Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters associated with the Harry Potter series. I am making no money off of this. The only reason I'm writing this is to avoid my lab report and the Superbowl.

Play Date

"I am ruler of the seas, and you are my mistress!"

"Boys can't be mistresses, Sirius."

"Remus, we don't have any girls. Besides, they have cooties."

"Belle, Samantha, Ruby, and Alice don't have cooties."

"Duh. They're not girls. They're women."

"I hate this game."

Sirius glared at the third boy. "You hate every game that doesn't involve potions, Severus."

"It's not fair that you're the captain, and I'm the swabbie. You're always captain. I want to be captain!"

"We can't both be captain, and I'm not letting you boss me around."

"Fine. I'll get my own ship, then."

Sirius scoffed. "You can't have a ship without a crew. Right, James?"

James looked startled. "Um, right. Yeah."

Severus turned to the women watching them. "Samantha, you'll be on my ship, won't you?"

Samantha looked surprised. "Um, well, would that really be fair?"

Remus wriggled out of Sirius' arms. "I'll be on your ship, Sev."

"What? Remus, you're the mistress of the seas! You can't be on his ship!"

Severus smirked. "I'll make you first mate."

"You always make me mistress, Siri. I don't want to be mistress. I want to be a first mate."

"That's mutiny! You could walk the plank for that!" Sirius cried.

"Then I'll walk the plank, thank you very much!"

Samantha and the other sitters stood up, one of them conjuring tea, the other some cakes from the kitchen. "Boys, tea and cakes!"

All four boys looked up and ran to the table. "Cake! Cake!"

Samantha smiled at the others. "Works every time."

The boys began to stuff the cakes in their mouths, ignoring the tea for the time.

"Let's play hide-and-seek next!" James suggested.

"Yeah!" Sirius agreed.

"How are we supposed to play hide-and-seek in a wide-open field?" Severus asked.

"Belle, will you charm the area?" Remus asked his sitter.

Belle smiled. "Of course I will. Right after you boys drink your tea."

The four boys quickly finished their tea.

Belle charmed the field so that the boys could have places to hide. Sirius stood near one of the newly-appeared trees. "Okay, swing set is the safe area," Sirius said. "One, two, three!"

"Not it!"

Severus was the last to speak.

"Sev is it, everyone! Remember, don't come after us until you've counted to twenty."

With that, the boys all ran to hide.

Severus sighed and leaned against the tree, closing his eyes. "One... two... three..."

Sirius ran to the back of the hide area and hid behind the above-ground pool. James ran to the left and hid behind some of the taller bushes. Remus ran to the right and entered the shed that Belle had conjured.

"Eighteen... nineteen... twenty... Ready or not, here I come!" Severus pulled away from the tree and looked around the area, carefully thinking about where everyone would run. He walked toward the shed, thinking that would be too obvious a place for anyone to be in, but worth a look anyway.

He opened the door slowly and quietly, listening for the sounds of someone inside. He stepped inside slowly, and Remus began to run toward the doors in the back. Severus began to run after him, but before he had run two steps, Remus had tripped over a rake.

He whimpered when he hit the ground. Severus gasped and ran over. Remus turned onto his back, and groaned. His left knee bled. Severus knelt down. "Don't worry, I have something for scrapes."

Remus smiled softly, trying to keep his tears back. "You always have something."

Severus pulled a small vial filled with a turquoise liquid from his cloak. "Well, it's always best to be prepared, especially on play days." He began to apply the liquid to Remus' knee, carefully blowing on it after each drop. Remus winced at first, the droplets causing a short burn that was reduced by Severus' careful method. When the knee was healed, Severus sat back and looked at him.

Remus looked back, unsure of what to do or say.

Severus acted first. "Thank you. For volunteering to be on my ship, even if it was so that you didn't have to play the mistress again."

Remus smiled shyly. "I wouldn't have minded being your mistress."

Those words startled Severus. He had no idea what to say or do when Remus leaned toward him, placing a small kiss on his cheek. He had just returned to his original position when the doors opened.

"Boys, play time's over. It's time to go home. We've got to get you all ready for Hogwarts."

