Woah, I think this is the longest I have made you people wait for an update. It's been like three months, hasn't it? This time it wasn't just all the papers I had to write, though. It was…Sims 2 .:hangs head in shame:. I swore to myself that I wouldn't play again 'til summer came 'round, but I could not resist its gravitational pull. You know how it is; once you start you can't stop. My Marauder Era Sims (doesn't almost everyone have their own version?) needed some love. I needed to give everyone a make over, bulldoze their homes and make new bigger better ones, redecorate (my personal fave), and don't even get me started on all the DOWNLOADING! I swear I have an obsessive compulsive disorder.

Really sorry about the wait… what else can I say? I loved all your reviews though! You people are so lovely. I totally understand why authors love reviews. Thank you everyone who took their time to review. It means a lot.

Warning: There's a made up history lesson in this chapter and also some Course 1 math. So, those of you who don't want to learn anything: watch out!

Ivy Crane: This is rather pointless but I'll say it anyway… Do you know how effing jealous I am? You are so damn lucky. The Crüe had a couple of shows at the Garden, but me had no $$$.

"Three thousand four hundred seventy-five locomotive; three thousand four hundred seventy-six locomotive; three thousand four hundred seventy-seven locomotive—," muttered Sirius as he paced up and down the dormitory corridor. As Sirius gritted out each and every syllable, his eyes had a crazed look in them. Maybe this all had something to do with the fact that he was locked out of his own room last night…

Flashback: Last night, Gryffindor Common Room

"Sirius, don't you want to get any sleep at all tonight?"

"Oh c'mon. How many more opportunities do you think we're gonna get to be alone at night in your bed? Rat face, deer boy, and what's-his-face¹ will be back before ya know it."

"My bed? Why can't it be your bed?"

"My bed, your bed, no bed—I don't give a damn. As long as I wake up tomorrow next to a mighty fine werewolf, it doesn't matter where, just thought you'd like a bit of comfort."

"Are you always this considerate when there's sex involved or am I just lucky?"

"Aw, you offend me Mr. Moony. How can you think that this is all for a tumble between the sheets? However, it seems as though your body betrays you. Is that a wand in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?"

"Hmmph, we'll just see about that."

Sirius suddenly felt strange yet familiar sensation in his lower half. "Hey! What the—?"

Unable to stand up, Sirius immediately fell to the floor. "Jelly Legs? What are you playing at? When I get my hands on you—"

"It's more like if really," said Remus as he took off and ran up the stairs to the boys dormitories.

Quickly muttering the counter curse, Sirius jumped up and chased after his friend. When he reached the entrance to their room, Sirius grabbed the doorknob but it wouldn't turn.

"Oh, you son of a—"

End of flashback

"—Bitch," griped Sirius as he stubbed his toe on the leg of a desk as he made a sharp turn towards his room. 'That stupid Locking Charm has got to have worn out by now.'

Grabbing hold of the knob, a grin spread across Sirius' face as it turned and made a soft "click". With great stealth, the animagus made his way across the room. Gently grasping the drapes, Sirius quickly slid into the already occupied bed. The thick drapes obstructed the sunlight, giving the inside of Remus' bed a warm red glow.

Carefully, Sirius propped himself over the werewolf and looked down at the sleeping creature. It was funny how all that pent up anger Sirius had just moments ago seemed to dissipate at the sight before him.

"Hey Remus," whispered Sirius. Brushing the stray hairs from the other's face, he tried again. "Hey Moony, wake up."

Jostling the bed a bit, Sirius became slightly disappointed that he was still unable to wake his friend. Slipping under the covers, Sirius allowed his body to press up against Remus. It surprised him to find how good it felt just to lay there with Remus like this.

Throwing his left leg over Remus' hip, Sirius managed to draw himself closer to the sleeping boy. Softly, he began to jab Remus with his nose: first his chin and then his check. But when he reached Remus' nose, Sirius began to rub their noses together, rather than poke at it. It was a very uncharacteristic thing for Sirius to do for he always felt that "Eskimo" kisses were for either poor deluded love-fools (i.e. James) or ponces. And since he was neither of two he quickly put it off as something his animal counterpart would do. As long as he didn't develop the urge to lick his own nuts as a human, Sirius decided that he could learn to live with the nose rubbing.

