Title: Marauder's Summer Getaway
AN: Thank you everyone for the sweet reviews of the last chapter…Stick with me here and pretended that the decorations in the Great Hall before the house cup is awarded are the last year's winners…which makes since cause you wouldn't want to spoil the fun, now would you? Heheh I get to put them into lots of awkward scenes. Remus has an obsession with chocolate frogs…don't ask.
Disclaimer: Don't own Siri, Remmie (eeek sorry Miss Polkat I just thought it was a cute name…I'm sorry…I like it…), James, Peter…or anyone else the wonderful J.K Rowling has already claimed.
Summary: Continuation of Morning Games: Sirius and Remus reminisce about the good old summer that James so aptly named "Marauder's Summer Getaway." RL/SB Multi-chaptered fluff.
Guide: 'Thoughts'
Present (OotP time)
Marauder's Summer Getaway
Chapter One: End-Of-Term
"It has been brought to my attention that now is the appropriate time for me to award the house cup," Dumbledore's face cracked into a knowing smile as he stood up from the head table in the Great Hall. Looking over the rims of his half moon spectacles he continued, "In fourth place, Hufflepuff, with three-hundred and twenty nine points; in third place, Slytherin, with three-hundred and eighty two points; in a close second, Ravenclaw, with an even four-hundred points; and, despite repeated detentions earned by a select group of un named individuals-" The whole of Gryffindor table glanced at the four beaming fifth years before returning their attention to Dumbledore. "Gryffindor this year has earned four-hundred and eleven points, winning them the house cup for the third year in a row." Gryffindor table erupted with cheers as the entire house stood up, raising their goblets to the head master. "Now, let us eat!"
The gilded plates that sat before the four boys at the end of the Gryffindor table filled with ungodly amounts of meats, breads and vegetables in the blink of an eye as they sat down. Their empty goblets filled once more with pumpkin juice upon being placed on the lengthy house table. Two hands made a beeline for the lamb chops as the boy involuntarily began to lick his lips.
"Merlin, Peter when was the last time you ate?" James Potter asked, bemusement lacing his voice. The boy sitting across from him, Peter, began to swallow hunks of lamb without chewing in order to answer his friends question quickly.
"Er…I had a few chocolate frogs an hour ago…" His cheeks flushed lightly upon stating this.
"It's okay, Pete." The ever-happy voice of Remus Lupin chimed in as he nudged the boy sitting next to him reassuringly. He leaned in next to his friend, "So did I." Remus always seemed to know what to say to make his friends feel comfortable and smile, which is what Peter Pettigrew did.
"Thanks, Remmie." Peter said sweetly. A muscle in Sirius Black's neck tensed, that was his name for Remus…it was always Siri and Remmie.
'Stupid git,' Black didn't hate Pettigrew, they are Marauders together (nothing could break that bond). It's just that Sirius had, over three years, developed an oversized crush upon the young werewolf and had a predilection for being rather possessive of the little things that he could make his own about Remus, such as nicknames. Ripping savagely into a dinner roll to vent his frustration Sirius' eyes began to study the youthful face of the boy sitting across the table from him. The rest of the Marauders continued with their conversation, speaking through mouthfuls of delicious food the house elves had prepared.
"Did you see the look on Snape's face when Dumbledore said that Slytherin had a weak three-hundred and eighty two points?" James asked around a rather large piece of roast beef while cutting off another square with his fork and knife. Remus looked up from his plate of mashed potatoes and nodded smiling wildly. The Marauders all strongly disliked the 'slimy Slytherin git' named Severus Snape.
'That smile,' Sirius thought as he noticed the faintest of dimples on Remus' chin, it was only evident when Remus truly smiled. A goofy grin plastered across Sirius' face when he discovered something new about his Moony. James glanced at his best friend, knowing exactly whom the grin was for. Sirius hadn't told James about his feelings for their friend but James knew, you can't catch a boy staring like that at another boy for three years and not figure it out. "Priceless." Sirius said breathlessly. Remus looked over to his friend, who still had the smile plastered to his face. The intensity of Sirius' blue eyes caused Remus' face to flush. He nervously tried to distract himself by talking.
