~I Told You So~
Finally seated at the dinner table in the dining room, the three piled their plates and began to eat. Mixed chatter filled the silence between bites.
"Things look like they have been going alright for you, Jason. What exactly do you do?"
"I told you, Remus," Jason smiled, "call me Jay. As for what I do, I'm a Healer at the local wizarding hospital."
Sirius looked up from his plate, "There are other wizards here?"
"Of course," Jay chuckled, "The Lake of the Ozarks is on the top twenty list of where wizards live in the U.S. Something about the magic aurora the lake gives out."
Remus had a puzzled expression on his face, "I didn't feel any magic around here."
Sirius swallowed a forkful of food, "Neither did I."
"That's the strange thing about it, though," Jay smiled, "No amount of magic had ever been traced here."
"Wait," Sirius eyed the brunette, "So you're saying that there is magic here, but there isn't?"
"Well, it all depends on beliefs," Jay continued, "Any witch or wizard who has come to visit or live here say that their lives have changed in someway. It is difficult to explain, but most pin it on the undetectable magical aurora."
"So it's more of a superstition," Remus enquired.
"In a way, yes, but I don't believe in superstitions. However, I do believe in the magic of this lake."
"Why," Remus asked, "What has the lake changed for you?"
"Ever since I came here, which was when I turned eighteen; I have had a boost of confidence. My whole life seemed to have flipped. I got accepted into the Ozarks Healer College, interviewed for a really great job even before I graduated, and bought this house after working six months. So I believe in the magic of the Ozarks."
Remus looked on in approval while Sirius concentrated even harder on his food. The remainder of dinner was left in thoughtful silence.
As soon as the last bite had been taken, Jay leaned back in his chair and stretched his arms above his head with a giant yawn, "I don't know about you two, but I'm gonna head off to bed. It's been a long day for me. Thank Merlin I have the entire week off."
"That sounds like the right idea," Remus added, "That plane ride took a lot out of me."
Jay and Remus got up from out of their chairs and started heading up the stairs. Sirius soon followed suit quietly growling under his breath about people who go to sleep too early. Remus was already halfway in his room by the time he got upstairs.
"Goodnight, Sirius, Jay," Remus called.
"Night, Remmy," Sirius replied.
"Sweet dreams," Jay answered.
Sirius looked over at Jason and suppressed the urge to knock his head off. Sweet dreams? He had not heard that since James' mother had said that to him when he spent the night the summer of his fifth year.
Remus smiled and quietly shut the door from behind him.
Jay glanced at the raven-haired man next to him, "Goodnight, Sirius."
Sirius started heading towards his room as he threw a, "Night," over his shoulder. When he took that glance he saw Jason turn into the room right across from Remus's. Sirius growled and muttered, "Arrogant prick," under his breath as he walked into his room.
Sirius stomped into the bathroom, threw off his shirt and pants, and shot them into a hamper in the corner. He trudged back into his bedroom, placed his wand under his pillow, and pulled back the covers of his bed. The silk sheets felt nice as he slid between them. Feeling just a little tired, the animagus placed his hands beneath his head and stared up at the ceiling. The sky had faded to a night black with thousands of sparkling white dots. The phoenix was gone and the Antipodean Opaleye dragons were nowhere to be seen, but the herd of Abraxan horses were huddled in a circle, eyes closed, sleeping peacefully.
The raven-haired looked harder at the painting. Something was missing. He looked around and soon spotted what he was looking for on the other side of the room. The golden stallion was standing at alert, watching over his herd; protecting them from any unknown danger that may happen to approach.
Sirius couldn't help but smile as he slid his lids shut and fell into a deep sleep dreaming about an entirely faceless person except for two perfect, honey-colored eyes.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
Sirius popped his eyes open to be greeted by pitch-blackness. A trickle of sweat dripped down from his forehead as he pushed the covers down a bit off his chest. Something had woke him up, but what?
Something in his mind kicked in and he felt a presence on the other side of the room. A shadow moved from near the balcony door towards his bed. Sirius grabbed his wand and shot out of bed. The figure froze.
"Sirius?" a familiar voice called.
Sirius slowly lowered his wand, "Remus?"
The shadow went over toward the wall and flicked on the light switch.
Sirius squinted his eyes as the bright lights burned through his lids, "Ow!"
"Quit being a baby, Padfoot."