"Nngh," moaned sleepy Remus as his nose twitched. "But I dun wanna give my speech naked."

Sirius' eyebrows arched up but he quickly decided to play along. "Oh really now."

Remus grunted and shook his head.

"And just what—pray tell—is this speech all about? Inquiring minds want to know."

"Mating habits of thestrals," Remus mumbled sleepily.

"Oh," Sirius held back the urge to laugh, "with a topic like that, how could one not be starkers?"

"B-b-but the castle, 's…drafty."

"But it's for a good cause," muttered Sirius as he placed soft kisses onto the werewolf's neck.

"It is?" questioned Remus followed by a moan. "Oh…Professor Dumbledore."

Sirius' eyes shot open and hastily sat up. "WHAT?" he roared. "What kind of sick, twisted dream—why the hell are you dreaming 'bout him for? What am I, chopped liver? What the...," the words died in his throat as the boy that he assumed was asleep was now doubling up with laughter. "Why the hell you laughin' for? You're the sick fuck here, not me!"

"Your temper tantrums never cease to amaze me," said Remus as his laughter died down.

"Hey! I do not throw tantrums. Wait—hold on a minute—I amaze you?" Sirius smiled.

"Don't get ahead of yourself, Padfoot. I was referring to your fits, not you in particular."

However, this did not damper Sirius' smile. "Ah…I see you need brushing up with your P's and Q's, aye? You said my tantrums amaze you, correct? Well, they're my tantrums, therefore I amaze you. It's simple logic, Moony. If you want, we can go over proofs too, but that'll cost you extra," Sirius then waggled his eyebrows, "say getting naked?"

Remus gave Sirius a hurt look. "Oh, I should have known you only wanted me for my body and not my mind."

Sirius smirked. "Well, first learn your logic, and then we'll talk." He then leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on the other's lips.

The kiss could have very well turned into a very promising snog session; that was until Remus broke it and put a hand over his mouth. "Morning breath."

"Doesn't matter…doesn't bother me," claimed Sirius as he tried to pry the hand off of Lupin's mouth.

"But it bothers me."

Sirius pouted. "Fine, be like that," he said as he bent forward again and place a kiss on Remus' hand. In an effort to make himself more comfortable, Sirius wiggled his way in between Remus' thighs. He then smiled when he felt the werewolf's member give a little twitch. Perhaps seducing his friend wasn't going to be too difficult after all. "Last night was magnificent, Moony," praised Sirius. "You knew just what to do—where to touch—how to…" As he let his words drift off, Sirius thought it would be more prudent to demonstrate what he meant on the supple neck at his mercy.

"Th-that g-good, huh?" Remus managed to choke out.

"You better believe it. I'll probably have to suck on you till the cows come home just to break even," murmured Sirius as his hands ghosted up and down Remus' hips.

Upon hearing this, Remus gave an involuntary shiver.

Sirius smirked against the werewolf's collar bone. "Like the sound of that, do you?" questioned the boy, huskily.

"Nngh," gasped Remus.

"So articulate," teased Sirius. Lifting his face to his friend's left ear, Sirius gently nipped the other's earlobe. "No need to worry…I like the sound of it too."

Sitting back on his hunches for a second, Sirius took hold of the bottom of Remus' t-shirt and pushed it upwards; feeling the taut muscles of his friend's abdomen in the process. Bending forward, Sirius mouthed the center of Remus' chest and made his way to one of the exposed nipples. Dragging his tongue across the nipple, he nipped and teethed at it, drawing moans from deep within Remus' throat.

As one hand clutched at the back of Sirius' head and the other on his shoulder, the animagus felt a rush of emotion overcome him. It wasn't just the thrill that he possessed the power to transform Remus from the calm collected prefect that the Marauders all knew and loved to this unbridled passionate creature. There was also this feeling of 'how on earth had he been able to live without this?' coursing through he veins.

