A/N: I promise that I'll try to update faster but my life's just been really hectic lately. Thanks to reviewers and I'm really sorry about the delay; enjoy!
Remus' POV
It's been three weeks since Sirius put me in my place. He did it gently and didn't actually come out and say it, but I really was acting like a spoiled child.
As it turned out something did happen to divert the attention away from me. About two weeks ago a fourth year Hufflepuff's parents were murdered and the waves of sympathy were turned towards her. Their murder was a man named Voldemort; a powerful adversary who's gaining followers. They call him the Dark Lord and many of the Slytherins want to or already have joined his forces. We want to join in the fight against him but when James asked Dumbledore about it he said that we can do nothing until we graduate.
It's early and I'm the first one awake as usual; that won't last long. "Sirius," I whisper to the peacefully sleeping boy next to me. He mumbles something incoherent and I try again. Finally after five attempts he awakens.
"What do you want?" he grumbles.
"Come flying with me," I say.
He stares at me blankly for a few seconds before saying, "What?"
"Let's get our brooms and go flying," I say again as I climb out of the bed. He gives me a funny look but he gets up and joins me. After dressing quickly we set off for the Quidditch pitch. I like flying although I'm not overly fond of playing Quidditch unless it's just for fun. I love the free feeling that I get when I'm soaring through the air.
The October air is crisp and cool; perfect for flying. The newly risen sun shines brightly on our faces as we collect our brooms from the storage shed and make our way to the pitch. I watch him as he takes off; his face upturned to the warmth of the sun and the wind whipping his hair all about his face.
"I'm glad you thought of this Moony," he says as I join him in the air, "it's peaceful out here." I smile to my self as he soars off to the other end of the field; it's not often the Sirius Black stops to smell the roses.
"I'll race you to the other end," I say as I come up beside him.
"Bet I'll win," he says as he shoots off. I speed after him and have almost over taken him when he stops short. He takes advantage of the fact that I've almost just run into him by pulling me to him and kissing me square on the mouth.
"Feisty puppy this morning aren't we?" I ask as he pulls away.
"Just a bit," he replies, then, "Let's go to breakfast I'm starving." I agree and we head in the direction of the Great Hall.
James and Peter are already seated when we arrive so we plop down across from them. I'm helping myself to eggs and toast as the mail arrives. I've been captivated by the morning post ever since day one here at Hogwarts and I still am. I watch as the owls stream into the room; a flurry of wings and feathers. I observe as each owl locates its owner and settles down on their table to deliver its burden and hopefully get a bit of breakfast in the process.
An owl carrying the Daily Prophet lands in front of me and a sleek barn owl lands in front of Sirius. Ever since our fifth year the four of us have gotten a newspaper. All of us wanted to keep up with the news so we decided that instead of getting four separate papers we'd take turns buying a community one.
I turn to see what has been delivered to Sirius to see him staring blankly at two envelopes, one a regular white and a red. "You'd better open it Sirius," says Peter in a hushed voice, "remember what happened to the one we sent Snape in third year when he didn't open it?" Sirius nods mutely and slips a finger into the opening to break the seal. Immediately a high pitched, yelling voice fills the Hall,
"YOU BASTARD! YOU FILTHY GAY BASTARD! DATING A BOY AND A HALF BLOOD AT THAT; YOU SICKEN ME! I NEVR WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN EVER AFTER WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO MY POOR HEART! NEVER COME NEAR ME OR MY FAMILY EVER AGAIN; YOU ARE OFFICALLY DISOWNED!"
With that final statement the parchment burst into flames. "Well I guess we won't have to worry about having to tell my parents about us," he says a bit too cheerfully, trying to make a joke out of it. James and Peter laugh and don't seem to notice the look of deep hurt in Sirius' eyes.
We walk out of the hall a few minutes later hand in hand and Sirius telling a particularly dirty joke. I sigh but have to laugh when he gets to the punch line even though my older inner self is telling me that there shouldn't be anything remotely funny about it. "Honestly Sirius," says Lily as she joins us, "There are children present."
"Aw Lily Peter can handle it," he responds before he and James start laughing again.
