Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! It was muchly much appreciated! This chapter would have been up sooner but I was busy meeting David Tennant last weekend...:D


It took Madame Pomfrey all of twenty minutes to get Remus mended and shipshape for his detention although the way he gingerly opened McGonagall's door and kept holding his head in his hands suggested to Sirius he was still rather sore.

He hadn't meant to laugh at Remus, of course he hadn't. He'd meant to rush over and catch him before he fell, make him all better and kiss his face off or hump him, or something along those lines. But there was something so purely hilarious about the way Remus had flown through the sky, legs clamped around thin air that he couldn't help himself. And when realisation hit the poor boy and he started flapping his arms, well, Sirius knew he ought to feel very ashamed. He did feel very ashamed. It wasn't like it had anything to do with how peeved he had felt at being ditched.

None of it mattered anyway because Remus sure as hell wasn't talking to him.

xxx

Remus was so incensed he was almost quivering with rage. He kept jerking in irritation and splashing himself with the water he was using to clean up McGonagall's classroom. The sixth years had been trying to turn doves into duvets but the process had clearly made the birds nervous, the evidence for which the three of them were now cleaning up. Peter had been sitting calmly waiting for them when they stomped into the classroom. His smile had vanished with one look at Remus' face.

His hurt at Sirius' glee had given way to anger around the time his nose was being re-set. The click of bones flicked a switch in his mind and he had sat silently seething until Madame Pomfrey had finished with him and told him he could go. As he had walked out Sirius, who had so thoughtfully followed him to the hospital wing still trying not to burst into gales of laughter, started making his earnest apologies.

He was sorry, he didn't know what came over him, would Moony forgive him, his Moony?

Moony had not forgiven him. Instead he had turned to face him and said in no uncertain terms that Sirius was a thoughtless bastard and he wanted nothing more to do with him.

Unfortunately they then had to walk to detention together.

Cleaning bird shit off McGonagall's walls had done little to improve his mood and made it very difficult to ignore Sirius as they were in such close proximity. When Peter has slipped and fell on a particularly sloppy excretion their eyes had met for a second in shared amusement before Remus remembered and spun round to continue scrubbing.

Two hours later Remus was exhausted and aching all over. As the three of them trudged out the room Sirius gently put a hand on his back and murmured his name. Remus knew from past experience that fatigue weakened his resolve and he dodged away from the touch. "Get away from me." He snarled and hurried away down the corridor.

xxx

He decided he couldn't face the common room just yet and went down to the lake. It was very chilly now night had fallen and he wished he had thought to wear his cloak. But then he reasoned that real men didn't feel the cold. They ate the cold for breakfast. He nodded at his resolute spirit and continued on his way.

He wandered around the edge of the lake some way before flopping onto the ground near the water and began throwing rocks in. His original intent being to skim them but his mood dictated he must try and achieve the biggest splash possible.

He had not been there long when he saw a shadow approaching. It came closer and as it got to within a meter of him he finally realised it was Lily, bundled up in a coat, hat, scarf and gloves. Without saying a word she sat down next to him.

They sat in silence for a minute before she pulled away her scarf from her face slightly. "I understand you and Sirius have fallen out."

"No offence Lils but it's none of your business."

"I'm head girl, everything's my business and besides, Sirius is taking it out on first years. What's going on?"

"He doesn't give a damn about anyone or anything and I'm sick of it." He said, bowing his head to the bitter wind.

"Oh" was all Lily had to say to that.

Remus sighed and continued. "I got the stuffing knocked out of me today and all he did was laugh."

"Why? Who hurt you?" Lily demanded in a voice surprisingly reminiscent of Sirius.

"It wasn't anything like that," he said quickly. "It was just messing about playing quidditch, but still, he of all people should have shown some concern."

"Why him of all people?" Lily asked, puzzled. "And did he not even take you to the hospital wing?"

Remus reminded himself that Sirius was merely his friend who had no reason to show any more concern than James or Pete, who ironically had shown more.

"Er, because he's my friend." He answered quickly. "James took me up, Sirius merely followed." He felt a breeze slice into his neck above his collar.

"I'm sure if you had been seriously hurt he wouldn't have laughed Remus. It's just quidditch, isn't it? I cried laughing that time Marly got winded by that bludger."

"It was two broken bones and a black eye!" Remus protested, pointedly not thinking about all the times Sirius had cared for him after the full moon, doing anything he could to help and ease the pain. He never laughed then.

"And to top it all I then had to serve detention with him and Peter for something I hadn't even done! That table was nothing to do with me!"

"James said that was Sirius defending your honour." Remus could definitely hear the trace of a laugh in her voice. "I expect that's his way of showing he cares, he's just got it a bit backwards."

"I'd rather he showed he cared differently." Remus muttered, thinking longingly of kisses, caresses and whispered words. He caught himself and faced the wind again. "He needs to learn to let people deal with their own problems and stop trying to rescue everyone."

"Not everyone, just you three. The rest of us can go to hell I think." This time she laughed outright.

Remus pondered this. It was true, Sirius' chivalry only extended so far. Sure if someone was in trouble he would help, so long as they weren't in Slytherin but he would do his bit and walk away, not really caring either way.

"Don't knock it Remus, it's good to know there's someone looking out for you." She smiled warmly at him. "And he does look out for you, even if most of the time he's a twat about it."

"I don't appreciate it. It's him looking out for me and things like that that caused Christine bloody Morely to say the things she did."

Lily looked confused for a second then her face lit up as she remembered the story her dorm mates had told her. She giggled. Remus looked at her with disgust. "Oh Remus don't be silly. You know she can be an idiot, just don't listen to her. Besides, who cares what she thinks?"

"You're right." He said, not sounding too convinced. He knew shouldn't care, but he did.

He was brought sharply back down to earth when his chattering teeth bit his tongue. He yelped in pain and clutched his mouth.

"Remus! Are you ok, what's wrong? Oh my goodness you're frozen! Where's your cloak?"

He tried to explain that he didn't feel the cold (real men don't, you know) but he was shivering too hard to speak and his lips were numb.

"Come inside you daft thing, honestly I don't know what's got into you." Lily unwound her scarf and put it round his neck, bundling up his face and then pulled her woolly hat firmly over his ears. It wasn't as nice as his hat, it didn't have a bobble on the top. Then she was dragging his pitiful form inside.

The heat as he entered the entrance hall hit him so severely he gasped. Lily shook her head at him and ushered him towards Gryffindor tower, all the while muttering about 'stupid boys' and 'convinced they know best.' When they finally got inside the common room they parted, Lily yanking her hat off his still shivering form.

"You can give the scarf back to me tomorrow. Oh for goodness sake!" She rushed over to two first years who were trying desperately to reach their wands that were on the ceiling.

Remus looked up and saw a number of other objects dangling including books, quills, a shoe and "is that a pair of trousers?"

Lily cursed. "You boys sort yourselves out you hear me? I've got better things to do than going about rescuing renegade prefects and clearing up the fallout from Sirius Black's temper." She gave him a stern look and quick hug before making her way up her own staircase shaking her head still.

As he slowly trudged up the stairs Remus thought of slipping into bed with Sirius, who he was sure would quickly and effectively warm him up. But his pride reared its ugly head again and he resolved to save face and made his way to his own cold, lonely bed.

He tossed and turned for hours before finally falling into an uneasy sleep, never quite warming up. But as he drifted off one word flashed in his mind's eye - chivalry!


Yeh, Moony's a bobble hat kinda guy, Sirius is more of a scarf connoisseur I reckon. Thoughts? Review? You know you want to!