Warning: The plot of this story is based on Sanami Matoh's FAKE manga series so if you've read it you'll know what is going to happen. (And the other way aroud) Also, English is not my first language and I apologize for any mistakes. Please inform me if you find any so I can correct them.
OooooooooooooooO
The Gryffindor crime investigators
Chapter 1
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry:
It was a perfectly normal day at Hogwarts. School had started a week ago and everyone was busy with their classes. One boy, though, had just arrived.
"Okey, you're sorted in to Gryffindor" said a helpful older student. "Now you just need to check in with your Head of House. Her office is the one right at the end of that hall over there" she said and pointed to her left.
"Thanks" said the new boy.
"You're very welcome. Oh, and, uh, by the way. Remus – just don't forget to ask me out some time when you're free, okay?" she said and winked.
"Ummm, yeah. I'll be sure to do that Janet" answered the new fifth year Gryffindor with a voice that sounded just a bit unsure.
OooO
"And here we are... Right at the end of the hall" Remus was standing behind the door. "Hope this is it" he thought to himself and knocked nervously. There were voices coming from inside the room. Remus opened the door carefully.
"Too weird. I definitely hear voices in there but no one's answering" he thought and then he heard it.
"YOU IDIOT!" came the yell and poor Remus almost pissed in his pants. Luckily the Professor was yelling at someone else.
"How many times do I have to scream this into your freaking ears before it sinks into your sad excuse for a brain! Are you even paying attention? Darn it, Sirius!"
"I'm listening, I'm listening" said a black-haired boy who was picking his ear.
"Cool. She's not talking to me" Remus murmured to himself and then said with a louder voice, "Urhh, excuse me but..."
"Huh?" the Professor turned to face him. "What the heck do you want!"
"My name is Remus Lupin ma'am. I have just been sorted in to your house" Remus said.
"Oh, a new student, huh? Yeah... Now that you mention it, I vaguely recall something about somebody coming in today" the Professor said as the black-haired boy tried to sneak out of the room.
"In other words, you forgot, right?" Remus mumbled but his voice was drowned by the Professor.
"And just where the hell do you think you're going, dumbass?" she asked in a dangerous tone. "Stop right there, Sirius!"
"Well, you're obviously a bit busy, so I thought it would be in your best interest if I returned to my investigatory duties, ma'am, and..."the black-haired boy tried to look innocent but overdid it completely.
"You're not going anywhere!" the Professor was not fooled. "Give it up." Then she turned back to Remus. "Hey new boy."
"It's Remus, ma'am.
"All right, Remus… Meet your new partner. Ask him to show you how everything works" the Professor said. "Just don't do anything stupid like following his example" she added. Remus found himself totally shocked and looked like Sirius was having the same kind of thougts.
"WWHAAA-? W...Why the heck do I get stuck taking care of the new child, huh!" Sirius started to complain. Remus felt incredibly irritated by Sirius using the word 'child' to talk about him.
"Have fun, kid. Remember to take good care of him" the Professor said to Sirius. She had made up her mind and lighted a cigarette turning away from the boys.
OooO
The boys were soon walking down the hall.
"Y'know, I'd appreciate if you'd retract that 'child' comment mister Black" Remus said. He was still feeling a little annoyed.
"Huh?" Sirius looked at him.
"You can't call someone a child who's the same age you are" Remus tries to explain.
"Ooh, you mean that 'new child' deal?" Sirius asked. "Sorry, man. My bad, 'kay? Look, amogst us guys, we call all the new students 'new children' all right? Don't get worked up about it okay?" He said. "At any rate, the name's Sirius Black. Call me Sirius" Sirius held out his hand.
"Remus Lupin. Nice to meet you" Remus said and shaked Sirius' hand. "And it's not like I was getting worked up about it... Just..." Remus continued to murmur.
Suddenly Sirius leaned down very close to Remus and looked at him straight in the eye. He seemed to be thinking about something, but then he stood straight again without saying anything.
"So, do you have a nickname?" Sirius asked out of the blue.
"Huh?" The total change in Sirius' mood surprised Remus.
"Everyone's got a nickname!"
"Well, mum calls me Moony" Remus answered.
"Moony huh? So, would you take offence to me calling you Moony from now on?" Sirius asked.
"N... No... It wouldn't offend me. It's just... I guess either/or is fine..." Remus really didn't know what to say and started rubbing the back of his neck and tried to avoid looking directly at Sirius. There was a reason for that nickname and he wasn't sure he wanted anyone to know about it. Luckily Sirius didn't ask any questions. He had made his decision.
