Title: Look What Happened
Disclaimer: I own nothing
Pairing: Remus/Sirius (so cute!!!)
Author's Notes: This is an AU story. When the 4 boys arrived at Hogwarts Remus was sorted into Ravenclaw. Sirius never got over losing his new friend and has only now plucked up the courage to talk to him again. With a little helping hand from some friends, will they reveal their true feelings to each other?!
Sirius grinned as he walked into the Great Hall. Just as Lily had said, sitting by himself, reading a book. By god, how could he get up this early? Sirius only got up because he set his magical alarm clock and when he didn't wake up to switch it off James did and then walloped him around the head with his pillow. But never mind about that, Sirius had to think about his plan of action. There was only one other person in the Great Hall, a first year Gryffindor by the looks of it and he wasn't going to be bad mouthing Sirius anytime soon. By the way he was looking at Sirius it was almost like he didn't think Sirius was even there. Well that couldn't hurt either. Now to go and talk to him...
He nabbed a piece of toast from the Gryffindor table and wandered over to where the Ravenclaws sat. Luckily it was the table next to him, unfortunately Remus was on the other side of the table and as far away from where Sirius and James and Peter sat as possible. Ah well, hopefully Remus didn't know that.
"Hi there." Sirius grinned as he slipped into the seat next to Remus Lupin. Lupin looked around, as if too check Sirius was talking to him and then nodded vaguely before returning to his book.
Sirius was a little a taken back. Normally everyone jumped at the chance to talk to him. Oh well, it only fuelled him on.
"The name's Sirius. You're Remus Lupin right?"
At this Remus turned to look at him.
"How do you know my name?"
"You're a guy in our year, why wouldn't I know your name?"
"Because nobody knows my name! Well a few do, but not many people, every year someone asks me if I'm new here."
"They do? That's a bit odd." He flashed Remus one of his legendary grins.
Remus ignored it.
"May I ask what you are doing here? This is the Ravenclaw table and you are a Gryffindor."
"So you've noticed me then?" Sirius grinned again.
Remus sighed, a long suffering sigh, that of one who is talking to an idiot.
"Of course I've noticed you. Everyone in the school knows who you are."
"Oh. Yeah." Sirius was once again momentarily lost for words. Remus saw his opening and took it. Picking up his toast and book he made to leave the table.
"Wait, wait! Where are you going?"
"Where does it look like Sirius? I'm going to class."
"I'll come along to. Was thinking of going to class anyway. Which class?"
"Arithmancy."
"Bloody hell. Sounds bloody hard."
"It's not, it's fascinating. Why are you here on your own anyway? Where are your friends? And what are you doing up this early?"
"Jeez, talk about the Spanish Inquisition. Hey you notice my sleeping patterns?" Sirius winked at him.
"The reason I come down to breakfast so early is so that I can eat in peace for once. When you and James Potter aren't showing off some new prank or other."
"Oh." Sirius looked a bit down cast. Remus relented.
"It's not that I dislike that, sometimes they are rather good pranks. Just...people need peace sometimes. Well this is my classroom. Bye Sirius."
"Hey wait. Same time tomorrow?"
Remus just rolled his eyes and walked into his classroom. It was still empty but at least he could read in private here.
Sirius practically bounced up to the Gryffindor Common Room, meeting James and Peter as they stumbled wearily down to breakfast.
"Prongs!" Sirius bounced over and joined them on their walk down to the Great Hall. He realised he had never finished his piece of toast.
"Padfoot, eventually get out your pit of a bed then? Bloody hell, if you are going to use the damn alarm, then please wake up so you can switch it off!"
Sirius had the grace to look ashamed before he bounced back up again.
"I talked to him! I managed to talk to him!"
"Wow that's great Sirius, now maybe in 5 years time you could actually tell him that you like him? And get off our backs?" James was sarcastic but inside he was feeling very happy for his friend. Sirius had been crestfallen when the tawny haired boy they had talked to on the train was sorted into Ravenclaw. For years he had tried to talk to him but hadn't managed, now it seemed, he was unwilling to let the tawny haired boy go. Peter laughed at Sirius's enthusiasm.
"And I found out what he has. He took Arithmancy. How brainy is he?!"
James laughed and then smiled as Lily came up to join them.
"Lily! Oh Lily! How I love you! I think I would kiss you if it were not for the fact that James would behead me if I so much as moved within 10 feet of your being!" Sirius was down on one knee, singing his praise to Lily.
She grinned, tossed her hair and said in a haughty voice, "James Potter is not my keeper. Now please, to show your gratitude, kiss my hand!" She struck a dramatic pose and stuck out her hand. Sirius played along.
"Why of course my darling Miss Evans. How could I refuse such an offer? Oh I feel so honoured!" He bent his head and lavished a kiss on the back of Lily's hand.
"Ew! Sirius, I didn't want a soaking wet hand! God is that how you kiss? I pity the girls you've been with!"
James and Peter roared with laughter while Sirius got up off his knees and poked Lily in the ribs.
"Just don't say that when *he's* around okay? Don't want him to be put off." Sirius grinned again as Lily cooed with joy.
"Aw, you two will be so cute when you get together!" Lily was positively squealing with glee, clapping her hands together.
"So you are going to ask him to the ball?"
"Well hopefully. He doesn't seem very interested though."
"Sirius, he will be interested. Come on; just give him time, he's quite shy. Let's go get some breakfast. I have Arithmancy with him next so I will talk to him then!"
"See James? I told you only brainy people take Arithmancy!"
By lunchtime Sirius was depressed. He hadn't seen Remus at all and he didn't have any class with any Ravenclaws after lunch. Lily came bounding over to the table and plonked down beside James.
"Sirius! Guess who I was talking to?"
"Him? What was he saying?"
Everyone at the Gryffindor table was all ears. It was common knowledge that Sirius had been lusting after the poor Ravenclaw for years. Some thought it amusing while others pitied the poor boy. Whatever their views they all listened in while Lily spilled the beans. Luckily the Ravenclaws were talking loudly and as far as anyone could see Remus was no where in their midst.
"Don't worry, he's at the library and before you go chasing after him Sirius don't. He knows you never go to the library and that might make him suspicious. Anyway so I got to Arithmancy and sat down beside him, asking the usual questions about his health and so on and he started telling me about his weird conversation with Sirius Black. "
"Oh God, he thinks I'm weird, I'm doomed!"
"Sirius shut up and let me finish. Of course I was pretending to not know a thing; I think I should take up acting for a profession!"
"Let's keep on track Lily before Sirius hangs himself with the sausages!"
"Of course James. So I started asking him questions about it all, as all curious friends do. I asked him what he thought of Sirius," Everyone perked up and listened extra hard here, "And he said he thought Sirius seemed like a nice guy, when he wasn't doing idiotic things like pranking innocent people."
"I'm giving up pranking right here and now!"
"Don't make empty threats Sirius. Anyway I told him that I thought it was part of Sirius nature and he seemed to consider this, and then conceded that he was a funny guy. And that he seemed very nice, if not a little strange. Then naturally I turned the conversation to the up coming Yule Ball and asked him if he was going with anyone or indeed if he was planning on going."
Lily drew the moment out before Sirius picked up a knife and threatened to do something stupid with it if she did not just bloody tell him the bloody answer to the bloody question.
"Okay fine, I was just trying to add a bit of dramatic tension into the moment."
"There is already enough tension as there is without you adding extra dramatic tension as well!"
Everyone laughed and then tuned to Lily.
"He said he wasn't sure if he was going and he definitely didn't have a partner! Sirius this is great, persuade him to go with you and then you will live happily ever after! Also I know another fact about him that I think will interest you but I'm supposed to keep it secret. He made me promise that I would not tell anyone. Luckily for you guys I crossed my fingers and excluded Gryffindors from that number as I know you will never tell a soul or I will hunt you down and kill you for betraying my trust."
Everyone quailed at the thought of an angry Lily and promised most seriously (no pun intended) that they would not tell a soul.
Lily grinned in satisfaction before leaning forward to whisper, "He's gay."
In retrospect Sirius didn't really care that Professor McGonagall deducted 20 points from Gryffindor for him running around the Great Hall, screaming at the top of his voice with happiness and his shirt pulled over his head, like he had seen Muggle footballers do, showing off his very fine torso to the rest of the school. Not that anyone minded as Sirius did have a very nice body. Even some of the teachers were looking. Which was slightly scary, as Sirius told James later on while he cracked up with laughter.
Even Remus, who had been working at the back of the library, looked up at the scream that echoed round the building. Putting it down to one of the first years doing some sort initiation ceremony Remus went back to decoding Ancient Runes.
When Sirius returned to the Common Room after dinner that evening he had obtained 2 detentions, 30 points lost from Gryffindor and one peeved ghost on his trail (Peeves if you must know, something about chewing gum and Filch, I won't go into details). All in all Sirius felt it had been a very productive day, he felt honoured that he kept the professors on their toes in the form of thinking up new and challenging detentions for him. He had already exceeded the limit of number of detentions obtained (53 was the record, Sirius broke that in his first year with 102) and was aiming to try and get as many as he could. He wanted to be remembered in this school god damn it! James was now busy with Lily (I'll leave that to your imaginations) and Sirius was off to serve his first detention. He was forced to clean the Owlery by hand with just a toothbrush. This could take some time. A prefect had been ordered to watch over him to see that he didn't slack off and use magic. He was to meet the prefect in the Entrance Hall at 7:30 sharp. Now the time was 7:33 and Sirius was only just getting up from his chair in the common room.
He waltzed lazily down to the Entrance Hall, his thoughts filled with a certain golden haired boy and just what they could be up to right now if only he knew of his real feelings.
"And what time do you call this?" A voice stopped him cold as he reached the Entrance Hall.
"Um...around 7:30?" Sirius looked around to find the prefect.
Oh.
Right.
Well...
Bugger came to mind right now. That and shit...and numerous other swear words that Sirius knew.
They had only gone and assigned Remus Lupin to watch over him tonight.
Sirius grew the deepest red as all the blood rushed to his face. If only he had known he would have at least brushed his hair and cleaned his teeth! And there was Remus, holding a book and looking, like always, bloody sexy. His hair was slightly rumpled, suggesting, thought Sirius, that he had been holding it away from his face while he read and his eyes looked a little tired. Sirius opened his mouth once and then closed it. Then opened it once more and closed it once again.
