The Time for Action
Author's Note: Harry Potter and the rest is to J.K. Rowling. Some non-canon characters (like Amelia Waterhouse) appeared in another fanfic of mine called "Random Years". You don't have to read that to understand this one, but it's always nice to add to your reading list, right? :D
Chapter 1
Remus Lupin didn't like being obvious. Probably there had been a time in his life when he was entirely at ease around people, keeping no secrets from anyone. No secret worse than how much he likes the little girl who lives next to them (Drusella Barnes, who moved away when Remus was eight) or how he ate all the prunes his mother was saving up for the pudding and blamed it on goblins. The kind of secret that was fine and safe and wholesome.
There had been a time like that, Remus was sure. But he couldn't remember it very well anymore. Every night of the full moon, every wound that never managed to scar on his body, every blood stain he found the day after on his clothes; well, those worked well enough to make Remus forget he'd ever been a normal kid who only needed to worry about crushes and pranks. And so the hiding began, the silences and the secrets that must be kept for his own life. He never tried to detach himself from the rest of humanity, but he'd always known he'd never become a part of it again. Not in the same way that he'd been. And who knows, after those long years listening to voices trailing delicately off; meeting furtive and sometimes fearful glances; almost a decade of wounds and torn clothing and parents talking tearfully in the dark, well, Remus might have refused to become part of anything at all.
That was until he got onto the Hogwarts Express and one boy stuck out his foot to trip Remus up while he lugged his trunk down the hallway, looking for an empty compartment.
Remus, who can be pretty absent-minded most of the time, looked at the foot and dropped his trunk down on it accordingly.
"OW!" The owner of the foot retrieved it with remarkable alacrity while a couple of heads popped out from behind the door, looking at Remus like he was a python in a zoo.
"Oi!" said the one wearing glasses. At first Remus had thought they were brothers, with their pale twisted-grin faces and black hair, except of course James Potter was pretty short (Not much taller than Remus had been) and had very sharp features and Sirius Black looked good enough to turn the heads of all the new girls and even those from the higher years as well.
"Oi," said Remus, drily. "Whose foot was that?"
"Mine," said the other boy (Of course at that time, Remus had no idea who James Potter and Sirius Black were). "First words to you and you have me crying in pain already. How cruel is the love of my life."
"You were going to trip me up," Remus pointed out, rather unnecessarily.
"To catch your attention," said the boy. "Didn't you hear that was what boys do to the girls they liked? Heard all about it from my Uncle Alphard. Least, that's what he did."
"No wonder he's still a bachelor," the boy with glasses piped in, cheerfully.
"Well, that he is. But through no fault of his. Very popular with the women, my Uncle Alphard."
"I'm not a girl," said Remus, offended. Of course, he was small and he looked through the strands of his hair too much to be particularly manly in appearance or manner, but no one's ever thought he was a girl before. Except maybe a couple of old ladies who lived near their house. And the man at the grocer's.
The boy with the glasses laughed, while the other boy made a huffing sound before flicking his companion a Sickle.
"I told you he was a boy."
"You bet on me?"
"There goes half the happiness of my life, the stars forever crossing upon my fate." The other boy frowned while still massaging his toes. "Sit down, why don't you. Standing around like that won't make you taller."
"Stars?" said Remus, feeling a bit like he'd eaten too many Peppermint Toads before riding a Muggle carousel.
"Don't worry, love. I don't care if you're a bloke. Knew you were meant for me the moment you put your trunk on my foot. You and me against the world and all that shite."
"You don't even know my name," said Remus, looking at the boy with the glasses, who'd began to laugh so hard Remus thought he was going to be sick.
"I'm James Potter," said the boy with glasses, between giggles. He went out of the compartment to help Remus with the trunk. "And that nancy there's Sirius Black. He's family's all Slytherins, but I guess he's all right. What house do you think you're going in?"
"What name do you think we should call you?" said Sirius Black, pointedly, but with a small smile.
As he told them who he was, Remus thought that it would be nice to be friends with those boys, even if James was perhaps one of the crudest boys Remus had ever seen or if Sirius happened to be a Black (Toujurs Pur) and kind of a prick. They were real as to themselves, knowing who they were and all their faults, which seemed to amuse them as much as anything else. Their smile, devilish to some and handsome to so many, always had that same quality. The smile of people well familiar with their own skin, and comfortable in it.
