A Slight Misunderstanding

Sixth Year

It should go without saying that I do not own Harry Potter.

"Hey," Remus greeted, his voice tinged with post-moon exhaustion. He stepped into the dormitory, closing the door silently behind him. "Peter said you wanted to see me? Is something wrong?"

"Yes, something is very wrong." James had intended to broach the conversation casually, but seeing as Remus saw through the guise of idle conversation, there was no sense in denying it.

"Oh?" When James failed to elaborate, Remus walked further in, sitting on top of his trunk at the end of the bed. He focused his amber eyes intently on his friend. It was rare that the older boy spoke seriously with any of them and, seeing as he sought Remus out instead of Sirius, this was no doubt a very important issue. "What's the matter, James?"

"What is going on between you and Sirius?"

Remus blinked, eyebrows arching at the question. "Between me and Sirius," he repeated, unsure what James was implying.

"Yes."

He tilted his head in a canine-like gesture. Last time he checked, things were perfectly fine between the two of them.

"Did you get into a fight?" James pried.

"No," he said perplexed.

"Did he do something to piss you off?"

"Not recently."

"Did he raid your secret chocolate stash?"

Remus sighed in exasperation, "No. Seriously James, there is nothing going on between us."

He ran his hands through his unkempt black hair, messing it up even further. "Then why the hell have you been avoiding him lately?"

The dormitory was filled with silence for a long while before James prodded again.

"Sirius says that you've been flaking out on him. Always coming up with some lame excuse on why you can't help him study or play a game with him. You only want to either be by yourself or spend time with the group and it's really upsetting Sirius. You know how easily Padfoot's fur gets ruffled."

Remus pursed his lips subtly. He didn't realize that Sirius would be so wounded by his distance. He always seemed to prefer James's company over Remus's after all. "I-"

"Whatever happened, you need to talk to him. I know he can be a right tool but he's also rather daft. He probably doesn't even know what he did, or that he should feel bad about it if he does know. So just tell him what happened and let him apologize, alright?"

He shook his head, sandy hair veiling his eyes. "Sirius didn't do anything wrong," he whispered.

James narrowed his eyes, adjusting his glasses almost habitually. "Then why have you been giving him the cold shoulder?"

"It's nothing, James."

He rose an imperious brow, refusing to let the matter drop.

"Really, it's nothing. I have just been going through some stuff that I need to work out by myself, alright?"

"Damn it, Moony!" he snapped, causing Remus to jump in his seat. As Remus's eyes widened in surprise, James mentally berated himself for frightening the younger boy. He continued in a slightly less hostile tone. "Look, we are a family, alright. There is no 'stuff I need to work on alone', alright? You know that if you don't tell me now I will figure it out on my own. It'll be much easier if you just get it off your chest. I might even be able to help you."

Remus shifted his weight, looking uncomfortable. After years of keeping secrets, it was hard to remember that he wasn't alone anymore. He had people he could trust. He just needed to lower his walls and let his friends in. He let out a resigned sigh before admitting the issue at hand. "I've been keeping my distance because-" Remus paused, collecting himself. "Because I l-like him."

James blinked, not comprehending. "You avoid him because you like him? How does that make any sense, Moony? So we should just avoid everyone we like? By not avoiding me and Wormtail does that mean you don't like us?"

"No," Remus whined, the strain from last night still evident in his tone. "I fancy Sirius, alright? I'm gay."

There was a sharp intake of breath. Remus could see James's eyes widen in realization before he glanced towards Sirius's bed behind him. Remus followed his gaze, hurt clearly visible in his eyes.

"Just because I'm attracted to men doesn't mean I intend to throw you onto the nearest bed," Remus almost yelled, standing up from where he had been sitting. "I would have thought you'd be a bit more understanding than that, James," he said, his tone filled with disappointment.

James shook his head frantically, grabbing Remus by his shoulders to keep him from leaving. "No, I know that. I'm sorry, Remus. I was just – I forgot that Sirius wasn't in the room, is all."

Remus narrowed his eyes in suspicion and James offered his best innocent but totally not innocent smile. Remus sighed, shrugging off James's hands but made no further motion to leave.

"So," James continued awkwardly, clearing his throat. "You fancy Padfoot, huh?"

Remus gave a small nod, his cheeks giving off a soft pink hue. "It's just been hard to be around him without, well, you know. I thought that maybe it was just a phase or something. I mean, you know how big of a flirt he is."

James nodded sagely.