"Then Moony it is" he said. "I'm gonna call you Moony." And then he looked at Remus again. Remus decided he really didn't like that look. There was something about it that made him feel a bit uncomfortable. I don't know how to completely explain it but for being overly friendly, borderline obnoxious and in-your-face there is something about Sirius that makes him impossible to hate. Something about him that draws a person to him. Remus thought as Sirius was talking.
"And remember, bro... If you got any questions at all... don't bother asking me, okay? Of course, that'll get annoying real fast, though. But oh well" Sirius said and winked with a smirk. "Oh, and I'm counting on you to take care of all the paperwork... especially the ones that follow my non-frequent misunderstandings with procedure, 'kay, partner?" Sirius continued to speak happily and put his arm around Remus' shoulders.
"How about we just don't have any 'misunderstandings' in the first place, then?" Remus said rather grimly.
OooO
In the Gryffindor Tower the common room was used as the heasquarters of one of Hogwart's crime investigator units. The units were not as big and important as the Ministry's Aurors but they did help. All the students were free to join and they were led by either their Head of House or one of the older students. After Voldemort had started his crimes against all wizardkind as well as the muggle population, the students of Hogwarts school had decided to help the Aurors and Headmaster Dumbledore had had to give all the older students, starting from fifth year, a permission to go outside of the school grounds whenever they felt necessary. And so the students had been using their free time to solve crimes and trying to help people.
OooO
Once the two boys were in the mentioned Gryffindor common room, Sirius showed Remus a pile of photos.
"Here's what I've been working on" he said and started to explain the case to his new partner. "This guy's name is Alan Potter. We know he's a resident of the slum district just outside of Hogsmeade – but that's about all we have for now. As you can see, he obviously didn't dazzle the neighbours since he's full of marks of different curses. Which means, needless to say, we're dealing with a homicide." Sirius was sitting on a table and took out his cigarettes as he continued. "Here's the tricky part, though. The dudes who did this to him... well, they're not exactly the type you'd invite to a friendly dinner with Dumbledore, you know?" Remus looked toughtful.
"So you think they were Death Eaters?" he asked after a moment.
"Yeah, I'm afraid so. It seems that Alan here was a freelance transporter specializing in narcotics" Sirius said and lighted his cigarette. "We suspect something went wrong during his last transaction and... KABANG." Sirius said and pointed himself in the head the way muggles often use to describe someone getting shot in the head. Remus found the muggle gesture kind of weird but let it go.
"A hit?" Remus asked instead.
"In a lovely coincidence, his final client also happens to be part of a drug smuggling ring we've been chasing for some time now" Sirius said looking for more photos. He showed two of them to Remus. "Here's the head of our little ring, Richard Feldman. His group is not the most powerful of the bunch, but they've got major connections to big fish out there." Sirius sat on the table and smoked his cigarette while Remus sat on a chair next to him and leaned on the table. Sirius still continued to speak. "If we somehow manage to bring these guys down though, then we'd also be gaining a solid foothold into our future narcotics-related investigations." Remus was starting to get a little worried.
"A homicide soured by drugs, huh? This could get messy. I thougt a new guy would get a little easier assignments" he sighed. Sirius started laughing.
"Hey! Take it easy bro. It's just your first gig. Besides, you got me as a partner so no worries, okay?" he grinned. Of course, Remus wouldn't ever admit being worried.
"The only thing I'm worried about is you, but..." Remus didn't have time to finish his sentence because right at that moment something sweeped past them with incredible speed. A young boy with messy black hair and a broomstick. Probably a first year.
"What the hell!" Sirius yelled as the papers from the table flew all over the floor with the wind. Peter ran in completely breathless.
"Sirius, it's all you man. Get him!" he said.
"Great" Sirius snarled and grabbed the kid around the waist next time he flew by. "Better quit while you're ahead, kid."
OooO
A while later Sirius and Peter were drinking coffee in the Great Hall. Sirius was sitting on a bench and Peter was standing next to him.
"He's Alan Potter's son!" Sirius asked.
"I guess they tried to question him but he freaked out when they asked him to identify his father's body" Peter explained.
"I see."
"I don't even see him now."
"Speaking of... where'd he go?"
"Oh, him? He's cool. Someone's just keeping an eye on him right now."
OooO
In an empty classroom Remus was trying to talk with the young Potter.
"Want some hot chocolate? James?" he asked and smiled friendly. James, who was sitting hunched on a chair, didn't say a word. "Look, James... I know this is painful but... I was wondering about your dad" Remus tried again and put both mugs on a table. James still sat quiet, unmoving. His black hair was falling to his eyes hiding them from Remus. He sat too still. Ah... Now I get it... Remus thought. He knelt before the little boy on the chair and lifted his hair of his eyes. He's still so young.
