Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition Season 4—Finals Round 1

Team: Holyhead Harpies
Position: Captain
Task: Write about the previous player's OTP (Sirius/Remus)* and include an example of foreshadowing and juxtaposition

*I'm Player 7 in the Harpies' chain (following buildmealegohouse96)

Word Count: 1,804

The Full Moon

The two boys were laid on the grass together. One robe-less, his shirt untucked, his collar open, and his tie hanging only very loosely around his neck; one completely robed, his shiny prefect's badge gleaming proud and straight on his chest, shirt buttoned right up to the collar, and his tie neat and tight. One rebellious and oftentimes outright reckless in nature; one reserved, logical, somewhat shy, and almost always amending the wrongs of the other. One with eyes the colour of rolling storm clouds, hair dark and ragged like a dog; one with eyes the gentle green of the grass they were currently stretched out on, hair a brown as soft as his own gentle nature.

One was Sirius Black. The other was Remus Lupin.

And one thing they both had in common was that, on that pleasant summer's afternoon, they were both content. And they both had one arm outstretched, fingers interlocking with that of the other boy.

"It's a full moon tonight."

"Mhmm."

"Sirius?"

"What?"

"Did you hear me?"

"Mhmm."

"I said it's a full—"

"I heard you, Moony."

Remus Lupin turned his head to the side to stare at his companion, feeling slightly put-out. Sirius wasn't looking at him, but staring up at the cloudless sky.

"Then why—"

But Sirius cut across him. "It's been years—don't you think I've learnt your cycle by now?" he snorted.

"It's not my cycle," Remus muttered indignantly. "It's the moon's..."

"Either way, yes, I heard you. And besides—" Sirius finally turned his head to meet Remus' gaze, and as he did so he offered both a gentle smile and an affectionate squeeze of the other boy's hand—"I already knew it was tonight."

Something gently stirred within Remus' stomach, but he was unsure whether it was of surprised affection that Sirius was seemingly so invested in Remus' wellbeing, or nerves out of anticipation for the impending dread of that night.

"Really?" he asked breathlessly.

Sirius stared at Remus with deep amusement. "The full moon is the most exciting night of the month, Moony, of course I've memorised the lunar cycle!"

The sensation in Remus' stomach immediately dropped, and the prefect found himself rolling his eyes. But he didn't relinquish the other boy's hand. Not just yet. "Only you would find such enjoyment in what, for me, is a painful, humiliating, dangerous experience."

"Ah, but the danger is part of the fun," Sirius insisted in his usual playful manner. "Where's that Gryffindor attitude, huh, Moony? Where's the sense of adventure?"

Remus was about to open his mouth to protest that the werewolf transformation was wildly different from his own point of view—as he had done many times in the past—but something stopped both of the boys short. It was the distant but approaching sound of James Potter gleefully calling his friends' names. A sound which prompted the two of them to immediately drop hands and jump to their feet.

Sirius slipped his hands into his pockets with ease, a grin stretching from ear to ear at the sight of his newly-released friend. Remus recovered from the near-brush with much less grace, awkwardly trying to conceal the heat he knew was rising to his face. James was blissfully unaware of anything going on behind the scenes between two of his closest friends, and the two intended to keep it like that.

"So detention, Prongs? You're finally free?"

"I certainly am!" James exclaimed in response to Sirius' gleeful question. "Wormtail's still stuck in there, though, the idiot. He's so much slower at lines."

Sirius was still beaming. Remus was still hoping James wouldn't notice anything unusual with regards to how deeply he was blushing.

The former grinned even wider—if possible. "Well, so long as he's ready for tonight. It's gonna be a good one, I can tell."

Remus' blush was gone in an instant, replaced immediately with a look of dread and vague annoyance at Sirius' words. "What's that supposed to mean?" he asked suspiciously, narrowing his eyes.

"Nothing," Sirius shrugged, but he still couldn't contain his grin, "I just feel like tonight will be particularly enjoyable."

Remus looked to James for any inclination as to what Sirius might be referring to, but the other boy looked just as clueless.

"But… why?" Remus asked.

"No reason."

"Sirius…"

"What?"

"Are you… planning something?"

Sirius pretended to act indignant. "What are you suggesting, Moony?"

But the thing was that Remus didn't know what he was suggesting; he just knew that he didn't trust what Sirius was up to. "Sirius, please, the full moon is bad enough as it is—don't do anything stupid!"

Sirius scoffed. "As if I would."

"I can't believe you did that, I can't believe you did that, I can't believe you did that."

Remus Lupin was on the brink of a nervous breakdown. The new dawn was upon them, he was once more in human form, but the state of exhaustion he usually experienced after a werewolf transformation was this time accompanied with uncontrollable shaking, a cold sweat, skin as white as the moon itself had been, and the poor boy rocking back and forth in the chair in the Headmaster's office.