"Yeah, it was priceless." Remus said, making Sirius' comment relevant to the topic at hand. Returning to his plate of potatoes Remus failed to notice Sirius wince in pain as James kicked him under the table.
"Stop staring at Moony like that." James paused; he didn't want Sirius to know that he knew of Sirius' feelings. "Act normal…" once again he paused seeing the despair in his friends eyes. "Seriously, Sirius." James hissed in a hushed yell. Sirius opened his mouth to make some stupid joke that James had dumbly set up, but instead turned to Remus and Peter.
"But it was nothing compared to the looks on the Slytherin Quidditch team when James here," Sirius slapped his best friend on the back, almost causing the other boy to spit up the swig of pumpkin juice he had just downed. "caught the Snitch and won the Quidditch Cup for us Gryffindors." James grinned as a pretty red head from down the table glanced at him and smiled warmly.
"Mr. Prongs I do believe a certain Miss Lily Evans may finally fancy you," Peter said watching as James went bright pink, but did not object.
"James the lady's man!" Sirius leered returning to his normal jovial self. He pulled James' head under his arm and gave him a noogie, causing James' already untamable hair into a disheveled mess.
"You're one to talk, Sirius," James said grinning. Sirius relaxed as James pulled his head back from under Sirius' arm. "You have your own "ickle first year fan club." James mock squealed pulling Sirius into a bear hug.
"Shut it, Potter." In the tightly knit band of Marauders the use of last names meant trouble. James pulled away from Sirius cocking an eyebrow as if to ask what the problem was. Remus watched, still holding a fork full of potatoes he had speared five minutes ago. He licked his lips nervously feeling the tension creep over their end of the house table. This had been happening a lot lately, James would do something to Sirius, generally relating to the fact that almost every girl in Hogwarts wanted to snog him senseless, and then Sirius would snap at him about it. Little did Remus know James had been trying to lay traps left and right to get Sirius to admit that he wasn't exactly fond of girls 'that way.'
Remus, of course, was the only one who could settle the disputes but this time he chose to change the subject completely. "Well…uhh…what is everyone one going to do over the summer holiday?" Remus asked before finally stuffing his potatoes in his mouth. He swallowed the food watching as Sirius' gaze never left his. Remus could feel shivers of warmth run up and down his arms as the other boy continued to stare at him.
Remus was still somewhat new to the thought of liking Sirius more then a friend, he had only started that year to fall deeper into the emotion he had started to first feel in his third year…but when Sirius would look at him like that…oh how it made him want to scream. 'Siri, don't look at me like that unless you mean it.' Lupin put on a false smile as James told them he was going to be home the entire time brushing up on his Quidditch skills, as if he needed to.
"I don't think I can take another summer trapped in that stuffy house…" Sirius muttered finally looking away from Remus. He took a long drink from his goblet, emptying it.
"Maybe you should just run away from home, Padfoot," Remus said jokingly, laughter lacing his words. Sirius couldn't nor wanted to fight the smile that played with his lips hearing Remus laugh.
"That's not a bad idea, Moony, not a bad idea at all."
The next morning the four Marauders woke up and prepared for their train ride home. Peter and Sirius finished packing as Remus sat on his bed reading a thick novel. James was pacing around the dormitory thinking up ways he could sit with the pretty red head, Lily, on the Hogwarts Express back home. A few hours later, after lugging their heavy trunk onto the train, James went ahead and found an empty compartment. He some how managed to clumsily convince Miss Evans to accompany him during the trip, without her friends. Peter walked into the compartment and stored his things before sitting down across from James and Lily.
Sirius and Remus, who had been talking out in the hall about the finishing touches for their map for next year, walked in through the narrow compartment doorway. When swinging his arm back Sirius' hand knocked clumsily against Remus' upon entering the room. Remus attempted to ignore the warmth as he turned around and shut the compartment door. Sirius' mind, on the other hand, was sent reeling when his fingertips brushed against the soft palm of Remus cold hand.
