A/N: Ok, so this was originally supposed to be a one chapter entry for a Magical Creatures Competition based off of the book Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them, but it turned into a full blown idea of I-don't-fucking-know. I plan on writing three/four chapters.

BUT, since this was originally supposed to be one chapter, there's a lot of information and plot shoved into this first section. So, sorry about that.

Also, this is mostly schmoop and fluff. I have no dignity.

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When Remus opens the front door, he finds a soaking wet Sirius holding a drenched cardboard box. Sirius looks up at Remus through his eyelashes with big, pleading grey eyes.

"No," Remus snaps, and shuts the door in his face.

"Oh, come on Moony! Let me in!" Sirius shouts from the other side.

James' head pops up from his Quidditch catalog. "Is that Sirius?"

Remus glares at him. "Yes, it is, and I'm not letting you in!" he shouts at the door.

Sirius begins to pound his fist against the wooden surface. "How can you be so heartless!?"

Remus ignores him. This happens about once every two months. Opening the door will only lead to horrible things.

James sits up in his seat, giving Remus a curious look over his glasses. "Why won't you let him in? It's pouring."

"Exactly! I'm going to catch hippothermia!" Sirius chimes in.

"It's hypothermia, and I'm not letting you in! Use a heating charm if you're cold!" Remus flips the lock with a satisfying click, and stomps over to the couch so he can pout like the 19 year old man he is.

Sirius continues to whine like the 19 year old child he is.

James glances at Remus. "Why can't he unlock the door with his wand? Or apparate?"

"I warded the flat against all that after the last time he came home with a cardboard box."

And Remus immediately regrets saying that when he sees the excited grin on James' face. Remus' eyes widen with panic, and he starts to push himself out of his seat as James rushes towards the door, gangly limbs flying. "James Potter, don't you dare…!"

Too late. James yanks the door open, and in stumbles Sirius. The soaked moron looks around in bewilderment for a moment, as if surprised to see that he actually made it inside. He throws at glare in Remus' direction. "You're despicable."

Remus flops down on James' armchair with the air of a man who is very resigned to the events that are about to happen. "James, you're a traitor," he says matter-of-factly.

James has the decency to look a bit guilty. "Oh piss off, I'm not a traitor. I just couldn't help myself."

Remus points a finger at him. "Then you're a compulsive traitor."

"Oh forget him, Prongsy. He'll lighten up once he sees what I've brought," Sirius says with a manic grin. He looks very self assured.

"That's what I'm worried about," Remus mutters to no one in particular. He brings up a hand up to rub at his face, not wanting to see what happens next.

There's shuffling, the sound of a box being placed on the ground, and then an excited gasp from James. Remus also thinks he hears the sounds of other little creatures moving about, but he pointedly ignores that.

"They're amazing!" James squeals, sounding very much like a twelve year old girl.

Sirius grunts in response, but Remus knows that he's smiling. The stupid wanker. He probably knows that once James is on board, there's no way that Remus will have any say in this.

Remus decides that it's about time he made his exit, so he tries to quietly get up from his seat and move out of the room while James is busy gushing over whatever's in the box. He's halfway across the living room when Sirius clears his throat pointedly, effectively stopping him.

"Hey Moony, don't you want to see what I've brought home?"

Remus straightens, takes a deep breath, and turns around. Sirius is giving him the biggest shit-eating grin in existence. Remus, ignoring the expression, quickly looks his friend over. He's still drenched in rain water, his wet hair lays plastered against the sides of his face, and the tips of his ears and nose are bright red. For some ungodly reason, he still looks incredibly attractive, and Remus finds himself staring at a droplet of water that slides down his neck and disappears into the collar of his shirt. It certainly doesn't help that Sirius is also wearing his leather motorcycle jacket, which is sexual attraction personified in Remus' opinion.

Remus blinks away these thoughts with embarrassment and shame. Noticing someone's good looks is one thing, but lusting over a childhood friend is another.

He crosses his arms, facing Sirius with a stubborn battle stance. "I have no interest in whatever is in that box. I want it out of this flat by tomorrow."

