TITLE: How to Find a Mate in Less than Thirty Days [2/?]
AUTHOR: Samantha [kali_neba@hotmail.com]
RATING/CONTENT: PG-13, Sirius/Remus, some James/Lily, minor language, very minor mentions of sexual situations
DISCLAIMER: Not mine. JK Rowling owns the lot of them.
I need some distraction
oh beautiful release
memory seeps from my veins
let me be empty
and weightless and maybe
I'll find some peace tonight
-- "Angel," Sarah McLachlan
"You're not leaving the infirmary. I don't care what Madame Pomfrey said," Sirius stated, placing his hands on Remus's shoulders and pushing him back onto the bed.
"Yes. I am. Potions quiz, remember? And McGonagall is certainly not going to appreciate me missing her lecture," Remus said, pushing Sirius's hands away from him as he rose to his feet, placing himself nose to nose with him since Sirius refused to budge an inch. "I. Am. Going. To. Class," Remus stated, his voice soft and calm but with a harshness brought on by stress leaking through.
"No. You. Are. Not," Sirius replied, a small grin on his features, and he brought his hands up to Remus's shoulders, trying, once again, to push Remus back to the bed. However, Remus held his ground, refusing to move. The pressure that Sirius was putting behind his hands combined with Remus's refusal to given in caused the two to end up closer together. Remus stared up at Sirius, watching his friend's grey eyes cloud with worry...and fear?
Remus breath hitched in his throat as his heart started pounding as he watched Sirius bend slightly forward. Then he blinked as if suddenly noticing the physical proximity of Remus and pushed him away.
"Remus, I...." Sirius began, his voice soft enough that Remus had to struggle to hear him, dropping into the chair by the bed. Remus swallowed, glancing down at the floor before meeting Sirius's eyes. "You know me, Remus. You know I don't get scared." Sirius sighed, leaning back in the chair and closing his eyes.
"I know, Padfoot," Remus replied, sitting on the edge of the bed.
"So, why is it that I'm terrified right now?"
"You have no reason to be afraid of anything," Remus said, "I'm the one who should be afraid."
"Then why aren't you?" Sirius replied.
"You think I'm not? I am, Padfoot. I'm terrified. I don't want....I don't want to die, Sirius. I told you that." Remus sighed, running a hand over his features. "I-I just don't know what to do. I can't sit here anymore and dwell on it. I can't think of anyone to....mate with."
"There's always Lily," Sirius offered, opening one eye and smirking at Remus. Remus snorted, shaking his head.
"Oh, yes, let's do that. I so relish the thought of James killing me while I sleep," Remus said, returning Sirius's smirk. "We've got to get to class."
"You're not giving up on that, are you?" Sirius asked, rising to his feet. Remus shook his head, causing Sirius to sigh. "I know better than to argue with you. I really do," he muttered. Remus stared at Sirius for a second, a small smile playing on his face as Sirius brushed a wayward piece of black hair out of his eyes. Remus came to a sudden decision, stepping forward and wrapping his arms around Sirius. The other boy stiffened slightly before relaxing and returning the embrace.
"Thank you," Remus said softly before pulling back from the hug.
"For what? I mean, I really haven't done anything," Sirius replied, picking up Remus's school bag and handing it to him. "Madame Pomfrey wouldn't even let me stay last night."
"Thank you for at least being here last night. I-I needed someone to talk to, and it helped," Remus said, securing his bag on his shoulders and stepping towards the door of the infirmary. Sirius caught up to him quickly, and they stepped out into the already crowded corridor. They'd barely made it past the infirmary when they heard their names being called out over the din of the crowd. The pair turned to see James forcing his way through a pack of first-year Slytherins towards them.
"Remus, I wasn't expecting you to be out from under Madame Pomfrey's eyes, yet. What did you have to bribe her with?" James said as he finally reached them.
"Dumbledore told her that I should be fine to attend class," Remus replied.
"That's certainly good to hear," Lily stated, stepping up to stand next to James. She wrapped an arm around his waist and laid her head against his shoulder. "Did they tell you what was wrong?"
"I...." Remus began, turning questioning eyes to Sirius.
"I didn't tell them anything. I figured...I thought that you would want to tell them, rather than having me do it," Sirius said, leaning over so that only Remus would hear. Remus turned back to Lily and James, the former having raised her eyebrows in a silent question.
"I'll explain later. Not...not out here," he stated. Understanding dawned in James's eyes.
"Does this have to do with...?" James left the rest of the question hanging, but Remus caught his train of thought and nodded. "Ah," James muttered, "In that case, we should get to Potions."
"Where's Peter?" Sirius asked, looking around for the smaller boy as the four of them headed for the Dungeons. James rolled his eyes.