"Well? You were told to be here at 7:30 sharp and you waltz in here at 7:39, your time keeping skills need some practise. Never mind we best get going; I want to retire to bed at a reasonable hour tonight."
God, could he not have refrained from saying bed infront of Sirius? Now Sirius's head swam with dozens of pictures of...no not that you dirty minded people! Pictures of Remus asleep, looking incredibly cute with his mouth just open slightly and soft snoring noises.
"Excuse me? Earth to Mr Black? We have a detention to carry out and I would rather you cleaned the Owlery floor than stood there staring into space with salvia running down your chin. Please hurry up."
At once Sirius ran after him, giving him a winning grin.
They reached the Owlery without any more mishaps, apart from when Sirius tripped over his feet going up the stairs because he was too busy staring at something else. Hmm, wonder what that could be, especially as Remus was walking up in front of him. Anyway, they reached the Owlery and Remus handed Sirius his toothbrush and then took a seat and opened his book. He indicated that Sirius should start so Sirius did just that.
He was half way through cleaning the Owlery when Remus coughed, to attract his attention. Sirius looked up.
"Yeah?"
"It's coming up to 2 in the morning and I am knackered. I know I shouldn't do this but I want to get to my bed."
With a flick of his wand the floor of the Owlery was clean and Sirius was left looking a bit of a twit, standing in the middle of the room holding a very dirty toothbrush. Remus smiled at him and Sirius felt his heart stop.
Thumping his chest to get his heart to start working again Sirius looked at the prefect, standing by the door, waiting for him.
"Thanks very much. I could have been here all night."
"Oh very probably. You weren't doing a very good job anyway. Just...don't let that I helped you get out ok?"
Sirius grinned and nodded. Of course he wouldn't...well only the Gryffindors and they would keep their mouths shut....mostly. Maybe Remus would give him a detention for spilling his secret and then he could spend even more time with the delectable Mr Lupin. He could only dream.
And dream he did when he returned to the Gryffindor Common Room. The whole house was sitting up and waiting for him to return, Lily must have known that Remus was supervising him, she could at least have warned him to brush his hair! She was going to pay for this...by finding out more information on Remus!! God he was good!
Anyway when he returned to the Gryffindor Common Room he was bombarded with questions. Everyone seemed to think he had got lucky with the tawny prefect.
"Um guys? You do know that I was cleaning out the Owlery floor with a toothbrush, not polishing the stars in the Astronomy Tower?"
Everyone stared at him for a moment, giving him a look plainly stating that yes they knew this and that they also knew that Sirius Black could get lucky wherever he chose.
Sirius relented. Well he was fantastically blessed with good looks. And he did have a butt to die for. And supermodels were absurdly jealous of his high and well defined cheek bones. And god his hair was so soft they were practically begging him to advertise L'Oreal shampoo. And...I better stop here; I have been known to go on and on about the gorgeousness of Sirius Black for some hours and I'd rather you kept on reading the story.
Anyway, finally, after 2 and a half hours of interrogation everyone had come to the conclusion that Sirius had had a great night but sadly he had not got lucky with said prefect. Sirius, who was at a bit of a loss for once (hadn't he told them that as soon as he had walked in the door?) nodded to them and went up to the dorm. Tonight, he said to himself, he was going to dream about Remus!
Sadly though, when he was woken once again by James throwing a pillow at his head with the words, "SIRIUS! ALARM CLOCK. USE IT!", still ringing in his ears, he found that his dreams were not of said perfect prefect (oh that's a bit of a mouthful for 6am) but of dragon eggs and their virtues. God damn it, McGonagall's lectures had been getting stuck in his head again; he would have to stop listening so intently. Wait, did he ever listen intently? Pausing while pulling his shirt on, Sirius thought about it for a moment. He decided that no he never did, not in lessons anyway! He poked James hard in the side as he was leaving, just for good measure and carried on down to the Great Hall.
And there he was again! Reading another book (which looked bloody thick and boring) and munching his toast sweetly. Sirius took a rack of the toast over and sat down with a thud. Remus looked up and rolled his eyes.
"Oh, it's you."
"Aren't you pleased to see me?
"After last night?"
"What happened last night? I didn't do anything wrong did I?"
Sirius had a hurried think back of last night. Nope, no rude or perverted comments were made to Remus; no leering at him when he bent over, no sly touching, all in all, Sirius had been very well behaved!
"Oh forget it."
"No, no, what did I do? I would like to apologise for it!"
"Seriously Sirius, it's nothing."
Sirius waited for a few moments before he blinked in surprise. Remus noticed him.
"What?"
"Well nothing...it's just that's the first time someone has said that without making a pun on my name!"
Remus shrugged. "I figured you had heard it enough time." He went back to eating his toast.
Sirius grinned. "So you like jam on your toast? I like jam!"
Remus ignored him.
"I also like butter beer, scones, scones with jam, toast, Quidditch, stars, dogs, the moon," Here Remus flinched and glanced over at him, but Sirius carried on talking, "having late night parties in the common room, washing Snape's hair because it takes him weeks to get it greasy again, not that I wash it myself, just perform a charm, Transfiguration is quite good, and I like parties! And jam, I like jam. And dancing! I love dancing. Do you like dancing? I also like the Yule Ball. Are you going? The Weird Sister's are meant to be playing! Have you heard any of their stuff? I think they are great! I also like some Muggle bands!'
Let's see, there is Meat Loaf, Guns 'n' Roses, Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, David Bowie and Brian Slade and Curt Wild of course."
Remus stopped him with a wave of his hand.
"Does this have a point or are you trying to bore me back to sleep?"
Sirius looked like he was about to say something before he changed his mind. He shrugged.
"Just seeing how much we have in common. Don't we have a lot in common?"
"Sirius, can I ask you something?"
"Of course!" The boy grinned wildly.
"Why do you want to know so much about me? You've not spoken to me for 5 years. If you want help with some piece of work then I think you should ask Lily. If not then I will say goodbye and hope you don't trail me to my class again."
When Sirius remained silent Remus shrugged, picked up his book and went off to class.
When the rest of the Gryffindors came down to breakfast they found that there was no toast or jam and that Sirius was trying to drown himself in a bowl of cornflakes.
"Sirius!" James groaned and pulled Sirius's head out from under the 2 inches of milk in his bowl. His hair was covered in soggy cornflakes, toast crumbs and milk.
"Why Sirius?"
"There is no use in living any more." And he made to thump his head back into his bowl, only to find Peter had moved it and he hit the table instead.
"OW! Pete, that really hurt! Warn a guy before you do that again?"
"Sirius why were you trying to drown yourself in your cornflakes?" Lily put a concerned hand on his arm and subtly removed the piece of cornflake from his hair that had been annoying her for the past 5 minutes.
"He thinks I'm only using him."
"WHAT?!" The whole Gryffindor table yelled at once and the Hall went into a rare moment of silence.
"Hush! Not using him like that you perverted people! As in I needed help with my homework and was only talking to him because if this. He suggested I go to Lily if I needed help." Once again Sirius flung his head down on the table with a dramatic sigh. The whole Gryffindor table paused, digested the information and let out, as one, a huge wail.
After the group wail had been completed Lily assessed the situation.
"Well, let's wait just a moment. We can still save this. Right, Remus is unsure of why Sirius is taking such an interest in him, probably because he knows he always gets asked for help with homework. So all we really need to do is assure Remus that Sirius is a bright enough guy not to need help with his homework! But we have to do this subtly so he doesn't know that we know why he knows or thinks he knows why Sirius is talking to him."
Eyebrows around the table were raised as people tried to figure this out. 2 minutes later and the quicker of the bunch had caught on and were nodding, some quietly explaining it to others. 5 minutes later and the whole table were up to date. Not bad, Lily thought, looking at her watch, 7 minutes, it's quicker than some.
Somehow, during the time of staring at her watch, all eyes of the Gryffindor table had turned to her, except Sirius who was now sniffling into his bacon and eggs. The bacon and eggs were not appreciating this gesture.
"What?" Lily was suspicious, as well she might be. This lot might look innocent but Lily knew that looks were deceiving, very deceiving.
"Well, we need you to convince Remus, subtly, none of the rest of us are subtle.
Lily sighed and resigned to her fate. Sirius was beginning to perk up a bit, well he wasn't re-enacting violent murders with the salt and pepper holders anymore and that was always a plus. She sighed once more, kissed James lightly on the cheek and strode towards Ancient Runes, the other class she took with Remus Lupin. God that boy would be the death of her.
While she headed off to Ancient Runes, James and Peter were left with the difficult task of getting Sirius up from the table and off to Care of Magical Creatures. It only took them 10 minutes and James and Peter were really quite proud of themselves.
Back in Ancient Runes, there was still 5 minutes before the class was due to start. Remus looked up as Lily entered.
"Hullo Lily. How are you today?"
Lily pondered her answer.
"There have been better days." She concluded. "And how are you?"
"I think we are in the same mood today. As you said, there have been better days."
"So what's your problem?"
Remus sighed, pushed his hair away from his face and turned to Lily.
"You talk to Sirius Black a lot don't you?"
She nodded and waited for him to carry on.
"Well, is he always this weird?"
Lily looked a little shocked.
"Remus, do you actually know Sirius at all? Of course he's bloody weird! But that is what we love about him! Don't you like him?"
"Well of course, he seems like a good guy, strange but who isn't strange at Hogwarts? It's just well, he hadn't spoken or even acknowledged my presence for 5 years and then suddenly he acts like we are best friends. I'm confused by him."
"Remus, Remus, Remus." Lily laughed and patted him on the arm. "Many people have tried to figure out the mystery that is Sirius Black and no one as yet has managed to solve him. Maybe you should try though?" She grinned and waited to see his reaction.
Remus reacted wonderfully. He spluttered indignantly, flushed a slightly reddish colour and averted his gaze from Lily.
"No Lily, I don't think anyone could tame him."
"Hmm, well whatever you say Remus. He's been on the lookout though, for the Yule Ball. Please say you'll come Remus! I need someone sensible to talk to, someone who won't get completely drunk on butterbeer and then come waltzing over, stinking of drink, asking me to dance."
