Remus had so many emotions running through his mind at the moment, and he could not make sense of any of them.

Sirius's expression was impossible to read as he leaned against the wall; it was hardened, but not exactly angry. "So," he said quietly.

"So," said Remus, and he couldn't help but laugh nervously.

Sirius, thank goodness, laughed too. "Yeah, uh, that was a lot. So you like guys, huh?"

"Yeah, I mean, I'm not picky," said Remus, and then blushed. "I mean- okay, well, it's confusing who all else I like, but yes, I like guys."

"Makes sense," said Sirius.

"You too, then?"

"Well, one bloke in particular." Sirius's eyes danced.

"Who?" Remus whispered, his heart squeezing.

"Uh uh uh," Sirius chided, "that's for me to know and you to find out. I'll give you a hint, though, it's not Peter." His eyes flashed.

Remus grimaced. "Yeah, that was a little unexpected."

"Not really, I mean, that's how most people think," said Sirius. "Part of why I ran away from home."

"Oh." Remus didn't know what to say. "Er, should we tell James? About Peter?"

"I don't know," said Sirius. "I'm angry at him, and he's ignorant, and I don't want to be his friend, necessarily- but it's a lot of drama, what are we gonna do, cut him off?"

"Yeah," said Remus. "Plus, well, he knows things that aren't really- we don't want him to be upset is all." He felt his stomach turn at the idea that Peter could tell the whole school that he was a werewolf.

"That's a good point, yeah. Don't want to make things weird for James," Sirius sighed. "Ah, well, I'll just take the mickey out of him a couple times, he'll come around."

"Normally I'd argue, but…" Remus trailed off, and Sirius's laugh could best be described as a giggle.

"You wanna go somewhere?" he asked.

"Where?" said Remus, confused.

"I dunno," said Sirius. "Empty classroom or something. Just feels nice, sometimes, to have space, you know?" He got up from the wall and strode off, leaving Remus to trail after him. "Here we go!" he said happily, after climbing several staircases and peeking in dozens of doors.

Remus stepped into the classroom. It was dark- 11 o clock by now, after all- and there was a dusty table covered with strange metal objects. "We are definitely not allowed to be in here," he said softly.

"You're the head boy, just yell at anyone who finds you."

"Oh, yeah, I'm certain that'll work wonders on Dumbledore."

With a sweep of his hand, Sirius brushed the dust off of the table and perched precariously on the edge of it, taking his too-tight suit jacket off, leaving a rumpled white collared shirt with frankly, not enough buttons done up. He was wearing some sort of necklace; a heart-shaped locket.

"What's that?" Remus asked.

"Oh, it's-"

Remus had never seen Sirius blush before. "What?" he said, amused.

"Well, it's rather embarrassing, but erm," Sirius opened the locket and showed Remus the pictures inside.

The first tiny photo was quite faded by now, but Remus could recognize Sirius as a young child, starting off his first year at Hogwarts with his black hair short and sleek, rather than the long, unruly, beautiful mess he had now. James's arm was around Sirius's shoulder, and it made Remus giggle to see how oversized James's glasses were for his face.

He recognized himself, too, beaming even through the scar that ran through his upper lip, and he remembered how incredible he had felt to find himself included in the coolest of cliques, a part of a group for the first time in his life. He looked at that young boy and felt a sharp pang of sympathy, thinking now of the frantic way he'd worked to hide his transformations and explain his illnesses and scars to his friends back then.

Peter was holding up a bunny ears sign behind James, which took significant effort considering how much shorter Peter was, and Remus felt a mingled rush of anger and affection, he'd known Peter for so long, he loved him, and yet…

The other photo was also of the four Marauders, now much more similar to their current selves, Sirius tall and wearing a leather jacket, James gangly and smiling, with a slight beard, Remus with dozens more scars and a tired grin, Peter still much shorter than the rest of them.

Sirius closed the locket and tucked it back into his shirt, but before it was entirely hidden away, Remus read the word Family engraved on the top, and warm tears started to tremble in his eyes.

"That's-"

"Lame, I know, sorry," said Sirius.

"No, it's really sweet," Remus said emphatically. "Do you have any other copies of those photos?"

"What if I told you I had a scrapbook?" said Sirius.

"Oh god." Remus laughed. "Damn, you love us, don't you?"

"How could I not?" Sirius said earnestly, with a pained expression. "Do you ever, like, pinch yourself thinking how lucky we are, right? To have each other and all that crap, I mean."

"Look at me in that first photo, every day has been surreal," said Remus.

"I don't want to graduate, sometimes," Sirius admitted.

"Hey," said Remus, "I get it, but it's not like things are gonna change too much. There's the Order, there's everything we've planned-"

"Yeah, I know," said Sirius. "Thank god. I forget we're in a war sometimes. Guess that means there's never going to be a dull moment."

"No, probably not," said Remus. "But to be honest? I'm terrified."

"I'll keep you safe," said Sirius gruffly.

Remus laughed, even as butterflies flooded his stomach. "I'm not all that worried about me, mate. Just- the Prophet comes in and someone's mum or brother or friend is dead every week, people are leaving school all the time, what if my parents are next, what if it's one of you guys when we get out there, it just keeps getting worse and worse-"

"And that's why we need to do something," said Sirius, "and we will. That's the lucky thing, I've never had to wonder about the purpose of life or my destiny or all that tosh because there's such a clear mission, you know?"

"Yeah, but," said Remus. "I don't know, I kind of just wanted a nice peaceful life? I'd be a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher or something." He laughed.

Sirius laughed too, but it was sympathetic. "Yeah, there's that. I'm just glad we'll all be together."

"Me too," Remus said, reflecting on how true it was. What would he do without his friends? What would he do without Sirius?

"I don't ever want to lose you, Moony," said Sirius, looking him in the eye.

"You never will," Remus promised, and he meant it.

"You promise?"

"Of course."

"Then, erm," Sirius said, chewing his lip. Remus had never seen Sirius look so anxious. "I might need to tell you something."