"So Lily, I see my boy James here must have some charm deep, deep, deep, down under the scruffy head of hair." Sirius asked sitting down next to Peter. Lily smiled tucking a strand of flaming hair behind her ear.
"I do believe, Mr. Black, that it was in fact the "scruffy head of hair" that charmed me so." Lily voice retorted in a defensive manner.
'Obviously the chick digs the "just rolled out of bed" look.' Sirius thought to himself as Remus gracefully sat down beside him, Sirius made note of this. Remus always held an air of almost over-control over himself that seemed so strange to the nonchalant Black boy. Sirius always assumed it was because of they lycanthrope, because at least in human form he could have control over himself.
'I want to, well to be honest I want to do many things to Remus, but one of the most important is make him lose control, I want to make him want a chocolate frog—what?'
"Do you want a chocolate frog, Siri?" Sirius blinked, his thought interrupted, he looked down at Remus extended hand clutching the sugary treat. His mouth fell open, dumbfounded at how Remus voice could have messed with his thoughts so easily.
"Oh no Remmie thanks for…er….asking." Sirius muttered suddenly self-conscious. He knew he must have zoned off completely because he had missed the old batty witch who sells the chocolate frogs on the train….unless Remus had saved the frog since their last Hogsmeade weekend, which was entirely possible since Sirius knew of Remus' fondness of the dark candy. That theory was dashed when he saw Peter sitting next to him with chocolate smeared across his face.
"Hey maybe this summer we can have a get together, ya know. At my place or something." James offered starting their conversation back up after Remus had abruptly ended it when becoming concerned with Sirius' abnormal silence. James had made sure to remember that it was Remus who had noticed the absence of Sirius boastful voice first. A grin had spread across James' lips when Remus offered Sirius some of his beloved chocolate.
"That'd be great, if my mum wasn't an bloody over-bearing f-f-f" Lily coughed knowing the letters that would soon follow the f.
"Sirius you should just leave that place. Moony was right." James said being a gentleman and handing Lily the last of his candy.
"Now, you shouldn't do anything too brash." Lily warned in a caring way as she took the offered candy.
"Sirius, I don't like to speak ill of many people, save some select Slytherins, but your mother is insufferable." Remus said placing a hand on Sirius' shoulder. Sirius' breath hitched on contact but he covered it with a sigh.
"I know, trust me Remmie, after nearly sixteen years of living with that…woman…I know." Sirius said downcast.
"Well I think we should change now." Lily said trying to bring the group of boys out of their doldrums and back into the present. She left them to change in an empty compartment. The group of boys began to disrobe after taking out their change of clothing. Sirius was unbuttoning his shirt when his eyes shifted to the boy standing next to him.
Hundreds of gashes, scars, and blemishes marred the soft skin of Lupin's back and torso. Sirius knew they were marks from Remus' transformations…there wasn't anything he could do to help Remus there, that's why he and James and Peter and become Animagi; to run with Remus in a pact every full moon…so Moony wouldn't be alone. This was the first time he had ever seen the scars, Remus usually wore and undershirt, he must have forgotten.
"Christ, Remmie." Sirius sighed he couldn't control his hand from reaching out and tracing a scar on the boy's upper arm. The wound resembled a set of werewolf jaws, that must have been were he was bitten. Sirius bit his lower lip knowing how much pain each scar had caused his love.
Remus tensed under the rough pads of Sirius' fingers as he traced the bite mark. He quickly tugged the faded black t-shirt over his back and pulled it to the waist of his loose jeans. He was ashamed of his scar riddled body and thought that a boy as beautiful as Sirius deserved someone better then a werewolf.
"Don't Siri."
They reached King's Cross Station with out problems, on time, as usual. Sirius helped Remus with his things as James attempted to help Lily with her things but only succeeded in dropping her owl's cage on his foot.
