Rating: R, just to be safe.
Feedback will make me very happy.
Author's Note: Yes, I'm a big sappy Remus/Sirius shipper, so here's a
lazy little sketch of them working on the Maurader's Map in probably their sixth
or seventh year at Hogwarts. My inspiration for this was a gorgeous picture by
the amazingly talented Nasubionna, which can be found at
http://www.nasubionna.net/hp/marauders/authors.html. (Look around her website,
it's well worth your while!!)
Obviously this presupposes that Remus and
Sirius are in a more-than-platonic relationship.
"...Are you sure those are the right proportions for Dumbledore's office?"
"I've been there more times than you, Moony, I'm fairly certain."
"Who would think that your constant getting in trouble would come in handy?"
"Are you helping me or not?"
"Right." Remus turned to the books all over Sirus's bed, which were all haphazardly marked with bits of parchment. Sirius was sitting on the floor with the map itself. "Are you really sure this map is worth all the trouble, Sirius?"
"Of course it is! This will be our legacy! We can pass it down to our children someday."
"Children?" Remus leaned around to look at Sirius and raised an eyebrow. "Do I have to explain basic biology to you again?"
"Well not our children, of course...James and Peter might have kids someday...and when they come to Hogwarts, they'll be able to navigate the corridors fearlessly."
"Not unless we really do fix everything that was wrong with the last one," Remus said with a teasing grin.
"The last one was fine...just a couple bugs to be worked out, that's all..."
"...that last map prototype labeled Professor McGonagall as a grandfather clock!"
"What was she doing wandering about the halls at night, that's what I'd like to know..."
"I'd like to know why you didn't notice that the grandfather clock was moving!"
"Well we didn't get caught, anyway. What we'd do without James's invisibility cloak, I'll never know."
"We'd do less wandering and be less likely to get in trouble in the first place, probably."
"And where would the fun be in that?"
"Much as I hate to admit it, you're probably right," Remus said with a smile, running a hand absently through Sirius's hair. "This is a very complex set of spells though," he said, his eyes running over the piles of books and sloppily written lists about glitches to fix and things to research. "I just hope we can manage it." With this, he sat up and picked up the nearest book, Artificial Magical Intelligence: Techniques and Moral Debates. He skimmed through it in silence, while Sirius continued drawing the rooms of the castle, occasionally checking his work with a map in Hogwarts, A History. Rarely was he so intent on his schoolwork. For a few moments, the only sounds were the turning of pages and the scratch of a quill on paper. Sirius spoke suddenly.
"D'you think "tickle the pear" is a clear enough instruction?"
"What?"
"For the passage into the kitchens...you know, through that fruit bowl painting."
"Oh, right. Sounds good to me. Just make sure you're clear about which painting it is, there's a lot of them in that corridor."
"Third one on the left, right?"
Remus thought for a moment. "Yes."
"Alright then."
Remus jotted something on a piece of parchment and jammed it into the book he was looking at, then abandoned it on the bed to rest his hands on Sirius's shoulders, watching the castle take shape on the parchment. Sirius was currently drawing in the kitchens themselves.
"Think I should put the fireplace in?"
"I don't see why...it's not a secret passage to anywhere, is it?"
"Not that I know of...but now that you mention it, maybe we'd better check it out. No stone unturned, and all that."
"We'll send James. The kitchens are his favourite destination, anyway." Remus wrapped his arms around Sirius's neck, nuzzling at the other boy's face with his nose. "You know, this map was mostly James's idea, really..." Remus trailed off, planting a kiss and a gentle bite at the edge of Sirius's jaw. Sirius closed his eyes and leaned back against the bed, exhaling softly. "...and James isn't even here to help us. Where is he, anyway?"
"Out with Lily. I think they're walking around the lake."
Remus smirked. "A likely story. And Peter?"
"In the library, trying to finish his Potions essay. I think he was hoping to find someone there who'd be willing to help him with it, since I told him we were working on the map."
"Mm. You know, I really think that we should work on the map when we're all together," Remus said, taking the quill from Sirius's hand and trailing it up his neck slowly. Sirius wiggled and grabbed it back, and gasped as the feather's trail was re-traced by Remus's tongue. Sirius tried not to skip a beat in their banter nonetheless.
"Do you?"
"Yes," Remus said, sliding his hands softly over Sirius's shoulders and chest. "Because I hate to waste the opportunities when we're not. All. Together," he finished, punctuating the last three words with languid kisses to the hollow of Sirius's throat.
"I agree wholeheartedly," Sirius replied, keeping his voice miraculously steady as Remus's hand snaked down to caress the growing bulge beneath his robes.
"Good, because I'd hate for this to turn into a nasty argument," Remus said, giving Sirius's erection an affectionate squeeze as he sat up to slide off the bed, outstretching a hand in an implicit instruction to get up off the floor. Sirius grabbed the proffered hand and hopped to his feet, dropping the map and quill to the stone floor. He pulled Remus into a tight embrace and a deep kiss, entangling himself only to push the robes off Remus's shoulders, and slide his hands up under the grey sweater Remus wore to rub calloused hands over the smooth, warm planes of his back.
"You know, Moony, if I were making a map of your body instead of the castle, I could do it with my eyes closed."
"Nice to know that even after all your sneaking about, I'm still more familiar terrain than the secret passages to Hogsmeade."
"Nothing from the cellar of Honeydukes could be as sweet as you, Remus," Sirius said, running his tongue lightly along the edge of Remus's jaw to taste the sweetness he spoke of.
"Flattery, my dear Padfoot, will get you everywhere," Remus said, gazing at Sirius with half-closed eyes.
"Even into bed with you?" Sirius asked, making his face a scarily accurate mask of a puppy begging for table scraps.
"Especially into bed with me," Remus said, grabbing Sirius's hand and leading him to said place, hastily drawing the velvet curtains.
Sirius emerged from the bed a couple hours later, robe over his arm, shirt on inside out, hair mussed and cloudy-eyed from a post-coital nap. He shuffled to his bed, and was justifiably startled to find James laying on it, chewing on the end of his quill, map in front of him. He looked up with mock annoyance at his sleepy friend.
"You only drew in half of the kitchen, Sirius."