James gives him a look of complete heartbreak. "Christ Remus, you can't mean that!"

Sirius nods along. "Yeah Moony. You're not the only one who lives here, you know." He tries to copy James' look, but fails ultimately with a barely concealed smirk.

"Yes, but I'm the one who's going to have to deal with cleanup," Remus growls.

And yet, he knows that this argument is a lost cause. Why? Because Sirius Black is a lot of things; a cheat, a liar, an ass, and a bit of a slut. At least, those are the things Sirius calls himself. (He uses the term "sexual debonair" instead of slut, but Remus is paraphrasing.) Remus doesn't necessarily agree with all of those things. Sure, Sirius isn't above conning someone to get what he wants, but he lives by some strange moral code that usually leads him into doing The Right Thing. He's not a complete cheat. And while he has lied his arse off on plenty of occasions, he's truthful where it counts. He sleeps around, but Sirius isn't known to put out for just anybody. He has some standards, slim as they may be.

However, Remus has to agree with the ass part. Sirius Black is a total ass.

But he's also a total ass with a strange protectiveness streak. James will always be the mother hen of their little gang—much as he denies the fact—but it was Sirius who had first noticed Remus.

Remus' first week at Hogwarts had been terrifying. He loved the school on sight, but everything about it was giant and overwhelming. He was toting around a huge secret that involved the safety of the other students around him, so he wasn't that eager to make friends. Even if he had been, he had a feeling he wouldn't have known how to go about it. Remus' "condition" had given him a very introverted life. When he was living with his family he was barely let out of the house. The few friends he did have were pen-pals from overseas, and none of them were very close.

Then Sirius had spotted him sitting alone with a book in the Gryffindor common room, and all that changed.

Eleven year old Sirius had come sauntering over to eleven year old Remus with a sway in his step and mischief on his mind. Sirius smirked at him, and leaned on the side of Remus' armchair. Only a week in and Sirius had already mastered the act of looking both cool and bored at the same time. He was achieving popularity easily.

"Wotcher, Lupin," Sirius had said cheerfully.

Remus looked up at him warily. After a moment of silence he realized he was probably supposed to say something, so he tried his best. "Erm, hi Sirius."

Sirius's eyebrows shot up high on his forehead. He grinned. Remus noticed that he had very white teeth. "No need to look all nervous, Lupin. Just saying hello to you."

Remus blushed, and quickly turned back to his book. He didn't understand why Sirius was talking to him. Didn't he have a friend? The loud one with the messy hair?

"So, me and James are planning on charming mustaches on all of the portraits in the corridor by Flitwick's classroom. Wanna help?"

Remus looked up into the brightly mischievous face of Sirius Black. Grey eyes twinkled at amber ones, promising adventure and laughter. Poor Remus was mesmerized by the sight.

He took a deep breath. "That sounds a bit risky…"

Sirius cocked an eyebrow, a move that would be perfected over the years. "Scared?"

"No," Remus answered immediately. That was his instinctive response to the word 'coward'. He was a Gryffindor. He wasn't scared.

Sirius smirked at him. "Thought so." He stepped away from the armchair and gave a small wave to James Potter, who was standing by the portrait hole with a small, eager looking blonde boy at his side. James, noticing the wave, returned it with the universal facial expression for "Get your arse over here". Sirius complied by shoving his hands in his pockets, slumping over, and strutting his way to the portrait hole.

Remus returned to his book. He tried to ignore the sinking feeling in his chest.

"Lupin! You coming or what?"

Remus jumped a bit, surprised. He looked up to find Sirius staring at him from the open portrait hole entrance, an expectant little half-smirk on his face. James Potter gave Remus a quick once-over from Sirius' side, then grinned with encouragement. The little blonde boy stared at him, glanced at Sirius and James, then gave Remus a hesitant little smile of his own.

This is stupid, Remus thought to himself, and it was. The whole thing was so very very stupid, and if they expected him to get out of his comfy armchair and abandon a perfectly good book to go off on some dumb prank that would likely end with them all in detention, then they were out of their minds.

