It wasn't long before the first Hogsmeade weekend arrived. A few days prior, Peter announced happily that Marlene had agreed to go with him, due, Remus suspected, to some machinations on the part of Sirius.
"It's no big deal," Sirius shrugged when Remus pressed him. "I just made sure Marlene was in earshot and told Ruby that Peter had saved his neighbor's baby from an escaped hinkypuck this summer. And that loads of girls are absolutely dying for him to ask them out."
"That wasn't true at all," Remus snorted.
Sirius shruged and slipped his hand into Remus's back pocket. "It's true now."
James, too, had a date. After years of asking ("More like pestering," said Sirius), Lily Evans had finally agreed to go with him to Hogsmeade. "Can you believe I have a date with Evans?" James swooned melodramatically, falling back onto Peter's bed. "If the war comes now, I can die happy. I can't believe you two don't have dates though. It's our seventh year! We're running out of time, boys."
"Sirius says he's going with Remus," Peter smirked.
James laughed. "Well, they have been spending a lot of time together lately. Guess it's no surprise."
"Only because we've been abandoned by our esteemed Head Boy, Prongs, and Peter is now the Heartthrob of Gryffindor," Sirius said calmly, while Remus quietly panicked. "We've been left to our own devices for far too long."
"Whatever," James said, waving a hand dismissively. "I don't care who you go with. We'll all meet up at the Three Broomsticks at the end of the day either way."
"So, uh, Zonkos first?" Remus asked awkwardly, once Peter and James had wandered off with their dates. It was a chilly day in late October, and the streets of Hogsmeade were crowded with students and villagers alike.
"Yeah, all right," Sirius said with a shrug. "I want to get some of those Quik-Grow Spiders to hide in James' bed. He's been such a prat lately." Remus laughed, and they walked side by side to Zonkos. Sirius looked as good as ever, wearing a crisp autumn jacket and his usual tight jeans. Remus tried not to think about what he'd like to do to Sirius if they were alone. This was a date, he reminded himself. Their first date, even if nobody knew it but them. Sirius did seem a little tense, he noticed, but perhaps Zonkos would perk him up.
A smattering of third and fourth year girls followed behind them, wondering loudly why Sirius Black didn't have a date this weekend. "I heard he's distressed because James Potter is here with Lily Evans," one whispered loudly.
Sirius scowled, and Remus hid a smile. On the other side of the street, he spotted Peter and Marlene walking together hand-in-hand. "Look at that," Remus said, nudging Sirius, hoping to distract him. "Your matchmaking worked better than we could have hoped." Sirius's scowl only deepened. He shoved his hands in his pockets and hurriedly entered Zonkos without saying a word. Remus followed after him in surprise.
Inside, Sirius headed straight for the Quik-Grow Spiders and silently tossed them onto the counter. Remus watched him, perplexed. They'd been in the joke shop together tens of times, but something was different today. Something was missing. There was none of the Marauder's usual laughter, plotting, or simple delight of being off Hogwarts grounds. And there was certainly none of the whispered flirtations he'd become accustomed to in the last several weeks. Maybe it was the absence of James and Peter, or maybe, he thought, a knot forming in his stomach, Sirius was jealous of Peter's date with Marlene.
"Want to go to Honeydukes?" he asked tentatively when Sirius had finished paying.
"Yeah, I guess," Sirius muttered, kicking at the ground. They meandered down the street, passing laughing, chattering Hogwarts students along the way. Sirius kept his hands in his pockets, his face set in an unpleasant grimace.
"Sirius, is something wrong?" Remus asked finally, stopping outside of Honeydukes with a tentative hand on his friend's arm.
"No," Sirius muttered.
"Oh, come on. I've been friends with you for years, I know when you're in a mood."
Sirius turned to him, frustrated. "This is just so bloody weird," he muttered. Remus's stomach sank.
