A/N: Whee an update! I love everyone whose reviewed... Thanks. You brighten my life.

huit.

Remus woke up and blinked the familiar sight of the hospital wing into his eyes. Sirius was sitting at the end of his bed, staring into space. Remus cleared his throat, and he snapped to attention.

"Moony! Your alive," Sirius grinned widely, "And your face isn't squirming anymore." Sirius slid up the bed so his hip was right next to Remus' head, and gently traced Remus' cheek with his forefinger. Remus could feel the warmth of Sirius' body radiating through his trousers, and he was all too aware of the way Sirius' finger grazing his skin sent chills all throughout him.

"Bat-bogey hex, eh?" Remus mumbled offhandedly, putting the pieces together. But he was utterly distracted by the sudden closeness.

Sirius grimaced. "Yeah, it was pretty nasty."

"Did I miss dinner?" Remus said, almost too quickly.

Sirius shook his head. "You've only been gone a couple of hours. But speaking of dinner, Prongs and Wormy are off brewing a little potion for dear old Snivelly."

"You don't need to avenge me or anything," Remus furrowed his brow. He was finding it very difficult to construct sentences with Sirius still near enough to count the number of brown freckles sprinkled across his flushed cheeks.

Madame Pomfrey sashayed into the infirmary towards Remus' bed, and surprisingly Sirius didn't flinch from his position with Remus' head almost on his lap.

"Is young Mr. Lupin fit to come to dinner?" Sirius inquired, pointing unnecessarily down at Remus.

Nodding, Madame Pomfrey set a glass vial filled with green liquid on the bedside table. "He just needs to drink this Revitalizing Potion for an energy boost."

Sirius slowly rose from the bed, leaving a spot of warmth on Remus' face. He sat up and obediently downed the potion at his bedside.

"Good. Well if nothing else unusual pops up, I'll see you in about a month," Madame Pomfrey said, giving Remus a faint look of sympathy. He nodded and, Sirius tugging on an arm, got up from bed to leave the vacant infirmary.

"I think I'm gonna skive off dinner, I have stuff to do," said Remus.

"Stuff," Sirius repeated.

Remus chanced a glance his way, and saw his smooth, angular face was completely straight and void of emotion. Sirius blinked, drawing Remus' attention to how long and dark his eyelashes were.

He replied wearily under Sirius' gaze, "Well, actually I just don't feel like going. I'll do that extra essay Sinistra assigned you and Prongs."

Sirius replied with a small chuckle, "If you insist. I'd come with you, but I'm hungry. Want me to nick you anything?"

"No, thanks," Remus shook his head. "See you later."

And without another word, Remus climbed the marble staircase leading to Gryffindor Tower, Sirius bearing right towards the Great Hall.

neuf.

"Surprise!"

Remus peered up from the scrawled essay he was writing, eyes resting upon Sirius, Peter, and James.

"We went to the kitchens and snagged A LOT OF Ginger Beer, Padfoot told me how you wrote our essays." James tossed Remus a bottle, slopping some Ginger Beer from the bottle in his other hand onto the scarlet colored carpet.

Remus clutched the bottle and set the essays aside. "How very thoughtful," he replied, well aware of how 'snagging something' from the kitchen meant showing up and having dozens of small green house-elves assault you with a wide array of food and drinks.

"You should've seen Snivelly's face when he took a sip of Pumpkin Juice and turned into a giant canary," Sirius said gleefully, popping the cap off of a new bottle.

"Oi, you didn't," Remus sighed exasperatedly.

James replied after taking a long swig, "Oh yes we did! The git hexed you, didn't he?"

"You know what Dumbledore said about Prank Wars," Remus said hotly. "We really shouldn't be pushing our luck here-"

"You worry too much," interjected Sirius loudly. "I think someone needs to go have fun! Drink up, Remmmmmyyy."

Remus opened his mouth to protest, but out of the corner of his eye, saw an agitated looking Lily Evans had stomping across the common room.

Lily glowered at over the four Marauders, arms folded across her chest. She spoke in a bitingly sarcastic voice, "Remus Lupin! I know how much you hate to abuse your prefects power over your friends, but if you don't punish them for their little stunt at dinner, I will."

Remus blinked and replied in a nervous voice. "I wasn't there, I didn't see it happen."

Lily rolled her eyes and turned to address James. "I know how you can't help but show off with your magic every chance you get, but if you ever bother Snape again, I'll-"

"What are you gonna do?" James interjected coolly, an amused smile playing on his lips. "Go running to McGonagall?"

Lily scowled, "No. I'm going to hex you into oblivion."

"I'd love to see you try, Evans," James blew Lily a kiss.

Quivering with anger, Lily spoke in her most restrained voice, "Can I talk to you... alone?"

Remus had come to notice that even under some influence, James looked beyond frightened by Lily's tone. But of course he was well roused by the possibility of a private conversation.

The next thing he knew, Remus was being lead out of the common room by Sirius, who was tugging on his collar. "C'mon, Remus," Sirius said tartly, "We're getting the bloody hell out of there."

Remus climbed absentmindedly through the portrait hole, Sirius now clutching his tie as if he weren't capable of independent movement.

"I can walk by myself, thanks," Remus said with a cough, rubbing his neck.

Sirius grinned and ascended the marble staircase. "Well you kinda spaced out in there, and Lily was about to blow up on James, so I figured I had to help you along a little."

"Okay, fair enough," Remus replied, pursuing Sirius up the spiraling flight of stairs. "So where to now?"

"Owlery," Sirius replied, holding up a letter between his fingers. "Gotta mail something."

"Late Valentine to a secret girlie lover you've been hiding?" asked Remus.

Sirius glowered, "No, Remus. Will you drop the girlfriend thing?"

"Why? She ugly or something?" Remus interrogated further. "She must be, you haven't brought her 'round to the dorms yet."

"There is no girlfriend."

Sirius' tone wasn't harsh, nor defeated, instead gentle. Remus scratched his neck and continued to tail Sirius down another vacant, moonlit corridor, their footsteps echoing into the emptiness.

Remus felt a squirming in his stomach. Sirius had been so defensive about girls... The one topic besides DADA he had seemingly mastered. And he had made sure they were alone, not even for the first time that day.

"Remus."

Sirius' sharp voice shattered the awkward silence, penetrated Remus' contemplations.

"Yes?" Remus replied gently, peering at Sirius. They had stopped walking.

"You're gay."

Nothing like a blunt accusation to end the chapter!

Review...? -bats eyelashes-