Author's Note: This story was written for the 2010 rs_games, a Livejournal community that is still running. It was my first time participating; I joined the ranks of Team Canon. And we won! Ridiculous. Just utterly ridiculous. The idea was to write stories based on songs, and I got prompt number 13: Patti Smith's Because The Night.

Apologies to my dearest Holly for blatantly ripping off bits of her Sirius when I needed them, even though she said I was welcome to him. Thanks to Amanda for listening to my complaints and half-formed ideas. As always.

Je Vois Les Autres

"Twenty five," Peter said, in all seriousness.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" James exclaimed. Sirius laughed, his arm comfortably around James's shoulder, and wondered what was for lunch.

"Think it's that pudding-y Muggle stuff Moony likes," James said.

"Eh, Moony?" Peter added, when James didn't. They looked to Sirius's side, where Remus usually walked, but Remus was nowhere to be found.

"Weird," Peter mused.

"Oddly disconcerting," James added.

"He's probably still at Ancient Runes, talking to the teacher about forgetting to add a comma to the third paragraph of his essay," Sirius said. "I'll get him."

James waved him off, Peter saluted, and Sirius was all annoyed sighs as he turned round and slipped into the secret passageway that led directly to the Ancient Runes tower, in the south wing of the sixth floor. He wasn't keen on missing the beginning of lunch for anyone, not even for Moony.

The passage was dust-free and lit up the moment he entered, as if it recognised his magical signature. Sirius's eyes narrowed as he pocketed his wand; although, in all probability, all it meant was that Remus often used the passage to go up to class, and had keyed it to react to Sirius as well, for reasons completely unknown to anyone but Remus. Sirius didn't like his magical signature floating around the castle lighting up secret passageways whenever he entered, thanks very much.

After a long trek that feels like hours and hours, Sirius finally arrived in the south wing and strolled through the corridors on the way to the Ancient Runes tower. He was very close when he suddenly overheard Remus laughing up where the exit of the tower was.

"It's because you're meant to translate the text as a whole, and not stop halfway through. You'll bugger it up," a girl's voice rang clearly through the corridor. Sirius poked his head around the corner and found that Remus was chatting to a very pretty girl from Hufflepuff Sirius had never seen before.

"But I like buggering," Remus said innocently, and the girl dipped her head back and laughed.

"You're such a prat," she said, but it was clearly affectionate. All Sirius could think was what the – before the girl leaned forward and drew Remus into a hug.

"See you next week!" she added, as she drew back. Remus grinned, and Sirius decided that he'd come out of hiding now. He wasn't really that pathetic.

"Moony!" he shouted, pretending to just round the corner.

Remus turned to him and Sirius grinned. "What are you doing up there? Lunch's in the Great Hall, you twat," he shouted and Remus smiled back, hurrying over.

The trek to the Great Hall wasn't very long. Sirius's arm hung lightly over Remus's shoulder and Sirius was asking him who that girl was who'd been walking away when Sirius called out to Remus.

"Her name's Valerie," Remus said, raising an eyebrow. "You used to fancy the pants off her, but she was dating McLaggen at the time."

Sirius whistled low under his breath, but then paused and perked up. "You said 'was'."

Remus blinked at him, but nodded slowly, saying, "Yes, they broke it off a month back or so."

"I like it," Sirius said. "She seemed keen on you, though, Moons."

Remus shook his head. "She isn't."

Two days later, Valerie and Sirius were dating.

That Friday, at dinner, Remus seemed to be in a great hurry. He was eating his dinner in record time, and when Sirius pulled his face away from Valerie's long enough to ask what the hell he was playing at, Remus replied that he was late for his Charms study group. If Valerie hadn't angled Sirius's face back to her, Sirius would've laughed at him.

Not a minute and a half later, Remus excused himself (Sirius kept trying to teach him that it wasn't necessary to excuse yourself when you were eating with friends, but Remus seemed ingrained with the principle), his strong, elegant fingers swiping his fringe out of his face, and he was gone. Most of the students were leaving the hall, and Sirius eventually stopped trying to feel Valerie up when she announced she was meeting McGonagall.