Sirius, in the chair by his side, had the decency to look at least a little ashamed. "Moony, calm down."

"Calm down? Calm down?" Remus hissed, gripping at the arms of the chair and turning to glare at Sirius. "Sirius—you—you—too far!" he spluttered. "Snape!" he explained, suddenly coherent. "He could have died!"

"We'd be so lucky," Sirius almost said, but clocking the terrified, and terrifying look in Remus' eyes, he stopped himself. He'd expected Remus to be mad, naturally, but it had been James' shocked reaction that had let Sirius know perhaps he really had gone too far. If James Potter, prankster royalty, thought it was a bad idea…

Sirius suddenly felt something drop in his stomach—an indication of a feeling he felt incredibly infrequently. Guilt.

"I wouldn't have let him… die," Sirius gulped, suddenly questioning, in horror, whether that was even true.

"But—but you almost did!" Remus protested, still in a state of shock. "It was James who saved him, it was James who stopped it from happening—I would have torn him to shreds! You know that, right?"

Sirius gulped again. "I…"

"Do you not understand, Sirius," Remus demanded, now angry, "that this is my biggest fear? That I'll kill someone? Even if that person is Snape!"

"Remus, please," Sirius said in a quiet, solemn voice—which was incredibly rare for the troublemaker—"I only thought it would be funny—a harmless prank—I wasn't trying to hurt you."

Remus was so angry that he felt tears threaten to spill, and he didn't even care. "But you don't think, Sirius, you don't! And what's going to happen now?" he demanded. "I could be exposed! I could be expelled."

"I won't let that happen," Sirius said firmly. "Dumbledore won't—would never—expel you simply for being a werewolf. It's not like he didn't already know."

"He could expel me for killing someone!" Remus shrilly insisted.

"But you didn't kill anyone!"

"But I could have!"

A silence hung in the office—the loudest silence either of them had ever known.

"Remus," Sirius said gently, extending a hand. But the other boy recoiled, as though Sirius' touch was something to be feared.

"No, Sirius, this is too much this time."

"Okay," he gulped, "and I'll accept that, I really will. But listen to me. Listen to me."

Remus sulkily turned his head to glare at Sirius.

"Nothing bad is going to happen to you, okay? None of you."

Remus opened his mouth but Sirius cut across him.

"I will take the blame—the full blame. Prongs, you, and Wormtail didn't know anything about it, and that's exactly what I'll tell Dumbledore once he's done talking to the others. If anybody's getting expelled then it's me. Okay?"

Remus did not reply straight away. Partially, he was still too angry at Sirius, but a new feeling was also swelling inside him at Sirius' sentiments. "But what about… what about your secret?" he asked weakly.

"I don't think Snape knows," Sirius said calmly. "I don't think he saw any of us, but if he did, I'll… tell them it's just me. I'll say that I did it for you—becoming an illegal Animagus—which is true anyway, but Dumbledore needn't know about the others."

"You'll definitely get expelled," Remus said in a quiet, broken voice.

Sirius merely shrugged. "I'm willing to take the fall for us if it's what it comes down to. I'm not going to let Prongs and Wormtail get expelled because of me."

"But they're just as guilty."

"Only of being Animagi, not of"—he hesitated—"almost killing Snape. It'd be my fault for exposing them, but like I said, if Snape did see anything and we get questioned, Dumbledore needn't know that all three of us are unregistered Animagi."

Another silence fell between the two boys. Remus found his anger had all but melted away. He looked at Sirius only with breathless awe. "You would really do that?" he asked quietly. "For me? For us?"

Sirius offered a weak smile—about all he could properly give. "I truly would."

It was as though some internal warmth was spreading through Remus' body, and he couldn't help but smile back. "Expulsion might be the least of your problems," he said with gentle teasing. "Something as illegal as becoming an unregistered Animagus at just sixteen could be worthy of Azkaban."

"Ah, is that so?"

Remus nodded.

"Well, in that case," Sirius said, "I guess I'd take the fall too."

Remus raised his eyebrows. "You would go to Azkaban for us?"

"Every single one of you," Sirius vowed, his smile unwavering. "You, Prongs, even Wormtail—though, let's be honest, he's the least likely to ever do something worthy of Azkaban."

"Even if we're not guilty?"

"If no one's guilty, if I'm guilty—heck, if we're all guilty—I'll be the one taking the fall, mark my words."

Remus held Sirius' gaze, still sharing his smile. "See, now I almost wish such an occasion would arise just to see if you'll keep your promise."

Sirius slumped down further into his chair, but as he had done earlier on the grass, he extended his hand towards Remus. The other boy took it this time, with little hesitation. "Ah, well, see, I only said that because I know it will never happen."

This time it was Remus who gave Sirius' hand a gentle squeeze. "Let's hope, for your sake, that you're right, then."

And with that, the door to the Headmaster's office opened, and the boys dropped hands once more, hoping never to dwell on it again.