"I didn't realize that I was hurting him. I didn't mean to. I was just hoping that I could work out whatever was going on with me and learn how to control it. The more I realized what I wanted, the harder it was becoming to control myself when we were alone. I really didn't want to risk ruining our friendship." Remus gnawed on his lip nervously.

Sympathy shone in his hazel eyes as he gave Remus's hand a reassuring squeeze. "You could never ruin our friendship. We're the Marauders through thick and thin, Moony. No doubt Padfoot would take your crush as a compliment."

Fear flickered across Remus's face. "You aren't going to tell him are you?"

"Me? No, of course not." James held up his hands in surrender. "I'll let you do that."

He gave his friend a small smile. "Thank you James. I'm sorry you got put in the middle of this."

"Eh, I'm used to it," he shrugged. "You know our family dynamics. I'm the father, you're the mother, Peter is the fun-loving uncle, and Sirius is the psychotic nephew that eats paste."

Remus scowled. "Why do I have to be the mother?"

"How many times a day do you remind us to do our homework? Who always brings extra toiletries from home because you know Peter always forgets toothpaste and conditioner? Has there been a morning when you haven't told Sirius to make his bed, which was later followed by an afternoon of you yelling at him for not making his bed and then doing it for him? Wasn't it you that-"

"Okay!" Remus cut in. "I get it; I'm the mother."

James laughed, enjoying his friend's flustered expression.

"I should get back to the library," he muttered, nodding to the door. "I still have another eight inches left on that herbology essay."

"Right," James nodded. "Good luck, mate."

Remus slipped out of the room almost as quietly as he came in.

As his footsteps faded, the rustling of fabric sounded as the invisibility cloak was tossed aside revealing a rather flabbergasted Sirius sitting on his own trunk. The boys made eye contact with one another, one struggling for words and the other uncertain of what sort of reaction was appropriate.

Guilt flooded James's chest. He was sick of Sirius's whining about Remus ignoring him over the past several months. Despite Sirius's insistence he didn't do anything to hurt Remus, James knew he couldn't take his word for it. He also knew that if Remus told him what was wrong and he reiterated it to Sirius, the bonehead would just laugh it off, saying Remus was probably just teasing. He had thought that if Sirius could hear it directly from Remus it would have a much better impact at correcting his behavior.

James certainly hadn't expected a love confession to come from it. Now he felt like a right jerk for tricking their friend into admitting it in front of the object of his affection.

"Moony likes me," Sirius whispered.

James gave a nervous smile. "You aren't going to tease him, right?" While he tried to keep his voice light, Sirius was well aware of the underlining tone of warning.

"Moony like-likes me," Sirius reassured, a wolfish grin splitting across his face.

"Padfoot-," he said warily.

Sirius jumped up with a massive amount of vigor, his expression akin to that of a child on Christmas morning. "I'm going to go find him."

As he charged for the door, James grabbed hold of his wrist, tugging him back. "Not so fast, Padfoot."

"But why not?" he whined, giving his best wounded puppy expression.

"Just what are you planning on saying to him?"

"What else? That I fancy him, too." Sirius gave a gesture like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

James widened his eyes in surprise. "You what?"

"I fancy him, too," Sirius repeated.

"What, is this some kind of joke? You can't mess with him like that Sirius. You know he's sensitive."

"I'm not messing with him! I really do like Remus. I just – didn't think he would be interested in me like that so I never told him."

"And this is the first time I'm hearing about this? I thought we were mates!"

"We are mates! I just didn't want to cause anything awkward between us. I thought that if you knew, you would be torn between keeping my secret and keeping us one big happy family. I also didn't want to annoy you like you annoy me with all your Evans-pining!"

"I do not pine over Evans!"

"Evans is so pretty," Sirius imitated, putting his hands together and batting his eyelashes for good measure. "I just wish she would look at me the way she looks at her astronomy books. Today Evans hexed me and it felt like I was being kissed by a butterfly when her spell turned my nose blue. Oh, what do I have to do to get Evans to touch-"

He was promptly cut off by a textbook being thrown at him, forcing him to duck for fear of a bruise on his perfectly sculpted face.

"I don't sound like that," James muttered, though he would be lying if he said he didn't say those exact words just yesterday.

"You do," Sirius affirmed, straightening his long black hair with his fingers. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a werewolf to woo."

"Wait," James said, holding up a hand. "If you approach him about what you heard, he'll know we set him up. Even if you give him a love confession, he'll still be upset that we deceived him."

"I know that," he grumbled, though his expression made it clear he hadn't thought about it. "But what am I supposed to do," he whined. "I can't just keep waiting for him to tell me how he feels. What if he never builds up the courage? Why can't I approach him?"

