"Are you sure no ones there, Padfoot?" the short haired teenager asked hoarsely as he looked around the empty corridors expecting someone to pop out of no where at any given moment. Beside him he heard a chuckle, but choose to ignore it, almost jumping in the air when he heard a sound down the next corridor.
"Prongs, this is why we're under the invisibility cloak. Now come on before some does see us," Sirius grabbed James' arm and pulled him along the corridor.
Sirius pulled the invisibility cloak off him and turned to look at a painting with a bowl of fruit. The raven haired boy standing 5'9 leaned over and tickled the pear, which made a very immature giggle. The boy smiled that smile that held many girls in the school to his every whim.
"After you," the shaggy haired teen said mocking a butler bow to the other boy, who rolled his eyes and entered the room that appeared.
Where was hardly any space inside to walk. There was a small table off to the left side with two stools. House elves filled the majority of the space busying themselves with; preparing the food for tomorrows breakfast, cleaning dishes, washing floors- the kitchens sure were busy at 2:30 in the morning.
Sitting down at the chairs, the two black haired boys waited for a house elf to serve them. They waited in silence for a few minutes before a female house elf walked up to them.
"What can Missy do you you?" the little female house elf in the tattered pillow case said as she looked up at them.
"Yes can we please get; two cans of whipped cream, two bowls of strawberries, two bowls of an assortment of blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries, as well as four chocolate bars," the boy who tickled the pear said.
The house elf, named Missy, scribbled onto a piece of parchment what they had ordered and walked away.
The two teens sat in silence- watching the elves walk around, busying themselves with something. The stag watched one house elf sweep the floor, he thought it was kinda cute to see the tiny broom in the house elf's hands.
"Missy has your order sirs." James was brought back to reality by Missy's voice.
The two boys smiled at her and took the food.
"Thank-you every much," the dog animagus said as he and James left the kitchens.
They exited the kitchens and walked towards a class room.
Sirius walked up to the wall at the end of the hallway and heard a chuckle come from beside him.
"What?"
"Pads, the room is over there."
"I...I knew that... I was just... Testing you, yeah that's it, I was testing you!" Sirius walked over to James, "I'm not stupid Prongs."
"I beg to differ," James smiled and laughed, "we can't use the Room of Requirement... We are not in desperate need of it, now are we?"
Sirius glared at the younger boy, "I knew that, I was testing you, Prongs..."
James laughed and opened the door to a classroom, he grabbed Sirius' arm and pulled him into the room. James set the food down that he was carrying on a desk, and as Sirius unpacked what was in his arms, James pulled out his wand and began to rearrange the desks to make space in the middle of the classroom. James muttered something under his breath and a huge picnic blanket appeared on the floor along with a multitude of pillows as well as a short table. After Sirius had unpacked what was in his arms, he too pulled out his wand, pointed it at the food and muttered an incantation. The food levitated off the desks and onto the table.
"After you, seeing as ladies go first," Sirius laughed and bowed.
James rolled his eyes and took off his shoes as he walked onto the blanket, Sirius followed suit. The two boys sat looking at each other and then at the food than back to each other. Padfoot was the first to take a strawberry from the bowl closest to him. James reached for a chocolate bar and some raspberries.
"So Prongs. How's things with Lily coming?"
"Same as always. She's turned me down every time I ask her out," James sighed and tossed a raspberry into his mouth, as he chewed he added, "do you think I should give up on her Sirius?"
Sirius chocked on a strawberry. After he spent a few seconds trying to dislodge it from it's place in his throat he looked up at his friend, he couldn't believe James might give up on Lily.
Sirius smiled, "hey why are you talking like that?"
"Well, Padfoot, I just...I dunno. It doesn't seem worth it anymore. I've been at this for how long?"
"A while now."
"Exactly, and Lily just hates me more than she did before I started asking her out," James looked down at his hands.
"Well, I'd be pretty pissed off too if the same person asked me out everyday, six or seven times a day."
"I suppose..."
"I think you should venture on, my dear solider."
