Chocolate and Valentines
Remus is eleven, and hiding in the dormitory, away from the chaos that has predictably erupted from James creating an elaborate scheme to ask Lily Evans out. Sirius swings open the door, in that violent, exploding way Sirius Black does everything, and grins at him. "Chocolate?"
Remus shrugs. "Sure."
Sirius sits next to Remus, so close their shoulders are touching, and tosses him a chocolate. "That's the best part of this stupid holiday," he says, his mouth full of nougat. "Birds give you chocolates galore."
Remus doesn't bother to mention that girls don't give him chocolate, that if you don't have gray eyes set off by long lashes, or aristocratic high cheekbones, you're just not as attractive to girls. Instead, he smiles, nods, and pops a chocolate in his mouth.
Sirius grins at him. "Happy Valentine's Day."
In second year, Valentine's Day is right after the full moon, and Remus is lying in the hospital wing, pretending to sleep. He feels a sudden warmth press against him, and his eyes fly open. "Whossit?" he gasps, heart pounding.
Sirius sticks his head over Remus' face. "Morning," he says, entirely too chipper for the hour.
Remus tries to smile, ignoring the pain and the soreness and the feeling that he just wants to curl up and die. "What are you doing here? It's seven in the morning. You never get up until after ten, at the earliest."
Sirius ignores him. "How was it?"
Remus attempts a shrug. "The usual."
Sirius looks at him, his gray eyes darkening with…something, but it's not pity, and Remus is grateful. "Want some chocolate?" Sirius offers, sticking a heart shaped box under his nose.
"You got this for me?" Remus teases, helping himself to a caramel.
Sirius grins. "Anything for you, Remus!" He bats his eyelashes. "No, but really, it's Valentine's Day."
"Oh," Remus says, rolling his eyes slightly. "The chocolate has already started pouring in for you, I see."
Sirius shifts uncomfortably, and rests his head on Remus' shoulder. "I'm glad you're okay," he says quietly.
"It's Molly Prewett," James explodes, pacing around the dormitory. "Aside from Lily, of course, she's the best girl in our year. And she asked you out. On Valentine's Day! And what did you say?"
"I said no," Sirius snaps, glaring at James.
"No!" James repeats, throwing up his hands. "Have I taught you nothing? And you, yes you, were the one who said she was an excellent snogger. And it's Valentine's Day. You should know that girls always like to snog a lot on Valentine's Day!"
"And how would you know?" Sirius says nastily. "Your mother teach you that?"
James throws a sock at him without missing a beat. "No, yours. Really, Sirius, you're insane. Even Peter has a date!"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Peter asks from his bed, mildly offended.
"Remus doesn't," Sirius says defiantly.
"Well, Remus," James makes a gesture of impatience, and Sirius raises his eyebrows.
"Are you saying that Remus couldn't get a date for Valentine's?"
Remus decides to intervene, because Sirius is looking dangerously close to showing the Black in him. "I don't want a date. Which is what James meant. Look, let's just drop this subject."
"Besides, Potter," Sirius says, smirking. "You should be grateful that I turned down Molly. Now she's going out with you. After Lily turned you down. Twice."
James makes a crude gesture at him. "Peter, let's go. On our dates. We'll just leave Sirius and Remus here to snog each other out of desperation."
Peter laughs, and they leave, and Remus raises his eyebrows at Sirius, who is blushing fiercely. "Got any chocolate?"
This year, Sirius has a date, and so does James and Peter, and Remus pretends he's far too busy for silly things like dating, and they pretend to believe him.
Sirius is the first one back and Remus smiles at him absently. "How was it?"
Sirius shrugs, and throws himself on Remus' bed. "Fine. How was your night?"
Remus mimics his shrug. "Nothing exciting."
Something flickers in Sirius' eyes, and he lurches across the bed, his lips colliding against Remus' cheek in a very sloppy, wet, fourteen-year-old-boy kiss. He pulls back and laughs slightly. "Well, happy Valentine's Day anyway."
"M- Remus," Sirius says, grinning in a terrifying fashion. "We have something to tell you!"
"Or show you," James corrects, also grinning madly.
Peter wiggles his eyebrows. "Something you'll like."
Remus gulps. "If this is about showing true Valentine's Day spirit by charming all the girls' robes transparent, I think I'll pass."
"It's an even better Valentine's Day present!" Sirius cries, grabbing Remus' hand. "Come on, come on!" He bounces a little, and pulls Remus up the dormitory stairs, James and Peter right behind.
Once they're in the dormitory, Remus frowns. "Okay, what is it?"
"Shall we, boys?" James asks grandly.
"We shall!" Sirius practically shouts, and a second later, he's disappeared, and a giant, black, shaggy dog is standing in his place, panting wildly.
"Wha-" Remus asks slowly, turning to James for an explanation, but instead of James, there is a large stag blinking at him. A squeak comes from the floor, and a rat is twitching at him, and Peter is nowhere to be found.
Remus sits down, clutching his heart. He wonders if he is having a heart attack. He tries not to hyperventilate.
The dog pads over to him, covering him with sloppy licks, and Remus stares into the dog's knowing eyes. "Sirius?" he breathes, wondering if he's gone completely insane.
The dog barks in delight, and then Sirius is on the floor, grinning up at him, and James laughs, and Peter makes a sound of triumph, and the animals are gone.
"Do you like it?" Sirius asks, grinning so hard that it looks painful.
"What is it?" Remus chokes out, and James laughs.
"We became Animagi for you," he answers simply. "To be there with you for full moons."
"I'm a rat," Peter says unnecessarily.
"So he can jab the knot on the Whomping Willow," James explains. "And Sirius and I are big enough so we can control the wolf."
"Moony," Sirius chirps.
