AN: Hi everybody! Yes I know I fell off the face of the earth for three months, I'm very sorry. But I'm back now! And I already know what I'm writing for the next chapter so it won't be too long a wait. (definitely not four months ::looks guilty:: ) Hope someone still reads this story. And if you do, hope you like it.
"Hey now, all you sinners; put your lights on, put you lights on.Hey now all you lovers; put your lights on, put your lights on.
Hey now all you killers; put your lights on, put your lights on.
Hey now, all you children; leave your lights on.
You'd better leave your lights on.
Cause there's a monster living under my bed
Whispering in my ear."
~ Put Your Lights On, Santana/Everlast
Sirius stared down at his boyfriend as he slept peacefully. His boyfriend…Remus Lupin, the most wonderful, confusing, intoxicating, frustratingly beautiful creature in the world, had agreed to be his boyfriend. Sirius couldn't help but smile foolishly down at the sleeping boy. He'd woken at dawn, too excited to get back to sleep and had settled on watching Remus instead.
'I wonder if he'd be mad if I kissed him.' Sirius thought as he found himself leaning over the other boy. He watched in dismay as Remus frowned in his sleep. Without thinking, Sirius leaned closer and gently brushed his hand across Remus' brow, trying to sooth away whatever nightmare or dream was causing his boyfriend distress.
Unfortunately it had the opposite effect; Remus opened his eyes, yelped, and hit Sirius as hard as he could with his pillow.
That morning James and Peter were awoken by a muffled yelp followed quickly by several loud thuds and a lowed crash. They both looked out from their curtains to find Remus, still clutching his pillow in both hands, blinking over the side of his bed at Sirius, who was sitting in the middle of the broken remnants of what had been the glass lamp that had been sitting on Remus' nightstand.
"Let me guess," Sirius muttered as he rubbed at the side of his head that Remus had hit, "I'm in trouble again." Remus continued to stare down at him for quite a while before shaking himself out of his daze.
"Sorry," he said quietly, looking confused. "You surprised me, that's all. What were you doing leaning over me like that anyway?" Sirius smiled at him sheepishly and tried not to blush.
"Well, I was debating whether or not you'd be pissed if I kissed you, seeing as we're going out but only since yesterday," he knew he was rambling, but he wasn't quite sure if Remus was mad at him or not and that made him nervous. "And then I got distracted. You're really cute when you sleep, did you know that?" he added lamely.
Remus blushed and looked like he was about to say something favorable to Sirius not being in trouble. 'Preferably, 'since I'm awake, you can kiss me now.'' Sirius thought hopefully. But any comment Remus was going to make was interrupted by a rather loud exclamation from the other side of the room. Reminding them that they were not the only people in the dorm and that one of their friends had finally caught a clue.
"What?" Peter yelled, looking at the pair with wide eyes. He sputtered and looked faintly ill. "You're joking, right?" he asked, almost pleadingly, like something had gone terribly wrong with the world as he had known it.
Sirius kept himself from giving Peter an evil look, but just barely. "No joke, Pete. Me and Remus are going out." He said as blandly as he could, like it was the most natural thing in the world.
"And about bloody time too!" said James, who was sitting at the end of his bed and grinning like an idiot. "If you two had kept it up for much longer I was going to lock you up in a broom closet 'til you'd sorted through your differences." He looked just smug enough that Sirius grabbed the pillow from Remus and threw it at him.
Peter looked at James in shock. "You knew about this?" he asked quietly.
"Yeah, sorry, I guess we just figured you'd figure it out eventually," James replied, looking slightly guilty for leaving his friend out of the loop.
"Oh, okay," Peter said as he grabbed what he'd need for the day and not-quite-bolted for the door.
"He took that well," James said optimistically. Sirius and Remus just stared at him like he'd gone mad. "Well, I think I'll go get ready," James continued conversationally as he too gathered his things, never mind the fact that it was five in the morning. He paused long enough to point to the broken lamp and suggest they clean it up before leaving the two of them alone.
Remus was frowning at the closed door and looking generally worried.
"What's wrong Moony?" Sirius asked as he stood, brushing bits of glass from his pajamas and picking his way carefully across the floor in bare feet to get his wand. Before he could reach it Remus absently waved his wand at the mess and the glass reassembled itself.
"Peter didn't take that very well," he said as Sirius made his way back over to Remus' bed. "I always though he knew, you and James talked about it enough."
"Peter tends to only see what he wants to see," Sirius said with a shrug. He stood there and shifted his weight, debating if he should sit on Remus' bed or not. He still wasn't sure if he was in trouble.
"Sirius?" Remus said, raising an eyebrow at him.
"Yes?" it came out too quickly and desperately for Sirius' liking but he was nervous, he didn't do well with being nervous.
"Sit." Sirius complied almost before the words left Remus' mouth, sitting down so that there was barely any room between them.
"Okay." He said brightly, smiling sweetly at his boyfriend, which, of course, only made him look like he was up to something. But Remus didn't smile back and Sirius' face fell.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Remus asked softly.