Remus always wished he can smile like that.
*
"Hey, what are you smiling to yourself for?"
Remus looked up as Sirius, who had just come back from the buffet table with a couple of overflowing plates and several tankards of Merlin knew what. "I wasn't. Sirius, I can't possibly eat all that."
"I've seen you during the Christmas Holidays, love. No need to be nice and posh, it's just me," said Sirius, sitting down beside Remus although there were still a few empty seats left around the table. "And Peter," he added, as an after-thought.
"Thanks so much for making me feel all warm and welcome," said Peter, who had had several tankards of whatever already. "So, who's next, eh? Although if you'd asked me, I would have told you that I never thought James would be the first to get hitched. And to Lily Evans, no less!"
"Who did you think would go first, then?" said Remus, to distract everyone from Peter's question.
"Well," said Peter, looking at Sirius in a way that told Remus he'd avoided a trap to step over a land mine. An analogy his friends, who never took Muggle studies (James did, actually, to 'understand Lily Evans better') would never quite understand although the concept behind it was familiar enough. "Remus, actually. Seems like the family kind of bloke, isn't he?"
"You'd be surprised," said Sirius, drily, spearing the asparagus with his fork with more force than was necessary. Remus couldn't see how Sirius could eat those vegetables, much less actually like them, pumpkins and potatoes being the extent of Remus' acquaintance with edible plants and he liked things to stay that way. "Can't even leave him alone for a day, actually. Bugger can't even wash his hair on his own."
"I'll wash it for you, Remus!" said Amelia Waterhouse, with a pointed look at Sirius.
Remus looked at his own crowded plate (There was no scary plant life in sight, Sirius being the good man that he was) and wished everyone would stop looking at Sirius when talking about someone else.
"I think that's what wives are for, you know." Lily Potter, nee Evans, was walking towards them with a rather large knife in one hand. If Remus had seen this a couple of years ago, he would have started running for his life. As it were, he knew the knife was really meant for no more dangerous activity than cutting cake and that being with James Potter had made Lily's sense of humor loosen the belt on its britches a bit. So Remus stayed where he was, although feeling Sirius' leg twitch a bit against his, Remus knew that his friend pretty much felt the same about the former Head Girl.
"And vice versa. I don't mind having my hair washed, myself," Lily added, winking at Remus before waving the knife about with absent-minded flourish. "Okay, Mr. Best Man, we need someone to immortalise the cutting of the cake. James is wailing about naked girls inside, actually. Haven't you done that already?"
Sirius snorted at his drink. "With Remus Lupin breathing down our necks? What do you think people do at stag parties, Lily?"
"Oh, I don't know," said Lily, laughing. She had a very nice laugh, Remus realized. Like everything was fine and would always be fine. That sort of laugh. "And I don't suppose you would deem it necessary to tell me, so get your behind out of there and take some pictures!"
"Kind of nice to have a stag party for James, actually. Very nice." Peter hiccoughed, although Remus wished he had choked instead. "What about you, Sirius, do you think we can have a d— OW!"
Remus had reached over to overturn a tankard at the same time Sirius reached under the table to kick at Peter's shin.
"Up you go, S-sirius," said Remus, trying hard not to laugh. There was amethyst colored liquid everywhere, and Amelia had to go to the bathroom to 'clean' her gown. The look that she gave Remus was particularly murderous and Sirius didn't help matters any when he leaned over to fuss at Remus' own robes.
"There you go, Moony. Good as new. Not that they're particularly new, are they? You should have come with me when I'd gone to Madam Malkin's last week."
"Urgh. So you can bully me into wearing those outlandish colors again," said Remus, mildly. They have gone through that scenario before. Sirius would have insisted on paying for Remus' robes and Remus would have insisted on paying for them himself and they'd have bickered again, eliciting chuckling remarks about newlyweds (Maybe even from Madam Malkin herself) that would make Sirius even angrier and Remus more embarrassed.
"Olive is not an outlandish color and it looks good on you."
"If you fellows are done flirting," said Lily, surprisingly without a trace of sarcasm. "You don't really know what James can do to a cake that size, left alone by himself so long. Really, Remus, I expected more from you."
