Warnings: Slash. If you have gotten this far though, you are probably all good with it. One would hope, at least!

Disclaimer: As of chapter 3, I still don't own Harry Potter. I will let you know though...

Notes: Who knew I would get addicted to reviews? Thanks to everyone who was kind enough to contribute. This chapter is for PaddyWaddy who agreed update if I updated too. Encouragement is a good thing!

ooooooooooooooo

Subtlety, Thy Name is Sirius Black

by Rekahneko

Chapter 3

ooooooooooooooo

After striding confidently down the stairs from his dorm room, Sirius Black paused at the bottom of the stairs to make sure he was ready for the day.

Okay, let's see. Parchment? Check. Quill? Check. Ink? Check! I am ready to go! Sirius smiled to himself as he made his way through the common room and past the portrait to breakfast. Today he was going to work hard; he was going to find out whom the bet revolved around and then Sirius would engineer himself a way to win. The plan was to take note of all the males interacting with Remus and thus narrow down the suspects until everything was obvious.

Sirius was completely ready for a productive day of following his friend, Remus Lupin, around school. School! Crap. He had forgotten his books. The black haired boy cursed silently as he ran back into the Gryffindor tower and up the stairs to the dormitory.

I hate Mondays, he thought to himself.

By the time Sirius finally made his way to the dining hall, Remus was already engaged in a conversation with Lily Evans and some Hufflepuff. A Hufflepuff boy, Sirius was careful to note. He grabbed a passing student with a Hufflepuff patch on his cloak. "Hey, who is that guy sitting next to Remus Lupin?"

The boy looked at him strangely before answering. "Richard Harlan. Why?"

Sirius narrowed his eyes at the boy next to Remus, barely registering the question from the Hufflepuff. "No reason," he finally replied, watching Remus smile. Sirius wondered what kind of a smile it was, romantic maybe?

"Um, can I go now?" Sirius turned a bit red as he realized he was still holding on to the cloak of the unknown Hufflepuff. He let go and waved the kid away.

Pulling out his blank parchment, Sirius wrote out the first entry, Harlan, Richard. Smarmy Hufflepuff. Reason for interacting with Remus: unknown. Notes: Find out more.

He made his way toward the Gryffindor table and plopped himself down next to his friend, stopping on the way to glare at the Hufflepuff boy who had finally stopped harassing Remus.

"Hey Moony, who was that guy you were talking to?"

"Good morning, Sirius," Remus replied. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh, no reason," he said, innocently. "Just curious."

"When have you ever been curious this early in the morning? I am not going to give you any hints when it comes to the bet, you know."

"What makes you think my question had anything to do with our bet? Aren't I allowed to ask questions about my bestest friend ever, Messr. Remus Lupin, and what goes on in his life?" Sirius looked affronted at the very idea.

"Of course, Sirius. I am so terribly gladdened by your interest," Remus replied, snickering. "Still not going to help you by giving up any information. Now stop pouting and have some coffee."

Sirius huffed and watched Remus pour him some coffee, adding just the right amount of sugar and milk. How was it that Remus always knew him so well but he sometimes felt like Remus was a complete mystery?

After a long drink of the hot beverage, Sirius felt much better. An egg and a piece of toast, and he would be ready to begin the day.

oooooooooooooooo

Sirius watched carefully from the back of the classroom as Remus bent over his cauldron, asking his Potions partner a question. From the frown on the Gryffindor boy's face, it was obvious he was concerned about some aspect of the procedure. His partner replied to whatever question Remus had posed, pointing to a spot on the textbook the two shared. Sirius observed Remus smile and nod at his lab partner. Remus sure smiles at a lot of people.

Sirius scowled as he made an entry on his parchment. Avery, um… I forget his first name, Elden maybe? Isaac? Something with a vowel. Evil Slytherin. Reason for interacting with Remus: It had better just be that they are Potions lab partners. Notes: Remus has always been too tolerant of Slytherins.