"Just because you're a boy doesn't mean you need to keep this bottled up, James" Remus said. "I cried the entire day I lost my parents. I was ten."
"Well, I'm not gonna cry!" James said fighting tears. "I'm not..."
"You're very strong. Aren't you?" Remus said sadly and James failed to keep the tears from falling any longer. Remus grabbed him into a hug and let him cry.
OooO
Some time later, when James had got himself put together again, Sirius wanted some answers.
"So I'm gonna ask you again. Where were you the night your father was killed?" He tried to look very intimidating. It didn't work. James only turned to stare at Remus. "Don't look at him! Just answer the question, kid!" Sirius barked. "Are you even listening to me, you little brat?" Sirius was starting to sound very much like Professor McGonagall, when she was talking to Sirius. It didn't have any effect on James though. He had obviously decided to ignore Sirius and just kept looking at Remus.
"What's your name?" he asked suddenly.
"Huh? Me?" Remus was a little surprised of the sudden turn in the conversation. Sirius was not happy at all and was just about to attack James when Remus took a hold of him.
"Look here, kid! I'm the one asking the questions, not you!" Sirius kept yelling.
"My name's Remus Lupin, and this is Sirius Black, James" Remus answered James' question still holding the maddened Sirius. James wasn't bothered by Sirius' ranting.
"What's your nickname? Everyone's got a nickname right?" he continued with his own questions.
"They say great minds think alike..." Remus grinned at Sirius. Sirius just snarled back taking a seat on a chair on the opposite side of the table from James.
"Shuddap" he said to Remus. "And it's Moony, by the way" he answered James' question. James leaned back in his chair putting his hand behind his neck.
"Well then, Moony, I'll tell you everything I know" he said.
"What!" Sirius asked gritting his teeth. Remus was ready to listen, though he was a little worried about Sirius' reaction. The boy seemed to be a bit hot-tempered.
"But not you!" James said and pointed at Sirius. Just as Remus had thought, Sirius jumped over the table at James, but Remus was ready and Sirius didn't get far before Remus was on his back.
"Oh, really? That's how you wanna play it, huh, kid? Well then, bring it on!" Sirius raged at James while Remus was doing his best to hold him down.
"G...Geez, Sirius, calm down! You gonna let a kid ruffle your feathers?"
OooO
A while later Remus was telling the others what James had told him, which wasn't much.
"So, according to James, Alan Potter left his house alone and simply didn't come back."
"So in other words, we got nothing, right?" Sirius said.
"I suppose" Remus mumbled.
"Hmm" McGonagall was thinking. "We'll need a bit more than freakin' nothing to close this one, so expect a bit of overtime on this starting tomorrow, lads." She sighed. "At any rate, that's it for tonight." Everyone stood up and started making their way to wherever. Before Sirius got to take more than a couple of steps Remus called out for him.
"Hey, Sirius, you got a second?" Sirius stopped and turned around to look at Remus. "Are you busy tonight?" Remus asked.
"I guess. I was gonna grab something to eat, then hit the sack. Why do you ask?" Sirius put his hands in to his pockets.
"Well, I was wondering if... if you'd like to have dinner with me. There's something I'd like to discuss with you, if you don't mind" Remus suggested.
"Huh? Ah... Sure" Sirius said with the tinyest hint of a blush and right at that moment James appeared next to Remus grabbing him around the waist.
"What the hell are you blushing for, you fag!" he snarled at Sirius. "What are you a retard?"
"Hey! What the hell are you still doing hangin' around this place? Go to your room, you little snot!" Sirius shouted. He was getting pissed off again and Remus tried to calm them both down.
"Easy now, boys. Let's resolve this over dinner, okay?" And so they started walking towards the Great Hall.
OooO
"Wha!" Sirius shouted shocked and irritated. "You're gonna take him in for a bit! That greasy punk!" He was walking back to Gryffindor Tower with Remus. James had gone ahead to get a shower.
"Look, he doesn't have any relatives, and since his father passed away they're kicking him out of his apartment, too" Remus tried to explain. He had decided to take James to live with him in the same dorm and home with his aunt and uncle during the holidays. He had already owled to his aunt.
"Moony, you're not thinking clearly. Sure, he's a kid and all, but you don't know what he's capable of" Sirius tried but there was really nothing he could say to change Remus' mind.
"How can you make judgements like that! You don't even know him!" Remus turned to look at Sirius exasperated.
"And you do?" Sirius asked gritting his teeth when Remus turned away from him again.
