Okay, again I am so sorry that this took so long to come out! And I'll apologize in advance for the next one. It will more than likely take longer, for I'm leaving for a vacation to Florida soon. Sorry all! So, here's the awaited Part Ten. Enjoy!

Part Ten

Character Interaction-

Remus Lupin still sat in the Gryffindor Common Room with Mr. Peter Pettigrew, after nearly an hour of denying that Halloween's sweet kiss had meant anything to a certain Sirius Black. Remus had tried every form of defense, from denying the whole incident all together, to denying it meant anything.

Well, Peter Pettigrew wasn't having Remus' latest attempt of defense. Sirius didn't know Remus was gay; So what? That was Peter's thinking.

"Remus," Peter said in an almost exasperated tone, "Sirius not knowing you're gay doesn't mean a thing. Why don't you just tell him? You tell him everything." The plump boy rubbed his eye, while vaguely wondering what was going on at the Quidditch match. He had completely forgotten about it in his conversation with Remus, though it was bound to be over soon if it wasn't already.

Remus' mind was hard at work, trying to refuse everything Peter said. It was turning into a hard feat, as Peter brought up more and more hard points to argue with. "I can't tell him, Pete." Remus said dismally. He had decided that fighting wouldn't help, but the truth still had to be told.

"Why the hell not?" Peter asked, temper rising at his friend's pigheadedness. He stood from the couch and walked to the closest window. Upon looking out, he could see a crowd of students walking up to the school. The Quidditch match must have ended, and by the looks of it, Gryffindor had won.

"I just can't, Wormtail. I would be afraid of him taking it the wrong way," Remus replied from the couch, pulling Peter out of his temporarily distracted thoughts.

The blond boy slowly turned from the window to face his woeful friend. "The Quidditch game is over," he said, completely ignoring Remus' latest comment. He didn't want to fight with his friend any longer, and instead decided to discuss a lighter subject.

"Oh," the werewolf responded, mildly surprised. He hadn't even remembered the match. Then a wave of grief overcame him. Sirius was not going to be happy with him. Remus never missed the Quidditch games. He could picture Sirius' face when he confronted Remus on the subject. This was not going to be good. "Are they coming back now?" he asked, having a feeling a party would be in order, for Gryffindor had more than likely won.

"Mmhmm," Peter mumbled, without much thought, "I think Gryffindor won. A few Seventh Years had Quinn Ryder lifted on their shoulders, and I don't think they'd do that if Gryffindor had lost." he said in a monotone. It was quite obvious that Peter cared not for conversation.

"Right," Remus said, as he stood from the red couch, heading to the entrance to the dormitories. When he reached the stairs, he turned again and addressed his friend, "Wormtail. You won't tell anyone about this, will you?" There was a note of urgency and pleading in his voice, and a sad look in his eyes.

Peter wanted nothing more than to run to Sirius as soon as he saw him, and tell him everything Remus had confided in him. But he knew he could never do that. He would never be able to break Remus' trust like that. He'd sworn he wouldn't say a word, and so, he wouldn't say a word. He nodded reluctantly, letting Remus know his secret was safe.

"Thanks, Pete," Remus said with a weak smile, before disappearing up the stairs and into the Marauder's dormitory.

MWPP

"Come on, everyone! Party in Gryffindor Common Room!"

James' voice was heard loud and clear, over the huge swarm of Gryffindors walking back to the castle. Quinn Ryder was seated on the shoulders of two large Seventh Years, who cheered at James' announcement, for they, along with the rest of the crowd, felt a party was definitely in order after their tough match. James smiled as he too was hoisted into the air.

Sirius stood on the outskirts of the crowd, not being in a very 'Partying' mood. All he wanted to do was find Remus, and figure out why he'd not been at the match. He smiled weakly as James announced the party he knew was to come.

"Sirius and I will get the drinks!" the messy-haired Marauder yelled from his place above the swarm, "And you guys can get food from the house-elves!" James continued, pointing at Quinn Ryder and Frank Longbottom.

They nodded in his direction, though Sirius' reaction was the exact opposite. "Prongs," he began, having to shout to be heard, "You wouldn't mind getting the drinks alone, would you?"

James looked at his best mate inquisitively, but agreed all the same. "Yeah, that's fine."

"Thanks, Prongs," the dark haired boy said, before running ahead of the crowd, in attempts at beating them to the Gryffindor Common Room. He figured Remus would be there, and they'd be able to talk. Sirius had to find out what kept his tawny haired beauty from the match today.

MWPP

Remus Lupin was generally quite an intelligent boy, but that didn't mean he never did foolish things. He was a Marauder, wasn't he? But lately, Remus had been doing a particular something that would've been a great insult to his intelligence, if he cared.

At the moment, Remus lay on his stomach reaching for something under Sirius' bed. He pulled out what appeared to be nothing at all, and tapped it with his wand. There, appeared a small box in his lap. The boy returned to his own bed, placing his wand back in his pocket. He removed the lid of the box, placing it on the soft, red sheets beside him. Inside lay a half-empty carton of cigarettes; Sirius' cigarettes.

