Chapter Four: Of Kinship

Okay. Seen "Underworld" anyone? Best werewolf movie I've ever seen! God, that's amazing! The plot twists and manipulates you so often – it's fantastic! Go see it now! ... Well, after you read the chapter...then go see it!

Sorry that this took so long to get out – I had to rewrite the beginning because it was too sparse... And I couldn't come up with anything for a long time... Heh...

This chapter is dedicated to Moony05, a fellow marauder (I'm Padfoot in my own group of marauder players). Anyone wanting a good, brilliant fic, should go check out her stories. Thanks for R&Ring for me Moony05! You're amazing! .

The word Butterbeer – eight times in this chapter! (Not counting that one.)

The next day, Remus sat in a chair in a café in Hogsmeade, pleasantly surprised to find himself there. Ursula sat down across from him, two steaming cups of tea in her hands. She passed one over to him. "Here – it's herbal, I thought you might like it."

"Thank you." Remus sipped from the cup, breathing in the gentle wafting scent. Mint. It smelled of wild mint. Where did he know that scent?

The tables around them seemed overly loud in the face of their silence. Inwardly horrified, Remus saw Bellatrix walk in with the Lestrange guy from Slytherin. She leaned against him and laughed, blowing a kiss at Remus as Lestrange turned to scan for a table.

Ignoring her flirting, Remus drank his tea deeply, tasting its smell on his tongue. Sirius. He thought suddenly. It smells like Sirius. Remus put the cup down sharply, blushing. Why had he thought of that?

"Don't you like it?" Ursula asked, pale blue eyes glittering. She was actually rather pretty, Remus noticed. Her long brown hair was lightly curled up at the ends. She was wearing violet robes with a low cut collar that was meant to attract the eye, and when Remus followed it curiously, he saw that it only gave the slightest hint of cleavage.

Directing his gaze back at her face, Remus smiled at her. "I do – it's just hot, that's all."

"I see." She gave him a knowing glance and the marauder realized that he had clearly checked her out while she was watching.

Whoops. Remus stirred the cup with his fingertip, despite his previous excuse about its temperature. "So...how did you...find out?" He hadn't looked intentionally – the design of the robes was interesting, that's all...

"About your-"

"Yes." Remus interrupted. He didn't want secret things to be said too loudly.

Ursula hesitated. "Well, I don't know if you knew this, but...Sirius and I used to date..."

Remus' hand jerked, and he hid it by brushing away a fold in the tablecloth. "No, I didn't..."

The girl nodded. "Sirius was..." She paused thoughtfully, a slight blush highlighting her cheeks. "Well, Sirius was fun. But this is the two-week relationship boy, himself, and it didn't last long." She gave a laugh that turned into a sigh, her eyes distant. "Yes...it didn't last long, because, I'll admit, I was only trying to get closer to you."

"By dating Sirius-?" Remus asked with a raised eyebrow.

Ursula spooned some sugar into her mug, stirring it slowly. "Whether or not you've realized it, Remus, you are in an elite group. Hell, none of us really know you four except Lily, and that's because she's dating James. Can you even name five other people in your year?"

Remus silently stared at the tablecloth. To his surprise, he found that he couldn't. Lucius, Snape, Narcissa...that girl from herbology...the twins from Ravenclaw...

"I'm sure you guys don't really mean to be like that, but you are." Ursula smiled at him again. "As to At first I thought that it was just a coincidence. I barely even noticed it, but...when you're pining over someone, you're bound to watch them.''

"Why did you go to Sirius first, then? Why wouldn't you just talk to me?"

"Sirius is pretty much the easiest to talk to, believe it or not. And everyone knows that if they want to even talk to you, they have to go through him."

"That's ridiculous." Remus said with a skeptical look.

"Is it?" Ursula prompted, "He's very protective of you. I asked him about all your sick days and he basically ended things with me. He loves you very much."

"We're just friends!" Remus blurted, and he spilled some of his tea on the tabletop. People sitting at the table around them glanced his way, and Remus smiled sheepishly. Ursula gave him a strange look, and Remus, at a loss, randomly laughed.

"Are you all right?" She asked quizzically.

"Yeah, fine," Remus said, and he stood in his seat. "I'm getting another cup of tea – do you want some while I'm up there?"