Peter nods eagerly. "We even have nicknames! I'm Wormtail, because of my tail and all, and James is Prongs, and Sirius is Padfoot, and you're Moony."
"Do you like it?" Sirius asks again.
"I don't know what to say," Remus manages, feeling like he's going to cry. "No one has ever- thank you."
"Don't mention it, mate," James says happily. "Peter, let's go and see if we got any more chocolates." He throws a meaningful look at Sirius, clasps Remus on the back, and heads downstairs, Peter at his heels.
Remus looks at Sirius, tears leaking out of his eyes. "Sorry, I'm being a baby, I-"
Sirius hoists himself onto the bed and wipes away Remus' tears with the pad of his thumb. "Shut up," he whispers, and then he's kissing Remus, properly snogging him, and Remus doesn't feel like crying anymore.
"I have a date with Lily Evans!" James shouts for what must be the twenty-seventh time in the last half hour.
Sirius, yet again, pats him on the back. "Nice going, Prongs. Now, just don't screw it up, because this is probably your last chance ever with her."
James immediately pales, and Remus glares at Sirius. "James, you're going to be fine. It's Valentine's Day, you're going to a cutesy restaurant with the girl of your dreams, what could possibly go wrong?"
James blanches. "Off the top of my head, six hundred and seventy-two."
Sirius pulls a sympathetic face. "Yes, but you won't have any prank supplies with you, so now it's done to…six hundred and two."
James thinks for a moment. "Six hundred and four, but yeah, I guess that's better odds."
Peter and Remus share a bewildered look, and Remus claps his hands briskly. "Right, well, James, you're going to have a wonderful time with Lily, and Peter, you with Wanda, and Sirius…."
"I've decided to fly solo this year," Sirius says breezily. "You, Moony?"
"Me too," Remus says, and their eyes meet, and Sirius grins.
"Oh God," James says suddenly. "It's time. I have to go, and oh Merlin, Sirius, is my hair sticking up?"
Remus winces as Sirius nods solemnly. "Yes, but it was when you asked her, and she said yes, so maybe she has a thing for sticky-uppy hair."
James gives Sirius a panicked look. "I don't know if I can do this," he whimpers pathetically.
Sirius takes James by the shoulders and shakes him. "You are a Marauder!" he shouts into James' face. "You will not let us down, you will go out there and conquer."
"Yes," James says, nodding fiercely. "Conquer."
Peter smirks and pats James' shoulder. "Let's go conquer, then."
After they've left, Sirius turns to Remus and leers. "What ever shall we do for Valentine's Day?
Remus grins. "I can think of a few things."
Remus hears Sirius hurling himself up the stairs (nobody can make quite as much noise as Sirius Black when he's excited), and sighs. He sits up on his bed, and tries to act as if he was simply relaxing, not obsessing over a certain black-haired boy with a doglike laugh.
"Moony, Moony, Moony," Sirius shouts as he tumbles into the dormitory and throws the door shut behind him. "It's our last Valentine's Day at Hogwarts, ever, and guess what I have?"
Remus blinks. "A date?"
Sirius frowns. "What? No. I have chocolate though, lots and lots of chocolate." He grins and plops down on the bed besides Remus, opening up the chocolate box on the top of his teetering pile. He plucks one from the box and holds it out temptingly to Remus. "Want one?"
Remus manages to nod and takes the chocolate, closing his eyes as he places it reverently in his mouth. A slight moan escapes his lips, and Sirius cocks his head in interest. "That's bloody weird, mate," he says bluntly, and then his eyes light up. "If it's that good, though, I want to try."
Before Remus can bring himself to swallow, Sirius has launched himself across the bed and is kissing Remus, his tongue probing into Remus' mouth. The chocolate taste has blended together with the taste of Sirius, all musky dog and salt and something that Remus thinks tastes a bit like vanilla, and it's probably the most incredibly amazing taste Remus has ever experienced. Another moan escapes him, and Remus' eyes fly open. He pushes Sirius away. "Sirius."
"Yeah?" Sirius says, pushing his hair out of his eyes and grinning brightly.
"We need to…" Remus swallows and bites his lip and looks away from Sirius' beaming face. "Listen, we can't just keep doing this…this snogging without any….I mean, I like reason and logical thinking, and I just need to know why and I know that's not really your style, but I think it would be best if we acted like rational adults and discussed our reasons for this." He waves a hand weakly and prays for a giant hole to swallow him whole.
Sirius frowns. "Moony, I thought it was obvious."
"That we're just a meaningless snog every so often because we're teenage boys and we spend an inordinate amount of time together," Remus says miserably, at the same time Sirius is saying, "Because I like you, you great, daft bugger," and winks.
There's a pause, and Remus frowns. "What?"
Uncertainty flickers in Sirius' eyes. "I thought…"
"You…" Remus says, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. He feels pathetic.
"Well, I thought we were snogging because we actually liked each other, as, you know, more than friends," Sirius says, his tone a mixture of irritable and hurt.
Remus gapes. "You like me?"
"Like, love, whatever," Sirius says crossly. "I thought you knew."
"Love," Remus repeats, his brain whirling and a stupid smile crossing his face.
Sirius sighs in mock-sadness. "It's a pity that you're not as bright as you appear."
Remus is smiling too widely to even act offended. "I think I might love you too."
Sirius makes a sound of impatience. "Well, of course." And then he's catapulted himself across the bed until he's practically in Remus' lap, and they're kissing again, and Remus thinks hazily that this is even better than chocolate.
Sirius pulls back slightly, his eyes a mellow shade of gray that Remus has never seen before, but is suddenly madly fond of. "Happy Valentine's Day, Moony."
Remus grins. "Happy Valentine's Day, Padfoot," and then their lips meet again.
Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! Hit that lovely green review button, and spread the love ;)