Lay all your love

by ally.moony

A slice of the Marauder's life. James/Sirius get-together.

Title: Lay all your love
Pairings/characters: James/Sirius, marauders (light on Peter)
Rating: has smex somewhere

Words: A lot…
Warnings: kinda AU
Summary: Slice of the Marauder's life. James and Sirius get-together.

It was almost ten o'clock and Gryffindor's common room was still full of people. Sitting by the fire, Remus was reading and Sirius was pretending to be concentrating on a History of Magic essay, but he was really glancing at his watch every few minutes and raising his face hopefully every time the door swung open.

"Eager much?" Remus asked watching his friend wriggle in the chair. "He'll be back soon. Try to finish your essay before I have to do it for you."

"Oh, please, when have you ever lent me your homework?" Sirius answered defensively, knowing perfectly well that he would never gave homework on time if it wasn't for Remus. "I don't know what's keeping him, he should be back by now."

Remus shrugged and returned to his book.

A few minutes later, the door opened and James finally came in. As soon as he did, the two beaters of the Quidditchteam approached him and started asking him questions. Sirius frowned a little, his eyes locked on James.

"You really should stop doing that stupid face, it's getting blatantly obvious," Remus said, poking Sirius's ribs.

"What the hell are you talking about?" he asked, not taking his eyes away from his target.

"You know. The dreamy eyes you put every time James appears near you."

"You're delusional," Sirius said, diverting his gaze to look at Remus.

"Hm. Whatever, mate," Remus said, going back to his book.

"So… is it really that obvious?" he asked, throwing Remus a pitiful look, after making sure James was still busy.

"Well," he said, closing his book and turning to fully face Sirius, "for me it is, but, then again, no one knows you like I do. Except maybe him, of course."

"Do you think he notices?" his pitiful glance turning into a hopeful one.

"I honestly have no idea. He hasn't mention anything, but you know he lives in his own world and all. Strange bloke."

"He's not strange, he's just… oblivious sometimes."

"Oh, that's the love talking."

"Shut up, Moony."

"Hi, mates," James greeted letting himself drop on the chair next to Sirius. "Did you miss me?"

"Hardly," Sirius said trying a detached tone. Remus threw him a skeptical look, opened his book again and disappeared behind it. "Moony and I were planning our new fabulous prank."

"Is that so? Tell me about this wonderful prank, then."

"Yeah, do tell him about it, please," said Remus, reemerging with a mischievous smile.

"Well… it's something that has to do with… you know what? I'm too tired to tell you right now. Let's talk about it tomorrow," he said, faking a wide yawn. "Besides, we wouldn't want to leave Wormtail out of it."

"Right, we wouldn't," Moony agreed with a hint of sarcasm.

"Where is he anyway?" asked James.

"He went to bed early. Something about being too tired and whatnot," Sirius said, not really caring.

"Well, I'm going to bed too. Are you coming?" Remus said.

Sirius looked at James and waited for him to respond. When he stood up to follow Remus, disappointment was written all over Sirius's face. He soon joined his friends on the stairs and climbed to the boy's bedrooms.

***

A hand opened the drapes in Sirius's bed and a smiley face appeared.

"Hi," James whispered. "Scoot over."

Sirius complied willingly leaving a spot for James, who quickly tucked under the blankets and cuddled up beside him.

"Merlin's beard, you're freezing!" Sirius yelped jumping away from James.

"Shhh! You'll wake them up. And don't get away, I came here seeking for human warmth," he said, getting closer and closer to Sirius, who was about to fall down from the bed.

"Oh, fine! But if I die of frostbite, it'll be on your conscience," he said firmly, getting closer to James.

***

Morning came and when Remus went to wake his friends, did not find odd to find James's bed empty and Sirius's with two occupants.

"Wake up, lovebirds," he said, opening the drapes. Sirius was already awake, lying on his back watching the back of James's head. He closed his eyes quickly and feigned stretching, without really fooling Remus.

"Shu'up, Moony, 'm tryin' t'sleep," slurred James, turning his body to face Sirius. His face was only inches away from Sirius. Remus thought for a moment he should turn away and let Sirius enjoy the scenery at least for a few minutes, but staying there was far more entertaining.

"James, you're gonna be late for breakfast and god knows we don't want that. Last time it cost you a week of detention!" Remus insisted, watching carefully for Sirius's reaction.

"'M crankier when 'm sleepy, Moony, go away!" James snapped.

Sirius's erection was now evident through the blanket but he was so busy watching James, he didn't notice Remus's almost-alarmed look. It was only when Remus nudged him on the shoulder that he realized he was being watched and stood up quickly to take a shower.

The day went by normally and the boys managed not to get a single detention. Remus went to the library to get some books, and the other three came back to the common room to find and exciting chatter around, since Hogsmead weekend was approaching. They went upstairs to drop their bags and cloaks, and grab the Exploding Snap deck.

"What is that bloody sound?" James asked as soon as he entered the room. A high-pitched beep was insistently coming from somewhere in the room. James started searching through the mess of clothes, books and various items the boys had scattered around.

"I don't know, but it's been going on all day. When I came early to get my Potion's book it was ringing already. It's driving me mad!" Sirius said, joining James on the search.

"A-ha!!!" said James, grabbing a rectangular metallic device he found under a pair of pants. "What the hell is this?"

"Oh, there it is! Thanks!" said Remus, entering the room. He took it, pressed a switch and the sound stopped. "I was looking for it."

"What the hell is it and why was it making strange noises?" Sirius asked.

"It's a pager," Remus answered, throwing it away in his trunk.

"A what-er?"

"A pager, beeper…?" he said, but his friends raised their eyebrows questioningly. "Erm… a stupid electronic device. A muggle communication artifact. I think the battery's running out. My father gave it to me hoping she could get in touch with me before the full moon, but this place does something to the reception, I haven't been able to get a single message."

"Why not?" Sirius asked.

"I have no idea, but I'm thinking it has something to do with all the magic around here. It makes electronic devices go haywire. I tried to use a walkman on my first year and it didn't work either."

"A walk man? What do you need that for? Can't you walk on your own?" Peter asked.

"No, Wormtail," he said patiently, "a walkman is like a radio…. I mean, like a wireless, you can listen to music and stations, stuff like that."

"So this beepy-thingy, how does it work?" Sirius said, roaming through Remus's trunk to retrieve the curious device.

"Well, someone calls the ibeeper/i central and –Padfoot, get out of my stuff– they talk to an operator, who transcribes the message and sends it to the person's pager."

"Brilliant!" James screamed.

"Not so much. It doesn't work here."

"No, Moony, you don't get it, it's brilliant! We can make our own bleepy thing. We could communicate during detentions and exams and everything!"

"You're right, it's bloody brilliant!" Sirius screamed, his head deep inside the trunk and his voice muffled by Remus's clothes.

"Erm… mates, I don't think that's really legal, you know…"

"Oh, come on, let's ignore the prefect-speech," Sirius said, emerging proudly from the trunk with the little machine in his hands. "How can we use this to communicate without ink and parchment?"

"I don't know, but there has to be a way. Maybe we can use some kind of merging spell to attach this to something," James said, with his eyes half-closed.

"It'll have to be a common object, so no one will suspect anything," Sirius said, turning the pager around to inspect it.

"Hey, Moony," James said, taking the pager from Sirius. "Lend us your byper, will you?"