"Remus," Sirius said, staring sincerely into his gold eyes. "Every thing will be alright. I promise." He said, trying to be convincing. He knew Remus didn't believe him but the slim boy's shoulders relaxed and he smiled up at him.
Sirius figured that it was okay to kiss him now and leaned forward, but stopped with only an inch between them, looking questioningly into his boyfriend's eyes. Remus finally smiled and leaned forward just enough to close the space between them. The soft brush of Remus' lips against his own made Sirius shiver, but he resisted his urge to deepen the kiss. Remus lips began to move against his and Sirius replied in kind, slow and sweet and very gentle.
It was the first time Remus had really kissed him instead of the other way around and Sirius didn't want to do anything to ruin it. And his agonizing patience was worth it as slim hands ran up his arms to his shoulders, pulling him tight against Remus' body as a questing tongue traced across his lips. Sirius parted his lips just slightly as that wonderful tongue made a second swipe and their mouths suddenly fused together and Remus was kissing him as if he were the air he needed to breath. As if the two of them and that kiss and that moment were the most important, and only, thing in the entire world.
Sirius wrapped his arms around Remus' waist, moaning into Remus' mouth as he pulled back to nip at Sirius' lips. But he immediately regretted, as Remus paused and pulled back enough to look him. Wide gold eyes stared at him in wonder from a flushed face and reddened lips were worried between teeth as Remus sat there, trying to catch his breath. But the picture he presented was just too enticing. Sirius couldn't keep still, couldn't keep quiet. He reached up and brushed a stray bit of fringe behind Remus' ear.
"I love you…" quiet and sincere, Sirius hadn't even known he'd spoken out loud and nearly kicked himself when he realized he had.
Remus got his deer-in-the-headlights look and Sirius could feel him tense in his arms. He opened his mouth to speak, to respond, to say something, but Sirius pressed his finger against his lips and just smiled, hoping the message was clean. He was just stating a fact. Remus didn't have to say anything in return.
By the time they headed down to breakfast themselves most of Hogwarts was already in the Great Hall. They were prepared for evil looks from their fellow Gryffindor, but instead they were completely ignored. In fact everyone in the hall, including the teachers, were looking at that morning's Daily Prophet with great interest or standing around someone who was.
James waved at them to come over to the Gryffindor table quickly, but they were intercepted by Professor McGonagall before they got there.
"Mr. Black," 'uh-oh, that's never good,' Sirius thought in dismay. The more formal McGonagall was usually corresponded to the amount of trouble you were in. "The Headmaster would like to see you in his office." At the startled and dismayed looks on both his and Remus' face she added quickly, "And no, you are not in trouble." Before turning and walking out of the hall. With a worried look to Remus and a shrug to James, Sirius followed her.
"Hello Sirius," Dumbledore said as he entered the headmaster's office. "This is Alastor Moody and Cornilias Fudge, they're Aurors." He continued, his voice grave. Sirius quickly wracked his brain for anything he'd done that could have been bad enough to require Aurors but couldn't think of anything. At the look of fear on Sirius' face the older of the two Aurors, Moody, spoke up
"You're not in any trouble young man. We just need to ask you a few questions." Moody's words didn't comfort him all that much.
"Have you seen today's Prophet?" the younger Auror cut in. Moody shot him a disapproving look but explained when Sirius shook his head.
"Several muggles were killed last night. It is believed that they were killed by wizards." Sirius nodded, because he could tell that the man was waiting for some sort of signal from him to continue. Apparently all this had something to do with him, otherwise he wouldn't be here but he wished the Aurors would get to the point. "Your father was one of them." Sirius just stared at him for a moment, the man's word repeating in his head. 'my dad's…dead?' he thought dazedly.
"He was the only one with any ties to the wizarding world, and since you're our only link Dumbledore agreed to let us talk to you." Fudge said, breaking what little train-of-thought Sirius had had. "As long as it's alright with you," he added hastily, misinterpreting Sirius' expression.
"I haven't seen him in almost a year," was the only thing he could think of to say.
"You had to have seen him this summer. You live with him don't you?" the younger Auror asked. But Sirius was barely listening to him. His eyes stung and he tried swallow past the lump in his throat. 'Dad was a bastard,' he reminded himself hotly. 'I shouldn't be upset…Hell! I should be happy!'
"No, I don't live with him. Not since I went home for winter break and he almost killed me." Sirius ground out, more to remind himself of what happened than to inform the Aurors. But he regretted it as both Aurors, and even Dumbledore, stared at him in surprise.
"He almost killed you?" Fudge parroted. Sirius tensed up and looked at the younger Auror defiantly.
"My dad wasn't the nicest guy in the world," he bit out sarcastically. And then sighed and stared down at his shoes, absently bringing his hand up to rub at the, now faint, scar on his cheek. "Dad has…had… a temper and he usually took it out on me," he said quietly. 'Why am I telling them this?! Just shut up already!' he yelled at himself silently.
"Can't you think of anyone who might have had a motive to kill him?" Fudge asked impatiently, completely ignoring the state Sirius was in. Sirius glared at him.
"Besides me?" Sirius bit out. "Maybe one of his ex-girlfriend, I don't know." He didn't wait for a response or, even worse, another question and stalked out of the room.