"You wouldn't be talking of one James Potter would you Miss Evans?" Remus smirked.
"Well, I know him too well I feel. But please say you'll come Remus?"
"How do you know I won't get pissed out of my skull either? Everyone seems to think that they know me."
"Oh Remus, I wasn't meaning that, I'm sure you'll drink but I know you can probably hold your drink better than some who should know better."
Remus cheered up a bit, and smiled. "I'll see Lily. I might come. But I don't have a date. And who would want to come with me?"
Lily grinned. "I think I know of someone and anyway, it doesn't matter if you don't have a date, just come and have fun!"
Remus pondered for a moment, wilted under Lily's pleading eyes and winning smile and sighed.
"Fine I'll come. But no setting me up with someone. Okay?"
"Deal! Yes, oh thank you Remus! You'll enjoy it, I promise!"
Lily looked very happy for herself when she joined the Gryffindors for lunch that day. And well she might, she had convinced one of the school's more reserved pupils to attend the Yule Ball! Sirius on the other hand was down in the dumps. Actually he was further than that, he was looming more towards Australia by the down turned mouth on his face and the hanging of his head. Luckily no one had suffered to badly from his bad mood, Snape had got away with only a few taunts and a hair washing jinx. James made space on the bench as Lily ran up, grinning from ear to ear.
"Hey Lily, how was your morning?" James lowered his voice, "Did you speak to...thingy?"
Lily nodded. "My morning was great! I've got some good news for us all but it will have to wait until later this evening."
Everyone's mouths dropped. They were going to have to put up with a moody Sirius for the rest of the day?! That was totally unfair! Sirius did not pay attention to any of them as they crowded round Lily threateningly, he was picking unhappily at his beef steak pie. Lily backed off as the threatening gang approached, even James was in it, and nodded quickly to the Ravenclaw table. No one seemed to decode this subtle hint and Lily was forced to point obviously. Thankfully Remus was busy chatting to the other Ravenclaw prefect, whilst helping himself to some lunch. Everyone turned to look, blinked and then moved away to their on seats.
Lily sighed; at least she hadn't had to tell them why she couldn't tell them! Peter was still looking fairly blank.
"Remus is over there and he might hear us." James supplied helpfully.
Peter nodded and smiled sheepishly. Sirius's head had jerked up at the name. James had to hold him down before he leapt across the tables and hugged the poor boy to death. Lily tapped Sirius on the shoulder.
"Come on Sirius, I think we need to talk." She pulled the boy to his feet and dragged him out of the Hall. James and Peter watched in fascination and then shrugged and left Lily to it. Never stop a girl when she was on a mission. It was a lesson James and Peter had learnt well.
Meanwhile Lily was dragging Sirius towards the lake.
"Now Sirius, I know how you feel about the golden boy in Ravenclaw, hell everyone does. But we need to sort out some facts, concerning said boy. Now are you listening closely?"
Sirius nodded mutely.
"Right. First of all, I think you have a chance with him. Well of course I do, I wouldn't have told you to go talk to him if I didn't think you have a chance. But that is not the point that I am trying to get at here. He's a little confused."
"Confused?"
"Confused. You see, you've all but ignored him for the past 5 years and now he is a little confused about why you want to speak to him just now."
"Because I love him!" Sirius all but yelled the fact to...well no one except the lake.
"Sirius calm down! Yes I know you love him and everyone else does but he doesn't! So he doesn't know why you are talking to him! Do you see what I am getting at?"
Sirius shook his head miserably and Lily sighed.
"And they say you are the brightest boy in our year, god help us all. Sirius, I am saying you are going to have to mention why you have a sudden interest in him or he will go right off you."
"I have to tell him that I love him?!" Sirius yelped.
"No, no. well in time you will but not right away, that would scare him off." She dropped her voice to a mutter. "Or make him see what's right infront of him." Her voice went back to normal. "All I'm saying is you need to talk, say that...I don't know....you enjoyed his company on the train and were really disappointed when he was sorted into Ravenclaw and you were in Gryffindor. And you felt that he had settled in really well into Ravenclaw and that he didn't see to notice you anymore and so you felt that he didn't want you as a friend. Something like that. And say that only now you have worked up the courage to talk to him. Just make sure he knows you aren't using him for help with school work or something. He's quite paranoid about it."
Sirius looked sceptical. "Do you think it will work? Will he believe me?"
"Sirius, just be earnest, I know you can be earnest. Come on, you've got a ½ hour before lunch ends, lets see if we can catch him before his next class starts."
Once more Sirius found himself being dragged over the Hogwarts ground by a very determined Prefect. He really had no choice but to follow.
As if by some stroke of magic Remus was just leaving the Great Hall as Lily and Sirius entered through the Entrance Hall. He looked up, caught sight of Sirius and Lily and smiled. Lily smirked her now trademark evil smirk.
She waved hello, prodded Sirius meaningfully in the back and turned to leave, calling a good bye to Remus. Sirius stood for a moment, shocked and unprepared for this. Remus seemed to be waiting for him, waiting for him to move.
"Sirius. Where are you going next? What class?"
Sirius jerked out of his thoughts and trotted over.
"Um, I think its Potions. Yeah that's it." He grinned sheepishly. "I'm not very good at remembering my timetable. That's what James is for."
Remus laughed.
"Well I've got Transfiguration. McGonagall." He shrugged and Sirius sympathised.
"Well, maybe we could walk together for a while. I've been meaning to talk to you for a while."
Remus nodded and they fell into a slow pace.
"So yeah, it's just that, well I realise that it might be kind of strange me just coming up to you suddenly yesterday."
Remus laughed. "I did wonder why."
"Well I realise that it might make it seem as though I don't really want to be your friend. But I do. Do you remember when we met on the train?"
"Of course, how could I forget? You ran straight into the door of the compartment that I was sitting in. It was a memorable day."
Sirius blushed. Remus raised an eyebrow at him.
"You're blushing. Any reason why?"
"Um...no...of course not. I have a disease; blood sometimes rushes to my face for no apparent reason. I'm taking medication though and hopefully it will be gone soon."
Remus laughed. "Sure, would this disease be called embarrassment by any chance?"
Sirius appeared to find the passing paintings very interesting.
"Yes...well... moving on, I was just...well...we got on really well. And I'm sorry that I haven't kept up with you, it's just you seemed really settled in Ravenclaw and I didn't want to...you know...stop you getting settled. And then just recently...I've kind of...well wished we could have stayed friends."
Remus laughed. "That sounds like fun. Well, I better go off here. See you later."
He waved and wandered off down the corridor to Transfiguration. Sirius fell back against the wall in relief, his legs collapsing. Unfortunately what should have been a graceful slump to the floor was ruined when he missed the wall, fell back against a figure of armour and fell to the floor with a resounding crash. He jumped up quickly, checking no one saw, especially Remus and he was lucky. The boy was too far down the corridor to hear. Righting the suit of armour Sirius tossed his hair out of his eyes and swore loudly, blushing a furious red. Life was not going well for our favourite member of the Black family. He cursed once more, just for good luck and dashed off to collect his Potions book.
When he entered the Potions room the rest of the Gryffindor class were waiting expectantly. The room went silent and Lily gave him the thumbs up. He gave her a half hearted smile and ran to his desk, throwing himself down behind it and banging his head off the wood.
The whole class groaned. Not another night of a moody Sirius Black. This was going to be hell.
Luckily the Potions Master swept into the classroom and their work was set before they even knew about it. Dam these teachers were getting faster and faster.
Evening came and Sirius was walking down for dinner, alone as the rest of the Gryffindor Tower had abandoned him as he had promised to hex them into oblivion if they so much as came near him, when he heard a voice call him. Looking up he managed to fall down the stairs and knock over several small people. Apologising, he picked himself up and looked round for the voice.
Remus was standing at the top of the stairs laughing, doubled over and holding his stomach. He staggered down the stairs and reached Sirius.
"I should really take points off for knocking down innocent small people but I believe it was an accident."
Sirius grinned and some of the old Sirius Black charm came back.
"I'd get the points back, don't you worry. Are you heading to dinner?"
"That's what I usually do at this time of the day. Come on, or the food will all be gone."
When Sirius and Remus walked into the Great Hall, laughing about some prank Sirius had been retelling Remus, the whole Gryffindor table was silent. Eyes bugged around the hall, jaws dropped and many people swore to see tears in the eyes off most of the girls that weren't in Gryffindor. Several ran from the hall to the bathrooms while others pulled out tissues and wailed loudly. Apart from said wailing however the Hall was silent as Sirius waved goodbye to Remus and strolled over to sit between Peter and James, who had saved him a seat, even on the threat of a painful and excruciatingly slow death. He plonked himself down, grabbed the nearest plate of chicken and began piling his plate.
His fork was half way to his mouth when he realised that everyone was still staring at him.
"What?" He asked, puzzled.
Eyes rolled and people smacked their foreheads.
"What are you doing with Remus? IS something going on between you yet?"
"Oh that. No, we are just friends. At the moment anyway." He winked. "Yeah, we had a talk during lunch-"
"So that's where you were! Lily told us you had gone to see the stars!"
"Well, his stars anyway, that's like his favourite thing to do." Lily interjected.
"What?" James asked, totally confused.
"Look at Remus! Oh do pay attention James, acting thick is not very becoming for you." Lily went back to eating her potatoes along with Sirius. These two, and Remus, seemed the only people who could eat that night however. Everyone else was in too much shock or was too busy crying over the loss of one of the cutest guys in school. Everyone seemed to have the idea that Sirius and Remus were a couple now. Not that Sirius minded. Maybe it would give Remus ideas!
Remus meanwhile was being quizzed to within an inch of his life by his fellow Ravenclaws. He had walked out of the Great Hall from dinner, nice and normal. There, however, he had been pounced on by several Ravenclaws and dragged back to the common room before he had a chance to escape to the library, where he usually spent most of his evenings.
Once inside the common room he had been shoved into a chair, a light shone in his eyes and had several faces peering closely at him.
"What in the name of anything is going on?" He asked, somewhat perplexed by his situation.
"Okay Remus, let's get straight to the point. What's going on between you and Black?"
