Family dinners, Sirius had long since decided, were experiences that he would much rather leave to other people. He endured them, for whatever reason, but his patience was wearing thin and he wasn't sure how many more he could take. Had his family been comprised of different people, perhaps he would like the gatherings more, but as he had told James and Remus just before he left for the brief holidays, he could only handle a certain amount.

"I don't do well with snakes," he muttered softly to himself. Bellatrix, who was sitting across from him, narrowed her eyes but said nothing. He smirked, thinking that his conversations with his friends during class had been plenty of practice. After all, if she had heard him, Bellatrix would have had a plethora of comments to make.

Pleased with himself, he took a look around the table. Everyone was engaged in each other, paying him very little attention. Bella, even, was just looking at him every now and then – and only when she had to. Being ignored was a welcome change.

As conversation drifted to the latest money making scheme of Lucius Malfoy, the man Narcissa was betrothed to, Sirius let his focus wander. Professor McGonagall had asked him just yesterday if he had given any thought as to what he wanted to do after he left Hogwarts. The most obvious answer had been to become an auror; that's what James wanted to do, and Sirius didn't want to be left behind. Besides, being an auror was exciting and dangerous and a way to get back at his parents.

But.

There were always buts, he was learning. And in this case, it was that he didn't want to have to leave Hogwarts. He was sure that several of the other students felt the same way as him, but did they have to come back to this? No. It was worse than detention with Filch, and everyone knew how bad that could be. And as far as teachers went, there were hardly any that he considered less than decent. Now that wouldn't be a bad job at all, he thought.

Toying with his fork, he let his mind float in that direction more. He knew right away what he would want to teach: Defense Against the Dark Arts. It was, by far, the most interesting subject. Besides, the teachers never seemed to stay long for that subject these days. It was as if the position had a curse on it, but surely that wasn't true. The professors just didn't like teaching enough to stick with it, Sirius decided.

And by the time he was able to retreat to his room, he had decided that he would be the exception to that.

"Let me get this straight…" Remus looked at him from across their shared table in the library. "You want to stop your path to be an auror so that you can teach? You don't even like kids."

Sirius shrugged and fiddled with his quill. "I don't dislike them in general. Just the ones that want to cling to me."

He saw how much effort it took for Remus to hold back his eye-roll but didn't comment on it.

"I suppose you'll do what you want, regardless of what the rest of us think anyway." Remus shrugged, then, and went back to his writing. "But I do think you would be an excellent professor, Padfoot."

Sirius smiled and settled back in his seat. He'd been concerned about what his friends would say when he told them about his decision. Peter could care less, as usual, so long as he was still accepted. James had been understanding. He hadn't known what to expect from Remus, but his stomach had been in a knot until just now.

He watched the other boy write, thought to himself that Remus would make an excellent professor as well. That would make it easy for their relationship to continue, for sure. Just the idea of still being Remus' boyfriend by then made him uneasy just as quickly as it made him smile. What would students think of their two professors sharing an office? More than just an office… Looks, kisses, holding hands? Sharing an office? Would they accept it, or would they find it repulsive?

Would he care?

He shook his head so he could toss the hair from his face. He really did need to get his hair cut.

"If Madam Pomfrey wouldn't catch us, I'd kiss you right now." Remus was looking up from his homework again. "I like your hair longer, like it is right now. You should wear it like that when you're teaching."

"You just like it because you think it makes me look rebellious." Sirius grinned, enjoying himself.

"You are rebellious. You don't need hair to help with that." He smiled too. "But you're quite right if you think that the look makes me like you even more."

They fell silent again, holding hands under the table, as each went back to their tasks. Sirius knew that Remus was thinking about finishing their current assignment and then pulling out his notes from last term so that he could get in a few minutes of studying for their O.W.L.s.
Sirius, on the other hand, would wait until the night before the exams to begin studying, and who knew what sort of marks he would get.

That made his eyes widen.

McGonagall hadn't told him what he would need to do to become a professor. And if that didn't happen, who knew what would?

a/n;

This was written for Round 5 of the Harry Potter Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition.
I write as Beater 1 for the Montrose Magpies.
Round theme was 'Glory Days' and my team's character was Sirius Black.
My school year was fifth year.
My prompts were;
- 2 (word); detention
- 3 (word); plethora
- 9 (dialogue); "I don't do well with snakes."