirius found himself returning with a wide grin. He'd taken a quick liking to James as well, though he soon decided not to dwell on the more intense way he found himself being attracted to the golden haired wonder he had seen earlier. The golden haired wonder who ended up sharing the first year Gryffindor dorm with Sirius, James and an altogether indistinguishable boy named Peter Pettigrew.
Two months into school and Sirius had still not managed to properly meet Remus Lupin, sure they'd exchanged niceties in passing but that seemed to be all and was most definitely not enough for Sirius. He desperately wanted to get to know Remus Lupin, he was fascinated by this incredible being, something he had already confided to the first person he'd been able to trust, James. Sirius wanted Remus, and what Sirius wanted, Sirius got. Especially with the help of his irrepressible, egotistical best friend. The two eager lads plotted out ways to corner Remus and capture his attention, and after long and delicate delegations concerning how best to approach the situation they gave up thinking and just sat beside him one morning at breakfast. The two boys had plonked down on the bench at each side of a bewildered Remus Lupin, pinning him where he sat and soon they began to introduce themselves.
"Hello, my dear upstanding fellow, allow me the honour the absolutely spiffing honour of introducing myself, I am the magnificent, the extraordinary, the stunning, the glorious, the superior, Sirius Black. Come now, don't be shy, bow to m-."
"More like the idiotic prat! Don't mind 'im, I'm James, James Potter, nice to finally meet you," interrupted James, playfully. With a quick glare at his friend, Sirius turned his attention towards Remus, his anticipation for a reply, obvious.
"I know... We have shared a room since the start of the year..." the young lycanthrope finally replied, a nervous and reluctant smile fluttered across his features. He was sure that the only thing the duo wanted was to pull a prank on him and with this in mind, he prepared for the worst.
"Well, that's besides the point, you daft sod!" said Sirius, earning a wry smile from Remus.
Rolling his eyes James began, "What Siri here meant to say was, that we think you seem nice enough and that we want to get to know you better. So maybe, you want to hang out with us sometime?"
"And, this isn't a prank?" implored Remus.
"Of course not!" snapped Sirius, defensively, "Do you honestly think we'd do something like that?" ignoring the nod of Remus's head and the arch of James' eyebrow he continued, "Do you think we'd mess around with a fellow Gryffindor! Okay, maybe... But, not with someone we actually like. Okay?"
"Okay." was the whispered reply and considering the matter well and truly sorted Sirius dragged both other boys out of the Great Hall, blanking all pleas about food and chances to flirt with Lily Evans. Sirius and James' little 'gang' had a new member and there was precious pranking to be done. Once Remus was convinced that they weren't breaking any serious school rules, that is.
Days passed and the trio had gotten used to spending time together with the occasional tag-a-long of their fourth room-mate. Remus was enjoying the most social contact and the best fun he had ever had, Sirius was elated just to be near Remus and to see his deep eyes light up when he got animatedly involved in conversations and tasks, and James, James was happy to see Sirius so excited about spending time with Remus, he was happy Remus helped him to think of and develop pranks but mostly, he was happy because spending time with Remus allowed him to see more of a certain fiery tempered, red-head, one of the rare people acquainted with Remus Lupin.
But, being around James and Sirius did have its downside, Remus discovered to his dismay. It meant he had to lie to them. It led him to concocting a story about visiting a sick aunt, the ever honest Remus Lupin was never comfortable with lying. It also made him a target for a certain group of Slytherins. And, one Saturday afternoon following a full moon a group of Slytherins accosted a severely weakened Remus as he was returning to the Gryffindor common room. The Slytherins quickly disarmed Remus, leaving him utterly defenceless to whatever they had planned to do to him. Readying himself for their attack, Remus closed his eyes and took a deep breath when suddenly he heard to loud, familiar voices,
"Gerroff, my bloody friend, Snivellus."
"Shove it, you prats!"
The Slytherins, immediately seeing the fury in the other boys faces scampered off trying to compose some dignity.
"Alright, Rem?" enquired a worried Sirius.
"Alright... thanks," was Remus's appreciative reply.
"Ya sure, mate? You look a bit beaten to me."
"Fine," smiled the grateful Remus, realising as he continued off to the common room that Sirius and James thought his varied injuries from the night before where inflicted by the Slytherins. Yet, he didn't care because he was busy trying to stop himself from giggling like a giddy school girl. He was sure good things didn't happen to him the day after the full moon. It was illogical, improbable and downright impossible. Well, at least in his opinion.
So, why was the young wolf unable to stop grinning like an idiot! Because, Sirius Black and just called one Remus Lupin a friend. Remus decided he could easily deal with manic Slytherins if it meant having friends. Friends who were swiftly becoming the most notorious pranksters Hogwarts had ever opened it doors to.
Ahhhh, my first ever attempt at a fanfiction! Review and all that sparkly jazz, please!
I know I sort of neglected Peter a lot but, what ho! . And, slash will be on its way, I'm going to presume... Oh, and I guess I should say I don't own HP and all that crap. Well, I don't, JK does. Tsk, tsk, tsk... 3.