Following the slight indentation on Remus' fit stomach, Sirius slowly trailed his tongue downwards. Softly tugging down Remus' flannel pants, Sirius leaned forward to tease the newly exposed hip bone. While doing so, he saw something that was not supposed to be there. As his face grew nearer, Sirius blinked and stared harder to make sure he wasn't seeing things; but upon closer inspection, there was no denying what that dark fading spot was. Sirius knew what a hickey (now fading) looked liked, having given countless ones to others, but this one, he certainly did not.

'How dare she,' thought an angry Sirius. He then was overcome with the sudden urge to ravage his friend's neck and leave a mark of his own the size of his fist. 'That'll show her.'

"Padfoot," Remus half-whined, "why—why did you stop?"

"Why?" Sirius repeated irritably. Without thinking, he jabbed at the mark and said,

"Why?—I'll tell you why—that's why!"

Remus looked up at his now furious friend and then looked down at his own hip. "What the devil are you—oh…"

"OH! Is that all you can say: Oh?"

Remus, however, did not hear the shrieking Sirius. "Oh God, Heather." Quickly, he made to push off the body on top of his.

"What are you—oh no you don't Remus," said Sirius as he pinned his friend's arms down. "We're gonna sort this thing out right here and now."

"There's nothing to sort out; this…thing, whatever it is, it's over," replied Remus, his voice a little shaky. Then with more certainty, he went on to say, "I will not cheat on Heather."

"I hate to burst your bubble mate, but you already have."

"How could you even think about doing this to Liz? Do you not care about her?"

"Hey, Liz is a big girl; she can take care of herself. And might I add, she is one of the easiest witches on this side of the Prime Meridian—don't look at me like that, you know it's true. I've seen you toss quite a few disapproving looks her way."

At first Remus frowned at Sirius' words, but he then soon smirked. "And how would you know that I look at her at all."

"Well I—ah," said a flustered Sirius. "Oh, that's beside the point! You're changing the subject, I hate when you do that!"

"I did nothing of that—"

"Shut up, yes you did. This is supposed to be about you and that prissy bird of yours, who for that matter, has been nothing but a pain in my arse since the moment we've met."

Remus looked unimpressed. "You're only calling her names because she wouldn't put out for you back in fifth year."

"No! I'm only calling her names because you want her more than you want ME!" Sirius regretted the words the second they left his lips but there was nothing he could do about that now. All his cards were out on the table and all he could do was stare back at Remus with an emotionless face. He was going to take it like a man.

Remus was a bit taken back by Black's confession, but quickly brushed it off as one of Sirius' theatrics. "Oh don't get all bloody dramatic on me, it's very unbecoming. You know very well that the Marauders will always come first in my book and, quite unfortunately for me, that includes you!"

Well if Remus was giving him a way out, he would be a fool not to take it. "I'm not being dramatic. What's so bloody fantastic about her anyway?"

"She cares about me, genuinely cares. She wants to be with me, not because of my status as being close friends with two of the most popular boys in Hogwarts, but because she likes me for me." Remus than averted his eyes and started tracing designs on his bed sheets with his index finger. "For me, finding a companion is not as easy as it is for you. It's just—I don't know—maybe down the road I tell her about…and then maybe I won't...be alone anymore."

"Do you love her?" Sirius asked apprehensively.

Remus quickly looked back at Sirius. "What? Of course not—wait, I mean yes—no—I don't know! What kind of question is that any way? It's none of your business."

"What do you mean: none of my business? I'm your friend!" cried Sirius. When Remus didn't look convinced, Sirius continued on. "Okay fine! Let's say, hypothetically, that you do love her. Let's say that you desperately want to marry her and have a whole litter of puppies with her. That's fine by me, but tell me this! Can she be there for you when you need her the most? Can she be there for you like the Marauders can?" As soon as the words left his mouth, Sirius leaned in closer. His eyes darkened and they seemed to look right through Remus. "Like…like I can?"

Remus was frozen in place. He could not move; not with Sirius staring at him like that. All he could manage to say was a very raspy "Sirius…"

The animagus moved in closer still. "Hmmph…didn't think so." Just as their lips became close enough to touch, Sirius heard the sound of skin smacking against skin and felt the left side of his face go numb. The next thing he knew, he was almost falling off the bed under him. When he looked up, Sirius saw that Remus had gotten up and was now standing with his fists clutched to his sides. His eyes were burning as the veins in his temple and neck looked as though they were about to burst.