Sirius reluctantly let go of her and said goodbye to her in the hallway, where she went left up to the Transfiguration tower, and he went right. He liked Hogwarts when it was quiet, actually. Meant less nattering. He liked Valerie, he really did, but Jesus, that girl had a mouth on her that did not stop talking. It just wouldn't.

So he liked things quiet.

Well, quiet ...

From one of the classrooms to his right, he heard someone crying and someone else making soothing sounds. As befitting a Marauder, Sirius investigated.

"I'm sorry," came Remus's voice, barely more than a whisper.

"N-no," Evangeline Mibbs sobbed, "it's – it's fine." Her hand was clenched in Remus's shirt, her shockingly white-blonde hair fanning out against the fabric. Remus patted her head, making soothing sssh-noises.

"I mean," Mibbs said, "it was worth a shot, wasn't it?"

"I'm sorry," Remus said softly.

"It's really all right, sorry to just -" she pulled back, wiping at her eyes. "- spontaneously sob all over you. Still friends?"

"Yeah," Remus said. "Sure."

She smiled beautifully and then got her bag, slinging it over her shoulder. Sirius was off like a shot before she could even take one step in the general direction of the door. He stopped three corridors up, eyes wide.

What the fuck? Since when was Moony popular?

He'd had a falling out with Valerie. They were supposed to be 'studying' – which of course meant Sirius was trying to get his hand up her skirt under the table and she was pretending to do her homework – and she'd brushed him off, saying she didn't want his hands on her. Sirius had scoffed and told her that if she didn't want to, she could fuck off. She'd said it was a joke and that she actually wanted to, but Sirius had already taken back his hands and told her he didn't like girls who pretended to want one thing while actually wanting another.

So she'd called him a wanker and he'd called her a slag and gone off. Girls were too much of a hassle sometimes, Jesus. He strode from the back of the library to the front, when suddenly, he heard Moony's voice. Instantly relieved, he turned the corner, his mouth open to start his rant, only to halt in his tracks.

Moony was there, all right. But Moony wasn't alone. Moony was with Ambrose Mynatt. And Moony was fuckingtutoring him, by the looks of it. Sirius, who was already in a foul mood, scowled. Just the one time he needed Moony to sit there and be Moony, he was teaching some fifth year the proper uses for a wand.

Great. Fantastic.

What he also didn't get was the fact that Mynatt was ridiculously clever. Sirius had met him a couple of times at the dinner parties his grandmother hosted in her summer house in Calais. So why on earth was Remus concerning himself with him? Couldn't Mynatt hire tutors, proper professional ones? Sure, Moony was smart, but he wasn't going to be able to teach Mynatt anything if he was completely hopeless.

"- it's a long 'h'-sound at the end," Remus was saying, and Sirius narrowed his eyes at Mynatt, who was listening attentively.

"What's the wand movement?" Mynatt asked, and Remus demonstrated it slowly, swishing his wrists elegantly in a step-by-step manner.

Mynatt reached for his wand and attempted to copy Moony. He fumbled up the movement quite spectacularly at the very first try (Fucking lump, thought Sirius, gritting his teeth), and Remus didn't even laugh, just instructed Mynatt to try again.

Sirius watched as Mynatt repeated the movement painfully slowly. Whenever he made a mistake, Moony pressed his hand down on Mynatt's and steered him in the right direction. He realised that Mynatt was doing it wrong quite obviously and quite on purpose, though Moony seemed not to notice.

Disgusted, Sirius shouldered out of the library, cursing some rotten Slytherin third years that made the mistake of commenting on his pureblood status along the way.

That very same evening, Valerie confronted him, crying about how she didn't mean to lead him on, she just wasn't ready to do anything yet, because she wasn't over McLaggen. Sirius gently reminded her of the fact that she was the one who broke it off with McLaggen a month ago. She went on to sob about this and that, and Sirius sighed and told her if she wasn't ready to date someone else, she shouldn't have said yes when he asked her out. She apologised, but Sirius waved her off. He wasn't in the mood for this. Not ever, really. So he dumped her (at least, that is what he told everyone he'd done, even though it was pretty much a mutual decision) and found a new girl to go out with within a day.