"Sure he can catch a Snitch, but can he hold onto a owl cage?" Lily scoffed to Remus who chuckled light at the remark.
After crossing the barrier back into the muggle station James kissed one of Lily's flushed cheeks goodbye before hugging each of his friends promising them he'd write. James left with his parents, as did Peter. Sirius sat down on his trunk pulling at the hem of his t-shirt. He began tapping his foot impatiently as Remus sat down next to him, his own school trunk next to his feet.
"I'm sorry about…on the tra-" Sirius began but was cut off by Remus forgiving voice.
"It's okay Sirius…I guess I-I just don't like people feeling sorry for me…and if you saw…well…" Remus trailed off hoping Sirius understood.
"Yeah, I know." Sirius sighed looking up at the high ceiling of the muggle station. Remus took this moment to gaze at Sirius' long neck, watch his Adam's apple bounce when he spoke again. "Why are you staring, Remmie?" Sirius asked playfully, his eyes still on the ceiling. Remus blushed and looked away.
"Whatever are you talking about, Black?" Remus used Sirius' surname in mock annoyance but nonetheless got a surprised look from Sirius.
"Lupin." Sirius grinned as he sneered the name.
"Black." Remus spat the word but smiled at his friend.
"Mooooooony." Sirius drawled in a very Malfoy-ish manner.
"Padfoooooot." Remus returned the drawl.
"Wizard."
"Warlock." Lupin seemed to be enjoying the mock battle of childish name-calling he and Sirius were engaged in.
"Er…" Sirius paused unsure what next to say.
"Dog." Remus snapped.
"Werewolf." Sirius clamped a hand over his mouth, but Remus only smiled.
"Siri, I'm shocked. That was below the belt." His face flushed hearing his own words. His mind was spinning them into a dirty fantasy that Remus didn't particularly want to have at that moment. Sirius only smirked seeing the blush but also was having the same idea as Remus…only his was wanted.
"Remus. Come along." The stern voice of Remus father broke through both boys' daydreams. Remus jumped off Sirius' trunk and grabbed his own. Placing a hand over that which clutched the toting latch on Remus trunk Sirius caused Lupin to stop. He pulled the shorter boy in to a hug, a 'more then friends' hug.
Remus wrapped his arms around Sirius' waist as he silently breathed in the older boy's scent, storing it in his memory for all times. It was a wonderful muggle cologne. Sirius squeezed him tightly against his chest as he whispered in his ear.
"I'll write you." His voice was huskier then he had intended it to be and it sent chills down Remus spine. "Will you write me?"
'Desperation? Siri?' Remus thought furrowing his brow as he pressed his face against Sirius' broad shoulder.
"I might go crazy in that mad house if I don't hear from you." He knew how that must have sounded and quickly added, "or James and Peter."
"I'll write you. I promise Siri." Remus whispered the nickname; he tried to keep the affectionate undertone from lacing his words but failed.
"Remus!" They broke apart saying a final goodbye.
'I'd promise him anything if it meant he'd be my friend forever.'
Sirius shifted under Remus as he pulled him closer to his thin frame. He smiled remembering the end of term feast and Hogwarts Express. "You were so shy, Remus." He joked as Remus looked up at him through fallen grayed fringe.
"And you were so hot-headed, Sirius." Remus sighed as he began to trace circles on the back of Sirius' hand that were loosely gripping Lupin's hips. "But somehow the shy one got you to fall for him first, Mr. Black."
"Sure Mooooooony." Sirius said kissing Remus' cheek, he knew Remus was right.
"I liked you since third year. You said so yourself, you liked me since second year." Remus knew he had won the argument when Sirius tried to silence him with a kiss. Smiling, Remus let Black brush his lips against his own in a gentle caress. Remus sighed contently into Sirius' mouth.
"Padfoooooot."
AN: Teehee…well thanks for reading and please don't forget to review so I know ya'll out there like it…I am truly pathetic…sigh Siri save me!