"Still faking sick. He refuses to leave the common room until his hair turns back to normal. I told him that it was a nice shade of puce this morning, hoping that would brighten his day, but he merely threw a pillow at me," James stated with a snicker, causing Lily to elbow him in the side. "What? It was a very nice color." That earned him a minor chuckle Lily and Remus, but Sirius was too busy studying Remus to respond.
"Are you sure you're going to be okay?" Sirius asked, never taking his eyes off of Remus.
"Yes, Padfoot," Remus replied, cocking his head at Sirius. "I promise not to pass out again," he stated calmly as they reached the door to the Potions classroom. "I'll be fine," he said, offering a small smile as they stepped through the door. They grabbed their normal seats that the back of the room just as Professor Purslane swept in the room, her green robes billowing out behind her. She reached her desk and pulled out a large vial containing a golden potion.
"This is a poisonous combination of yellow oleander, wormwood, and the powdered scales of a Peruvian Vipertooth Dragon. You have one hour to provide an antidote. Considering that you will be ingesting this potion, I suggest that you work diligently." With those words, the class began to divide up into pairs. As Sirius headed for his usual spot next to Remus, the professor called out, "Mr. Black, I'm sorry to inform you that you and Mr. Lupin will not be pairing up this time. Since I'm fairly certain that you have not studied, I'm afraid that you and Mr. Potter will have to fend for yourselves. Mr. Lupin, Miss Evans, I trust that you two will do quite well."
Sirius and James paled as they stared at Professor Purslane. They exchanged a look then glanced over at Lily and Remus. Lily smiled apologetically.
"I'm sorry, James," she muttered, preparing the cauldron and Remus gathered the ingredients necessary for the antidote. They began adding the necessary ingredients slowly, trying not to unsettle the potion, both of them concentrating and trying to ignore the explosions coming from Sirius and James's cauldron.
"Mr. Potter, do actually try to brew the antidote without blowing up my classroom," Purslane stated, raising an eyebrow at them. Remus glanced up and met Sirius's eyes, holding the stare for several seconds. Lily followed his gaze and smiled slightly.
"Only one more ingredient," she whispered, holding up a griffin feather and dropping it into the potion. She watched the cauldron for a second, then adjusted the fire underneath with her wand. "And now we wait."
"When it turns purple, it's ready," Remus replied automatically, still watching Sirius as he and James added their griffin feather to their antidote. After a few tense seconds, when their potion did not explode, the pair relaxed. Sirius glanced at Remus with a smile.
"You should have seen him last night," Lily stated, not taking her eyes off the potion.
"Who?" Remus asked, turning back to the red-headed girl.
"Sirius," she said, "When he got back from the infirmary last night. He was shaking so hard I thought were going to have to call Madame Pomfrey again."
"Oh," Remus muttered, glancing down at the table.
"Whatever's wrong, Remus, Sirius is really worried," Lily said, staring up at him. "And that made me and James worried." Remus glanced around the room, not wanting to look at Lily; he finally settled on watching Sirius and James try to hex Snape from across the room.
"I'm dying, Lily," Remus whispered.
"What? You can't be....Tell me you're joking," she demanded, placing a hand on his arm.
"I wish I was, Lily. I really wish I was." Remus sighed, finally meeting her eyes. "Dumbledore told me that....basically, I have to find a mate by my next birthday or, you know...."
"But that's next month. That's really not fair," Lily stated.
"I know," Remus replied, just as the antidote turned purple. Lily put out the fire and grabbed her dragonhide gloves in order to pour the antidote into the small vial on their table. She placed the stopper in the top of it and dropped down into her chair.
"Do you have anyone in mind?" She blinked and grinned, shaking her head. "Sorry, that's probably way more that you want to share right now."
"No, I-I haven't really thought about it. I'm not even sure how to approach the subject. I mean, what do I say? How do I explain it?" He smiled sadly.
"Well, maybe you don't have to," Lily stated, suddenly getting a look in her eyes that was very reminiscent of James and Sirius when they were plotting. He raised an eyebrow at her. "Maybe you could find someone who already knows."
"And that would be you, James, Peter, and Sirius. You and James are taken, and Peter's not my type. And Sirius...." Remus trailed off, glancing over at the other table again.
"What about Sirius?" Lily prodded.
"You've seen the way he is around girls. He wouldn't be interested," Remus stated, tearing his gaze away from them.
"Right. Well, there's always Rebecca from Hufflepuff," Lily offered, dropping the subject, but, Remus noticed, the plotting look never left her eyes. "She's had a crush on you since last year. Couldn't hurt to go out with her at least once, right?"
"I suppose," Remus admitted, eyeing Lily warily.
"Good. You'll ask her at lunch?" Remus nodded as Professor Purslane called time.
