The Valentine's Day Fiasco That Began Something Long Overdue and Ended Some Serious Moping
"SIRIUS ORION BLACK!" Remus bellowed, yanking his bed curtains aside so fiercely that they tore from their hangings. "I am going to kill you with my bare hands!"
James looked up from the Valentine he had received from Lily and bit back a grin. "What happened to you, Moony?" he asked, trying not to laugh. He flicked his wand and the fallen bed curtains repaired themselves.
Remus shot him a warning glance.
Sirius casually stuck his head out from behind his own curtains. "Hmm?"
Remus stalked across the dormitory and halted a foot away from Sirius. "Don't you dare 'hmm' me, you bastard."
"What's the problem?" Sirius asked, desperately attempting to keep a straight face. "You look pretty tasty this fine Valentine's morning."
Remus took a deep breath. "You're lucky Unforgivable Curses are illegal, Black. So. Very. Lucky." He emphasized each word with a sharp poke to Sirius' shoulder.
The dormitory door swung open and Peter walked in with a box of chocolates that the other boys knew had to have been from his mother. "Remus! What happened? Did you get exploding chocolates?" he asked, brow furrowed in confusion.
"Oh no," Remus said as calmly as possible under the circumstances. "Sirius thought it would be a laugh to cover me in chocolate before I woke up."
"How do you know it was me anyways?" Sirius demanded, standing up and making himself look as threatening as possible - which wasn't very threatening at all, considering he was in maroon pajamas and his hair was a right mess.
Remus took a deep breath. "I know your handwriting, you prat."
"What? Oh, right. Forgot about that," Sirius muttered, glancing down at the large letters swirled into the chocolate across Remus' chest. They read quite cheerily, 'Happy Valentine's Day, Moony!' A small crooked heart was drawn hastily underneath.
"I'm going to take a bath. And when I get back, Sirius, my bed had better be completely chocolate free."
"Or what?"
James sniggered. "Come on, Padfoot, just listen to Moony. You've tortured him enough for today." He paused and scrunched up his nose in thought. "If you think about it, you've got the rest of February covered, really. Maybe even a bit of March. First week I'd say? Anyways, waking up covered in chocolate covers at least the rest of this month."
"You ought to listen to James. He can be a smart man when he wants to be," Remus said, rummaging through his trunk to find clean clothes. "Like I said, it had better be clean when I get back."
Sirius waited until he was sure Remus was out of earshot before flopping down onto his bed and sighing heavily. "Thought he'd find it cute." He frowned. "I did."
"Yeah, because everyone wants to wake up covered in chocolate with a sloppy message from you written across them," James quipped. "And did you just say cute?"
Sirius gave James a pained look. "But Moony likes chocolate. And there are plenty of girls in this school who would kill to wake up covered in chocolate by me. Some blokes too," he added as a quick afterthought.
"You're hopeless," James mumbled with a shake of his head.
Peter shoved another bit of chocolate in his mouth. "Hopeless?"
James looked at Peter sympathetically. "You're just as hopeless, Wormtail."
"What? Why am I hopeless?" Peter asked squeakily.
Sirius let out a bark-like laugh. "Don't worry about it. I can guarantee you're not as hopeless as I am." He ran a hand through his mussed hair and grimaced when it caught on a nasty tangle.
- -
"Thirty seven," Sirius said, with a roll of his eyes, dropping yet another card onto his pile of Valentines.
James looked up from his eggs. "Christ, that's even more than I got. What about you Moony? Any love from the first years? Saw a couple of 'em giggling as you passed."
Remus frowned. "It's probably because I can't get all of this bloody chocolate out of my hair." He shot a look at Sirius who shrunk down in his seat and smiled meekly. "And I've gotten five, if you must know. Which is three more than last year."
"I don't see why you don't get more, Remus," Peter said encouragingly. "I know why I don't get any, but you're nice. And good looking. And really smart."
Remus tried not to smile – after all, he was still trying to be angry. "Thank you, Peter, but generally bookworms aren't fancied. It's the Quidditch stars," he nodded at James, "and the sluts," a nod to Sirius, "that get all the attention."
"I am not a slut!" Sirius snapped, slamming his fist down and scattering his Valentines and eggs. "Just because I'm good looking enough to get all of these cards doesn't mean I've slept with any of the senders! And maybe if you'd open your bleeding eyes you'd realize that sometimes the bookworms do get fancied!" He stalked off before Remus could process what had happened.
James blinked slowly and shoved a forkful of eggs into his mouth so as to avoid having to say anything. He was so not getting in the middle of this.
Peter watched Sirius storm through the Great Hall, knocking over a short Hufflepuff in the process. "He seems really upset," he stated dumbly.
- -
Sirius missed his first three classes, leading Remus to feel slightly guiltier than he was ready to admit.
"Where's Sirius?" Peter asked quietly, keeping his eyes on Professor McGonagall. He knew that if she caught him talking during her lesson he'd have detention for sure.
James shrugged. "Probably off moping somewhere."
Remus shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Peter was not helping his guilt.
"Is he really that upset with you, Remus?" Peter asked, still watching McGonagall.
Remus sighed heavily and shot his hand up in the air.
"Yes, Mr. Lupin?" McGonagall asked, peering over her spectacles.
"I'm not feeling well, Professor. If I could just..."
McGonagall raised her eyebrows. "I suppose this is your excuse to go find out why Mr. Black is missing from my class, is it?"
Remus hesitated. "Um..."
"Go on then, child," she said wearily. "You've done more than enough work for today." She looked sharply at James as she said this, knowing full well that he couldn't have transfigured his rabbit without the help of Remus.