"Don't you ever," Remus' voice boomed, "…EVER speak about my condition with such malicious intent ever again! Understand?" Turning on his heels, Remus hastily made his way to the lavatory and slammed the door shut.

"Well, that didn't go as well as I expected," muttered Sirius as he stared at the closed door. He had not meant to use Remus' lycanthropy as a defense for himself, it just kind of came out that way. Sirius knew that this was a sensitive subject, and what did he do? He threw it in Lupin's face. Of course Remus was going to take it in the wrong way.

"Me and my big mouth."

xXx

"Wow, Sirius! Who gave you that shiner?"

Sirius did not bother to look over his shoulder at his best friend and just continued rummaging through luggage bags. "I don't want to talk about it Prongs."

James took a step back to lean on the wall and crossed his arms over chest. "It was Moony, wasn't it?" When Sirius did not answer, James rolled his eyes and let out a sigh. "What is it with you two? Can't I leave you guys unsupervised for just a week without you two going at each others throats?"

Realizing Sirius was not going to respond to him, James changed the subject. "Oi mate, what ch'you doin'?"

Sirius sighed exasperatedly. "Lookin' for Lily's bag, you prat. What's it look like?"

Ignoring Sirius' irritable tone, James lifted his foot off the floor and pointed it towards the right. "That mauve one towards the back; the one with the pink hair ribbon tied to it."

In a flash, Sirius dashed to the back of the pile of suitcases. Finding the right one, Sirius yanked it out from under the mountain of luggage swiftly; causing the mountain to collapse onto the stone floor. James jerked his head to the side and cringed as the sound of breaking glass and curses (perhaps a mirror or seven) rang through the corridor. Ignoring the destruction he caused, Sirius kneeled on the floor and hastily unzipped the suitcase before him and continued his search.

"Hey, you better put everything back where you found it," ordered James as he saw his girlfriend's blouses and thigh-highs flying through the air. "You better fold them nicely too!"

"Keep your shirt on—I'm only looking for her makeup kit—well hello—what do we have here?" Sirius held up, what appeared to be a small white article of clothing. "Ooh, lacy knickers…and crotch-less too. Prongs, you lucky dog!"

Within nanoseconds, a red faced James ran across the hall and grasped the underwear from his friend's hands and stuffed them in his robe pocket. "Just what are you—ohh piss off Black," hissed James as he bent down and grabbed the makeup bag that was in the suitcase. "Here," said James as he shoved the bag into Sirius' hands. "There's the bloody makeup. Now if you don't mind, care to explain what hell is this all about."

Sirius looked at James dumbfounded. "Well obviously Lily and I have the same complexion. So naturally, I'm going to borrow her cover-up to well—cover up my eye."

"You'd think with all money you come from, you'd be able to buy your own makeup."

"Have you gone mad? I wouldn't buy makeup from Fard fuckin' fairy Couleur's Cosmetics Shop if you threatened to hex off my balls. Shit, I don't even were makeup!"

"And yet for some odd reason, I see you every morning in the loo putting that gunk on your eyelashes," uttered James, unbelievingly.

"Hey, for your information that "gunk" is mascara and I-I well—mascara isn't makeup!" protested Sirius. "It's—it brings out my eyes damn it!"

"Ri-i-i-ight…"

"I just put on a li'l bit…one coat," added Sirius, as if that would make his case.

"Now you just sound pathetic."

"I do n—oh shut up, four eyes!"

James looked down at his friend with a puzzled look. "Is that the best you can do? Now I know something is wrong."

"Bugger off," mumbled Sirius as he opened Lily's makeup bag.

"You know just because Moony beat you to a bloody pulp doesn't mean—"

"For fucks sake, he didn't beat me up!" Black sighed and then continued, "It was more like a sucker punch."

James frowned. "I doubt that. Remus would never just deck you without a very good reason…"

"I didn't say that he didn't have a good reason; just that I didn't see it coming," said Sirius in a low voice.

