Disclaimer: No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. Furthermore, this was written in accordance to the Ministry of Magick's Public Fiction Code Article X and brings no harm or hex to the reader before, after or during the reading of the piece. However, it was not written in accordance with the Ministry of Magick's Public Fiction Code ILII which states that, beyond holding hands, relationships between two men or two women are strictly forbidden.

Pairings: sbxrl, rianxquin, jp+le

Summary: next verse, same as the first, a little bit louder and a little bit worse.

By the by, there's more angst to come. Reread PoA if you're clueless. But I promise some fluff. You've earned it. And some sap. Fluffy sap o.O

Sirius is in Canis Major (Alpha Canis Majoris), Regulus is in Leo (Alpha Leonis) and Bellatrix is in Orion (Gamma Orionis). The following I added in, because I am a freak: Aldebaran (Alpha Tauri), Antares (Alpha Scorpii), Spica (Alpha Virgonis) and Pollux (Beta Gemini), they have now become random Blacks.

Twenty-Three

In which fluffiness commences.

I sat in Sirius' arms for hours. Neither of us said anything yet I think we both knew that we had reached an understanding. Was he sincere? I hoped so. I didn't know. He sounded sincere. Was it the wolf that urged me to accept his… proposal? Was it me? No. I don't think so. It was, I think, a subconscious effort that wasn't controlled by the wolf or by me.

I felt right in his arms, but I knew that already from his visit that summer. It was the same and it was different. I held him and memorised his scent. His nose was buried in my hair and I felt his wet hair against my neck. We held each other, not wanting to let the other go. In the battle between Moony and Remus, it was the third party that was still winning.

I felt his hand moving in soothing circles on my back, calming me. I found I had been crying and I didn't quite know when or wherefore I started. After a time it was Sirius that first broke the silence; 'are you done thinking those horrid thoughts?'

'A… about what?'

'The rubbish about who you are meaning that you don't deserve to be happy,' he prompted. I opened my mouth to protest and he glared at me. 'I pay enough attention in Defence to know that you're no dark creature. Moony. You're the smartest, most intelligent, kindest, damnit Moony, you deserve so much more than what you've got. Don't argue with me, you've been crapped on.'

'No, I…'

'Forget the text books and the Werewolf Codes. Remy. Forget it. Listen to me.' He raised my head and initiated another kiss. The first one since the Understanding. 'Merlin,' he sighed, 'perfect. Don't contradict me, Remy. We really need to work on that low ego of yours,' he smiled fondly. 'Ready to fight the rain?' I blinked, confused. 'We do have to make it back to our room eventually. Prongs won't miss us but Wormy might break a vein or something.'

We could have Charmed our robes dry, but it was pointless to do so, as they would only get wet again. As we neared the Tree, we started sprinting, so that we could avoid the violent limbs. Hand-in-hand we ran to the castle, and, upon arriving, we Dried ourselves and rearranged our robes a bit. The latter was in case we were spotted by a professor. I was a prefect, so they didn't mind if was out and about, but they would have questioned our disarrangement. Mind you, I wouldn't have objected to visiting the prefects' bathroom. Only…

We made our way back. Peter and James were playing Wizarding Chess on the floor. James was decent (Sirius and I could both beat him) and Peter was mediocre at best. Of course, Peter jumped at the chance to do anything with James. He was bordering on obsession. Sirius and I nonchalantly waltzed in and went to our trunks to pull out our sleeping clothes. We pulled them on. I slipped into my bed, quietly, and Sirius headed to the mirror to pull his brush through his hair — always the pretty, perfect boy. His hair glistened and he flipped it experimentally over a shoulder before whacking James one. James glared and chucked one of Peter's pawns at him. Sirius stuck his tongue out.

I needed some sleep, I had double Runes in the morning and then a long break and Advanced Astronomy was from eight until midnight. I needed the sleep. I pulled my curtains closed and snuggled in. A few minutes later the noise in the room stopped and my curtains opened. A much-welcomed warm weight settled in and pressed against my back.

'Moony, you didn't wait up for me.'

'I didn't expect you to join me.'

'Silly Moony,' his arm draped around me, reminisce of two summers past. He held be closer than before, though. 'That summer,' Sirius mumbled against my hair, echoing my own thoughts, 'that summer I wanted you then. So irresistible. It was torture to only hold you.' His hand dipped down and pulled gently at my navel barbell.

'Padfoot.'

'Hmm?'

'What… what do we do tomorrow?'

'Go to class, I suppose.'

'No I mean… what about Prongs? Wormtail? Your groupies?'

'What about them?'

'Are you going to tell them… about us? There is an "us", right?'

'Of course there's an "us", Moony,' he paused. 'You don't need to worry, I don't want any of them. And I'll tell everyone, if you want me to. There's no hiding and I'm done dating around.'