Remus took a pack from the carton, and placed the box with its lid beside him. He felt guilty, stealing Sirius' cigarettes every so often. He only hoped Sirius hadn't noticed. He'd hate to have to explain to the love of his life that he had been secretly stealing from him.

It had been a few weeks since Remus began stealing from Sirius' stash. He had temporarily stopped when Sirius mentioned the new location of his death sticks, for Sirius had suspected someone to be taking them, though he'd never suspected Remus. In Sirius' eyes, the werewolf was too smart to ever be a smoker. Remus could only wish Sirius had been more correct.

The first occurrence of smoke in Remus' lungs, had been the night he'd found out about Sirius' rendezvous with Lina Akisslee. He had, of course, been there when James called for his help with Sirius, but by then, Remus had already stolen his first pack. Though Remus had comforted Sirius and told him everything was okay, it had been the exact opposite in his mind.

That night, everything had gone terribly wrong for the young werewolf, he just didn't have the nerve to be angry with his love when so many others were already unhappy with him.

Ever since that night, Remus had been steadily increasing the amount of cigarettes to cross his lips, until he was up to three to five a day. He had found smoking to be very relaxing; like a five minute span of calmness in his hectic, emotional world. It was like a five minute break from the pain that came with loving someone you can never have.

As Remus sat here now, mind reeling with new information, he knew no other way to calm himself. He placed the stick between his pale lips, and tapped the end of it with his wand. It immediately ignited, the tip glowing the brightest orange with his first inhalation.

The cigarette was nearly half gone when noise found its way up through the dormitory door. The whole of Gryffindor had undoubtedly arrived from the Quidditch match for their routine Victory Party.

"Bollocks!" Remus yelled as he jumped up from his mattress. Peter was bound to have told Sirius where he was by now, for Sirius was sure to be looking for him. And here Remus sat, with one of Sirius' own cigarettes in his hand. He couldn't let himself be found like this.

He quickly put what was left of the cigarette out, and flicked the clip under his bed along with the rest of the pack he'd taken. It wasn't until he'd gone to lay on his bed with a book that he remembered the box. He swore again, before replacing the lid and tapping the box with his wand. Invisibility overtook it, as Remus scrambled on his hands and knees to return it to its rightful place under Sirius' bed.

There was a quiet creak of hinges as Remus crawled under his mate's bed. "Remus?"

The boy froze. He knew that voice; he'd recognize it anywhere. Peter had obviously informed Sirius of where Remus had run off to, just as the werewolf expected him to. Remus inwardly cursed, for he knew his long legs would be sticking out from where he lay on his stomach, and Sirius was sure to see them.

"Moony, Peter told me you had come. . . ." Sirius began before noticing a pair of attractive legs extending from under his bed. He stooped down to see exactly what his friend was doing, a look of pure confusion on his face. "What are you doing under my bed?"

'Fuck. Fuck. Fuck,' Remus thought, as he wiggled himself out from under the piece of furniture, having put the box back properly. He made sure to avoid eye-contact with Sirius, for he knew Sirius would see the guilt in his eyes if he were to look straight into them. Sirius grabbed his hand, helping him from the floor, before the two boys took seats on the edge of the bed Remus had recently been under.

"What were you doing under my bed, Moony?" Sirius repeated, sounding genuinely curious, as he peered at his friend out of the corner of his eye.

'Fuck. Fuck. Fuck,' Remus restated over and over in his mind. He needed to think of something to tell his dark haired mate, and he needed to think of something fast.

"I-uh-I dropped my wand." Remus' voice trembled slightly as he spoke. He silently thanked Merlin his wand had been in his hand as he'd crawled under the bed, for it made the story that much more believable. He held up his right hand, indicating the wand.

"Oh," Sirius replied, though he still seemed unsure. He shrugged it off as being nothing of importance, especially when he had something of great importance to discuss with a certain werewolf at the present moment.

He allowed himself to fall back casually on his bed, folding his arms behind his shaggy hair. He didn't want to seem angry with Remus before he knew what had happened. Peter hadn't told him anything in their brief conversation in the Common Room. Maybe Remus would prove more helpful.

Remus shifted in his seat, thoroughly relieved. He sat facing Sirius, his legs folded under him in a pretzel style.

"I'm really Sor-"

"Why weren't y-"

The two boys stopped short, laughing lightly as the both tried to speak at the same moment. "You first," Remus said, still smiling, though he knew exactly what Sirius was going to ask, and his smile would soon be forced away.

"Okay," Sirius said, before his face turned serious, "Why weren't you at the Quidditch match today?" He decided dancing around the question would just be a waste of time, and instead stated it bluntly. "You've never missed a match before, Moony. What happened?"

Remus visibly gulped. He knew the question was coming, but he hadn't yet thought of a cover story to tell Sirius. He'd already lied about the cigarettes; could he bear to lie to his love again? Did he really have a choice?

Aaaaand. . . there it is! I hope you liked it, and I apologize again for it taking so long to come out! I promise, there WILL be a journal entry section in the next part! I know it's been a while since there was one, and I apologize for that as well! Please please PLEASE review! It means a lot to me, as always!

Love you all!

Prongsie :)