"And let me guess, you didn't apologize for whatever you did or said."

Sirius looked back down at the cosmetics bag and pulled out a compact. "I don't think that'll do any good."

"You are such a prat sometimes, you know that?" James sighed exasperatedly. "Merlin, you know very well that apologizing could make all the difference in the world, especially with Moony. I mean he forgives you for everything, even for—well putting it loosely, the unspeakable. It's not that Moony won't accept your apologizes; it's your damn pride and you know it."

Fiddling with the compact, Sirius stood up. "Yeah, I know…thanks Prongs," he muttered.

James gave Sirius a small smile and then lightly punched him in the arm. "Yeah well, go on," said James, "get out of here before I give you a black eye to match the one you've already got."

xXx

About two weeks later…

"Yes, we'll have four butterbeers, a banshees' gin 'n' toxic, a wicked cosmicpolitan, and a firewhisky sour," ordered Sirius, "on second thought, make that two, please."

The Three Broomsticks was jam packed that Saturday afternoon. The Marauders and their girlfriends were lucky to find an empty table; however, they had to transfigure their own chairs. As they waited for their drinks, the group began talking about where they wanted to go after they finished their drinks. After a while their order of drinks were levitated to them from the bar. Then the conversation became really interesting…

"Do you think I should get lowlights Lils?"

"You know what, I think you should Liz. It would give your hair a very flattering contrast."

"I was thinking of straightening my hair…"

"No, don't Heather. I love it curly," said Amanda.

"Really? I think it makes my cheeks look fat."

"No, don't be ridiculous," the other three girls chide.

"No really…I got so fat over the hols. There were so many different dishes at the dinner table and if I didn't try each and every one, someone or another would have been offended. Now I'm paying the price; I could barely fit into my robes this morning."

"Oh don't be silly, you're thinner than I am. Remus, tell her that she's not fat."

"Hmm… what?" When Remus looked around the table to see all the girls staring at him, he knew he would be in deep shit if he didn't answer. The other boys at the table looked as though they did not hear the question either. Sirius was busy counting the cracks in the ceiling, James was staring at Lily with a glazed look in his eyes and a stupid smile on his face, and Peter…well he looked liked he was trying to make himself cross-eyed. 'Thanks for the help guys.' Lily on the other hand, was looking at him quite expectantly. So Remus just blurted out the first thing that came to mind. "Led Zeppelin is playing at Albert Hall this summer." Lily's jaw dropped. 'Nope, that definitely wasn't the answer they were looking for.'

"I was saying Remus," Lily gritted her teeth, "how Heather is not fat."

"Fat…? You? Most definitely not; you look fabulous," said Remus to his girlfriend, as sincerely as possible.

"Thank you Remus," Heather said curtly. She then pursed her lips and faced forward. Grabbing her gin 'n' toxic, she downed the rest quickly and then flagged down a waiter, requesting to keep the drinks coming. The table became very quiet after that.

After about fifteen minutes, the silence was broken by a groan. "I think it need some aspirin," moaned Peter as he tried to blink his eyes straight again.

"Oh Peter, you're s-so funny," said Heather as she began giggling like mad. She was, after all, on her fourth drink. No one dared to say anything because they were just relieved that all the tension at the table had disappeared. Well, save for the electricity that was coursing between Remus and Sirius.

The two boys were speaking to each other again, with a little—alright a lot—of help from James. Sirius apologized that night after his talk with James. However, Remus was no fool and knew very well that this was all James' doing, but never the less, he forgave Black anyway.

After that whole fiasco had passed, Sirius was still a little wary about where it had left his and Remus' relationship. Were they strictly friends again or could they—for lack of better words—fool around still? He knew that Remus didn't want to cheat on Heather but was a little bit of flirting here and there really cheating? So during a double lesson of History of Magic, Sirius decided to test the waters.

The Marauders had taken their regular seats in the back of the classroom while the girls were seated more towards the front. About an hour into the lecture, Sirius looked around the room to see if he could make his move without anyone noticing. Aside from the one or two students taking notes, most of the class seemed to be already entering the Astroplanes and therefore would not be paying any attention to the back of the room. Sirius then looked to his right to observe his two friends sitting at the desk next to his and Remus'. When noticing that James and Peter seemed to be pretty occupied with their game of hangman, Sirius smiled to himself and thought, 'now's a good a time as any'.

