On Warm, Sunny Days …
June. Early June, so it hadn't started to get too warm to be pleasant, like it did in July, so that the only comfortable place was submerged in ice cold water or in front of a fan. Of course, as it was June, that also meant that the fifth year students of Hogwarts needed to be studying for their OWLs. Well … most students needed to be studying for their OWLs; and most of the ones that probably didn't need to be studying were doing so anyway (something he would probably never understand; why waste the day away with your nose in six different books at once when you already pretty much know what they say?) … However, as he didn't fall into either one of those categories, he was in fact not stuck inside the Gryffindor Common Room or the Library under Madame Pince's scrutiny. No; the heir to the Moste Noble and Ancient House of Black was Moste Certainly not going to be shut up in a stuffy castle on such a lovely day as it was. The sun was shining, there was a lovely, cool breeze blowing … The only thing that would make this better would be if he had someone to pull a prank with. Jamesy was busy making eyes at Evans, (to each his own), and Peter had a table in the Common Room piled high with books, as he was one of the lot who needed to look over his notes before he took a test. That only left one person, and one would have of course assumed that Remus J. Lupin was locked up in the Library, which was one of the werewolf's favorite haunts, especially when he was to be studying. There were times he had known the bloke to take up residence in the place, and not leave for the entire week before exams …
However, when he'd gone to find his mate (and possibly harass the living daylights out of him until Remus threatened again to hex his ears off like he had done earlier that morning), he in fact hadn't been in the library. Which didn't make any sense; whenever one could not locate one's best werewolf mate, one knew that there were one of two places he could be – either the Library or the Infirmary. And, the former was infinitely more likely than the latter, because it was the week before OWLs. But, just to be on the safe side, Sirius had made the trek across the castle to the Infirmary, expecting to find his sometimes mildly clumsy mate being patched up by the resident Med-Witch. However, Madame Opium (as she had been so nicknamed, due to her first name of "Poppy") had expressed to the brunette that in fact none of his friends had been by to see her in quite some time, and she hoped that it was due to the fact that they were studying and not getting into any trouble. He had of course assured her that that was directly the case (he always was rather smooth at making up stories) and thank you, he'd look elsewhere for Remus. Which leads us to where Sirius Black was at the moment; which was at a loss. It was like … a riddle that he didn't even know how to go about solving – at first, he had thought it would be fun, you know, to try and play hide and seek (even though Remus wasn't technically aware he was being sought out), and so, had decided not to use his rather developed nose, because that may have been cheating. The fact that there was no one aware of his game to actually call it cheating besides himself made no difference; the fact still stood that it was probably cheating, and so he resolved not to do it.
That had been nearly two hours ago. He was getting a little fed up with this whole 'searching' thing; it had gotten old after the first hour. By now, however, it was no longer a matter of cheating; the fifth year Gryffindor felt that he had been bested by Remus J. Lupin, and that simply would not do. Sirius had checked the room of requirement, the empty classrooms, (some of which had not quite been so empty …), Merlin, he had even gone down into the dungeons… It was safe to say that he was pretty sure that Remus either had somehow divined Sirius' scheme to bother the poor werewolf, had borrowed Jamesy's invisibility cloak, was hiding out somewhere inconspicuously, in a chair or something, and studying. (However, that option wasn't valid either, because he'd gone back to the common room when it had occurred to him and had in fact checked – the cloak was still in James' trunk.) … So, Sirius Black had just gained the middle name "stumped" to go with "maturity". But I mean, honestly - Remus had to be somewhere in the castle, right?
Oh; Sirius Old Boy, you are a genius – and never let anyone tell you otherwise, he had thought to himself as it occurred to him; Remus didn't have to be inside the castle. The likelihood that he was outside the castle was about the same as the likelihood that he would get on a broom voluntarily and do laps around the Quidditch Pitch, (considering he was horridly afraid of heights, this gives you an idea as to why the suggestion of him being outside had taken so long to occur to Sirius), as Remus had sensitive eyes and didn't really like sitting in the sun – and as aforementioned, it was a rather sunny day outside. But, as Sirius was out of options, he decided that he in fact no longer wished to be inside the castle, and he might as well take his search to the castle grounds. That being said, he had started at the lake, which, in retrospect was probably also not the most logical place to search for Remus (because the Marauders all knew that the wolf also didn't go anywhere near water), but, as it was such a nice, lazy, warm day, he also wasn't completely thinking right either. Cut him some slack.
Of course, then he had walked around the castle to the Quidditch Pitch; and, of course, hadn't found his mate there either – which, again, was probably to be expected, because, while it was likely he would find James there if he didn't know where his fellow fifth year was, their Prefect was not as likely to be there if there wasn't a game going on and James hadn't dragged them down with Peter to watch him practice. Sirius had of course, continued around the castle, searching vaguely as he came across the Whomping Willow, making sure to make a wide circle around it; vaguely, the thought of that annoying little blighter Snivellus having his great sodding nose pounded in by the tree crossed his mind, and he got a good laugh out of that – but, kept walking, as that thought didn't really help him find Remus, now did it? Making his way forward, he had all but given up on finding the Prefect, absently walking towards the castle to perhaps find the previously mentioned Slytherin and doing … something to him (of course it wasn't as much fun if there wasn't anyone to hex right alongside him) when he suddenly paused as the wind picked up, nose twitching. Alright; so that had been an accident - he hadn't meant to use his nose or anything. So it didn't count. But it had given him a clue, and he turned around, looking back and forth for a moment before noticing that underneath a tree that was semi-nearby, someone was sitting in the shade.
