"What? You can't do this to me, headmaster! I've been working here for over four years and you just move me like that? What about all my patients? And what about Remus? He's just been through the new moon and he's practically dead back in his room! Will she take care of him too? And what about next month? Then what?" the young nurse's raised voice echoed through the infirmary halls. Her arms were flung out, holding nothing back as she had a 'discussion' with the leader of the school, at whom she was very angry.
"Poppy," the gray bearded man started "You must understand that we need you at the Ministry. They are trying to clean up the wreckage, and this is not permanent, you know. You'll just have to wait out the rest of the year." She tried to cut in but the headmaster waved his hand to keep her quite. He continued "I assure you, as well, that Miss Matilda will be quite capable of handling Mr. Lupin in a professional fashion. He will be in safe hands."
"Sir- You cannot do this, not right now, in the middle of the school year!" she begged, resorting to the professor's conscience. The old man shook his head.
"You may prefer to be here, Poppy, but you are needed other places. This riot has caused too many problems. Now pack your things. You will leave tomorrow morning." End of discussion, he implied, turning to leave. Poppy sighed and went back to the hospital wing, hoping to take her anger out on her replacement, but getting scolded more than she had been by the headmaster.
CC
James returned from classes during the lunch break to find Sirius, as he had not show up, even late, and was almost surprised to find the two cuddling in bed. He poked Sirius hard in the side and waited for the boy's eyes to flutter open.
The Potter boy raised an eyebrow when Sirius finally realized he had been caught and sat up, pulling away from the snoozing Remus, but not quite waking him. Sirius looked around in shock after turning bright red, and looked around the room, avoiding James' gaze.
"Okay. I let it go the first time, because I thought maybe it had been a coincidence that you were holding on the Remus like Lily clings to me-"Sirius scoffed. More like James clinging to her. The boy ignored him and continued, "...and that he just happened to be on your lap. But this," he pointed at Remus, then Sirius, "looks fishy to me."
The blushing boy sighed, and moved off the bed, but he had to crawl over Remus, who was fully awake by the time he stumbled onto the floor and towards James. He looked towards him longingly.
"Where are you going?" whispered the recovering werewolf hoarsely. He blinked painfully and then stared at the frozen school boy. Sirius gulped and started back towards the wounded body when James grabbed him from behind.
"We just need to talk a second, Reemie," he showed an overly fake smile, and shoved Sirius out the door. The common room was empty, as everyone was eating lunch or studying in the library in some cases, so James sat Sirius forcefully down on a couch and began to pace around him.
"Sirius, I really don't understand... Are you...?" he left the question unanswered. It was one thing to be 'gay' and be rejected by your friends, Sirius understood, but it was much more dangerous to be lovers with a werewolf, so he was confused as to why James was more bothered by Remus being a boy and not him being a werewolf. Sirius mouth was open for a few seconds before he could pull himself together and respond.
"James-"he couldn't think of anything to say, really. It took him a minute to come up with anything. "It's just Remus, I think. I really don't like any other boys that way."
"So you do like Remus then. Like that?" he looked directly at his friend.
His eyebrows curled up in what was supposed to be a brave look. Sirius bit the bullet and answered honestly. "Yes."
"And obviously he likes you too." It wasn't a question. James walked around the back of the couch and leaned over to speak with Sirius. "So are you two gonna start dating or what?"
The seated boy jumped up and stared at his friend. "What!?!" he demanded.
"Dating? Going out? You know? It would be cool to know the first gay Gryffindors." Sirius scoffed again, and rolled his eyes. He was sure there was somebody before them.
"Probably not. And I do not want the whole school to know, either, okay?" Sirius threw James a threatening glare. James' face fell in disappointment.
"You're no fun, Sirius, I can't believe you."
"Promise me, James, on our friendship."
"I promise on our friendship that I won't tell anyone about you and Remus," vowed the boy in a monotone voice. He looked at Sirius quickly.
"But what about Lily- and Peter too, don't they get to know?" he pleaded.
"No!" Sirius growled, and ended up stomping away, back up the stairs. James cursed at him silently and returned to the great hall to find his sidekick and return to his classes a few minutes later.
CC
Sirius returned to the bedroom, and immediately rushed over to Remus, who had tried to sit up and walk around. He didn't get very far when the boy at the door pushed him back down onto the bed, and under the covers.
"What the hell do you think you are doing?" Sirius chided, still angry from James finding out, but slightly relieved. Now he just needed to tell Remus.
"I was just going to get some water..." Remus mumbled, back down on the bed like a whipped puppy. He pouted towards Sirius.
"I'll get it, okay?" he reached for the bottle of water on Remus' nightstand. Remus was both spoiled and picky about weird little hygienic things like that; he always had something in case he got thirsty in the middle of the night and several potions in his drawer as well.
