Sirius was blushing. Sirius, the grown man, the stud of Hogwarts in his time, the sickeningly pale survivor of Azkaban was blushing like a thirteen-year-old girl. It looked odd against the unshaven bristle on his chin and the wrinkling black circles under his eyes, but it was there, the blood vessels in his cheeks fit to burst.

Luckily Remus didn't notice. The canopy of darkness hid him. The only light for miles was that of a small fire on a plateau of a rocky cliff. Buckbeak was lazily picking off the rats that were scampering over the rocks, while Lupin fluffed a few blankets over the damp rocks where they decided to camp out. A bowl of hot chilly warmed Sirius' long-fingernail hands as he numbly sat staring into the fire pit.

Sirius wasn't sure what triggered it, but when Lupin had sighed, "Ah, Sirius…" in a high-pitched, laughing voice when he got up, his body suddenly reacted like a sixteen-year-old to a PlayWarlock magazine. His breath quickened, his mouth ran dry, the muscles in his stomach tightened and he blushed crimson. In the back of his mind he could hear that voice, "Aahh, Sirius!" and he saw underneath his eyelids a vision of a tawny-haired someone, golden eyes hazy, crying out in lust.

That couldn't have been real, he thought. It's not a memory… it's just probably some risqué program I watched when I was younger… Nevertheless he willed his ragged breath to calm down. I'm acting crazy, he thought as a drop of sweat rolled down his temple. Buckbeak stared at him quizzically, a rat-tail dangling from his beak.

"You alright there, Padfoot?" the golden-eyed someone asked, sitting down on a log next to Sirius.

"Ahhmmm…" he said, trying to hide his thumping heart, "I'm thirsty."

Remus grinned a daringly sexy grin that one would hardly think comes from an old school friend, or a bookworm. "I've got just the thing," he said, pulling up a plastic bag by his feet, which clinked as if there were glasses inside. "I stole this from the grocery store in town. Muggle stuff." He thrust a beer bottle into his hand, "I think's its called Guiness. Supposedly it's an Irish thing… I think…"

Sirius downed a gulp and burped loudly, which lead Remus to snort as he took limited sips. "It's good," said Sirius. The werewolf beamed.

They sat side-by-side, drinking into the night, the only noises being the crunch of rats, the crickets and the occasional burp from Sirius. Lupin hardly drank anything, he only breathed deep gulps of the clean are, apparently in ecstasy. "I'm so glad," he whispered. "I'm so glad I'm here."

Sirius burped very loudly this time, "You say that now. When it's only been a few hours into our journey. Bet by the time next week rolls around you'll be beggin' me to go home." He smiled widely.

But Remus' grin fell short, "No. I won't miss it. I'd rather be with you." Sirius felt a rush of blood to his cheeks again. "You see, you're trying to remember things, Sirius… and well… so am I. I've been trying to get myself to forget some things for years now… and well… perhaps we can help eachother… you know… remember…" He took an uncharacteristically long drag from his beer and burped as loudly as Sirius. "Soooo… captain Black. Where to next?"

He scratched his bristly chin with his uncut fingernails. "I was thinking we should go south. I'm done with gathering all of the Order members. And the best way to help them is to get out of the way and go where it's warm and sunny. That way the dementors will have trouble finding me. That's what I did last year." Sirius looked at the man next to him again. Quite suddenly the image of Remus sprawled out on a sandy beach was quite appealing. He blushed again as the werewolf laid back against a rock behind him, the muscles in his chest contracting.

"That would be nice," he said, and by the happy, closed-eyes look on his pale face he seemed to be thinking the very same thing. "I don't know what you're talking about… me begging you to go home. I don't think you'll ever get me to go back!"

The sight of this happy man, his hair askew and his nostrils flared breathing in the cold night air, led Sirius heart to swell to an almost painful measure. He hadn't felt anything like this in… years…

"I think I'm going to turn in," Sirius said, standing up. Yawning, Remus followed suit. They poured a bucket of water over the fire, and tucked into their sheets.

Sirius wondered sleepily, why they were sleeping in such close proximity since they were no longer squished in one bed…

… but as the werewolf dreamily snuggled into the crook of his neck again, Sirius lost his concern.

A/N: Sorry this one is short. But better than nothing, right?

…right?

Make me feel better with review… and I might be handing out lollies!