Saying no to You

Pairings: Sirius Black/Remus Lupin *SLASH* James Potter/Lily Evans

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: Harry Potter is not mine and never will be (sadly). Everyone in this story, excepting the names of Sirius's flings, does not belong to me. JK Rowling is the proud and well-paid owner of the characters. So don't sue me. I'm just using them for enjoyment.

A/N: Everyone has been so helpful in the writing of this story. I'd especially like to thank those of you who have reviewed more than once. You've given me loads of insight on which areas need work, and your criticisms have been constructive. Thank you so much. And to those who have reviewed once, or just read the story, I thank you too. I'm glad that so many people are taking their time to read this.

~Chapter Five: To Finalize the Deal~

"You're very cheerful this morning, Padfoot," said James lightly as the Marauders headed out the portrait hole and to the Great Hall for breakfast.

            Sirius smiled. "I'd be quiet if I were you, Prongs," he replied.

            "Oh, come on, you're not still sore about that, are you?"

            "It was last night."

            "So what?" James caught sight of Lily walking ahead of them and talking to her friends. "I'll see you later, okay?" Without waiting for an answer, he dashed ahead and caught up with her.

            Upon reaching the Great Hall, the remaining three Marauders took their seats at the Gryffindor table and looked around for James. He was there, all right, but he was busy talking animatedly to Lily. Both he and the redheaded prefect were ignoring everyone else. They had seated themselves halfway down the table from the Marauders. "He meets a girl and the next thing you know, he hardly knows we exist," complained Peter.

            Sirius laughed. "It's not like they just met, Wormtail," he corrected. "I mean, they've been pretty good friends since first year. I think it was about second year when he started to have a crush on her. Remember when he told us?" Sirius laughed again at the memory of James, twelve years old and blushing profusely, confessing that he liked Lily Evans. At the time, they had all dismissed it as a crush. Now it looked like more than a mere passing phase. If he wasn't talking about pranks or Quidditch, James was talking about or to Lily. "Just let him have his fun."

            Peter still seemed a bit annoyed. "Yes, but he doesn't have to sit down there. He can sit over here with us and talk to Lily."

            "And have us interrupting?" Remus said. "No, just let him do what he wants."

            By the time they were sitting down in Charms, however, James was still with Lily. Sirius dismissed it, but Peter was getting truly irritated. "The least he could do is pay attention to us," he whined. "He's ignoring us. It's like he doesn't know us."

            "Oh, Peter, he likes her," smiled Remus. "James can pay attention to who he wants to."

            Peter pouted and went back to studying. Sirius sat back and wondered how he should finish what he had started the night before. Glancing over at him, Remus noted that his friend had a glazed look in his eyes and he was staring off into space. "Padfoot," he whispered, "You should really pay attention."

            Sirius jerked out of his reverie. "What?" he asked, staring at Remus.

            "Listen."

            "Oh." Sirius turned back to the front and watched Professor Flitwick as he lectured the class. He glanced over at James, who was chatting quietly with Lily in one of the back rows, and then at Remus, who was diligently taking notes. He smiled to himself and watched, silently admiring the brunet as he worked. Finally, he shook out of his daze and began writing, too, occasionally looking up at Flitwick or at Remus.

            By the end of class, Peter was worrying aloud about the composition they had been assigned in Potions ("I'll never get it done!") and James was listening to Lily as she talked happily about something. Remus and Sirius exchanged glances and went on to Herbology with the rest of the group. It seemed that today might actually be normal.

At lunch, James rejoined the group with a satisfied look on his face. He sat down across the table from Peter and started to shovel food onto his plate. Looking around at his friends, he noticed that they seemed not to have noticed his arrival. Remus and Sirius were goggling at each other; their knees were obviously bumping with every slight move of their legs, and their hands kept brushing as they put food on their plates. James cleared his throat quite loudly, not wanting to be ignored. Peter was not the only one that jumped. He was, however, the only one that voiced his opinion in a whiny voice. "Where have you been all day?" he grumbled. "You've been ignoring us."

            James sighed. He had known that one of them would be angry if he spent the morning with Lily rather than them. "I wasn't ignoring you," he explained calmly. "I was just talking to Lily, that's all." He paused to study Peter. Usually it wasn't the small, shy, and rather chubby boy who spoke up. Actually, it came as a shock to him that Sirius wasn't the one talking. "What's wrong with that?"

            The other boy still looked surly. "Well, you didn't talk to us all day, and I messed up a lot in Charms."

            "I'm sorry about that, but there's nothing I could have done."

            "Yeah, you could have!" Peter protested. "You could have helped me like you usually do."

            "Peter, I won't always be around to help you when you need it," James reminded him gently. "Sometimes it's better to make mistakes and learn from them."

            Peter frowned and went back to eating.

            "So, aren't you two annoyed?" asked James, eyeing his other two friends.

