Summary: MMWPP era. What if, when they first went to Hogwarts, Sirius was one of the "popular" ones? Sorted into Gryffindor much to his mother's disgust, he takes solace only in aggravating his classmates, but when it comes to Remus? Things change.
Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed- it really made my day. So here's some more in what is an incredibly quick update for me.
Chapter 2:
7 hours later, however, getting out was the last thing on Sirius's mind.
After an hour of sitting in a downstairs toilet, the door of which had been the closest to the lounge and thus the closest escape route, with nothing but spiders for company, Sirius had figured that the wolf- not Lupin, he reminded himself; that thing had nothing in common with the quiet boy he saw every day in class- had fallen asleep or something, and opened the door a crack. The sight that met his eyes, however, was not the hallway, with its rotting carpet and suspiciously stained wallpaper, but a pair of amber eyes framed with matted grey fur that only partially obscured the long, sharp teeth with the potential to do damage a great deal more lasting than the claws that quickly slashed in Sirius's direction. With his reflexes intact, however, Sirius slammed the door shut before any harm came to him, slid the bolt across and leaned his weight against the thankfully well-built door that was the only thing remaining between him and certain- well, not necessarily death. Immense pain, then.
Needless to say, he didn't open the door again in a hurry. After a while, the wolf seemed to get bored of slamming itself repeatedly against the door, but Sirius wasn't taking any chances. Instead he sat, curled up with his knees to his chest, leaning against the door, too jumpy to sleep and twitching nervously whenever he itched, checking for spiders almost constantly. He wasn't scared of them, of course he wasn't! He just didn't like them.
After the aforementioned 7 hours, he heard movement on the other side of the door and stiffened, listening for any sign of… well, anything. And anything, he knew, would have been so much better. A low, crooning sound; an animal in pain, before a howl, which sounded so much louder in the stillness of the night, ripped through the air. Then, there was silence. Sirius had no watch, no way of telling whether it was safe for him to leave or not, but as he heard sobbing a short while later, he knew that it was over. He stood, knees cricking with the movement; stretched; ran a hand through his hair through force of habit, and unbolted the door.
The effect was instantaneous. Remus stopped sobbing; which even Sirius -unused to human emotions as he was- could tell was generally a good thing, but it was replaced by a continuous "No, no, no," of denial that, for some reason, made Sirius feel as though his heart was being torn into pieces. Unable to bear it any longer, he opened the door, shaking his head furiously as he did so to get any stray spiders out of his hair, and stepped into the relative light of the hallway. Remus froze, staring at him for a moment, and then started crying again with his head in his hands, aware of what he could have done, and the consequences of what he had done.
Sirius, feeling lost as he was confronted with such an open display of emotion, tried to think what to do. He reached out a –shaking?- hand in an attempt to offer comfort, but pulled away before he actually made contact, unable to go through with such an uncharacteristic action. He bit his lip, each sob seemingly tearing out a new piece of his heart.
"Stop it!" he said eventually, sounding a lot more desperate than he would have liked, before clamping a hand over his mouth as he realised what he'd said, and the fact that his voice had cracked on the second word.
Remus, now feeling embarrassed as well as terrified, didn't look up, but attempted to calm his breathing, although it caught with each deep inhalation. Sirius, still trembling slightly, knelt beside him, desperate to offer some form of comfort but unsure about how to. He was saved from having to react, however, as Remus finally looked up, his eyes red and bloodshot, hid face pale and shadowed, his cheekbones extraordinarily pronounced. Even with the strangeness of the situation, Sirius realised just how odd it was that he'd noticed that, but he put it to the back of his mind as he sought for something to say.
"You look terrible," he said, and regretted it instantly. Remus, understandably in a rather bad mood, arched an eyebrow at he sheer stupidity of the comment, and Sirius, stubborn as ever, returned the look with a defiant expression. After a pause, however, Remus looked away, rolling his eyes. When he spoke, it was in his usual serene tone, but with an edge Sirius actually quite liked the sound of.
"I feel terrible. It's a set," his eyes flicked downwards, scanning Sirius's body for injuries, "how did you get here?"
"Followed you," Sirius shrugged, then smirked as Remus looked at him in surprise, "don't underestimate a pureblood, Lupin. Whether he's a twat or not."