"Weren't you ignoring the prefect?" he asked, snatching it from James's hands,

"No, no, just the prefect speech," he said, grinning. "Hand it on…" he stretched his hand.

"Fine. And it's ibeeper/i."

"Can we tear it apart?" James asked after a moment of checking the device.

"Certainly not!" he said, quickly grabbing the beeper from James's hands for the second time.

"Why the hell not? You said yourself it didn't work!"

"Why on earth would you want to tear apart a stupid beeper?"

"To see how it works, obviously."

"You're not gonna learn anything from it, it's just wires and stuff."

"Wires? Man, muggles are weird!"

Remus rolled his eyes and gave James the beeper.

***

The fire on the common room was almost extinguished. Remus came down from the stairs looking for Sirius and found him on his own, sprawled on the couch with his hands behind his head.

"What's the matter?" he asked, sitting in the edge of the couch. Sirius didn't answer and he let out a long sigh. "It's about Prongs, right? What did the git do this time?"

"He's out."

"Well, that's pretty obvious."

"He went out with Temperance again," he said in a glum voice.

"His girlfriend?"

"Ex," Sirius corrected.

"Man, I can't keep up…" said Remus trying to sound casual.

"Yeah. He said he's horny. Apparently the full moon makes him hormonal," he said. "Yes, I've been keeping track of his shagging, go ahead and mock me."

"I'm not gonna mock you, Sirius. But it's good to know I'm not the only one affected by the full moon," he said, grinning a little. "Oh, for Merlin's sake, Padfoot, stop pouting, you look pathetic."

"I don't know what the hell to do," he said, returning his gaze to the ceiling. "Does he have to go wandering around the world looking for someone to have sex with when he has me right by his side? Merlin, I really hate him right now."

"No, you don't. Look Pads, I'm sorry, but you're gonna have to consider the fact that he's simply not gay."

"I don't want him to be gay, Moony, you're missing the whole point. I want him–"

"To love you. I know," he interrupted. "He does love you, you know. I mean, you're almost like boyfriends in everybody's eyes."

"Really?"

"Yes. Lily told me you're a very popular conversation topic. All her friends regret the fact that a handsome bloke like you will only pay attention to Prongs."

"That doesn't mean we're boyfriends," he said sadly. "That just means that it's painfully obvious that I can't live without him."

"That's not it, Padfoot, really. The way Prongs acts when he's around you is, I don't know, unique. He's not like that with me or Wormtail."

"Well, that's because Wormtail is a moron, and you are–"

"Not you."

"Whatever. I'm going to sleep."

"You know, Pads, James has kissed boys before," Remus said, standing up.

"But its girls he seeks when he's horny."

"You may still have a chance," he said, dragging his friend up the stairs to the boy's room.

Suddenly, Sirius stopped in the middle of the stairs. "You know what? You're bloody right! I'm gonna talk to him! I'm gonna tell him I can't spend another minute thinking how he's out shagging someone else."

"That's great!" Mooney said, whispering excitedly. "When are you doing it?"

"Tomorrow. First moment we're alone. I'll tell him– I'll tell him I love him," he blurted. His cheeks were bright red and his eyes were glimmering with excitement.

"Aren't you the sweetest thing," Remus said half mockingly, half excited for his friend.

***

Remus was, as usual, sitting in the armchair by the fireplace reading a book and waiting for his friends. Peter was by his side, asking him every now and then the properties of the moonstone for his Potion essay. The common room door swung open and two familiar silhouettes came in. James went straight to the chair next to Remus, but Sirius lagged behind. He looked around and then he went after Gwendolyn, a fourth year blond girl, who was sitting with her friends. When they finished talking, the girl went back to her friends, but Sirius didn't move towards his.

Remus put his book aside and joined his friend with a questioning look.

"Here," Sirius said, handing Remus a piece of parchment.

"What is that?" he asked, looking at it for a moment and then putting it inside his pocket.

"It's a list."

"I can see that. Why are you giving it to me?"

"I need you to buy these at Zonko's."

"Buy them yourself! We're all going there tomorrow!"

"No. Well, yes, I am going," he said avoiding Remus's eyes, "but I'm not going with you."

"What? Why the hell not?"

"I have a date," he said, still finding his shoelaces more interesting than Remus's face.

"Oh, really? With whom, may I ask?" he asked in a wicked tone.

"Don't get all excited, it's not with Prongs."

"But– but I thought you–"

"No. Nothing happened. And now I have a date, so can you please buy me the stuff?"

"Fine, fine, no need to get all jumpy," he said, putting his hand on Sirius's shoulder. "Gwen is a nice broad, you'll have fun tomorrow," he said, but somehow, the tone of his voice betrayed his words.

***

The Three Broomsticks was packed as always, so the three marauders barely managed to get a table. Wormtail was happily chatting about a good grade he got in Charms and Remus was pretending to be listening while planning how to talk to an extremely silent James.

"Hey, Wormtail, grab us some butterbeers, will you?" he said, when Peter finally stopped talking to get some air.

"Sure." He collected money from the other two and left happily to fetch the beverages.

"You are awfully silent today," Remus said as soon as peter disappeared in the crowd.

"Uh? Oh, erm, yeah. Sorry."

"Is everything alright?"

"Everything's peachy, Moony," he said sounding somewhat bitter.

"Prongs, what happened yesterday?"

"Uh?"

"You know, with Padfoot?"

"Um… I'm not sure what you're talking about… Yesterday when, exactly?" he answered with a detached tone. "I mean, we went to classes and after that I helped him with the Silencing Charm, but he had troubles concentrating, so the stupid frog was getting louder and louder. We decided to grab something to eat from the kitchens and after that we went back to the common room. Then we went to eat dinner, but you were already with us by then–"

"No, I'm not talking about the afternoon," he said, sensing James was purposely avoiding the topic. "At night, when Wormtail and I were in the common room and you went out with Padfoot, did he say something?"

"You know him, Moony, he can't shut his mouth even if his life depends on it," still avoiding a straight answer.

"Come on James. He told you nothing? Didn't he mention today's visit to Hogsmead or something like that?"

"Not that I recall of, no."

"I see," he said, staring intently at James to see if he was lying.

"Why?"

"He said he wanted to talk to you, that's all."

"Well, he didn't. He asked me about Temperance and all of a sudden he had this grim expression. Then we headed back to the common room."

"Are you honestly saying that you have no idea what's going on with him? And you're supposed to be the smart one."

"He's not been himself lately, but you know Padfoot, he'll come around eventually. I reckon it's a girl problem, but due to today's date, I'd say we have nothing to worry about," he said sourly.

"Oh, Prongs, you are a prat…"

"Listen Remus," he blurted, not waiting for his friend to finish. "I know you know something you don't want to tell me, or maybe he doesn't want to tell me, but I'm not gonna play his stupid guessing games. Either you tell me what the hell is going on with him or we just forget the matter. If he wants to keep his stupid passive-aggressive attitude, that's his problem, I'm not gonna indulge him anymore. It's like treating a fucking baby!"

"Are you honestly that stupid?"

"I can't believe you're defending him! I know I'm right. What's his problem this time? He only shagged three girls last week? Or he just has seven dates for the Halloween feast? Oh, I know! He already finished the 586 chocolate frogs he received in Valentine's Day!"

"You. Are. Jealous."

"What?"

"Merlin's pants, is that's what's all about?" Remus said, more to himself than to his friend.