'Promise?'

He pushed me over, so he was hovering above me and he made eye contact. 'Always, Moony.' And he kissed me. He stroked my hair lightly before settling back down, half on top of me, using my shoulder as a pillow. One of his hands rested on my chest, rising and falling with my breaths. I slowly moved my own hand to rest in his long hair, revelling again in the silkiness.

I woke, amazed, to a degree, to see Sirius there. I pushed him off of me and made way to gather my uniform before I showered. My routine was as normal, I met the girls and then went to class. Sirius slept in, as he always did, and I only waved to him as he and James ran to their Transfiguration class. I sat through my double Runes with Lily and several Ravenclaws. From Runes I went to lunch, arriving after the others. Sirius was glancing at the door, eagerly waiting for me to join him. Lily grinned, I told her about what had happened, and pushed me forward. She, in turn, sat at the other end of the table. Ever since James decided to prove himself to her the year before, she had been avoiding him like the plague. Sirius took my hand in his under the table and squeezed it;

'Missed you.'

'It's only been a few hours, Paddy.'

He shrugged. 'S'not that same having classes without you.'

'You're the one who wants to be an Auror, remember?'

'Little did we know we'd have Potions with Old Snivellus and Herbology with Rosier,' James groaned.

'You did ask for it,' I reminded them.

Peter groaned. 'Of course, now there's no one to help me with my homework…'

The three of us looked at him, 'don't worry Wormy,' Sirius grinned, 'between the three of us we ought to be able to work out something.'

'Of course, with you and Moony together, we might have a hard time actually getting time to talk to you,' James laughed, a slight blush decorating his face.

I looked over at Sirius. 'I went ahead and told them this morning,' he explained, whispered in to my ear, 'I hope you don't mind.' I shook my head. ''Wanted to keep my promise to you, Remy.' I smiled and kissed Sirius' cheek.

'Soooo,' James broke in, 'what's the plan for this afternoon?'

'Up for some marauding?' Sirius asked.

'…not Snivellus,' James said with resign, 'Evans didn't like it when we picked on him, so… maybe we should lay off him a little.'

'I was thinking of devising some plans to do a bit of… Black Washing? I've a few new ideas to add on to our "brainstorming" from the summer.'

'It's Friday… I've Advanced Astronomy from eight to eleven.'

'Blimey! That's like…!' James choked. 'Is that even legal?'

'Probably,' I nodded pensively. 'I'm going to go nap in-between then and now. And I don't have much Runes homework, just a little translation.'

'But then…' Sirius protested, 'you'll be out all night!'

'Astronomy's only on Tuesdays and Fridays… and I can skip the days where… I'm otherwise occupied. Tuesday's class is shorter, one to three.'

'In the morning?'

'Well I'm not bloody likely to see stars in the daytime, am I?' Peter giggled. 'Besides, one can see different stars at different times of night. And, it's the perfect time for seeing Sirius.'

'And you have to go out at night to see me?' he raised an eyebrow.

'Must be an ugly star,' James said offhandedly.

'Actually,' I retorted, 'it's the brightest star in the sky, and absolutely beautiful…'

'I remember looking at pictures in Astronomy a few years back,' Peter said helpfully.

'The Blacks obviously don't have any creativity with their baby names,' James commented, 'Sirius, Regulus, Bellatrix, Aldebaran, Antares, Spica, Pollux...'

'Yeah well, there's as many Blacks as there are stars. But I'll always be the best and the brightest.'

I leaned forward, to mock-whisper at James and Peter. 'Let's let him think that, shall we?'

I finished up lunch and then Sirius and I walked back to the Tower. Sirius said that he wanted to get his text book but I knew that that was bullocks.

'I won't get to spend that much time with you,' Sirius complained, 'we have none of the same classes and you have this horrid Astronomy class!'

'You'll be asleep most of that time anyway, you'll hardly notice I'm gone.'

I sat down on my bed and he walked towards me and kissed me, softly. 'I've got class…' he walked away. 'Sorry, Remy… I'll be waiting for you when you come back.'

And he walked away and I napped, right through dinner, I woke to find Sirius cuddled with me. He was reading his textbook and leaning up against me at the same time. It was heart warming. When I woke, we cuddled and kissed a little before I went up to the Astronomy Tower.

Once there Professor Moonstruck ushered us to sit down in a circle around the rim of the tower, there were eight of us total. 'I've paired you up to do a bit of a memory-refreshing assignment that will go throughout all of unit one. You will be assigned a partner and a group of constellations. They are as follows:' she read of names and constellations, I tuned out until I heard my name, 'Lupin and Snape, you have Orion, Canis Major, Canis Minor and Taurus.' An ongoing project with Snape. Not spending time with Sirius because of Snape? This was not going to be good. At all.