Again, Remus rolled his eyes, but a slight smile graced his lips, "You'll be in detention for weeks,"
Sirius shrugged as though he didn't care, but as the familiar form of Professor McGonagall emerged in the doorway on the other side of the room, his eyes widened in fear. Had he not been so worried, Remus would have laughed.
"Sirius Black! Do you have any idea how worried we've all been?" she crossed the room swiftly, and pulled Sirius to his feet, checking for injuries and poking him occasionally with her wand.
"He didn't hurt me," Sirius told her, but she ignored him.
"What on earth did you think you were doing?" Professor McGonagall asked, as she finally released her student.
"I was…" Sirius began, but trailed off as he realised that he had nothing less than mortifying to tell her.
"He was here on my request," Remus stood, facing up to the professor, but the effect was ruined slightly as his left leg gave way, and he fell. Much to his surprised, however, he felt strong arms encircle his waist, catching him before he hit the floor. Opening his eyes, which he'd closed while bracing himself for impact with the floor, he froze as he found himself gazing into soft dark eyes that he'd never expected to see that close.
Sirius, now cursing his fast reactions, tore himself away from those fascinating amber eyes, and lowered Remus to the floor before standing up and returning to stand beside his head of House, who was looking between the two boys somewhat curiously.
Remus, feeling more confused than he could remember ever feeling before, stared at Sirius for a moment longer, trying to figure out what on earth had just happened, before turning back to Professor McGonagall, "I asked him to come along. He didn't want to, but…" he glanced at Sirius, who was staring at him in disbelief, "I insisted," Remus finished, his expression carefully without emotion. Professor McGonagall looked at him for a moment, her eyes slightly narrowed, before turning back to Sirius.
"Black, I'm giving you two weeks of detentions for rule-breaking and taking twenty points from Gryffindor," she said levelly, and Sirius, who had winced at the mention of points and still had his eyes closed, nodded.
"Lupin-" Sirius opened his eyes as she continued, "that was a very noble, if transparent thing you just did. Ten points to Gryffindor,"
Sirius grinned, and Remus flushed, looking at the floor in his embarrassment at being so easily seen through.
"But I'm giving you a week of detentions for lying. Come on, you're both going to spend the day in bed," she walked swiftly off, and Remus struggled to get to his feet. Sirius, considering the situation, helped pull him up, and supported him as they made their way out of the house, through the passageway and out of the tree. Once outside, however, Remus, blinking in the bright sunlight, pulled away, carefully avoiding the gaze of his companion. Sirius frowned, for some reason missing the warmth of remusus' body in the cold morning air, but as they neared the castle and his friends came around the corner, he was glad that he didn't have even more to explain.
"Sirius, where've you been, mate?" Elliot, one of the more independent members of the group asked him, and Sirius grimaced, gesturing to Professor McGonagall in a silent 'I'll tell you later' gesture. Elliot looked at him and then at Remus with narrowed eyes, but nodded and led the others away. Oddly enough, Sirius struggled to care. He knew that while Elliot could stand on his own, the others were nothing without him, their esteemed leader. In fact, if elliot left it would probably benefit the group, since he'd been getting on Sirius's nerves since the beginning of term.
Professor McGonagall led the two boys inside but, hardly to their surprise, headed for her office first.
"Wait here," she said as she opened the door, closing and locking it behind her students as she went to find Dumbledore. Sirius and Remus, left along in the dark room, stood nervously, although to be honest it was more the presence of the other than it was the threat of impending punishment that made them so. After a few moments, however, Sirius asked the question that had been on his mind ever since they had left the passageway.
"Why'd you do it?"
"Hm?" understandably, Remus looked at him in confusion.
"Why'd you lie? You could have been expelled."
"Oh… well, I just figured that, since you'd tell everyone as soon as we got back anyway, I'd get kicked out no matter what I said," Remus shifted, avoiding Sirius's eyes with evident unease.
Sirius looked at him for a moment, considering his options, "Hey… I won't say anything, okay?" he said eventually, wondering just when it was that he had become so taken in. The instant Remus looked at him, with his eyes filling with tears of relief, however, he understood just a little more.
"You really won't say anything?" Remus whispered, watching Sirius's expression.