He started off with slowly inching his chair closer to the werewolf and letting his left leg brush the other's leg and eventually letting it rest there. Minutes passed and Sirius was quite pleased that Remus had not moved away or even flinched at the contact. Still trying to keep his cool and not scare his prey away, Sirius decided to use his signature "yawn and stretch" move for it has never failed him before. Once he had his arm resting on the back of his friend's chair, he let his fingers draw little patterns on Remus upper arm. When his fingers became bored of the spot, Sirius lightly dragged them up passed the boy's shoulder to fiddle with the shirt collar that was half up while the other side was folded down. "Tsk, tsk, tsk," Sirius murmured.

While straightening Lupin's collar, Sirius' fingertips brushed along the boy's neck, causing the hairs on the back of his neck to stand up. Remus sucked in his breath and began to slightly shiver.

"Mr. Lupin," at the sound of his name, Remus tensed up as Sirius quickly dropped his wandering hand. "Would you so kindly read the section on top of page 645 out loud?" asked Professor Binns in his typical monotone voice.

"Y-yes professor," stuttered Remus. "In 1632, the Battle of Leeds, one of the most infamous battles of the Goblin rebellions, marked a turning point in history. General Annex R. Thymine (also known as Annex the Antecedent) was an outstanding marksmen, highly skilled in military combat, and known for his ruthlessness. The Ministry sent its troops to the Leeds, thinking that they would get the drop on Annex. However, Thymine had surprised the Ministry by having trained his forces in gorilla warfare and ambushed the Ministry's troops. With all of Thymine's military training, no one had suspected that he would fight in such an underhanded manner; which ultimately led to the Ministry's defeat. The death toll—"

As Remus read on, Sirius leaned forward and propped himself up with his right arm on the desk; his robes obscuring the view of his as well as Remus' lower half. 'Now this is going to be fun.'

"…After Antecedent's second in command, Boras the Brute's demise, his son, Cambias the Calculated, t-t-t-took…," Remus froze; perhaps because of the hand that was leisurely sliding up and down his thigh. Determined not to let Sirius get the better of him, Remus stammered on. "Ahem, took over. As a team, the Thymines were practically unbeatable. They led the goblins through 34 battles; all of them victorious. However in 1638, Annex suffered an em-em-em." It seemed as though the wandering hand had found a place to rest, much to Remus' dismay.

"Embolism," corrected Binns.

"Right, an embol-is-m." Remus' cheeks flushed to an unnatural shade of red, which was pretty miraculous considering that all his blood seemed to be pooling at the center of his crotch. "Under the cir-cum-stances, the general's f-f-funeral was a very short one."

"Thank you Mr. Lupin," said Binns. The ghost quirked his eyebrow as he studied his student's face but then quickly returned his attention to the text, finding it more interesting than what was going on in the back of his classroom.

Remus would have let out a breath of relief but couldn't quite remember how to. Not when Sirius' hand was having its wicked way with him and right under their professor's and peers' noses nonetheless. As he glanced sideways, he became slightly irritated with what he saw. Next to him, Sirius was just looking down at his textbook and idly following along with the reading with his quill; looking, for the entire world, as the straight O student that he indeed was. But upon closer inspection, Remus could make out the sly smile on his friend's face. 'Why that smug bastard. Thinks he's so slick; I'll show him.'

As all lucidity vanished, Remus' hand dart out and grasped the animagus' thigh. Upon contact, Sirius felt a jolt of electricity run throughout his being. "Now that's more like it," muttered Sirius as he pushed the other's robe aside to get a better hold of him.

Remus quickly sucked in his breath. How he was going to make it through the rest of the lesson without everyone finding out what was going on, he did not know. With Sirius alternating his pumps from snail like movements to lightening speed, he was going to pop one for sure. Minutes passed by, but to Remus it felt like ages. He was certain that he would die from a case of blue balls if Sirius didn't put an end to this soon. In the haze of pleasure, Remus vaguely remembered where one of his hands was. Grasping Sirius' upper thigh tightly, he let out a low whimper. "Please."