"Sure."

Remus fled, candidly avoiding Bellatrix' table. Why am I freaking out? Merlin...

"Sit!" James said, blocking the door as Sirius made to go for it. "Down, Padfoot, down!"

"Bloody well, sod off, James!" Sirius growled.

James dropped his joking demeanor. "C'mon, mate, leave Remus alone."

"But-"

"He's on a date, Padfoot." James said pointedly. Peter doodled on a piece of parchment, missing the hidden significance behind James's raised eyebrow.

Sirius stopped. "On a date? With a girl?"

James rolled his eyes. "No, you idiot; with a crouton! What's wrong with Moony going out on a date?"

"With a crouton?"

The bespeckled boy gave Sirius a Look. The other boy sat on the edge of his bed, arms crossed. "You know what I meant, Prongs." He sighed.

James sat down beside him, leaning in to murmur into his ear. "There's nothing to do about it Sirius." He said lowly. "Unless you want to finally come out and just bloody well say it!" James raised an eyebrow. "You've hinted at it often enough, why not just make it final? Don't tell me that you were just playing around with Remus, Sirius, don't you dare."

Peter looked over at them. "Not yet!" Sirius said, shoving James into the curtains. The Quidditch player tangled in the fabric, falling half off the bed. There was a startled exclamation, and Sirius laughed as he heaved James back onto the bed. "Not yet." He repeated. "I do mean it, but I'm not saying it yet."

James examined his face for a moment. "Okay." He rolled off the bed to his feet.

"Who's the girl?" Sirius asked casually.

"That Ursula Rayne girl."

"The one that sent him the letter!?" Sirius cried, shedding all illusion of restraint that he might have had. "But –"

James put a hand over Sirius' mouth, muffling protests. "I wouldn't worry about it." Muffled words. "Yes, I know, but I wouldn't worry about it. Things will turn out fine." He let go of Sirius.

The dark featured lad grumbled. "Fine, my ass."

James decided to ignore him, pulling his broom from under the bed. "What you need is some time on the pitch. Wanna go fly some?"

Sirius sighed. "Sure...why not?"

"...And then he tripped over the chair and fell into the ink!" James was saying. Sirius snorted, grinning.

"Right, Prongs. He couldn't have been that stupid—"

"Are you suggesting that I'm lying?"

"Indeed I am!"

"Them's fighting works, Black!"

"I think they are, Potter!"

They laughed, shoving each other lightly as they skidded down the slanting path. Sirius fell into a patch of clovers, and he sat there simply laughing. James rubbed his forehead, trying to breathe around his friendly snickering.

"Haha – that's exactly what he did, Padfoot, just...fell right over!"

"Oh, stuff it in your ear, Prongs. You said he tripped over a ch—" Sirius stopped, staring past James. The Seeker frowned slightly, looking over his shoulder. Coming across the field, heading to the castle, were two figures, arm-in-arm. The first was Ursula Rayne. The second was Remus.

Sirius heaved himself into a standing position, ignoring James' outstretched hand. He brushed himself off and picked up his discarded broom, a tight expression on his face.

"Sirius."

"It's fine, remember, Prongs?" He said shortly, turning back to the path. "Let's go." He went without another word, determinedly to the pitch. James looked at Remus and Ursula, managing to snag the young Gryffindor's eye. They shared a glance over the distance; James' was neutral but smiling, and Remus' was slightly confused, if not embarrassed for some reason. His eyes flickered to Sirius' retreating back and then back to James.

Ursula took notice of Remus' straying attention, and waved at James. James grinned and waved his broom at her, before saluting and running to catch up with Sirius. He came to a slow walk at his best mate's side, but wisely didn't say anything. They came through the narrow ground-level tunnel onto the pitch, the path turning from gravel to rich green grass.

"Ahh, I'm home," James raised his arms to the sky, breathing in the airy, grassy smell of the pitch. Something caught his eye, and James realized that there were people already flying – an entire team. "Aw, hell..."

Sirius sighed and pointed to a random robe lying on the bench. "I spy something green."

"Oy!"

