It was one of those rare evenings when the common room was entirely deserted by midnight. It had been a Hogsmeade weekend so every student over 13 was soundly asleep, with tired feet and trunks newly filled with Zonko products and Honeydukes sweets. The light of a quarter moon flowed through the condensation of the windows, illuminating the two lone figures in the common room.
Sirius Black was sprawled across the worn rug in front of the dying embers of the fire. He had, at some point, slid down from his armchair to the floor. His hand was clenched loosely around a 'Hodgins Best Vintage Aged Whiskey', the large bottle had been full at the beginning of the evening but now a meagre drop sloshed along the bottom. Sirius had arrived at Hogwarts in September with the bottom half of his trunk lined with high quality alcohol stolen from his darling family home of course. This bottle would be joining the quickly enlarging pile of empty bottles. Remus was cross legged on a couch which was in his opinion the best in the whole school. Made of a worn plush fabric and large enough to easily fit six first years on it, the over stuffed couch was coveted not only for its ability to sink around the user but its amazing position opposite the, usually roaring, fireplace. A pile of textbooks was abandoned on the table beside the couch.
Their evening had begun like this, Remus had been taking advantage of the quiet common room by forcing himself to study his least favourite subject, Potions.

Sirius had bounded in from watching James' quidditch practice, drenched wet, shivering and swearing. He radiated automatically towards Remus, shaking rain everywhere as he stood on the rug and flung his hair much like his Animagus counterpart. Remus grumbled goodheartedly, telling Sirius to be a good dog and bugger off. Remus thought that had Sirius had a tail in that moment he would've started to wag it. He carefully looked at Remus; parchment and books encircling him, his fingers stained with ink, chocolate wrappers haphazardly used as bookmarks, his tawny hair standing on edge-he had clearly been running his hands through it all night. Sirius give him a one over and diagnosed an immediate cure. "All right, Moony. Enough studying, time for a quiz! I'll go get the shots."
Sirius bounded off to their dorm where an adoring Peter had already followed a muddy James to. They declined his offers to join them, wanting an early night in. Sirius called them sissy grannies but his voice may have been muffled as his head was stuck in his trunk rummaging furiously through the mess to find a full bottle and two relatively clean shot glasses. A little grin was forming on Remus' face when Sirius reappeared. The game was a common practice for when the Mauraders wanted to be fun and educational. The game went that one person would ask a question, if the other person or people got it wrong, they would take a shot, if they got it right the person who asked the question had to take a shot. In short, it generally ended up that Peter passed out in under an hour and Remus only got slightly tipsy. But this was potions, Remus' worst subject so it could get entertaining. In fairness to him, Remus had been studying so he had gotten some right answers, to Sirius' dismay. He was still though, atrocious at Potions.

As Sirius sat on the floor and Remus swayed slightly on the couch, Sirius was very drunk but Remus was blindly out of it. Sirius took a final swig, draining the bottle. He had no intention of getting up to go to bed, of which he told Remus. Remus agreed wholeheartedly, that "sleep was so dumb really when there is so much to DO in life, y'know?" Sirius nodded solemnly at more of Moonys great wisdom. Both of their cheeks were blotched red from the alcohol and the heat of the fire. Sirius shook his head wildly and grabbed all of his shoulder length hair in a fistful. "My damn hair is making me so damn hot! And not even in the good way." He twisted it around and it flopped down again. "I like it. Your hair, it's pretty I mean." Remus said. Sirius snorted loudly, and continued in vain to pull it up out of his face is some way.
"You'd think, that after having soooo many girlfriends I would know how to do one of those bun things but nah I don't know how they do it!" Remus' gaze was a bit unfocused but Sirius continued "How do they do it, Moony?" Remus shrugged. "I dunno. You're the expert, you know I know nothing about girls." Sirius gave a noise that was closer to a bark than a laugh. "I've been with nearly every girl that's worth being with in Hogwarts and I'm probably more confused by them now than I was in first year."
"What about every worth while boy in Hogwarts?" Remus blurted.
Sirius turned to look at him, eyes dark and shining in the candlelight. "Can't say I never thought of it. But sharing a room with Prongs and his smelly socks would turn anyone off boys to be honest." Remus laughed, and the slight tension that had accumulated in the room lifted. The thoughts in Sirius' mind were moving sluggishly, like muddy fog.