"Probably a lot better than you, Sirius" Remus said. "Is it really okay you took the whole saladbowl with you?" he asked changing the subject. He was still a little worried though Sirius had assured him already so many times after they left the Great Hall. This time Sirius didn't even bother to answer. Then Remus turned his head only a little and looked at Sirius from under his brows with a little evil smile.
"Why don't you try sitting down and actually communicating with him? You might just see what I'm talking about" he said.
"Uh, huh" Sirius said grumpily, munching his salad. They reached the tower and Sirius went up to their dorm while Remus stayed in the common room.
OooO
Sirius was lying on his bed reading a book when James came out of the shower drying his hair with a towel. He came to sit on the floor next to Sirius's bed. Sirius glanced at him annoyed. He couldn't read with James right there. He closed his book and grabbed James' towel.
"Give it here!" he snarled and started drying James' hair rather roughly.
"Whaaaa! Get the hell away from me! Uwwaaaahhhhhh! Ow ow ow ow!" James yelled surprised.
"Shut up and stop moving!" Sirius barked back at him. "Like it really takes that long to dry hair? That was friggin' annoying me." He murmured angrily. He sat down behind James leaning agaist the bed and continued his work more gently. James' hair was very soft and messy. It stood out in every direction and was black as night. It was almost the faintest bit of a bluish shade. Totally different from Sirius' own stylish straight jet black hair but still so similar. James also had three earrings on his left ear.
"Man, you live to piss me off" Sirius mumbled more to himself than to James. "Your hair has an interesting color. It's different... Very cool" he said, trying to make somekind of conversation with nothing better to say.
"Well, I hate it!" James retorted. Sirius stopped drying James' hair looking a little surprised before a grin spread all over his pretty face.
"Oh, I get it. You used to get teased because of your hair, didn't you?" he asked teasingly.
"Shut up. It's not like that" James denied angrily.
"Right, sure. So how bad did they make fun of you, huh?" Sirius continued his teasing, not believing James for a second. That was a mistake. James was fast in his movements and in a heartbeat Sirius found James' foot kicking him in the chin.
"Okay, that's it! It's war, punk!" Sirius yelled and then there was a fight.
"Shut your face, you creepy old codger! I'm a kid! I'm supposed to be short!" James raged.
"Okay, you went too far with the creepy old codger bit!" Sirius shouted. Remus had just come from the shower and was watching the two from the door way.
"I suppose those two are better at communicating through fists rather than words" he thougt. It seemed to be time to give up. "Oh well, sleepy time for me..."
OooO
When the fight finally wore off, Sirius had an idea. He moved to push his and Remus' beds together so that they made one huge bed. Then he turned to grin at Remus. It was one of his charmingly teasing but totally innocent patented Sirius Black grins.
"Can't let you sleep completely alone with the kid" he said. Remus looked a bit grumpy. He wasn't used to sleeping in the same bed with someone else. Sirius and James were sitting on the bed in their pyjamas and Remus went to sit next to Sirius. There wasn't really anything else to do so why bother to try. He sighed and closed his eyes.
"This kind of reminds me of the nights I slept in my parent's bed when I was young. It's weird" Remus said quietly. Sirius looked a little sad for a while but then he gave a small smile.
"You grew up in a loving family, didn't you?" he said.
"Oh, and you didn't?" Remus asked lightly. Sirius' face turned serious, contemplative and sad again.
"Sometimes, I wonder..." he almost whispered and leaned his chin on his fist. Then he put his hand on Remus' shoulder and leaned really close to him. Remus turned his head to look at him. "But you'll love me, won't you?" Sirius said. Remus just stared at Sirius.
"Huh...?" It was all he could get out of his mouth. Sirius turned his eyes away from Remus' face and then leaned back.
"Dork!"he said. "It's a joke, idiot! Don't take everything so seriously." Then Sirius turned to James. "Come on, James. Let's hit the sack." Remus didn't know what to say. Sirius' behavior was just too weird.
"Ur... O... Okay" he finally stammered. They all lay down on their double bed. There was a moment of silence and then Remus spoke.
"Sirius...?" he pushed himself into a sitting position and reached over James to look at Sirius. Sirius was asleep and Remus lay awake alone for some time, thinking. I wonder if Sirius likes guys? It doesn't seem like he has a girl but I just don't know about him. I don't know anything about him... But what he said just now... It seemed deeper than he played it off...
"On the other hand, I better stop obsessing about his sexual orientation. If I focus too much on him, I'm going to have to finally admit some stuff about myself" he decided. Good night and thank God you're here too, James. Else I might be in trouble... I think... At some point Remus finally fell asleep. Outside, hiding in the shadows, two men were keeping an eye on the window of a certain dorm in Gryffindor Tower.
