45 Ways to Make a Werewolf Fall for You

by mew-tsubaki

*COMPLETE* The Marauders, in the prime of their lives, from the last day they set foot at Hogwarts all the way to a reunion thirteen years nearly too late. *Remus/Sirius-centric, relatively canon-compliant, for all of us who would like Remmius to have their happy ending—enjoy your fluff here! Ch45: Thank you. [also available in Swedish and in Chinese]

36. Making chocolate chip cookies

45 Ways to Make a Werewolf Fall for You

A HariPo fanfiction

by mew-tsubaki

- ^-^3

36: Making chocolate-chip cookies

Sirius squinted at the tiny instructions in the book. "'Crack the eggs into the bowl with the flour and other ingredients…'" He did exactly as the tome commanded and began to whisk it before pausing for a second and bewitching the mixing spoon to keep moving without his assistance. The wizard scratched his head and sighed.

Fifteen minutes in, and already I'm frustrated. Sirius dwelled on that thought, thinking he could already put that on his New Year's Resolution list—though the time for that was months and months away.

Following James and Lily's surprise wedding and Remus and Sirius moving in together, life had resumed its normal pace, full of downtime and Order missions and Order meetings. Annoyingly, Remus had taken some kind of errand for Dumbledore on his own, something that greatly irked Sirius.

"I'll be back before you know it," Remus had assured him after a brief word with Dumbledore.

Sirius had given him a look. "A week? That's not a couple of hours, Moony. That's a week."

"Effort wins a war, Padfoot," Remus had responded. Then he'd raised his eyebrows at his love, almost taunting him to make any further arguments.

Sirius sighed. To top it all off, Remus hadn't even given him much more than a goodbye peck on the cheek. And, now, here he was, trying to bake. "Effort wins a war, but affection wins a heart," the Animagus grumbled to himself.

It was at least somewhat productive, distracting himself by making chocolate-chip cookies—chocolate chip, of course, for his wolf with a sweet tooth—so Sirius wouldn't focus too much on Remus' absence. Of course, Remus had not told him if it would be all right to send letters or parcels… The Black son knew he'd have to take a little chance if he wanted to get anything to his friend.

And what in the bloody blazes could be so important that Dumbly sent him out on his own? he thought as the batter came along nicely and he began to scoop out the cookie dough and to put cookie sheets in the oven. I mean, Remus has gone on single missions before, but this stupid errand…

I have a bad feeling.

Sirius frowned as his eyes dropped to their kitchen counter. It wasn't just one bad feeling he had; his previous bad feelings were resurfacing, though Sirius repeated "Remus is no traitor" over and over in his head like some sort of sick mantra. However, he remained focused on Remus himself and his past and character… He was a wolf, after all. And werewolves were known to have wayward tendencies.

Sirius blinked. He had never considered something before:

Did Remus have any werewolf friends?

It was absurd in its simplicity, for he had never really imagined it before. Sirius was sure that James and Peter hadn't thought about it either. After all, as far as they knew, Remus only changed once a month and hung out with them whenever he was human. Yeah, then they hung out with him when he was transformed once they'd learned to shift, but still…no one had ever kept an eye on Remus John Lupin twenty-four–seven.

"That's a sick idea you have there, old boy," the black-haired man reprimanded himself, a nervous chuckle crackling in his throat. Nevertheless, it was an idea. Remus never talked much about his wolfish side, so perhaps he shared those thoughts with someone else. This line of thought only made Sirius wonder how many secrets floated around not only Rem but the others, as well…

But everyone has secrets, Sirius reminded himself, thinking of his time at Twelve Grimmauld Place and his brother. He tried to muster a smile, though he couldn't… No one had mentioned spotting Regulus out with the other Death Eaters, and Sirius felt a pull in his gut that maybe Regulus finally had wronged his master and had been on the wrong end of that ivory wand.

The Animagus heaved another sigh and released the ribbon tying back his hair. "At least sweets don't have secrets… ACK! THEY'RE BURNING?!"

- ^-^3

Ending on a funny note. ;) This turned out a little more angsty than I expected, sorry 'bout that… While writing this chappy, I had some conflicting emotions myself (not about the fic), so I guess that transposed. :L Btw, for those of you who were curious about the questions in 35's A/N: 1) That would be Much More Than Bromance, an awesome, totally-deserving-of-its-M-rating two-shot featuring James Sirius Potter and Teddy Lupin. Ahh, good noms. B3 2) "Sticks & Stones," a Remus/James & Sirius/Remus oneshot.

Thanks for reading, and please review!

-mew! :)

2017 note: Ahhhh, yes… Ugly thoughts rear their ugly heads once more. But Remus has a reason, as you will see in ch37. And I should note about my 2011 A/N—Much More Than Bromance was a tad too explicit for FFN and has since been edited, but you can find its uncensored version on AO3 and on camelliacats, my HariPo fic tumblr. ;]