A/N: This is a one-shot inspired by the new Sherlock Holmes movie. The relationship between Holmes and Watson reminded me of how I think Remus and Sirius think of each other - a different relationship than James and Sirius. Also be partially inspired by one of my favourite stories, Anatomy of a Bromance, but not stealing anything!
Summary: The story behind one of the most notorious rule breakers to grace the corridors of Hogwarts and the world's best wingman.
"It is those who desire the good of their friends for the friends' sake that are most truly friends, because each loves the other for what he is, and not for any incidental quality." - Aristotle
The Moony and Padfoot Way
"Oi, move it over," said a rather handsome eleven year-old boy to a scrawny one. The scrawny boy lazily scanned over the intruder on his silence and remained where he was. "I said-"
"I heard you," came the reply, but he showed no implication of moving.
"Who do you think you are? I'm Sirius Black and I need a seat!" said Sirius, scowling. He was a Black, after all. Just because he didn't respect his family name, didn't mean no one else should
"Well if you're going to throw such a hissy fit," the other boy said, moving his bag over and scooting towards the window. Sirius 'hmph'd' and sat down. "I'm Remus Lupin, by the way."
Sirius just looked at him, wondering why he bothered to tell him that. It's not like he was going to be friends with him or anything. A few minutes later, another boy - this one with black hair and glasses - entered the compartment.
"Hi, I'm James Potter," he introduced himself immediately.
"James, why do we have to bring him along?" Sirius hissed in his friends ear. Remus, of course, heard this.
"Because he's my friend. Maybe if you learned to let things go, he'd be your friend too," James replied, rather nonchalantly. It was November of their First Year and Sirius had failed to forgive Remus for his behaviour on the train.
"Right, whatever." They had just arrived in the library and James wandered off to find some book, leaving Sirius and Remus alone.
"Mr Black!" an angry whisper called. Remus vaguely heard Sirius 'uh-oh' before attempting to sink lower into his chair.
"Professor Elgin, how corking to see you!" Sirius said in hopes of charming his way out of trouble. Remus picked up on the situation immediately.
"You, sir, are supposed to be in detention. The Hinkypunks will not be cleaning their own droppings from their tanks," the Professor, a formidable looking woman of about forty, reprimanded him. Before Sirius could lie, Remus interrupted.
"But Professor, did you forget?" he said. She looked at him, apparently noticing him for the first time and obviously confused. "You told me I could get Sirius to tutor me on the lessons I'd missed. Remember, I had to go home that week?" He was so convincing that Sirius almost believed him.
"But surely I'd - no, that does sound familiar... Alright then, Black, but if you so much as sneeze out of turn in my next class, it's double detention!" she said in the loudest possible whisper. Madame Pince was hovering about and as a teacher, she did not want to get thrown out.
Sirius didn't thank Remus for what he'd done, and Remus never asked what he was in trouble for. They didn't actually talk about it. But that was when they became friends, and the pattern stayed the same.
"You have to tell James and Peter," Sirius said calmly.
"No," Remus answered, just as calm.
"Remus, we're your best friends. If you don't tell them, I will," said Sirius. Remus gave him a 'yeah right' look. "Well then I'll pester you until you do.' Sirius had never heard Remus sound scared before. He had an all-knowing sort of air. But this, this was different.
"What if they reject me?" Remus questioned. The look in Sirius's eyes made him realize it was a dumb question. "But how do you know?"
"Because if they do, I'll beat them up." Sirius smiled at Remus. Remus smiled back. They both knew things would never be the same. But it was one of those times Remus and Sirius liked to pretend everything was okay.
"But Remus," Sirius begged. "I'm in love with her! You've got to help me!"
"Sirius," Remus said.
"She's all I think about. And I get so jealous when he's chasing after her. It's unbearable!" Sirius was tugging at his hair, like he was a maniac. Then again, he probably was.
"Sirius," Remus said again.
"But what about James? He's my best mate, and I can't deal with always wanting to rip him to shreds." It seemed the handsome boy was speaking to himself.
"Sirius!" Remus yelled. Sirius stopped babbling and looked at his friend. "You know what you have to do."
"Do you know how much I hate it when you're right?" Sirius smiled slightly at his own statement.
"Yes," said Remus.
"Then why must you insist on continuing to be right?" Both boys laughed, temporarily forgetting about the large problem that had just surfaced.
