Disclaimer: If tthey were mine, they'd be canon. Alas, they're not, but I'll put them back when I'm done.

All around Hogwarts Castle, Halloween was approaching quickly and with it came falling leaves; with those came leaf piles. Sighing as he dragged himself up to the castle for lunch, Remus counted his lucky stars that, with this most recent full moon cycle, he hadn't missed much in Care of Magical Creatures. Even though this month's transformation hadn't been especially terrible for him, physically speaking, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was in the wrong somehow.

And he knew exactly how.

On September first, aboard the Hogwarts Express, Sirius had pulled him into an empty compartment, looking utterly mad and strangely desperate. After closing and placing an Imperturbable Charm on the door, he had taken Remus by the wrists and confessed in no uncertain terms that he, Sirius Black, was in love with Remus Lupin. Rather, he exact words had been something along the lines of, "I love you, you prat."

This had taken a few moments to sink in, but once it did, Remus had felt happier than he had on both the first day he realized he had friends at Hogwarts, and the day he knew that, werewolf or not, they would stay with him.

But now, it just depressed him. It wasn't Sirius or their relationship – nothing had ever been more perfect for him in those regards – but the fact that they were lying to their two best friends, and Remus' co-prefect, Lily Evans. And their parents as well, but that was at least understandable, given Sirius' family's Pureblood mania and Remus already being a werewolf. The last thing their parents needed to know was that the heir to the Black family name was shagging a Half-blood werewolf. But James and Peter were their best mates, and they'd become Animagi as well, just for Remus. As for Lily…Remus liked her; she'd always been unspeakably nice to him and she was a nice break from the havoc that his other friends wreaked.

Suddenly, it occurred to Remus that he was being followed. A backwards glance revealed that it was Sirius. He had been lagging behind, but now that his presence was being acknowledged, he dashed quickly to catch up with Remus, placing his black-haired head dangerously close to his boyfriend's shoulder.

"Moony," Sirius cooed. "What's got you so upset?"

"I don't want to talk about it, Pads," Remus sighed weakly.

"Come on…who can you talk to if not your Padfoot?"

"I don't want to talk to anyone about it."

"Don't be like that, love. Tell this old dog what's wrong so he can fix it."

"You're fifteen, Sirius; that's hardly old."

"It's a figure of speech, darling. Still, tell me what's up, won't you?"

"Fine. I'm upset because we're lying to James, Peter, and Lily."

"How so?"

"By not telling them about…us."

"We can change that, you know. Just get me the magical megaphone from the Quidditch stores and I'll sound my barbaric lust from the rooftops of the castle."

"That's unnecessary."

"But then they'll know."

"And so will everyone else. I'm not quite ready to be open about us to the whole school, just the three of them."

"We don't need to tell them, you know."

"But, Sirius, they're our friends."

"Evans isn't my friend."

"She's a nice girl; give her a chance."

"I'll give her a chance when she comes off it and dates Prongs."

Remus sighed wordlessly and stopped walking. By this point, everyone else had made it up into the castle, leaving the two boys alone, their only companions each other and the trees. Being terribly affectionate as he was, Sirius took this opportunity to wrap his arms around Remus' waist and lower his chin onto the shorter boy's shoulder.

"Is there really nothing I can do?" he asked softly.

"Not unless you'll tell them," Remus said with a delicate finality.

This time it was Sirius' turn to sigh. Relenting to something, he let go of Remus and began walking away, making the werewolf's eyes wide. Gnawing on his lower lip, Remus anxiously went over all the motions in his head. Was it over when it had only just started? Did the constant repetitions of "I love you" mean nothing? Was he going to be alone again?

As soon as he'd started, Sirius stopped and looked back. Without warning, he dropped his book bag into a small pile of trod-upon leaves. Before Remus could react to anything, he found himself being tackled by the large black dog that had, until very recently, been Sirius. The fact that, as a dog, Sirius could still tackle Remus to the ground was either a testament to the dog's strength or the werewolf's weakness. Remus didn't have much time to dwell on it, as he soon found himself being bombarded by licks. Shortly thereafter, he and the dog were rolling rapidly down the hill they'd only just climbed.

Thankfully, they landed in a large pile of leaves.

Remus had to laugh; rolling down a hill was always a rush of childish fun, even if it was made questionable by your boyfriend being an unregistered Animagus. The abrupt end of the roll separated the two of them and Remus sat up immediately. Sirius soon joined him, turning back into his normal, beautiful self. Together, they had a laugh – at Remus' being upset, at Sirius' juvenile approach to cheering him up, at the fact that every inch of them was now covered in the remnants of destroyed leaves. Finally, Sirius let out one lone bark of a laugh and pulled Remus back down into the pile.

"Feel better?" he asked with a smile.

"Yes," Remus said quietly. "Thanks, Pads."

"Any time, Moony my love."

"Just wish we could tell them…I mean, they ARE our friends."

"Alright, Remus," Sirius sighed warmly. "If it means that much to you, we can tell Peter and James."

"And Lily? What about her?"

"Fine, you can tell Evans, if you want to. She's not my friend, but she's a trustworthy skirt. I'll give you that much."

"Oh, my big strong man," Remus chuckled.

"You bet your wand, you beautiful, intelligent werewolf, you."

"Let's go, Pads…this werewolf would like some lunch before Charms."

"Good plan, that."

Although it took a few minutes to fully shake Sirius and Remus spent the rest of the day pulling leaves and the like out of his hair and belongings, it was completely worth it. After Charms, he took Lily aside and detailed the nature of his bond with Sirius to her. Granted, he left out some of the choice details, leaving lines about true love and how happy Sirius made him. She sighed warmly – even as she shot a quick glare at James, who was getting a similar story from Sirius – and hugged Remus around the shoulders. The way she explained it to him, this was both wonderful for him and Sirius, but also renewed her faith in his gender, since "at least one of them was honest."

He would have been lying to himself if he said that he didn't enjoy hearing that. As Sirius told it later, James hadn't been surprised by the revelation about two of his best mates, whereas Peter had probably expected to hear that Sirius was dating one of his cousins before he heard that Sirius and Remus were gay. To be quite honest, though, Remus was more preoccupied with the lips he soon found himself entangled in to care how oblivious Peter was. The taste of Sirius Black's mouth made all other senses cease mattering, and Remus was loved.

That was what really mattered.