"Not a word," Sirius smiled slightly, and before he had a chance to react- or, considering his reflexes, simply before he chose to react- Remus had thrown his arms around his neck and hugged him tightly, an experience that was, while a little painful, not altogether unwelcome. Sirius caught his balance, steadied himself, and patted Remus rather awkwardly on the back as the smaller boy sobbed into his shoulder, choking out a 'thank you' that was only just heard.
"You're welcome," Sirius murmured, after Remus failed to release him, although that could have been something to do with the fact that Sirius, almost unconsciously, had wrapped an arm tightly around his waist. Fortunately for him, the other boy didn't seem to mind too much, but after more than a minute, Remus felt the need to break the silence.
"What are we doing?" he asked, although it was evident from his tone that he didn't really want to let go.
"I don't care," Sirius told him, tightening his hold in an attempt to retain the only affection he could ever remember receiving.
"Your friends won't be too happy if they find out."
Sirius paused, before repeating, "I don't care."
"But-"
"Don't make me say it again," Sirius warned, but it was obvious that he was joking- something Remus had never hear him do for someone else's benefit before. When he spoke again, however, his tone had changed, "Just let me have this. For once."
He sounded desperate, almost pleading, and all Remus could think to do was pull him closer, attempting to offer the comfort that he so obviously needed without a thought for his previous feelings towards the boy in his arms.
Suddenly, however, there was a knock at the door, and the two boys sprang apart, each trying to look as though what had just happened had never happened.
"Professor McGonagall?" the voice of James Potter called through the door, and Sirius rolled his eyes, trying to hide his exasperation about the interruption of his and Remus's interaction. Upon seeing Sirius's murderous expression, Remus almost choked as he tried to stop his laughter, which only increased as the other boy glared at him. James, as not response came from the office, hurried off to his first lesson, worrying about his missing friend the whole way, while Sirius continued to glare at said missing friend. He only got worse, however, as Sirius advanced on him threateningly, trying to hide the fact that he wasn't actually feeling anything remotely negative towards the boy in front of him at that particular point in time. In fact, seeing him laugh… reassured him in a way. If someone who went through such an ordeal every month could still smile and laugh, surely there was hope for him too?
Even as Remus found himself pinned against the wall, Sirius leaning against him with one hand on the wall either side of his head, he struggled to calm down. But then, something in Sirius's expression changed, and it made Remus's heart skip a beat. His laughter stopped, and he inhaled shakily, unable to force himself to move, because that would involve tearing himself away from those eyes. Those eyes, which usually sparkled with malice but looked so sad as he saw them close up. Remus went to say something, but Sirius, moving quickly, touched a finger to his lips.
"Shh. It's not important," he whispered, his hand sliding sideways to rest on Remus's jaw, tilting his head up with a gentleness the other boy had never expected. Again, he went to say something, but even before Sirius had a chance to silence him again, the door slammed open and Sirius jumped back, attempting to look casual. Remus moved away from the wall, and accepted the chair McGonagall offered him, dropping into it with a suddenly realisation of his exhaustion.
Their head of house proceeded to reprimand them for their irresponsible behaviour, but since both of the boys were obviously too tired to hear a word she was saying, she let them go back up to their dorm after a few minutes, having made sure that they would get there without being hassled by the other students who were all in lessons.
They made their way to their tower in silence, each taking occasional glances at the other when they thought they weren't looking. Remus yawned the password, ignoring the fat Lady's enquiries about his appearance, and they went through the common room to the dorms, ignoring the 6 year girl who was swearing she'd seen them going at it like rabbits in one of the greenhouses. By the time they reached the top of the stairs Remus practically had to crawl into bed, and fell asleep instantly. Sirius, however, was at the stage where he was too tired to sleep and, drawing the hangings around his bed, he lay down but simply stared at the canopy, trying to make sense of his thoughts.
What the hell had he been thinking in that office? He'd never done anything like that before! His mother would kill him if she found out that he'd been about to kiss a werewolf. Filthy half breeds, she called them, and as Sirius thought the words, he remembered her screaming at him once upon a time for arguing that werewolves had very little choice in the matter. He shivered, and pulled the covers over himself, glad at least that he didn't have to see her again until summer, since it was just too much hassle going home for the holidays when he knew he'd have so much more fun at school. At least the food would be good; Kreacher, the new Black House elf, was hardly capable of boiling water, let along preparing a Christmas meal.