"Me and Black? Sirius?"
"Oh God, he's on first name terms! This isn't good!"
"First name terms? What are you on about?"
"You and him! When you came into the Great Hall today. What was going on?"
"Look, who am I even talking to? Why are you interrogating me?"
"Names do not concern you now-"
"Abigail! This is not a James Bond movie! Remus, it's us, Thomas, Abigail, Theo, Sara and a couple of 6th and 7th years. We need to discuss where your relationship with Sirius Black is going. Is this really a good idea Remus?"
"I don't understand what you are talking about! What relationship with Sirius? Why isn't it a good idea?"
"So you admit you do have a relationship with one Sirius Black?"
"Abigail! Once more, cut out the movie stuff! Seriously, you'll start to scare him and you are scaring me!"
"Sorry Thomas. Sorry Remus. Okay, but you do have a relationship with Black?"
"Relationship? What do you mean?"
"You are dating Black!"
"Dating him?!" Remus almost yelled aloud. "No way, I am not dating Black. Why does everyone think that?"
"Because Black never talks to anyone outside his pack of friends unless he wants to bed them and there he was, talking to you."
"What?!" Now Remus really was yelling. "I am not going to bed Black!"
There were several sighs of relief throughout the common room.
"I'm just friends with him, if you can even call us that. He only started talking to me again 2 days ago or something."
There was a pause of silence.
"You mean you've talked to him before?"
"Of course! We talked on the train in our first year of Hogwarts, I had the only free compartment and him and James wanted a seat. We were going to be friends but then I was sorted in here and he was in Gryffindor."
There was a lengthy silence.
"Hello? Is there anyone there?" He blinked a few times against the light shining in his eyes and made to get up when a hand shoved him back down.
"Wait, you said everyone seems to think you and Sirius are dating. Who else said that?" Abigail asked him. There were murmurs of agreement.
"Oh, it was Lily Evans; she seemed to think that we should go to the Yule Ball together." He shrugged as best he could.
"If she knows then so does Potter and Black, and most likely Pettigrew as well."
"Know what? What is going on here?!" Remus was getting slightly annoyed.
"This does not concern you...sorry Thomas, I couldn't resist. I just love James Bond!"
"That's okay Abigail, look; maybe we better leave this for this evening and talk to Lily in the morning."
The others agreed and with last goodbyes, they all left the common room to retire to bed, do some homework or whatever. Remus was left, sitting alone in the empty common room, with a lone light shining in his eyes. He was, to say the least, utterly confused.
Sirius bounded down the stairs to breakfast in a happier mood than he had been for several weeks. And there in the Great Hall sat the object of his dreams! He stopped bouncing, started walking like a normal person, stopped to pick up some toast from the Gryffindor table and wandered over.
"Hey Remus."
"Good morning Sirius." Remus didn't even bother to look up from his book as Sirius sat down and started helping himself to the Ravenclaw supply of strawberry jam. Remus rolled his eyes.
"Sirius?"
"Mnghthg?"
"I beg your pardon?"
Sirius swallowed. "Sorry. Yes Remus?"
"Well," He frowned and tried to think of a way to broach the subject. Sirius noticed his face.
"What's up?"
"Well, yesterday, after dinner, I was dragged back to the Ravenclaw common room and quizzed about my relationship with you."
Sirius, who had just taken a rather large swig of pumpkin juice, spat it all over the Ravenclaw table. Remus whisked his wand and the mess was cleared.
"Our relationship?" Sirius parroted him.
"Yes, apparently we have a relationship."
"Oh." Sirius was silent for a moment.
"Well? I mean we are just friends aren't we?"
"Of course!" Sirius hoped Remus didn't notice the slight hesitation or the look of longing that he knew was in his eyes right about now.
"It's just, well some people were telling me that you only talk to other people outside your little group if you are trying to sleep with them."
Sirius paused, unsure how to answer the question.
"Well, they are right, I do only talk to people I'm trying to bed."
This time it was Remus' turn to pause.
"So you're trying to bed me?"
"When you say it like that it sounds so vulgar." Sirius tried to grin but his mouth wasn't working in tune with his brain.
"I don't think I understand. Excuse me, I need to think about some things. Can I talk to you later?"
"Sure, what time?" Suddenly he wasn't as happy anymore. Bugger, why did those stupid Ravenclaws have to stick their big noses in?!
"How about, lunchtime, at the Entrance Hall? I need to talk to Lily about something."
"Lily? What has she got to do with anything?"
"Oh, everything." Remus muttered darkly, before bidding goodbye to Sirius and walking out the Hall.
Sirius left soon after, after putting pepper in every single dish of food, even the toast, on the Ravenclaw table.
James, Lily and Peter found it slightly strange that Sirius wasn't at breakfast, but then, after noticing Remus wasn't there either, they snickered into their meal and made rude comments. Having a friend in love was fun! The amusement of James and Lily had worn off some time ago.
So it was quite a shock when, as Lily stepped into Ancient Runes that morning, she was met with the dark face of one Remus. J. Lupin.
"Um, hi Remus. What's up?" She sounded slightly cautious, as well she might be.
"I think you could tell me that Lily. I've been meaning to have a word with you; you see I found something out yesterday evening. Now, may I ask, what type of contact you have had with several Ravenclaws in 5th year and above?"
"Well, quite a bit, there are prefects and several of them are my friends." She sounded a little flustered.
"Uh huh, right. Well you see after dinner last night I was questioned, actually I'd say more interrogated by several of my 'friends' and I do use that word lightly now. They seemed to be under the impression that I am currently involved in a romantic liaison with a Mr Sirius Black. Do you have any idea why they could think that?"
"Ah...yes...well...there is a good explanation to that."
"One that you would care to share with me now?"
"Not really." She muttered under her breath before smiling brightly. "Well Remus, the Ravenclaws and I have decided that you need a little love. So we decided to see if we could set you up with someone. And well, I just happened to know of someone who liked you...and the rest they say is history!" She smiled, the sort of smile that says the person is wondering whether to bolt when she has the chance to wait and face the music.
Remus pondered this for a moment.
"You mean he does like me?"
"Sirius? He's been crazy over you for 5 years Remus!" Lily already knew she was in big trouble, couldn't hurt to get herself further in trouble and help them realise that they were perfect for each other, could it?
"5 years?!"
Lily marvelled at the way Remus' voice went up several octaves.
"Yes Remus, 5 years. Ever since he met you on the train he has been madly and completely in love with you. It was only this year that he managed to pluck up the courage to talk to you! It's all he ever talks about, you, you, you! Seriously! I think we know more about you than even you do! Remus, give him a chance, I know he's the most lusted after boy in school and that everyone thinks he's a bit of a player, but he's not. He's only been out with a couple of girls and that was when James made him go out with them, to get his mind off of you!"
Remus was struck dumb, his mouth hanging open wide.
"5 years?!" He repeated again, incredulous. "Bloody hell! I think...Jesus! 5 years...I didn't think he even knew I existed!"
"Remus, I think you need to talk to him."
"I'm going to, I'm meeting him at lunchtime so we can talk."
"Thank god! It's only taken you like a million years!"
Remus would have retorted to this but the bell rang and the teacher filed in with the rest of the students so Lily was saved.
Sirius was pacing the Entrance Hall furiously, waiting for Remus, his finger nails were now non-existent and his hair had almost all been pulled out until James stopped him. Unbeknownst to him, every Gryffindor was crammed into every hiding place around the Entrance Hall, to watch and littered among them were several Ravenclaws, Hufflepuffs and even a few Slytherins. The Great Hall was practically empty for lunch. Even a few teachers were hidden around the Entrance Hall, after being clued in by several students.
Remus, who had deliberately been kept behind after class to allow everyone to hide, came wandering down the hall, humming to himself. There was a huge intake of breath around the place and Sirius looked up, saw him coming and looked like he could wet himself at any point. James snickered from behind a suit of armour before he was poked sharply in the ribs by his loving girlfriend.
Remus grinned as he saw that Sirius had noticed him.
"Hey Sirius!" He walked up to the taller boy, flung his arms around his neck and hugged him hard.
Sirius looked like his eyes might just pop out his head, his mouth dropped open and he stood like a statue while the thinner boy hugged him.
"Dear lord, I must be dreaming." He muttered to himself.
"Definitely not a dream Sirius." Remus released him and grinned. "I was talking to Lily. She told me something...very interesting."
Sirius paled visibly. "What did she tell you?" He sounded scared, very scared,
"5 years is a long time. Bu what can I say? I'm exactly the same."
It took a moment for this to sink into Sirius' brain. Remus knew when it did as he flushed a deep red. Then his face turned startled.
"Wait a second, did you just say you were the same?"
Remus nodded happily.
"So you've liked me for 5 years as well?" His eyes were widening again.
Remus grinned. "Of that I am guilty."
"Jesus." He was about to say more but was swiftly cut of when Remus leaned in to kiss him.
***
2 weeks later and the whole school was in a buzz about the Yule Ball. Everyone was desperately looking for a date and those lucky ones that did have a date were getting dirty looks wherever they went, especially if them and said partner were making out in the middle of the corridor. Which seemed to happen to one Sirius Black and Remus Lupin an awful lot now a days.
Professors had been forced to deduct points for 'improper conduct between classes' and many classes found that either partner of the said couple often ran in a little late, looking slightly flustered, hair messed up etc., but looking extremely happy for themselves.
The big night arrived, Sirius was dressed in his best robes, fussing with his hair and wondering if 'Remus would prefer it down or tied back' when James pulled out his wand and threatened to hex him into oblivion if he didn't shut the fuck up.
Finally everyone had met their partners down at the hall and there was much squealing as people found out whom secret dates were. One couple though, seemed oblivious to the chattering and had eyes only for each other. Everyone else was slightly sickened by the display of affection, but then considered the fact that it was better than Sirius was with Remus and totally loved up, rather than Sirius moping around the common room, hexing everyone in sight and explaining the finer points of why Remus looked adorable when he stuck his tongue out to write.
They looked amazingly perfect together, one blondish brownish, the other jet black, one slightly taller, one slightly thinner, and both wearing identical happy expressions.
Christmas was happy and more peaceful time at Hogwarts this year.
