Chapter 2

Though Sirius was an intelligent young man, he found it incredibly difficult to work out what his recent, more frequent thoughts of his friend meant, Remus on the other hand didn't have the same problem. He already knew his sexual orientation, so when he started thinking about his friend more often, and in a different way, he knew exactly what it meant.

"Oi, Sirius!" James shouted, "Stop thinking, it's really not like you.

"I'm beginning to worry," he joked.

"What? Oh, I must be turning into Moony. Speaking of Moony, do you know if he's forgiven me yet?"

"Of course I have, I can't stay mad at you forever now. Can I?" Well, it was true; Remus couldn't bear not talking to Sirius, having to see the hurt look upon his face every time he snubbed him.

"Are we going down to breakfast yet?" asked Peter.

"Yeah, come on you two. You've made up now so let's go get some food."

The four friends left the warmth of their dormitory to make their way down to the great hall where they would find their breakfast.

It was the Friday before the exams started, so there was a rather subdued atmosphere throughout the castle, even Sirius and James didn't play any practical jokes that day.

When they finally arrived in their final lesson of the day, which happened to be Transfiguration, along with their fellow fifth years from Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, they were greeted by Professor McGonagall who stood behind her desk waiting for the class to settle down.

"Right class," She began, "I have been given the task of preparing you for next week and giving you your examination timetables."

At this, virtually the entire class seemed to turn a certain shade of green, except for Sirius and James who simply smiled. They were the cleverest in their year by far, but they seemed to lack in common sense and maturity, gaining at least one detention a week each.

"Cheer up Moony," whispered Sirius, grinning at his friend who looked like he was about to pass out again.

"I-am-going-to-die." He muttered back, Remus was really panicking because though he knew he was intelligent he always seemed to panic and slip up when he was under a lot of pressure. He certainly deemed his Ordinary Wizarding Levels to be pressure.

"You'll be fine Moony, you always are." His friend replied kindly, giving him a sympathetic smile and squeeze of the hand. Maybe the hand thing was too much thought Sirius, definitely too much. Sirius was about to apologise when…

"Is there something you wish to share with the class, Mr. Lupin and Mr. Black?"

"By the looks of it they were declaring their eternal love for each other Miss," a red-haired girl near the front said.

Stupid Lilly, always sticking her nose in thought Sirius.

"That's enough from you Lilly Evans. Well, care to explain yourself?"

"I was merely reassuring Remus that he was going to do fine in his exams next week, seeing as he looked like he was about to have a panic attack." Sirius answered.

Remus, whose mind was too busy lingering on the recent contact he had shared with Sirius merely looked up and nodded to show his agreement.

"Well, I suppose I'll have to put you both in detention for disrupting the class for so long, you can bring your books. I don't want to mess up your revision schedule too much."

"What about Lilly and her stupid remark!" exclaimed Sirius, he felt positively scandalised.

"Miss Evans merely stated what she saw." Professor McGonagall said simply before returning to her longwinded explanation of the examination process.

When they filed out of the room an hour later, Remus looked mutinous.

"I can't believe you've landed me in detention tonight! The examinations start on Monday, I really am going to die."

"I didn't do anything! It was that stupid Evans girl sticking her nose in again. Anyway, you'll be revising in the detention, we can revise together. I'll test you."

"Oi, don't talk about Lilly in that way. She's not all that bad."

"Sorry James, I forgot you have a bit of a soft spot for her. Well I say a bit, more like a lot, and I say a soft spot, you practically stalk her."

"I do not!" James said indignantly, and stormed off to talk to Gryffindor quidditch team's captain about the match in two weeks time.

After dinner, Remus and Sirius left the great hall to make their way up to Professor McGonagall's office. They had brought their books with them as they had been told to; they intended to revise for their Transfiguration exam on Monday, hoping that McGonagall, being their teacher for that subject might give them some advice.

"Good evening Mr. Black, Mr. Lupin. I have to say Remus; it is quite unlike you to be put in detention, especially this close to very important examinations. Your future depends highly upon how you fare next week."

"Yes professor, I'm sorry professor." Remus mumbled.

"Right then, sit down. You can sit together if you wish; I do not want to prevent you from participating in your usual revision activities."

The two boys sat at a desk together, took out their Charms notes and started to read through some information on Cheering Charms as this was their first exam on Monday.

After what seemed like hours, Professor McGonagall dismissed the two Marauders, who slowly began to make their way back up to the Gryffindor common room where their friends would surely be waiting for them.

However, when they arrived, the common room was devoid of life.

"Bastards," Sirius muttered, "I thought they would wait up for us."

"Oh well, come on we'd best go up to bed." Remus replied, wincing at his friend's vulgar use of language.

"No, I want to stay down here for a bit longer, I'll come up in a bit." Sirius said as he threw himself down onto a sofa in front of the fire, which was nothing but a pile of glowing embers now.

"Fine, I'll stay with you then, I'm not that tired and I could do with practicing those Cheering Charms a bit more, I still haven't quite got the hang of them yet…"

"Look Moony," Sirius began, "You are one of the best in our year, your Cheering Charms are perfect now sit down, put that book away and relax!"

Remus didn't really know what to say to this, everything Sirius had said was true. But of course, he always trusted the advice of the gorgeous Padfoot, how could he not with his (literal) puppy dog eyes.

"Fine, whatever. If I fail, on your head be it."

The two of them sat together by the fire chatting about all sorts of nonsense like would James ever get Lilly and whether Peter was actually a human being or if he suited his Animagus form of a rat better.

Finally, at about half past three in the morning, they got onto the subject of girls.

"So, anyone who catches your eye then Sirius?"

"Erm, there is this one person, but I'm not sure they like me." Sirius inwardly swore at this, Remus would surely put two and two together and realise that he liked a guy.

"So, are you going to tell me who then, or do I have to give you a splash of Veritaserum in your morning Pumpkin Juice?" Remus, however, inwardly jumped for joy at Sirius's little slip of the tongue and hoped that it meant what he thought it meant.

"Well, I would tell you, but you know me, I'm a quiet shy kind of a guy, keep myself to myself and all that."

"Hmmm, I personally would say that you are neither shy nor quiet, so why won't you tell me?" Remus was becoming rather impatient now, as Sirius could tell from the tone of his voice.

"Well, I suppose I could tell you. It might come as a bit of a shock to you, it would mean admitting that the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black has managed to produce not just a Gryffindor, but a Gryffindor who is a-"

Sirius was just on the verge of telling Remus his feelings when a sleepy looking James burst into the common room.

"What are you two still doing up?" He yawned, unaware of the furious faces of his two friends.