A/N Hi guys! Recently I boldly decided to go where no man (or girl) has gone before and delved into my old word documents to find this little gem from months and months ago. This is a first for me in two senses as not only is this the first complete piece of fanfiction I've ever written, it's also my first ever one-shot (I normally only write multi-chapter stories), so it's not great (plus it's old and my writing has improved greatly since writing it), but please go easy on me! Enjoy :)
It was a dreary November night when the temperature began to rapidly drop, the balmy evenings of early autumn being quickly cast aside by granite skies and bullets of rain beating down on Hogwarts Castle. The howling wind whipped against the windows, while a sharp frost blanketed the castle in a veil of white crystals, glistening in the silver tinted glow of the moonlight. The bitterly chill breeze crawled through the cracks in the walls, weaving through the dimly lit corridors and nipping at students' skin. The waning moon hung low in the ink blotted sky, a luminous orb floating in a sea of black, and beams of silver light illuminated the darkest crevices of the castle, casting a soft glow on the stone walls.
The Gryffindor common room was almost deserted, a mere handful of students still lingering, sprawled across the plush crimson carpet and perched at desks, hastily scribbling down overdue essays on crumpled parchment, torn at the edges; gossiping about the latest rumours rippling through the halls; scarfing down the array of sweet treats they'd purchased at Honeydukes that afternoon, chocolate smeared across their cheeks. The fire was roaring, the crackling flames of vivid scarlet and gold dancing across the burning wood, their shadows licking up the walls, smothering the room in heat. A lone radio was perched on a rickety mahogany end table; coated in a thin veil of dusty, one leg propped up by an outdated Transfiguration textbook, and was rattling out a muggle jazz record, the smooth male voice crooning about 'getting it on' (whatever the hell that meant) as the radio crackled, the ragged sound broken as notes were skipped, white noise taking their place.
Remus Lupin was curled up on the plush, scarlet sofa, a well-worn book in his hand as he leafed through the yellowing pages. The book was battered, almost beyond repair; the ink was smeared in parts from where careless students had spilt their pumpkin juice while cramming for classes late at night and the paper was torn and creased, tearing away from the rigid spine of the frame.
"Moony?" A voice piped up, and Remus tensed, all too aware that the voice belonged to none other than Sirius Black.
"I'm reading, Padfoot." Remus replied, rolling his eyes at the unwanted presence of his friend, not bothering to look up from his book.
"Moony?" Sirius repeated, his tone coated in a blanket of sugary sweetness, as if to coax Remus to look up.
"I said I'm reading." Remus waved Sirius away with his hand, his eyes glued to the page. That was, until a cushion came flying towards him, whacking him square in the jaw.
"Moony!"
Remus looked up, startled, to see Sirius crouching beside him, looking up at him innocently with his chin resting on the arm of the sofa.
"What is it, Sirius?" Remus sighed, setting the book down on his lap.
"Dance with me, Moony." Sirius responded earnestly, batting his lashes as he fought back a grin.
Remus blinked, baffled by the raven haired boys request, "What?"
"I want to dance. Dance with me." Sirius couldn't help but smirk at Remus' furrowed brow and puzzled expression, his slate grey eyes twinkling with amusement, alive with electricity.
Remus gaped at the boy for the moment, processing the ludicrous suggestion to dance, before shaking his head and picking up his book again, thumbing through the pages to find his place, "I told you already, I'm reading. Dance on your own."
"If I dance on my own, I'll look like a right tosser." Sirius said, as if it was the most obvious answer out there.
"Oh, right. Silly me." Remus responded dryly, his eyes scanning the page as he futilely attempted to drown out Sirius' incessant pleas.
"Dance with me, Moony," Sirius said once more, clasping his hands together as he contorted his features into his most practiced puppy dog expression.
"No." Remus shook his head once more, his fringe flopping in front of his eyes.
"Please, Moony?" Sirius begged, leaning closer and clamping a hand on Remus' shoulder as he shook the boy, trying to grab his attention.
"Nope. No way. I'm not dancing with you, Sirius."
"Please?" Sirius pleaded, almost shoving his face into Remus', their noses practically touching as he crept across the line into Remus' personal space. Sirius happened to be notorious when it came to disregarding boundaries; he practically used the line Remus had drawn as his personal space as a skipping rope.
Remus sighed, growing irritated by Sirius' stubborn persistence, "No."
"But Moony!" Sirius pouted, falling back on his heels in defeat as he folded his arms across his chest, a frown marring his features.
"Where's Prongs? Can't you dance with him?" Remus offered, already turning his attention back to the book in his hand.
"He's off being icky with Evans." Sirius shuddered, his face twisting into a look of disgust.
"What about Peter? Dance with him," Remus suggested distractedly, flicking through pages of the book.
"Peter has two left feet." Sirius sighed, hopping to his feet to demonstrate the famed dance moves of one Peter Pettigrew.