"Hey," Peter says, "honestly born last and they've never let me live it down." Jen pats his shoulder and offers some comfort as James and Sirius burst into laughter again. It's going to be one of those days.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
I sit down at the table and lean my arms on it, massaging my temples. It's been worse than I expected. Sirius has been becoming steadily more obnoxious as the day has worn on. He's been loud, rude, and has told more bad jokes than I've ever heard in my life; to put it quite bluntly he's getting on my nerves.
A pair of hands encircle my own and gently remove them from my head. The hands that have removed my own begin to massage my pounding head. "Headache?" asks Sirius.
"Yeah a bit," I reply. That's an understatement; my head feels like someone's pounding on it with a hammer from the inside but I'm not one to complain.
"Does this help any?" He asks. I nod my head in assent as he continues. After a few minutes the rubbing stops and he takes his seat next to me. Across the table James is sniggering into his food next to me Sirius is doing the same.
I sigh and ask the incoming Lily calmly to borrow her mirror. Sure enough there on my forehead are black marks that look remarkably like finger prints. I mutter the cleansing spell before discreetly placing a sign onto his back reading, 'I love Severus Snape.' Two can play this game.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"James have you noticed anything strange about Sirius today?" I inquire. Afternoon classes are over and I'm really starting to get worried. The jokes have gotten even dirtier (if that's possible) and Sirius has gotten himself three detentions.
"He's been a bit lewd but not really," he replies. Now I love James like a brother but "a bit lewd"? I think that I've just found a contestant for the biggest understatement of the year. Oh well, I guess those years of intentionally and unintentionally watching Sirius have made me a bit more aware of his moods.
I sigh and go to find Sirius. When I do find him he's bewitching a first year Slytherins' hair red and gold. The poor child looks ready to burst into tears, yet feels that they must uphold their Slytherin dignity. "Sirius Black I think that we need to talk," I say quietly before I say the spell to return the petrified first years' hair back to normal.
He reminds me of a rejected puppy as he silently follows me. "Honestly bewitching first years," I mutter. We walk in silence the rest of the way to the dorms; Sirius a half of a step behind me. When we finally make it to the dorms we flop on my bed. Sirius sits at the end while I stretch out vertically.
"What's bothering you?" I ask gently.
"What makes you think something's bothering me?" he asks, "everything's fine!" His voice is just a bit too overly bright to be normal. What kind of a word is 'fine' anyway?
"Sirius," I start, "I probably know you almost as well as you do. The way that you've been acting today is proof that you're not 'fine'. In fact I'd say that you're horrible. It's that howler isn't it?"
I open my arms in an invitation to join me at the top of the bed. He crawls up into my arms; slinging an arm around my waist and resting his head on my chest. I put my arms around him and he speaks, "If I tell you what's wrong do you promise not to tell anyone and to not laugh?"
He looks up at me with big child like eyes and I realize that for all his protectiveness and adult like speeches he's nothing more than a child trying to make sense of the world. I hold him a bit tighter as I stare into his blue depths. "Of course I won't laugh at you Sirius," I whisper to him.
He sighs and starts talking, "Well you see ever since I was five when I made friends with a Muggle girl my parents have not been very nice to me. It's not like they were very nice to begin with but that was when they used the first Living Dream."
I gasp, "They used those things on you?"
"Yeah," he says rather uncomfortably, "anyway, it just got worse when I was sorted into Gryffindor. Well it turns out that over the summer Regulus told them about us. It seems that that was the straw that broke the camels' back, even though I ran away before that. The letter that I got today basically said that I was disowned; burned off the family tree. She said that she doesn't love me. Remus, I want my mother to love me. Is it bad to be seventeen and still want to be loved by your mum and dad?"
I pull him as close as I can before saying, "No Sirius it's perfectly normal to want to be loved by your parents. I wanted to be loved by my father before he died."
He smiles up at me before saying, "Thanks Remus, you always know how to make me feel better." I lean down and catch his lips with mine and he smiles at me when I break it.
"That's what I'm here for," I say.
"I feel bad complaining to you though," he says quietly.
"Sirius sometimes people need to vent. Otherwise they keep it all inside until they blow up and then it's much worse," I say.
"I suppose your right," he says.
"Aren't I always?" I ask in a teasing voice. Then, "if you promise to stop acting like an idiot we can go to dinner."
He gets up and grabs my hand, "I promise, now come on I'm starving!" I laugh quietly to myself as I follow him out the door.
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