Disclaimer: I own nothing
Pairing: Remus/Sirius (so cute!!!)
Author's Notes: This is an AU story. When the 4 boys arrived at Hogwarts Remus was sorted into Ravenclaw. Sirius never got over losing his new friend and has only now plucked up the courage to talk to him again. With a little helping hand from some friends, will they reveal their true feelings to each other?!
Sirius grinned as he walked into the Great Hall. Just as Lily had said, sitting by himself, reading a book. By god, how could he get up this early? Sirius only got up because he set his magical alarm clock and when he didn't wake up to switch it off James did and then walloped him around the head with his pillow. But never mind about that, Sirius had to think about his plan of action. There was only one other person in the Great Hall, a first year Gryffindor by the looks of it and he wasn't going to be bad mouthing Sirius anytime soon. By the way he was looking at Sirius it was almost like he didn't think Sirius was even there. Well that couldn't hurt either. Now to go and talk to him...
He nabbed a piece of toast from the Gryffindor table and wandered over to where the Ravenclaws sat. Luckily it was the table next to him, unfortunately Remus was on the other side of the table and as far away from where Sirius and James and Peter sat as possible. Ah well, hopefully Remus didn't know that.
"Hi there." Sirius grinned as he slipped into the seat next to Remus Lupin. Lupin looked around, as if too check Sirius was talking to him and then nodded vaguely before returning to his book.
Sirius was a little a taken back. Normally everyone jumped at the chance to talk to him. Oh well, it only fuelled him on.
"The name's Sirius. You're Remus Lupin right?"
At this Remus turned to look at him.
"How do you know my name?"
"You're a guy in our year, why wouldn't I know your name?"
"Because nobody knows my name! Well a few do, but not many people, every year someone asks me if I'm new here."
"They do? That's a bit odd." He flashed Remus one of his legendary grins.
Remus ignored it.
"May I ask what you are doing here? This is the Ravenclaw table and you are a Gryffindor."
"So you've noticed me then?" Sirius grinned again.
Remus sighed, a long suffering sigh, that of one who is talking to an idiot.
"Of course I've noticed you. Everyone in the school knows who you are."
"Oh. Yeah." Sirius was once again momentarily lost for words. Remus saw his opening and took it. Picking up his toast and book he made to leave the table.
"Wait, wait! Where are you going?"
"Where does it look like Sirius? I'm going to class."
"I'll come along to. Was thinking of going to class anyway. Which class?"
"Arithmancy."
"Bloody hell. Sounds bloody hard."
"It's not, it's fascinating. Why are you here on your own anyway? Where are your friends? And what are you doing up this early?"
"Jeez, talk about the Spanish Inquisition. Hey you notice my sleeping patterns?" Sirius winked at him.
"The reason I come down to breakfast so early is so that I can eat in peace for once. When you and James Potter aren't showing off some new prank or other."
"Oh." Sirius looked a bit down cast. Remus relented.
"It's not that I dislike that, sometimes they are rather good pranks. Just...people need peace sometimes. Well this is my classroom. Bye Sirius."
"Hey wait. Same time tomorrow?"
Remus just rolled his eyes and walked into his classroom. It was still empty but at least he could read in private here.
Sirius practically bounced up to the Gryffindor Common Room, meeting James and Peter as they stumbled wearily down to breakfast.
"Prongs!" Sirius bounced over and joined them on their walk down to the Great Hall. He realised he had never finished his piece of toast.
"Padfoot, eventually get out your pit of a bed then? Bloody hell, if you are going to use the damn alarm, then please wake up so you can switch it off!"
Sirius had the grace to look ashamed before he bounced back up again.
"I talked to him! I managed to talk to him!"
"Wow that's great Sirius, now maybe in 5 years time you could actually tell him that you like him? And get off our backs?" James was sarcastic but inside he was feeling very happy for his friend. Sirius had been crestfallen when the tawny haired boy they had talked to on the train was sorted into Ravenclaw. For years he had tried to talk to him but hadn't managed, now it seemed, he was unwilling to let the tawny haired boy go. Peter laughed at Sirius's enthusiasm.
"And I found out what he has. He took Arithmancy. How brainy is he?!"
James laughed and then smiled as Lily came up to join them.
"Lily! Oh Lily! How I love you! I think I would kiss you if it were not for the fact that James would behead me if I so much as moved within 10 feet of your being!" Sirius was down on one knee, singing his praise to Lily.
She grinned, tossed her hair and said in a haughty voice, "James Potter is not my keeper. Now please, to show your gratitude, kiss my hand!" She struck a dramatic pose and stuck out her hand. Sirius played along.
"Why of course my darling Miss Evans. How could I refuse such an offer? Oh I feel so honoured!" He bent his head and lavished a kiss on the back of Lily's hand.
"Ew! Sirius, I didn't want a soaking wet hand! God is that how you kiss? I pity the girls you've been with!"
James and Peter roared with laughter while Sirius got up off his knees and poked Lily in the ribs.
"Just don't say that when *he's* around okay? Don't want him to be put off." Sirius grinned again as Lily cooed with joy.
"Aw, you two will be so cute when you get together!" Lily was positively squealing with glee, clapping her hands together.
"So you are going to ask him to the ball?"
"Well hopefully. He doesn't seem very interested though."
"Sirius, he will be interested. Come on; just give him time, he's quite shy. Let's go get some breakfast. I have Arithmancy with him next so I will talk to him then!"
"See James? I told you only brainy people take Arithmancy!"
By lunchtime Sirius was depressed. He hadn't seen Remus at all and he didn't have any class with any Ravenclaws after lunch. Lily came bounding over to the table and plonked down beside James.
"Sirius! Guess who I was talking to?"
"Him? What was he saying?"
Everyone at the Gryffindor table was all ears. It was common knowledge that Sirius had been lusting after the poor Ravenclaw for years. Some thought it amusing while others pitied the poor boy. Whatever their views they all listened in while Lily spilled the beans. Luckily the Ravenclaws were talking loudly and as far as anyone could see Remus was no where in their midst.
"Don't worry, he's at the library and before you go chasing after him Sirius don't. He knows you never go to the library and that might make him suspicious. Anyway so I got to Arithmancy and sat down beside him, asking the usual questions about his health and so on and he started telling me about his weird conversation with Sirius Black. "
"Oh God, he thinks I'm weird, I'm doomed!"
"Sirius shut up and let me finish. Of course I was pretending to not know a thing; I think I should take up acting for a profession!"
"Let's keep on track Lily before Sirius hangs himself with the sausages!"
"Of course James. So I started asking him questions about it all, as all curious friends do. I asked him what he thought of Sirius," Everyone perked up and listened extra hard here, "And he said he thought Sirius seemed like a nice guy, when he wasn't doing idiotic things like pranking innocent people."
"I'm giving up pranking right here and now!"
"Don't make empty threats Sirius. Anyway I told him that I thought it was part of Sirius nature and he seemed to consider this, and then conceded that he was a funny guy. And that he seemed very nice, if not a little strange. Then naturally I turned the conversation to the up coming Yule Ball and asked him if he was going with anyone or indeed if he was planning on going."
Lily drew the moment out before Sirius picked up a knife and threatened to do something stupid with it if she did not just bloody tell him the bloody answer to the bloody question.
"Okay fine, I was just trying to add a bit of dramatic tension into the moment."
"There is already enough tension as there is without you adding extra dramatic tension as well!"
Everyone laughed and then tuned to Lily.
"He said he wasn't sure if he was going and he definitely didn't have a partner! Sirius this is great, persuade him to go with you and then you will live happily ever after! Also I know another fact about him that I think will interest you but I'm supposed to keep it secret. He made me promise that I would not tell anyone. Luckily for you guys I crossed my fingers and excluded Gryffindors from that number as I know you will never tell a soul or I will hunt you down and kill you for betraying my trust."
Everyone quailed at the thought of an angry Lily and promised most seriously (no pun intended) that they would not tell a soul.
Lily grinned in satisfaction before leaning forward to whisper, "He's gay."
In retrospect Sirius didn't really care that Professor McGonagall deducted 20 points from Gryffindor for him running around the Great Hall, screaming at the top of his voice with happiness and his shirt pulled over his head, like he had seen Muggle footballers do, showing off his very fine torso to the rest of the school. Not that anyone minded as Sirius did have a very nice body. Even some of the teachers were looking. Which was slightly scary, as Sirius told James later on while he cracked up with laughter.
Even Remus, who had been working at the back of the library, looked up at the scream that echoed round the building. Putting it down to one of the first years doing some sort initiation ceremony Remus went back to decoding Ancient Runes.
When Sirius returned to the Common Room after dinner that evening he had obtained 2 detentions, 30 points lost from Gryffindor and one peeved ghost on his trail (Peeves if you must know, something about chewing gum and Filch, I won't go into details). All in all Sirius felt it had been a very productive day, he felt honoured that he kept the professors on their toes in the form of thinking up new and challenging detentions for him. He had already exceeded the limit of number of detentions obtained (53 was the record, Sirius broke that in his first year with 102) and was aiming to try and get as many as he could. He wanted to be remembered in this school god damn it! James was now busy with Lily (I'll leave that to your imaginations) and Sirius was off to serve his first detention. He was forced to clean the Owlery by hand with just a toothbrush. This could take some time. A prefect had been ordered to watch over him to see that he didn't slack off and use magic. He was to meet the prefect in the Entrance Hall at 7:30 sharp. Now the time was 7:33 and Sirius was only just getting up from his chair in the common room.
He waltzed lazily down to the Entrance Hall, his thoughts filled with a certain golden haired boy and just what they could be up to right now if only he knew of his real feelings.
"And what time do you call this?" A voice stopped him cold as he reached the Entrance Hall.
"Um...around 7:30?" Sirius looked around to find the prefect.
Oh.
Right.
Well...
Bugger came to mind right now. That and shit...and numerous other swear words that Sirius knew.
They had only gone and assigned Remus Lupin to watch over him tonight.
Sirius grew the deepest red as all the blood rushed to his face. If only he had known he would have at least brushed his hair and cleaned his teeth! And there was Remus, holding a book and looking, like always, bloody sexy. His hair was slightly rumpled, suggesting, thought Sirius, that he had been holding it away from his face while he read and his eyes looked a little tired. Sirius opened his mouth once and then closed it. Then opened it once more and closed it once again.
