The Potter/Black Romance

Disclaimer: I own very little.

the-mpreg-spirit: I don't know why you haven't read that chapter before, but you have now!

Legolas19: Glad you liked it!

Rin: He he, glad you still like it!

Oh yeah, it's about November of their 7th Year and now most people know about James and Sirius being together.

Chapter 4: The One Where Peter Screws Up A Potion

"Put in the shredded Bicorn skin now." Whispered Remus out the corner of his mouth to Peter who was panicking over the Antihistamine Potion in Potions with their most hated teacher. Professor Eston.

"Lupin!" Growled Eston. "Are you giving Pettigrew instructions? Again?"

"Yes Sir." Replied Remus levelly.

Sirius and James looked over their shoulders at their werewolf friend, knowing full well that he was going to get kicked out of the class any minute now. He always did because the Professor hated the fact that Remus was actually helping somebody in his classroom.

The Slytherins snickered and Sirius shot them dirty glares.

"And why may I ask are you helping him?" Asked Eston in his silky tone.

Remus raised an eyebrow; "Well we've been here for six and a half years and you haven't exactly helped him have you? So someone had to." His voice was hard.

Sirius and James glanced wearily each other, when Remus Lupin spoke back to a teacher like that, it usually meant he was not in a mood to be messed with.

Eston looked down his over sized nose at Remus, "Get out of my classroom. Now."

"I'll be glad to." Replied Remus, he picked his stuff up and stormed out of the classroom muttering profanity at the Professor.

"What are you all waiting for? Get back to work!" Shouted Eston angrily.

"It's your turn to calm him down." Whispered Sirius to James when they were bent over their cauldrons.

James sighed, "Its always my turn. You and Peter are just scared he's going to hit you."

The other three Marauders knew all to well how aggressive Remus could get.

"That's only because you're the only one stupid enough to go near him when he's in a mood like that." Hissed Sirius back to him, all the while keeping his eyes on Eston who kept glaring at them.

Both Sirius and James could hear Peter starting to get very anxious about his potion, they could hear him muttering rapidly to himself.

"The makings of a psychopath behind us." Muttered James. "What's to bet his potion's going to go wrong and end up on us?"

"Well, I won't bet against you." Replied Sirius he took a glance over his shoulder and saw Peter nearly in tears over his potion and then looked back to his own. "It's sad really. Eighteen next year and he's still crying over his Potions going wrong."

James glanced at Sirius, "Try and be nice Sirius, he can't help being bad at it."

Sirius looked at his boyfriend out the corners of his eyes, "Fine."

About five minutes went by in silence, which was highly unusual for this class, especially the Slytherins.

"Pettigrew!" Snarled Eston causing the blonde boy to jump in fear. "What is this crap that you have made?!"

"A-a-a-a-an Antihistamine Potion?" Replied Peter trembling from head to toe.

"If this, Pettigrew, was an Antihistamine Potion it would be yellow. Not red." Growled Eston glaring at the poor boy.

"Perhaps his potion would be right if you had just let Remus help him!" Said Sirius turning around.

Now Sirius talking back to teachers definitely wasn't an uncommon sight. He did it at least twice a week, if not twice a day.

"Its your fault he screwed it up!" continued Sirius angrily.

James leaned against his bench and put his hands up to his face in despair. Sirius usually made things worse when he shouted at Eston because of his lack of helping Peter learn.

"Do not talk to me with that tone Mr. Black!" Snapped Eston coldly. "Perhaps you and Potter would like to test the potion?"

"What?!" Exclaimed James. "I didn't do anything!"

Eston glared at him then his expression to turned to one of realisation as he looked back at the potion. "Everybody get down!"

Everybody did just that, James and Sirius looked at each other and then back to Peter who quickly ducked down and in doing so knocking his cauldron flying in the raven-haired boys' direction as it exploded.

James and Sirius didn't have time to duck down before they were doused in a good dose of something that was meant to be an Antihistamine Potion.

"You idiot boys!" Shouted Eston when he got back up off the floor. "I told you all to get down! But what did you do? You stayed standing so you could get covered in that crap!"

Twenty minutes later after the classroom was cleaned up by James, Sirius and Peter, the three of them headed off to Gryffindor Tower as it was the end of the day.