"Moony, you're delusio–"

"I can't believe you didn't see it before! He's been trying to get you attention for weeks and all you do is ignore him. You can't complain for his passive-aggressiveness, you're acting like a moronic baby too!"

"Remus, I have no idea what you're babbling about."

"Sure you do, you're just in denial!!! I can't fucking believe this!"

"Honestly, Moony, I…"

"They're out of butterbeer, so I brought Gillywater," said peter, appearing with three large glasses in his hands and placing them in the table.

"Thanks Wormtail,"

"What's wrong with Prongs? He's all red… Are you alright?"

"Of course I am," he scoffed, trying to appear cool.

***

That night James went straight to his bed without saying a word. Peter followed him arguing the walking left him exhausted. Remus went to the common room expecting to find his remaining friend there. Sirius was sitting in a chair looking out the window and when he saw Remus approach, he pretended to be really interested in the Exploding Snap Tournament the third years were playing.

"How did the date go?"

"Bloody boring," he said turning to face Remus. "Why are you smirking?"

"Oh, it's nothing," he said with fake innocent. "I just happen to have some particular piece of information you'll find really interesting."

"Spill it."

"What am I getting in return?" he asked mischievously.

"Don't be a prat. Is it about Snivellus? Did he find a way to get rid of the donkey ears we gave him last week?"

"Oh no, he still has them. Didn't you see the overlarge hat he wears these days?

"Yes," he snickered. "He deserves it, the slimy git."

"It's not about him, anyway."

"Come on, tell me already!"

"For the love of Merlin, what is it with you and gossip?" he taunted in a fake reproachful tone. "Tsk tsk, didn't your mother tell you talking about someone behind their back is really bad f–" he couldn't finish the sentence because Sirius was already tackling him and disheveling his perfectly combed hair.

They fell on the floor and Sirius straddled him. "Come on, Padfoot– I– Mate, lemme go!" Sirius was now attacking him with tickles. Remus was laughing so hard, everybody in the common room stopped what they were doing to see where the racket was coming from. Even the Exploding Snap Tournament was put on hold.

"Okay, okay, I'll tell you!" he finally managed to blurt out. Without standing up, Sirius stopped his attacks and waited for his friend to stop his hysterical laugh. Taking deep breaths he finally calmed down.

"So?" he asked, still on top of Remus. "I'm growing roots here!"

"Give me a moment, will you? Besides, I'm not telling you with all this audience."

"Fine. Get up," he said, freeing Remus's body and stretching his arms to help him. "What is it, then?" he asked when the common room was again noisy and no one was snooping their conversation.

"Well, it seems, my friend, even though your skepticism, that mister Prongs ido/i fancies you," he informed, rather happily.

"Oh. Is that it?" he said in a bored tone.

"Aren't you happy?" he asked, confused.

"Well, I would be but, you know, I'm just really busy with the reality check and all."

"Don't be a prick, I'm serious," he said, realizing too late he'd fallen again.

"We both know you can't be, Moony. You really need to stop trying to be me," he said, ignoring Remus's efforts to avoid the pun.

"One more stupid pun and I won't tell you," he threatened.

"Tell me what? Oh right, that James fancies me. And how, pray tell, did you come across this allegedly accurate information?"

"He told me," Remus said matter-of-factly.

"What?" Sirius opened his eyes and for the first time he seemed to believe Remus. "When? How? Where? What did he say? Moony! You're not answering!"

"Well, Pads, calm down. He didn't iactually/i tell me. But–"

"Oh," he interrupted. "I knew you were just pulling my balls."

"I'm not, Padfoot, honest. He was jealous today. He was upset because you had a date, and–"

"Well, of course he was upset; we always go to Hogsmead together. We were supposed to buy the Dungbombs and some Frog Spawn Soap for the," he looked around to check for intruders and finding none, he continued, "you know, the thing we're doing. That's why I gave you the list."

"No, Sirius, I'm telling you this was different. He didn't speak more than five words the whole day. And look, he went to sleep without even comparing what we bought like we always do."

"I don't know, Moony. I really think you're way off base," Sirius said.

"Come on, just give him a chance, will you? Talk to him, or kiss him, whatever you want, just don't miss this opportunity."

"I'll see what I can do."

"That's all I'm asking."

***

Days went by, Christmas was just away and Remus was still waiting for Sirius's ultimate love declaration. Their O.W.L.s were coming soon and teachers were really aware of the fact. They had a lot of homework to do. Peter was fretting so he and Remus spent almost every afternoon in the library finishing essays and practicing charms. James, who was back to normal, and Sirius spent most of their time planning pranks, making potions and perfecting useful enchantments to use during full moon. They didn't need to practice, both of them being brilliant in Transfiguration and Charms, and they copied Moony's essays minutes before the respective class.

One particularly chilly day Remus and Peter where nowhere to be seen, as usual those days, and James and Sirius were playing Wizard chess in the common room after planning a complex prank they were going to play on the Slytherins.

"You know, I was thinking," James said out of the blue.

"How original of you," Sirius answered.

"We've never been to Moony's house," he continued, ignoring the sarcasm.

"Your point being?"

"His father's a muggle."

"Well spotted!"

"Shut up, you prat. I ido/i have a point!"

"Well, get to it, then maybe you'll stop pointing out the obvious," Sirius said, smirking.

"What I mean is we don't really know anything about how he lives and all of that stuff."

"Well, we don't know anything about Wormtail either."

"No, but we ido/i like Moony."

"Good point."

"So, anyway, I was thinking we should spend Christmas vacations there."

"Oh…" Sirius said sadly. He was looking forward to spend the holidays in James's house, like he always did. "It's a… a brilliant idea," he said trying to hide his disappointment.

"Great, let's go tell him!" He stood up and walked through the door.

Sirius followed him dragging his feet trying to think of a way to communicate with Remus before James told him his no-so-brilliant idea. They arrived very quickly to the library and before Sirius could wave his hands to Remus in denial, James was already telling him his plan to learn more of the muggle culture during the holidays.

"That's great!" cried Peter unable to prevent himself.

"Hem, hem," said an irritable voice throwing them an ugly glance.

"Sorry, Madam Pince, we'll be right out of here," Remus said with his most respectful and prefect-y voice.

Remus and Peter grabbed their parchments, quills and ink bottles and follow their two friends outside. They didn't talk until they were safely concealed in their room.

"What was that about, again?" Remus asked eyeing Sirius and James.

"Moony, we decided we wanted to spend vacations in your house," James said in a proud voice.

"But why?"

"We want to learn about muggle life!"

"Right, iwe/i…" Sirius said under his breath. James didn't hear him, but Remus did.

"Why would you want to do that?" he asked trying to catch Sirius's eyes to figure out what he really wanted.

"Because it would be so much fun!" this time Peter answered joining James in his excitement. "Come on, Moony, I always get so bored during Christmas holidays. Please, please?"

"But, but, Prongs, you and Padfoot always go to your house. Won't your mother miss you two?" he said, guessing correctly Sirius's will.

"She'll recover, Moony. Why are you so reluctant, don't you want your ibestest/i friends in the whole world to be with you on December?" James said in an almost childish way.

"Alright, I'll ask my parents," he finally said after minutes of pondering, throwing Sirius an apologetically glance. If looks could kill…

"Hey! Maybe we could invite the girls too!" Wormtail suggested.

Sirius felt his heart stop as he turned to see James's reaction to the suggestion.