"What the hell are you doing here?" Sirius placed a hand over his fast beating heart, "You nearly scared me to death!"
"Sorry..." Remus whispered.
Sirius studied Remus's face. He hadn't been the werewolf's friend for over twenty-five years to not know when something was upsetting the blonde, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing really," he avoided Sirius's eyes.
"It has to be something to get you to come to my room in the middle of the night," Sirius coaxed. He noticed his friend's face was a little paler than normal and his eyelids were hardly staying open.
"No... really, Sirius. It was nothing. I'm just gonna go back to bed," Remus turned around to head out the balcony door.
"Remus?" Sirius watched as golden eyes turned back to him, "Just tell me that you're alright."
The werewolf smiled, "I'm alright, Padfoot. Sorry for waking you up. Goodnight."
Sirius saw Remus smile, knew it was a perfectly normal smile and there was no trace of any emotion in the blonde's eyes, but he knew Remus better then that. For as long as Sirius had known him, Remus could always hide his emotions from everyone. For the longest time even Sirius could not figure out how to tell the difference between a genuine smile and a mask, but after spending so many years with him, he found the only way to tell.
If you looked close enough at Remus when he truly did smile, you would see him completely relaxed, but when he was trying to hide what he was really feeling, his shoulders would become tense. It was barely noticeable, but the only way to tell, and Remus's shoulder's looked far from relaxed at the moment.
However, Sirius reluctantly let it go, "Goodnight, Moony."
If Remus wanted to tell what had him shaken up, then he would. Sirius was just going to pay a little more attention to him to make sure he was alright.
Remus slowly closed the door on the way out practically gliding from the window's view. Sirius unwillingly watched him go, flicked the lights back off, placed his wand back underneath his pillow, and climbed back into bed. He drifted into a troubled sleep worrying the whole night about Remus.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
Sirius felt the world falling back into place. His focus on reality slowly came back to him as he opened his eyes to the rays of sunlight falling on him from outside his window. Wait... this wasn't his room...
Sirius, in a half induced sleep haze, grabbed his wand, jumped out of bed, and ran toward the balcony door. He threw it open and flung himself against the railing barely suppressing the urge to let out a surprised yelp as he looked down among foreign land.
"Shit! Where the bloody hell am I?!" Sirius gasped.
Then, it all seemed to hit him; Remus, letter, America, Jason. That last thought made a small growl escape past his lips which surprised him. Sirius shook his head allowing a scowl to fix over his features as he walked back inside and closed the door behind him.
"I'm getting too old for this," Sirius groaned as he headed toward the dresser he had stored his clothes in.
Sirius heard restrained giggles coming from behind him. He quickly turned around and saw Remus, leaning up against the hall door frame, with his hand over his mouth trying to hold back his laughter, but tears were already starting to form at the base of his golden eyes.
"What are you doing here?!" Sirius gaped.
Remus just couldn't hold it back any longer. He burst out laughing so hard he buckled and landed on his knees on the floor with his arms around his stomach.
Sirius growled, "It wasn't that funny."
Remus wiped the tears away from his eyes as he slowly stood up again and regained his breath, "S-Sorry, Padfoot, but it was just so hilarious. You should have seen your face!
He broke down in another fit of giggles.
"Har, har, har," Sirius snarled, "Did you want something?"
The blonde wiped another set of tears away from his eyes, "I was just coming to wake you up for breakfast."
Sirius turned back around to rummage through his draw, "I could have *sworn* I locked that door last night!"
"Well, you didn't, Siri. Getting senile?" Remus smirked
"I am not!"
"You said it yourself that you're getting too old," a teasing gleam just itched at the edge of the werewolf's eyes.
"You're asking for it," Sirius warned starting to catch on to the playfulness.
"Oh really?" Remus edged, "What are you going to do about it?"
Sirius's eyes took on a dark gleam that Remus saw when he turned around. The blonde did not like the look on Sirius's face at all.
Sirius strode across the room towards Remus making the blonde step back in a hurry. Sirius stopped just before he reached the door with Remus standing back in the hallway. The dark gleam still made Remus a little nervous.
Sirius smirked just as he slammed the door shut in Remus's face and locked it with his wand.
Remus banged on the door, "Sirius, that was so not fair!"
Sirius laughed at the blonde, but otherwise ignored him as he went back to his dresser. He rummaged through his clothes grabbing a pair of black jeans and a red shirt.
It was then he noticed something, "Mooooony!"