They found Remus lying on his stomach on his bed reading a book. Peter went over to his and sank down onto it sulkily, James went and sat on Sirius' bed with Sirius practically in his lap.

"What happened after I left?" Asked Remus not looking up from his book.

"Oh, Eston had a go at Wormtail about his potion being messed up, and then Sirius had a go at Eston and then the potion exploded we both got covered in it." Replied James in one of those would you believe it? ways.

"Oh fun." Said Remus sarcastically.

Sirius turned on his side to look at Peter, "That potion better not have any lasting effects Peter, or I'm coming after you."

Peter squeaked in fear.

"Sirius!"

"What?"

"What'd I tell you?" Asked James sternly.

Sirius sighed, "Why does the Head Boy have to be my boyfriend?"

"You chose him." Replied Remus not the least bit interested.

Sirius scowled across the room, "I know…………achoo!…………Oh god."

By dinnertime that night, both James and Sirius were sneezing and sniffling a lot. Peter stayed as far away from them as possible out of guilt in case it was his fault they were sneezing, which of course it was.

"Maybe you're allergic to something." Suggested Remus while he was playing with his pudding and passing glares down the table at his snobby younger brother Romulus.

"Allergic to what though? I've never been allergic to anything." Replied James thickly. His nose was getting all blocked up now and his eyes were watering.

Sirius had given up on trying to eat and breathe at the same time and settled for using James' shoulder as a pillow.

Remus sighed, "Well, that potion we were making was an Antihistamine Potion, so maybe when Peter screwed it up, he turned it into a Histamine and made you both allergic to something."

Sirius squeezed his eyes shut and moaned, "You logical thinking is doing my head in Moony. Stop it."

"Sorry, but I'm just saying what I think happened." Replied Remus.

Sirius suddenly had another sneezing fit.

James just stared at his food, "I was going to eat that Siri."

"Sorry." Whined Sirius sounding very nasally. Although he did sound truly sorry.

James slipped an arm around Sirius' waist, "I know you are. Don't worry about it."

The Marauders – minus Peter who was still guilty – spent most of the night after dinner trying to do all the homework they given the week before that was due in the next day.

All the while, Remus was keeping a close eye on his two friends to try and see what would make them sneeze and sniffle. They had both now started getting itchy as well.

At one particular point of the night, James got up to go and find a book in his Head Boy dormitory. During this time, Remus noted that Sirius had stopped sniffling and sneezing and he had also stopped scratching his arms and rubbing his eyes.

"God Moony, can you stop that? It's getting really intimidating." Grumbled Sirius at last.

Remus raised an eyebrow and sat back chewing the end of his quill thoughtfully as James came back into the room and sat down at their table. "I think I know what's wrong with you two."

"Oh? Care to enlighten us?" Asked James scratching his arm, which had started to go red either from the constant scratching or from a rash.

Remus sighed, "I think you're allergic to each other."

"What?!" Cried Sirius, his blue eyes wider than usual and also more red rimmed.

James chewed his quill in thought, "Actually, I think he's right." Sirius looked to him. "I mean, I didn't sneeze or scratch or anything while I was up in my room and now I am again." He emphasised his point with a big sneeze onto his sleeve.

Sirius looked like he didn't want to believe it so he took a huge sniff of James and then went into a fit of sneezing.

James reached around behind his back and scratched, "Man, I itch everywhere." He tried scratching his back against the back of the seat he was on.

"Go stand over there." Said Remus pointing to the other side of the room.

James got up still scratching his back profusely and stood on the other side of the Common Room, which was now

empty.

"Do you both still feel like sneezing or scratching?" Asked Remus suddenly business like.

Both dark haired boys shook their heads.

Remus sat back; "Case solved. Stay away from each other or get an Antihistamine."

"I'm beginning to hate that word." Said Sirius grumpily before yawning. "I'm going to bed."

James nodded, "Good idea."

"Separate beds or neither of you'll be able to breathe." Said Remus pointedly.

They all packed their stuff away, James gave Sirius a quick kiss and then moved away quickly before they both started reacting badly again and headed off in the direction of his Dorm while the other two went off up to the 7th Year Boys' Dormitory.

