Chocolate Promise
Remus's brown eyes flickered open, drinking in the weak dawn light that flitted in through the curtains around his four-poster bed. He stared up at the ceiling dazedly as his eyes adjusted into reality. He yawned and sat up, running a lazy hand through his slightly higher than shoulder length hair. His mouth crooked upwards in a slight smile as he noticed the large black dog curled up at the bottom of his bed.
The dog's eyes were open, and he was watching Remus avidly as the seventeen year old awoke. It stood up, stretched lazily, and shook itself. Remus watched as the dog's fur faded away, it's front paws turn to hands, and it's long face shorten until a boy his age was sitting there in it's stead.
The other boy had dark black hair that stopped just below his shoulders, as well as a pair of dark blue, almost black, eyes. He reached his arms above his head and stretched, yawning loudly. He turned to Lupin, his eyes twinkling, "you slept all day yesterday, are you going to be okay for today? The full moon was the day before yesterday, I wouldn't kill you to take one more day off."
Remus Lupin grinned, "I'm fine. Besides, if I remember correctly, today's Valentines Day, right? I wouldn't want to miss James falling over himself just to get Lily to notice him again." He pointed a finger at the other boy, "or your endless stream of fan girl chocolates, Sirius."
Sirius made a face, "eewww . . . Don't remind me. I mean, what do all those girls expect me to do with all that chocolate? Eat it? I'd get sick!"
Remus slid out of bed, pulling open the four-poster curtains around the bed, "Aww . . . Does the puppy not like the chocolate?"
The dark haired boy gave his friend an icy glare, "anyways . . . Try not to get too excited and overdo it, kay?"
"You worry too much, Sirius."
^-^ ^-^ ^-^
A few hours later, Sirius was restraining a boy with dark moppy hair in a classic strangle hold. "Come on!" The boy hissed, struggling fiercely against his best friend's death grip, "it's Valentines, Sirius! I'm gonna win Evan's over!"
"James," Sirius chided mockingly, "you tired that last year."
"And the year before that, and the year before that, and the year before
that . . ." Remus chimed in.
"And none of those times worked," Sirius added, "Nothings changed, so hang with us today mate!"
James muttered some profanity under his breath as Sirius released his grip on him, "fine. But only for a little while."
Sirius clapped his hands together enthusiastically and grabbed James and Remus simultaneously by the arms. "Yeah! Hogsmeade, here we come!" He set off, dragging his two companions along with him.
Obviously, their first stop was Zonko's Joke Shop. Sirius and James ran from shelf to shelf, picking out all assortments of pranks. Remus hung back. He just enjoyed watching his friends set off the jokes, and never really bought anything himself. He shook his head, as a prefect, he really should be stopping the school's most wanted pranksters, rather than just stand and watch.
It was then that the first girl cornered Sirius, presenting him with a large heart shaped box of chocolate. And it wasn't long after that that the Gryffindor was carrying bagfuls of the stuff from various suitors.
They rested on a bench on the side of the main street at about two in the afternoon. Remus was going through all of Sirius's chocolate, waving his wand over them in a detection charm, testing for love potions.
"Crazy girls," Sirius muttered, throwing out another contaminated box in the trashcan near the bench. He glanced up to where James was standing twenty feet away, deep in conversation with Lily Evans. "Whadyah know . . . James is actually doing pretty good this year." He held up a bag full of chocolate boxes, "did you test his too?"
"All bad," Remus infirmed him, finishing off his assessment of Sirius's chocolate.
Sirius chucked the bag over his shoulder. He opened one of the boxes deemed safe, and popped one of the little chocolates into his mouth. As he chewed, he held the box out towards Remus, suggesting the other boy take one.
Remus waves his hands in front of his chest in a declining gesture, "no thanks. I couldn't eat someone else's chocolates."
The dark haired boy shrugged, "eat some of yours then." Remus blinked. Sirius's dark blue eyes flashed, "you didn't get any . . . Did you . . ."
"No."
Sirius leaned back against the bench, "I don't get it. You're cute and all, why don't you ever get any chocolate?"
Remus laughed weakly, "because to everyone else, 'm just the smart, sickly kid who must hanging out with the popular boys by mistake." He stood up, blinking fiercely, as if trying to hold back tears. "But you know what? That's fine by me, I don't need anyone." He began walking away, "let's go . . . Give James some space . . ."
The dark haired teen jumped up and hurried after him, "Remus! Come one! It's not like that!"
The werewolf whirled on him, "yes it is! And if they . . ." He clenched his fists against the side of his robes, "if they knew what I really was . . . It'd be even worse. I can never get close to anyone. They'd just end up getting hurt because of me. Because I'm a monster . . ."
"Remus . . ."
Suddenly, Remus's legs crumpled beneath him. Sirius dived forwards, catching the other boy before he hit the ground. "I knew you'd be to worn out today," the taller boy huffed as he lifted Remus up and into his arms in a bridal style position.