The fact that Remus got out of his comfy armchair, abandoned a perfectly good book, and went off on some dumb prank that actually did end with them all in detention just proved that he didn't posses much sanity himself to begin with.

But, the whole thing had proven something very special about Sirius Black: he's a big, fat, softie. He had taken Remus Lupin, the heavily scarred and pale little boy who wouldn't talk to anyone, under his wing. (He's always denying it. Sirius claims that the only reason he invited Remus along on that prank was because of his "freakish smarts". And while Remus had found a way to enhance the mustache charm to cover half the castle instead of just one corridor, that wasn't the point.) Sirius likes adopting things. He likes to make everyone feel important, to feel loved.

Maybe it's because he never felt important or loved where he grew up. Maybe it's because James took him under his wing when they first met. Maybe it's because there will always be a little piece of Sirius that feels alone. And scared.

Whatever the reason, Sirius Black has a habit of adopting things. Remus learned this when they all moved in together.

Moving into the same apartment as James, Sirius, and Peter had not been Remus' first choice for living conditions when he left Hogwarts. He'd planned on slumming it for a little bit, finding a job that wouldn't give a rat's ass whether he was a registered werewolf or part troll, and eventually getting his own place. As usual, his optimism didn't do anything to affect the actions of the world. He moved from holding house to holding house, motel to motel, dirty bedroom above a bar to an even dirtier bedroom above a strip club. He worked muggle jobs that never lasted longer than a month, since the scars from the full moons always caused him to get fired for "reckless appearances". He'd ended up sleeping at train stations, alleyways, anywhere that provided the slightest bit of shelter.

Sirius found out about it eventually, and physically dragged Remus into the flat he was sharing with James and Peter. It was crummy; the heater was shit, the furniture had holes and stains, and walking barefoot in the kitchen usually led to some sort of infection.

It was a godsend.

That is, until Sirius brought the first box home. That one had been full of owlets, which were cute until they started to poop everywhere. They were given away easily, and Peter had actually decided to keep one. The next box contained two baby raccoons from somewhere that Sirius refused to say. Those were adorable, and Remus had gone along with it because it was summer and the things looked really tiny and scared. Then they got bigger, as most baby animals do, and they had to be taken care of. Fortunately, there was a very nice old witch who made a living on taking care of non-magical creatures, and she just so happened to be friends with James' mother. She had taken in the raccoons. After that it had been toads, a stingray, chickens, two fruit bats, and many other strange animals

Remus would refuse them. Then Sirius would give him the Puppy Dog Eyes, and Remus would cave like the wuss he was. It always happened.

Well, except for that one time with the beagle, but that didn't count because Remus had been the one to find the dog and take him in.

That incident had been between him and Sirius, and he doesn't want to think about it right now.

He does, however, want to think about his plan for getting out of the room before Sirius can get any closer to him with that cardboard box of his. Already the idiot's moving towards him, an evil smile on his face as he slowly lifts the box.

Remus starts moving backwards, holding up his hands. "Oh no, don't you dare. Don't you dare, Sirius!"

Sirius' smile grows. He takes another three steps forward. "Don't I dare what?" he asks innocently.

Remus swallows, looking behind him to see the approaching wall. "Don't you… If you-" He turns towards the kitchen. "You know perfectly well what will happen when I see whatever's in that box!"

"Yeah, you'll get all flustered and then demand that we give them food and water and all that. So why don't you take a look?"

Remus shakes his head furiously, glancing at the kitchen door again. "No, especially since you've implied that there's more than one. No way." Seeing his chance, he makes a break for the door, but Sirius is faster. He jumps in front of Remus and plants himself in the doorway. Remus has to skid to a stop to avoid crashing into him.

Unfortunately, this puts Remus in the perfect position for Sirius to tilt the box forward, showing off its contents. Remus stares, opens his mouth, closes it, stares some more, then purses his lips.