"Moony! Can you-?" Sirius began, very out of breath. Remus nodded and Sirius disappeared. Seconds later, two girls, also out of breath, appeared.
"Where did Sirius go? I've been trying to talk to him all day, and I finally spotted him, but he was running for some reason!" one of the girls whined. If he had not been so used to this, Remus would have been astounded at her stupidity.
"I believe he's late for a detention with Professor Meyerthorpe," Remus replied breezily over his book. The girl 'oh'd' and walked away looking grumpy. She had obviously failed to notice that she had chased Sirius into the Gryffindor common room, but he wasn't about to bring that to her attention. He chuckled to himself and made his way up to boys staircase
"What the hell are you doing?" Sirius's voice rang. Remus stopped. The voice that responded caused a lump to grow in his throat.
"Well, I was waiting for Remus, but you're a much better surprise," replied the voice of his girlfriend (ex-girlfriend now, he thought), Caroline. "I didn't think I'd get to you so soon."
"What do you mean 'get to me'? This was your plan?" Sirius's voice was bursting with anger like Remus had never heard before.
"Oh please, Sirius, all the girls know that the fastest way to get in between your sheets is to be nice to him. So I thought why not date him? And look at me now!" She was laughing. Remus couldn't believe his ears. He heard some movement and then a sort of scream. He assumed Sirius had pushed her away.
"You should leave. I'll pretend this never happened if you promise not to break his heart," he told her. Anyone who knew Sirius less than Remus did would not be able to tell how dangerous he sounded. Seven years of friendship had taught him that much.
"Fine, don't be so uptight." Remus quickly ran up a flight of stairs so she wouldn't see him when she left. Caroline soon exited, mumbling angrily to herself. She would be a lot angrier tomorrow when she was single. Once she was out of sight, Remus slowly walked down and entered his room.
"Don't bother," Remus said as Sirius opened his mouth to speak. It was normal of Remus and Sirius to just know what the other was thinking. Sirius wanted to apologize, and Remus was grateful for it, but it wasn't his fault. "She'll be the one crying when she has no date to Hogsmeade."
"Speaking of which, Hog's Head tonight, then?" Sirius suggested, leaning back on his bed. James dating Lily meant a lot more Moony-Padfoot time. And to them, that was just fine.
Remus was, as usual, sitting on the chair of their flat. He was attempting to read the Evening Prophet, but it was much later than normal. He had watched the clock turn one, two, now two thirty in the morning and Sirius still wasn't home. If she had any idea what was going on, he'd Floo Lily to see if James was home. Just when he was about to put down the Prophet, though, he heard Sirius Apparate into the flat.
"Merlin, Padfoot, it's two thirty!" It was as he was saying this that he saw how his friend looked. There was a deep gash in his arm, and he was awkwardly standing on his right leg. There was blood splatted on his face and he was somewhat hunched over, clutching his side. "Sit down," he ordered. Sirius obeyed.
Being the Healer that he was, Remus began mending him immediately.
"Broken ankle, fractured ribs and a deep cut," Remus muttered to himself. "Padfoot, if I didn't know you so well, I would say you had me worried." Sirius grinned.
"Moony, if you didn't know me so well, I'd never have lived through Hogwarts, let alone Death Eaters." Remus grinned back. Sirius knew that Remus worried about him, and Remus knew that Sirius would always come home alive enough to be saved. That silent agreement kept them going.
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes," Remus pressed on. They were standing outside Madam Malkin's arguing about whether or not they were going to get fitted for dress robes.
"No," Sirius replied, just as decidedly.
"Padfoot, you are meeting her. James, Lily and Peter already have. We're going to dinner tonight. End of argument," Remus said, obviously annoyed.
"Why are you so insistent? You'll be done with her soon," Sirius replied savagely. Remus stopped and turned away.
"No, I won't. I'm asking her to marry me, Sirius," he said quietly.
"And you were going to tell me this when, exactly?" Sirius demanded in reply. He wasn't stupid; he knew Remus had been keeping something from him. He just hoped it had been something else - anything else. For the first time since they met, Sirius wished they'd had a different kind of relationship, more like the one he shared with James. Remus turned back and met Sirius's eyes.
"There was no plan. I knew you'd get it out of me," Remus answered. Again, he should have known. "I also knew you'd be upset."
"Did you know about what?" Sirius almost sneered.
"Of course," said his friend.
"And you know why." That wasn't a question, but the werewolf-man nodded. "But you're going to make me say it anyways, aren't you?"