Luckily, he'd broken it off with her on a Thursday, so he had Friday night free to take the new girl out. They went to Hogsmeade, and it was quite nice. Currently, Sirius was leant back on the edge of the bed, his arms folded behind his head. There was a smug grin on his face. He'd had a lovely time with Marianne. She was well easy; a few light touches, a handful of kisses and she was practically gagging for it.

When he got back from the pub, though, he found that he was alone in the dorm, which was surprising. Usually, Remus would be there doing his homework or reading a book. Sirius had come back about two hours ago, and by now, he was getting quite fed up waiting for Moony. He knew Prongs had Quidditch training and afterwards, the team would go out for a beer in Hogsmeade. Peter usually tagged along during practice, fawning over every little thing Prongs did, so he was gone as well.

Sighing, he rolled over and glanced at the expensive gold-plated watch Moony had got him last Christmas, amidst much fumbling about how he usually didn't give proper birthday presents or Christmas presents, so he'd got Sirius a watch, and did Sirius like it? Sirius had merely blinked, too shocked to say anything, but he loved that watch. Just when the big hand struck twelve, the dormitory door opened with a nasty creak, and Remus entered. The door fell into the lock with a snick behind him.

Sirius sat up and opened his mouth to ask where the hell Remus had been, but one proper look at him made him swallow his words. Moony's tie was crooked, the collar of his shirt wrongly folded and his face oddly flushed.

Sirius felt his stomach drop. Moony, he realised, had just had sex.

He didn't – he couldn't – what?

Moony spotted him and the small, self-satisfied little grin on his face faded somewhat. "Padfoot," he said, his voice hoarse, "I didn't know you'd be back yet. How was your date?"

"Fuck off," Sirius said nastily, and then turned over, pulling on the rope so that the curtains of his four-poster bed fell shut around him.

The next couple of days were a blur. Sirius carried on like he usually did, but he could not get the scenes of the last week out of mind. Moony laughing candidly with Valerie, Moony rejecting Evangeline Mibbs, Moony tutoring Ambrose fucking Mynatt; Moony having sex.

It was ridiculous.

In fact, it wouldn't do.

Moony was a Marauder. He couldn't just go off and act like - well, however he was acting. It simply wasn't on. The more Sirius thought about it, the angrier he got. Who did Moony think he was? They'd worked for their reputation for ages. They were feared and admired for a reason. Sirius wasn't about to make concessions just because Moony was acting like such a twat.

So, when opportunity arose on Monday afternoon, when Sirius had a free period and Moony was lounging on his bed, a book nearly pressed against his face in his enthusiasm, Sirius took his chance.

"Oi, Moony," he said.

"What?" came the muffled response, a few seconds later.

"For fuck's sake! Can you put your book away for one second, I've got something to ask," Sirius said.

Remus sat up, glancing at him curiously. Sirius hesitated a little. Moony was a bit like a girl, really. All innocent big eyes, quiet voice. Sirius pursed his lips.

"Moony, just what you're doing, it needs to stop, yeah?"

"What?" Remus asked, blinking.

"You going off with girls and tutoring all these people. Just knock it off."

"What?" Remus said again, but this time it sounded incredulous.

"Are you trying to be funny?" Sirius asked, irritated.

"Not really. I'm wondering why you're insisting on acting like a mental case, actually," Remus responded.

"What? I'm not."

"You want me to not talk to people? To not tutor people? You're mad," said Remus, who then stood up to loosen his tie and change into a new pair of trousers.

Sirius stood up as well, annoyed. "Look," he said, "it's not that hard, yeah."

"Of course it's not hard," Remus laughed, "more like what you're asking is just plain ridiculous."

"It's not!" Sirius said, angrily. Moony turned round, chucking his dirty trousers down the laundry chute before buttoning up the fresh pair he had on (Moony liked his trousers with many buttons, for reasons Sirius's didn't know).

"Oi! Would you listen? I'm talking to you!" said Sirius.

