Hello, sorry it took me so long to update. My mind was on other things and, of course, life had to intervene. Thank you all so much for reviewing! I never thought this fic would be any good. I'm not too good at writing romance, although I do read a good deal of it.

Special thanks to Lykaios Nyx for the cool plot idea and to Lunaris for pointing out my comma mistakes (they've always been difficult for me to understand).

Disclaimer: sigh unfortunately, I don't own them. Do you think Sirius and Remus would just be friends if I did? Also, the chapter title is from Stereophonics 'You gotta go there to come back' Great album.

Thoughts

The clock struck twelve midnight; its chimes rang out over the quiet dormitories. It fell upon the twitching ears of a cat and upon the lone teenage boy sat in front of the dwindling flames of a once great fire. The chimes fell upon the deaf ears of one lost in thought.

Sirius Black was sat in an armchair in front of the fireplace, his head resting on his right hand, thinking about a certain brown haired boy asleep upstairs. He yawned widely and sat back, looking out of a window at the moon. Sirius sighed sadly. Every time he tried to think of something else, his thoughts always strayed back to Remus. Remus, with his golden brown hair and enchanting hazel eyes. He shook his head. Quit it, Sirius! He'll never be yours, so stop torturing yourself! He groaned and ran his free hand through his already messy hair. I really should tell someone, but who? Sirius stared into the embers, as though they held the answer to his problems.

The portrait hole opened and closed. James Potter pulled off his invisibility cloak, which had hidden him from watchful eyes as he went to visit his girlfriend on her prefect watch. He folded it over his arm and looked at the clock above the fireplace, but spotted his best friend staring into the embers. James sighed and shook his head.

"Hey, Padfoot, you alright?" James pulled up a chair next to Sirius.

Sirius looked up from his musings and half smiled. "I'm fine, don't worry about me."

James frowned. Sirius never lied to him, something must really be wrong if he did and James was determined to find out what. "Lie all you want, Padfoot, I know when there's something wrong with you." He pushed his glasses back up his nose. "So, are you going to tell me?"

Sirius bit his lip thoughtfully, trying to come up with a way to get James off his back. "I'm worried about Remus."

James frowned slightly, not thrown by this half truth. "He seems to be doing ok, you sure that's the real reason that you're sat here?"

Sirius sighed, slightly annoyed at James' persistent questioning. "It's one reason; I don't really want to talk about the other one."

They fell into silence, lost in their own thoughts. After a while, James stood up and stretched. "Come on, let's go to bed. I've got a quidditch match tomorrow." He extended his hand to Sirius and pulled him up.

Sirius smiled his thanks and followed James up the stairs to the dormitories. Once there, Sirius threw himself down onto his bed and drew the curtains around him. He lay there, staring at the top of his bed (four-poster), silently contemplating what to do about the mess his stupid heart had got him into. He listened to James toss and turn and then, eventually, lie still. Sirius turned onto his side and looked through the gap in his curtains at Remus. He smiled at seeing Remus peaceful. It had been a rough week, but Remus was slowly recovering and was acting more like his old self. Sirius yawned widely and his eyes fluttered closed.

Remus groaned and threw his arm over his eyes in attempt to block out the rising sun. He opened his eyes and squinted. Why do I always forget to close my curtains? He yawned and reached for his watch on his bedside table. Five in the morning? Remus sighed and fell back against his pillows, rubbing the sleep out of his hands. He closed his eyes and lay back on his stomach, intending on going back to sleep. Five minutes, but what seemed like an eternity later, Remus growled in frustration. "It's no use, I'm going to have to get up." He muttered to himself. He dragged himself out of bed, got dressed and grabbed his bag with the intention of going over his History essay.

He settled down at a table in the common room with his essay in front of him and his quill in his hand. "Right, let's get this proof read." The key players in the Goblin revolt of 1307 were Lord John Montegue, the goblin Garehoen and Lady Anne DeMare. He checked them in his book. Hey, Lady DeMare looks like Rebecca! I wonder if they're related. I'll have to ask her. Remus closed his eyes sadly when he remembered that he and Rebecca were not a couple anymore. He swallowed back his tears. Pull yourself together! Remember what Sirius said, it's better to have found out than to not have. Remus smiled, remembering the way Sirius had held him as he cried, and the way he smelt. Remus sighed happily. He's got nice eyes…wait! What am I thinking! He's my friend and he's a lad! He ran his fingers through his hair. Ok. Let's think this through. I don't fancy Sirius because a, he's my friend. B, he's a lad and c, I like girls. I'm just on the rebound and Sirius is one who's comforting me. It's only natural that I turn to him. This doesn't mean anything.

"How can you study at this hour, Moony?" James yawned, attempting to do up his cloak clip.

Remus smiled. "With surprising ease." He spotted James having trouble with his cloak clasp and laughed. "Here, let me do it, Prongs."

"Cheers." He waited until Remus had finished. "D'you know what's up with Padfoot?"

Remus shook his head. "No. He hasn't said anything to me."

James frowned. "He said that he's worried about you. Will you ask him what's up? He might tell you."

Remus nodded. "Will do, Prongs." He smiled in greeting at a sleepy looking Sirius, who smiled back. "Morning, Padfoot."

"Morning." He yawned. "Are we going to eat? I'm starved."

Despite the fact that he sat next to James and opposite Peter at Breakfast, Remus found that his eyes continuously strayed to Sirius. He sighed and tried to focus on his untouched bowl of cereal. This isn't good! I'm not supposed to fancy Sirius! How can I like Rebecca one minute and Sirius the next? He caught himself looked at Sirius again and quickly looked away, shoving a spoonful of cereal in his mouth as he did so. Get a grip, Lupin!

"Remus, you alright?" enquired James in concern.

Remus smiled at him. "Yeah, I'm fine."

James sent him another concerned look before turning back to the conversation between Lily and Sirius.

Remus let the smile slip from his face and resumed trying to eat his breakfast. I have to be on the rebound, there's no other explanation. I certainly didn't fancy Sirius when I was with Rebecca. He frowned. Strange. Normally I'd get a pang of loss whenever I'd say her name. He looked over at the Ravenclaw table and spotted her near the end with Darren Webb. Nothing. He didn't feel upset or angry or anything at the sight of them together. The sound of laughter brought him back to the Gryffindor table. He smiled. Once again, Sirius had the table in stitches over something or other. Remus frowned and suppressed a possessive growl when one of the girls next to Sirius started playing with Sirius' hair. Remus shook his head and looked away. Ok, so maybe I do like Sirius a bit, but there's nothing I can do about it! He's straight and he's my friend. Remus looked over at Sirius, who looked up at him at the same time. Their eyes connected for a couple of seconds before Remus looked quickly away. He stood up and left the hall, leaving a very confused Sirius behind.

I'm sorry it's not too long, but I really want to pick up from here in the next chapter. I started it right after I finished this one, so it should be up a lot sooner than this one was.

Hope you enjoyed and don't worry, there's a lot more slash in chapter three!

Review please! I love reading your comments and ideas!

Yours apprehensively,

Nooka