"So?" Remus arched a brow, his lips quirking into a smile as Sirius gyrated his hips in time to the music, wobbling on his toes. Sirius froze immediately, staring incredulously at Remus as if the boy had just sprouted an extra arm.
"So, if he topples over and flattens me, I'll be squashed and can't you see? I'll die! I'll be crushed to death by Wormtail, plucked from life in my prime, taken away far too soon! I'm too young and beautiful to die, Moony! And then my death will be on your conscience, and we can't have that, now can we?" Sirius responded dramatically, throwing his arms up in the air as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"I could live with that." Remus teased, shrugging his shoulders as a smirk tugged at his lips.
"Besides, I want to dance with you!" Sirius whined, stomping over to Remus and grabbing his hand, struggling to pull him to his feet.
Snatching his arm back as if he'd been scalded, Remus rolled his eyes at his friend, "For the last time Sirius, no. Now for the love of Merlin will you just sit down and let me read?"
"You're no fun." Sirius pouted, childishly sticking his tongue out at the other boy as he flopped down beside him, the crimson cushions dipping beneath his weight as he sighed dramatically, kicking his legs out and tipping his head back, his raven locks grazing his shoulders. Remus rolled his eyes, the corners of his lips tugging upwards in a smirk as he stifled a chuckle. Turning his attention back to his book, he quickly found himself once again absorbed in the fascinating text, drinking in every word as he found it easier and easier to ignore Sirius' presence.
Sirius watched the boy beside him intently; his lips quirking upwards as he silently observed the way Remus threw himself into whatever he was reading, his lips silently forming the words as his gaze roamed the yellowing pages, his index finger tracing the paper as he absently combed a hand through his honey coloured locks, brushing his fringe back from his eyes. Sirius couldn't help but smile at how at peace his friend looked, but as he fidgeted in his seat, itching to move around as the cogs whirred in his head; he couldn't resist disturbing the boy.
Tucking his legs beneath himself, he crawled across the sofa towards his friend. Remus, who remained engrossed in the book his nose was firmly placed in, didn't even notice the shift in weight on the sofa cushions until he saw a pair of beguiling grey eyes peering at him over the top of the book, with Sirius' nose nudging the creased spine.
"Moony?" Sirius said innocently, his tone betrayed by him waggling his eyebrows suggestively as a wispy lock of hair fell in front of his eyes, tickling his skin as it brushed against his forehead. Attempting to look at the offending tendril of hair, his brow furrowed as he feebly tried to blow it out of the way. The tip of his tongue poked out of the corner of his mouth in concentration as he grew cross-eyed from the effort of looking at the hair. Remus bit down on his lower lip, stifling a laugh at the comical sight before him. Chewing his lip, he averted his attention back to his book, in the hopes that his friend would take the hint and leave him be. Alas, he had no such luck.
"Moony?" Sirius prodded Remus' arm.
"Moony is busy reading and can't talk right now. Please try again later." Remus replied, his eyes still glued to the page.
Sirius rolled his eyes, "Moooooony?"He dragged the name out in an exaggerated manner, jabbing Remus with his index finger.
Sighing heavily, Remus closed his book, tossing it aside as he fixed his gaze on his friend, who was edging closer to him, pawing at his sleeve, "What now?"
"Play with me," Sirius responded in a childish manner.
"Padfoot," Remus started, rolling his eyes.
"I'm bored, Remus. If you won't dance with me, play with me." Sirius whined, cutting Remus off as he tugged at his sleeve.
"If you're bored, why don't you do something productive?" Remus suggested, "Like your Charms homework?"
Sirius' face contorted with disgust as he dramatically threw himself onto Remus' lap, once again invading his personal space.
"Homework?" Sirius sniffed, "That's an absurd suggestion! You can't be serious!"
"You're right – that's you." Remus drawled, shoving Sirius off of him and sending him tumbling to the floor with a thud.
"Oof!" Sirius groaned, gingerly rubbing his backside as he glared at the amused Remus, who was shaking with silent laughter, "Ha ha, very funny. That's real original."
"I thought so." Remus smirked, "You do realise that you're going to have to do the homework at some point, right?"
"I've got it covered," Sirius replied airily, waving his hand as he clambered to his feet.
"You're going to copy my answers down at breakfast the day it's due, aren't you?" Remus arched a brow.
"You know me so well!" Sirius replied with a lopsided grin, throwing himself down onto the sofa and slinging his arm over his friends shoulder, "Now will you play with me?" He asked hopefully, raising his eyebrows.
Remus sighed, a grin tugging at his lips, "Fine. Just this once."
Sirius clapped excitedly, beaming from ear to ear as he leapt to his feet. He offered an outstretched hand to Remus, tugging him up from the sofa as he hopped from foot to foot. Remus simply chuckled, and Sirius shot him a wink.
"I knew I'd wear you down eventually."