Under the Full Moony

Scroll 11: Fire Burn and Cauldron Bubble

They stayed like that for a moment, nose to nose, faces livid, and eyes flashing, unaware that James had just made a bet with half of Gryffindor Tower, unaware that Peter was watching them with his little black eyes darting from one to another ... unaware that almost everyone in the common room was staring at them ...

Without pausing to think about the consequences, without caring if anyone was watching, and seeing only Remus in front of him, Remus blushing a fierce red, Remus' lips parted, just slightly so ...

Sirius cupped Remus' chin and leaned in.

There was a loud crash as someone dropped the jar of water in the corner, breaking it into a million pieces, but it might as well have not happened, because everyone was staring at Sirius and Remus, who seemed to be glued together in the middle of the common room.

Sirius pressed his lips onto Remus' softly at first ... asking ... Remus closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around Sirius, pressing him closer.

'Yes.'

And they kissed, finally realizing they didn't care who saw, or who knew. Finally realizing they should've always been together ... realizing their true feelings.

They broke apart, avoiding each other's eyes.

James looked at them, eyes wide. Then he began laughing, "All right you lot! Cough up! I'm RICH!"

A crowd gathered around James, handing him Galleons and Sickles; finally the spot-light was off Remus and Sirius.

They walked to their table, slowly, and sat down, next to each other.

"So ..." began Sirius.

"Yeah," finished Remus.

"You forgive me? I did make it up to you," Sirius grinned at the other boy.

Remus laughed, "I guess I do ... seeing as how you were jealous the whole time ..."

"I was not jealous of Snivelly! I just ... though that ... you liked him and not me ..."

Remus smirked, "Which means you were jealous."

Sirius laughed and ran a hand through his long, black hair, letting it fall back onto his eyes, "Alright ... maybe just a little ... but I knew the whole time, you were totally in love with me."

Remus laughed as well, shaking his head, "I doubt that ..."

He reached into his robes for his glasses, put them on, and reached for Advanced Potion-Making. For the next few minutes they sat in silence, taking notes and flipping pages.

Then Sirius spoke, "So you don't ... like him better ...?"

Remus looked up and burst out laughing, "Sirius! No! Of course not ... it's just he-"

"I'm RICH!" came James' voice, as he poured a mound of silver and gold coins onto the table. "You guys are ... "

James pretended to sniffle, "So ... awesome ... "

He turned away from them and pretended to cry on Peter's shoulder. Peter's lower lip trembled and he patted James' head, "There, there ..."

Sirius and Remus exchanged a look of surprise. Remus turned to him, "James ...?"

James finally straightened up and pushed Peter off him, "Alright ... no more touchy-feely, Wormtail."

He turned to Sirius and Remus, grinning, "I made a bet with almost half of Gryffindor Tower that you were gonna kiss ... and you did! So next time you decide to demonstrate you man-love, call me!"

Sirius tackled him and pinned him to the floor, "You bloody IDIOT!"

Later that night ...

Remus lied in his bed, on his side, looking at the wall and reliving the day's most special moments. He smiled and touched his lips, blushing at the mere memory.

It had been a wild moment when they had locked lips. He'd felt a swelling inside, like a thirst that was finally quenched by Sirius ... that was their first kiss.

'I wonder how good the second one will feel ...'

Remus heard the creak of a bed, somewhere, then felt someone slip into his bed and wrap his arms around him.

"Hey ...?" came Sirius' whisper.

Remus smiled and turned over to face him, "Hey."

"I was thinking ... about my brother ..."

"Regulus?" asked Remus, interested. Sirius had never spoken to him about Regulus before. "What about him ...?"

"When he was younger ... he would ... we were the best of friends, you know ... then I came to Hogwarts and my mum found out I was in Gryffindor from Bellatrix .. you remember her? Tall, black hair ... hung out with Cissa and Malfoy and Lestrange ... remember they set Peter's ankles on fire once ...?"

Remus nodded, "I see ... what changed between you ...?"

"Mum probably poisoned his mind with lies and crap ... nothing was the same after first year ... and now Bella's gone and run off with the death-eaters and they expect me to do the same ... so I said sod it and I ran away. I'm living with James now, didn't I tell you?"