James smiled at that remark, but then went back to his sulking. Sirius picked up an empty bowl off the table and emptied the rest of his chocolate bar into the bowl. He then picked his wand up off the table. James heard Sirius mutter something, and looked up to see a small fire under the bowl. Sirius smirked at James, and dipped a strawberry into the melted chocolate. James stood up so he could reach across the table and dipped a strawberry into the chocolate.
"Oh c'mon Prongs! Cheer up man, stop being such a downer," Sirius spat and accidentally spat half of the contents of his mouth onto James' white t-shirt he had received from his parents for Christmas which had his name embroidered on the front.
"Sirius!" James roared as he looked down at the bits of strawberry and chocolate splattered on his shirt, "are you fucking serious? What's wrong with you?" James took a hand full of blueberries and smashed them onto Sirius' shirt he had received from James' parents with his name embroidered on it, then he took a handful of melted chocolate and tossed it at Sirius. Sirius just laughed and removed his shirt. He knew he could have Remus remove the stain. Sirius pointed his wand at the fire under the bowl of melted chocolate, he decided that it would be best if there was nothing heating the chocolate anymore.
"You dickhead! Didn't anyone teach you to chew and swallow what's in your mouth before you speak?" James removed his shirt and looked at the stain.
"I was never one for manners."Sirius found himself staring at James' chest, the way it would rise and fall with each sharp inhale and exhale.
"Prongs I'm sorry. I didn't mean to spit all over you."
Just as James went to open his mouth the door to classroom opened. In walked a smaller boy, with light brown hair and a book under his arm- he smiled at the other boys.
"Hey Pads, Prongs."
"Hey Moony!" Sirius greeted him in a way-too friendly way-too happy tone, "how'dja know we were here?"
Remus smiled and pulled a map out of his book, "this comes in handy, y'know," he smiled and sat down at the table.
Remus took a strawberry and dipped it into the chocolate, as he brought the strawberry up to his lips some chocolate dripped onto his shirt.
"Gonna join our half naked party?" Sirius asked, a little to eager.
"I...I don't think so," Remus looked at Sirius then at James. He didn't want his friends to see his scars and remembering what kind of monster they hung around with.
"Moony, if this is because of the scars; don't worry about them. We still love you," Sirius said smiling at Remus.
Remus smiled back at Sirius, he knew this to be true but he still felt uncomfortable doing so, Remus just took another strawberry and ate it.
"C'mon Moony, you're over dressed!" Sirius teased as he stood and walked towards Remus.
"You ruined my shirt!" James threw his shirt at Sirius, it hit his head and stayed there.
"I can fix it, later if you want."
"Thanks Moony."
Remus grabbed a piece of James' chocolate and began to eat. He smiled at the velvety sensation on his tongue, as he ate he didn't realize the mischievous grin that had crept onto Sirius' face; Sirius stood and grabbed James' invisibility cloak.
"Hey, where're you going?" James protested.
"I'll be back don't worry," Sirius smiled and walked out the door, leaving Prongs and Moony alone.
Remus smiled sheepishly at the boy to his left, and grabbed a chocolate bar from the middle of the table.
"What's new James?" the smaller boy asked as he released the chocolate bar from it's wrapping and felt his mouth water.
"Nothing really," James breathed.
"Mm..." Remus nodded chewing the chocolate in his mouth before speaking, "how're things with Lily?"
He watched as James looked down at his hands. Clearly this was a sensitive issue.
"Prongs, I didn't mean to hit a nerve. It's just you always talk about her and well...you haven't told me anything about her, or about, anything at all really... I just wanted to know what was wrong... I'm sor-"
James smiled at Remus, "Moons, it's okay. Don't worry about it. Sirius asked me about her as well."
Remus looked down at his hands, "oh..."
"Remus, can I ask you a question... I want your opinion..." James' voice was down to a whisper, Remus had to lean in closer to hear, "do you think I should just give up...on Lily?"
Remus stared at James, was he really hearing this? Was James really gonna give up on Lily? Remus had to shake his head to clear it.
"Remus?"
"Oh...Sorry..."
"So?"
