Moonlit Horizons3- Dizmius

Moonlit Horizons

Chapter Three

By Dizmius.

Disclaimers as per usual.

Wont be updated till the 3rd September after this one as I'm away with my mateys.

All thoughts in first person are in italics, this will mostly be Remus' thoughts on stuff. Apparently, my italics stopped working halfway thru the previous chapter, so I'm sorry 'bout that.

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"I thought you said one pint?" Remus raised an eyebrow as Sirius came back with an armful of drinks.

"Well…" Sirius set them down on the table. "It looked rather lonely by itself."

"Such an excuse…" Remus shook his head, picking up the glass. "This draught bitter?"

"Newcastle Brown." Sirius said, wiping the froth off his lips. "Nice stuff it is too… maybe not in the same league as Guinness, but its good nevertheless."

"Ah." Remus frowned, This isn't my forte. When was the last time I had Muggle alcohol? Years and years ago, and yet he still knows what is what and which brands are better after all these years, sometimes I wonder what's going on in his head. He was normally talking booze with James, he always knew which was which. They'd spend hours in various pubs arguing over which beer was better, well until Lily got fed up with them coming home at odd hours blind drunk and waking up to find Sirius snoring loudly on the sofa.

Sirius had turned his attention to one of the big television screens near the bar, he was watching various Arsenal Fans cheer on their football team, jumping up and spilling their beer every time their striker scored a goal against Everton. "I will never understand why Muggles can get so excited about a game played at floor-level with just one ball. Ridiculous."

"They've never seen Quidditch, you can't really blame them."

"But only one ball!" Sirius looked scandalised, "How can that possibly be interesting?"

"You need to understand the atmosphere to enjoy it."

Sirius almost choked on his drink. "ATMOSPHERE? Remus this isn't a book or a lesson, this is a sport, you do NOT study the atmosphere to get a better hold of the game."

"How wrong you are, Paddy." Remus grinned. "Just watch the way people react, they love the game, there's got to be something about it that gets them going, right? Think of it this way, so its easier for you to understand, think of football as a woman, you're not just going to pick any woman, right? There's got to be something there that makes you want more, its not just the woman herself that gets you going."

"I can disagree with that statement." Sirius waves his beer mug in the air to gesture with, and it sloshed over the table.

"Which is why you've never kept a woman for more than a year at maximum, because you go for face-value, not depth." Remus smiled, he knew he'd won. So did Sirius, but he'd never admit defeat. He took a sip from his pint. "Football has an atmosphere to it, just as Quidditch does. It's just entirely different. If you actually watched it you might understand."

"And you understand that game do you?"

"well, not exactly, but it's fairy entertaining in places." Remus shrugged. "It's better than say… cricket is."

"Cricket?" Sirius almost dropped his glass. "Please tell me you don't seriously follow that Muggle game?"

"No, of course not, but its all over the Muggle papers when its in season." Remus picked up The Times. "See, all the back pages are devoted to sport, like the Daily Prophet, but see that, that's cricket, because it's the summer season. Usually the premiership football games start at the end of the cricket season, which is now."

"I'm confused." Sirius started on his third pint. "Stop confusing me, I have a very weak mental stability at present."

"So I can see."

~*~

"Sirius, get the hell off my sofa, and get up." Remus shook the snoozing Sirius awake.

"Wha?" Sirius mumbled something about ridiculously early mornings and promptly rolled over to stretch and fell onto the cold stone floor. "Bloody hell."

"I'm wondering whether I should tell the lady at the door that her garage mechanic is asleep on the floor and can't be bothered to wake up and see the lovely leather she's wearing." Remus said nonchalantly walking back into the kitchen. Leather, yeah, that should get him going, he was a sucker for women in leather. If this doesn't get him up, then he's ill.

"Leather!? Where?" Sirius jumped up, pushing his mussed up hair out of his eyes. Scanning the rooms quickly.

"I was joking, it was a ruse to get you out of bed." Remus called from the stove, "Hungry, Paddy?"

"I thought you just told me there were women in leather here for me?"

Remus rolled his eyes and pushed a plate of food towards his friend, "I was joking, here eat this, but you do still have a job to go to remember?"

"My head hurts." Sirius stated plainly as he picked up a fork. "I think I drank too much yesterday."