Sirius, wearing the look of someone who knows he has won, grins stupidly. "They're cute, huh?" he teases.

Remus takes a steadying breath, because they are. They are very cute. And fluffy. And alive. And mewling.

At first glance, they appear to be kittens. Three tiny little balls of fluff rolling around and batting each other into the walls of the box. However, a wizard with a trained eye would know better. These kittens are especially fluffy around their scruffs, giving them tiny little manes. Their tails have little puffs on the tips, like lions'. Their incredibly soft looking fur is covered in spots, and while that may not be too different from one's average house cat, the spots seem akin to that of a leopard's. They also seem to demonstrate a sharp intelligence that most magical creatures possess.

This means that Sirius not only brought home strays; he brought home magical strays.

"Um, Sirius?"

"Yes Moony?"

"What exactly are these?"

"What do you mean?" James asks from behind them, moving forward to take another look into the box. "Haven't you ever seen a cat before?"

Remus blinks at him. Oh, poor James. Poor stupid James. He can cut a person to the bone with his banter and wit, but he'll completely miss whatever's right in front of his face.

Obviously this was something that Sirius had been counting on, because he pointedly doesn't say anything. In that aspect, he's just as stupid as James. Surely he didn't think that Remus would miss the obvious?

Remus turns back to the "kittens". He addresses James without looking at him. "They're not cats. Look at their manes and tails. They're magical."

James blinks at him. "What?"

Sirius, apparently deciding that the act is over, glares at James. "Oh come on, Prongs! You grew up in a wizard household! Don't tell me you've never seen a kneazle before," he says with overdone exasperation.

James blinks at Sirius. "What?"

Remus rolls his eyes to the ceiling. "I'll get the book," he sighs, and trudges off towards his room.

That announcement is met by groans and protests. Remus isn't surprised.

"Not the book! Anything but the book!" James moans, his big brown eyes pleading after Remus.

Sirius glares at thin air. "I hate the book."

Remus shoots a look at him over his shoulder. "Oi! That book has saved your arse many times in the past, don't insult it!" He's pretty sure that Sirius just flipped him the bird. Remus smirks to himself. Ah, friendship.

He walks up the staircase in good spirits. (Well, as good as his spirits can get with three kneazles and two idiots in the apartment.) Remus' room is the farthest one on the left, right next to James'. He stops in his tracks when he reaches it, studying the slightly opened door.

Someone has been inside.

Remus freezes, ice running through his veins as he stares at the crack of space between the door and the doorframe. Someone could have snuck in while James and him were downstairs earlier. Sirius and Peter had been out. No one else but him had been in his room this morning, and he had shut the door.

He reaches into his pocket and pulls out his wand, holding it aloft and at the ready as he slowly opens the door. Remus' heart pounds as he takes his first few steps into his room. At first glance, everything looks normal. All his books and papers and trunks are in their places. His bed is made, his closet door is shut, and today's Daily Prophet sits on his dresser. However, Remus knows that first looks can be deceiving. He's the perfect example of that.

Remus takes another deep breath and shuts the door behind him, blocking one exit. He waves his wand out in front of him and mutters a spell under his breath. "Homenum Revelio." He waits. Nothing happens. No one's in his room.

Remus lets out a relieved sigh and shoves his wand back in his pocket. He's being overly paranoid. He probably didn't shut the door as tightly as usual, that's all.

But Remus has good reason for his paranoia. There's a war going on, and he's playing a part in it. He'd always known that being a werewolf means he's an outcast, but leaving the warmth and safety of Hogwarts threw that into a brighter perspective. He's not just an outcast now. He's a target. They will come after him. In fact, they already have. Several times. Remus knows that seeking help will end badly, if not worse than being caught. With Voldemort and his pack of Death Eaters killing people left and right, why should anyone care if a lowly werewolf dies? After all, aren't humans more important?

Remus doesn't really want to argue with that statement. He'd accepted long ago that respect is not a luxury that a person like him can afford. Well, respect from society as a whole that is. He's found his place with his friends. They've stuck by him from the very beginning, and they've saved his miserable arse in more ways than one.

