Blind Date
By weasleywheezes

AUTHOR'S NOTE: The following chapter is based on PoA Movie Canon, which, in my opinion, greatly expanded the fandom knowledge of one Remus John Lupin.

Remus slowly ambled up the stairs as the portraits talked nonstop to him. The giraffe stalked him around the room. Mad Sir Cadogan followed him from step to step, challenging him to a duel, until the picture of the woman with child shushed him. "My child is sleeping, Sir Knight," she said gently. Sir Cadogan rode away, pouting.

He dully said the password to the Fat Lady and went into the Tower, making a beeline toward his trunk. Inside he found a small phonograph player and a few records. He took them out and set up the player in the common room. Tomorrow, he would have to flee the tower and sleep in the shack, and he had to try and force himself into a good mood until that time arrived. Tonight, it was time for music – jolly music.

The needle hit the record, and the comforting hiss-pop of vinyl soothed Remus' ears. The notes came tripping out of the player, and soon Remus was practicing a dance that he had heard was called a "jitterbug". It was difficult to do, considering that he had no partner, and he had only read about it in Muggle books and seen it in Muggle motion pictures before he had come to Hogwarts seven years ago.

Muggle music was his secret obsession, especially music from what the Muggle history books called World War II. It was called "swing music" and it had a joy and optimism that Remus found refreshing, especially considering that it was a dark period for Muggles during that time. He had discovered it early in his childhood, long before he had been accepted to Hogwarts, long before he had been attacked and turned into a werewolf. The older he got, the more he understood the power of music to lift one up out of their doldrums. Remus Lupin had many reasons to be depressed, but he chose instead to try and look forward to the future. Besides, he had friends now who would do anything for him, people in his life that believed in him and knew he could make something special out of his life.

The cheerful blast of the horn section from "Sing Sing Sing" seemed to ricochet off of the stones in the common room. Remus danced with abandon, humming along with the horns and clarinets, his eyes closed and imagining himself in a large dance hall, dressed in a sharp suit and shaking a leg with all his friends. The moon was out and he wasn't turning into a wolf. Sirius grabbed his hand and they jitterbugged to Count Basie, Lionel Hampton, and Tommy Dorsey. He opened his eyes when the needle slipped off the record and the scratchy hiss echoed through the space. A daydream, nothing more. It would never happen, because he would always be a werewolf and Sirius would never feel the same way that he did.

Remus collapsed into one of the wingback chairs that dotted the common area, stroked his temples and cursed his luck. Sirius Black was a bona fide ladies' man, constantly flirting with the girls and showing them a good time. He was sexy as hell, and everyone wanted a piece of him. Sirius enjoyed it, too; flashing that brilliant smile to everyone he met. Those grey eyes were so mesmerizing that every girl – and probably a few guys, truth be told – were half in love with Sirius Black. Remus thought about it every moment since he had kissed Sarah and saw Sirius' face instead. When did it start? Why did it take him so long to admit it?

The more he thought about it, the more he realized that he had these feelings towards Sirius for years. He couldn't put a finger on it, but he thought, perhaps, that it started third year. They were all still ungainly teenaged boys with blemishes and strange shaped hands and feet, but Peter had lost a stone or two, and the three remaining marauders had hit their growing spurts. They had all decided to have one last swim in the lake before the end of term. The lads shed their clothes and showed up at the edge of the lake in their swim trunks. James, a natural athlete, vaulted in and began swimming laps right away. Peter entered the lake at a snail's pace, shivering the whole time, and then quickly dipped under the water and started swimming, too. Sirius jumped in straight away and treaded water.

"Hey, Remus! It's brisk but nice, come on in!"

"I'm coming."

Remus dove in afterwards, but hit his head on a rock and became disoriented. He got to the surface and cried for help. Sirius rushed to his side and pulled him out of the lake. The last thing Remus remembered was Sirius performing artificial breathing on him. "Come on, Moony…come on…" he murmured in his ear. "You've got to stay with me." The next thing he knew, he was waking up in the infirmary with bandages on his head and a sleeping Sirius Black in the chair next to the bed.

Funny. I haven't thought about that in years, Remus thought to himself. As a thirteen-year-old boy, he didn't think about romance or love or anything like that. It was just friends with him. Now, as a man, he thought about how devoted Sirius had always been to him, and how important he was to him. It didn't really matter when Remus' feelings turned, but they did, and he had to find some way to get over it.

He got up and put another record on the phonograph, this one was a particular favorite of his, "That Old Black Magic." Muggles' idea of magic was a quaint one, he always thought. If they knew the truth, they wouldn't be so afraid of it. However, it wasn't the idea of "black magic" that caused Remus to like the song. It was the yearning that the singer conveyed. Remus shuffled his feet around the floor, pretending he was dancing with someone graceful, when the door slammed shut behind him.

"Lupin. Thought I'd find you here."

It was Sirius, who had a furious scowl, giving him a dark look. Lupin stopped dead in his tracks. He wondered who could have put Sirius in his foul mood.

"Padfoot, what happened?"

"Severus Snape, that's what happened! The prat threw a dungbomb at James and Lily," Sirius growled, completely forgetting that he had been throwing rocks at the couple mere minutes before. "It ruined poor Lily's shirt. She's crying in Professor McGonagall's office right now. Of course, James went mad and he ran to Snape with his wand out, threatening to turn him into a beetle and then crush him with his shoe. I was on my way to join him, but Dumbledore appeared and broke up the fight. Prongs and Snape are both in his office now, and Dumbledore sent me to the Tower. But what he doesn't know is that I've already gotten my revenge. I hexed Snape from behind."

"Sirius!"

"Moony, don't get all 'rulebook' on me, now. I hexed him from behind and he'll have horrible acne for a week. Not that anyone looks at that ugly git's face anyway. Who can see anything with that nasty, greasy hair in the way?" Sirius fumed.

Remus was silent for a moment, as the haunting melody of "That Old Black Magic" circled around them. Finally, Sirius sat in a chair and sighed.

"Remus… mate, really, why in hell do you listen to this music?"

Remus shook his head. Sirius' rotten frame of mind was already lifting if he was complaining about the tunes. "Because it don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing, Sirius."

"Doo wah doo wah," Sirius replied. The two laughed, and a grin split Sirius' face.

"Care to dance?" Remus asked politely.

"Nah. I'd rather watch you do it."

"It's tomorrow, you know."

Sirius frowned again. "I know. Don't worry about it until the time comes. C'mon, Remus. Do that snickerdoodle dance."

"Jitterbug?" Remus asked, trying without much luck to hide his laughter.

"Jitterbug, snickerdoodle, who understands these Muggles anyway?" Sirius said, and then barked. "Just do it and get this rubbish off your phonograph!"