Chapter 2


Remus, Sirius and Peter settled themselves in the stands to watch the Gryffindor Quidditch practice.

Sirius sighed heavily and Remus looked at him. He knew that sigh all too well. It was Sirius's way of letting them know that he was bored.

"What happened to your tie?" he asked, glancing at Sirius's tie hanging loose around his neck.

"What do you mean?" Sirius asked, looking down at it to see if there was something on it.

"All your decorations are gone," Remus said, sounding slightly amused.

"Oh that, well I got bored with that," Sirius said offhandedly. "I'm bored with boys in general. You can't blow their skirts up quite as easily," he said unabashedly, giving Remus a roguish grin. "Well, with most you can't," he added as an afterthought, then looked away from Remus quickly.

Remus rolled his eyes, but he knew what Sirius was talking about and he blushed accordingly.

"Why do we have to sit here and watch?" Sirius whined.

"You don't have to, I said I was coming and the two of you simply followed me," Remus said matter of factly.

"Well it's boring," Sirius replied, standing up and stretching. Remus thought perhaps he was leaving, but to his horror, the next moment, Sirius had put one foot up on the ledge of the stands.

"Padfoot what are you-"

But Remus stopped as Sirius gained his balance and then brought his other foot up onto the ledge. He stood there, his arms outstretched for balance. He turned his head slowly and grinned at them

"Do you think that if I fall, James will catch me?" he asked them cheerfully.

"Sirius, James is on the other side of the pitch!" Remus said, standing up.

"He flies fast," Sirius pointed out.

"Even if he was able to catch you, his broom couldn't support the both of you after a fall, don't be an idiot, come down," Remus said, trying not to sound as panicked as he was.

Remus didn't actually reach out to grab Sirius, he was afraid he would knock him over. He stood there next to Sirius. "Please, Sirius, this isn't funny."

"I'm not laughing," Sirius said coolly, his head turned downwards and his brow knitted in concentration. He moved one foot slowly to the side, then the other foot followed.

Remus watched his feet, holding his breath. Suddenly he saw one of Sirius's heels slide off the railing. Remus shot both arms out and grabbed Sirius around the waist.

"Moony what're you-" But before Sirius could finish the question, he started to fall forward. Remus pulled back with all his might as he felt himself leaning over the edge. Sirius's feet found the railing again and pushed backwards, propelling Remus back onto the bench. Remus was forced into sitting as the combined strength of the two boys shoved him down and shoved Sirius into his lap.

They sat there for a moment, breathing heavily as the extra adrenaline pounded through them. It wasn't until Remus (who hadn't even been fully aware that his eyes were closed) opened his eyes and got a face full of Sirius's black hair, that he even remembered Sirius was sitting on top of him.

With a grunt, Remus tried to move Sirius from him, but Sirius looked to be in some sort of shock.

"I could have died," he said breathlessly, his eyes wide as he shifted slightly so both Peter and Remus could see his stunned expression.

Peter gave Remus an odd look as he surveyed the two, Sirius sitting demurely, looking like Camille in Remus's lap, with Remus's arms still pressed around the fainting flower's waist. Remus felt a faint flutter in his stomach. He had almost lost Sirius. He knew he felt relieved that Sirius hadn't fallen, but he couldn't quite place that other feeling he was experiencing at the moment….

Remus snapped out of it, angry with himself. "Sirius, get off! I can't breathe!"

Sirius watched Remus doe-eyed. "Moony, I could have died and you saved my life! What can I do to repay you?" he asked dramatically.

Remus rolled his eyes. "Get off!" he said again, this time with more force.

Sirius grinned. "Oh right. Sorry," he said as he slid off Remus's lap and sat down next to him on the bench.

Remus sighed and ignored the fact that Peter was still eyeing the two of them carefully.

Just then, Marlene came flying up close to them. Remus momentarily panicked. Had she seen Sirius sitting in his lap?

"You should have let him fall, Remus," she said sweetly, her big brown eyes fixed on him. "The world would probably be a lot better off."

Sirius stuck his tongue out as Peter laughed. Remus just sat there, trying not to look awkward.

She flew off again to the sound of James's whistle.

"Bitch," Sirius muttered under his breath.

"Hey!" Remus said loudly. "Watch your mouth," he snapped. He knew it was wrong to take his anger with himself out on Sirius, but still…

"You heard what she said about me! And I don't see you defending me when she says insulting things like that," Sirius said with a pout, then silently turned back to watching the practice.

Remus opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again, instead choosing to roll his eyes at Sirius's clearly childish behavior.

They sat there watching the Quidditch practice in silence for a few moments when Peter spoke suddenly. "I think you're just jealous, Padfoot," he said softly.

Remus started, he'd been so quiet, Remus had almost forgotten he was there.

Sirius threw him a stony glance. "Thank you, Peter, but I don't need your analysis on…well on anything really, but especially not on this," his voice sounded cold and angry. It seemed after being rescued, his good mood wore off rather quickly.

"But you are!" Peter said, gathering some momentum, "I mean, it must have been a crushing blow to your ego when Marlene turned yo-"

"Shut up, Peter!" Sirius said, standing up. "I am not jealous of Remus. So I called Marlene a bitch? I'm sorry, ok? There, now can we drop it?" he shouted.