            Sirius and Remus looked at him for the first time the entire meal. "What?" asked Remus.

            Smiling, James repeated, "Well, aren't you mad at me for spending the morning with Lily instead of you?"

            "No," said Remus slowly. "It's fine." He went back to eating, stealing glances at Sirius when he thought the other wasn't looking. Sirius didn't seem to notice, and if he did, he didn't care.

            "I don't care," Sirius said.

            James stared at them. "Alright," he said.

That afternoon, double Potions was a nightmare. Not only was Professor Saëns swooping through the classroom taking points from Gryffindor for miniscule errors, but Malfoy, Snape, and their posse were particularly vindictive after the makeup incident. They seemed bent on getting the Gryffindors in trouble, and did quite well. "Ten more points from Gryffindor," said Professor Saëns icily after criticizing Peter's potion. "You never seem to learn, Pettigrew." With that he went towards several Gryffindor girls.

            "Bastard," snapped Sirius under his breath. "He's just pissed because we pulled that prank on Malfoy and Snape, his favorites."

            "No talking!" Professor Saëns barked. "If I hear one more word from any of you, it will be an automatic fifteen points from Gryffindor and a detention for those talking." He smiled coldly and returned to his desk at the front of the room.

            "Stupid git," Sirius hissed, and went back to his potion.

            When the bell rang for class to end at last, Professor Saëns stood from his desk and called, "I want two rolls of parchment, due on Monday, about Truth Potions, including Veritaserum."

            "That'll be more time in the library," moaned Sirius. "Why does he have to be such a prick?"

            "Don't worry about it," Remus said comfortingly. "It's due on Monday. We still have three days and tonight."

            "Three days isn't a lot, Remmie," Sirius said. He saw the panic on Remus's face and remembered that James and Peter were still standing there. "Er…I mean Remus," he said, flushing and ducking his head. Peter and James didn't say anything, but Peter looked tight-lipped and James seemed embarrassed.

            The common room was unusually quiet that night. The sixth years were hunched over the two rolls of parchment that Professor Saëns had assigned, and others also seemed absorbed in homework. James had dashed off to Quidditch practice after dinner, with Lily gone to watch, and even Peter wasn't whining about their workload. Sirius scrawled several lines for the Potions essay and sat watching Remus as he wrote. "Why don't we go somewhere else?" he suggested casually, as soon as Peter had gone to ask if someone could loan him a book.

            Remus looked up from his work. He was beginning to look harrowed, and Sirius realized that in several nights would come the dreaded transformation. "Like where?" he asked, starting to write again.

            "Let's just go," said Sirius. "Come on, Remmie, it'll be more fun than writing a Potions essay." He noticed that Remus looked less tense upon hearing those words. "Besides, I have an idea of something we never got to finish…" When Remus looked up at him, he smiled broadly and winked.

            "Well, alright," Remus agreed. "But we can't be too long. I want to get a head start."

            Sirius grinned, glad to have gotten his way, and they put away their homework. After running their things up to the dormitory, Sirius half dragged Remus out the portrait hole and into the empty corridors. Now that it was evening, the lights were dimmer and their footsteps seemed to echo more as they walked aimlessly through the halls. "Where are we going?" Remus asked eventually, after rounding a turn for the second time. "We're going in circles. We just passed that suit of armor a minute ago."

            "There are empty classrooms," Sirius suggested, but Remus shook his head quickly.

            "I really don't think that classrooms are that comfortable," he said. "Unless, of course, you can tell me one that is." He raised an eyebrow at Sirius, as though he should know about each classroom specifically.

            "Why do you need someplace comfortable?" asked Sirius. "We're not doing anything that would require it…" he trailed off, secretly reveling in the thought of all the things they could do if they were in a comfortable situation. Shaking himself out of it and scolding himself inwardly, he said, "Well, we could always go into a broom closet. Would that suit your fancy?"

            "Sirius," Remus scolded, looking amused. "I don't want to be jammed in with the cleaning supplies."

            "Then how about this?" Sirius said, opening the door to a nearby classroom. "There's nothing wrong with it."

            "Oh, fine. If you must." They walked in and Sirius closed the door behind them. The room was poorly lit, with the corners pitch black and ominous. Sirius sat down on one of the desks, watching Remus as a hawk might watch its prey. Remus's eyes never left Sirius, even as he moved inevitably closer to the raven-haired boy. Before he knew exactly what Sirius was going to do, Remus had been pulled down so that he was sitting in Sirius's lap, his legs straddling the taller boy's waist.

           Sirius wrapped his arms around Remus's back and leaned down to brush his lips gently against the brunet's. He slowly deepened the kiss, not caring if Remus kissed back or not. Their tongues met briefly before Sirius took over once more, moving so close to Remus that their racing heartbeats were pressed against each other and it felt like their bodies had combined into one. Remus's hands pressed against his chest, now slightly gripping his robes as if he needed to be supported.