"No, you're just being a prat," said Remus.

Sirius narrowed his eyes. Why did Remus have to be so fucking annoying? Why couldn't he just agree to Sirius's request and be done with it? Before he could rightly process it, he was stood in front of Remus, and he felt magic well up in his veins and explode out of him into the room, black and red coming at Remus from every possible angle, roaring into life.

Remus was distracted, glancing around the room. Sirius snarled; he just tugged Remus forward, his nails digging into Remus's shoulders, and kissed him, their teeth clacking together in his anger. It took a split-second, but then Remus was responding with equal anger, his fingers tangling in Sirius's hair as he opened his mouth. Sirius felt rather than saw Remus's magic breaking free and melting with his.

A heartbeat later, he found himself on the other end of the room, sagging against the wall, his head pounding hard. He groaned, feeling like he was suffering from a bad hangover. His vision was blurred and filled with black spots. Moony'd just tossed him up against a wall. He blinked and shook his head, trying to get his eyes to focus properly.

On the opposite end of the room, Remus stood, breathing heavily. His magic was coiling dangerously around him, battling Sirius's, which was steadily collapsing. Remus's magic, satisfied, folded back onto itself, back into Remus. "Fuck you," Remus snapped, and he was gone, leaving Sirius with a thumping, vengeful headache and a vague thought of, but Moony never swears.

After that, Remus avoided him like the plague. Whenever Sirius attempted to talk to him, Remus would brush him off. This, of course, annoyed Sirius to no end. The only way Remus would pay any attention to him was when Sirius was being a complete twat. Now, Sirius didn't mind being a complete twat, but it was getting a bit annoying having to keep up the act.

When their last class of the day – Charms – was over, Sirius, without even thinking, said, "Oi, Moons, are you coming to watch Prongs practice tonight or what?"

Remus froze, but gave no other indication that he'd heard Sirius shout at him. He finished packing, threw his bag carelessly over his shoulder and then exited the classroom. Sirius, who was suddenly painfully reminded of why Remus didn't talk to him, scowled. What was Remus's problem?

He needed to get some flying done. He liked Quidditch well enough, but he didn't really care for being on the team, so he was just a reserve. However, since he was quite good, James usually ended up insisting Sirius practice on his own or attend the team's, so that he could call on Sirius during a game. Because Prongs asked, Sirius did it, but that didn't mean he liked it all the time.

When he arrived at Gryffindor Tower, snarling, "Dragon's egg," to the Fat Lady when she made the mistake of asking him for the password, Sirius found that the common room wasn't deserted, as he'd hoped. Evans was sat on the sofa, her legs draped over James's lap. James was reading a book. Sirius snorted.

"Prongs, 'tis a wonder, thou hast tamed a curst shrew," Sirius said.

Evans looked up and glared at him. James simply turned the page. "Moony's up in the dorm. Stop being a wanker. Talk to him. Don't insult my girlfriend."

Sirius was even more annoyed that James caught the Sticking Curse Sirius aimed at him as he headed for the stairs. "In no particular order!" James shouted after him. Sirius threw the dormitory door shut in reply. Remus, naturally, was nowhere to be found. This annoyed Sirius even more, and when it got to dinner time, he'd counted. Remus had been avoiding him for nearly a full week, now. It was fucking loopy, is what it was.

When it was time for dinner, Sirius went down and took his usual spot across from Remus. Remus pretended not to notice him, not even when Marianne came over and took a place next to Sirius, giggling about Sirius's hand on her knee.

Half-way through dinner, Sirius looked up. He managed to catch Remus's eye while Prongs was half-way through fawning over Evans, attempting to feed her. When he was sure Remus was watching, he slowly, very slowly, licked his lips. Remus's eyes narrowed and moments later, Sirius felt a sharp pain in his shin.

"Fucking ow, Moony," he scowled, rubbing the skin there with his other leg. "You are such a cunt."

Remus's mouth became a very thin line, which it always did whenever Sirius swore. Remus was a very prim and proper Christian boy, and swearing was a sin. Aware that Remus was still looking at him, Sirius draped an arm around Marianne and kissed her neck. She giggled and folded herself into him. Across him, Remus was glaring, two (highly flattering) spots of red on his cheeks.