But Remus' laugh cut through his drunken fog like a ray of sunshine. He could string together a single coherent thought and that was that Remus looked positively delicious with his cheeks flushed pink, his lips parted slightly and the sleeves of his jumper pushed up, revealing the light scars that criss-crossed his tautly muscled forearms. In that time, Sirius thought that he had never seen somebody, especially Remus, look so comfortable, so at ease, lounging against the back of the good couch in a moment of being drunk on strong whiskey and youth.
Sirius jumped up to sit beside Remus, stars popping in front of his eyes from his sudden movement. "But, to be even more honest, I guess I never got the right opportunity, with the right person." And then his lips were on the lips of the lovely Remus Lupin, and Remus was kissing him back with fervour, breathing a sigh of relief because after 6 years he was kissing Sirius Black. He didn't care that he wouldn't remember it in the morning or that Sirius was most likely only using him to see what it was like to kiss a boy, all of that was insignificant because Remus had his tongue down Sirius throat and his hands clenching his arse, and Sirius' hand was wandering up his shirt while his other fumbled with Remus' zipper, and Remus hoped on behalf of everyone that nobody wandered into the common room for at least half an hour.

The light of the sunrise was too much for the poor hungover heads of half of the Mauraders. The other half of the Mauraders took great joy in ripping back the curtains, and very loudly getting dressed. Sirius pulled the duvet up over his head and groaned loudly and lengthy. Remus was still shamelessly sleeping, in an abandon of his usual orderly life, his bedcovers were twisted and half falling off the bed, he had in the night clearly struggled to button his pajama top because it was tied by a single button which was lopsided. Sirius moaned sleepily from under his duvet. "I don't even remember getting into bed." James chuckled, "You two wandered in around 3, trying to be quiet but knocking over everything and whispering about leaving a shoe behind or something." Sirius sprung into an upright sitting position, his eyes wide. Memories of the night before flooding back. He remembered searching for Remus' shoe, both of them in varying degree of dress, Remus giggling weakly and Sirius having to half carry/half support him up the stairs while trying to successfully walk in a straight line himself.

Remembering the events that lead up to them searching in the common room for their discarded clothes, Sirius looked at the sleeping form in the bed across the room with an expression just short of horror. Peter, forever oblivious, was searching under his bed for clean socks, only his rotund bottom sticking in the air. James glanced over from his position in front of the mirror to glance at Sirius. "G'morning! Don't you look the epitome of handsome today." He laughed at his own joke and turned back to the mirror. "Did you two drink the whole bottle?" Sirius nodded. James laughed again, "Blimey, you'd think Moony would be made of stronger stuff, what with his furry little problem and all." Sirius did what he always did to James' unnatural morning good humour, and ignored him, grumbling as he pushed into the bathroom.

When he re-emerged, no longer feeling like a bird had shat in his mouth then made a nest in his hair, Remus was up and dressed, his uniform flawlessly neat. He was telling Peter in that beautifully groggy morning voice of his that after they had so many shots that reading became difficult he couldn't remember what happened. Peter listened with his eyes wide and unblinking, in his way that you could never tell if he was listening attentively or completely dozed off. Sirius wasn't surprised that Remus couldn't remember the night before, he had been twice as drunk as Sirius, and Sirius' head was pounding. It was a relief actually, Sirius could easily forget it ever happened, write it off as another mistake courtesy of raging teenage hormones and continue on messing around with numerous girls and having Remus as his best friend.

That all made sense. So why did a little part of him sink with disappointment and melancholy that Remus wouldn't remember the night they shared? He'd never felt that way after any of his other one night stands but, well Remus was different because he was Remus. Sirius often thought that he was missing some essential nerves that connected his feelings and his brains, probably from his family's inbreeding, so he would require some Deep Thought. Defence against the Dark Arts was the first class that morning. Sirius perked up significantly after two black coffees and a large plate of sausages. Remus however, was less used to recovering from hangovers and was still slumped over his desk in class. He held his face in his hands to force his eyes open. The class was shared with the Slytherins, unfortunately.

