Remus watched Sirius grumble over his Defense Against the Dark Arts essay. That class was Sirius' academic weakness. He caught on quickly in every other class but that one, which would explain why Sirius had spent more than ten minutes on the paper.

Remus had it all done. An essay on vampires was easy enough for him. It seems that paying attention in class helps a little. He was on his stomach on his bed, staring at Sirius. His chin was rested on his crossed arms and he was moving his bent legs absentmindedly in the air.

He looked out the window at the cloudless sky. It was a beautiful spring day, the first day in since September that it was warm enough to open the windows. Remus was glad that he chose the bed next to the window since he insisted on at least feeling the fresh air in his face even if he couldn't go out in it. Couldn't probably wasn't the correct word. He didn't want to go outside. Not while Sirius was sitting in their room struggling on an essay that Remus could help him finish in five minutes.

Remus looked back at Sirius, who was still staring down at the page with a blank look on his face, apparently hoping that if he stared long enough the essay would write itself. He turned to the textbook and started flipping through the vampire section, scanning the pages for key words no doubt.

"Are you sure you don't want me to help you Padfoot?" Remus asked.

"I'm sure, I'm sure," he mumbled.

"Why not? I know the material... surely you don't like being stuck up here?"

The first question was a bit redundant. Remus knew why Sirius wouldn't let Remus help him. Sirius had a bit of a pride issue. Unlike Peter, who wouldn't hesitate to ask Remus for help, Sirius insisted that he could do it himself.

"No, I don't like it up here. I just want to do it myself, that's all."

Remus sighed and rolled off his bed onto his feet. He dug through his bag and produced his notes from the day they started vampires.

"Here, at least use these," he said. He placed them on top of Sirius' open book. Remus sat on the edge of his bed and watched as Sirius looked at the paper for a few silent minutes.

"I don't understand your notes. What are these little dashes for?"

He could tell that Sirius was getting a little stressed out over the essay. Sirius was continually running his fingers through his hair and his leg was jiggling under the table. Remus stood and picked up his notes, Sirius' book and essay.

"Come here."
Sirius took his quill and ink and followed Remus to his bed without a question. Remus put his back against the wall and set the notes and books in front of him. Sirius settled next to him and sighed.

"I hate feeling stupid,"

Remus rolled his eyes. "You're not stupid Sirius. It's all right to not understand something once in a while. It makes you human,"

"Then I'd rather not be human,"

Remus ignored him and looked over what Sirius had written so far: "'An Essay on Vampires'," he looked up at Sirius, "I see you spent a lot of time on that-" Sirius sighed again. Remus continued, "So what don't you understand about vampires?"

Sirius sat silent in thought for a while. Remus was about to repeat himself, in case Sirius hadn't heard him the first time, when Sirius spoke. "Why do they need to drink blood? Why not... why not wine? I don't see how blood keeps them alive."

Remus sighed. Leave it to Sirius to pick the bloodiest subject to misunderstand.

"Well, they're not exactly sure. The book dances around the reason why the need the blood to stay alive. The experts have ideas, but they haven't proved them yet,"

"What's one idea, then?"

"One is that since they've died, they need living blood to keep them alive. Or, half-alive, since that's all they are. Since their bodies are dead, they need to keep fresh blood running through their veins or their bodies will start to decompose."

Sirius made a face. "That's a lovely mental image... So, why don't they use that idea?"

"Because, like all ideas, it has its faults. When the person is turned into a vampire, their body stays the same. Their nails stay the same, their bones, hair, teeth, all stay the same. The only reason their skin turns so pale is that they can't go into the sun. Otherwise, I'm sure that their skin would stay the same color as well."

Sirius nodded and started writing at once. James liked to joke that if Sirius didn't write things down right away the information would leak out of his ears and be lost forever. Remus read over Sirius' shoulder as the boy hastily wrote his essay. He was checking for errors while Sirius wrote and found only one.

"That's spelt wrong," he murmured. Sirius stopped and looked at the essay.

"What is?"
Remus moved closer to Sirius and leaned in to point at the word. "Decompose. It's spelt d-e-c-o-
m-p-o-s-e, not d-e-e-c-o-m-p-o-s-e."