"Sorry, Lily," said Remus, helping Peter stand up. "Slipped my mind, I daresay. And here I thought I could finally sleep better at nights, knowing James Potter is in good hands."
"You still have two of those berks," said Lily.
"Oh, yes, Sirius is doing his best to keep you up at nights, isn't he?"
"Peter!"
Remus knew that Sirius was considering hexing Peter, James' wedding day or not, but he wasn't sure if the belt in Lily's sense of humor was loose enough to allow her to forgive such a thing, so he touched Sirius briefly at the back of the neck.
"Let's leave him tomorrow to regret that, all right?"
"And deal with a hang over," muttered Sirius, although he relaxed his grip on his wand accordingly.
"Better choose the room farthest from his, then. You know how Peter snores."
*
The morning after James and Lily's wedding found Remus Lupin waking up with cockroaches in his stomach and dwarves hammering in his skull. The alcohol had flowed freely the night before, conversations devolving into shrieking, drunken laughter. And Merlin knew when they'd find the time for another get-together like that one, so that people allowed themselves to excess they normally wouldn't think about without blushing.
Find the time, or if they'd be alive still to celebrate anything, Remus amended in his head. And while Remus himself didn't share that hedonistic nihilism, he hadn't been able to say no to the brimming tankards Sirius had kept plying him with. He'd never been good at saying no to people. Much less to Sirius, who knew just the kind of expression to put on his face to get Remus agreeing to any idea that's crossed his pretty head.
And speaking of Sirius' head, Remus realized that the strands tickling his nose was in fact someone's hair and that Sirius' face was lying inches away from his own, still tranquil with sleep.
Remus sat up abruptly, regretting it when his stomach started turning cartwheels. But the movement was impeded anyway since Sirius had both arms around his waist, grip tightening slightly when Remus tried to get up and Sirius began to awaken himself.
"Remus?"
"Don't talk so loud," said Remus, in a harsh whisper.
Sirius laughed, a low rumble in his chest that Remus felt quite keenly since he was lying half on top of his best friend. Sirius shifted his position a bit so that Remus can sit up, kneeling between Sirius' legs and trying to ignore the hardness he'd just felt there. Felt on both of them, actually.
"Good morning, Moony," whispered Sirius, obligingly.
"Where are we?" Remus knew he had to get off the bed and back to where things made sense, but decided to put it off until the world stops rocking about in alarming angles.
"Spare room?" Sirius guessed. "There's that horrible plaid wallpaper James likes so much."
Remus giggled. The conversation sounded normal, at least, lulling him to a state nearing that of ease. Albeit one where you still had roaches in your stomach and dwarves in your head.
"I hope I did nothing particularly disgraceful," he muttered.
"You? You'd sooner disgrace yourself than Snape confess his undying love for James."
"Thanks for that image so early in the morning." Remus yawned, raising his left hand to cover his mouth. He did a double take, feeling bile rising in his throat. "Why am I wearing your ring?"
"Huh?" Sirius sat up as well, scratching the back of his head lazily. He'd drunk as much, if not more, than Remus yester night, but if he was hung over, he hid it pretty well. "What ring?"
"The one you had especially made, with the phoenix head, remember?" Remus waved his hand in front of Sirius' face. "And at a very important finger, too."
"Now you're the one talking loud," said Sirius, making a face. He glanced at his ring briefly, not really interested. "Left hand, ring finger. So what?"
"Are you still sleeping, Sirius Black? What bloody idea did you force on me last night?"
"Hey, you're the one wearing the ring." Sirius smiled. "And sitting there so suggestively, I might add."
Remus growled at his best friend before standing up. He thought the resulting head rush would make him pass out, but that would have been too easy. "Great. First I was your boyfriend. Now this!"
"Natural progression, don't you think?"
"Ugh. What if we go down there and someone tells us that we'd been married by Mad-Eye Moody?"
"Just smile and admit you've hooked quite a catch," said Sirius, with a shrug. He stood up as well, the deliberate movement telling Remus that Sirius wasn't just hung over, he was still a bit drunk as well. "Sounds good, doesn't it? Remus Lupin Black."
Merlin, thought Remus, gritting his teeth. Merlin.
"Sorry to impose on you so early in this new stage in our relationship, mate," Sirius began. "But I feel really—"
"Don't say it!" said Remus, in a bit of panic.