"No," James answered quickly, "Lily told me she was spending the summer with her grandmother in Ireland," James said, walking to the window to avoid Sirius's eyes. "And I'm sure the others will have something more satisfying to do than spending time with four guys."

Moony eyed Sirius and then James. They were so stupid.

***

"Come ion/i! What's taking you so long?" James said hurrying his friends out of the train.

"Eager much, Prongs?" Remus said, throwing a playful smile to the boy.

James ignored Remus and walked straight to Sirius. He took Sirius's trunk with his free hand and started pulling both, his and Sirius's, trunks out of the train. "Any slower and you'd be walking backwards. Merlin, anyone would think you don't want to see a muggle home!"

Sirius didn't answer but Remus heard the small grunt that escaped his lips.

Remus's mother, a nice looking, tall woman, that looked almost like a feminine version of his son, was waiting for them on the train platform. She greeted the boys and kissed his son before proceeding to exit the station.

"Your father left me here before going to work. He left the car so I could bring you home. I'm sure he told me how this thing works, but I don't think I remember," Mrs. Lupin said with a feeble smile. "He tried to teach me every day since you told me you were coming with your friends, but honestly, this is the most difficult thing I've had to learn so far."

After a lot of tries to open the trunk, they managed to fit all the baggage inside. It took another while to open the doors, but they finally got inside. The three boys in the back were really eager to see how the strange machine worked. Remus, who was sitting beside her mother, was glancing at her while she was nervously trying to figure out what to do next.

"Remus, darling," she said, after silently admitting defeat, "by any chance do you remember your father's driving lessons?"

"Honestly, mother. Put the key inside the keyhole."

"Where is that, again?" He pointed it on the dashboard with a rather annoying look, but her mother didn't insert the key. "You know what, honey? You drive," she said, fighting with the door handle.

"Mom! That's not even legal!" he shouted as she got out of the car.

"You go, Moony!" James said at the same time really excited.

Her mother was already on the other side of the car waiting to get in. Remus grunted and without getting out, he seated on the driver's seat. He grunted some more while igniting the car and slowly drove out of the parking lot. It took him a while to get used to driving the old car, but he mastered it pretty well after the first minutes.

Remus was driving as slow as he could, on the left side of the road. He stopped behind every bus in every single bus station because he didn't dare to change the lane. Her mother was calmly resting by his side and his three friends were talking excitedly about how weird the gearbox was. Aside from a dry breaking that made the tires shriek, the road home was quite uneventful.

They arrived at Remus's home almost an hour and a half later. He lived in a two story house in a quiet London neighborhood, not far away from downtown. With great effort, Remus parked the car in the lane right outside his house.

"That– was– AMAZING!" James said, getting out of the car.

Even Sirius's sulky mood seemed to have disappeared. He was smiling and patting Remus on the shoulder, congratulating him on his cool drive.

They all got their trunks and followed the Lupins to their house. It was a rather ordinary house, but James, Sirius and Peter couldn't believe their eyes. A huge amount of weird artifacts waiting to be explored lay everywhere.

After leaving their stuff, Remus gave them a tour to the house. On the first floor was a big kitchen followed by an equally large dining room. If they found the fridge interesting, the TV on the living room was, by far, the strangest thing they've ever seen. Remus tried for several minutes to explain them the people there couldn't hear them and that they weren't living inside the box waiting for someone to turn the TV on. Abandoning all intent to make them understand, he guided them to the second floor.

"Hey, Moony, what's that?" Sirius asked, pointing a door hidden beside the staircase.

"Oh, um. That leads to the basement," he said, hurrying up the stairs.

"Wait up! Can we see what's down there?" Sirius insisted.

"Erm. Not really… Come on up!"

"Moony!"

"Come on guys! Mom's taking us out to dinner. We have to be ready in fifteen minutes, remember?"

"Fine," Sirius said, making a mental note to inspect the basement later.

The second floor had three rooms. The biggest one was evidently the Lupins' bedroom, and the second was Remus's. He had a big bed, enough to fit two people, a Hogwarts poster on the wall and many pictures of family members scattered around.

"Moony, they don't move," James said, pointing one of the pictures.

"How come you don't have one of us?" Sirius asked.

"Oh, well," he answered apologetically, "my dad doesn't want moving pictures around, so he made me put away the ones we took. But we can take one in the old fashioned way!" he said.

"Promise?" he said.

"Yes, Padfoot, promise. I'll tell my mum to take it, she has a camera."

He showed them the third room, his father's office, which had a big library full of books, a writing machine on a desk and a large sofa against a wall. He promised to explain them how the writing machine worked if they got ready fast enough to go out to eat.

Eating out was fun for the purebloods, who had never eaten a pizza in their life. Remus giggled each time he saw his friends open their eyes in amazement.

"Merlin's beard, why the hell don't they feed us pizza in Hogwarts?" Sirius said, with his mouth full of cheese and pepperoni.

"It's bloody delicious," James added, his mouth also full. "And what iis/i this thing? It tastes nothing like pumpkin juice" he mumbled taking a sip of his Coke.

They returned home dizzy from all the food they ate.

"Can we do that again tomorrow, Moony, please?" Sirius asked.

"Hm, no, I don't think so. But I heard my mom's making us hamburgers and fries tomorrow," he said, happily.

"Are those as good as pizza?" Peter asked, sprawling on Remus's bed.

"Even better," he answered. "Anyway, why are you in my bed?"

"Speaking of which, where are we gonna sleep?" James asked, raising an eyebrow. "You're not gonna dash us all in your bed, are you?"

"No. My mother arranged the sofa bed of my dad's office. Two can sleep there and the other two in my bed."

"I call Moony's bed!" Sirius yelled, jumping on top of Peter.

"Gerroff, you maniac!" he screamed, his voice muffled by the pillows.

"You sleep with him, James. Wormtail and I will take the sofa bed on the office."

"Why the hell? I don't wanna sleep in your dad's office!" he said, still trying to get Sirius off his case.

"Because I said so," said Moony with a voice that admitted no discussion. Sirius was trying to hide his smirks fighting with Wormtail even more. Maybe the vacations were not going to be that bad after all.

They spent all night in Remus's bedroom talking and planning pranks for the next year. As promised, he explained everything they wanted to know about the different devices they saw around. They went to bed at 4 o'clock in the morning, so they didn't get up until noon.

Mr. Lupin left a note on the fridge with instructions on how to heat the lunch her wife made them. He left them money to order dinner and informed them they wouldn't be back until the next day to get ready for the full moon.

Heating lunch was, of course, a bigger problem than they expected. Sirius nearly fired his eyebrows and Peter burnt a hand when he put it flat on the stove. The kitchen was a mess, but the kids were happy eating hamburgers and fries.

After a failed attempt to wash the dirty dishes, they all went up to Remus's room again and did nothing for the rest of the afternoon. When they got hungry again, they ordered ia lot/i of pizza and Remus tried in vain to explain how the delivery system worked. They watched TV for a while in the living room and returned to Remus's room when they got bored of it.

"It's Saturday," Sirius proudly announced a little after 8.

"Yes, so?" Remus asked?

"Party night, Moony," James answered, reading his friend's mind.

"Exactly," Sirius nodded. "Let's go out."

"Okay, fine. Where do you wanna go?" he asked.

"Well," said James, "I heard Alcot Wingfield talking about a 'Country music' disco in London. He said it was the most brilliant place to go."