"I think you should keep trying. I mean you do seem to fancy her, just don't ask her out every time you see her. You also have to remember she just got out of a relationship."
James stared at Remus a little bewildered, "I never thought about it like that..."
"You should also take into consideration the fact that you pra-"
"Moons do you have your wand handy?" James cut Remus off, and Remus nodded.
"Could you fix my shirt now?"
"Sure I suppose..." Remus pulled his wand out of his robes and James tossed him his shirt. Remus mumbled a spell and tapped James' shirt three times.
James thanked him and ran out of the room.
Remus sat there starting at the empty bowls and his half eaten chocolate bar. He shut his eyes, there were a few days until the full moon; James was off chasing Lily again, Peter was probably passed out in the dorms and Sirius was doing who-knows-what.
This wasn't a rarity, sometimes Remus' friends did forget he underwent a transformation every month. Remus felt the corners of his eyes begin to sting. He shook his head trying to remove the thoughts of being alone during a transformation- again...
Sirius hurried back to the classroom, holding a pie. He opened the door and walked inside the room. He removed James' invisibility cloak and looked around, James had disappeared and left Moony alone. Sirius place the pie onto of a desk by the door and walked up behind Remus. Remus seemed to be lost in his thoughts and didn't realize the other had returned. As Sirius went to sit behind the smaller boy he noticed a small shine on the flushed cheeks of his friend.
Was Remus crying? What had James done? He wrapped his arms around the werewolf's torso and Remus jumped at the unexpected contact.
"Shh...Remus, it's me," he heard Sirius say soothingly into his ear. Sirius placed his chin on Remus' shoulder and rested his head against Remus'. Remus quickly wiped the fallen tears from his face.
"What's wrong Moony?"
"N- Nothing Padfoot. Don't worry about it." Remus' voice began to shake and he felt tears well up behind his eyes.
"Don't lie to me," Sirius growled into Remus' ear.
Remus sighed, "Sorry Sirius..."
"Tell me what's wrong."
After a few minutes of silence Remus began, "in a few days, it's the full moon."
"Oh shit... that's right..."
"And I'm scared, which I clearly should be, that you guys will forget about me like last month."
"Hey, that was one time!"
"This year, it's been one time. But ever since you guys could join me because you learned how to become animagi, you've missed more than ten full moons... Did you think because you forgot, so would Mother Nature?" Remus felt the venom dripping in his last few words as they left his mouth.
"Remmy, we told you a multitude of times we were sorry."
"That doesn't change anything..."
"I didn't know you were so upset about all of this, why didn't you tell us? We could have-"
"Because Sirius!" Remus cut Sirius off. He pushed the other off of him and stood up, "you don't know what it's like! I hate the monster I become and you know it! All you have to worry about is your school work and whether your girlfriend for the week won't figure out you'll dump her by tomorrow! I have to worry about; school work, whether other students will find out I'm a werewolf, how I'll find a job, if someone will actually hire me, if a girl will date me or even marry me after she finds out what I am. All these things that seem so trivial to you and James cause me to stay up at night thinking about it. I can't bear the transformations, you know I don't want to hurt anyone. I just...it's so hard. I wanna be okay with- with...this," Remus made a gesture to himself, "but I can't! I wanna be normal. I want to live without the worry of others finding out, and whether or not my friends will show up to help me through my transformations or not!" Remus felt the tears fall from his eyes and he didn't care.
Sirius looked up at him, he didn't know what to say to the younger boy.
"I...I'm sorry Remmy, I really am," Sirius stood and walked over to Remus. The dog animagus took the werewolf in his arms.
Remus let wave after wave of emotion pass through his body, until it was impossible to cry any more.
"I- I'm sorry Remmy," Sirius said after Remus had calmed down.
"I'm sorry t- too..."
"I'm gonna try to be a better friend," Sirius said as he let go of Remus and moved him so they were looking at each other.
"Promise?"
"Promise. I love you, Remmy.
"I love you too, Sirius," Remus hugged the taller boy.
"Like a brother?" Sirius asked skeptically, Remus just nodded and smiled.