The boys looked at Samantha and Belle. "Okay," they said, getting up and walking to the door.

It was not until years later that Severus had realized how much that one statement had affected him. Nothing in his school years had surprised him much, except for the few times that Remus would find him in the hallway alone during prefect duty and talk with him about nothing. It was interesting how much the talks about nothing could mean so much to a person.

Severus sighed as he watched his neighbor's four-year-old eat the cakes he had offered. She smiled up at him and pulled from her small bag two objects wrapped in plastic. She handed one to Severus.

"Fortune cookies. Nanny says they tell the future."

She enthusiastically opened hers, cracking the cookie into many pieces. She looked at the piece of paper. "You are strong and brave." She beamed up at him. "I'm going to be a superhero!"

Severus smiled back at her and opened his, breaking the cookie into two even pieces. "You have an unusually magnetic personality."

"Yeah, yeah!" The little girl said, nodding. "You attract woofie!"

Severus raised an eyebrow slightly. "What?"

"Hello, Severus," came the voice from behind him.

Severus turned. "Lupin. What are you doing here?"

Remus shrugged. "Just came to see how you are. Dumbledore said that you hadn't seen your home since the war started, so he thought I had a good chance of finding you here."

The little girl stood up and walked over to Remus. "Woofie! Woofie!"

Remus smiled at the girl. "Would you like to fly, little superhero?"

She beamed up at him. "Yeah, yeah!"

"Okay." Remus started to pull out his wand, but Severus cleared his throat.

"In your arms."

"I beg your pardon?"

"She prefers being in someone's arms rather than floating because of magic."

"Okay, then," Remus said, picking the girl up. "Let's fly."

Severus watched the two play in his yard, not noticing his neighbor entering his yard. "What a cute couple."

Severus jerked toward the voice. "Samantha," he breathed out, his former sitter smiling at him.

"Well, don't you agree?"

"Yes, Remus and Angelica do make a cute couple."

Samantha watched as Remus set the little girl down and began to walk over to them. "I wasn't talking about them."

"Nanny! Nanny!" Angelica said, running to her grandmother. "Woofie play with me today!"

The woman smiled at her granddaughter. "And what did you two play? Ruler of the seas?"

"No, we play superhero and I flew!"

"Did you save the world?"

"Of course!"

"Well, that's good. You must be tired after all that fun." The little girl nodded. "Say goodbye to Severus and Remus."

"Bye Sevvie, bye Woofie."

"Goodbye Angelica," they said as Samantha walked off with the girl.

When Severus turned back to face Remus, the other man was smiling softly. "What?"

"Ruler of the seas. I haven't seen anyone play that since we were children."

"Well, it's a rather silly game, making someone your mistress."

"You know, I still wouldn't mind if I were your mistress."

Severus could not think of a response.

"You really do have an unusually magnetic personality. I've seen the worst in you, yet I still love you."

"What?"

"I love you. I know you might not think it's possible because of who I chose to be friends with, but remember that I was friends with you before the Sorting Hat decided we'd be better off in different houses. I just regret that I didn't fight harder to keep the bond between us."

Severus sighed. "You are insufferable, do you know that?"

"How could I not know? You've only told me over a million times..."

"I don't want you to be my mistress."

Remus sighed, looking at his feet. "I'm sorry. I should have expected that." He smiled a bit bitterly. "I guess I'll go. Sorry I wasted your time."

"Wait," Severus said, grabbing his arm. "That doesn't mean I don't want you to be my... my..."

Remus smirked slightly at the slight blush on the other man's cheeks. "Lover?"

Severus looked away, thoroughly embarrassed. "Yes."

Remus' smiled widened before he kissed Severus. "Leave the mushy names to me."

"Right, yes, of course. Good."

"You know, Woofie wants to play."

Severus rolled his eyes as he and Remus slowly made their way into the house. "Honestly, you were with her for ten minutes. You shouldn't be speaking like her."

"Well, at least she didn't say 'Woofie goes Awooooo'!"

Severus glared at the other man. "Shut up."

"Make me."

"Gladly."

Fin

Wow. My first attempt at slash. Please tell me what you think. I promise that if it's not good I will never attempt it again.

Yoshi