Sirius handed Remus the bottle, and the wolf took it without meeting Sirius' stare. He drained all the liquid in one go, and had to wait until it refilled itself before taking any more.
"What did James want?" asked Remus while he waited for another gulp. He was trying not to sound interested, but Sirius had come to a point where he could read Remus like a book; he really wanted to know.
"Just giving me some homework..." he lied, but he assumed Remus knew he was lying as well. The patient didn't reply.
A few minutes passed with Sirius staring at Remus, who was looking at the wall and trying to shove a third bottle of the gleaming water down his throat, before he spoke again.
"Are you going to stay up here until your classes are over?" another question that sounded like he really didn't care one way or the other.
Sirius nodded.
"Why don't you lay back down then?" he placed the bottle on Sirius' table, and finally met the other boys gaze. Sirius slowly walked back over to the other bed. Again, he stared deeply at Remus before saying anything.
"Remus, do you... uh... Could we ever be more than friends, do you think?" Sirius felt he needed to know something, but wasn't sure what. Now he felt too nervous and ready to run, and almost took back his question, but Remus answered it promptly.
"Yes, Sirius. I think so," he was blushing. There had been no specification on what 'more than friends' was, but the boy making his way around the foot of the bed seemed to happily accept that answer with a huge smile. He crawled into the other side of the bed and slid over next to Remus. Now the boy was staring at him, and not the opposite.
Remus placed his hand on Sirius shoulder, resting on his neck as well, and slid his fingers into the shaggy hair on his nape. Sirius would have been grossed out at the starry gaze in Moony's eyes, except he was feeling about the same way, even though he may have been ashamed to say it. He was being pulled closer and closer until Remus finally forced their lips together. Sirius was slightly off balance, so he pushed his hand onto Remus' hip, although he didn't mean to, and pressed a little harder. Both their eyes fluttered shut for a moment, until the creaky steps outside their dorm made a yelping noise.
Sirius pulled away quickly and they turned to the door in unison as it opened to admit a very lanky woman in a white uniform into the doorway, which complained about the ruined moment. The two boys began to blush together as well, but the newcomer ignored both actions and simply proceeded to look at them in an orderly fashion.
"Which one of you is Remus Lupin?" asked the nurse.
CC
Somehow, five minutes later, Sirius had ended up downstairs in the great hall, sitting at a long, empty table, and eating the remains of lunch. He was fuming over the 'new nurse' whom had burst in on their moment, when he was finally get a little action from his oh-so-hunky crush, and refused to let him stay up there and tend to Remus with her.
"How could Pomfrey just leave so abruptly, and what's with that 'Helga'?" he said her name in a deep accent. Sirius sighed and threw a pea across the room, spatting it into the wall.
"I'm sure she is taking good care of Remus." Sirius jumped off the bench and turned to find the headmaster hovering over him. He floundered for a second before realizing it was his fault that he couldn't see his wolf.
"Why is she gone? Why can't I stay with Remus?" he fumed.
"My little one, shouldn't you be in class right now?" the headmaster changed the subject, eyes twinkled with mischief. Sirius scrunched up his nose and turned back to his food, trying to ignore the only other person in the whole hall. "Well, Mister Black, maybe you could possibly find a way to get past that and back to your... previous engagement?" he hinted, leaving the conversation very open and unspecific.
Sirius thought about that last comment for a minute. What the headmaster encouraging him to skip class and get back to Remus? What a hypocrite; he gets the new Nazi Nurse to ban him from his friend and now the guy tells me to sneak around her? Sirius shook his head and smiled at the headmaster.
"Is he still in the dormitory?"
"No. He has been moved to the Infirmary. He should be in his usual bed, and also, may I add, that Helga," he mimicked Sirius accent of the name, "shall be leaving for lunch shortly. I would say, possibly the time it would take you to retreat to your rooms and to the hospital wing." The headmaster winked and turned to leave.
Sirius stared at the retreating figure, thoroughly confused by the conversation, but still yelled out a 'thank you' to the man. After a few more minutes of contemplation, which involved shoving the rest of his turkey sandwich in his mouth and swallowing the rest of his juice in one gulp, he finally made his way back to Gryffindor tower like recommended by the headmaster. He did a quick once-over of the common room, which was obviously empty, and upon finding nothing too interesting he headed up to his rooms.
After opening the door, what the headmaster said suddenly made sense to him, for the first thing he saw was James' invisibility cloak laying across his bed. He took a minute to chide James on leaving it so out in the open, but then swiped it and headed back down to the common room. He was sure his friend wouldn't mind, especially if he was back before classes were over.