"I'm perfectly fine!" Remus hissed, "I can walk on my own! Put me down!"
"You just proved to me that you couldn't walk, you idiot," Sirius stated.
Remus ignored him, digging his fingers into Sirius's shoulders, "put me down! This is embarrassing!"
"Forget it," the animagus said, shifting Remus's weight a bit for a better hold as he began to head down the street. "Let's go to the Three Broomsticks. A nice butterbeer will do you some good."
Half afraid Sirius was going to drop him, half just embarrassed beyond belief, Remus put his arms around the other boy's neck, burying his face against his shoulder. "I hate you," he muttered.
"Liar," Sirius smirked.
^-^ ^-^ ^-^
Later that night, after being put to bed long before dinner, Remus was awoken by someone pulling back the curtains of his four-poster bed and plopping down next to him.
"Sirius . . ." Remus mumbled against his pillow without even looking up, "what are you dong?" The curtains rattled as Sirius pulled them closed around them again, "you hiding from another girl?"
'No," Sirius laughed. He pulled Remus up into a sitting position, "I came to give you something."
"If it's one of those giant fake spiders you got at Zonko's I don't want it," Remus stated.
"Nooooo . . ." Sirius drew the word out teasingly, "those are for old fatty Slughorn." He held something out towards Remus in the darkness, "here."
Remus took it, shock gripping him as he realized what it was. In his hands, he held a small, heart shaped box of chocolates. "Uh . . . Is this one of your leftovers?" He asked hesitantly.
Sirius shook his head, "nope! I gat that one just for you at the Three Broomsticks earlier. They've got butterbeer in 'em."
The dusty haired boy opened the box and popped one of the little candies into his mouth, smiling as he felt the warm butterbeer seep down his throat. "Thanks, Sirius," he said quietly, swallowing the last of the chocolate, "but why?"
"To prove you wrong," Sirius said simply. "You said you never get chocolates, so here you go." He lowered his eyes, "and . . . Umm . . . You also said that if anyone found out what you were, they'd get hurt if they got to close to you . . ." Blue eyes met brown, "I wanted to show you that that wasn't true. I'm close to you, aren't I? And you haven't hurt me yet. And even if you did . . ." He inhaled deeply, "I'd still be here! I'm not like everyone else, Remus! I won't walk away just because of what you are! It' just a part of who you are! I want to be close to you, moron!"
Remus's eyes welled with tears, and he whipped a hand over his eyes to brush them away, "I know," he sobbed. "I'm sorry, Sirius . . ."
Sirius reached out and pulled the other against his chest, "then don't say stupid things." He curled his fingers into the back of Remus's hair, "listen from now on, I'll give you a box of chocolate every year for Valentines Day."
"Sirius?"
"Hmmm?"
"You didn't . . . put any love potion in those, did you?" Remus whispered.
"Huh? No, I don't need that weird girly crap. Why'd you ask?"
Remus snuggled deeper into Sirius's embrace, "errr . . . No reason."
And Remus did receive his chocolates every year. Whether it was the boxes given to him directly in the years they lived together, or the thirteen unopened ones Dumbledore passed on to him. The two boxes he received with a hippogriff feather attached to them were some of his favorites.
Then, there was the year that Remus kneeled on the abandoned, dusty floor of the Shrieking Shack. He sat there, his head in his hands. This would be the first year since he was seventeen. The first year that he would wish for that little heart shaped box that would never come.
He stood up, grief overwhelming him. With all his might, he heaved a rotting chair and flung it at a crumbling dresser. The dresser, already in shambles, exploded into chunks of wood.
But there, lying inside the remains of one of the drawers, was something red. Remus dropped down to his hands and knees and stared at it. He picked it up, his hands shaking as he turn ed it over to reveal it's heart stamped front. A piece of paper was spello-taped to the front of the box.
Happy Valentines Remus
Love forever,
Sirius
Tears cascaded down Lupin's cheeks as he read the small not over and over again. How old the chocolates were, he'd never know. But they had been there, just the same. Just when he'd needed them most.
"thank you Sirius . . ."
And the next time they saw each other, both looking as young as they had the day the first box had been exchanged, Sirius was waiting for him with another, identical box.
"I know it's late," he whispered, "but I kept my promise."
"Idiot," Remus choked out, as he rushed forward and threw his arms around the other boy, "I don't care ho late it is, or how old." He pulled away slightly, smiling, "with you . . . As long as I'm with you, every day is Valentines Day."
RANDOM AUTHOR RAMBLE
This was written so long ago . . . It was a pain in the butt to type it up . . . *dies* but I had nothing better to do, and I have only one HP fic that's not a crossover, so yay. SiriusxRemus was one of my first slash pairings, and my first HP one. So I thought I should pull my old fanfics out of the dusty notebooks they live in. *claps* please Review and all that. I like reviews.