Chapter 1: Shakespeare glows like the Light of a thousand Condom Balloons.
Remus had been sitting still all evening, just reading his book by the fire. He hadn't so much as looked up in over an hour and Sirius had simply had enough. He didn't like to be ignored thus he decided to fix the current dilemma.
He stood from where he had been watching Lily and James verse one another in a game of chess and walked over to Remus where he promptly sat himself in the others lap.
"Siri, can't you see I'm reading?" Remus sighed exasperated.
"Well screw you and your reading!!" the always overly emotional Sirius Black screamed out, effectively getting the attention of the entire common room.
Remus flushed slightly at this but smirked as he replied;
"What?! Here! In the common room?! In front of everyone?!"
Sirius gaped, open mouth, as the lycan closed his book, brushed his hand over his friends soft hair and headed up to his dorm room – Sirius all the while still staring blankly as his friend went upstairs.
~\\*//~
As Remus hit the stairs and his back was to the common room his smirk quickly began to fade.
He made it to his bed and threw the book – a very un-Remus trait – to the floor beside his bed.
"Sirius…" he breathed as he climbed into bed still in the clothes from that day and that's where he stayed until he fell asleep.
~//*\\~
The common room had burst out laughing at Remus' false shock and of course the gaping fish that was the schools playboy, Sirius Black!
James had come bounding up to his best mate, laughing madly, at his friends' expression.
"That was Brilliant mate! The look on your face – priceless!!"
Sirius regained his composure and replied;
"Well that's our Moony! A true Marauder at heart!" and started laughing along as the rest of the room began to quiet down.
James perched himself in the middle of the common, challenging them all to a game of chess, however many of them were more interested in discussing the days pranks, many asking where they had gotten their hands on so many muggle condoms.
James just smirked at the memory of hundreds of students arriving at dinner to see instead of the usual hundreds of candles floating in the air, the students found the ceiling covered in hundreds upon hundreds of muggle condoms blown up like balloons glowing like Japanese Lanterns.
James had even plucked one from the air and handed it to Lily, earning him a giggle and a playful smack over the head.
He sat and watched James play chess with anyone who would play him – he lost every game bar one which Sirius suspected it was only for the fact that his opponent, a first year girl, was too busy watching James to pay attention to the game.
By the time the last challenger had dwindled away it was well after one and both boys were exhausted from a long day of pranking, thus they went upstairs to crawl into bed.
James, oblivious to the many workings of their dear friend Moony, crawled straight into bed with a small wave of his hand – his gesture for goodnight.
Siri, however, noticed "The complete works of William Shakespeare" – The book Moony had been reading down stairs – lying in the ground, pages being crumpled – beside the Lycans bed.
The Animagus gasped and raced over to pick up the forsaken tomb. He ran his hands over the cover – remembering fondly how Remus had gotten this book.
Christmas – second year – they had all gone home, much to his own dismay. They had only known about Remus' lycanthropy for a month or so and he had already seen what the transformation did to his friend. He couldn't stand the thought of himself not being there when Remus became his bookworm-ish self again.
But he figured if he couldn't be there with Remus for his transformation in their first week of holidays then he would make sure Remus had the most awesome present he could find. So the third day into to the break, Sirius had taken off one day – telling his parents one lie or another, they all kind of just melded together by now, and went out for a day in Muggle London. He'd already bought and sent his presents to James and Peter but still couldn't think of something that was good enough to make up for leaving his friend alone during the worst time of his month.
He tried all the different stores he could think of: Health and beauty (for the scars he knew Rem hated and never showed), those Muggle Stationary shops (to get some of those crazy self inking things that he seemed to like so much, pens Remus had called them). He even tried several book stores looking for something that screamed Remus but there was nothing.
As Sirius started on his way to Grimmauld Place he came across a shop hidden away from sight.
It held his attention for more than 20 seconds thus he went inside.
There was lots of old furniture in the small shop. A lot of it reminded him of the living room at Grimmauld PLace but the bookshelves lining the walls was what he wanted to check out.
The boys' eyes lit up slightly at the prospect of what he could find. The owner watched him in amusement as the young boy made his way around the room looking, searching for something special. Sirius would carefully select a book from the shelves, then give them the 'Black examination', then finally deciding that they weren't good enough for his friend, well that or Rem already had that particular book.
He went through almost every book in the store before he found it. The leather cover was warn soft with age, the words were smudged and faded with time and use.
This Was Perfect. It was practically calling out for Remus' touch!
Sirius snapped up the book and started on his was home quickly – smiling all the way there until he reached the front door. Once inside he raced up the stairs to his room to hide the muggle book from his muggle-phobic family.
