Rating of R.

I do not own the characters, JKR does. I simply borrow them.

As a hired hit man, Sirius Black's newest target is a potential danger to the motives of the Death Eaters. The only information that is available to him is an age, gender, location, and the condition of werewolf. Werewolf narrows it down a fair bit, yet that's not going to help him when the location just happens to be an all werewolf school.

Major Alternate Universe alert and mild slash.

Coffee Stains

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It's driving me slowly insane, Sirius thought as he sat in the armchair and clutched at the arms of it until his knuckles had turned white and bloodless. Across from him, Remus was curled into a tight ball on his couch so that he took up a minimal amount of space.

Sirius stood up uncertainly, almost nervously, and worried at his bottom lip. He debated silently for a moment and then, upon making up his mind, dragged the armchair closer to the couch so that he was sitting directly beside the younger boy.

You're so...beautiful.

Sirius held his breath and hesitantly reached out a shaking hand to stroke Remus' hair. At the last moment, he pulled it back jerkily and ran it through his own hair instead in some weak attempt to regain some control over himself.

How could I ever compare you to her?

Sirius exhaled in a way that was part sigh and part quiet laugh.

I was only supposed to get close. I wasn't supposed to get attached. God, I wasn't supposed to want...you. I'm not supposed to care about you. It only makes it harder if...

Sirius forced his mind blank. Over the past two months he had been much too absorbed with the feelings that he was experiencing for his student. Feelings that had extended much beyond a mutual friendship, as he had once liked to think of their relationship. He had become so immersed in these particular feelings that he had almost forgotten why he was at Stonegate Academy in the first place.

"There's no way," Sirius said in a small voice of disbelief. He sat back in his armchair and regarded Remus intently. "You're just too..." Sirius whispered, his voice trailing off as he was unable to find the proper word with which to complete his sentence.

"Sirius," a voice, loud and sounding as if it were extremely close, as if it were directly behind him, broke the silence. Sirius startled and jumped quickly to his feet, muscles tense, wand out, and eyes alert and searching the darkness as he spun around.

The dark room around him was empty and quiet. The echo of his name was still ringing in his ears. Sirius lowered his wand slightly and glanced over his shoulder at Remus. The interruption had not disturbed him much. The blanket had slipped off his shoulders as he had moved slightly in his sleep.

Hand still gripping tight around his wand, Sirius turned all the way around to face his student and moved the blanket so that it rested below the younger boy's chin. Remus' brow frowned, he clutched at the blanket, and then lay quite as still as before.

"Sirius? Are you up?"

"James?" Sirius whispered and swore quietly under his breath. He withdrew the small mirror from underneath the coffee table where it had been stowed since their last conversation.

"Do you have to be so bloody loud?" Sirius hissed as he fogged the mirror with his breath and then wiped it clean with his sleeve.

James pulled a disgusted face as Sirius' sleeve rubbed at the mirror and over his face. "I hate it when you do that. Do you have any idea what that looks like—"

"Shut up!" Sirius growled, peering over his shoulder anxiously and creeping as quietly as he could to his bedroom door.

"What's going on?" James asked in a quiet voice. He strained his neck forward and his eyes darted from corner to corner in an attempt to see on either side of the mirror's frame. "Where are—Hey—"

Annoyed with James' constant questioning in a voice that was not as quiet as he would have liked, Sirius had pressed the mirror tightly against his chest in hopes of muffling James' voice.

"Christ, James, what is it? Have you any idea of the time?" Sirius asked dryly as he held the mirror to where he could clearly see James' face and sat down on the edge of his bed.

"Not really. I didn't check. Listen, Sirius, I have something really important—Must you do that while I'm here?"

"What? Oh," Sirius paused as he was in the process of taking off his shirt. "Sorry," his voice was only slightly muffled as he crossed his arms and pulled the fabric over his head. "But I can't stand it. I've started wearing clothes to bed because of—" Sirius started and then started to cough lightly.

"If you can't stand it, then why ware it in the first place?" James asked, eyes glancing at Sirius as the raven haired toyed with the drawstrings of his pajama pants. "And please leave your pants on, Sirius."

"Yeah, yeah. Trust me, James, I've no desire to strip in front of you—"

"Well, seeing how your shirt is already off—"

"Tell me, how's Appy?" Sirius asked loudly as he flicked his wand at the far wall so that none of their conversation would leak out into the living room.

James' mouth shut quickly and his cheeks colored dully. "Happy," he managed to choke out. "Happy Appy."

Sirius raised his eyebrows. "Happy?"

"Very."

"Better be—"

"Although I know I'd be interrupting a very well thought out threat concerning the well being of your dog, do allow me to continue."

"Important?" Sirius asked, propping the mirror on his night stand and climbing fully into bed. He laid on top of the covers and stretched until he heard an audible crack emit from his back.

"Highly."

"Well?"

"London."

Sirius blinked and regarded James with a puzzled look.