"Maybe it was a bad idea then," he said carefully. "Too soon, or…"
"No! I want to be here with you," Sirius whispered forcefully. "I just don't know how. If I were here with a girl I'd, you know, I'd hold her hand or I'd take her to fucking Madame Puddifoot's Tea Shop. I can't take a bloke to Puddifoot's."
Remus gave a little snort of laughter, and Sirius looked perturbed. "Sorry," Remus said quickly. "It's just...and here I thought you were jealous of Peter and Marlene." He grabbed Sirius's arm and pulled him into the alley beside Honeydukes. "Sirius, I don't even want to go to Madame Puddifoot's."
"Well good, I hate that place," Sirius grimaced. He reached for Remus's hand and grabbed it, interlacing their fingers. Remus glanced around nervously, but nobody was watching.
"See, look how nervous you are," Sirius said. "I am jealous of Peter and Marlene. They're marching around out there holding hands where everyone can see, and they haven't so much as snogged yet."
"Usually hand holding comes first," Remus pointed out, and Sirius very nearly cracked a smile.
"Boring." He frowned at Remus. "Look, it's like, I know how to be when we're with James and Peter. And I know exactly what I like to do with you when we're alone. But a date? I don't know what to do with my hands, or how to look at you. I don't even know what to talk about. I already know everything about you."
"I don't know either," Remus said helplessly. "Come on. Let's take a walk."
Sirius followed him down the path to the Shrieking Shack, kicking up clumps of crunchy leaves as they went. A group of third years passed them going the other direction, looking terrified.
"Have you been to the Shrieking Shack?" a short brown-haired boy asked Sirius and Remus. "I heard it's full of ghosts. I swear I heard the shrieking!"
"Definitely not ghosts," Sirius said, lowering his voice. "I hear it's a vampire. Maybe even more than one."
The third years gasped and all but ran down the path toward the village. Remus snorted.
"God, they're so small and stupid," Sirius said, sounding a bit cheerier. "As if a vampire would make the same sounds as a werew—"
Remus jabbed him in the side. "Shut up, you idiot," he muttered, and Sirius laughed.
They reached the end of the path and stood alone together at the fence outside the Shrieking Shack. "It's always weird from this side," Remus said. "We've spent so much time together here and I don't remember any of it."
Sirius gave his hand a quick squeeze. "Come on," he said, reaching up to grab the top of the fence. He hoisted himself over in one deft, athletic move. Remus glanced around carefully before following him. Nobody was in sight. In the distance, he could hear bells ringing and the sounds of students laughing in the village. Few students came to the Shrieking Shack except for the bravest third and fourth years, and nobody dared to climb the fence.
Remus and Sirius walked around to the back of the Shack and sat in the grass, leaning against the crumbling wall with their legs outstretched. "It's bloody cold," Sirius said with a slight shiver, and without even thinking, Remus draped an arm around him. It was so easy to be together when they were alone. He wondered if Sirius really did want to snog him in the street, if he really wanted everyone to know that they were together. Are we together? he wondered. It hadn't felt like it back in the village, but it did right now.
Sirius leaned against Remus's chest and lit up a Muggle cigarette. He took a long, slow drag and offered it to Remus. "No thanks," Remus said, shaking his head. "Those kill Muggles, you know."
"You sound like Mrs. Potter," Sirius said. "Come on, share it with me. It'll be terribly romantic, almost like a pot of tea at Puddifoot's."
"Is this what you do with all your dates?" Remus asked, taking the cigarette and inhaling.
"Yeah, girls love it, makes them feel dangerous." Sirius rested his hand on Remus's thigh. "I've never taken a girl to the Shrieking Shack though."
They sat in comfortable silence, smoking and looking out at the trees, but Sirius's words from earlier rang in Remus's head. "You won't be happy with this for long, will you?" he said finally. "With this...this secret. You want to be with someone you can snog in the street."
"And that can't be you?" Sirius asked.
Remus paused, startled. "How could it be me?"
"Simple. I'd take you by the hand right now and we'd walk over to the village and I'd snog you senseless right there in front of everyone."