There's also the Order. He's a comrade there, someone that the others trust. People he cares about are in the Order. Good people. People like Alice and Frank, people like Marlene and Molly. And Dumbledore. The old headmaster had offered him refuge after Hogwarts, a job that came with an inconspicuous flat far away from any sort of trouble. Remus hadn't accepted. He'd wanted to make his own way, even if that way involved sleeping in train stations.

His friends are in the Order too. James and Lily had been the first to be recruited, actually. Dumbledore had approached them during their seventh year, when they had been head boy and girl. It didn't take long for Sirius to start getting suspicious about all the times James snuck off. He followed him one day to a meeting—Remus still doesn't know how—and unearthed the whole thing. Dumbledore recruited him immediately. Remus has a sneaking suspicion that the man had been waiting for Sirius to figure it out by himself. Now that he thinks about it, having Sirius come to his own conclusion about something pretty much ensures that he does whatever it is he concludes on.

As for Remus, Dumbledore had waited. Remus knew about the Order. Sirius and James were sneaky, but he could read them like a book. He was well aware they were off on secret Order of the Phoenix meetings. He just didn't say anything about it.

Remus stares around his room without really looking at anything. If he's being honest with himself, he hadn't wanted to join at first. Yes, he wanted to fight, but being what he was complicated things.

When Dumbledore had approached him, the headmaster hadn't mentioned the Order at all. Instead, they had a rather long talk about the uses of doxy eggs, the temperament of pet ferrets, and the last prank that Sirius and James had pulled. Somehow, Remus had ended up telling the headmaster that he would do anything to protect those he loved.

Dumbledore had nodded, offered him a sweet, and told him the time and place of the next meeting with a twinkle in his eye.

And that had been it.

Peter had been different. According to him, he had been called into Dumbledore's office during the last week of school. They had a conversation of some sort, and then Peter became a part of the Order. He didn't like to go into much detail about it.

The point of the matter is that everything's happening at once with no warning. It's all a big, dark, scary mess, and Remus feels lost in it.

He gingerly sits down on his bed, feeling very alone as he realizes something. There's a war going on, and him and his friends are right smack in the middle of it.

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"I got it!" Remus announces, bounding down the stairs. He waves the little green book triumphantly over his head.

James and Sirius are kneeling on the floor in front of the sofa. They're both hunched over the box, cooing at the little creatures inside. They look up at Remus when he comes in.

"That took you forever," James says. "Thought you forgot about us."

Remus forces out a small smile. "It took me a while to find it."

James snorts. "Please. As if you could lose anything in that picturesque room of yours. Everything is so…" he waves his hand around as he searches for the perfect words,"…Parallel to each other."

Remus rolls his eyes. "Whatever. At least I found it."

Sirius is frowning at him. Remus quickly looks away. For someone so hopelessly oblivious, Sirius has a strange knack for knowing when something is up. Particularly when Remus is involved.

Remus hurries to their side before Sirius can say anything. He flips through the pages of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, stopping when he finds what he's looking for. "Ah ha! Here we go! Right here, see? Kneazles."

"Let me see that." James swipes it from him. He squints down at the page. "'The Kneazle was originally bred in Britain, though it is now exported worldwide. A small cat-like creature with flecked, speckled or spotted fur, outsize ears and a tail like a lion's, the Kneazle is intelligent, independent and occasionally aggressive, though if it takes a liking to a witch or wizard, it makes an excellent pet. The Kneazle has an uncanny ability to detect unsavory or suspicious characters and can be relied upon to guide its owner safely home if they are lost. Kneazles have up to eight kittens in a litter and can interbred with cats. Licenses are required for ownership as (like Crups and Fwoopers) Kneazles are sufficiently unusual in appearance to attract Muggle interest.'" James looks up at Remus. "I don't remember learning anything about these at Hogwarts."

Remus takes the book back, frowning down at the page. "We must not have spent too much time on them."