Remus shook his head, "But it's alright ... and what do you mean run off with death-eaters? She's ..."

"Yeah ... my mum was so happy ... ugh. Made me sick."

Sirius looked at the ceiling, "And I'm afraid for Regulus ... he's too soft for the death-eater business ... Regulus ... he isn't like that!"

Remus glanced at James, who shifted in his bed, and Peter who gave a loud snore.

"Sirius, I don't know what to say ... we can try to befriend him ... try to turn him around-"

"Befriend him! He's a SLYTHERIN! No ... if he wants to get killed by Aurors, fine ... I don't give a bloody damn."

"Just because you're in a certain house doesn't-"

"Remus, open your eyes. My whole family was in Slytherin ... try setting a FOOT in it without being pureblood. My whole family ... all worthless Dark wizards ... HALF my family's a death-eater! I mean ... come one ... thankfully, I'm the black sheep."

Remus shrugged, "Just a thought ..."

Sirius leaned close, "Let's not think for a while ..."

He pressed his lips onto Remus' gently, tightening his hold on the boy's waist. It took Remus a second to realize what was happening; he wrapped his arms around Sirius' neck.

They stayed like that for a long time. Sharing secret smiles and grins, quick, shy kisses, and long, passionate ones. It was only when Sirius buried his head onto Remus' shoulder that he fell asleep.

Sirius, though, lied awake for a long time ... thinking ...

A small boy was lying down on a rather large bed, covers up to his chin, gray eyes wide.

A slightly older boy, also gray-eyed, was sitting cross-legged in front of him.

"And so, the giant Orion was sent to the sky! And to this day he hunts from the heavens ... with his lion, Leo, his wolf, Lupus, and his most trusted animal, The Big Dog."

"Sirius ..." said the smaller boy.

The other ran a hand through his long hair, "Yeah, I suppose so ... "

"And there's a star in the constellation, Leo-" began the small boy.

"Named like you. That's right, Regulus." He hopped down front the bed, "Well, I'll be in the other room. Good-night-"

"No! Sirius ... "

Sirius turned back to Regulus, "Huh?"

"Can you stay with me ... I hate it that I have to sleep alone ..."

Sirius rolled his eyes, but nonetheless jumped into bed with him and blew out the candle on the bedside table.

"Alright, good-night Reg."

"No! Sirius, don't call me that, or I'll call you Siri-sir!"

Sirius flinched, "Alright, Re-gu-lus Alphard Black! Good-night."

There was a few seconds of silence before Regulus spoke again, "Do the sleep tight thing ..."

Sirius sighed, but turned over and hugged his little brother close, "Alright. Good-night, sleep tight, the dog star's watching you all night."

Regulus looked out the large window near his bed, "I can see it ..."

Sirius grinned, "You can always see it ... no matter where you are ... I'm cool, aren't I!"

Regulus rolled his eyes, "Uh-huh ... riiiiight."

"Well I'm cooler than Kreacher!"

Regulus giggled.

Regulus ...

When Remus awoke the next morning, he found the dormitory empty, which shocked him, because, one- it was Saturday, and two- James usually always woke everyone up with a pillow to the head, when there was a Quidditch match that day.

He found them downstairs, in the common room, at the usual table, after dressing quickly. They were working very quietly, whispering, and scribbling, all huddled up. Remus' eyes narrowed and he walked up to them as quiet as he could, which was actually almost silently.

"Good morning."

All three heads snapped up at once, and Sirius bumped his against James'.

"OW!" they said at the same time.

Remus sat down and pulled the long roll of parchment they'd been working on, towards him.

"Oh not this again ... "

Sirius rubbed his forehead, "Yep ... we're still doing the Marauder's Map."

"Haven't you finished by now ..?"

"No!" said James, faking outrage. "How dare you ... we need this to be, no ordinary map! This will be THE most extraordinary thing at Hogwarts. We need sealing spells though ...can you get us that weird book from the library Flitwick told us about ... erm ... Invisible Chains: Concealments and Sealing Charms."

Remus frowned, "And you can't get it ... because ...?"

"Because! We're the Marauders! Libraries are for sissies-" James stopped talking when he caught Sirius' eye. "Erm ... and for the Special Marauder Agent Person, of course! And by jolly, that's you Remus!"