"Why Sirius, you can predict me so well!' Remus fakely exclaimed.
"I'm going to be alone," Sirius said reluctantly. Remus crossed his arms, his face was saying 'and?' "And it scares me." Remus smiled and patted his best friend's back, pushing him into the robe shop.
"See? That wasn't so hard." Sirius frowned.
"I knew you'd get tired of being my wingman one day," Sirius said. And they laughed like everything was okay.
No, Sirius thought, he wouldn't want his relationship with Remus to be different. He wanted it to stay the same forever, however impossible he knew that was.
"Moony," Sirius said. His voice echoed through the now empty church. He knew his friend was crying, he knew he was in pain. But it was just not the way of Remus-and-Sirius to talk about things.
"This would be the appropriate time for you to say 'I told you so'," Remus chuckled darkly.
"No, this would be the appropriate time for me to get you drunk. Come on, old friend." He grabbed Remus's arm and pulled it over his shoulder, mildly aware that he already smelled of Firewhiskey.
"Do you remember how you felt when James asked Lily to marry him?" Remus asked as they walked out of the church. Of course, Sirius had never said anything about it. In fact, he had done the exact opposite. He'd avoided the topic for over a week. But Remus knew. Remus always knew.
"It's not one of those things that's easy to forget," Sirius replied, starting to breathe a bit heavily under the excess weight that was Remus.
"Then you know how it feels. To know, for sure this time, that she'll never be yours." He was a bit out of it, Sirius could tell, but he was making sense.
"I do."
"It's not such a bad feeling, is it?" Remus asked. Sirius smiled to himself.
"No, it's not so bad."
It was such a painful feeling to be having that seemingly normal dinner with Remus, yet know the things he knew. Everyone thought he was the traitor. It had been Sirius, after all, who connected those dots. But he had that feeling in his stomache. What if he was wrong? Sirius could always tell when Remus was hiding something, but he couldn't help but think that there was the smallest chance in the world it was something else.
But his plan was going to work. If it was him, then he thought the Secret Keeper was sitting calmly in his flat. If it wasn't, Lily and James were still safe. He had been so sure when he was telling Dumbledore. He was positive. Looking back on it, though, he couldn't help but feel he was turning his back on his friend.
"Padfoot, stop thinking so hard," Remus said, without looking up from the Evening Prophet. Sirius looked up for a second, and then resumed stabbing at his potatos.
"I'm sorry Remus. Sometimes I overthink things," he said, hardly even knowing what he meant. Remus lifted his eyes from the paper. Years of friendship told Sirius that Remus already knew. The part of him that wanted to be right said otherwise.
Remus couldn't belive his eyes. Sirius Black was a Death Eater? That was impossible. He'd lived with the man for ten years, and definitely seen his bare arms. Surely the Dark Lord's closest supporter would be branded. Sirius hated the Dark Arts. He loved Lily Evans more than any other person in the world, except for possibly James. That diverted his thoughts slightly.
It used to pain him to think of that - that he, Remus, was only second best to James. It was stupid, really. It made him think of all the time they'd wasted. Of all the times he and Sirius had pretended it was okay. Maybe he was arrogant all those years by assuming he knew how Sirius thought. It was hard to swallow, but that was the only way he could console himself. Because if anyone, he should have been able to tell what Sirius was going to do.
As Sirius Black sat alone in his cell in Azkaban, having lost track of the date, he was consumed with guilt. He had given up hope years ago that Remus would ever visit him. Why should he? Hadn't it been Sirius who convinced everyone not to trust him? If anything, it was karma. As a dementor passed him, all of the guilt and self-hatred flooded into him. About James, Lily, Remus, and little Harry. After he transformed into a dog, though, he was only filled with the desire to get out of that place.
"Yes, well everything seems to be in order," Cornelius Fudge's voice said from somewhere nearby. Sirius, almost without thinking, resumed his human form. The minister stopped in front of his cell and that's where he saw him. Peter was looking right at him from the shoulder of a red-haired boy.
Professor Remus Lupin was in shock. He had gotten over the initial giddy, childlike excitement at seeing the Marauder's Map. But he was feeling a different excitement now. There was no way it was possible, but it had to be. He helped make the map himself and he knew very well it never lied. He was going to get him. And he would have his best friend back. His best friend, whom he realized he should have trusted all along, and vice versa. Because that one lapse in their friendship caused much more damage than either of them had anticipated.