"You can," he reasoned. "You just need to do it tactfully. Make it seem unrelated to what happened tonight, okay?"

He scrunched up his face in thought. "Like how?"

James sighed, running his hands through his hair again. It was exhausting having to play father all the time. "I don't know. How about you go and offer to help him with his essay?"

"But it's herbology! That's the most boring of all subjects!"

"And while you're helping him," James continued as if uninterrupted, "do something sweet. Like, I don't know, compliment him or something. Maybe stare lovingly into his eyes or something sappy like that."

"How about if I just snog him?"

James pursed his lips, "That might be too crass. This is Remus we're talking about here, not some bird that's been openly checking you out for months."

"So that's the plan. Run into the library, find my Moony, sit on top of his textbook, and when he looks up to complain I snog his brains out." Sirius's gray eyes glittered with shameless determination.

"Sirius-"

"Good talk, Prongs!" he called before sprinting out the dormitory door, slamming it loudly behind him.

James stared at the closed wooden door in disbelief. That pup was definitely a lost cause. He only hoped he didn't completely frighten Remus off.

He shrugged as he turned back to his Seeker Weekly magazine. Well, he supposed that if Remus had developed feelings for Sirius, no doubt he even liked Sirius's loud and unabashed personality, too.

oOoOo

At nine-thirty the library was always quiet as most of the students would already be in their respective common rooms so close to curfew. Remus was sitting in his usual corner table between the divination and arithmancy sections. He preferred this table because it was the least used section of the library and he could always be guaranteed peace and quiet.

Well, now he could be guaranteed peace. When he first started attending Hogwarts, this section of the library was most commonly occupied by hormonal teenagers trying to find a nice nook to experiment in. After several awkward encounters, couples finally started finding someplace else to wander and Remus was left with this section all to himself.

His eyes were beginning to blur at the page he was now simply pretending to be thinking about. He knew he needed to finish the essay as it was due tomorrow. While the professors were usually more lax with him as he was known to be sickly, he refused to let that be an excuse to not turn in his work on time.

Remus mindlessly dipped his quill into the ink pot, keeping it in far longer than necessary, the tip of the feather greedily soaking up the black fluid. Thoughts of Sirius had been plaguing his mind since he returned to the library. He had been trying so hard to push it down, to ignore his desires. He was already an outcast enough without adding a second thing to the list of unlikable qualities. He was well aware of the repercussions of coming out in the wizarding world. The population of magical births has been drastically declining over the last several decades, and choosing the go down a path that would guarantee no offspring was almost the same as being a squib in the eyes of most.

He had tried so hard to deny his feelings to himself, but now that he had said it out loud he couldn't take it back. It was true. He had fallen for his best friend. His very straight best friend.

As if on cue, the chair next to him slid back and Sirius casually slipped in, resting his upper body on the table, his long hair splayed across Remus's eight-inches-too-short essay. He glanced up at Remus through his lashes, a foxy gleam in his stormy eyes and a playful smile on those perfect lips. "Hey Moons."

Remus let out a soft sigh, leaving his quill to continue sopping up ink as he leaned back in his chair. "What's up, Padfoot? Did Prongs tell you to find me here?" He looked down at the other boy, noticing that he was now idly twirling the abandoned feather in the inkwell.

"Nope. I sniffed you out," Sirius replied with a wolfish grin.

He scoffed in response. If either of them could sniff out the other it was Remus.

Sirius lifted himself up from the table, choosing to prop his head up with his left hand instead so they were eye to eye. "Did you need any help with your essay? I noticed you haven't written anything for a good five minutes."

"You've been watching me for five minutes?"

Sirius's face turned the faintest shade of pink before he quickly shook his head. "What? No, of course not! Why would you think that?"

Remus narrowed his amber eyes in amusement. "Because you just said you were."

"Psh, that's in the past Moony. You have to live in the present," he said with a wave of his hand.

There was a long silence in which Remus decided to let the matter of Sirius's stalker tendencies to drop. "I should probably call it a night," he said, gesturing to his essay. "I'm not making any progress. I can just try to finish over lunch tomorrow."

"That's not the Moony I know," Sirius quipped. "Moony would never put an assignment off for tomorrow. Are you an impostor pretending to be my Moony?"

"What?" He was so distracted with incredulousness that he completely missed being called 'his Moony'. "No, Padfoot, I'm just tired. I think I probably over-worked myself today."

Sirius scowled in disbelief. "I don't know. I think I need to make sure you aren't on polyjuice."