Sisiur frowned, realising that his thoughts had taken rather a different turn. Sighing, he rolled onto his side and curled up in a ball, closing his eyes in an attempt to sleep, but before he'd laid there for even ten seconds, he made a sound of exasperation, dragged himself out of bed and across to the bath room that was situated halfway down the stairs leading to the common room. In reality though, he knew it wasn't his bladder that was keeping him awake. There were advantages to spending the night in a toilet.
As he returned to his bed, however, he stopped partway across the room, backtracked a few steps, and headed for Remus's bed instead, stuffing his hands in the pockets as he just stood there for a moment, watching him sleep. His frown deepened as he realised just how cliché he was being, but how could he help but feel something for the only person who had ever acted like they cared? Even if they had, prior to their affection, trapped him in a toilet for eight hours.
He sighed again, and leaned over to pull the blankets over the sleeping boy, before returning to his own bed, less confused but with a definite nagging feeling in the back of his mind. How could he explain if Elliot told his mother that he'd stopped hanging out with him in favour of a muggle-lover and his friends. Well, friend. Even though they didn't know he was a werewolf, he wouldn't put it past his mother to put veritaserum in his food. Actually, she probably wouldn't even be that subtle.
Eventually he fell asleep, but amidst dreams of giant spiders, wolves and insane house elves, he felt no better that evening when he awoke before dinner, only managing to drag himself out of bed because he knew that if he slept until the evening he'd be up all night. Checking on Remus, who even in sleep looked less rested than Sirius felt, he headed down to the common room, where it seemed the whole of Gryffindor house was sitting. Glancing around the room, Sirius arched an eyebrow as Elliot ignored him completely and the rest of the group avoided his gaze. He rolled his eyes, but at the same time was painfully aware that if his mother heard any of the rumours that had been going around, he wouldn't be allowed out of his room all summer. His mother was already rather upset that he hadn't been sorted into Slytherin.
Sighing quietly, he walked out of the common room and climbed out through the portrait hole. Elliot may have been a total wanker, but at least he kept Sirius entertained and stopped him from looking like a loser sitting by himself.
"Black."
Sirius froze as he heard a voice behind him, surprised that he hadn't heard anyone approach.
"Potter…"
There was a pause, and Sirius smiled slightly as he imagined James's stunned expression.
"Is it true?" James asked eventually, and Sirius frowned.
"Is what true?"
"About… the greenhouse."
Sirius laughed, and almost jumped at he felt what he recognised as a wand tip against the back of his neck. Although, considering the topic of their conversation, the wand tip didn't seem like such a bad thing to have poking him in the back.
"Of course not. I wouldn't dirty myself with someone like him," Sirius said, but evidently the sarcasm was missed as James, forgetting his wand, pulled him around and slammed him against the wall. Sirius figured it was understandable though, since it was probably something James imagined him saying.
"What the hell did you do to him? Why can't anyone see him now?" James growled at him, his eyes blazing, and Sirius began to get a little nervous.
"I did nothing. He's just tired," he spoke calmly, however, wondering why Remus hadn't even told James about his… little problem. There was a pause, during which the two boys faced each other with narrowed eyes.
"Look, Potter. You won't believe me no matter what I tell you, so why don't you ask him?" Sirius said eventually, placing his hands on James's shoulders and pushing him away, before knocking James's wand out of his hand, "and watch your temper. You could end up hurting someone," he smiled sarcastically, and walked away, defiantly leaving himself open to an attack from behind.
James looked after him for a moment, fuming quietly, before retrieving his wand and stalking off in the opposite direction. Something was definitely going on, and he was going to find out what it was if it killed him.
End chapter 2Hooray, chapter 2 is done! This is almost as long as T3 and it's only been a few days. Whoops. Well, hope you enjoyed it. I need to get a little more work done before chapter 3 can be posted though, so the wait will be longer.
Comments, criticisms? Let me know!
Oh, and if you found the almost kiss thing dodgy, let me know so I can change it. I kinda forgot they were only in year 7, and while I don't think it's that bad, I don't want to upset anybody or anything.