"Well? You were told to be here at 7:30 sharp and you waltz in here at 7:39, your time keeping skills need some practise. Never mind we best get going; I want to retire to bed at a reasonable hour tonight."
God, could he not have refrained from saying bed infront of Sirius? Now Sirius's head swam with dozens of pictures of...no not that you dirty minded people! Pictures of Remus asleep, looking incredibly cute with his mouth just open slightly and soft snoring noises.
"Excuse me? Earth to Mr Black? We have a detention to carry out and I would rather you cleaned the Owlery floor than stood there staring into space with salvia running down your chin. Please hurry up."
At once Sirius ran after him, giving him a winning grin.
They reached the Owlery without any more mishaps, apart from when Sirius tripped over his feet going up the stairs because he was too busy staring at something else. Hmm, wonder what that could be, especially as Remus was walking up in front of him. Anyway, they reached the Owlery and Remus handed Sirius his toothbrush and then took a seat and opened his book. He indicated that Sirius should start so Sirius did just that.
He was half way through cleaning the Owlery when Remus coughed, to attract his attention. Sirius looked up.
"Yeah?"
"It's coming up to 2 in the morning and I am knackered. I know I shouldn't do this but I want to get to my bed."
With a flick of his wand the floor of the Owlery was clean and Sirius was left looking a bit of a twit, standing in the middle of the room holding a very dirty toothbrush. Remus smiled at him and Sirius felt his heart stop.
Thumping his chest to get his heart to start working again Sirius looked at the prefect, standing by the door, waiting for him.
"Thanks very much. I could have been here all night."
"Oh very probably. You weren't doing a very good job anyway. Just...don't let that I helped you get out ok?"
Sirius grinned and nodded. Of course he wouldn't...well only the Gryffindors and they would keep their mouths shut....mostly. Maybe Remus would give him a detention for spilling his secret and then he could spend even more time with the delectable Mr Lupin. He could only dream.
And dream he did when he returned to the Gryffindor Common Room. The whole house was sitting up and waiting for him to return, Lily must have known that Remus was supervising him, she could at least have warned him to brush his hair! She was going to pay for this...by finding out more information on Remus!! God he was good!
Anyway when he returned to the Gryffindor Common Room he was bombarded with questions. Everyone seemed to think he had got lucky with the tawny prefect.
"Um guys? You do know that I was cleaning out the Owlery floor with a toothbrush, not polishing the stars in the Astronomy Tower?"
Everyone stared at him for a moment, giving him a look plainly stating that yes they knew this and that they also knew that Sirius Black could get lucky wherever he chose.
Sirius relented. Well he was fantastically blessed with good looks. And he did have a butt to die for. And supermodels were absurdly jealous of his high and well defined cheek bones. And god his hair was so soft they were practically begging him to advertise L'Oreal shampoo. And...I better stop here; I have been known to go on and on about the gorgeousness of Sirius Black for some hours and I'd rather you kept on reading the story.
Anyway, finally, after 2 and a half hours of interrogation everyone had come to the conclusion that Sirius had had a great night but sadly he had not got lucky with said prefect. Sirius, who was at a bit of a loss for once (hadn't he told them that as soon as he had walked in the door?) nodded to them and went up to the dorm. Tonight, he said to himself, he was going to dream about Remus!
Sadly though, when he was woken once again by James throwing a pillow at his head with the words, "SIRIUS! ALARM CLOCK. USE IT!", still ringing in his ears, he found that his dreams were not of said perfect prefect (oh that's a bit of a mouthful for 6am) but of dragon eggs and their virtues. God damn it, McGonagall's lectures had been getting stuck in his head again; he would have to stop listening so intently. Wait, did he ever listen intently? Pausing while pulling his shirt on, Sirius thought about it for a moment. He decided that no he never did, not in lessons anyway! He poked James hard in the side as he was leaving, just for good measure and carried on down to the Great Hall.
And there he was again! Reading another book (which looked bloody thick and boring) and munching his toast sweetly. Sirius took a rack of the toast over and sat down with a thud. Remus looked up and rolled his eyes.
"Oh, it's you."
"Aren't you pleased to see me?
"After last night?"
"What happened last night? I didn't do anything wrong did I?"
Sirius had a hurried think back of last night. Nope, no rude or perverted comments were made to Remus; no leering at him when he bent over, no sly touching, all in all, Sirius had been very well behaved!
"Oh forget it."
"No, no, what did I do? I would like to apologise for it!"
"Seriously Sirius, it's nothing."
Sirius waited for a few moments before he blinked in surprise. Remus noticed him.
"What?"
"Well nothing...it's just that's the first time someone has said that without making a pun on my name!"
Remus shrugged. "I figured you had heard it enough time." He went back to eating his toast.
Sirius grinned. "So you like jam on your toast? I like jam!"
Remus ignored him.
"I also like butter beer, scones, scones with jam, toast, Quidditch, stars, dogs, the moon," Here Remus flinched and glanced over at him, but Sirius carried on talking, "having late night parties in the common room, washing Snape's hair because it takes him weeks to get it greasy again, not that I wash it myself, just perform a charm, Transfiguration is quite good, and I like parties! And jam, I like jam. And dancing! I love dancing. Do you like dancing? I also like the Yule Ball. Are you going? The Weird Sister's are meant to be playing! Have you heard any of their stuff? I think they are great! I also like some Muggle bands!'
Let's see, there is Meat Loaf, Guns 'n' Roses, Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, David Bowie and Brian Slade and Curt Wild of course."
Remus stopped him with a wave of his hand.
"Does this have a point or are you trying to bore me back to sleep?"
Sirius looked like he was about to say something before he changed his mind. He shrugged.
"Just seeing how much we have in common. Don't we have a lot in common?"
"Sirius, can I ask you something?"
"Of course!" The boy grinned wildly.
"Why do you want to know so much about me? You've not spoken to me for 5 years. If you want help with some piece of work then I think you should ask Lily. If not then I will say goodbye and hope you don't trail me to my class again."
When Sirius remained silent Remus shrugged, picked up his book and went off to class.
When the rest of the Gryffindors came down to breakfast they found that there was no toast or jam and that Sirius was trying to drown himself in a bowl of cornflakes.
"Sirius!" James groaned and pulled Sirius's head out from under the 2 inches of milk in his bowl. His hair was covered in soggy cornflakes, toast crumbs and milk.
"Why Sirius?"
"There is no use in living any more." And he made to thump his head back into his bowl, only to find Peter had moved it and he hit the table instead.
"OW! Pete, that really hurt! Warn a guy before you do that again?"
"Sirius why were you trying to drown yourself in your cornflakes?" Lily put a concerned hand on his arm and subtly removed the piece of cornflake from his hair that had been annoying her for the past 5 minutes.
"He thinks I'm only using him."
"WHAT?!" The whole Gryffindor table yelled at once and the Hall went into a rare moment of silence.
"Hush! Not using him like that you perverted people! As in I needed help with my homework and was only talking to him because if this. He suggested I go to Lily if I needed help." Once again Sirius flung his head down on the table with a dramatic sigh. The whole Gryffindor table paused, digested the information and let out, as one, a huge wail.
After the group wail had been completed Lily assessed the situation.
"Well, let's wait just a moment. We can still save this. Right, Remus is unsure of why Sirius is taking such an interest in him, probably because he knows he always gets asked for help with homework. So all we really need to do is assure Remus that Sirius is a bright enough guy not to need help with his homework! But we have to do this subtly so he doesn't know that we know why he knows or thinks he knows why Sirius is talking to him."
Eyebrows around the table were raised as people tried to figure this out. 2 minutes later and the quicker of the bunch had caught on and were nodding, some quietly explaining it to others. 5 minutes later and the whole table were up to date. Not bad, Lily thought, looking at her watch, 7 minutes, it's quicker than some.
Somehow, during the time of staring at her watch, all eyes of the Gryffindor table had turned to her, except Sirius who was now sniffling into his bacon and eggs. The bacon and eggs were not appreciating this gesture.
"What?" Lily was suspicious, as well she might be. This lot might look innocent but Lily knew that looks were deceiving, very deceiving.
"Well, we need you to convince Remus, subtly, none of the rest of us are subtle.
Lily sighed and resigned to her fate. Sirius was beginning to perk up a bit, well he wasn't re-enacting violent murders with the salt and pepper holders anymore and that was always a plus. She sighed once more, kissed James lightly on the cheek and strode towards Ancient Runes, the other class she took with Remus Lupin. God that boy would be the death of her.
While she headed off to Ancient Runes, James and Peter were left with the difficult task of getting Sirius up from the table and off to Care of Magical Creatures. It only took them 10 minutes and James and Peter were really quite proud of themselves.
Back in Ancient Runes, there was still 5 minutes before the class was due to start. Remus looked up as Lily entered.
"Hullo Lily. How are you today?"
Lily pondered her answer.
"There have been better days." She concluded. "And how are you?"
"I think we are in the same mood today. As you said, there have been better days."
"So what's your problem?"
Remus sighed, pushed his hair away from his face and turned to Lily.
"You talk to Sirius Black a lot don't you?"
She nodded and waited for him to carry on.
"Well, is he always this weird?"
Lily looked a little shocked.
"Remus, do you actually know Sirius at all? Of course he's bloody weird! But that is what we love about him! Don't you like him?"
"Well of course, he seems like a good guy, strange but who isn't strange at Hogwarts? It's just well, he hadn't spoken or even acknowledged my presence for 5 years and then suddenly he acts like we are best friends. I'm confused by him."
"Remus, Remus, Remus." Lily laughed and patted him on the arm. "Many people have tried to figure out the mystery that is Sirius Black and no one as yet has managed to solve him. Maybe you should try though?" She grinned and waited to see his reaction.
Remus reacted wonderfully. He spluttered indignantly, flushed a slightly reddish colour and averted his gaze from Lily.
"No Lily, I don't think anyone could tame him."
"Hmm, well whatever you say Remus. He's been on the lookout though, for the Yule Ball. Please say you'll come Remus! I need someone sensible to talk to, someone who won't get completely drunk on butterbeer and then come waltzing over, stinking of drink, asking me to dance."