Both Gryffindors turned to watch the Slytherin team float down from the air. Lucius Malfoy was in the lead, long hair tied back by a silver clasp. He landed and strode up to James and Sirius, tossing his hair over one shoulder. "What are you two doing here?"

"Don't act as if this is your personal pitch, Malfoy," Sirius said crossly, glaring at him.

Lucius sneered at him, "Well, Black, it's not yours either."

"I didn't say it was," Sirius shot back. James sighed and rolled his broom between his hands. Lucius looked at him sharply.

"What are you on about, Potter?" Lucius snapped. James made a face at him, but didn't respond. This only served to make the Slytherin angrier.

As Lucius and Sirius traded sniping remarks, a group of girls came down from the benches. Narcissa Black led the way, several other Slytherin girls flanking her. James saw them coming and groaned, covering his eyes with his hand. He muttered something along the lines of, 'it's just getting better and better...'

Narcissa stood behind Lucius, slipping a hand up to rest on his chest. Lucius automatically leaned into her, sending a scorching insult at Sirius. She rested her head on his shoulder, and glared at her cousin. "What's going on, Lucius?"

Sirius stared at her, thrown off by her public display of affection towards his enemy. "What's this?"

Lucius smirked at Sirius, a secretly pleased look spreading across his face. "You mean that you didn't know?" At Sirius' blank look, he deliberately turned and kissed Narcissa; long and slow.

Sirius blinked, his throat working soundlessly. "But you – she – there's –"He sputtered angrily. "Disgusted! Utterly disgusted!" He stormed off the pitch, fuming. "First Ursula and now this...?"

James cradled his broom. "Don't mind him. He's having a bad day."

"Funny. I thought he was normally a spaz."

"I wouldn't talk, you deranged over-dyed blond."

Lucius' eyes flashed. "Are you turning this into a fight, Potter?" He indicated the array of people dressed in silver and green. "You are terribly outnumbered."

"Always depending on lackeys." James muttered. "Typical."

"I figure that I can take you on myself." Lucius snapped.

"You're as spry as a troll, Malfoy." James said. "Smart as one, too."

Lucius leapt at him, and James' first thought was, Ack! My new broom!

"Isn't this the sort of thing that Sirius usually ends up doing?"

James batted away Lily's hand, as she tried to clean a cut on his lip. The fight had been broke up by Mme. Hooch, but James had managed to give Lucius a good toss or two. As for the Slytherin, he cut James' lip on his gaudy family ring and ripped his favorite Quidditch shirt. They were in the commons room, sitting in the window seats.

"Sure." James said slowly, trying to eat a chocolate frog that Peter was offering him. The thing kept on wiggling around, and James squashed him in annoyance. "But Padfoot wasn't too happy about Lucy and Narcissa being together."

"Why not?" Lily asked. "I'm sorry to say it, but they seem nice together."

Remus mused for a moment. "Yes, but you know how much Sirius hates Lucius. And Narcissa isn't his favorite cousin, to begin with."

"Oh."

"Oh, is right." James said with a shudder. "With roles reversed, I would have stormed off too."

Peter looked around. "Where is he, anyway?"

James renewed his quest for chocolate with another frog. "Padfoot? I thought he came back here."

Remus shook his head. "Haven't seen him since..." He faltered. "Well, since I came back from Hogsmeade."

"So Sirius is MIA?" Lily asked.

"MIA?" Peter repeated.

"Missing in action," Remus explained absently. "If he didn't come back here, then where would he have disappeared to?"

Peter stood, eyes closed. "If I were Padfoot..." He hummed for a minute, shifting his stance slightly; leaning left leg, his right foot slid on the floor, turning out somewhat. Arms became loose and ready at his side, and his shoulders pulled back, slanting so their position was acutely defensive. With eyes still closed, Peter tilted his chin to his higher shoulder, head falling a little to the same side. All in all, Peter looked disturbingly Sirius-esque.

Remus adverted his eyes from Peter, blushing furiously as he examined the black laces on his school shoes. Lily gave the shortest marauder a wide-eyed look, and James abruptly choked on a chocolate frog.

"What in Merlin's name are you doing?" James asked, spraying chocolate across the bed spread.

Peter opened one eye to look at him. "What?"

Lily pointed at him, wiggling her fingers randomly, "That – what is that?"