"What the hell is 'Country music'?" Sirius asked in a suspicious tone.

"It's a weird American music. People dances in squares with cowboy hats and leather boots. Really weird," Remus answered. "I think it's a great idea!"

"Oh, really?" Sirius said, raising his voice. "Because the last time we listened to Wingfield, we ended up in the most disgusting place on earth! I still remember the Tango Room, or something. Full of old perverts dancing around like crazy chickens and trying to sing in tune. I say we ditch the ethnic places and go to a plain old bar."

"I say we give Country music a try," Remus said.

"I second that" said James. No one waited for Peter to answer, they all knew he would agree with whatever James wanted.

"Then I won't go, have fun," Sirius said, crossing his arms on his chest. "I refuse to go to an idiotic Country music place. I simply refuse."

"But why?" James said with a hurtful look.

"Don't worry Prongs, go take a shower, I'll convince him," Remus said, sitting beside his friend.

"No, you won't. In the Tango place an 89 year old elder slapped my arse! He was so old I almost confused him with an Inferi!" he said, watching James's silhouette disappear behind the bathroom's door.

"Wormtail, go get ready," he ordered in a hard tone. Peter complied and left the room. "Oh, come on, Pads, stop being melodramatic." Remus lowered his voice and checked to see if Peter was still around. He wasn't. "Padfoot, listen to me. I really think you should do your move tonight."

"Whaddaya mean?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You know… the get-in-Prongs'-pants-operation move…"

"Moony, I already told you I'm not doing any move."

"But, mate, I am sure he won't reject you if you just… I don't know, grab him and kiss him senseless or something."

"I know he won't reject me, that's part of the problem."

"You lost me, man."

"You know it's going to be a full moon in two days."

"I noticed, yes," he answered with a hint of sarcasm.

"And you know firewhiskey makes him even hornier," he continued, ignoring Remus's tone.

"Yeees… I still fail to see you point."

"When he's hormonal and drunk, he just grabs whatever flings in front of his eyes. I don't want to be just a casual getaway."

"What the hell? You can't be serious!"

"Well, clearly, I am."

"Merlin, you honestly need to lay back those stupid puns. Honestly," he said. After a pause, he continued.

"Anyway, you're thinking too much. Don't you think casual sex is better than no sex?"

"No. And I'm not going. Go and pretend I'm dead," he said, lying back on the bed and turning his back to Remus.

***

The place was poorly lit by a few candles scattered around. There was a huge dance floor in the middle of the room, surrounded by tables. On every corner of the place was a low table with a sofa, where couples where snogging and drinking. A few people had cowboy hats and boots, the others had normal clothes. Almost everyone was in the dance floor, trying poorly to coordinate the movements shown by the instructors, who stood in the front.

"See? It's not that bad," Remus said placing his arm around Sirius. "And we are hardly the youngest here."

"Hmph," he mumbled.

They found a table and sit down. Soon a young woman with a really short skirt was handing them the menu.

"What the hell is this? There's no firewhiskey!" James said loudly over the music.

"Shhh! Of course there's no firewhiskey, don't you remember?" Remus said.

"Oh, right. What do we order, then?"

"Can we have four beers, please?" Remus said to the lady.

"Sure," she turned around and left.

"Now what?" Sirius asked, still grumpy.

"Now we dance," James said standing up in front of him. He stretched out his hand like asking him to dance. Reluctantly, Sirius took his hand and followed him to the dance floor with Remus and Peter behind them.

They danced four songs in a row, getting better by the minute. Sirius was so exited dancing and clapping his hands in tune, he didn't notice a girl was flirting with James for the last two songs.

Sirius, Remus and Peter headed back to the table and found their beers already there.

"Where's Prongs?" Sirius asked, looking around.

"I don't know. Did you tell him we were going back to the table?" Remus asked.

"Yes," he answered cleaning his mouth with the sleeve of his jumper after drinking half his beer in one gulp. He then drank the rest of it and signaled the waiter to bring him another.

Three more beers after, James was still nowhere to be seen.

"I'm gonna look for'm," Sirius said, stomping awkwardly away from the table. Minutes later, he was back with his face flushed and with a killer look in his eyes. "'M leaving," he said, without further explanation.

"What happened?" Remus asked, forcing him to sit on the chair.

"Nothing," he said, throwing a bitter look to one of the tables in the corner. Remus followed his gaze and saw a bespectacled boy passionately snogging a girl.

"Oh," he said.

"I don't know how to pay for this," he said, scrambling his wallet, trying to find muggle money.

"Don't worry, I got it," Remus said. "But don't leave."

"I'm tired, I want to leave. See you at home," he said standing up and walking away.

"Padfoot!" Remus yelled running after him. "Sirius, come on!"

"I'm tired of everybody cuddling all around! I'm gonna puke if I don't get away from here fast. Besides, it's not like anybody's gonna miss me, so bye," he said, closing the bar's door on Remus's face.

"I'm gonna miss you," he said sadly, Sirius already far away.

Sirius walked for almost two hours trying to remember how to get back to Remus's house. He was so angry, he missed the square several times and had to go back on his steps until he finally reach the quiet neighborhood. When he reached the right house the alcohol was already wearing out. He realized he had no means to get inside, so he rang the bell knowing nobody would answer and sat down on the porch wishing he at least had more clothes on him.

The door opened and Sirius jumped on the spot. Remus stood there saying nothing, waiting for his friend to come in.

"It's about time you showed up!" he said in a reproachful tone.

"How did you got here before I did?" he said, standing on the threshold.

"Sirius, you left more than two hours ago! We took a cab and got here in five minutes."

"A what?"

"Oh, never mind, just come inside," he said, pulling his friend.

"Where are the others?" he asked, climbing the stairs.

"Wormtail drank too much beer so he collapsed on the sofa bed as soon as we got in. Prongs is planning a search squad for you in my room."

"Right," Sirius scoffed.

"Good night," Remus said heading to the office.

"Aren't you coming with us?"

"No. You have a lot to figure out. Seize the night, will ya?"

"Whatever," he said as he saw Remus disappear. He took a deep breath, opened the door of Remus's room and went inside. As soon as he did, James jumped on him and hugged him strongly.

"Where the hell have you been, you stupid git!" he yelled hiding his head on Sirius's hair. "You had me worried," he added, whispering.

"Prongs, leave me alone," he said drily, trying to get James away from him.

"Come on, Pads, don't be so grumpy," James said, still attached to Sirius.

"Gerrof!!!" he yelled, menacing.

James got away from him with a hurt and slightly appalled look in his eyes. Sirius regretted yelling the moment he saw that look on his friend.

"Why did you leave so early?" James asked, carefully, sitting on the bed. "I thought we were having fun."

"Well, clearly isomeone/i was," he answered bitterly.

"Sirius, that's unfair. She jumped on me, there was nothing I could do."

"I didn't see you complaining," Sirius said, grabbing his pajamas from under the pillow. "You know what? Whatever. You can do whatever you want, it's not like we're a couple or anything." He took off his clothes and put the pants on. When James didn't answer, he turned around and saw James's eyes locked on his half naked body. His face was flushed and his eyes were sparkling. "What are you looking at?" Sirius asked, rudely.

"You," he answered. "Don't put that on," he said, signaling the jumper on Sirius's hands. He knelt on the bed, threw his glasses on top of the night stand and crawled to where Sirius was, grabbed the jumper from Sirius's hand and threw it way. Then he cupped Sirius's face and kissed him gently on the lips.