"Black!" Sirius just grunted, too intent on his thoughts to answer. "Black, stop staring at Lupin and pay attention. I am not going to do the whole potion myself." His own lab partner kicked him in the shin under the table. Just as Sirius turned to give the Slytherin girl a piece of his mind for the interruption, their potion began to bubble violently, splattering brown liquid all over his robes.

Yes, he definitely hated Mondays.

After class, Remus came over and helped him clean up the mess his cauldron had made. Remus also managed to get all the brown spots off of his robes. The young werewolf was brilliant with useful charms like that, and he was always around to help out. Sirius wondered what he would do without a friend like Remus.

Since he had Divination (an easy O, he thought) and Remus had Arithmancy, they usually didn't walk together. Today would be different, Sirius decided. He didn't want to miss any bits of Remus' day unless he had to, so he followed his friend down the hall away from his own class.

"Sirius, you realize your classroom is down that way, right?" Remus pointed down one of the other hallways, looking at the black haired boy, confused.

"Of course! I just thought you might want someone to chat with on the way to class. Who do you usually walk to class with anyhow?"

"Ah, now that would be telling, wouldn't it?" Remus grinned. "It is nice to have your company though, Sirius. Won't you be late, going out of your way like this?"

"I will just tell the Divination teacher that I had a vision on the way. As long as it is gory and full of ominous omens, she will be delighted. She says I have a way with Divination, but I just think I have a way with stories."

Remus laughed. "You certainly have a talent when it comes to telling tall tales. Listening to you is always fun, Padfoot."

Beaming happily, Sirius put his arm around his friend and said, "Thanks Moony!"

Just then, a group of students came around the corner, on their way to Arithmancy also, joining the two boys. Sirius never noticed the raised eyebrows of one of the girls and the whisper of the other. They gave Remus an inquiring look and he just responded with a slight smile and tiny shrug of the shoulders. There was more whispering and giggling.

Sirius leaned closer to Remus and whispered, "Girls giggle too much. What do you suppose they are on about?"

Remus chuckled and replied, "It is difficult to tell sometimes. Perhaps they are talking about you. Anyhow, here is the classroom. You had better hurry if you want to get to your own class without being too late."

"See you after class, Remus!" Sirius removed his arm from around his friend, waved and ran down the hall. The girls immediately clustered around Remus, whispering questions to which Remus just smiled mysteriously and shrugged off.

Sirius pelted down the hall to class, trying to think up a good enough 'vision' to present to the teacher. Perhaps something with a Grim. And a werewolf. Or maybe just a full moon. Smiling at the idea, he thought, This is too easy. I almost wish I had decided to take Arithmancy.

After Divination, Sirius ran to the Arithmancy class so Remus wouldn't have time to speak to anyone without Sirius knowing. The other students looked at Sirius a bit oddly but he suspected the reason was because he was out of breath from running all the way from the other end of the castle.

"Hi Moony," he huffed out, panting from his jog through the halls.

"Hello, Sirius. Accompanying us to lunch?"

"Yeah." Sirius was too out of breath to say much more. Maybe I can ask Lily who he talks to in Arithmancy.

After a two hallways and one set of moving stairs, Sirius managed to con Lily out of some information. She told him Remus tended to sit with two of the Ravenclaw boys, Brewster and Pangborn.

Christopher Brewster worried Sirius a bit and he wondered for a moment if the Ravenclaw was the object of the bet. He decided that, since he knew the object of Remus' affection was not aware of that interest, it probably wasn't an ex-boyfriend. I can't believe Remus dated him. Who would want to be with that guy anyhow? Sirius conveniently forgot his own short-lived interest in the tall redhead.

Sirius added to the parchment again. Brewster, Christopher. Slutty Ravenclaw. Reason interacting with Remus: probably wants to shag him. Notes: Hopefully Remus has moved on to better things since last year.