OooO
A couple of days later Sirius, Remus and James were walking to Hogsmeade. Well, James had his broom and was casually flying a little ahead of Sirius and Remus. Sirius wasn't too happy. He actually looked quite bored behind his dark sunglasses.
"Moony... just to confirm. We're not here to have fun, correct?" he asked watching James.
"No, we're not, okay? We're doing legwork here. Actual work and stuff" Remus said, smiled and pointed a little way ahead. "The crime scene's right over there, after all."
"Then why the hell didn't you leave the kid at home!" Sirius groaned. He found James totally irritating.
"We're protecting him. Since we got some Death Eater action going on, he might be in danger" Remus explained. "Besides, the Professor is cool about all this." He noticed a guy selling hot dogs and waved at James. "James!" he yelled and James flew over to him. "You want a hot dog or something? They've got hamburgers too" Remus asked him.
"Yey!" James got very excited. It wasn't every day the younger students got to eat anything but what was served in the school. Hot dogs and hamburgers were not on the menu. James was a first year so he wasn't usually allowed to leave the castle but now he had a permission to go out with Remus.
"All right, wait here a sec, okay?" Remus said. Then he smiled at him and rumpled his hair.
"Okay" James agreed looking back at Remus. Then Remus turned and started walking towards the hot dog cart and James was left together with Sirius, who didn't look happy at all. He looked a lot like a very suspicious, grumpy private dick from the movies as he slowly took off his glasses.
"Can you buy some juice, too?" James yelled after Remus who turned and waved.
"OK!" he yelled back. Sirius turned to look at James in the face.
"What's up with the goody-goody act for Moony, huh?" he asked suspiciously.
"It's not an act. I just don't like you" James retorted. Sirius lighted one of his cigarettes and James put his hands behind his head, still having no problems staying on his broom, even without his hands.
"Then again, he would be the type to be liked by kids, wouldn't he?" Sirius said. "It might have to do with him actually liking them or something... Unlike me!" he pointed out. James looked at him calculatinly. He flew a few laps on his broom around Sirius and then spoke again.
"It seems like you really like him, too"
"You think so?" Sirius just smoked his cigarette. A picture of Remus floated before Sirius' eyes and he couldn't help but think about James' words. But he's right. I know I haven't known him long but... there's something about him that's so soothing. I don't even know anything about him... But I've opened up so much already. I've never done that before... Never felt like this before with anyone. James interrupted Sirius' thoughts.
"You're in love with him, aren't you?" James accused. Sirius stopped abruptly. James seemed to take that as 'yes'. "You sleazy fag! I'm gonna protect Moony!" James snarled. "I'm going to protect him from peorle like you!" Sirius was gritting his teeth again. It seemed like James had that kind of effect on him guite often.
"Shut your- "Sirius hissed. "That's pretty big talk from a low-life runt. 'I'm gonna protect Moony'. Whatever that's supposed to mean!" They stared at each other for a few seconds. "Besides, though, it's not like he's yours to protect or anything" Sirius snarled. That really didn't have the desired effect on James. Actually, James kicked Sirius painfully on the leg and flew off sticking out his tongue. "What the hell was that for, you midget baboon!" Sirius shouted after him standing on one foot and holding the one James kicked. "Come back here, you little snot!"
"As if" James shouted back. Suddenly a strong hand grabbed James by the waist and held him in place.
"James!" Sirius yelled and started running towards James and his attacker.
"Lemme go! Lemme go, you bastard!" James screamed, fighting to get free. Sirius jumped and grabbed James away from the man. Sirius hit the guy, but he was fast and hit back so hard Sirius fell to the ground unconscious. "Sirius!" James shouted and ran over to Sirius. "Sirius! Sirius!" James tried to wake him up, but he wasn't reacting. "Wake up! Sirius!" More men were coming. All dressed in black robes.
"Hurry it the hell up. Before someone sees us" one of them said. Another man came to James, who was becoming angry and scared.
"Come on, kid" the man said. James put his hands around Sirius' neck and decided not to let go.
"What the hell... He won't let go" one of the men said.
"Then just grab him along with the kid!" said another. They had a portkey ready and just as Remus was returning with the food, the portkey activated taking them with the men. Remus had about two seconds to recognize the two familiar black-haired boys before they disappeared. He saw James holding on to Sirius and then they were gone. A portkey! Sirius! James! Remus dropped all the things from his hands to the ground and was left standing there, shocked, staring at the place where the group had been standing just seconds ago.