Glancing around, after a moment's pause, the heir to the Moste Noble and Ancient House of Black started towards the tree in his sights carefully; and after a few moments, he realized that indeed, it was Remus J. Lupin underneath the tree – he had found his quarry. (And he didn't count it as cheating that the wind had just happened to pick up, and he just happened to catch the smell of books - parchment and ink – with a faint underlying scent of fur and the forbidden forest, which was exactly what Remus smelled like.) And so, Sirius, being Sirius, and therefore ever so serious … Immediately dropped to the ground on his doggy belly, panting under his breath as his heartbeat sped up just a little bit; now that he'd found his quarry, he of course had to capture it. Or, at the very least, pounce on him and snuffle his hair a bit until he was swatted off – but eh; you say tomato and all that …
Carefully, Padfoot started to crawl on his stomach through the grass; he knew that if he made even the slightest wrong move, Moony would look up, see him, and all his fun would be spoilt. And he couldn't very well have that, now could he? And so, any onlooker would therefore be getting a rather amusing show as they watched a dog do its impression of a snake, or possibly some large reptile. Actually, he preferred to think of himself as some kind of stalking panther, but … Well, that was neither here nor there, as he continued sneaking up on Remus J. Lupin … Closer and closer, the fierce hunter (huntress? Didn't the females do the hunting ..? Well, no matter … Details, details, and all that) stalked until … He got within range and realized that the werewolf was in fact sleeping. Well. Padfoot visibly deflated, covering his face with his overly-large black doggy paws. That ruined all the fun; he wasn't that much of a berk, that he would wake a mate when he was trying to get a few winks … That just wasn't very Englishman-ly and all that.
Eventually, he uncovered his face, looking up at the sleeping blond sitting in the shade; he had been studying, it looked like – he had a book on his lap, and the bag next to him had a few more, as well as a few rolls of parchment, and some quills, and an inkwell … Very strange, that – Remus, again, wasn't one that particularly liked to go outside – usually he and Jamesy and Petey had to drag the boy outside once a week so he didn't look quite so much like he was about to keel over … That was usually on their romp to Hogsmeade, when they were stocking up on supplies from Zonko's (so, essential to their pranking, of course). Normally, he didn't see Remus outside though; and much less often did he ever see Remus sleeping. The werewolf was normally twice as on guard after that incident with the ear piercing – but honestly, Sirius had just forgotten about the silver thing and Remus' being a werewolf in favor of trying to be discreet and get the lad's ear pierced before Remus woke up and spotted him (though he supposed it was all for the better that Remus had woken up, because piercing a werewolf's ear with a silver needle is just not on, or so he'd been told) … But, Moony was sleeping now; looked like he had been taking notes or something, an open book on his lap with parchment on top of that. There was a quill in his left hand that had partially fallen down, so he was only half holding it; and Remus wasn't one to fall asleep while studying. The warm day must've gotten to him – not that Sirius could blame him.
In his scrutiny, his attention absently moved over the blond's face; it was relaxed, and for once, not thinking, like it normally was – Moony was always attempting to figure something out: why someone had said something, or how to do a new spell, or what some bloody passage in some bloody tome could have meant in six different ways … bloke was bloody boring, or at least, Sirius had thought so when he'd first met him. He'd gotten to know Remus, and had learned that, while bookish, that didn't automatically mean boring, (though to his credit, normally it did) … Absently, he found himself regretting that Moony's eyes were closed; and not because it meant that he was sleeping, or because it meant he wasn't going to talk to or entertain the easily bored fifth year Animagus. He liked Moony's eyes; they weren't brown, but they weren't really yellow either, unless it was on the day of the full moon. However, that was the only time he ever told Remus he liked looking at his eyes; when he had an excuse, because they were certainly nothing if not out of the ordinary in that day-glow yellow color. So, he had an excuse to look at them. But I mean, it was just a bit off, you know, staring into one of your best male mate's eyes, when you yourself were male as well. Just wasn't done, yanno? Leastwise if there wasn't anything particularly interesting at first glance, about them. Ah, but there's where you were wrong; most pairs of eyes were very interesting, you know. Told a lot about the person whom they belonged to – and that was no joke. It was hard to tell when Remus J. Lupin was feeling something other than annoyed or exasperated – and usually, that was only when the Mauraders were attempting to get him to do some prank or another with them.
Padfoot laid his head on his paws for a moment, looking up at Moony, who was still sleeping in the shade, just considering. Considering lots of things; and normally, Sirius didn't like that. Sitting still, being quiet … Thinking … It was all overrated, in his opinion. However, something about the warm sunshine … And the cool shade, and the nice breeze … Kept him content to just lay there, next to one of his best mates, head on his paws, tail fwipping back and forth languidly. He liked this, actually; which was strange, but, on this equally strange, warm afternoon, it wasn't to be questioned, he supposed. And, he didn't really feel like it either, as he let out a doggy yawn, stretching a little bit. After a few moments, he slowly, languidly, sat up, cocking his head to one side; and then, without really thinking about it, the large black dog leaned forwards and licked the blonde's cheek. Just a small flick of his tongue; not the normally obnoxious licks he normally gave to annoy any one of the Mauraders. Just a little kiss, before laying down next to Remus in the shade and falling asleep … …
… … A small smile pulled at the corner of Moony's lips about five minutes later, and his right hand, which was next to Padfoot, raised slowly, and he gently started to pet him, going back to reading his Defense Against the Dark Arts Book.