The small marauder blinked at the three of them, "I'm getting into a Sirius state of mind, to find out where he went to."

"Please," Remus stuttered, one of his hands was holding the front of his robes closed while the other sheltered his eyes, "Please stop doing it; it's..." Remus hesitated, biting his lip, "It's upsetting..."

Peter stared at them again before going back to his own stance and posture. "Okay. It's not a big deal, you know."

James hopped down from the bed and shook a finger at him. "Never do that again, got it, Wormtail?"

"O...kay..." Peter was confused.

James shook himself and then picked up his shoes, "Besides, I know where he is."

Three of the marauders ducked into the passage when the coast was clear. They could hear Lily distracting Severus Snape around the next corner. The nosy little git had run into them around their secret exit from the school, near a large mirror, and wouldn't go away. Lily, the brave lass that she was, offered to keep him busy while the rest took off.

"I'm going to marry her one day," James said admiringly, watching as Lily argued with Snape about holly and bumbleberries. Peter and Remus rolled their eyes, and shoved the seeker down the secret passage. After a quick walk through the winding turns of the dark tunnel, they came to an end. In the dark, the three of them neatly climbed up the stair and into a dark alleyway. Turning the corner into the dim light of a lantern, they slipped into the front door of the Three Broomsticks.

The air was thick with smoke and the smell of alcohol, as per usual, and the dull low murmur of people revealed a rare lull in sound. The three of them had hit the tavern in one of its rare pauses, which usually meant that the ruckus would return later in full throttle. A group of elderly witches were sitting in the back, examining satchels full of spice, while other patrons were scattered across the room. Madam Rosmerta waved cheerfully at the three boys, used to their unauthorized appearances, and nodded to a single figure sitting alone at a table against the right wall.

James led the way through the maze of tables, Remus and Peter close behind him. Sirius, who had had his feet resting on one of the four chairs at the table, barely glanced up at their arrival. He was still wearing his Quidditch clothing – a loose long sleeve shirt with a star-shaped rip on the left collarbone, and loose cotton pants over light leather shoes. A bottle of Butterbeer was clenched in one hand, and four others were sitting neatly around the table.

Sirius drained the bottle and lifted his feet off the chair so James could sit on it. Remus took up the position to his left, and Peter sat on his right. In unison, they opened fresh bottles of the Butterbeer, brought them together in a toast, and took a long, silent drink.

"I've decided to look for proof that I was adopted at birth," Sirius announced, taking first position in the unofficial marauders meeting. "That failing, I shall create proof."

"Witnessed," James said firmly.

"Narcissa has taken to Lucius Malfoy, and as such, is a cousin in name only, to me."

"Witnessed," Remus said softly.

Sirius pursed his lips momentarily and continued, "Bellatrix is intent on being a manipulative bitch to me and to all of you, and is also only a cousin in name, to me." A low growl fended off the questioning looks, and the boys let it pass as another event of Sirius' Terrrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day.

"Witnessed," Peter finished.

As something of a closing statement, Sirius said, "I have no family. I recognize no one but Andromeda, who is obviously adopted as I will soon find myself to be."

James clapped Sirius on the shoulder. "Cheer up, mate! We're your family, now!" He clinked his bottle against Sirius' and they both drank deeply, soon joined by Remus and Peter. "To us, who will always be against them!"

"Here, here." Remus chorused. Sirius gave them a half smile and rested back in his seat. They all drank slowly for a while as James regaled them with the tale of his battle with Lucius. Soon, the night masses started to fill into the Three Broomsticks, and their laughter was lost in the dusty, smoky din.

Catching his breath after laughing at a dirty joke Peter had told, Remus realized, abruptly, that Sirius's eyes were very, very gray. Their cloudy hue shifted as Remus leaned in to examine them, and Sirius blinked. James and Peter watched as Remus touched the mouth of his bottle of Butterbeer to Sirius's cheek – right below the examined feature. With an exaggerated carefulness, he traced an invisible line from Sirius' nose to his sideburns. The boy looked at Sirius curiously, asking, "Weren't your eyes blue, before?"

Peter tried to catch a look as Sirius took his time answering. Remus waited patiently as the raven-haired boy swallowed and nodded. "I –uh- tried out a coloring spell...thought blue would be better..."

