Howling at the Dog-Star

by inactive0000000account

The story of how Remus and Sirius fell in love with each other. These are the events so described in For In Dreams by the same author told from the perspectives of either Remus or Sirius. This is meant to be a companion to For In Dreams, but can be read before or after or separately. (coverart by author)

38. Chapter 38

December 15th, 1973, 10:42p.m.

Sirius

"Hey – stop freaking out, it's just me. Are you going home for Christmas?"

Sirius dropped his weight onto the sofa behind Remus, which made his friend jump again. "Twitchy, are you?"

"What?" Remus said, turning in his seat with pink cheeks. It was honestly the cutest thing Sirius had ever seen.

Giving himself a mental shake, Sirius repeated his question. "Are you going home for Christmas?"

"Erm, well, no," Remus said, frowning a little. "I mean, I don't even celebrate Christmas, remember, my mum's Jewish. Wh–why?"

"Just curious," Sirius said, then jumped over the back of the sofa and landed next to Remus, making the wolf-boy jump again. "Merlin, Remus, what's gotten into you?"

Remus flushed. "N–nothing," he said. Sirius leaned in, pursing his lips and examining Remus's face closely. Remus leaned back.

"You snogged Dorcas Meadows on the full moon," Sirius decided.

Remus's shoulders deflated and he cocked his head at him, raising an eyebrow patronizingly. "Are you still going on about that?"

"Yes," Sirius decided, grinning. "You've got a penchant for snogging girls on the full moon."

"One of these days, you're just not going to wake up," Remus told him.

"Really, now?" Sirius laughed. He leaned back and unfolded his legs onto Remus's lap, dropping his boots onto Remus's book. "Try me."

Remus shoved Sirius's feet off his book. "You'd better be glad there was no mud on those shoes," Remus warned, flicking an invisible fleck of dust off his book.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Hey, have you actually snogged Dorcas Meadows?"

"No, not on the full moon, not under the new moon, not under any moon," Remus said, returning to his book.

"Not even under the waning crescent moon while it's in Venus?" Sirius gasped. "My, you really do avoid the moon!"

Remus looked at him with an expression of distaste. "Ha, ha," he said dryly.

Sirius laughed and an idea struck him. Sitting up, he declared: "Moony!"

"What?" Remus said.

"Your name is now Moony," Sirius decided, then he tapped Remus on the nose and jumped up. Remus snorted rather like a dog would and Sirius flounced away to find Dorcas Meadows and ask her if she ever snogged anyone under the full moon. As he left, Remus touched his nose and flushed.