With one look to make sure the coast was clear (both Prongs and Wormtail were nodding off into sleep), Sirius decided to take pity on Remus or perhaps because he himself couldn't wait for the feel of Remus, hot and thick, in his hand. After fiddling with the belt, which wouldn't budge an inch, Sirius gave up on it and went straight for Remus' zip. With his objective so close, Sirius' hands began to shake. This moment would either propel him to the greatest heights of pleasure he had ever known or be the death of him. Sirius certainly hoped it was the former.

"Remus, can you come with me to the library? I need to retrieve that book about General Thymine. I should have known Binns was going to make us write an essay about him." Both Remus and Sirius quickly looked up to see Heather making her way to the back of the room. They were so caught up in their activities that they hadn't realised that class was now over.

Sirius immediately stopped what he was doing, pushed Remus' hand away, and tried his best to cover Remus up with his robe that he had pushed away earlier. Remus, on the other hand, was doing his fish impersonation again. Sirius then came to the conclusion that if Remus were to become an animagus, he would definitely be a big mouthed bass.

When Heather reached their table, she gave Remus a big warm smile and tossed a fake one Sirius' way.

"I—ah…"

"Oh come on, love. We have to get the book before someone else does." With that said she pulled Remus up by his hand and all but dragged him out into the hallway, leaving Sirius to sit and brood about all the different ways that he could murder Heather and make it look like an accident.

Currently, the two boys were trying their best to act normal.

In the background, a very distinctive guitar riff could be heard from across the bar.

"Oh Sirius, that's our song! Let's dance!" Liz shrieked, yanking her boyfriend off his chair.

"But I didn't even get to finish my drink," protested Sirius as he was dragged out to the dance floor (really a cramped corner between the charmed jut box and a funny looking muggle plant). However his words were drowned out by John Lennon's scream in the Beatles rendition of Dizzy Miss Lizzie.

"Oh Remikkins, why don't we have a song?"

'Because it's a stupid idea—that's why. Plus nothing rhymes with Heather except for weather and feather.' "I haven't the slightest idea why."

"Sirius and Liz have one—I want one," Heather whined.

'Merlin, you're annoying when you're drunk.' "I can see that," muttered Remus, under his breath as he glared at Liz's back.

"Did'ju say something love?"

"Oh no…nothing," replied Remus as his voice went up an octave or two.

As the song wore on, Sirius got more into it and started dancing up a storm. Soon everybody's eyes were on him and his partner. While doing the twist he began to mouth the words. Needless to say, Liz was ecstatic and giggling like the idiot she was. Remus, however, was seeing green and sharply turned to his girlfriend.

"Look Heather, I don't know if you can understand the words coming out of my mouth right now—no you cannot finish my drink, I'd say you had enough," said the werewolf as he took the drink out of her hands. "I'm not feeling up to par so I'll order you some witch's brew (a.k.a. coffee in this fic; not the real drink) before I leave." Before Heather could finish processing the information, Remus was already at the bar. The others at the table looked at each other with wide eyes, not knowing what to say. Remus was hardly, if ever, rude.

When Remus returned with the coffee in hand, his face displayed no emotion. After placing the beaker in front of his now wasted girlfriend, he gave Lily an imploring look, which she understood as "please, I just can't deal with her when she's like this". It was common knowledge that Heather was anything but fun when loaded. When Lily rolled her eyes and nodded, Remus took that as a yes. He then swiftly said his goodbyes and left.

Just seconds later, Sirius returned to the table looking a little exhausted and annoyed. Whether it was from the dancing in general or trying to get out of dancing with Liz, no one at the table could say. "Hey," said Sirius as he looked around the pub, "where's Rem?"

James took his butterbeer in his hands and began to peel the labeling. "You just missed him, mate. He just took off."

Sirius stared at his best friend with a puzzled face. "Why did he—"

"PLAHH!" All eyes quickly directed their gaze at the creator of the noise. At the receiving end of the gazes was Heather, whose face was contorted in disgust. "Eww…that stuff was awful." She apparently didn't like her coffee.