Look at the audacity of him, he knew he'd have a hangover when he started drinking last night, and now he's got the gaul to complain about it to me. He knows I'm going to lecture, he's just asking for it, I can see him egging me on in his eyes. For once, I'm not going to fall for it, if he wants a lecture he can go to McGonagall.

"What are you going to do today, Rem?" Sirius asked, filling a glass with water.

"The Grindylows need their water changing, so I'll do that first. I got an owl from Drusilla last night, she needs another batch of Dried Asphodel, so I'll see if I have any left, or I might have to re-dry a new batch in the shed. She wanted some werewolf hair too, so I'll see if I managed to leave some round in the basement from the last fullmoon."

Sirius nodded, it was common knowledge that Remus had excelled in Herbology, and had a particular trait for growing herbs and plants in his garden just for the sake of the pretty flowers and smells. He had started selling them when a friend had complimented his ability to grow foreign plants naturally in the British climate, and had asked how much it'd cost for him to buy some of Remus's herbs. Trade had flourished by word of mouth, and Remus now had a few loyal customers who regularly asked for more herbs. "You might want to read this, it's the sort of thing that appeals to your sense of humour." He passed Remus the Daily Prophet.

"Oh?" Remus looked down at the front page, where a gleaming picture of Gilderoy Lockheart was waving up at them, swishing his blonde hair. "Lockheart speaks of new adventure with werewolves in the heart of Muggle London. I see he's found his memory again then."

"Oh not all of it, he's re-read all his own books to find out about himself, this time however, he actually believes he's done all of the things he's said he's done."

"Lockheart fends off eight foot high lurid pink werewolf, presumed hybrid species of giants and werewolves… Does this guy know that giants are terrified of werewolves, and can sense them miles away? Even Hagrid was a bit wary at first." Remus grinned slightly. "Yesterday wasn't even a full moon, who does he think he's kidding? Lurid pink? If I'd had known we could choose our own ridiculous colours, I'd have been first in line."

"Ah, but read on further." Sirius pointed at a few paragraphs ahead.

"Lockheart smiled bravely as he told your reporter about the attack the werewolf had chosen. Apparently the werewolf had Quidditch experience and was using a famous chaser formation to corner Gilderoy in a dark enclosed alleyway." Remus snorted with laughter. "This man…. Is a maniac."

"You haven't read the last line." Sirius grinned mischievously. "Listen to this," He took the paper from Remus. "Gilderoy Lockheart has revealed that he is now going to put his whole effort into the search for murderer and Azkaban escapee Sirius Black, he is confident that by using his unique magical methods, he will recapture the feared fugitive and personally administer the dementor's kiss."

"He will kiss you? Sirius… I fear for you." Remus grinned. "With someone like him on your trail, you're really really doomed."

"Tell me about it." Sirius laughed, pulling on the jacket he had worn the day before, "See you later, yeah?"

"Definitely, have fun, Padfoot."

"My name," Sirius said haughtily, as he strode out of the door. "Is Severus."

~*~

Remus was walking up the dirt track leading to his home when a sharp cry and a loud thud caught his attention from the field he was passing. Remus peered over the fence and saw Anna in the mud, looking up worriedly at the animal advancing on her.

Hippogriff? Sirius's Hippogriff?I thought he left it with Hagrid? What on earth is that doing in there with her? She won't know what to do, she's never seen one before… oh hell.

Remus clambered awkwardly over the fence and dropped down into the mud, sploshing over to the Hippogriff, he bowed low and waited for the bow back. It didn't come.

"Ah, okay." Remus mumbled slowly reaching out for Anna, "Just walk backwards, don't blink. Try not to look worried."

The hippogriff eyed them beadily, then let out a squawk that pierced the air. It flapped its wigs and walked forwards, cornering them against the barbed wire fencing. Oh… Uh…Hippogriffs damn… natural predators of most countryside animals… a countryside animal… a rabbit…

Remus pulled out his wand, and pointed at a stone behind the hippogriff. Mumbling something under his breath he transfigured the stone into a small white rabbit. The Hippogriff turned round, to get a better look, and shot off to chase the rabbit. Remus heaved a sigh and turned to Anna, who was giving him death stares.

"Okay, I should probably start to explain some of this." Remus scratched his head, thinking about the best way to go about this, he glanced at her, she was staring at him with her mouth open in half-shock. That's done it, she thinks I'm loony, or at worst, she thinks she's loony.

I'm so glad Sirius isn't here.

TBC