Sirius lay awake that night looking up at the ceiling miserably. He didn't like the reality of being allergic to James, being allergic to Peter he could definitely handle, being allergic to Remus was all right as long as he didn't have to copy his Lycanthropic friend's homework, but James? He couldn't handle it. Not his James. He needed James, he enjoyed the comfort of having that warm body next to his at night, he couldn't have bad allergic reactions to Jamie. It just wasn't on. It wasn't allowed to happen!

Meanwhile, James was having similar thoughts, except he wasn't quite as anxious as Sirius but he did miss having Sirius' body draped over his at night. It was cold up in the Dorm all on his own, all alone in his bed.

The next day, James and Sirius were still keeping as far away from each other as they could be without actually leaving their little group. The day had been quite uneventful until Snape made some cutting remarks about Remus and then threw a few jibes at Sirius and James' strained relationship, which really upset Sirius so he attacked Snape and left the greasy haired boy in Madam Pomfrey's care, but not before getting a detention for that night.

Sirius came into the Dorm just after midnight, grumbling profanely about Filch and trophies. He fell on his bed and sniffed and sneezed.

Remus turned over in his bed and looked at Sirius through the light of the waning moon. "Are you all right?"

"No I'm not all right." Replied Sirius sounding miserable. "I don't like not being near James. I don't like being alone in my bed and it's all because Eston kicked you out so you couldn't help Peter with his inevitably fucked up potion."

Remus got out of bed and took in a sharp breath when his bare feet hit the freezing cold stone floor, he quickly hopped onto Sirius' bed and put an arm around his friend's shoulders. "Look don't worry, we'll get the Antihistamine tomorrow and you can go back to shagging every night."

Sirius rubbed his nose and sneezed again, "At least I'm not itchy anymore."

Remus smirked, "S'pose that's a good sign. Maybe it'll just take its course and ware off on its own."

"But that could take ages Moony…" Said Sirius trailing off into a yawn. "I need to sleep."

"Me too." Said Remus, he gave Sirius' shoulder an affectionate squeeze before getting off the bed and quickly jumping back into his own. "Night Padfoot."

"Night Moony." Mumbled Sirius, he hadn't even bothered changing out of his robes or clothes before getting under the covers and drifting off to sleep breathing loudly through his mouth because his nose was still blocked up.

When Sirius came around the next day it was about lunchtime, it was a good job it was a Saturday.

When he hauled himself out of bed, still fully clothed from the night before, he found James and Peter talking in the Dorm.

"Hey, good afternoon." Said James smiling at him.

"Afternoon." Mumbled Sirius heading in the direction of the bathroom.

"Remus is in there. He wants to talk to you." Said James as Sirius headed in there.

"Jamie said you wanted to talk to me." Said Sirius as he saw Remus in the bathroom.

Remus nodded, "I stole the ingredients for the Antihistamine Potion from Eston's store cupboard last night." He filled up a goblet and handed it to Sirius. "Here. Drink. It should work instantly."

Sirius took the goblet off him and drank it down and started coughing afterwards, "Eugh! That tastes fowl!"

Remus nodded, "That's what James said."

"He's already taken it?" Asked Sirius, his day week had suddenly lightened up a lot. Remus nodded. "Yes! Thank you so much Moony. I owe you."

"Yeah you both do!" Called Remus after Sirius as he ran out the bathroom.

Peter told Sirius James had gone back to his Dorm to look for his Quidditch magazines. Sirius ran up to the Dorm and charged into the room without bothering to knock, not that James would care either way.

"Hey Si-'

James was cut off when Sirius knocked him down onto the bed and crawled on top to lock his lips in a passionate kiss.

James put his hands up into Sirius' hair as they kissed. "I take it the potion worked on you to then?" Asked James when they pulled apart gasping for breath.

Sirius nodded vigorously. "Sex now. Talk later."

James certainly didn't argue with those words. Over the last few days they had both come to realize they couldn't survive long without feeling the touch of the other one.

Apart from just missing James' touch and his kissing, Sirius definitely missed the cuddling. He wouldn't admit it to anybody else but he loved to cuddle after a good romp in the sack.

A/N: OK, I admit, that definitely could have been a much better chapter, but by the time I got round to writing I had forgotten what I was originally going to write. Sorry!

Next Chapter: Valentines Day. Dinner. Candles. Engagement Ring.