Sirius unlocked the door and threw it open. Remus had just come back up the steps looking at Sirius as if he had lost his mind.
"What?!"
"I forgot something," Remus started to open his mouth but Sirius cut him off, "And if you say I told you so, I'm going to hex your lips together for a week!"
Remus couldn't help it. The way Sirius's face was twisted up in seriousness trying to make sure the blonde wouldn't make fun of him was just too funny. Remus burst out laughing again.
Sirius let out another low growl as he turned on his heels and went back into his room with Remus following behind him.
"So what did you leave behind?"
Sirius let a very small blush creep across his cheeks that was hardly noticeable, but of course Remus saw it.
"I have to know now. What'd you forget?"
Sirius mumbled something under his breath.
"Speak up, Sirius. I can't understand you."
"I said," Sirius snipped, "I forgot my boxers."
Remus took a one second pause before he doubled over onto the floor roaring with laughter.
"This is not my day," Sirius grumbled.
As soon as Remus had control of himself, which took awhile, he stood back up and stared Sirius in the eyes, trying awfully hard not to break down again.
"Guess you'll be going commando for the rest of the trip."
"Moony!" Sirius whined all the while his face turning a brighter shade of red.
Remus was really working on not laughing, "Alright, Sirius. We'll go shopping after breakfast, but what you're going to do until then I don't have a clue."
Sirius smirked, "I'll do what you suggested."
"And what is that?"
"Go commando."
Remus's eyebrows shot up, "I wasn't serious!"
"Well, what else am I suppose to do?"
Remus shrugged, "Guess your right. Just pray you don't get a skin burn with those jeans you wear."
The tips of Sirius's ears turned pink.
Remus gave him a funny look, "What's up with you, Sirius? You usually aren't embarrassed so easily."
Sirius returned the weird look, but it was directed more at himself then at Remus. Even *he* didn't know why he was blushing so easily, so there was no way he could give the werewolf an answer, "Must just be the morning."
Remus shook his head and smiled, "Not to worry, Sirius, the trip will get better."
Sirius highly doubted it.
"Now come on down to breakfast. I'm sure its cold by now."
Sirius reluctantly agreed and followed the blonde out of his room and downstairs.
Finally seated at the dinner table in the dining room, the three piled their plates and began to eat. Mixed chatter filled the silence between bites.
"Things look like they have been going alright for you, Jason. What exactly do you do?"
"I told you, Remus," Jason smiled, "call me Jay. As for what I do, I'm a Healer at the local wizarding hospital."
Sirius looked up from his plate, "There are other wizards here?"
"Of course," Jay chuckled, "The Lake of the Ozarks is on the top twenty list of where wizards live in the U.S. Something about the magic aurora the lake gives out."
Remus had a puzzled expression on his face, "I didn't feel any magic around here."
Sirius swallowed a forkful of food, "Neither did I."
"That's the strange thing about it, though," Jay smiled, "No amount of magic had ever been traced here."
"Wait," Sirius eyed the brunette, "So you're saying that there is magic here, but there isn't?"
"Well, it all depends on beliefs," Jay continued, "Any witch or wizard who has come to visit or live here say that their lives have changed in someway. It is difficult to explain, but most pin it on the undetectable magical aurora."
"So it's more of a superstition," Remus enquired.
"In a way, yes, but I don't believe in superstitions. However, I do believe in the magic of this lake."
"Why," Remus asked, "What has the lake changed for you?"
"Ever since I came here, which was when I turned eighteen; I have had a boost of confidence. My whole life seemed to have flipped. I got accepted into the Ozarks Healer College, interviewed for a really great job even before I graduated, and bought this house after working six months. So I believe in the magic of the Ozarks."
Remus looked on in approval while Sirius concentrated even harder on his food. The remainder of dinner was left in thoughtful silence.
As soon as the last bite had been taken, Jay leaned back in his chair and stretched his arms above his head with a giant yawn, "I don't know about you two, but I'm gonna head off to bed. It's been a long day for me. Thank Merlin I have the entire week off."
"That sounds like the right idea," Remus added, "That plane ride took a lot out of me."
Jay and Remus got up from out of their chairs and started heading up the stairs. Sirius soon followed suit quietly growling under his breath about people who go to sleep too early. Remus was already halfway in his room by the time he got upstairs.
"Goodnight, Sirius, Jay," Remus called.
