Chapter 7 – Outed
Remus woke up in the hospital wing on the morning after the full moon. He opened his eyes slowly and looked around the room. Sirius was sitting in a chair at one the side of his bed and James was snoring in his seat on the other. He guessed that Peter was in Muggle Studies and wondered why Sirius wasn't there with him.
"Sirius?" Remus asked in a croaky voice.
"I can miss the occasional class when I put so many extra hours in for my project," Sirius replied in anticipation of Remus's question.
"That wasn't what I was going to ask," Remus said. "Not my first question anyway."
"Oh? What was your first question?"
"Why are you holding my hand?" Remus asked in an amused tone.
"Er…" Sirius felt his mind go blank as he tried to think of a sensible reason as to why he was holding his friend's hand when normally he wouldn't have been. He couldn't even remember why he'd been holding his hand in the first place. It had just been there and before he'd thought about it he'd taken it into his own. James had raised an amused eyebrow at his action but he'd just shrugged and enclosed the smaller and colder fingers within his own.
"Sirius?" Remus asked again.
"Yes?"
"Can I have my hand back please?"
Sirius let go of Remus's hand, muttered something incoherent and James, who'd apparently been woken by their voices, snorted with laughter.
"I'll leave you two alone," James said with a grin and a wink at Sirius. "Or maybe not," he amended as he looked towards the doors and saw that Lily was walking through them.
"Hi Evans," James greeted her.
"Morning," she replied in a curt tone. "Don't let me stop you leaving." She glared at James and then at Sirius.
"I'm going anyway," James assured her. "Gives you a chance to miss me."
"I'm sticking around for a while," Sirius said, in a tone that dared her to take issue with his decision. She didn't and merely sat down in James's recently vacated seat.
"So are you going to tell me what's going on?" Lily asked with a glare at the two remaining boys.
"Full moon last night, me in hospital wing recovering," Remus answered slightly sarcastically. Lily had known his secret for a long time now and he didn't know why she'd suddenly burst into the hospital wing with such a daft question.
Lily rolled her eyes and elaborated. "I meant why is there another Remus running around the school? You know, the one who looks like you and sounds like you, but isn't you?"
"Don't know what you're talking about," Sirius lied.
"You know exactly what I'm talking about," Lily retorted. "I went down to the kitchens late last night you know. It was Gaby's birthday and we were having a midnight feast."
"How nice for you all," Sirius commented in a sweetly sarcastic tone.
"Yes it was," Lily continued equally sweetly. "But imagine my surprise when I walk into the kitchen and see none other than a certain Remus Lupin and someone else who looked remarkably like Peter, raiding the kitchens too. Peter looked like he'd lost about ten pounds and Remus looked even more healthy, especially considering how it was a full moon and he was perfectly human."
"Maybe you were sleepwalking," Sirius suggested with a smirk.
"Or maybe there's another Remus and another Peter wandering around the school," Lily replied. "Not to mention another Sirius. I know I saw you two in the library that day you were also in the common room. And since when does Remus do something so bad that he loses his prefect badge?"
"We didn't know that that prank was going to go so wrong," Sirius explained sheepishly.
"The Remus Lupin I know would have anticipated something like that and talked you out of it," Lily argued. "He also wouldn't call me 'babe'."
Remus smiled at Lily's indignant tone.
"Moony's just going through a rebellious stage," Sirius said. "Nothing to worry about."
"Oh." Lily smirked. "In that case it won't matter that I asked the other Moony when it was they'd discovered a cure for lycanthropy since he appeared to have made a full recovery."
"You didn't?" Remus asked in horror.
"I thought he was you," Lily pointed out. "I should have known it wasn't you but it was the middle of the night, I was actually quite tired and I spoke without thinking. Though if you'd all been truthful when I'd asked the first time, this wouldn't have happened."
"I think we're caught," Sirius said. "But you can't tell the teachers what we've done Lily."
"What exactly have you done?" Lily asked.
"We opened a portal to another world, a parallel world," Remus explained. "And our doubles came through to this world and got stuck here. We've been trying to figure out a way to get them back but without any luck."
"So they're not planning on staying here permanently?" Lily questioned.
"Hell no!" Sirius exclaimed.
"I take it you don't like your double much?"
"My double isn't so bad," Sirius said with a cautious glance at Remus. "But Remus's is a total nightmare."
"How long have they been here?" Lily asked with open curiosity.
"Since a couple of days before the end of the holidays," Remus confirmed.
"Ah." Lily nodded as though something had just occurred to her. "It was James's double who kissed me wasn't it?"
"Afraid so," Sirius nodded. "The other James has been dating you, or rather your double in his own world, for a while and forgot where he was."
"I suppose I should go and apologise to him," said Lily, almost to herself. "I can't believe you've hidden them all for so long."
"I can't believe we didn't warn Remus not to go down to the kitchens on the night of the full moon," Remus muttered. "Imagine if a teacher had caught him."
"You really should tell Professor McGonagall," Lily pointed out. "She would probably be able to help you get rid of them."
"You're preaching to the choir," Remus sighed.