------------------
Continued....
AUTHOR: Samantha [kali_neba@hotmail.com]
RATING/CONTENT: PG-13, Sirius/Remus, some James/Lily, minor language, very minor mentions of sexual situations
DISCLAIMER: Not mine. JK Rowling owns the lot of them.
I need some distraction
oh beautiful release
memory seeps from my veins
let me be empty
and weightless and maybe
I'll find some peace tonight
-- "Angel," Sarah McLachlan
"You're not leaving the infirmary. I don't care what Madame Pomfrey said," Sirius stated, placing his hands on Remus's shoulders and pushing him back onto the bed.
"Yes. I am. Potions quiz, remember? And McGonagall is certainly not going to appreciate me missing her lecture," Remus said, pushing Sirius's hands away from him as he rose to his feet, placing himself nose to nose with him since Sirius refused to budge an inch. "I. Am. Going. To. Class," Remus stated, his voice soft and calm but with a harshness brought on by stress leaking through.
"No. You. Are. Not," Sirius replied, a small grin on his features, and he brought his hands up to Remus's shoulders, trying, once again, to push Remus back to the bed. However, Remus held his ground, refusing to move. The pressure that Sirius was putting behind his hands combined with Remus's refusal to given in caused the two to end up closer together. Remus stared up at Sirius, watching his friend's grey eyes cloud with worry...and fear?
Remus breath hitched in his throat as his heart started pounding as he watched Sirius bend slightly forward. Then he blinked as if suddenly noticing the physical proximity of Remus and pushed him away.
"Remus, I...." Sirius began, his voice soft enough that Remus had to struggle to hear him, dropping into the chair by the bed. Remus swallowed, glancing down at the floor before meeting Sirius's eyes. "You know me, Remus. You know I don't get scared." Sirius sighed, leaning back in the chair and closing his eyes.
"I know, Padfoot," Remus replied, sitting on the edge of the bed.
"So, why is it that I'm terrified right now?"
"You have no reason to be afraid of anything," Remus said, "I'm the one who should be afraid."
"Then why aren't you?" Sirius replied.
"You think I'm not? I am, Padfoot. I'm terrified. I don't want....I don't want to die, Sirius. I told you that." Remus sighed, running a hand over his features. "I-I just don't know what to do. I can't sit here anymore and dwell on it. I can't think of anyone to....mate with."
"There's always Lily," Sirius offered, opening one eye and smirking at Remus. Remus snorted, shaking his head.
"Oh, yes, let's do that. I so relish the thought of James killing me while I sleep," Remus said, returning Sirius's smirk. "We've got to get to class."
"You're not giving up on that, are you?" Sirius asked, rising to his feet. Remus shook his head, causing Sirius to sigh. "I know better than to argue with you. I really do," he muttered. Remus stared at Sirius for a second, a small smile playing on his face as Sirius brushed a wayward piece of black hair out of his eyes. Remus came to a sudden decision, stepping forward and wrapping his arms around Sirius. The other boy stiffened slightly before relaxing and returning the embrace.
"Thank you," Remus said softly before pulling back from the hug.
"For what? I mean, I really haven't done anything," Sirius replied, picking up Remus's school bag and handing it to him. "Madame Pomfrey wouldn't even let me stay last night."
"Thank you for at least being here last night. I-I needed someone to talk to, and it helped," Remus said, securing his bag on his shoulders and stepping towards the door of the infirmary. Sirius caught up to him quickly, and they stepped out into the already crowded corridor. They'd barely made it past the infirmary when they heard their names being called out over the din of the crowd. The pair turned to see James forcing his way through a pack of first-year Slytherins towards them.
"Remus, I wasn't expecting you to be out from under Madame Pomfrey's eyes, yet. What did you have to bribe her with?" James said as he finally reached them.
"Dumbledore told her that I should be fine to attend class," Remus replied.
"That's certainly good to hear," Lily stated, stepping up to stand next to James. She wrapped an arm around his waist and laid her head against his shoulder. "Did they tell you what was wrong?"
"I...." Remus began, turning questioning eyes to Sirius.
"I didn't tell them anything. I figured...I thought that you would want to tell them, rather than having me do it," Sirius said, leaning over so that only Remus would hear. Remus turned back to Lily and James, the former having raised her eyebrows in a silent question.
"I'll explain later. Not...not out here," he stated. Understanding dawned in James's eyes.
"Does this have to do with...?" James left the rest of the question hanging, but Remus caught his train of thought and nodded. "Ah," James muttered, "In that case, we should get to Potions."
"Where's Peter?" Sirius asked, looking around for the smaller boy as the four of them headed for the Dungeons. James rolled his eyes.