"Don't." Remus said abruptly; he pulled the bottle away from Sirius' cheek and took a long swig from it. He settled back in his chair and added, "I like the blue much less."

James stood to get another round of drinks, trying to hide his grin. "Padfoot! Assist me!" Sirius followed James to the bar where the seeker instantly spun on him and jabbed him in the chest with one finger. "He likes you too! I knew it!"

Sirius signaled the bartender for four Butterbeers, "What are you on about?"

The other lad simply stared at him "...Were you not sitting at the table?"

"No, I was, but-"

"It's obvious," James said plainly.

Sirius shrugged. "He's had a couple bottles of Butterbeer," he said, by way of excuse.

"Only a couple."

"It's Remus. We know he doesn't handle liquor well." They paused in remembrance of a drunk Remus thinking that he could play all the characters in "Molly the Muggle Maniac," in their appropriate languages and costume, all at the same time.

James shook his head. "There's hardly any booze in Butterbeer, and besides," he poked Sirius in the chest again, "he likes ya!"

The Black family heir made an attempt to bat the boy away, "He likes Ursula."

"No, Padfoot," James whined, "don't go into a whole big denial thing! Make a move!"

"You sound like Lily." The response was mumbled – Padfoot was starting to get grumpy.

"...What's this?" James, of course, picked up on the name of his ladylove. "You've talked to Lily about it?"

Sirius rolled his eyes and leaned on the barstool. "No, but it sounds like something that she'd say – 'go for it!'" He said, pitching his voice in a surprisingly accurate imitation of the girl, "'seize the moment!' 'Live in the now!'" He waved his hands like he was trying to land a flight of brooms.

"Yeah, that sounds like something she'd say..." James drifted for a moment in the thought of Lily. Sirius' flailing hand caught him behind the ear and he jerked out of it. "But that's besides the point." He looked appraisingly at his best friend. "Come on, Sirius..."

"No." The bartender set the four bottles on the counter and Sirius dumped a handful of silver beside it. The bartender snatched it up and walked away, while Sirius picked up three of the four bottles. "Noticing I changed my eye color means nothing. Even you noticed that."

"It's how he noticed it, you silly git!" Exasperated, James gave an annoyed look. "He got all flirty – I shrugged and hit you with a floating kabob in Transfiguration!"

Sirius ignored him and walked back to the table. Despite various attempts through the evening to prod the two on, Sirius and Remus didn't do anything out of the normal. James gave up after a while, being a little huffy, and decided to leave the two alone for the moment. He would try meddling in his friends' love lives another day.

The night wore on and it eventually took Madam Rosemerta three warnings and a dirty look before the boys finally decided to leave the tavern.

"Come on..." Sirius said huskily, long fingers wrapping around Remus' wrist. "Let's go back to the castle." He finished the rest of his Butterbeer, and the marauders exited the pub, dashing through the streets of the city. Remus followed at high speed, momentarily losing them when they shifted forms.

Remus laughed as they ran through the trees around Hogsmeade, Padfoot-Sirius twining around his legs. He knew that Peter was darting around somewhere and that the smaller Animagi would be careful enough not to get trampled on. James dashed by, proud head adorned with the antlers that gave him the nickname, Prongs. Remus tilted his head to the sky for a moment, for once feeling the adrenaline rush that came with running through the dense forestry in the middle of the night without having to resort to nightmares of the wolf. He didn't even feel the fatigue and dizziness that usually came with drinking as much Butterbeer as they had. It was like he was normal...for a moment.

Sirius knocked him playfully to the ground, paws resting on Remus' shoulders. Remus gasped as he fell back, unused to the sensation of falling. He landed softly in the damp grass, blinking as he stared up at the face of 'Padfoot'. When the boy didn't move for a moment, the shaggy black dog's image shimmered and flickered, leaving a tall Sirius in its wake.

"Are you all right, Moony?" Sirius asked, concerned with his friend's sudden lack of movement. His long black hair had grown much since the beginning of the year, and now it dangled like a curtain around his face. Sirius crouched over Remus, bending to look closely at him as he waited for a response. "Well?"