For six years of school it was an unspoken rule that four chairs in the back row belonged to Mauraders. The order was even almost always the same- Peter, James, Sirius, Remus. Sirius and James pounced into the room as the elderly professor was sidling up to his desk. James slid in next to the already seated Remus, leaving Sirius to sit between him and Peter. Sirius didn't sit down. He stood behind James, absolute fury pumping through his veins. The old bat called down from the top of the classroom. "Mr Black, please sit down."
Sirius ignored the teacher. He still glared at James. The sheer cheek of him! That was his seat. Beside his Moony!
"What do you think you're doing?" Sirius said, the entire class hearing. James looked up in confusion, "Um, sitting down? For class?"
"That's my chair! You know I always sit there!"
"Are you on your period or something, Pads? Jeez, just sit down."
"Yeah, I'll sit down when you get your fat arse off MY chair and let me!"
"Don't be a dickhead. Sit the fuck down, Sirius."

Every head in the classroom was turned around to see the mornings entertainment, but unlike most of the Mauraders antics this wasn't planned. The teacher rapped her knuckles on the blackboard. "Mr Black I will take points from Gryffindor door if you don't take your seat." Sirius stubbornly jutted out his strong jaw. James pulled on Sirius' arm to sit down, Sirius yanked it ferociously and James flew off his chair, crashing onto the floor in a heap. Swearing like a sailor he pulled Sirius to the floor and the pair brawled like alley-cats.

The students had all stood up in their chairs to get a better look, cheering and jeering. The teacher was fuming, this was the last thing she wanted on a Monday morning, she clacked down the classroom screaming about detentions and points being taken. The two rule breakers ignored the teacher as they always did. James let out an emasculate scream when Sirius pinched inside his elbow, he sprung up, hair messier than usual and uniform covered in dust.
"Take the bloody chair, you mental case!" He swung his arms up in defeat.
Sirius, who had a rip in his shirt from shoulder to hips, sat down with a proud expression, aristocratic face haughtily tilted. The dumb idiot teacher was blathering on about detentions, Sirius turned to Remus to revel in his achievement to find the boy was conked out on the desk. Arms hanging off the other side and his cheek pressed against the graffited wood, his tired face was blank in slumber. Sirius wanted to be mad that he was asleep after all he had gone through to get a desk next to him, but he couldn't bring himself to. If anything, he felt an urge to wrap Remus up in a blanket and protect him from the harsh world i.e Slytherins. James wrote off Sirius' outburst as a combination of it being a Monday morning and a hangover.

A few days later it was after lunch, the moods of the Mauraders were high due to their usual demolishment of half of the food Hogwarts elves had to offer. Peter was red cheeked from laughing at their antics, and even Remus' ribs pained him from laughter. They were ascending the staircase that led from the first floor to the third when Remus missed a trick step and stumbled. Trouble had a way of finding the Mauraders and it happened that a group of Slytherins were descending the stairs. A group of wanna be death eaters, as Sirius would often call them. From the midst of his acquaintances, Snape called out, "Watch your step, Lupin. It'd be a waste of a bullet if a beast like you had to be put down."

The cronies guffawed, not fully knowing the threat behind Snape's careful words. He had been making snide comments about Remus' 'time of the month' since last year with the incident in the Shrieking Shack. The Mauraders would react with a hex or a insult to the slimeball. Sirius was overcome with an instinct that hijacked his self control for the second time that week. His body was spurred into action before he knew what he was doing. His wand stayed in his pocket, forgotten in his rage, he grasped Snape by the spindly neck and pushed hard against the edge of the moving staircase. Pure unadulterated terror flooded Snapes coal black eyes, his hands grappled behind him to get a holding of the railing. Sirius was shaking too, but his were tremors of anger, every muscle in his body tense, and his teeth bared back like a feral dog. The Slytherins who had been with Snape scapered. Too soon James and Remus were pulling Sirius back, shouting words that mixed in with the roar in his ears. Sirius struggled against his friends strong hold, finally managing to form words he screamed at Snape. "Hurt him and I'll kill you! I mean it!" Snape was nervously brushing off his robes, "Control your dog, Potter." He snided. His voice was steady but his heaving chest and panicked eyes gave away his terror. James shot Snape a fleeting glare before turning back and guiding Sirius away.
James sat in Arithmancy pondering over Sirius behaviour.
Arithmancy was James only class with just Remus, Sirius and Peter had kept Divination for NEWT level for an unfathomable reason. He stared subtly at the mop of tawny hair beside him that was bent over his parchment. Remus hadn't done anything, as far as James could think of. In fact, as James thought about, Remus had been acting exactly as he always had been. This meant that the problem lay entirely in Sirius. James might have to have a discussion with his closest comrade.