"Night, Remmy," Sirius replied.
"Sweet dreams," Jay answered.
Sirius looked over at Jason and suppressed the urge to knock his head off. Sweet dreams? He had not heard that since James' mother had said that to him when he spent the night the summer of his fifth year.
Remus smiled and quietly shut the door from behind him.
Jay glanced at the raven-haired man next to him, "Goodnight, Sirius."
Sirius started heading towards his room as he threw a, "Night," over his shoulder. When he took that glance he saw Jason turn into the room right across from Remus's. Sirius growled and muttered, "Arrogant prick," under his breath as he walked into his room.
Sirius stomped into the bathroom, threw off his shirt and pants, and shot them into a hamper in the corner. He trudged back into his bedroom, placed his wand under his pillow, and pulled back the covers of his bed. The silk sheets felt nice as he slid between them. Feeling just a little tired, the animagus placed his hands beneath his head and stared up at the ceiling. The sky had faded to a night black with thousands of sparkling white dots. The phoenix was gone and the Antipodean Opaleye dragons were nowhere to be seen, but the herd of Abraxan horses were huddled in a circle, eyes closed, sleeping peacefully.
The raven-haired looked harder at the painting. Something was missing. He looked around and soon spotted what he was looking for on the other side of the room. The golden stallion was standing at alert, watching over his herd; protecting them from any unknown danger that may happen to approach.
Sirius couldn't help but smile as he slid his lids shut and fell into a deep sleep dreaming about an entirely faceless person except for two perfect, honey-colored eyes.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
Sirius popped his eyes open to be greeted by pitch-blackness. A trickle of sweat dripped down from his forehead as he pushed the covers down a bit off his chest. Something had woke him up, but what?
Something in his mind kicked in and he felt a presence on the other side of the room. A shadow moved from near the balcony door towards his bed. Sirius grabbed his wand and shot out of bed. The figure froze.
"Sirius?" a familiar voice called.
Sirius slowly lowered his wand, "Remus?"
The shadow went over toward the wall and flicked on the light switch.
Sirius squinted his eyes as the bright lights burned through his lids, "Ow!"
"Quit being a baby, Padfoot."
"What the hell are you doing here?" Sirius placed a hand over his fast beating heart, "You nearly scared me to death!"
"Sorry..." Remus whispered.
Sirius studied Remus's face. He hadn't been the werewolf's friend for over twenty-five years to not know when something was upsetting the blonde, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing really," he avoided Sirius's eyes.
"It has to be something to get you to come to my room in the middle of the night," Sirius coaxed. He noticed his friend's face was a little paler than normal and his eyelids were hardly staying open.
"No... really, Sirius. It was nothing. I'm just gonna go back to bed," Remus turned around to head out the balcony door.
"Remus?" Sirius watched as golden eyes turned back to him, "Just tell me that you're alright."
The werewolf smiled, "I'm alright, Padfoot. Sorry for waking you up. Goodnight."
Sirius saw Remus smile, knew it was a perfectly normal smile and there was no trace of any emotion in the blonde's eyes, but he knew Remus better then that. For as long as Sirius had known him, Remus could always hide his emotions from everyone. For the longest time even Sirius could not figure out how to tell the difference between a genuine smile and a mask, but after spending so many years with him, he found the only way to tell.
If you looked close enough at Remus when he truly did smile, you would see him completely relaxed, but when he was trying to hide what he was really feeling, his shoulders would become tense. It was barely noticeable, but the only way to tell, and Remus's shoulder's looked far from relaxed at the moment.
However, Sirius reluctantly let it go, "Goodnight, Moony."
If Remus wanted to tell what had him shaken up, then he would. Sirius was just going to pay a little more attention to him to make sure he was alright.
Remus slowly closed the door on the way out practically gliding from the window's view. Sirius unwillingly watched him go, flicked the lights back off, placed his wand back underneath his pillow, and climbed back into bed. He drifted into a troubled sleep worrying the whole night about Remus.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
Sirius felt the world falling back into place. His focus on reality slowly came back to him as he opened his eyes to the rays of sunlight falling on him from outside his window. Wait... this wasn't his room...
Sirius, in a half induced sleep haze, grabbed his wand, jumped out of bed, and ran toward the balcony door. He threw it open and flung himself against the railing barely suppressing the urge to let out a surprised yelp as he looked down among foreign land.
"Shit! Where the bloody hell am I?!" Sirius gasped.