He had decided he would wait to give the book to his friend in person A) because he wanted to see the other boy's reaction and B) he wasn't going to risk his parents finding him sending a muggle book to a halfblood. Sirius smiled serenely and thought about how he couldn't wait to get back to school.
The final week before going back to school returned had been a typical family event in the Black household. His parents had taken his presents from his friends before he had even opened them! Of course a fight had ensued – ending with the Black heir receiving a black eye and being locked in his room for much of the week.
It was a very tense trip as they travelled to Kings Cross Station the day that school returned. Sirius had flatly refused to hold his father's arm to apparate directly to the platform – much too both the displeasure of his family.
They jumped through the barrier and materialised on the platform, upon which Sirius was the first person through. He waited until they had all landed on the platform, said a stiff goodbye, and then ran off to find his friends before his family could start talking again.
He had searched most of the train before he found who he was looking for.
"REMUS!!!" he cried out happily and 'glomped' the other boy to the seat.
"Gaaaaaaah!!" Remus squealed slightly as the pair fell to the carriage floor.
"Owww! SIRIUS!! What was that for?!" he whined as he sat up, rubbing his back.
"I missed you." He said with a cheeky grin, but as he looked a little more closely at his friend he stood up and said "Sorry Rem" and held out his hand to help the other up.
Remus looked up to take the offered hand but just as their hands touch he gasped at the sight of his friends bruised and hurt looking face.
Once they were seated Remus reached out and gently ran his thumb over the bruised flesh.
"What happened, Siri?" Sirius smirked at this – Remus had always been the only person to call him 'Siri'
"I'm fine Rem; it was just the usual Christmas at Grimmauld Place"
He smirked sourly and sat back against the padded bench with the Lycan still looking at him sadly.
"How did it happen?" the wolf tried again as he got more comfortable so that he now sat so he was facing the bruised boy with one leg dangling over the edge of the seat, the other resting in front of him on the cushions.
Sirius sighed and glanced quickly at Remus then back at his hands as he started explaining how his injury had occurred.
"Fight over presents. The old man decided to with hold mine." He looked sourly past Remus and through the window and saw all the 'normal' wizarding families saying goodbye to their parents and felt resentful towards them.
He was still glaring at the children when Remus mumbled something that caught his attention.
"Sorry?" he asked
Remus sighed as he asked "Did he take mine as well?" keeping his eyes down cast.
Sirius grinned and jumped up so quickly he startled the poor little wolf boy.
He rummaged through his trunk for a minute before pulling out a large wrapped something.
He handed the object to Remus with a shy grin "I couldn't risk them catching me sending it"
Remus grinned as well and ripped the paper away quickly.
An odd sort of look came across Remus' face but Siri could see the happiness in that strange expression.
"Shakespeare?! A Muggle Book?! Surely Diagon Alley didn't have this!" he said with a smile.
"No actually. It was in some tiny little shop in Muggle London." He said with a smile – he'd been right that this book was perfect for Remus.
"Its wonderful Siri, but I won't be able to read it. It'll have to be put underglass to keep it from withering away" he laughed sadly.
But before he'd even finished the sentence the dark headed boy had his wand in hand.
He tapped the book with his wand, muttered a short sting of words and right before his friend's eyes the book was beautifully restored but still with the slightly aged look to it.
Sirius was beaming with pride and Remus looked beside him self with joy.
"Oh, Siri! Thank You! Thank you! A hundred times THANK YOU!!" he was so happy he threw himself at the future animigus and hugged him tight. Sirius just laughed and hugged the boy now in his lap tightly.
They stayed like that for a little while until James and Peter walked in and there little quartet was complete.
~\\*//~
A Candle flickered beside the 17 year old animigus, shocking him out of his reprieve.
He remembered that trip back to Hogwarts as clearly as though it had been just that morning. Remembered how close the four of them had become, but now Remus was distant and his mind was always in another place. Sirius wondered if he'd done something wrong or if Remus was still thinking of the 'fifth year incident' but when ever he himself started thinking about that he would just talk himself out of it and reason that Remus was just stressed over the NEWTs in 9 months time.
He sighed as the wind blew slightly outside.
He placed the book gently on the side table of Rem's bed and looked back at the lycan brushing the hair from his eyes gently and pulling the blankets over the smaller boy whispering as he did so.
"What's up with you Remy?"
He sighed again and blew out the candle then crawled into bed where he tried to sleep before classes in a few hours time.
He failed miserably.
He wasn't sure when his care and worry for his friend went from being purely platonic to something much, much more but it had hit him during 5th year. Now he was very aware of every little insignificant thing the other boy did – because everything the other did was always significant to Sirius.