"Only you would keep all of your old textbooks," Sirius grumbles. Remus whacks him on the back of the head without looking up from his book.

"Does it say anything about raising them?" James asks, trying to snatch the book again.

Remus holds it out of his reach. "No, it just gives some general information and the M.O.M. rating." He pauses, dread filling him. "Why?"

James hums, ignoring him and petting one of the kneazles. It purrs and arches its back into his hand.

Remus leans over, peering into the box once more to get a better look at the kittens. They're tiny things, but they're very active. All three of them are moving as much as they can in the box. They occasionally try to climb their way out.

A gray kitten with black spots and a white muzzle makes it all the way to the top of the box, and starts clawing at the cardboard with its hind claws as its front paws hang on with all their might.

"Woah there!" James picks up the kitten, hoisting it into his lap. He looks down at it, and big green eyes blink back up at him. James smiles at Remus. "This one's a boy."

"Fantastic. Now put him back in the box before he claws your face off."

"But Moony," James whines. He holds the kitten next to his face and sticks out his lower lip in a pout. "He could never hurt anyone!"

The kitten holds still for all of two seconds before he starts pushing at the side of James' face, trying to get away.

Sirius snorts. "Got yourself an admirer there, mate."

"Don't let him run around the flat!" Remus warns, because it's obvious that's exactly what the kitten wants to do.

James nods, sticking out his tongue in frustration as he tries to get a hold on the energetic kitten. Remus winces. No, he can't do this. They can't do this. How can Sirius expect them to be able to care for and raise three magical kittens when they can barely care for themselves? It's not going to happen.

He hears chuckling behind him, and he turns to find Sirius holding up another kneazle. This one's black with slightly blacker spots that are just visible if you look really close. It has big blue eyes that asses Sirius for a moment before taking a swipe at his nose. Sirius laughs and holds the kitten at a safe distance, his signature boyish-half-grin on his face.

The scene warms something deep inside Remus—possibly his liver—and he feels the last of his resolve crumble. He lets out a long suffering sigh. "Christ."

Sirius, who is fluent in Remus-speak, snaps his head over. "So we can keep them?"

Remus takes a deep breath. "Yes, but only until we can find appropriate homes-"

He's interrupted by loud cheering from Sirius and James. The two kneazles they're holding meow along with them. Remus winces, knowing they're going to get complaints from the neighbors later.

He glances down at Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and a specific word jumps out at him. "Oh."

Sirius and James stop cheering immediately. "Oh?" they both ask at the same time.

Remus stares at the page. "We have to get them registered."

There's a moment of silence, and James' expression crumbles into awkward sympathy. "Oh."

Sirius looks back and forth between Remus and James. "Oh? Wait, what? What's so bad about getting them registered? One of us just goes down and signs a document, right?"

James opens his mouth to explain, but Remus hurriedly beats him to the punch. "Yeah, but we'd have to put down the name of every person living in the flat. That includes me, a registered werewolf. The Ministry isn't exactly aware of my present living situation, and with the way things are going lately, I might very well be escorted from this apartment if they knew I was here. Not to mention the fact that they would never let me adopt a magical creature." He let out a bitter little laugh. "They'd probably think I was planning on eating them as a midnight snack."

Sirius' eyes narrow. Remus braces himself for an explosion of anger. Sirius' reactions to the Ministry's anti-werewolf policies tend to get a bit violent.

Thankfully, Sirius simply asks another question instead of blowing the roof off the flat. "Can't we just not put your name down? Hide the fact that you're living here?"

James winces, running a hand through his hair. "I think that the Ministry's documents can detect lies," he says hesitantly.

Remus nods. "They can sense a false signature, a lie, and whether the signer is hiding something or not. It's actually a very interesting bit of spell work that-"

"It's stupid is what it is," Sirius growls under his breath. The little black kitten that he's holding mewls at him, his feisty temperament turning softer. He rubs against Sirius' jumper.

Remus studies his two friends. James is stroking his kitten (who is still trying to escape) and glancing up at Remus and Sirius every now and then, as if he's wary of what's to come. Sirius is also petting his kitten, but he's glaring daggers into the carpet.