Panic rose up in Remus's chest at the thought. "But people would see. And what if they don't understand? What if James and Peter don't understand?"
Sirius tipped his head back and looked up at Remus, incredulous. "Remus, they know you're a werewolf, and they don't care. You think they'd care if you—"
"If I were dating a bloke?" Remus finished glumly.
"You are dating a bloke," Sirius corrected. "This might be a bad date, but it's a date all the same." Remus grinned in spite of himself, and kissed the top of Sirius's head. "Look, the only people who will really be upset are my parents, and they wrote me off a long time ago," Sirius continued. "And it's only a matter of time before Peter and James find out. I can't keep hiding the Marauder's Map every time we go off together."
"I'm afraid," Remus said quietly. "I don't have anything outside of Hogwarts, Sirius. I don't want to mess anything up."
Sirius frowned. "I hate being another one of your secrets."
"Well, I don't particularly relish being another way for you to rebel against your family," Remus countered. Sirius tensed against him, and Remus waited for a defensive retort that never came. Instead, Sirius sat up and turned to face him, kneeling in the grass. He took Remus's face in his hands and gave him a long, slow kiss that tasted like cigarette smoke and the outdoors.
"Let's keep it between us," Remus said pleadingly when they broke apart. "Just for now. Maybe we'll tell them later."
"All right. For now," Sirius agreed. He stood and pulled Remus to his feet. "Sorry I ruined our date."
"It's actually been quite nice," Remus said, kissing him again. "Even the cigarette. Want to cap it off with a drink at the Three Broomsticks?"
"As long as it's a firewhiskey." They walked hand in hand back down the path toward Hogsmeade. "Relax," Sirius told him. "If anyone comes, we'll hear them first and you can pretend you don't even know me."
"Very funny," Remus said, squeezing his hand. He tried to listen carefully for footsteps, but Sirius soon launched into a dramatic story about Quidditch, and neither boy heard the sound of crunching leaves until it was too late. They were bent over in peals of laughter at Sirius's description of James crashing his broom when they heard a throat clearing loudly. They looked up to find Lily Evans standing alone on the path, staring openly at their clasped hands. Remus froze, and Sirius quickly let go of his hand.
"Evans," he said loudly, shoving his hands in his pockets. "Where's your partner in crime?"
"Breaking up a fight between a few third years. I was actually coming to find you." She blushed, looking awkwardly between the two of them. "We're, uh, we're all going to the Three Broomsticks for that round of drinks, if you'd like to come. Since you're paying and all."
"Great, that's where we're going, too," Sirius said quickly. Remus felt utterly unable to move or speak.
"All right, then," she said. "See you there." She waved and headed back down the path.
"She's going to tell James," Remus whispered in horror, staring after her. "She's going to tell."
"She's not going to tell," Sirius whispered back. "She's probably not even sure what she saw. And so what, it's not like we were snogging in the street or anything." But he didn't sound very convinced.
They had nearly lost site of Lily when suddenly, she turned around and jogged back to them. She took a deep breath. "Look, I just want you to know that I, er, won't tell," she said very quickly. "In case you're worried, I—"
"Won't tell what?" Sirius said airily.
"Nothing," she said, chewing on her lip. "Nevermind. I'll see you at the Three Broomsticks." She turned to leave again, but Remus suddenly reached out and touched her arm. She looked at him uncertainly.
"Evans," he said hoarsely. "Thanks."
She opened her mouth to respond, but suddenly, from the village, came the sound of loud, frightened screaming and the pounding of feet running on cobblestone streets. "What is that?" Lily gasped.
"Nothing good," Sirius said, and the three of them took off down the path. Remus saw it before they even reached the main road. Hanging heavily in the sky above the apothecary was the smoky shape of a skull and a giant green serpent. He'd heard whispers about this image before, but he'd never seen it in public and never imagined it could be like this.
"Is that…" Lily breathed.
"Yes," said Sirius, and Remus shuddered at the fear in his voice. "The Dark Mark."