Sirius shrugged and crossed out an 'e'. He continued writing, but Remus didn't move back to where he was sitting. Sirius looked up and stared at him. Sensing Sirius' gaze, Remus looked up at him.

"What?"

Sirius smiled slightly, then blushed. "Nothing," he mumbled. He turned back to the essay. Remus laughed under his breath.

"Silly puppy," he said affectionately. He rested his head on Sirius shoulder while he watched the quill move across the parchment. A few sentences later, Remus started laughing. "Padfoot, Padfoot, stop writing," he said through his laughter.

"Now what did I spell wrong?"

"Nothing, nothing... but I think you have something else wrong..."

"What is it?"

Remus lifted his head up and took the essay from Sirius hands. He cleared his throat, and with a significant look at Sirius, he started to read: " 'A vampire can only walk the Earth by night, which is when it gets its chance to kill. To stay alive, it sucks the blood of apples-'" Remus broke off, laughing. "Apples Sirius?"

Sirius blushed even more and mumbled something even Remus' sensitive ears couldn't pick up. Remus stopped laughing and looked at him.

"Are you all right?" Sirius nodded, though he was avoiding Remus' eyes. "What did you say before?" Remus asked with a furrowed brow. Sirius wasn't normally this... nervous.

"I said that you smell like apples... it distracted me," Sirius said in a quiet voice. His blush was getting deeper, and he still wouldn't look at Remus.

"Why would that distract you?" Remus asked. He wasn't confused, really; he genuinely wanted to know.

"I... you... I-I'll see you later," he stuttered.

Sirius jumped up and ran towards the door. Remus moved after him a second later. He knocked the open ink bottle over and it covered Sirius' essay and his bed sheets, but his mind didn't register it. Remus stopped Sirius before he reached the door and held him there with a gentle, but firm, grip on Sirius' forearm.

"What's wrong Sirius?" Remus whispered. Sirius looked at the trunk at the foot of Peter's bed.

"I can't tell you,"

"Why not? You know you can trust me," Sirius didn't give a verbal response. The shake of his head was all that Remus received. Remus bent his knees until he was looking into Sirius' eyes. "What can't you tell me?" he asked gently. He moved Sirius' chin up with his index finger so that he could look into Sirius' eyes easier. Sirius still wouldn't answer him, but he was now looking straight into Remus' eyes.

A stormy blue-grey filled with love met a calm golden-brown filled with confusion, concern, and then understanding.

Remus moved his index finger from Sirius' chin and instead ran his thumb along the defined jaw line. He slowly ran his finger up to Sirius' high cheekbones. Sirius gave a straggled gasp and closed his eyes. Remus' suspicion was confirmed when he cradled Sirius' cheek in his palm and Sirius leaned into it.

"Remus," he mumbled. Remus placed a finger to Sirius' lips.

"Shh..."

He moved his finger from Sirius' lips, and put his own lips against them instead. He felt Sirius tense against him and after a few seconds was starting to panic. What if he had misunderstood Sirius? What if he had made a horrible mistake? What if Sirius never-

Remus' train of thought was interrupted when he felt Sirius' warm hands on his hipbones. Sirius started to kiss him back lightly, tentatively, cautiously, lest this all turn out to be some sort of sadistic joke. Remus' fears were put to rest and he didn't have the presence of mind to think much more. He wove his hands into his friend's silky black hair.

By the time they pulled apart Sirius' hands had found their way to Remus' back and Remus' were wrapped around Sirius' neck, tangled in the baby fine hair at the back of his neck. Sirius looked at Remus with confusion lit in his beautiful eyes.

"When did you figure it out?" he whispered.

"About three minutes ago," Remus said with a shy smile. He placed light kisses across Sirius' jaw and up to his ear. "Shortly after I learned that vampires drink the blood of apples,"

Sirius groaned and Remus found he glad that he had stayed inside. Who needs sunshine, fresh air, and singing birds when you can have a handsome young man with black hair and stunning eyes, who smells like cinnamon and exotic spices?

A/n– Written in about an hour. My brother kicked me offline and I had nothing else to do!

Note: Edited on 12/01/04 for grammar, spelling and punctuation. A few things may be different from the original version, but nothing drastic.

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