An hour later, when he hugged Sirius that night he realized that not once in their previous years of friendship had they hugged. And it felt like, even if it was just a little bit, he was whole again. Because, once again, even though they both expected otherwise, they pretended things were going to be alright.
"Bugger off," Sirius said, still half asleep. Remus was sitting on a chair, not two feet away, flicking things at his head.
"Harry's coming tonight," Remus reminded him. That woke him up.
"Harry," he mumbled. And he got that look on his face. Remus would never ask, and Sirius would never, ever admit it, but he knew that one small part of why he loved seeing Harry so much was because of those eyes. But the look was succeeded by another all-to-familiar one, especially because Remus himself wore it often. The feeling of guilt, that they were at fault for Harry Potter having no parents.
"We're all he's got now, Sirius. So we might as well do it the best we can."
"Even after all those years apart, Moony, you still know what I'm thinking," said Sirius, cracking a grin.
"Even after all those years apart, Padfoot, your brain still works the same way." Remus stood up and threw a pair of pants at his friend.
"No."
"Yes."
"No."
"Yes."
"No," said Remus, clearly exasperated. "Dumbledore says no, and I say no."
"Yes," replied Sirius. "It's my fault he's doing this, and for once, I'm not going watch idly by as my godson get's himself killed." While they were having this argument in the middle of the Order, all crammed into the Grimmauld Place kitchen, to them it was like they were the only ones.
"Sirius, I'm sure I'm not the only one who disagrees," he replied, apparently noticing everyone else for the first time. He looked at them all for support. Everyone just sort of shifted uncomfortably.
"Remus, we have to leave," Tonks said softly, putting a hand on his arm. He shook it off furiously.
"Fine. Fine." Remus stood there as everyone else left. Tonks gave him a sympathetic look. It was just him and Sirius.
"Remus," Sirius said, mimcking Tonks's gesture.
"Look, this is the only time you're ever going to hear me say this: I love you, mate," Remus said. Sirius looked a bit shocked. "But I still think you're a pig-headed arse."
"I love you too, Moony. Now can we go kick some Death Eater ass?" Both men grinned. "Oh and Moony?"
"Yes, Padfoot?" Remus replied.
"If I die, make sure Kreacher gets a good home." They laughed together for the last time, unbeknowest to them.
And also for the last time, though for once neither of them knew it, they acted like it was going to be okay.
"Sirius Black was a good man," Remus Lupin said, looking over the scatted witches and wizards seated in the tiny chapel. "I only wish I'd remembered that when I should have." That was all he could say. Tonks stood up and walked with him as he left. He saw a few familiar faces - Kingsley, Moody and Hagrid (who was blowing his nose into an enormous handkerchief.) But they didn't know Sirius like he did. No one did. And it was for that reason he felt like no one else deserved to be there.
"I miss him too, Remus. I know how you feel," the metamorphmagus said. She reached for his hand and for the first time, he let her hold it.
"No you don't. But that's okay," he replied, squeezing her hand. There was a time a couple of weeks earlier when he had felt such anger at the girl beside him, because she was the one who ended the argument with Sirius. He was sure, if he'd had a little more time, he would have convinced him to stay. But he realized that it was not her fault. They didn't have more time, and the part of him that knew Sirius best also knew that he would have rather died protecting innocent people than be left alone while everyone else did the dirty work.
"You really miss him, don't you?" asked Tonks. Remus laughed.
"Yes, Nymphadora, I do. But one day, I'll see him again." He kissed the top of her head, not realizing that he would spend the next year trying to push her away.
Remus had wanted to name him Sirius, or even James. But then he remembered Harry yelling at him in Grimmauld Place and realized that those names were meant for Harry's children. It was one action he couldn't quite pinpoint who it reminded him most of. Probably more Sirius than James, for once.
But Remus knew that his son, Teddy, as they'd named him, would learn the stories of his best friends. While it pained him that his best friends would never meet him, the love he felt for this child made him realize that, wherever they were, they were proud of him.
Death wasn't so bad. Dora would raise Teddy, Remus told himseld as he faced the darkness. And for one selfish second he thought, as he grinned to himself, the Marauders were finally reunited.
A/N: I hope you liked it!! I definitely cried writing parts of this. Hope it made you love these two as much as I do. And if you haven't already, I highly recommend reading Anatomy of a Bromance, which I now realize was my inspiration. I will give credit where credit is due, so thank you Wilhelmina Willoughby!
That's all from me!
- Spring