Also, he added Pangborn, Chauncey. Friend of slutty Ravenclaw. Reason interacting with Remus: using him for his brilliant mind most likely. Notes: Not good looking enough for Remus.

After his pause in the hallway to add the two entries, Sirius had to run again to catch up to Remus. He had been chatting with some girls, Lily and two of her friends. Sirius wondered what they were talking about. He tried to listen in, but the girls just got quieter when he got closer.

"Lunchtime," Sirius cheered, delighted at finally being able to sit down next to Remus instead of race around the castle after him.

Toward the end of lunch, Sirius considered if he should include any more people to his list. Remus talked to Dumbledore on the way in. I don't think that counts at all. Sirius decided not to make a Dumbledore entry, shuddering at the thought.

Of course, someone would probably have to be smart like Dumbledore to get Remus' attention. Sirius considered this idea for a moment before shrugging.

He looked over at the Ravenclaw table, noticing that Brewster, Christopher, was busy reading some thick dusty tome. Maybe I should study more often. Wondering at the apparent change in direction of his thoughts, Sirius frowned.

"Why the long face?" There was a hand on his shoulder, softly shaking him from his thoughts. Remus was looking at him with a concerned expression.

"Oh, nothing."

"Here Padfoot, why don't you have the last éclair." Remus passed him a dish with a lone pastry on it, covered in chocolate and looking delicious.

"Remus J. Lupin? Giving up chocolate? Will wonders never cease? You are the best, Moony!" Sirius beamed over at his friend, good mood instantly restored, especially when he saw James laughing at Peter who had been looking wistfully at the sweet.

The four of them were a group, inseparable. Sometimes he lost sight of that, but he supposed they would always be together, no matter who was dating whom, no matter what. At least he didn't have to worry about James settling down; James would be forever after Lily who would never give in and date him. And Peter was, well, Peter. But Sirius reminded himself that Remus would never abandon him, even if the boy found his perfect match.

Sirius stuffed the last éclair quickly into his mouth, trying not to laugh as his friends made various faces at him. "Gross, Padfoot!"

"Come on, we have to get to class. Which you need more of, Sirius; I didn't need to see that." Remus winked at him, showing he didn't mean it.

Sirius made a funny face and replied, "People always say I am Sirius-ly classy." Remus groaned but laughed anyway.

The four Marauders made their way to their afternoon class, double Transfiguration with the Hufflepuffs. The friends always sat together in the back, Lily nearby but a little closer to the front along with a few of her friends. Remus sat on the side next to the Hufflepuffs which made Sirius nervous. How come Remus had all these friends in other houses?

He watched Remus all class long, trying to see if he was paying attention to one or another of the boys in the room. Sirius saw the guy from breakfast that morning. Maybe he was a new kid. Certainly Sirius had never noticed him before.

"James," he whispered. "Is that guy over there new?"

"Richard?"

"Yeah, Richard I guess."

"Um, no. You don't remember Richard? From the Hufflepuff quidditch team? You have played opposite him as chaser for two years, Padfoot."

"I guess he looks different down on the ground."

"Or maybe you are just completely oblivious to everything going on around you." James whispered, trying to stifle his laughter at his friend's expression.

"I am not!"

"Mr. Black!" Sirius jumped at the sound, almost falling from his chair. "Stop talking in class and pay attention or you will have yet another detention." McGonagall was looking sternly at him and Sirius ducked his head, pretending to concentrate on his non-existent notes. Somehow he hadn't noticed her walk up right next to him. Perhaps he was just a tiny bit oblivious to what was going on around him. Every once in a while.

Sirius sneaked a peek at Remus who was surreptitiously giving him that smile. The one that, when you saw it, made you feel like whatever idiotic thing you just did or stupid situation you just put yourself in would turn out fine. It was reassuring and warm, full of humor and tenderness. Sirius thought maybe he would do just about anything for that smile. He smiled back. Sirius supposed his Monday wasn't going so badly after all.