The warm dark of the dorm was pierced only with the snuffles and snores of the sleeping boys. Sirius lie awake, using this quiet as time to Think. James had the same idea, furrowing his brows in thought. He was never one to harbour feelings for long, his failed woeings of Lily Evans being proof. "Pads?" His voice seemed too loud in the darkness. Sirius blinked in surprise. "Er, yeah?"
"Whats going on with you and Moony?"
Sirius' breath caught in his throat. "Nothing." he said too fast, "Why would you think theres anything going on?"
James gave an exasperated sigh. "Oh I dunno. Might be because you've been trailing after him with puppy dog eyes, and that you literally growled at Snivellus today, and you went batshit crazy when you couldn't sit next to him in Defence. And that you jump when someone talks to you, like you, Sirius Black, are in deep thought?"
With every word James said, Sirius nodded slowly, building himself up to say something. Sirius launched himself across from his bed to James', James pushed his glasses on with a swear. Sirius, middle name Drama Queen, Black, shoved his face in front of James'.
"Oh Prongs, I can't keep it in any longer. You won't believe what happened, well I doubt anything shocks you anymore. But listen! Look at me, James!"
James was warily looking at Sirius. "Okay so remember that night we got drunk? Of course you do of course well anyway Moony can't remember any of it but I can, and before I tell you what happened we were really drunk okay."
Realisation was dawning on James and he slowly shook his head. Sirius gripped him strongly. "We were so drunk like blind drunk, and then maybe we kinda uh had sex. And now I don't know why I'm acting like I am-"

James gasped, cutting Sirius off. The lights suddenly turned on. Peter was standing by the light switch, his baby blue pajamas clashing with his flushed face. "You had sex with Moony!" He exclaimed.
"Shut up, Peter!" James and Sirius said in unison. Peter was bouncing around from foot to foot saying "Oh Merlin, Oh Merlin, Oh my fucking Merlin!"
They glanced over at Remus, who was mercifully still sleeping. Sirius spoke in an urgent hush to Peter and James.
"This stays between us, okay? I don't think he remembers any of it so I'm trying to forget about it too, okay?" He looked pointedly at Peter, who had a penchant for blabbing secrets by accident. Peter wasn't listening, he was muttering under his breath "I can't believe it! You! And Moony!"

Sirius looked to James for help, his forever understanding best mate. James, however, was still looking at the sleeping form of Remus, the form that was too rigid to be sleeping, Remus looked like he wasn't even breathing. Underneath the covers Remus' eyes were wide. His sleepy brain spinning. "We know you're awake, Moony." James said softly, in the delicate voice he reserved only for his owl and broomstick. Remus swung around to face the silent boys. "I do remember it, Sirius. I-I thought it was drunken dream."
The boys waited for Remus to continue, sensing a monologue. His face was bone white. He stood up and opened his mouth to speak but thought better of it. The other three Mauraders looked to each other and shrugged. Remus was muttering as he dug through his trunk, "How could I be so stupid, I should've known, I've messed it all up." They were growing worried now, James clasped a hand on Remus' shoulder. "Uh, Moony mate?"
Remus swivelled, so fast that James jumped back instinctively. In that instant they could see a twinge of his werewolf self emerging from the cracks in his control. He threw the tome he had delved from his trunk onto his bed, James who was closest recognised the cover as the same book Remus had shown them when they first figured out he was a werewolf. Remus flicked through the chapters at lightning speed, searching for a particular passage. Sirius sat on the edge of his bed, waiting impatiently for Remus to do something, say something, anything rather than this mysterious book rifling. Peter didn't know quite what to do in situations like this, he tried leaning against the dresser but didn't know where to put his hands. Remus had stopped at a page towards the end of the book, reading furiously.

