For my 5 Couples, 5 Days Challenge on HPFC
Day 1: Sirius/Remus
When Marlene caught them kissing at the Quidditch victory party, Remus said it was because he was drunk. Sirius didn't.
When Alice caught them pressed up against a bookshelf in the Library, Remus said it was the stress of exams getting to him. Sirius didn't.
When James caught them in the dormitory, tangled together in the sheets of Sirius's bed, Remus said it was because his girlfriend had dumped him. Sirius stayed silent.
But after that, James started noticing something different.
The smiles that Sirius had saved specially for Remus were gone. The looks that his friends shared – as if there was some inside joke that no else could understand – stopped passing between them. Most shockingly of all, Sirius started doing his own homework. Essays, dream diaries, spell practice, research – he's stay up for hours by the fire in the Common Room, books spread over the table, quill scratching over endless rolls of starch white parchment.
"What's up with him?" Lily asked once as she fell on James' lap, yawning widely.
James shook his head, expression worried. "No idea."
It all came to a head one Hogsmede weekend.
For weeks – months, James realised with a start – his two best friends had been avoiding each other like the plague. If Remus was in the Library, Sirius was in the Common Room. If Remus was sitting on his left, Sirius was on his right. If Lily was working with James, Sirius was working with Alice, ignoring Frank Longbottom's sour looks as they re-potted Laughing Jacarandas in stoic silence.
Then Hogsmede happened.
They were walking past Madame Puddifoot's in the usual group: James, hand-in-hand with Lily, chatting animatedly to Alice, casting coy little smiles at Frank, pretending to talk to Peter, shooting nervous glances at Sirius, staring off into space. Then Sirius stopped, making Peter call out, "Wait!" to the others.
James let go of Lily's hand and moved to his best friend's side.
"Padfoot, what's going-" he stopped, following Sirius's gaze.
Inside the horrid cafe, Remus was sitting, fingers and tongue intertwined with one Lucy Gregory. The infamous ex.
"Prat." Sirius spat out, before he could work up the desire to hold it back.
Alice exchanged a scared look with Lily. Hours of gossip had been assigned to this situation, and after endless promises of secrecy and a serious consideration of performing an Unbreakable Vow, Alice had finally revealed what she'd walked in on in the Library, all that time ago. To them, the truth was obvious. To James... not so much.
"C'mon, man," he said to Sirius. "Leave Moony alone. I know Gregory's a prat, but Moony's stressed and tired and stuff because of NEWTs. Why don't you give him a break?"
Sirius turned his eyes to James, to his best friend, and stared at him in a way he never had before. He was disappointed.
"You don't get it, do you, Prongs?" he asked, his tone dark. "It's so bloody obvious, and you still- Just. Don't. Get it." And, with that, he walked away.
...
Twenty years later, as Remus waited by the altar, watching his wife-to-be walk slowly down the garden path of her childhood home, currently doubling as an aisle, he thought back.
He knew without a doubt that Sirius had been the exception. There had never been anyone else – male or female, friend or foe – who he had felt that way about. That way that made him reach for Sirius's hand under the table when he felt like crying. That way that made his heart soar when they hugged or when he felt Sirius's lips brush, ever so briefly, over his skin. That way that made him die, just a little, every single time they kissed. Because every kiss felt like the last, and even if they'd been together for eternity, it wouldn't have been enough.
Yes, Remus thought, taking Tonks' hand in his. He loved this woman, almost as much. Almost enough.
Sirius had been the exception.