Disclaimer: Still ain't mine.
A/N: *Hugs those who reviewed* I love you, I really do!
Anyway, I've made it my goal to update this fairly regularly. Now, this won't be possible since I'm going away to see my sick grandfather this Thursday--Sunday, and am then leaving for Outward Bound for three weeks the following Friday. But hopefully I'll have at least through Chapter 3 up before Outward Bound, and what with a plane ride to California and then back, and then another one to Main and back, I'm hoping to have the whole thing written out, and then it will only be a matter of typing up/revising.
My point? Please don't give up on/completely forget about this fic if I stop updating it for a while, because I won't have forgotten about it and I'm planning to actually finish it!
CHAPTER 2
The next week passed in a blur of pre-holiday tests, stress and festivities. It was in no time at all that Sirius found himself being poked awake with James's voice ringing in his ears.
"Get up. Padfoot UP! We need to go." Sirius let out a complaining moan.
"I don't wanna," he muttered groggily.
"If you don't get up you'll miss the train—and your mum won't like that much." Sirius's eyes snapped open.
"I'm up, I'm up," he said hoarsely, unhappily rolling out of bed onto unsteady feet, noting that James and Remus were already dressed, in Muggle clothing. He grabbed a pair of jeans and pulled them on while muttering darkly.
"You know," Remus began, looking sadly over at the bed containing the still sleeping Peter, "I feel bad leaving him all alone with no one else in the dorm."
"You, my friend are too nice for your own good," Sirius said from within a black t-shirt. "You should care less about other people," he concluded with a smile as his head emerged from the shirt, hair falling in disorder across his face. That's actually not true at all, he though to himself as he grabbed a comb from his dresser. I love how nice he is. But he didn't voice this second opinion.
Remus smiled at him. "Maybe I am too nice, but I still feel bad. I've always spent Christmas with him."
"Yeah—and you know you'd rather spend it with me," Sirius scoffed, eyeing the snoring heap of the forth Marauder. Shaking his head he followed James, who was already out the door and on his way to the common room.
"You have no idea how right you are," Remus whispered Sirius's retreating back. Sighing, he left the room after him.
* * *
"Come on man, make a move." Remus looked up.
"Let me think Sirius! You're not even playing!"
"Yeah, and I'm sure he's very entertained by watching you stare at the pieces."
"I don't play to entertain James. I play to win," Remus snapped, before turning his eyes back to the board. Sirius smiled a little, Remus had a habit of getting angry when chess games weren't going his way. He looked out the window as fields swept past them.
"How much longer do you reckon it'll take 'till we're there?" he asked dully. James shrugged.
"Hey," James began a few minuets later, "why do you think your mum is letting you take a friend home for the holidays?" Sirius shook his head.
"Got me. It seems awfully—well, nice. And my mother is not nice." Remus broke his trance.
"She can't be that bad," he argued, as he did every time Sirius mentioned his mother.
"Just wait until you meet her," James warned. "You'll be singing a different tune."
"Sure," Remus said, unconvinced. But caring more about the game than an argument he knew would be fruitless, he turned his attention back to that.
"It's really odd," Sirius continued, turning to face James. She knows bringing a friend would make me happy—"
"And she doesn't like it when you're happy," James finished for him. "Maybe she's planning to kill Remus or something."
"Now really James," Remus said, looking up again.
"I wouldn't put it past her," Sirius said with a shrug. "Maybe you should watch what you eat." Remus gave him a very patronizing look. In response Sirius stuck out his tongue. "Just make your move already," he said, punctuating the command with a small shove.
"Ok…ok…"
* * *
An hour later the three boys departed from the train, Remus gloating over the chess game, which he had won in a spectacular comeback. James spotted his parents quickly and ran off with a wave. Sirius scanned the crowd for signs of his family.
"There's Regulus," he said, spotting his brother. "And…well that explains it."
"What explains what?"
"That girl with him…she's his girlfriend. Stupid Slytheren bitch. I bet you anything the little git convinced mother to let him bring a 'friend,' and she decided she would have to let me too…"
"Well, then, I guess I can eat whatever I want," Remus said with a smile.
"I don't know…she still might kill you." Remus rolled his eyes as he followed Sirius over to his brother and girlfriend.
"Seen mum?" Regulus asked once he spotted Sirius.
"No, but she's bound to be here soon. Who's your friend?"
"Nicole." Sirius nodded curtly at the girl, who gave him a stony glare.
"I'm Remus," Remus commented after a moment of uncomfortable silence. "Sirius's friend," he added pointlessly. Regulus blinked at him in a very unkindly fashion, and he began to wonder if perhaps Sirius's family was as bad as Sirius and James made them out to be. No one said anything for nearly five minuets, until:
"I see her." And indeed, Ms. Black was sweeping towards them with a commanding air, black dress dragging on the ground.
"Hello mum," Regulus said cheerfully, "this is Nicole. Nicole Barris." Ms. Black smiled when she heard Nicole's last name and gave her an approving look as she shook her hand.
"I've met your parents, very nice people," she commented. Nicole smiled.
"They said the same about you." Ms. Black smiled back.
But that smile vanished as she turned to her elder son.
"And this is?" She asked, giving Remus a disapproving look. He shifted comfortably.
"Remus," Sirius replied coolly. "Lupin," he added unhappily when he saw his mother's glare.
"Never heard of them," she said, an accusation, not a comment.
"I'm pure blooded," Remus said hastily.
"But not from a very good family, obviously." Remus had to hide a smile when he saw Sirius roll his eyes behind her back.
"Just ignore her," he whispered once Ms. Black had turned away, "it's the only way to remain sane." Remus nodded, feeling that this vacation wasn't going to be all fun and games, and not just for the reason he had anticipated.
A/N: Ok, not very much happens in this chapter, certainly not very much shippy. I would have made it longer, but I wanted to get something up before I leave for California tomorrow, and I don't have time to write more. Please R/R!