Remus' heart hammered in his chest as he stared at the face of one of his best friends. Why was he feeling like he had eaten too much chocolate while lying upside-down? He was just Sirius... It didn't matter that they played about flirting with one another... It didn't matter that they had shared an innocent kiss on Christmas, or that Sirius was overly protective, or that Remus' favorite chocolate type had inevitably switched to mint-flavored...

"Moony?"

Remus shifted under Sirius. "You're heavier than you look, you know?" Sirius blinked and then grinned at him. Sirius then disappeared and the big black dog appeared in his place. The shaggy beast licked Remus' face and bounded away. Remus stared at the stars above before sitting up. It doesn't matter ... He sighed and then ran after Padfoot, feeling the adrenaline rush again.

"My feet are cold," Peter said quietly.

"Then maybe you shouldn't have gone through that puddle," Sirius said blandly, turning sharply down the passage and around the corner.

Peter shivered and nearly tripped over Remus' heels. "I was a rat – it was either go through it, or waste a whole lot of time going around it." There was a silence and the four boys could hear the low sound of 'squish', 'squish'. "My socks are soggy."

James snorted in the dark, "That's something I could have done without knowing."

The four of them paused when they reached the end of the passage. Sirius, being the first in the line, pressed his ear to the wood of the wall. Carefully, he pushed it open, peering out into the hall with one eye. "Clear." He pushed it open all the way and hopped down to the floor. Remus followed him, once Peter had gotten off of his pant hem.

A low shuffling reached their ears, followed by a soft mumbling.

"Go back!" Sirius hissed, shutting the mirror in Peter's face. Remus glanced down the hall at the approaching shadow and looked for another way out. The hall ended at the mirror, and there was no way that they could head toward Filch. They didn't have James's invisibility cloak and going back through the passage would risk the discovery of their secret exit. Sirius grabbed hold of Remus' arm and pulled them to a tapestry near by. He shoved it aside, indicating Remus to go first. Remus did, moving to stand in the small nook. Sirius squeezed in, the hiding spot barely large enough for the both of them.

The hanging fluttered for a moment, and stilled as the voice of Filch was heard. "Where are they, those troublemakers? Thinking they can hide from me, can they? Setting Everlasting Expel Gel in the corridors, are they? Damn kids..."

Remus tuned the caretaker out, instead hearing the wild thumping of his heartbeat for the second time that night. He could hear Sirius' too, seeing as the taller boy was pressed up to him, arms going around him to brace against the wall. Remus looked down for some reason, embarrassed. His gaze fell to where the neck of Sirius' robe had been pulled open. Sometime during their adventure that night, probably in the trees of Hogsmeade, Sirius had picked up a scratch on his collarbone. Blood eased from the cut, oozing slowly. Without thought, Remus pulled back the collar of the robe and, with one long, slow movement, licked the pretty crimson blood away. His eyelids fluttered as he pulled back, some strange sound rumbling in the back of his throat. Sirius stared at him; half startled and half surprised, seeing an odd emotion flash in his friend's expression. Remus seemed to shake himself out of whatever mood he was in, blinking self-consciously.

"Sorry," He murmured throatily. "I don't know what came over me." He was staring fixatedly at the slit on Sirius' neck, and he had an alarmed expression on his face.

"Are you all right?" Sirius asked, concerned. "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea-"

"Nonsense," Remus shook his head, tongue flickering across rosy lips. "I-it's fine."

Sirius swallowed hard, fingers straying on the cleaned cut by his neckline. "I think Filch is gone. We should go back to the tower."

"Okay." Remus agreed, back to his usual passive self. Sirius glanced at him one last time, and tried to ignore the strange swirl of emotion in his friend's amber eyes.

WHOA! What's up with Remus?
You: I dunno.
Sirius: I don't know either, but I like it!
Remus: Sirius!
Sirius: Rwar! -winks-
Remus: -.-;; Crimmidy...

(By the way, the crouton joke was something I got off of a Friends episode, so it's not really mine... I wish it was, though – it's hilarious.)
(And 'Sirius' Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day' is based on the book title of the same name, except with Alexander in place of Sirius' name.)

Sirius' eye color is changed mostly because I just found out that his actual eye color is actually gray. JK said so herself. On her website. –sighs- Oh well. Cheers!