"He's in London," James pressed on quickly before he allowed Sirius to ask him to explain any further. "I just had a meeting with Quarry. Listen to this, he managed to get a whole file on the kid. Name. Everything."

Sirius felt his heart beat quicken and his mouth go dry. It was only tonight that he had started wondering about his assignment and then James appeared with just the kind of information he needed to complete it. Subconsciously, Sirius found himself wishing that it was anyone but Remus Lupin.

"Who is..."Sirius started quietly, but trailed off when he saw James shake his head.

"We don't know. All we know is that he lives in London somewhere when he's not at the school. It was under the address section. That's it. The rest is ruined."

"Ruined?" Sirius echoed, feeling oddly numb.

James gave a small sarcastic smile and shook his head. "Ruined. Coffee stained. One of Quarry's men spilled coffee all over it. Come to think of it, maybe Quarry himself did it. Doesn't seem like the kind of man to take responsibility for his own actions...Hey, are you all right?" James asked slowly when he realized that Sirius' eyes had gone strangely out of focus and his face wore an expression highly akin to pain.

"Oh, God. James. James, what am I going to do if it's him?"

"Mate, I don't—" James broke off when he saw a few tears welling thickly in his best friend's eyes, threatening to fall quickly. "Hey. Come on now. It's alright. What's the matter?"

"What if it's him? What if? What am I going to do? I'll have to leave. I can't stay here. I can't even stand to find out," Sirius said in a choked voice. He glanced down at his hands, they were shaking with nervousness.

"Calm down, alright?"

"Calm down, how am I supposed to calm down if..." Sirius couldn't finish his horrified sentence but instead, to James' utmost horror, started a chocked kind of hyperventilation.

"Sirius, stop. Mate, stop. Please, stop," James said helplessly, feeling so awkward at being so far away and unable to say anything but the words that could do nothing to console his best friend.

"It's this kid, James. What if it's him? I can't kill him. I just can't," Sirius hiccuped quietly and swiped angrily at his eyes. To James' great sense of relief, Sirius' panicked breathing was slowing down and his eyes were only an irritated red. The tears that had been shining in his eyes had retreated.

"You're getting too far ahead of yourself," James latched onto comforting Sirius rather than questioning him about what he was talking about, least he upset him even further.

"We have no idea what's going to happen. Don't go rushing ahead. You haven't even checked your records yet."

Sirius collapsed against the head board and ran his hands through his long hair several times. He breathed deeply several times and looked at James from between the cracks his fingers had formed as they covered his face. James thought that he had never seen Sirius look so broken before.

"I think I must be going crazy, James."

James let out his held breath in a rush of relief. Sirius' voice had lost it's desperate quality.

"Crazy? Sirius, you're not going mad, mate. It's just this place." James' eyes surveyed the edges of his frame as he observed Sirius' bedroom. "It's being locked up with a bunch of wolves—"

"Don't talk about them like that," Sirius spat, what little sorrow he had managed to retain quickly transforming into anger.

"Sorry, sorry," James said quickly, half raising his arms in his own self defense. "You'll be out of there soon, Sirius."

Sirius' eyes flashed toward the bedroom door and then flickered quickly back to the mirror. "I can't leave him. I can't kill him. What if I..." Sirius trailed off, his eyes darting nervously around the room as he wet his lips with the tip of his tongue. "What if I just take him...and...and run?"

James' mouth hung slightly open. He forced himself to close it and shook his head.

"Have you lost your mind? Run? Do you want to die?" James hissed.

"I'm going mad. I think I love him, James."

James did not reply nor react in any way. He looked solemnly back at Sirius and remained speechless.

"Love is a very strong word," James said quietly.

"I'm aware."

"I think you need to get some sleep."

"How can you expect me to sleep?"

"If you're not going to sleep, then I would suggest that you look up the records now before you worry any more." The idea seemed so simple to ease his friend's troubled conscious, James just hoped that it wouldn't backfire on him and behold bad news.

Sirius slumped against the head board, exhausted.

"Yeah, yeah, you're right," Sirius sighed.

"Look. Just. Just don't do anything drastic, alright. If you feel reckless...please, Sirius, please, call me. I don't want you doing anything rash."

"Nothing rash. Right," Sirius repeated dully. James fidgeted awkwardly in the silence.

"So, everything's all right now?" He asked tentatively.

"Yes," Sirius sighed. "Thanks, James. I really am tired. I'll," he half choked behind a fake yawn, "call you if I feel the need to do anything...rash. Good night, James."

"Night," James said, the connection immediately breaking off after they had said their good byes. James started at his empty mirror with an uneasy feeling creeping into the pit of his stomach.

Sirius tipped the mirror forward gently so that it lay face down on his night stand. His eyes wondered from his fingers that traced absentmindedly on the mirror to the cluttered desk that was directly opposite from his bed. Sirius' stomach clenched sickeningly as he stood up, mind flitting back and forth between the sleeping boy in the living room and his fate that was contained in the third drawer of his cluttered desk.

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