"No kidding," retorted Peter irritably. Across from Heather sat Peter, who was now covered in a spray of black coffee.

"Oops…s'rry Peter. I didn't ahh…see you there. "

"Right," said Peter as he spit out some of the coffee that unfortunately ended up in his mouth. "Everything always happens to me."

xXx

Considering that it was about a thirty minute walk from Hogsmeade to Hogwarts, it seemed to go by a lot faster. In no time, Remus was in his room and was quite happy that he hadn't bumped into anyone one the way. It was still mid afternoon and the sun was shining brightly through the window, as if to mock Remus about how much of an arse he had been. Remus looked up directly at the sun (not something that I recommend) and said, "Oh shut it, you…stupid sun."

"Yeah, you tell that sun Moony. Maybe you should try bearing your teeth and shaking your fist at it, that always works with me." Such lame sarcasm could only come from one person that Remus knew, and that person was the one person that he did not want to see as of right now.

"Sod off, Sirius."

"Nuh uh uh, not until you tell me what's the matter."

Remus sat down on his bed and put his face in his hands. "Nothing is—it's just—you know how Heather is when she's…"

"Plastered, totaled, wasted, cocked up, swimming in booze, hammered—"

"I think we established the point Sirius," said Remus, the words slightly distorted due to his face resting in his hands.

"Alright fine, but that's still doesn't give you an excuse for the way you booked out of there," teased Sirius as he took a seat next to his friend. "I mean, you didn't even say bye to me," he said in a false hurtful tone.

"Be quiet."

"Honestly, leaving your girlfriend like that—really bad form," joked Sirius.

Taking his face out of his cradled hands, Remus looked at his friend. "And I suppose you're the poster boy for outstanding boyfriends, are you?"

"Hey, calm down," replied Sirius as he put up his hands in surrender. "Regardless of what you may think, I did not come up here to get in a row with you."

"Oh really? Could have fooled me," Remus mumbled sarcastically.

"I'll just ignore that. Anyway, I just wanted to say that… well," Sirius scratched the back of his head and focused on the particular part of the carpet that Padfoot had soiled last year that still wouldn't come out. "Umm…well you see .:sighs:. I'm sorry," he says rather softly.

"Sorry? For what?" Remus looked at Sirius questionably, but then it dawned on him.

"What did you do this time?"

"Huh? Oh no, nothin' like that. It's just that I haven't been the best friend in the world in quite a while and I just…wanted to apologize for that."

Sirius did not need to specify, Remus knew what he was talking about. So he just gave Sirius a small smile and said, "Thanks."

A smile of his own crept up Sirius' handsome face. "You're welcome."

Then Remus let out a little laugh and clasped Sirius' shoulder. "It wouldn't have worked out anyway."

"Yeah," Sirius chuckled. "I know what you—hey! What do you mean it wouldn't work out?"

"Well quite frankly, your feet stink."

Sirius did a double take. "What? I'm a Black and I'll have you know that Blacks do not have smelly feet!"

"Well your family might not have foot odor but you certainly do. I can smell their noxious smell from here." Remus then scrunched up his nose and began to use his hand as a fan. "Wooh!"

"I'll show you stinky feet," said Sirius, scathingly. Swiftly, Sirius pounced on the werewolf, who let out a half laugh half yelp. "Think my feet smell, do you?" Remus was still laughing but nodded his head in agreement. Not satisfied at all with that answer, Sirius decided it was time to take out the big guns, tickling. "Yeah? Well take that! And that! And this!"

Suddenly the door opened, giving James a perfect view of what was going on. Well, there wasn't too many ways to interpret as to why Sirius was sitting on Remus with his feet on the other's face. "Ahh…making each other smell the other's feet. Glad to see that things are back to normal 'round here."

Well, at least our boys are happy…somewhat. Have no fear; they will be together soon for I foresee that there will only be one chapter left.

I know what some of you are going to say: how is it possible for a hickey to last for a week? Well unfortunately for me, I've had several ones that just wouldn't go away. Usually when it's located on top of a bone (very little fat in that area), it takes forever for it to disappear.

1. I'm going by the assumption that there are five persons per dorm room.