"Thanks, Professor," Remus said quickly, gathering his things and shoving them unceremoniously into his bag; he would regret this lack of coordination later. "I'll see you at lunch." He nodded to James and Peter before setting off in search of Sirius.
Remus ran through the halls and was lucky enough only to come across Filch's mangy cat, Mrs. Norris, who hissed dolefully at him as he passed. He growled low in his throat in a very un-human manner, and continued onward when the cat backed away silently.
There were three places Sirius could be: outside by the lake, outside under the beach tree, or up in the astronomy tower. Remus decided on the astronomy tower and headed up the many flights of stairs that would lead him to it.
Halfway up the spiral staircase Remus tripped and slammed his knee into a stone stair, ripping his robe in the process. "Brilliant," he muttered miserably as he stood up and brushed himself off. He winced with every step, but didn't slow down – he had to find Sirius. Sure, he would pout about things and miss a lesson occasionally, but every single class of the morning? No, something was really wrong. And it's my fault, Remus thought bitterly.
By the time Remus had reached the top of the stairs, he was panting heavily and dragging his bag along behind him. It made a loud thump whenever it hit a stair, and he decided that if Sirius wasn't at the top of the tower, he would throw himself from the window. Oh, exhaustion – the peril of running up the stairs of the tallest tower in Hogwarts in search of a pissy Sirius Black.
Remus paused and dropped his bag with a resounding thud. "Sirius?"
Silence.
"Sirius – Padfoot – I'm sorry. Come on, I know you're up here. We need to talk." Remus walked along the short curved corridor and sighed in relief when he saw Sirius leaning against the wall.
"Go away," Sirius snarled.
Remus flinched. He'd never heard Sirius take that tone with anyone but Snape or a couple of other Slytherins. "I'm sorry, Sirius. I shouldn't have said... shouldn't have called you a slut."
"You're damn right you shouldn't have," Sirius said loudly, standing up and glaring at Remus.
Remus looked down at his hands and bit his lip. "I am sorry. And I'm sorry about the chocolate thing. Getting so mad, I mean."
"Yes, well you shouldn't have been mad. After all, I was the one stupid enough to waste all that chocolate on you." Sirius folded his arms over his chest and leaned back against the wall. He was clenching his jaw and pointedly not looking at Remus anymore.
Remus took a step closer to Sirius and took it as a good sign when the other didn't back away. "I am sorry," he repeated.
Sirius finally looked up when Remus was about a foot away. "You're missing class."
"McGonagall gave me permission to come find you," Remus said with a wave of his hand.
Sirius unfolded his arms and looked quizzically at Remus. "You ditched class... to come find me? You? Remus, top in our year, never misses a class even when it's that time of the month, Lupin, skipped out of class? Because of me?"
Remus shifted awkwardly, scuffed his shoe against the stone floor. "Well, McGonagall said I could..."
Sirius smiled despite himself. "Why?"
"I..." Remus paused. There were a million reasons. Though mostly, "I wanted to... this morning. I meant to... What did you mean?" he blurted out, inarticulate and very un-Remus-like.
"What did I mean by...?"
"Everything!" Remus gesticulated wildly (again a very un-Remus-like thing to do), and Sirius had to try very hard not to giggle.
"Well, the chocolate was because I know how much you love chocolate. Guess I was wrong to assume you'd like to be covered in it. Though I didn't mind..." he trailed off vaguely.
Remus frowned. "And the comment about bookworms being fancied?"
"Bloody hell, you're dense," Sirius sighed, exasperated. "I want you Remus. I've wanted you for the past five years that we've been in this damn school, since the first day we met, even."
Remus blinked stupidly at Sirius, as if he had suddenly forgotten how to understand the English language. "What?"
Sirius sighed again and grabbed Remus by the shoulders. "I love you, you git." Then his lips were pressed hard against Remus' and his eyes were shining.
When they pulled apart Remus looked shocked, maybe even scared.
Sirius waited for a bit, hoping for some kind of response from Remus, but got nothing. "Right," he said awkwardly. "I'll... I'll go. I..." he cut himself off and tore his eyes from Remus, then turned back to the stairs.
"Sirius," Remus said weakly.
Sirius turned around, his hopefulness plainly apparent. "Yes?" he asked, mouth dry, hands shaking. Whether this was from the admission of his feelings, the kiss, or the lack of reaction on Remus' part, he wasn't sure.
"Sirius, I love you too," Remus whispered, biting his lip again.
Sirius laughed nervously, running a hand through his hair. "Yeah?"
"Yes," Remus breathed, and he rushed forward to wrap his arms around Sirius. "Yes," he repeated. "I do. I really, really do. You wonderful, amazing idiot. I love you too."
"I'm not an idi-" But Sirius didn't have time to finish speaking because Remus was kissing him and it was like nothing he had ever felt before. Remus' tongue was pressing against Sirius' lips and he parted them without hesitation, greeting it eagerly. Their hands tangled in each other's hair and before they knew it, Remus had Sirius pinned against the wall and was kissing him even more fiercely.
Someone cleared their throat from a few feet away. Remus stepped back, breathless and wide-eyed. Sirius smiled lazily.
"I understand that it's Valentine's Day, boys, but I don't think that permits you to snog in the corridors," James said, sounding a lot like Professor McGonagall.
"Hey James," Sirius said, waving a little.
Remus was blushing and Sirius thought it was cute. Really cute. "Hi James. Er... we were... it wasn't what..." He trailed off and then gave up, knowing full well that it was obvious what they were doing.
James snorted. "Took you two long enough," he said with a grin, walking back down the stairs before either Sirius or Remus could stop him.
-fin-