"Still faking sick. He refuses to leave the common room until his hair turns back to normal. I told him that it was a nice shade of puce this morning, hoping that would brighten his day, but he merely threw a pillow at me," James stated with a snicker, causing Lily to elbow him in the side. "What? It was a very nice color." That earned him a minor chuckle Lily and Remus, but Sirius was too busy studying Remus to respond.
"Are you sure you're going to be okay?" Sirius asked, never taking his eyes off of Remus.
"Yes, Padfoot," Remus replied, cocking his head at Sirius. "I promise not to pass out again," he stated calmly as they reached the door to the Potions classroom. "I'll be fine," he said, offering a small smile as they stepped through the door. They grabbed their normal seats that the back of the room just as Professor Purslane swept in the room, her green robes billowing out behind her. She reached her desk and pulled out a large vial containing a golden potion.
"This is a poisonous combination of yellow oleander, wormwood, and the powdered scales of a Peruvian Vipertooth Dragon. You have one hour to provide an antidote. Considering that you will be ingesting this potion, I suggest that you work diligently." With those words, the class began to divide up into pairs. As Sirius headed for his usual spot next to Remus, the professor called out, "Mr. Black, I'm sorry to inform you that you and Mr. Lupin will not be pairing up this time. Since I'm fairly certain that you have not studied, I'm afraid that you and Mr. Potter will have to fend for yourselves. Mr. Lupin, Miss Evans, I trust that you two will do quite well."
Sirius and James paled as they stared at Professor Purslane. They exchanged a look then glanced over at Lily and Remus. Lily smiled apologetically.
"I'm sorry, James," she muttered, preparing the cauldron and Remus gathered the ingredients necessary for the antidote. They began adding the necessary ingredients slowly, trying not to unsettle the potion, both of them concentrating and trying to ignore the explosions coming from Sirius and James's cauldron.
"Mr. Potter, do actually try to brew the antidote without blowing up my classroom," Purslane stated, raising an eyebrow at them. Remus glanced up and met Sirius's eyes, holding the stare for several seconds. Lily followed his gaze and smiled slightly.
"Only one more ingredient," she whispered, holding up a griffin feather and dropping it into the potion. She watched the cauldron for a second, then adjusted the fire underneath with her wand. "And now we wait."
"When it turns purple, it's ready," Remus replied automatically, still watching Sirius as he and James added their griffin feather to their antidote. After a few tense seconds, when their potion did not explode, the pair relaxed. Sirius glanced at Remus with a smile.
"You should have seen him last night," Lily stated, not taking her eyes off the potion.
"Who?" Remus asked, turning back to the red-headed girl.
"Sirius," she said, "When he got back from the infirmary last night. He was shaking so hard I thought were going to have to call Madame Pomfrey again."
"Oh," Remus muttered, glancing down at the table.
"Whatever's wrong, Remus, Sirius is really worried," Lily said, staring up at him. "And that made me and James worried." Remus glanced around the room, not wanting to look at Lily; he finally settled on watching Sirius and James try to hex Snape from across the room.
"I'm dying, Lily," Remus whispered.
"What? You can't be....Tell me you're joking," she demanded, placing a hand on his arm.
"I wish I was, Lily. I really wish I was." Remus sighed, finally meeting her eyes. "Dumbledore told me that....basically, I have to find a mate by my next birthday or, you know...."
"But that's next month. That's really not fair," Lily stated.
"I know," Remus replied, just as the antidote turned purple. Lily put out the fire and grabbed her dragonhide gloves in order to pour the antidote into the small vial on their table. She placed the stopper in the top of it and dropped down into her chair.
"Do you have anyone in mind?" She blinked and grinned, shaking her head. "Sorry, that's probably way more that you want to share right now."
"No, I-I haven't really thought about it. I'm not even sure how to approach the subject. I mean, what do I say? How do I explain it?" He smiled sadly.
"Well, maybe you don't have to," Lily stated, suddenly getting a look in her eyes that was very reminiscent of James and Sirius when they were plotting. He raised an eyebrow at her. "Maybe you could find someone who already knows."
"And that would be you, James, Peter, and Sirius. You and James are taken, and Peter's not my type. And Sirius...." Remus trailed off, glancing over at the other table again.
"What about Sirius?" Lily prodded.
"You've seen the way he is around girls. He wouldn't be interested," Remus stated, tearing his gaze away from them.
"Right. Well, there's always Rebecca from Hufflepuff," Lily offered, dropping the subject, but, Remus noticed, the plotting look never left her eyes. "She's had a crush on you since last year. Couldn't hurt to go out with her at least once, right?"
"I suppose," Remus admitted, eyeing Lily warily.
"Good. You'll ask her at lunch?" Remus nodded as Professor Purslane called time.
------------------
Continued....