After he'd finished dinner, Remus left the table quite quickly. Marianne kissed Sirius goodbye and went to join her friends at the Hufflepuff table. Sirius wasn't bothered; he was staring at her very short skirt as she walked off, and only pulled his gaze away when Peter tapped him on the shoulder.

"Shouldn't you go and find Moony?"

"To do what?" Sirius scoffed.

"To apologise," Peter said firmly, head titled. "I think he was quite upset."

Sirius laughed in his face, pushing himself away from the table. Peter threw him a look, but quickly ran out of the hall after James. Sirius smiled, shoving his hands in his pockets and following them at a leisurely pace.

It was the next day. Marianne, who had thankfully fully grasped the concept of studying with Sirius, had just gone off to class, leaving Sirius by himself in the library. There was a reason Sirius avoided the library. It smelled like Father's study, and he was generally not in the mood to deal with anything that was even remotely related to The Most Noble and Ancient House of Twats.

To further his anger, Prongs was out with Evans (it was ridiculous; just two weeks ago, she hated him) and Peter had shacked up with Valerie (after Sirius explicitly reassured him it was all right), and with Moony nowhere to be seen, Sirius was stuck in the library by himself, and he wasn't really keen on the thought.

Besides, he thought bitterly, as he found himself subconsciously heading towards the Muggle Studies section, where Remus preferred to study, it wasn't as if Moony was actually talking to him now.

"It's more like this," came Remus's voice and Sirius was quite ready to hit something. Remus, maybe. This was fucking ridiculous, how could he keep running into Remus at regular intervals? It was like something out of those trashy romance novels Wormtail liked to read. Still, he couldn't stop himself from looking, really.

Remus appeared to be drawing some kind of diagram upon a piece of parchment, attempting to illustrate how something worked to Mynatt, who was sat there, hopelessly staring at Moony.

"And then you do this," Remus explained, pointing at a particular point on the diagram.

"Hang on," Mynatt said, "let us have a look."

Mynatt scooted his chair over to where Remus was sat, leaning over his shoulder. Remus didn't appear to notice. Only when Mynatt called his name did Remus turn his face. Mynatt then lowered his and kissed Remus softly.

Sirius felt an uncomfortable lurch in his stomach as he watched Mynatt kiss Remus – and Remus kiss back, at that – and before he could truly realise what he was doing, his magic was pouring out, toxic, floating through the air. It poked and prodded at Mynatt's robes, scanning the web of protective spells the fabric was soaked with. Easily finding a weak spot, the magic pushed through the expensive Italian fabric and the collar of Mynatt's robes caught fire.

Mynatt yelped and attempted to douse the flames while at the same time trying to pry open the latch on his robes so that he could pull them off. Remus tried to help, but he soon realised that it was magical fire – Wizard's Breath, to be precise – and thus a fire which could only be extinguished when the instigator felt like turning it off. And, Sirius thought, as he glared at Mynatt, he really wasn't keen on turning it off any time soon.

Remus, though, who'd always been too clever for his own good, recognised something, and suddenly, he was looking straight at Sirius, who was standing between two bookcases, staring at the two of them. Sirius looked right back, tilting his chin up haughtily as he turned on his heel and left, the cries of Mynatt stopping immediately.

Wizard's Breath not only went out when the instigator wanted it to; it left absolutely no magical trace. Needless to say, it was one of the first spells Sirius had been taught when he was little.

He couldn't say he was surprised when Remus cornered him that evening and asked him what the hell he was playing at. Sirius didn't apologise, merely shrugged when Remus pressed him for an explanation.

"Mynatt's a wanker," he added, when Remus did nothing but stare at him, puzzled.

The strange thing about it, though, was that Remus didn't appear to be very upset at all with Sirius the following days. Sirius heard from Prongs that Remus had taken time off tutoring; he'd told Professor McGonagall it was interfering with his own school-work. This, in itself, was strange, because Remus loved tutoring. He loved teaching people things they didn't know and explaining the magical theory behind a charm or a rune. Fucking boring, but Moony liked it.