James leaned forward "Moony just say something damn it whats happened?" Remus had gone very still. He spun the book around so that the page was facing the other three boys. Ignoring James and Peter, Remus looked straight at Sirius. "I'm so sorry, Sirius." Despite it being past midnight and not wearing shoes or a jacket, Remus ran from the dormitory. Sirius was staring blankly at the closed door. James had pulled the book towards him and Peter was reading over his shoulder.

" 'Chapter 27: The Werewolf and his mate.'
The mate of a werewolf is described by definition as the lifelong partner. The werewolf and his mate are similiar to the primal counterpart. In modern society the role of the mate of a werewolf is typically although not exclusively as his or hers spouse. The mate of a werewolf is bound for life by carnal or sexual activity."
James stopped before he could read anymore, "Pads, you might want to read this." He and Peter stood back, looking on anxiously as Sirius read the passage. The room held its breath.
Sirius broke the silence by punching the wall. "I'm sixteen! I'm meant to be an eternal bachelor not tied down for LIFE!" Sirius released a stream of curses, punching the stone wall with each. James put a hand on Peter's chest to tell him to hold back, he understood that Sirius had to deal with it initially. He cast a silencing charm so to not wake up the entire House. It didn't take long for Sirius to tire himself out, when he turned back to face them his face was red from exertion and his knuckles bloody. James stepped into the gap between them and taking out his wand, he used one of the healing spells they used on post-full moon Moony. James voiced what was concerning him, "Do you think this will mess up our friendship?"
Peter looked helplessly around for someone else to answer. Sirius had moved back to his bed and was glaring out the window, his thick eyebrows frowning. James answered his own question, "I'd like to think it won't. We are the Mauraders, afterall, there hasn't been a group like us since the Round Table, am I right?"
Sirius paused his brooding to give a withering eye rolling at James' ridiculous optimism. Peter lifted his pudgy neck up. "Maybe it doesn't count if your blokes?"
"You saying gay love doesn't count, Pete?" James threatened.
"Uhm no. I'd uh never think that?" Peter wavered.
James nodded. "Good, and anyway it says it here in this part about irregularities that it doesn't matter" he pointed to a paragraph three quarters of the way down the page.
Sirius shuddered melodramatically "Am I the only one here who is seeing how weird this all is?"
Sensing a soliloquy, the other two boys stayed silent. "I didn't ask for any of this. I mean ya sure, I like Moony but THIS! It's mad!"
James butted in before he got any more dramatic. "Look on the bright side! Yeah, it's mad. But this could be our thing, you getting me? Everything we do is mad anyway. We are bloody Animagi for fucks sake, the best pranksters extradonaires that Hogwarts has ever seen, we might as well through in a queer werewolf couple!"
"Whoa, hold up. I'm not gay!" Sirius said defensively, throwing his hands up in the air. "Yeah you are, mate." James said with a snort. Even Peter spoke up and agreed. "You kinda are to be honest."
"I'm not a fucking pouf, I have a bad boy reputation to uphold. I'm like.." Sirius trailed off struggling to think. "I'm bi, like David Bowie, he's bisexual right?"
Peter let out a big belly laugh, and James followed. Soon all three were busting a gut at the sheer madness of their situation. When their laughter died down, again they were glad of the silencing charm, Sirius was hit with and inspiring thought.
"Think of how mad this will make my family! Imagine the old hag's face when I tell her "Mother, I must leave for I am the werewolf equivalent of married to another man.""
They guffawed again, nearly forgetting that this wasn't a normal Mauraders conversation and that Remus' quiet chuckle was absent.
"Now it makes sense why Moony never went on dates with any of the girls we set him up with." James wondered aloud. "Yeaaah that's why" Peter leered.
"Shut the fuck up, Pete" Sirius said, settling moodily back into his now cold bed. The two other boys took the cue and fumbled into their respective beds too. The single empty bed encompassed the room.
Remus had left over an hour ago, his absence was a heavy weight in the air.
"Aren't you going to go after him?" James frowned.
"No?"
"But you're his y'know..partner now?"
"I know that much, Prongs. But excuse me if I'm not elated at the idea of being tied down for my life at 16 years old!"
"Even so you were always the closest with him as a Friend, Pads. Someone ought to go." The three boys looked guiltily at each other for not volunteering. Sirius rambled quickly, his duvet pulled up around his chin. "I know I should go after him and I want to but its not the right thing at this moment, you know him he needs space and I need space at least I think so but maybe not? I'm not sure if talking is a good idea." James turned over into his pillow, "Ugh. Sort yourself out, you massive twat." Sirius glared at James for being right, but knew that the other boy couldn't see him. He flopped back onto his own bed. "Damn it all. Every last thing. I'm going to sleep."