"You're freezing," he said when he broke the kiss.

"And you're drunk," he said, turning away in search of the rest of his pajamas.

"I'm not," he assured, his eyes following Sirius around the room.

"Then you're high or something. Either way, I'm not gonna be you boytoy today. Leave me alone or I'll trade beds with Remus," he said, getting inside the covers, pulling them from under James's legs.

"Sirius, I'm not drunk. And I'm not stoned."

Sirius scoffed and turned his back to James.

"I want to do this with you," he said, insistently.

"Do what? Lemme sleep!" Sirius grunted against the pillows.

James got under the covers and flushed his body against Sirius's back. Sirius shrugged a little but said nothing. "I'm not letting you sleep right now," he whispered softly, his breath tickling the back of Sirius's neck, sending shivers all through his spine.

James started kissing Sirius neck leaving wet traces were his lips had been. He reached his lobe and engulfed it in his mouth. He could hear Sirius heavy breathing and that gave him courage to keep going.

"Prongs, don't do this, please," he said, his voice barely a whisper.

"Why not?" James said, turning Sirius around and focusing on kissing his jaw.

"James, I–" But Sirius couldn't finish his sentence, James was already kissing him again. He didn't respond at first, but when he felt James's tongue touch his own, all will abandoned his body and he gave in completely.

His hands were roaming around James's back, touching him every way he could, while kissing him fiercely. He found the hem of James's jumper and slid his hands under it. He pulled it up to get it out of the way and James willingly raised his arms to take it off.

He pushed James around and pinned his body to the bed, all his weight keeping him in place. "Are you sure you're not drunk?" he asked between kisses.

"I'm not, I swear," he said, trying to pull of Sirius's jumper. "Take it ioff/i, I want to feel you."

"What about stoned?" he asked again, still not believing James.

"Padfoot, I'm fucking sober, now take the bloody thing off!"

"Are you serious?" he said, letting James take the garment from his body.

"You know bloody well I can't be," he said, triumphantly throwing it away.

"Okay, I guess I deserve that," Sirius said, grinning stupidly.

"It's the first time I've beaten you on a Sirius pun," James smiled, looking his friend in the eyes.

"It's not fair, my judgment is impaired," he said, attacking James's neck. James threw his head back to leave more room to Sirius's kisses.

"By what?"

"By you, you git," he said, transferring his kisses to James's chest. "Merlin, I can't believe this is happening."

"Why was it we didn't do it before?" James asked, gasping when Sirius trapped a nipple between his teeth.

"You were busy shagging Temperance?" he offered.

"You were too busy being a coward," James answered. "And I wasn't shagging Temperance." Sirius was now biting and nibbling the other nipple and James let out a soft moan. "Padfoot, did you hear me? I was not shagging her."

"Whaddaya mean?" he said moving lower to James's stomach and lingering around his navel.

"I– Oh, Merlin! I wasn't shagging her," he said.

"Right. So all the times you escaped from the bedroom were just to look at her pretty face all night long," he said, stopping what he was doing and lying on the bed beside James.

"I never said I didn't touch her! I just didn't shag her," he said, looking Sirius straight in the eyes.

"Why the hell not?"

"I don't know Sirius. It just–," he sighed. "It didn't feel right."

For the first time, Sirius didn't know what to say. He opened his mouth and closed it again a few times, but nothing came out of it.

"Just kiss me, will you?" James said, putting a hand on the back of Sirius's neck, bringing him closer. Sirius closed his eyes and kissed James with all his heart. When they parted, both of them were panting heavily.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Sirius asked, kissing James again.

"I don't know. Does it matter?"

"No. Not really."

Sirius's hand traveled all through James's torso, down to his stomach and landing in the hem of James's pants. Not breaking the kiss, he slid his hand inside and grabbed James's cock lightly. It took James by surprise and he moaned loudly, throwing his head back and closing his eyes tightly.

"Shhh, you'll wake them up!" he scolded, hardening the grip on James's cock, making him moan again, this time a little softer. Sirius's hand moved up and down along James's member.

"Do– a– silencing– cha–" he panted.

"I can't, remember? It'll make you scream louder," he said with a huge smile on his face.

"Bloody idiot," he said, scrambling his hands around the bed in search for the wand. "I can't fucking find the bloody wand."

"I'll go fetch it," he said, removing his hand from James.

"Don't you dare!" he said in a menacing tone that made Sirius put his hand back again.

"Then be quiet!"

"Fine, I'll try." With this, Sirius resumed his movements, slowly at first, then increasing the pace to match James's hip movements. Soon his other hand travelled down his own body and he mirrored the movements he was doing on James in his aching cock.

James kept his promise of being silent, but only for a few minutes. When Sirius's hand moved rapidly enough, James had to throw his hands to his mouth to muffle the sound. Sirius wanted to kiss him, but he was busy watching every expression James made, every contortion of his body, every shiver.

When James came, rather loudly, Sirius couldn't help coming right after him.

"I– I really need my wand now, Sirius," were James's first words after he got his breath back.

"Uh?" he answered, still panting.

"We need to clean this mess."

"Oh. Give me a minute, I'll get it for you."

"Thanks."

"James?" Sirius said, timidly, raising his face.

"Yes?" he answered, facing his friend.

"I– You– Did you like it?" he finally blurted, his ears turning red.

"Are you kidding? Loved it!" he said, kissing Sirius. "But I really need my wand."

Sirius got up from the bed and started searching for the wand. "Where the hell is it? It's freezing out here."

"I think it's on my pants. There," he said, pointing a pair of jeans on the floor.

He got the wand and quickly tucked himself under the covers again. "Here you go."

"Scourgify!" James said, and their pants and Remus's sheets were clean again.

"It's freezing" Sirius said from under the blankets. "Is my jumper around?"

"No," James answered immediately, without even looking around. "You'll have to settle with me," and he hugged Sirius.

"That's better."

***

Remus knocked on the door. Receiving no answer, he opened it and poked his face in. James was lying on his back with Sirius's face on his chest. None of them were dressed as far as he could tell.

"What are they doing?" Peter asked.

"Nothing," he answered, turning around and closing the door behind him. "They're sleeping. I think we should leave them alone for a while.

"Ok. What do we do, then?"

"Wanna go to the movies?"

"The what?"

"Merlin, talking to you lot can really be frustrating sometimes! Go get ready, we're going out."

"Fine," Peter said.

When James woke up, Sirius was already awake.

"Hey," he said, with a sleepy voice.

"Hullo," Sirius answered. "How did you sleep?"

"Perfect. You?"

"Same."

"Come on, let's find Moony and Peter," James said, getting out of the bed.

"Aw, don't leave"

"Come on, the bed's driving me mad!"

"Urgh," he said, but he got up and put his jumper on. "This weather is gonna kill me!"

"Don't be a baby," James said, smiling widely. He grabbed Sirius's hand and guided him out of the room. They found no one, so they headed downstairs.

There was a note on the kitchen, where Mr. Lupin's note had been before, letting them know Peter and Remus went out for the day. Sirius never felt more love for Remus before.

"What do we do now?" James asked, looking around.

"Eat! I'm starving!" he said, walking straight to the fridge.

"You're starving, you're freezing," James said, rolling his eyes, "is there any time of the day when you're not complaining?" his tone was more playful than reproachful.