And Remus…doesn't know how he feels.

It's not that he's not angry about the whole "no werewolves near a population" situation, but it's a ridiculous thing to get worked up about. People aren't going to change just because you disagree with their beliefs. That's not how the world works.

Unfortunately, Remus' world revolves around the people he cares about. James and Sirius are pretty high on that list, and they care about him in return. And, apparently, they care about this box of kneazles Sirius found.

So, there's only one thing to do.

Remus shuts his book with a snap. "Oh, what the hell."

His friends look up at him.

He smiles. "We'll just not get them registered."

James frowns. "But, what if-"

"No buts. We'll keep it a secret."

"But, we live near muggles-"

"I said not buts, James!"

Sirius, whose smile is slowly returning to his face, leers at James. "Yeah James, no buts!" He pauses, thinking for a moment. "Well, some buts are ok." He reaches up and smacks Remus on his behind.

Remus yelps, flushes, and scampers away.

James dissolves into laughter. Sirius smirks at Remus, who is rubbing his bottom and glaring back at him.

"Oh come now, don't try to tell me you didn't enjoy that!" Sirius teases.

"I didn't," Remus bites out, "and you can keep your filthy paws to yourself!"

Sirius snorts. "Paws? Really Moony?"

"As if your jokes are any better."

"Stuff it, Prongs."

James just laughs again, and places his kneazle back in the box. "Hey Moony, why don't you hold the other one? I think it's a girl."

Remus shakes his head. "No, I'm perfectly find thank you."

James gives him a look. "Just pick up the kneazle."

Sirius throws a grin over James' head. "Yeah, all the cool kids are doing it."

Remus hesitates a second longer before making his way back over to the box. He blames his curiosity on his weakening sanity as he sinks down to his knees and peers at the third kitten. It's an orange tabby, with large amber eyes that blink slowly up at Remus. It's curled up in a corner of the box, its white tipped tail flipping back and forth with an air of laziness. It's definitely less energetic than its brothers, and that's what drives Remus to reach in and pick it up.

Remus stares at the kneazle. The kneazle stares back. Neither seems to know what to make of the other one.

Then the kitten mewls, and Remus' heart melts.

He smiles and holds it close, stroking its soft fur as it purrs and nestles into his chest. They're really not so bad once you get used to them, he thinks to himself.

The room has gone quiet, and Remus looks up to find Sirius giving him a soft little smile. Remus' face grows warm, and he quickly looks away.

"So? Whatcha' think?" Sirius pries, wiggling closer.

Remus, who still can't bring himself to meet Sirius' eyes, studies the kitten he holds. "Well, it's definitely a girl."

"Admit it, you're infatuated with them." Sirius nudges him with his shoulder.

Remus chuckles. "They are kinda cute, once you get past the fact that they're probably going to poop all over the flat." He raises his head to give Sirius a small smile of his own. Sirius returns it easily. Remus tries not to concentrate on the fact that their shoulders are still touching, and how Sirius' eyes are extremely pretty from this distance. The gray seems to have an under layer of blue, especially around the pupil. It's hypnotic to stare at.

James coughs. "Should I leave you two alone?" He gives them a knowing smirk.

Remus immediately jerks away from Sirius. Somehow, they had started leaning towards each other without his notice.

Sirius just rolls his eyes, tosses his black kitten into Remus' lap, and tackles James.

"AGH! No! Sirius! You're still wet!"

"That's right, talk dirty to me Prongsy."

"Don't tickle me-DON'T YOU DARE! ARGH!"

Remus scoots out of the way of the morons currently rolling around the living room floor, and deposits the two kneazles into the box. He stares down at them. The kneazles stare back. "Welcome. Please don't scratch up the furniture."

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A/N: Jesus H. Christ. That was something that happened.

If you liked this, please let me know. I need to know whether this is an idea worth pursuing because I'm a clingy little geek who needs the constant reassurance that my stuff is worth giving a crap about. Pity me.