"You wouldn't be talking of one James Potter would you Miss Evans?" Remus smirked.
"Well, I know him too well I feel. But please say you'll come Remus?"
"How do you know I won't get pissed out of my skull either? Everyone seems to think that they know me."
"Oh Remus, I wasn't meaning that, I'm sure you'll drink but I know you can probably hold your drink better than some who should know better."
Remus cheered up a bit, and smiled. "I'll see Lily. I might come. But I don't have a date. And who would want to come with me?"
Lily grinned. "I think I know of someone and anyway, it doesn't matter if you don't have a date, just come and have fun!"
Remus pondered for a moment, wilted under Lily's pleading eyes and winning smile and sighed.
"Fine I'll come. But no setting me up with someone. Okay?"
"Deal! Yes, oh thank you Remus! You'll enjoy it, I promise!"
Lily looked very happy for herself when she joined the Gryffindors for lunch that day. And well she might, she had convinced one of the school's more reserved pupils to attend the Yule Ball! Sirius on the other hand was down in the dumps. Actually he was further than that, he was looming more towards Australia by the down turned mouth on his face and the hanging of his head. Luckily no one had suffered to badly from his bad mood, Snape had got away with only a few taunts and a hair washing jinx. James made space on the bench as Lily ran up, grinning from ear to ear.
"Hey Lily, how was your morning?" James lowered his voice, "Did you speak to...thingy?"
Lily nodded. "My morning was great! I've got some good news for us all but it will have to wait until later this evening."
Everyone's mouths dropped. They were going to have to put up with a moody Sirius for the rest of the day?! That was totally unfair! Sirius did not pay attention to any of them as they crowded round Lily threateningly, he was picking unhappily at his beef steak pie. Lily backed off as the threatening gang approached, even James was in it, and nodded quickly to the Ravenclaw table. No one seemed to decode this subtle hint and Lily was forced to point obviously. Thankfully Remus was busy chatting to the other Ravenclaw prefect, whilst helping himself to some lunch. Everyone turned to look, blinked and then moved away to their on seats.
Lily sighed; at least she hadn't had to tell them why she couldn't tell them! Peter was still looking fairly blank.
"Remus is over there and he might hear us." James supplied helpfully.
Peter nodded and smiled sheepishly. Sirius's head had jerked up at the name. James had to hold him down before he leapt across the tables and hugged the poor boy to death. Lily tapped Sirius on the shoulder.
"Come on Sirius, I think we need to talk." She pulled the boy to his feet and dragged him out of the Hall. James and Peter watched in fascination and then shrugged and left Lily to it. Never stop a girl when she was on a mission. It was a lesson James and Peter had learnt well.
Meanwhile Lily was dragging Sirius towards the lake.
"Now Sirius, I know how you feel about the golden boy in Ravenclaw, hell everyone does. But we need to sort out some facts, concerning said boy. Now are you listening closely?"
Sirius nodded mutely.
"Right. First of all, I think you have a chance with him. Well of course I do, I wouldn't have told you to go talk to him if I didn't think you have a chance. But that is not the point that I am trying to get at here. He's a little confused."
"Confused?"
"Confused. You see, you've all but ignored him for the past 5 years and now he is a little confused about why you want to speak to him just now."
"Because I love him!" Sirius all but yelled the fact to...well no one except the lake.
"Sirius calm down! Yes I know you love him and everyone else does but he doesn't! So he doesn't know why you are talking to him! Do you see what I am getting at?"
Sirius shook his head miserably and Lily sighed.
"And they say you are the brightest boy in our year, god help us all. Sirius, I am saying you are going to have to mention why you have a sudden interest in him or he will go right off you."
"I have to tell him that I love him?!" Sirius yelped.
"No, no. well in time you will but not right away, that would scare him off." She dropped her voice to a mutter. "Or make him see what's right infront of him." Her voice went back to normal. "All I'm saying is you need to talk, say that...I don't know....you enjoyed his company on the train and were really disappointed when he was sorted into Ravenclaw and you were in Gryffindor. And you felt that he had settled in really well into Ravenclaw and that he didn't see to notice you anymore and so you felt that he didn't want you as a friend. Something like that. And say that only now you have worked up the courage to talk to him. Just make sure he knows you aren't using him for help with school work or something. He's quite paranoid about it."
Sirius looked sceptical. "Do you think it will work? Will he believe me?"
"Sirius, just be earnest, I know you can be earnest. Come on, you've got a ½ hour before lunch ends, lets see if we can catch him before his next class starts."
Once more Sirius found himself being dragged over the Hogwarts ground by a very determined Prefect. He really had no choice but to follow.
As if by some stroke of magic Remus was just leaving the Great Hall as Lily and Sirius entered through the Entrance Hall. He looked up, caught sight of Sirius and Lily and smiled. Lily smirked her now trademark evil smirk.
She waved hello, prodded Sirius meaningfully in the back and turned to leave, calling a good bye to Remus. Sirius stood for a moment, shocked and unprepared for this. Remus seemed to be waiting for him, waiting for him to move.
"Sirius. Where are you going next? What class?"
Sirius jerked out of his thoughts and trotted over.
"Um, I think its Potions. Yeah that's it." He grinned sheepishly. "I'm not very good at remembering my timetable. That's what James is for."
Remus laughed.
"Well I've got Transfiguration. McGonagall." He shrugged and Sirius sympathised.
"Well, maybe we could walk together for a while. I've been meaning to talk to you for a while."
Remus nodded and they fell into a slow pace.
"So yeah, it's just that, well I realise that it might be kind of strange me just coming up to you suddenly yesterday."
Remus laughed. "I did wonder why."
"Well I realise that it might make it seem as though I don't really want to be your friend. But I do. Do you remember when we met on the train?"
"Of course, how could I forget? You ran straight into the door of the compartment that I was sitting in. It was a memorable day."
Sirius blushed. Remus raised an eyebrow at him.
"You're blushing. Any reason why?"
"Um...no...of course not. I have a disease; blood sometimes rushes to my face for no apparent reason. I'm taking medication though and hopefully it will be gone soon."
Remus laughed. "Sure, would this disease be called embarrassment by any chance?"
Sirius appeared to find the passing paintings very interesting.
"Yes...well... moving on, I was just...well...we got on really well. And I'm sorry that I haven't kept up with you, it's just you seemed really settled in Ravenclaw and I didn't want to...you know...stop you getting settled. And then just recently...I've kind of...well wished we could have stayed friends."
Remus laughed. "That sounds like fun. Well, I better go off here. See you later."
He waved and wandered off down the corridor to Transfiguration. Sirius fell back against the wall in relief, his legs collapsing. Unfortunately what should have been a graceful slump to the floor was ruined when he missed the wall, fell back against a figure of armour and fell to the floor with a resounding crash. He jumped up quickly, checking no one saw, especially Remus and he was lucky. The boy was too far down the corridor to hear. Righting the suit of armour Sirius tossed his hair out of his eyes and swore loudly, blushing a furious red. Life was not going well for our favourite member of the Black family. He cursed once more, just for good luck and dashed off to collect his Potions book.
When he entered the Potions room the rest of the Gryffindor class were waiting expectantly. The room went silent and Lily gave him the thumbs up. He gave her a half hearted smile and ran to his desk, throwing himself down behind it and banging his head off the wood.
The whole class groaned. Not another night of a moody Sirius Black. This was going to be hell.
Luckily the Potions Master swept into the classroom and their work was set before they even knew about it. Dam these teachers were getting faster and faster.
Evening came and Sirius was walking down for dinner, alone as the rest of the Gryffindor Tower had abandoned him as he had promised to hex them into oblivion if they so much as came near him, when he heard a voice call him. Looking up he managed to fall down the stairs and knock over several small people. Apologising, he picked himself up and looked round for the voice.
Remus was standing at the top of the stairs laughing, doubled over and holding his stomach. He staggered down the stairs and reached Sirius.
"I should really take points off for knocking down innocent small people but I believe it was an accident."
Sirius grinned and some of the old Sirius Black charm came back.
"I'd get the points back, don't you worry. Are you heading to dinner?"
"That's what I usually do at this time of the day. Come on, or the food will all be gone."
When Sirius and Remus walked into the Great Hall, laughing about some prank Sirius had been retelling Remus, the whole Gryffindor table was silent. Eyes bugged around the hall, jaws dropped and many people swore to see tears in the eyes off most of the girls that weren't in Gryffindor. Several ran from the hall to the bathrooms while others pulled out tissues and wailed loudly. Apart from said wailing however the Hall was silent as Sirius waved goodbye to Remus and strolled over to sit between Peter and James, who had saved him a seat, even on the threat of a painful and excruciatingly slow death. He plonked himself down, grabbed the nearest plate of chicken and began piling his plate.
His fork was half way to his mouth when he realised that everyone was still staring at him.
"What?" He asked, puzzled.
Eyes rolled and people smacked their foreheads.
"What are you doing with Remus? IS something going on between you yet?"
"Oh that. No, we are just friends. At the moment anyway." He winked. "Yeah, we had a talk during lunch-"
"So that's where you were! Lily told us you had gone to see the stars!"
"Well, his stars anyway, that's like his favourite thing to do." Lily interjected.
"What?" James asked, totally confused.
"Look at Remus! Oh do pay attention James, acting thick is not very becoming for you." Lily went back to eating her potatoes along with Sirius. These two, and Remus, seemed the only people who could eat that night however. Everyone else was in too much shock or was too busy crying over the loss of one of the cutest guys in school. Everyone seemed to have the idea that Sirius and Remus were a couple now. Not that Sirius minded. Maybe it would give Remus ideas!
Remus meanwhile was being quizzed to within an inch of his life by his fellow Ravenclaws. He had walked out of the Great Hall from dinner, nice and normal. There, however, he had been pounced on by several Ravenclaws and dragged back to the common room before he had a chance to escape to the library, where he usually spent most of his evenings.
Once inside the common room he had been shoved into a chair, a light shone in his eyes and had several faces peering closely at him.
"What in the name of anything is going on?" He asked, somewhat perplexed by his situation.
"Okay Remus, let's get straight to the point. What's going on between you and Black?"
