Sirius chewed on a bag of Bertie Botts' Every Flavour Beans while watching the autumn leaves outside fall to the ground. Normally by this time he would have been in Hogwarts starting a new school term with his friends. However, that had changed ever since he had graduated from school a few months ago. Now he spent most of his time in his little apartment, writing resumes and thinking of the path he would take from here on.
In the meantime though, it was a lovely autumn day and it would be a waste not to spend it with someone. James had gone on vacation with his parents and Peter was taking care of his sick mother. Still, there was one more Marauder who for the time being had nothing to do.
"Ding dong!"
"Finally!" Sirius rushed to the door to find Remus outside holding a brown paper bag in his arms. He eyed the bag curiously. "What have you got there, Moony?"
"Stuff. Now are you going to invite me in or not?" Remus walked into the apartment and put down the bag on the kitchen counter top. Sirius followed him and peered into the bag to see an assortment of groceries. "What's all this for?"
"Well, you called me an hour ago and told me to come over and find something for the two of us to do together. So I thought we could bake some cookies."
Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Bake some cookies?"
"Yes." Remus was washing his hands in the sink. "When I was little, I used to make cookies with my mom during the autumn season. After I started going to Hogwarts, she would send me some of her homemade cookies through owl post. I also learned the recipe for myself."
"Oh. So what kind of cookies are we making?" Sirius was already pulling out things from the bag and cluttering the counter top with them.
"Chocolate chip."
"Of course." Sirius glanced at a bag of chocolate chips before putting them down with the other items. "Well, I may have a kitchen, but I don't know the first thing about baking. You'll have to be the boss, Moony."
"Fine by me." In the next several minutes, the two of them worked together to create a batter out of the ingredients Remus had brought. By the time the batter was being stirred by a bewitched spoon, it was about time to put in the chocolate chips. Remus took over stirring duty from the spoon, which clattered onto the counter top without another movement. "Sirius, open the bag of chocolate chips and hand them to me."
"Here." Sirius passed the bag to Remus, who emptied the contents into the batter and threw the empty packaging into the dustbin without a second glance. He stirred for a bit longer, then put blobs of the batter on a baking tray. Then he put the tray into the oven and set the temperature. He then joined Sirius on the couch as they waited for the cookies to bake.
After a few minutes Sirius was already impatient. "How long does it take for cookies to bake?"
"A couple of hours."
"Well, I'm not waiting around for them to bake themselves. I'll see what I can do to speed things up." Sirius then headed into the kitchen.
"Sirius, I don't think that's a good idea…" Remus followed his friend into the kitchen to see him standing over the oven and tapping his chin with his wand thoughtfully. After a few seconds he tapped the oven with his wand and said, "Allegro."
The oven timer sounded almost immediately and Sirius opened the oven door to reveal a tray of baked cookies. He grinned as he put down the tray on the counter top. "Moony, we're of age now. We don't have to resort to waiting for every single thing."
Remus simply placed the cookies onto a plate and carried them to the living room. Sirius jumped onto the couch next to him and popped a cookie into his mouth. "Tastes like vanilla," he mumbled.
"That's strange. I didn't use vanilla batter this time." Remus took a bite out of a cookie and found that it tasted like peppermint.
Sirius suddenly gagged on his second cookie. "Ew! Ear wax!" He spit the cookie out in horror.
That was when it clicked in Remus' mind. "Sirius, are you sure you handed me the chocolate chips just now?"
"I dunno. I just grabbed a bag from the counter top and gave it to you." Frowning slightly, Remus went to the kitchen to check and found the unopened bag of chocolate chips on the counter top. He walked over to the dustbin and peered inside to see an empty bag of Every Flavour Beans.
"Sirius, you just put Every Flavour Beans into the cookies!"
Sirius scratched his chin thoughtfully. "Well, that explains the ear wax."
"What are we going to do now?" Remus came back and sat on the couch again. "We can't just throw out the cookies."
"So we'll just eat them." Sirius reached for another cookie. "Come on, they can't be that bad." He took a bite and swallowed it. "See? This one tastes like orange juice."
Remus crinkled his brow as he bit into another cookie and found that it tasted like stale crackers. He suddenly had an idea and went into the kitchen again. When he came back he had the bag of chocolate chips in his hand. He opened the bag, popped a few chocolate chips into his mouth and chewed on the cookie again. This time it tasted much better. "Everything tastes good with chocolate," he mumbled happily to himself.
He suddenly noticed that Sirius had stopped eating and was instead staring at his cookie. "What's wrong? Think it's another ear wax flavoured one?"
Sirius shook his head. "No, I was just thinking… I've never eaten cookies like this before."
"Well, it's not every day you get Every Flavour Cookies."
"No, not the cookies themselves. What I mean is, I've never eaten cookies that I made myself before. With someone else."
"Huh." Remus swallowed his cookie and turned to look at his friend. "So you've never tried doing stuff like that with your family before?"
Sirius snorted. "Can you see my family together in the kitchen making cookies?"
Remus laughed. "Bellatrix would probably sneak arsenic into the batter when everyone else's backs are turned."
Sirius laughed as well, then his expression grew solemn. "The thing is, you're lucky to have parents who are willing to do stuff with you. I never made cookies with my mum, that's for sure. Nor did I ever do stuff with my dad. In fact, I can't even remember the last time they smiled at me."
The two of them were silent for a moment, then suddenly Remus took a cookie and held it to Sirius' mouth. "Open your mouth."
Sirius raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"Just do it." When Sirius obliged, Remus put the cookie into his mouth and watched him as he chewed on it. A smile slowly spread across the Animagus' face. "Mmm, caramel."
"Have another?" Remus fed Sirius another cookie, then smiled as his friend chewed on it happily. Suddenly Sirius retched and spit out the cookie, sending it flying across the room and splattering on the opposite wall. Remus watched the scene horrified. "What happened?"
Sirius pointed an accusing finger at his friend. "You tried to poison me!"
"What?"
"That cookie tasted like rotten fish!"
The two of them stared at each other for a few seconds, then suddenly Remus broke out laughing. Sirius frowned at his friend's outburst of laughter. "Hey, it's not funny! That thing tasted horrible!"
"Sorry," Remus managed to say through his laughing.
Sirius crossed his arms indignantly. "Well, you could at least do something to make up for it."
"I already said sorry."
"You'll have to do better than that if you want my forgiveness." Suddenly Remus had an idea. He leaned over and kissed Sirius on the lips, catching his friend completely by surprise. The werewolf sat back and grinned. "That okay now?"
Sirius pretended to think hard. "Hmm. If you do it again I'll think about it."
"You're a git." Even so, he still kissed his friend again. The second kiss lasted longer, and when they finally separated Sirius rested his head on his friend's shoulder. "Thanks. I needed that."
Remus ran his fingers through his friend's black hair. "Any time."
A/N: I'd like to thank StellaMarieee for suggesting this story. I had a good time writing it and I hope you loved it too. I'm still working on that Wolfstar songfic and a couple other ideas, so I'll be around for a while yet. In the meantime, feel free to drop a review, 'kay? Thanks!