Remus gave him his best you've-got-to-be-kidding expression. "You're being ridiculous Padfoot. Come on, let's go back to the dorm." He began rolling up his essay but was stopped as Sirius placed his hand on top of Remus's wrist, causing Remus to naturally make eye-contact with the other boy.

"You aren't going anywhere until you prove that you're really Remus," he insisted, his voice husky.

"And just how do you propose I do that?" he asked, finally accepting his role in Sirius's normally abnormal behavior.

With his free hand, Sirius tugged at Remus's tie, bringing the older boy's mouth against his own in a gentle kiss. After little more than two seconds, Remus jerked away, trepidation quickly filling his face. He didn't know what kind of game Sirius was playing but it was certainly a dangerous one.

"Wha-what are you doing?"

Sirius smiled like a cat that got the canary as he licked his lips with a satisfied moan. "You definitely taste like my Remus. Chocolate and mint with a hint of parchment. My favorite," he purred.

He knew his breathing was irregular and he was certain Sirius could hear his erratic heart beat. He could feel that his face was filling with blood and he cursed himself for missing the feel of those lips on his own. This was just a prank, he knew it. Remus couldn't afford to let Sirius know how much he enjoyed that kiss. It had taken everything in his will-power to pull away before he responded eagerly to his friends actions. He knew if he had, it would ruin absolutely everything.

"May I-" Sirius began, biting on his lower lip. "May I kiss you again?"

Remus widened his eyes. He wanted so badly to nod. To say yes. To let Sirius do whatever he wanted with him. But he couldn't. He knew he couldn't. He fought to keep his face as emotionless as possible as he replied, "I don't think-"

"I really like you Remus," Sirius murmured, a slight tremor in his voice that lacked his usual confidence. "I mean, I like you like you."

Remus was silent, his breath hitching in his chest. Certainly there was a punchline coming, but he wanted to believe that there wasn't one in this moment; this moment he'd been dreaming about for almost three years.

"I have for a while now," Sirius continued, his eyes boring into Remus's. "I just didn't know how to tell you. I was worried that I would scare you away or that you would hate me. I didn't want you feeling awkward around me. But I don't want to hide it anymore. If you don't return my feelings, I won't push you."

Remus gulped, his throat was incredibly dry, and he silently cursed the librarian's no beverage policy.

"You do though, don't you? I mean, I don't think I've been imagining the way you look at me. Certainly you've noticed me doing the same, right? I want to be your boyfriend, if you'll have me, Remus."

It was sincerity in his eyes. Those normally playful gray eyes were full of something Remus had only seen one time before. It was the same expression he had when he swore that Remus being a werewolf wouldn't change their friendship. He knew that Sirius wasn't lying that time, so he certainly wasn't lying now.

Remus leaned forward, kissing Sirius with far more eagerness than they both anticipated, a startled cry coming from Sirius's mouth before he happily joined in, his arms curling around Remus's waist. As their kiss deepened, Sirius eventually found himself straddling the taller boy as Remus messed up his silken black hair with clawing hands.

They were interrupted by the sound of a stern cough, causing the both of them to jump. Madame Pince rose an eyebrow at the two teenagers with her hands placed firmly on her hips and a foot tapping rhythmically on the stone floor. "This is a library, not a bordello."

Remus turned an incredible shade of scarlet as he pursed his lips in embarrassment. "Of course Madame Pince," he murmured, wishing that Sirius would get off of him but at the same moment grateful that the younger man's presence was hiding what he would very much like to remain hidden from view. "I'm sorry. We'll leave at once."

"See to it that you do," she said matter-of-factually before turning quickly and continuing her patrol of the library. "Curfew is in seven minutes," she called over her shoulder.

Sirius stood up, helping to gather Remus's supplies, a smile still gracing his lips. Remus hadn't seen him smile like that often and was pleased to be responsible for that expression. It was much more beautiful than his usual mischievous grin.

As they left the library, Remus was surprised to find slender fingers entwining themselves with his own. He glanced to his left, smiling shyly at Sirius as they walked hand-in-hand.

"Aren't you worried about getting caught?"

Sirius shook his head, his freshly messed-up hair tossing over his shoulders. "You are worth the risk," he murmured, planting a gentle kiss on Remus's cheek.

This was going to be just one scene, but when I went to bed I dreamed about comments complaining that I didn't do the second scene. So I decided to just go ahead and write a follow up for fear of my nightmares coming to light. Hopefully this was satisfying for those that like a proper ending (I know I certainly do).

3750 Words

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