"Plus we're too cool for school ..." said Sirius, running a hand through his hair.

"Too sexy!" yelled James.

Remus caught Peter's eye and they exchanged looks of despair, "Don't sing!"

Too late.

"I'm too sexy for my robes!" sang James.

"Too sexy for my tie!" sang Sirius.

"Too sexy for this deal!"

"I'm too sexy for my shirt!"

"Too sexy for my broom!"

"It's all about sex appeal!"

"I'm-"

Remus made his way out of the common room as fast as he could, and to the library.

Once inside, Remus smiled and walked to the Card Catalog. After sifting through many stained, crumpled, and tattered cards, which madam Pince breathing down his neck, he found Invisible Chains.

After shaking Madam Pince off, with a promise to not damage the book in any way, he was allowed into the Restricted Section to find it.

He walked up and down the rows, humming, and searching, searching ...

Finally he found it, grabbed it quickly, and dropped it just as quickly.

There where the book had been, was now a small space in which it was easy for Remus to see through that shelf to the other row. There, in the Potions Section, at the same place he'd set up a cauldron to practice Confusing Concoctions, Severus and Regulus were kissing fiercely.

Remus watched, transfixed, as Regulus moaned into their kiss, reaching under Severus' shirt-

Then he picked up Invisible Chains and ran out of the library, ignoring Madam Pince.

He almost didn't go back to Gryffindor Tower, but though it to obvious to wander off.

"There you are! Remus, what do you think? We finished the floors, we need the grounds, though. Do you think the Whomping Willow goes here, or more to the left?" was Sirius' greeting.

Remus frowned, "A little more to the left."

"Go on, you do it."

Remus scrawled a small tree where the Whomping Willow should be, "There."

"Okay, the lake is going to be hard to do ... we have to do that before starting on the forest. Did you get the book?" asked James excitedly.

"Yes ... I have it. Sirius, there's something you should know ... about Regulus ... "

Sirius rolled his eyes, "What?"

"He was at the library ... "

"The git can read! WOW! That's news to me," said Sirius bitterly.

"With Severus ..."

"And?" demanded Sirius.

"They were ... " Remus' eyes met Sirius' and there was no need for words.

Sirius's mouth dropped open and he seemed speechless. Finally he choked out, "UGH! UGH! I ... I'm-going-to-be-sick!"

With that Sirius ran out, Remus at his heels.

When they reached the bathroom, Sirius was indeed sick. Remus heard him vomiting through the door to the stall.

"Sirius? Are you going to be alright?"

"Do I bloody SOUND alright to you!" was Sirius harsh reply.

Remus sighed and waited, leaning against the wall, and listening to Sirius throwing up.

When he heard the lock sliding and the toilet flush, he moved forward and hugged a very pale Sirius close.

"I shouldn't have said ... I didn't know you'd , I didn't expect ..."

Sirius shook his head, pulled away, and moved towards the sinks, gripping the sides of one tightly.

"That's really ... really nasty ... " said Sirius as he splashed his face with cold water.

"I'm sorry ..."

"Nah, it's fine." Sirius shook his head much like a dog would when trying to shake off water from its fur.

"Let's get down to the Quidditch pitch, I expect the game will be starting soon."

Sirius nodded and took his hand, "Alright. Let's go."

Much to Remus' embarrassment, but secret delight, they walked hand in hand all the way to the Quidditch field.

Most of the students were there, but they managed a good seat.

"Welcome students of Hogwarts to the first Gryffindor versus Slytherin match!" came Kingsley's voice, booming out onto the stadium.

There were cheers as the Gryffindor team flew out.

"On Gryffindor's team, Captain and Seeker, we have James Potter; Chasers, Lucile Dames, Donna Smith, and Marielda Fawcett; Beaters Gideon and Fabian Prewett; and Keeper Edgar Bones."

There were cheers from the other side of the stadium as the Slytherin team flew out.

Suddenly Sirius stood up, eyes flashing, "NO SODDING WAY!"

A/N: To Reiko Kobayashi: AWSOME pic! LUB it!

Yep, another cliffhanger. But this one's easy ... heh, heh, heh.

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