"Horny," Sirius finished. "So—"
"So, take dependable Mr. Right Hand to the bathroom and leave me in peace." Remus started to look around the room for his trousers, thankful that his shirt was long enough to reach to his knees. As for Sirius, Remus had seen him naked before. Nothing out of the ordinary there. Nothing worth a second glance. Remus wasn't even looking.
"You've never had a problem with it before," Sirius pointed out, hands seeking out Remus' waist again to pull the latter close against his body. He moved slightly, his cock snagging the ends of Remus' shirt as Sirius bent to kiss the back of Remus' neck.
"That's different," said Remus, inwardly cursing the rashness of his youth and boarding school traditions.
"Hm."
"Sirius, you're going to stain my best shirt." Remus' voice sounded heavy, bordering on a groan, actually. And he hated it.
"Let's save it then, shall we?" Sirius suggested, hands leaving Remus' waist to start unbuttoning said article of clothing. Remus made a growling sound before stepping away from Sirius.
"I told you, no."
"Remus, it hurts like nothing I can tell you," said Sirius, putting on the pleading face. "Come on, before the other guests start waking up."
Remus sighed. There was really nothing to lose. Besides, he was feeling pretty much in pain himself. "All right. Come here."
"Shame to let a perfectly nice bed to waste."
"Lily'd kill us."
Remus' hand trailed down his friend's body, tracing the arrow of fine, dark hairs down from the stomach and stopping at Sirius' balls, cupping them in his hand. Sirius let out a shaky breath, although he didn't move, letting Remus do what he wanted to. Sirius loved being fussed over, until he couldn't take it anymore and his natural instinct to take lead makes him pin Remus rather violently down.
For now, Remus traced the underside of Sirius' cock, the pulsing warmth of it pulling him in, making him want to enfold it in his hands, squeeze Sirius' pleasure from him. But Remus forbore, hands shaking a bit and trying to focus even with Sirius' warm breath tickling his ear and driving him almost daft.
"Moony," Sirius sighed. He'd begun to move, finding Remus' own cock under the shirt. Someone groaned, although Remus wasn't sure who it was, his mind already pushed to the limit with trying to keep his knees from buckling and the sensation overload of exchanging wanks with Sirius Black.
"Can I put it in?"
"No," said Remus, automatically, although he barely understood what exactly Sirius had said.
"Please, Remus," said Sirius, hands stopping. Remus groaned at him, hips moving to prompt Sirius back to what he'd been doing. There was a trace of a smile in Sirius' voice, catch in the throat that made Remus' hair stand on end to hear it. And then Sirius was rubbing his cock against Remus', even with Remus' hand between them and both of them had to bite back a sharp cry as they felt the pliable hardness against their own.
Sirius' hands strayed to Remus' backside, parting the cheeks of Remus' ass and giving them a brief squeeze before letting one hand travel down, brief acquaintance with the perineum before going back to Remus' ass hole.
"Sirius!" said Remus, when he felt Sirius' finger enter him to the first knuckle. "Wait!"
"No?" said Sirius.
"Wait."
"I won't hurt you." Sirius left off his probing a while, kissing Remus instead, nudging the soft lips open with his tongue and tasting alcohol with the honey and chocolate taste that was Remus.
Remus sighed, leaning towards Sirius with a muffled oath. "I know."
*
Both of them had forgotten about the ring business, although Remus couldn't very well say how he could forget such a thing.
Lured down to the kitchen by the smell of pancakes and sausages, they went down together, smiling like a couple of berks at James and Lily who were acting like the most married couple since anybody's parents.
James looked up from his newspaper as soon as Sirius and Remus entered the kitchen, smiling like a berk himself while taking sips of coffee.
"'Morning."
"Oy, James, you look like your own father, you know? Take care you don't grow a paunch any time soon."
"So, Remus," said Lily, placing a tray of sausages onto the table and winking at him. "Would we be hearing the announcement soon? You really should hurry up, you know, what with all the...other arrangements we promised to do for Dumbledore."
"Announcement?" said Remus, choking on his tea.
James snorted, waving the back of his left hand in front of everyone, wedding ring blinking at Remus from James' tanned finger. "Were you really that pissed last night, Moony?"
Remus tried not to look at his own hand and failed. "This is a joke, right?"
"All jokes are half meant, old boy."
Sirius laughed.