Then, it all seemed to hit him; Remus, letter, America, Jason. That last thought made a small growl escape past his lips which surprised him. Sirius shook his head allowing a scowl to fix over his features as he walked back inside and closed the door behind him.
"I'm getting too old for this," Sirius groaned as he headed toward the dresser he had stored his clothes in.
Sirius heard restrained giggles coming from behind him. He quickly turned around and saw Remus, leaning up against the hall door frame, with his hand over his mouth trying to hold back his laughter, but tears were already starting to form at the base of his golden eyes.
"What are you doing here?!" Sirius gaped.
Remus just couldn't hold it back any longer. He burst out laughing so hard he buckled and landed on his knees on the floor with his arms around his stomach.
Sirius growled, "It wasn't that funny."
Remus wiped the tears away from his eyes as he slowly stood up again and regained his breath, "S-Sorry, Padfoot, but it was just so hilarious. You should have seen your face!
He broke down in another fit of giggles.
"Har, har, har," Sirius snarled, "Did you want something?"
The blonde wiped another set of tears away from his eyes, "I was just coming to wake you up for breakfast."
Sirius turned back around to rummage through his draw, "I could have *sworn* I locked that door last night!"
"Well, you didn't, Siri. Getting senile?" Remus smirked
"I am not!"
"You said it yourself that you're getting too old," a teasing gleam just itched at the edge of the werewolf's eyes.
"You're asking for it," Sirius warned starting to catch on to the playfulness.
"Oh really?" Remus edged, "What are you going to do about it?"
Sirius's eyes took on a dark gleam that Remus saw when he turned around. The blonde did not like the look on Sirius's face at all.
Sirius strode across the room towards Remus making the blonde step back in a hurry. Sirius stopped just before he reached the door with Remus standing back in the hallway. The dark gleam still made Remus a little nervous.
Sirius smirked just as he slammed the door shut in Remus's face and locked it with his wand.
Remus banged on the door, "Sirius, that was so not fair!"
Sirius laughed at the blonde, but otherwise ignored him as he went back to his dresser. He rummaged through his clothes grabbing a pair of black jeans and a red shirt.
It was then he noticed something, "Mooooony!"
Sirius unlocked the door and threw it open. Remus had just come back up the steps looking at Sirius as if he had lost his mind.
"What?!"
"I forgot something," Remus started to open his mouth but Sirius cut him off, "And if you say I told you so, I'm going to hex your lips together for a week!"
Remus couldn't help it. The way Sirius's face was twisted up in seriousness trying to make sure the blonde wouldn't make fun of him was just too funny. Remus burst out laughing again.
Sirius let out another low growl as he turned on his heels and went back into his room with Remus following behind him.
"So what did you leave behind?"
Sirius let a very small blush creep across his cheeks that was hardly noticeable, but of course Remus saw it.
"I have to know now. What'd you forget?"
Sirius mumbled something under his breath.
"Speak up, Sirius. I can't understand you."
"I said," Sirius snipped, "I forgot my boxers."
Remus took a one second pause before he doubled over onto the floor roaring with laughter.
"This is not my day," Sirius grumbled.
As soon as Remus had control of himself, which took awhile, he stood back up and stared Sirius in the eyes, trying awfully hard not to break down again.
"Guess you'll be going commando for the rest of the trip."
"Moony!" Sirius whined all the while his face turning a brighter shade of red.
Remus was really working on not laughing, "Alright, Sirius. We'll go shopping after breakfast, but what you're going to do until then I don't have a clue."
Sirius smirked, "I'll do what you suggested."
"And what is that?"
"Go commando."
Remus's eyebrows shot up, "I wasn't serious!"
"Well, what else am I suppose to do?"
Remus shrugged, "Guess your right. Just pray you don't get a skin burn with those jeans you wear."
The tips of Sirius's ears turned pink.
Remus gave him a funny look, "What's up with you, Sirius? You usually aren't embarrassed so easily."
Sirius returned the weird look, but it was directed more at himself then at Remus. Even *he* didn't know why he was blushing so easily, so there was no way he could give the werewolf an answer, "Must just be the morning."
Remus shook his head and smiled, "Not to worry, Sirius, the trip will get better."
Sirius highly doubted it.
"Now come on down to breakfast. I'm sure its cold by now."
Sirius reluctantly agreed and followed the blonde out of his room and downstairs.