"Me and Black? Sirius?"
"Oh God, he's on first name terms! This isn't good!"
"First name terms? What are you on about?"
"You and him! When you came into the Great Hall today. What was going on?"
"Look, who am I even talking to? Why are you interrogating me?"
"Names do not concern you now-"
"Abigail! This is not a James Bond movie! Remus, it's us, Thomas, Abigail, Theo, Sara and a couple of 6th and 7th years. We need to discuss where your relationship with Sirius Black is going. Is this really a good idea Remus?"
"I don't understand what you are talking about! What relationship with Sirius? Why isn't it a good idea?"
"So you admit you do have a relationship with one Sirius Black?"
"Abigail! Once more, cut out the movie stuff! Seriously, you'll start to scare him and you are scaring me!"
"Sorry Thomas. Sorry Remus. Okay, but you do have a relationship with Black?"
"Relationship? What do you mean?"
"You are dating Black!"
"Dating him?!" Remus almost yelled aloud. "No way, I am not dating Black. Why does everyone think that?"
"Because Black never talks to anyone outside his pack of friends unless he wants to bed them and there he was, talking to you."
"What?!" Now Remus really was yelling. "I am not going to bed Black!"
There were several sighs of relief throughout the common room.
"I'm just friends with him, if you can even call us that. He only started talking to me again 2 days ago or something."
There was a pause of silence.
"You mean you've talked to him before?"
"Of course! We talked on the train in our first year of Hogwarts, I had the only free compartment and him and James wanted a seat. We were going to be friends but then I was sorted in here and he was in Gryffindor."
There was a lengthy silence.
"Hello? Is there anyone there?" He blinked a few times against the light shining in his eyes and made to get up when a hand shoved him back down.
"Wait, you said everyone seems to think you and Sirius are dating. Who else said that?" Abigail asked him. There were murmurs of agreement.
"Oh, it was Lily Evans; she seemed to think that we should go to the Yule Ball together." He shrugged as best he could.
"If she knows then so does Potter and Black, and most likely Pettigrew as well."
"Know what? What is going on here?!" Remus was getting slightly annoyed.
"This does not concern you...sorry Thomas, I couldn't resist. I just love James Bond!"
"That's okay Abigail, look; maybe we better leave this for this evening and talk to Lily in the morning."
The others agreed and with last goodbyes, they all left the common room to retire to bed, do some homework or whatever. Remus was left, sitting alone in the empty common room, with a lone light shining in his eyes. He was, to say the least, utterly confused.
Sirius bounded down the stairs to breakfast in a happier mood than he had been for several weeks. And there in the Great Hall sat the object of his dreams! He stopped bouncing, started walking like a normal person, stopped to pick up some toast from the Gryffindor table and wandered over.
"Hey Remus."
"Good morning Sirius." Remus didn't even bother to look up from his book as Sirius sat down and started helping himself to the Ravenclaw supply of strawberry jam. Remus rolled his eyes.
"Sirius?"
"Mnghthg?"
"I beg your pardon?"
Sirius swallowed. "Sorry. Yes Remus?"
"Well," He frowned and tried to think of a way to broach the subject. Sirius noticed his face.
"What's up?"
"Well, yesterday, after dinner, I was dragged back to the Ravenclaw common room and quizzed about my relationship with you."
Sirius, who had just taken a rather large swig of pumpkin juice, spat it all over the Ravenclaw table. Remus whisked his wand and the mess was cleared.
"Our relationship?" Sirius parroted him.
"Yes, apparently we have a relationship."
"Oh." Sirius was silent for a moment.
"Well? I mean we are just friends aren't we?"
"Of course!" Sirius hoped Remus didn't notice the slight hesitation or the look of longing that he knew was in his eyes right about now.
"It's just, well some people were telling me that you only talk to other people outside your little group if you are trying to sleep with them."
Sirius paused, unsure how to answer the question.
"Well, they are right, I do only talk to people I'm trying to bed."
This time it was Remus' turn to pause.
"So you're trying to bed me?"
"When you say it like that it sounds so vulgar." Sirius tried to grin but his mouth wasn't working in tune with his brain.
"I don't think I understand. Excuse me, I need to think about some things. Can I talk to you later?"
"Sure, what time?" Suddenly he wasn't as happy anymore. Bugger, why did those stupid Ravenclaws have to stick their big noses in?!
"How about, lunchtime, at the Entrance Hall? I need to talk to Lily about something."
"Lily? What has she got to do with anything?"
"Oh, everything." Remus muttered darkly, before bidding goodbye to Sirius and walking out the Hall.
Sirius left soon after, after putting pepper in every single dish of food, even the toast, on the Ravenclaw table.
James, Lily and Peter found it slightly strange that Sirius wasn't at breakfast, but then, after noticing Remus wasn't there either, they snickered into their meal and made rude comments. Having a friend in love was fun! The amusement of James and Lily had worn off some time ago.
So it was quite a shock when, as Lily stepped into Ancient Runes that morning, she was met with the dark face of one Remus. J. Lupin.
"Um, hi Remus. What's up?" She sounded slightly cautious, as well she might be.
"I think you could tell me that Lily. I've been meaning to have a word with you; you see I found something out yesterday evening. Now, may I ask, what type of contact you have had with several Ravenclaws in 5th year and above?"
"Well, quite a bit, there are prefects and several of them are my friends." She sounded a little flustered.
"Uh huh, right. Well you see after dinner last night I was questioned, actually I'd say more interrogated by several of my 'friends' and I do use that word lightly now. They seemed to be under the impression that I am currently involved in a romantic liaison with a Mr Sirius Black. Do you have any idea why they could think that?"
"Ah...yes...well...there is a good explanation to that."
"One that you would care to share with me now?"
"Not really." She muttered under her breath before smiling brightly. "Well Remus, the Ravenclaws and I have decided that you need a little love. So we decided to see if we could set you up with someone. And well, I just happened to know of someone who liked you...and the rest they say is history!" She smiled, the sort of smile that says the person is wondering whether to bolt when she has the chance to wait and face the music.
Remus pondered this for a moment.
"You mean he does like me?"
"Sirius? He's been crazy over you for 5 years Remus!" Lily already knew she was in big trouble, couldn't hurt to get herself further in trouble and help them realise that they were perfect for each other, could it?
"5 years?!"
Lily marvelled at the way Remus' voice went up several octaves.
"Yes Remus, 5 years. Ever since he met you on the train he has been madly and completely in love with you. It was only this year that he managed to pluck up the courage to talk to you! It's all he ever talks about, you, you, you! Seriously! I think we know more about you than even you do! Remus, give him a chance, I know he's the most lusted after boy in school and that everyone thinks he's a bit of a player, but he's not. He's only been out with a couple of girls and that was when James made him go out with them, to get his mind off of you!"
Remus was struck dumb, his mouth hanging open wide.
"5 years?!" He repeated again, incredulous. "Bloody hell! I think...Jesus! 5 years...I didn't think he even knew I existed!"
"Remus, I think you need to talk to him."
"I'm going to, I'm meeting him at lunchtime so we can talk."
"Thank god! It's only taken you like a million years!"
Remus would have retorted to this but the bell rang and the teacher filed in with the rest of the students so Lily was saved.
Sirius was pacing the Entrance Hall furiously, waiting for Remus, his finger nails were now non-existent and his hair had almost all been pulled out until James stopped him. Unbeknownst to him, every Gryffindor was crammed into every hiding place around the Entrance Hall, to watch and littered among them were several Ravenclaws, Hufflepuffs and even a few Slytherins. The Great Hall was practically empty for lunch. Even a few teachers were hidden around the Entrance Hall, after being clued in by several students.
Remus, who had deliberately been kept behind after class to allow everyone to hide, came wandering down the hall, humming to himself. There was a huge intake of breath around the place and Sirius looked up, saw him coming and looked like he could wet himself at any point. James snickered from behind a suit of armour before he was poked sharply in the ribs by his loving girlfriend.
Remus grinned as he saw that Sirius had noticed him.
"Hey Sirius!" He walked up to the taller boy, flung his arms around his neck and hugged him hard.
Sirius looked like his eyes might just pop out his head, his mouth dropped open and he stood like a statue while the thinner boy hugged him.
"Dear lord, I must be dreaming." He muttered to himself.
"Definitely not a dream Sirius." Remus released him and grinned. "I was talking to Lily. She told me something...very interesting."
Sirius paled visibly. "What did she tell you?" He sounded scared, very scared,
"5 years is a long time. Bu what can I say? I'm exactly the same."
It took a moment for this to sink into Sirius' brain. Remus knew when it did as he flushed a deep red. Then his face turned startled.
"Wait a second, did you just say you were the same?"
Remus nodded happily.
"So you've liked me for 5 years as well?" His eyes were widening again.
Remus grinned. "Of that I am guilty."
"Jesus." He was about to say more but was swiftly cut of when Remus leaned in to kiss him.
***
2 weeks later and the whole school was in a buzz about the Yule Ball. Everyone was desperately looking for a date and those lucky ones that did have a date were getting dirty looks wherever they went, especially if them and said partner were making out in the middle of the corridor. Which seemed to happen to one Sirius Black and Remus Lupin an awful lot now a days.
Professors had been forced to deduct points for 'improper conduct between classes' and many classes found that either partner of the said couple often ran in a little late, looking slightly flustered, hair messed up etc., but looking extremely happy for themselves.
The big night arrived, Sirius was dressed in his best robes, fussing with his hair and wondering if 'Remus would prefer it down or tied back' when James pulled out his wand and threatened to hex him into oblivion if he didn't shut the fuck up.
Finally everyone had met their partners down at the hall and there was much squealing as people found out whom secret dates were. One couple though, seemed oblivious to the chattering and had eyes only for each other. Everyone else was slightly sickened by the display of affection, but then considered the fact that it was better than Sirius was with Remus and totally loved up, rather than Sirius moping around the common room, hexing everyone in sight and explaining the finer points of why Remus looked adorable when he stuck his tongue out to write.
They looked amazingly perfect together, one blondish brownish, the other jet black, one slightly taller, one slightly thinner, and both wearing identical happy expressions.
Christmas was happy and more peaceful time at Hogwarts this year.