"On your own heads be it," Lily said as she stood to leave. "I'll see you both later. Er…"
"Is there something else?" Sirius asked.
"Not really," Lily replied with a faint blush. "I just hadn't realised you two had finally got together." She gestured towards the bed and Sirius was slightly surprised to see that his hand had once again wandered across the sheets and was holding onto Remus's.
"Er…" Sirius began and he felt his own face redden. A moment later Lily's exact words registered in his muddled mind. "What do you mean 'finally'?"
"Well it's been kind of obvious to most of the girls, not to mention a fair number of the boys, that you two have a bit of a thing for each other," Lily explained with an easy grin. "One of the Ravenclaw fifth year girls has been running a pool since the start of fifth year on when you two were going to come out. I had June next year myself."
"What?" Remus squeaked.
"I had June next year," Lily repeated. "I figured you two were both so oblivious to the fact that you were checking each other out it wouldn't be until you were about to leave school and go your separate ways that you'd realise."
"I don't check Remus out," Sirius insisted, mentally adding to himself that it was partially true. He'd not been checking him out for that long and certainly not since fifth year. He noticed Remus was suspiciously silent. Casting a quick glance in his direction he saw that he was flushed scarlet.
"Er, sorry, but yes you do," Lily replied with a shrug of indifference. "You've both been doing it since fourth year."
With that Lily turned on her heel and left with a small smile. Sirius had the distinct impression she was on her way to track down a certain Ravenclaw student.
"Well that was embarrassing," Remus said after the door had closed.
"Don't know where she gets these odd ideas," Sirius mumbled.
"It might have something to do with the fact you're holding my hand again," Remus replied, smiling and lifting up said hand as he spoke in case Sirius hadn't noticed.
"So have you been checking me out since fourth year?" Sirius asked with a grin.
"If I was I didn't know I was doing it," Remus replied after a moment of thought. "Did you ever…?"
"Not until this last week," Sirius admitted, his face reddening again. "Do you want your hand back again?" he asked with a grin.
Remus, still looking a little stunned, shook his head and grinned back.
"So," Sirius began. "Just to clarify things, you do prefer me to the other Sirius, right?"
Remus frowned in mock contemplation. "I don't know," he drawled. "I guess it depends on how good a kisser you are. He's…"
Remus didn't get any further with his teasing as Sirius stood up and pressed his mouth over Remus's own. He teased Remus's mouth open with his tongue and as soon as he gained access he slowly began to explore the other boy's mouth. Sirius had kissed his fair share of girls over the past few years, though nowhere near as many as the gossips seemed to think, but he knew that this was different. This was Moony and if he messed up now he'd never forgive himself.
He pulled back only when he needed oxygen. He was pleased to see that Remus's breathing was as ragged as his own.
"Which do you prefer now?" he whispered in Remus's ear.
Remus laughed and pulled him back for another kiss. This time they only broke away at the pointed cough of Madam Pomfrey standing at the end of the bed.
"You seem to have recovered Remus," she said in her usual brisk tone. "Do you feel well enough to return to the main school?"
"Maybe five more minutes," Remus asked with a cheeky grin that had Sirius covering his own mouth with his hand to keep from laughing out loud.
"Five more minutes indeed," Madam Pomfrey said with a roll of her eyes as she bustled off to tend to an incoming Quidditch injury.
"Sorry we've been neglecting you a bit," Sirius said as they reached the door of the boys' dormitory. "We didn't mean to make you feel like you're not still a part of the marauders. You're our Moony."
Remus gave him a small smile. "So you wouldn't want me to be more like the other Remus?" he asked hesitantly. "More exciting?"
"Never," Sirius replied. "You're my Moony. No one could ever replace you. You wouldn't want me to be more like the other Sirius would you?"
"Never," Remus replied with a laugh. "I much prefer my Padfoot."
"And I'm the better kisser?" Sirius asked, just to be sure.
"I don't know," Remus snorted. "You're the only Sirius I've kissed."
"But you said…" Sirius spluttered.
"I was just teasing you," Remus replied with a roll of his eyes.
"But I thought you two were…"
"Were you jealous?" Remus whispered into his ear.
"Might have been," Sirius admitted as he took Remus's hand in his own again.
"Well he's good to talk to about schoolwork and the whole problem of getting the portal opened again, but he's kind of boring."
"So there hasn't been anything going on between you two?" Sirius asked.
"He's barely even made a move on me," Remus replied. "Apart from once in Transfiguration class when he put his hand on my leg. If it weren't for that I'd never have started thinking of him in that way. Or started comparing him to you and wondering..."
"Er…"
"What?" Remus asked.
"Nothing," Sirius muttered with a smile. "So I'm definitely your favourite?"
"Definitely," Remus replied.
"Glad to hear it," said Sirius, giving Remus another quick kiss. "Now we'd better go inside and explain about your furry little problem."
They knew it wasn't going to be as easy as all that as soon as they stepped through the door.
"It's the werewolf," the other Sirius said in a tone of horror. If it weren't for Padfoot's steady grip on his hand Remus would have bolted right back out the door. As it was, all he could do was stand and look at the shocked inhabitants of the room.