"When I'm kissing you," Sirius answered, immediately moving away from the fridge. He pushed James till his back was pressed against the pantry, and kissed him hard.

"I thought you were hungry," James said, breathlessly.

"Oh, I am," he said, kissing him again. James's stomach growled. "You're hungry too."

They ate cold cheese sandwiches and drank all the Coke they could get.

"Hey, I just remembered," Sirius said, after they were done eating. "There's a door outside the kitchen, we should totally check it out."

"The one that leads to the basement?"

"Yeah, let´s go!" he said, excitedly.

They opened the door and saw dark stairs that lead downstairs. Not remembering how to turn on the lights, James went running to get his wand to illuminate the way. The basement was an empty room with no windows.

"This is weird," Sirius said. "What was Moony hiding from us? It's just an empty room."

"Pads, check it out," James said, pointing something with his wand. "It's not a room, it's a cage." James was right. There was a thick grate where the stairs ended. "I bet this is where he spends the full moon when he's away from Hogwarts."

"But this is itiny/i! Look at the walls, they are all scattered. Poor Moony!"

"Yeah, he must get insane in this place."

"Tomorrow's full moon, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"Hey, we should–"

"No, Padfoot, don't you even think about it!"

"But why not?"

"You said it yourself, this place is too small for him, it would not hold the four of us. Not even I could fit here with him."

"Wormtail doesn't count!"

"Still, we would be trapped down here. What if he hurt us? He'll never forgive himself."

"We could go outside!"

"In the middle of the city? Are you insane? Beside, you can't fully transform yet."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Sirius said sadly. "Hey, did you hear that?"

"They're back. Come on!" they ran upstairs just in time to see Remus and Peter get into the house.

"Hi," waved Remus.

"Where were you?" James asked.

"You wouldn't believe it" Peter said, sounding really excited. "It was a ihuge/i screen with people inside it, and it was iloud/i! And we ate pizza and coke and cornypop–"

"Popcorn, Wormtail," corrected Remus.

"Yeah, that. You missed it!"

"I'm sure they found a way to entertain themselves, didn't you?" Moony said, wickedly.

James faced turned bright red and Sirius threw Remus a warning glance.

"Um… we managed alright," James mumbled, still red.

"What do you want to do now?"

"I don't know, Moony, it's your house, you find a way to occupy our time," James said, still trying to fight the blush.

"We can play Monopoly," he suggested, not very sure his friends would like the game.

"What's that?"

"A board game."

"Brilliant! Like Wizard chess?"

"Erm, not exactly." And he explained the game to his friends. They all agreed to play, so Remus went to find the box. They sat on the living room around the table with the board in the middle.

"It's your turn, Padfoot, throw the dices and move the figurine," Remus said.

"Move– I have to move it?" he asked in disbelief.

"Yes, muggle board games don't move on their own," he explained patiently.

Three hours later, against all odds, they were still playing.

James placed his hand on Sirius's thigh, rubbing it slowly. Sirius, distracted by James's hand, didn't buy two properties and forgot to collect the taxes when Remus fell on his street. The game ended and James's hand was still on his thigh. Remus won closely followed by James, and Sirius and Peter ended up broke.

James' soft laugh drove Sirius crazy and his hand was doing nothing to help him. If he didn't get out of there fast, it was going to be very embarrassing.

"Wanna play again?" Remus asked.

"No" Sirius answered as fast as he could. "I mean, I'm tired," he said, trying to hide the discomfort on his groin.

"Let's go to bed, then," James said locking his gaze with Sirius's. He could tell his friend was as aroused as he was.

"Ok. Come on upstairs," Remus said, packing everything inside the box and putting the game away. He went up the stairs, followed by James and Peter. "Are you coming, Pads?"

"Yeah, in a minute," Sirius said, not wanting to stand up.

When Sirius entered the room, James was already inside the bed. He took off his clothes and searched for his pajamas under the pillow.

"Where are they?" he asked.

"Not here. Get in" James ordered.

"Bossy," he said, raising an eyebrow.

"Shut up and kiss me," James said, pulling Sirius on top of him.

***

"Padfoot, are you awake?"

"Hmmnnph," the sound came from somewhere below the covers.

"'Cause I have an idea. You know, about the bleepy thingy." He said, shaking his friend's shoulder lightly.

A muffled sound came around again.

"What was that?"

"Lemme sleep!" Sirius yelled poking his face out of the covers and tucking it back again.

"Are you sure?" James asked in a mischievous tone. His hand traveled around Sirius's naked body and placed itself on top of his groin.

"Oi!" Sirius complained halfheartedly.

James started massaging Sirius's cock.

"Now you're up," he said triumphantly, removing his hand. "Will you pay attention to me, please?"

"Fucking tease," he muttered, turning around.

Sirius's grabbed James's head, leaned forward and captured his lips with his own. James's hand curled against Sirius's back, digging is nails into his skin. Gasping at the contact, Sirius sucks James's tongue into his mouth.

"Where you talking about something?" Sirius said against James's lips.

"Yeah, I think we should use mirrors," he said, brings their mouths together again.

"Look who's all kinky", Sirius said proudly.

"Don't be a prick, I was talking of a way of communication."

"But we are already communicating so well," he said, pressing his groin against James's causing him to groan.

"Now who's the tease?" James breathed into Sirius's ear, after sucking his lobe.

Sirius grins as his lips return to James's.

"Do you want to hear my idea, or not?" James asked, slightly out of breath.

"Enlighten me," Sirius said, without abandoning James's mouth.

"Mirrors, Padfoot. That way we can talk while seeing each other."

"I think that's brilliant," he said grabbing James's cock in his hand.

James breathed a soft moan and he mirrored Sirius's movements as his lips returned to Sirius.

"Breakfast is ready!" Remus voice came from the door. "Oh, Merlin, I'm sorry!" he said, quickly closing the door behind him.

"Bloody hell," James said, his voice fast and breathy.

"Thanks god, I'm starving!"

"Git," he muttered, not hiding his disappointment.

Sirius got out of the bed, put his clothes on and opened the door. "Aren't you coming?"

James rolled his eyes but got out of the bed too. They went downstairs, James trying to hide his erection under the jumper he was wearing.

Mr. and Mrs. Lupin were sitting in the dining room, having breakfast with Peter and Remus. James cheeks turned a dark shade of pink as he sit down.

"Hello dears," said Mrs. Lupin kindly. "Did you sleep well?"

James's cheeks turned a little darker as he avoided her eyes.

"We slept great, thanks," Sirius answered brightly, not affected in the slightest by the Lupins' presence.

James ate in silence, not really paying attention to the chatter around him.

"So what are we doing today?" beamed Sirius after the Lupins let the table.

"We should go to the movies again! You wouldn't believe how fun it is!" said Peter.

"Um, mates, I'm not feeling really well today," Remus said, "but you can go without me," he added quickly.

"We're not going without you, don't be a moron," Sirius said, sounding angry. "I almost forgot today's a full moon."

"We can stay here and finish my brilliant idea," he said, smiling at Sirius.

"What idea?" Remus asked.

"Prongs here said something about mirrors this morning, but I wasn't really paying attention," Sirius smirked, causing James's cheeks to flush again.

"I think we should do something like your beep-beep to communicate with each other," James said, ignoring Sirius lascivious glance. "But we should do it with mirrors, like a two-way mirror so we can see each other while we talk! Whaddaya think?"