Sirius had no clue why Remus would watch him in class or during Fucking 'Mportant Marauder Meetings (dubbed so by Wormtail after a night of bad Russian whiskey). He couldn't quite figure it out. When he asked Remus about it though, after class one day, Remus simply went, "I'm not doing anything, Padfoot. Are you sure you're all right?" and then Sirius would feel like a headcase badgering Moony all the time.

"I've got nothing to hide," he said, when he caught Remus looking at him in the dormitory. "You can look all you want."

Remus simply smiled at him, and Sirius threw him a suspicious look over his shoulder as he left the dormitory and went on a date with Anna.

When he returned to the dormitory a few hours later, grinning like a cat that had got the cream, he was surprised to find Remus waiting up for him. Prongs and Wormtail had fucked off to Quidditch practice, apparently, if their made-up beds were any indication.

"Hi," Sirius said, giving the dormitory door a little tap so that it fell into the lock.

"H'lo," responded Remus.

When it was evident Remus wasn't going to say anything else, Sirius blinked at him, then shrugged and made his way over to his bed. Anna was all right, really, but it had been a one-off for both of them. She was a mental case, went on and on about her father this and how she was betrothed that. That was why Sirius usually avoided dating the pureblood ones; they were absolutely mad.

"So, if I understand correctly," said Remus, interrupting Sirius's train of thought. Sirius looked round. "You're allowed to date, but I can't interact with anyone?"

Sirius sighed and tugged his jumper over his head. "Moony," he said, "you're acting like a Marauder outside of the Marauders. That's what's wrong."

"Oh, I see," Remus responded. Sirius nodded and started on his trousers. He got the strange feeling, though, that he was being watched and when he looked up, he found that Remus was indeed watching him. His eyes were thoughtful, as if he was thinking something over. Sirius found himself getting a bit uncomfortable under Remus's gaze, which wasn't something he usually felt.

"What?" he said, eventually.

"C'mere, Padfoot," Remus responded, and Sirius could do nothing more but blink at him. He felt rather than saw Remus's magic pour out of him, filling the room with comforting white and blue magic. Sirius felt himself be lulled and when Remus tilted his head, he thought it might be a very good idea to go over to Remus's bed. It was just … Remus had asked, hadn't he?

And so he sat down on Remus's mattress, which sagged under their combined weight. When Remus leant into him, the pull of the magic left, but Sirius didn't really feel like going anywhere else. And then Remus was kissing him. He liked kissing Remus, he decided. Remus's lips were chapped, but soft.

It was ridiculous, really. Remus kissed like a boy, all hard angles and varying pressure. Sirius had no idea when he'd come to like exactly what was happening now, but when Remus pushed his hand under Sirius's shirt, he thought hazily that he really, really liked it quite a lot. His hand tangled in Remus's shirt and he pushed Remus back onto the bed, straddling him.

Remus broke the kiss and made a keening noise in the back of his throat, which made Sirius shiver. Remus was already dressed for bed, and Sirius greedily made use of it, sliding his fingers under the waistband of Remus's trousers. He couldn't believe Remus was allowing him to do this. When Remus unbuttoned his own shirt and tossed it aside, Sirius couldn't help but stare at him, his fingers trembling.

"I want to -" Sirius started, fumbling, the words disappearing at the back of his throat.

"Took you long enough," Remus said, softly, and Sirius laughed, a sound that was muffled when Remus tugged him closer by the shirt and kissed him properly.

It suddenly made a whole lot of sense. Everything, really. How he'd been jealous of Remus paying attention to anyone else. How Remus's magic lulled him and soothed him, so unlike the magic of Valerie or Marianne, which just made him feel slightly on edge and ready for a fight. But, really, this wasn't the time for grand revelations, because Remus had just slipped a hand under Sirius's boxers and at Sirius's shocked gasp, laughed low in the back of his throat.

"How about I fuck you?" Remus suggested and all Sirius could do was nod his shaky agreement.