In their third year, they had discovered a secret passage behind a bookcase on the fourth floor that lead directly into the library. It was a smooth spiral staircase that led down to the second floor the library was, opening into the antechamber behind the Ms Pince's desk. Only a few seemed to be aware of its existence. James knew that was where Remus had gone. Sure enough he discovered the werewolf pacing frantically up and down the household charms section. James cracked his knuckles quietly, time for the second intervention of the night.
Remus had fled to the library, being surrounded by books calmed him down, it was where he had fled to when the other Mauraders had found out he was a werewolf. The books had failed to calm him down then, it had been Sirius, James and Peter who had calmed him down by finding him and promising him they didn't care. Nobody would be coming to find him this time, and rightfully. Being a werewolf was beyond his control but ruining Sirius' life was something he could've controlled. Should've controlled. Remus paced the library's dark floors, pressing the heel of his palms into his eyes to stop his tears from coming. His speeding mind was full of "should've"s. He should never have let himself get drunk. He should never have let himself get a crush on Sirius. He should've never let himself get so close to someone to develop feelings like that, he should've never even got friends in the first place, never even gone to Hogwarts. He was a danger to people, even in his human form he was a monster. He continued pacing, he didn't know where he'd be going, how he could survive the next two years of school alone.

He began to imagine life after school and watching James succeed in life with a family of his own while neither he nor Sirius could have that because Remus the bloody werewolf was selfish enough to force Sirius to be with him forever. He cursed himself again. He got into all this trouble by trying to convince himself that he wasn't a monster, wasn't a werewolf, that he deserved friends. He had lost his friends by forgetting what he really was.

He paced until he was in a section he had never had the need to be in before, when he was interrupted by an invisible from the shoulders down James Potter stepping out of the shadows towards him. Dawn was breaking through the foggy windows when Remus and James finished talking, sitting side by side on top of one of the huge study desks. James left Remus to have a moment on his own, with the gentle reminder to "Try and live in the day you've got, mate."

James Potter had a different method for comforting each friend, for example Peter's emotions were directly linked to his stomach so his sadness was often just hunger misinterpreted. With Remus, you had to be prepared to sit down and listen as he explained badly for several hours using lots of bad metaphors and constantly apologising. Sirius had to be approached head on, directly and bluntly. Sirius was exiting a long shower in which he had not spent singing atrociously as was per usual, but spent trying to think of what he would do when he saw Remus.

He was pounced on by a bedraggled James. "James, I-"
"No. Shut up a minute." James rebutted, "You're not the type to worry about the future, Pads, so don't give me that 'ohhh la la la I don't want commitment shite', you like him don't you, Sirius?"
Sirius butted in.
"Well you seem to think you know me better than I know myself. He's my best mate and good looking lad. I guess, I guess what I always thought was just protecting him because he's a werewolf and a wisp of a man. Maybe all that was a for a different reason, for a y'know reason" Sirius said to the floor.
"No, I'm afraid I don't know, Pads." James was close to laughter.
"Don't fucking make me say it, Prongs" Sirius screwed up his face and glared.
"Say what?" James said, biting his lip to stop his laughter.
"Alright! Maybe I've feelings for Moony and maybe I've always had them for him!"

At that exact moment, Remus, always one to be prudent of time, pushed open the door and entered the dorm. James lit up like the smug little child he is and gleefully looked between the two. "Good, because he said the same thing."