"It's brilliant!" Remus beamed. "Let's do it! I'm gonna search my mum's rum, she has a lot of mirrors," he said and disappeared through the stairs.

Minutes later, Remus was back with two small, dirty, square mirrors in his hands. "This was all I could find," he said apologetically. "I hope they're good."

"Are you kidding? They're perfect!"

They spent the whole day in the living room, perfecting the two-way mirrors. After lunch, they took turns to take showers and went back to the living room to see how the mirrors were progressing.

Dusk was drawing near and Remus's was getting hairier by the minute. He had bags under his eyes and he found difficult to concentrate on what he was doing.

"I'm gonna take a nap, mates," he announced, as soon as James managed to see a glimpse of Sirius's face on the mirror he was holding.

"What are we gonna do tonight," Sirius asked, when Remus was gone.

"About what?" asked Peter.

"The full moon, you git!" he said. "We're not leaving Moony alone on that basement while we sleep comfortably on his bed!"

"What basement?" Peter asked.

"We could try transforming," Sirius suggested, hopefully, ignoring Peter.

"You know very well we can't do it! The last thing we need is to get Wormtail to Saint Mungo's in the middle of the night!"

"Oi, why me?"

"Because you're the one who haven't been able to complete the transformation once, remember?" James said. "Besides, we wouldn't fit on the basement, it's too little. W already covered this, Padfoot."

"What if only I transform? I'm not that big, we could both fit on the basement," Sirius suggested.

"What basement? Why do you keep ignoring me?"

"That may be a good idea, Pads, but are you sure you can do it without hurting yourself? Or better yet, without Moony hurting you?"

"We can try, can't we? I can keep him company and you and Wormtail can sleep peacefully."

"I'm not gonna sleep peacefully knowing you're all alone with a werewolf, Sirius," James said, sounding a bit hurt.

"You know what I mean, James. Your antlers alone don't fit the basement. This is our best shot," he said, locking his eyes with James's, ignoring everything around them.

"I know, I know," he said, returning the deep gaze. "Just try to be safe, will ya?"

"I will, I promise," Sirius said, getting a little closer to James. He looked intently at James lips, biting his own, just a few inches away from his friend. He could almost feel the taste of James mouth and–

"Oi, what the fuck are you doing?" Peter shrieked loudly.

James blushed furiously and moved rapidly away from Sirius.

"Wormtail, go fetch Moony's Transfiguration books, could you? I need to get ready for tonight," Sirius said, throwing a murderous glance at him.

Peter quickly disappeared through the stairs and took a long while to come back with the books in his hands, only to find a big black dog chasing its tail.

"Brilliant!" Peter cried, forgetting the earlier episode.

"Isn't it?" said James, smiling proudly.

Padfoot tackled Peter making him lose his balance. Once on the floor, he jumped on top of him and liked his face, leaving a slobbery trace all over him.

"Ew, gerroff! You're disgusting!" Peter cried, laughing hard.

Sirius transformed back quickly and returned to James side.

"That was brilliant! I didn't know you could transform so fast! Last time it took you hours!" Peter exclaimed.

"To be honest, I didn't know, either," said James, placing a hand on Sirius's shoulder.

"I've been practicing. I wanted to surprise you when we got back to Hogwarts, but I guess the occasion calls for it," he answered."I thought you were getting lonely transforming by yourself," he said sweetly, locking his eyes with James's.

"So that sets it," he said, trying really hard to ignore the jolt on his stomach Sirius's look caused. "You transform with him and we wait for you on the living room. You'll have to keep him company till after the dawn. He falls asleep around 3 and transforms back shortly after. Wait until he's human again to come back!"

***

Remus was sprawled on the floor with this eyes wide shut. Padfoot transformed into Sirius as fast as he could, sought for the key hidden on the pocket of his pants and opened the grate as quickly as he could. He run upstairs and closed the door behind him pressing his back against it. He was panting heavily.

James was lying on the couch of the living room with Peter sound asleep by his side. James was asleep too, but he woke up every now and then and fell asleep again. The noise of the basement door closing woke him up immediately. He ran to it and found his friend leaning against the door, catching his breath.

"How was everything?" he asked, sleepily. Then he saw a big dark stain on Sirius's pants. "Fuck, are you okay?" he said, running by his side. He wanted to hug him, but he refrained from doing it in case he was hurt somewhere else.

"I'm fine," he answered rather breathlessly.

"Come on, let's go upstairs," he grabbed his friend and practically carried him to Remus's room. "Merlin, Sirius, what happened?"

"I'm fine," he insisted. "He got a little violent at first, but then he calmed down."

"Why didn't you get out of there immediately?"

"I wasn't gonna leave him alone, was I?"

"I told you to be careful…" searching frantically for something in the room that could help him heal his friend. Finding nothing there, he headed to the bathroom and came back with many jars and cloths.

He helped Sirius get his clothes off and he tried not to grasp when he saw his body. His midriff was covered with growing hematomas and his leg had a long, nasty-looking cut.

He opened a wound-cleaning potion and spread the purple cream over Sirius's leg making him jump.

"It stings" he yelled.

"Shut up, you big baby! We don't want to wake everybody up!" James whispered.

He carefully cleaned the wound until the leg was free of blood. It didn't look all that bad now that it was clean, but James could tell it was deep. He then opened another jar and put all the Murtlap essence he could on the wound. Sirius complained every now and then.

"We should take you to Saint Mungo's" James said trying to hide the concern in his voice.

"No, we're not. What are we gonna tell them happened?"

"I–," he sighed. "I'm worried about you, Sirius. What if something happens to you?"

"Nothing's gonna happen, James" he said sitting up to face him. "Ouch!" he yelled.

"Sirius!"

"Really, I'm fine. I've healed you before, remember?"

"He never hurt me that badly before!"

"Well, no. But we were in a tight place, we could barely move," he said, lying back on the bed.

James got the bruise-healing paste and he carefully put the thick yellow paste on almost every inch of Sirius's chest and stomach.

Sirius moaned half in pain half horny. "I love when you touch me, you know," he said, suppressing a grunt.

"Naughty boy. I'm trying to heal you here!" James said, smirking. "I'm not gonna touch tonight, anyway."

"Ugh, you're a fucking tease!" he said, playfully.

James snorted. "That should do," he announces watching Sirius's cream covered body. "I'm gonna take this back. Put something on so you won't stain everything."

"Yes, boss," Sirius answered quietly, watching James disappear.

When James came back, Sirius was already dressed and under the covers. He got in by his side, carefully trying not to move too much. He kissed Sirius's lightly on the lips and he lay down on the bed.

"Next month we'll be in Hogwarts," Sirius said.

"Yeah, and?" James asked, yawning widely.

"We can go to the Forbidden Forest. The three of us," he said in a sleepy voice. "Our first full moon together."

"It'll be so much fun!" he said, almost asleep. "We have to keep working with Wormtail, though."

"He can walk around with his mouse ears and tail, for all I care."

"You're so mean to him," James said, not really reproaching.

"Why are you so far away?"

"In case you fail to notice, you're bruised all over. I don't wanna hurt you."

"You'll never hurt me James," he said, moving towards him.

James got closer placing his face inches away from Sirius's.

"That's better," he said triumphantly.

James pulled him in for a kiss and they fell asleep with the promises of a new year full of excited adventures waiting for them.

END