            When they pulled apart, breathless, Sirius was grinning in that doglike way of his. "So?" he said, studying Remus carefully as he started to pull his arms away.

            Remus smiled. "So?" he repeated.

            Sirius kissed him again, dominating Remus's mouth with his tongue, hands questing ever lower down the werewolf's back. He heard Remus purr contentedly and the other boy started to kiss back, his arms now wrapped tightly around Sirius's neck. Upon finally breaking the kiss, Sirius's hands were on the small of Remus's back and the brunet was running his fingers through Sirius's hair. "Mmm," said Sirius, pulling his hands away. He started to blush at the same time Remus slid off his lap, turning pink. "So, Moony, you tell me: are we finished?"

            "Far from it," grinned Remus. He leaned down and pecked Sirius on the cheek. "But for now," he said, straightening up again, "We should probably go back."

            Sirius nodded and slid off the desk, glad for the baggy robes he was wearing. Then he ushered Remus out of the classroom and closed the door. They went back to Gryffindor tower, hand in hand.

            James was back from Quidditch practice, his hair damp from the drizzle that was falling outside, and he was sitting next to Lily with his hand on her knee. They seemed to busy talking to notice that Sirius and Remus were back. Peter was nowhere to be found, and everyone else was either talking or up in their dormitories. Sirius skipped even talking to James and went to the dormitory. He didn't want to ruin tonight with homework. The things that were due tomorrow were already finished, and he didn't care about Potions. Remus, however, went straight back to his books and began to write.

            Sirius changed into his pajamas and climbed into bed, but he couldn't help running over what had just happened again and again. He had kissed Remus, one of his best friends. Twice, to be exact, and four times if you counted the light kiss he had planted on his friend's forehead and the peck on the cheek that Remus had just given him. He was amazed. He had always thought that any interest in Remus was just hormones, or some kind of desire to experiment. This year, he had started out defining it as lust. But now… Sirius wasn't sure what to call it anymore. After all, he didn't know if he was really in love with Remus. Maybe he was, maybe he just wanted him for the assumed experimentation, but whatever it was, it felt good.

            Later, when Sirius was recalling the night's events once again, and relishing the memory of the exact feel of Remus's hands on his chest, the subject of his recollection walked into the dormitory with books and parchment in hand. "Sirius?" he asked quietly when he noticed that Sirius was still awake. But he did not say anything more, and proceeded to put his things away before jerking his robes over his head. Usually he was more reserved about changing, and got behind the curtains of his bed, but now he was taking off his shirt without even moving behind anything. He wasn't even blushing.

            Sirius sat up and eyed his friend with a surge of something suspiciously similar to hunger. "Remmie," he called softly, "Come here for a minute, will you?"

            Remus stared at him, but complied. Sirius reached for him and pulled him down, their lips meeting again. Remus made another purring noise and pressed his hands against Sirius's chest. In turn, Sirius's hands crept over the werewolf's shoulders and onto his bare chest. Sirius was just moving on top of Remus, now kissing his neck, when he heard a gasp and the sound of several books being dropped on the floor.

            He looked up guiltily only to see James staring at him. "Prongs!" breathed Remus, shoving Sirius off himself and retreating to his own bed. "What are you doing here?"

            "I sleep in here, too," said James in an oddly tight voice. He picked up his books slowly deposited them on his trunk, and continued to stare at them as though they were animals behind bars in a zoo. He grabbed his pajamas and closed the curtains on his bed to change.

            Remus and Sirius exchanged looks, but it wasn't long before Sirius grinned and patted the bed beside him. Remus's eyes widened and he glanced nervously at James's bed, but he moved over and sat next to Sirius. They started where they'd left off, with Sirius on top, nuzzling Remus's neck, and Remus wrapping his arms around Sirius's waist, hands pressed tightly into the small of his back. Suddenly, Remus pushed Sirius off. "What was that for?" demanded Sirius. "It was getting good, too…" he trailed off and looked behind him.

            James was frowning. "Hello again," he said. "But I guess it's goodnight, isn't it?" He forced a smile and added, "Goodnight." He got into bed and closed the curtains quickly.

            "He'll get over it," said Sirius, kissing Remus one last time before he got under the covers again. "Everything will be fine."

            "I hope so," Remus said, glancing at James's bed again, looking anxious. "I don't want him to be mad at us." He planted a light kiss on Sirius's forehead and closed the curtains on his bed to change. He opened them once again when he was done, climbed under the covers, and said softly, "Night, Padfoot."

            "Night," Sirius replied. "Sweet dreams."

            Remus smiled and rolled over onto his back. "You, too."

A/N: At last! They've done it. Well, tell me what you thought… I'm dying to hear from you! Sorry this chapter was rather long, but I couldn't very well cut it short. Siri and Remmie need their romance scenes! ^_~ More to come soon! Please, please, please R/R!