Peter mumbled his acquiescence and all three of them fell silent again.


"Remus where are you?"

Remus looked up, slightly puzzled by her question. Obviously he was sitting there on the sofa with his arms around her.

Damn.

Her hands slid up to cup his face. Her eyes locked with his and she held his gaze. "You haven't been here all evening," she pointed out. She didn't exactly sound angry, just confused.

Remus sighed. "I'm sorry, Marlene. I just-Well, I don't know," he finished lamely. He leaned back on the sofa and pulled her onto him. She rested her head on his chest and he played with her hair absently.

"Spontaneous cuddling isn't going to put off the problem forever, Remus," she said softly.

"I know," he said, letting his fingers run through her hair. He marveled at how soft it was. He found himself thinking about someone else's hair. Someone who did not have brown hair, or brown eyes. Black. He thought sourly.

He didn't want to be thinking about black. The color or the boy. Not right now anyway.

And yet, he had the feeling that is where his head was all evening. He was sure now, that it wasn't just Sirius's brush with death that was preoccupying him.

"Is the fact that we haven't had sex yet bothering you?" Marlene asked suddenly.

"What?" Remus blurted out before he could stop himself.

Marlene turned her face upward and looked at him from under her long lashes. "Do you think I'm being a tease? Is that why you're acting all withdrawn?"

"Don't be silly," Remus said, leaning down and kissing her lightly.

"Well, then I really don't know how to rectify the situation," she said, sitting up. She threw one leg around him and straddled him. "I mean, I was all prepared to make things better, but if that's not the problem," she said slowly as she squirmed slightly.

Remus sucked in a breath. "Marlene," he hissed warningly.

She smiled and kissed him. "It's ok, I don't mind. I'm ready if that's what you're worr-"

"Marlene, I'm kind of tired," he said quickly. Immediately, her face fell. She sank onto the sofa, next to him. He turned to look at her.

"It's not you, Marlene, please, I'm just-"

"No you're right. It's getting late, and I'm kind of tired too," she said flatly. She gave him a quick kiss and stood up. He watched her disappear up the stairs to the girls' dormitories and sighed heavily.

As if matters weren't bad enough, Remus suddenly heard snickering from behind him. He groaned aloud and held his head in his hands.

"Well, we'll have to make way for Don Juan de Lupin," James voice said as he and Sirius emerged from under his invisibility cloak.

They came and sat down in the chairs next to the sofa. Both had silly grins plastered across their faces, which only made Remus angrier.

"What are you two doing down here?" he asked them icily. The two of them giggled, which Remus wanted to point out was very unmanly, but just decided not to speak.

"We thought she might try something like that, we just wanted to see what would happen. I heard her talking to Emily after practice today. Apparently you're not satisfying her needs as a woman," James said, still giggling. Unmanly, Remus thought to help curb his anger.

"She actually said that?" he asked, sounding skeptical. He really doubted Marlene would say anything like that, but maybe he didn't know her as well as he thought he did.

"Well, not that last bit. She just said she might try something new," he raised an eyebrow at Remus as he said that, "Because you'd been acting differently the past few days."

"So we came down here to see what would happen," Sirius added.

"And what if I had taken her up on the offer, were the two of you just going to sit there?" Remus asked, this time, sounding slightly disgusted.

The two exchanged glances but said nothing. Remus shivered. "Ugh, the two of you are sick."

"Maybe we just need to get laid. Waddya say, Moony, you think that offer's good for any of us?" Sirius asked, winking.

"It's not funny, Sirius. I think I really upset her," Remus said, staring into the fire.

"Is there a female version of blue balls, perhaps she just had to go take a cold shower. Lupin, you dog, got her all fired up and then dashed all her hopes!" James said dramatically.

"I'm really not sure which one of you I'm finding more annoying at this point," Remus said. "And stop that damn giggling, you sound like idiots!" he finally snapped.

"I still can't believe the will power you must possess," James said, suddenly sounding very serious. "I cannot believe you turned her down! She was straddling you and you didn't seem to blink an eye! I bow down to your self control. If Marlene had done that to me…well…let's just say Little Prongs wouldn't care if it wasn't Lily."

Remus stared at him. "Will you please take your overactive libido out of here? And please don't ever let me know you're lusting after my girlfriend again," he added.

James shrugged. "Well, I'm off to bed. Thanks for the show, mate. Sorry it didn't last longer, for your sake," he said, climbing the stairs.

"Poor Prongs, the sexual frustration is getting to him. It's why he's so good at Quidditch. All that unused energy has to go somewhere," Sirius said casually.

Remus raised an eyebrow. Sirius continued, "I mean, he doesn't leave his options open. I'm sure there's plenty of girls willing to help James out, but he politely declines. Waiting for Evans to come around, he says." At that, Remus made a noise. Sirius nodded. "As I said, poor Prongs."

"Well that sort of explains why he was here, what's your excuse?" Remus asked.

Sirius fixed his grey eyes steadily on Remus, who shifted under the intense gaze. "Oh I just came to see the show," he said cryptically.

Remus was suddenly feeling uneasy. He was struck by curiosity and wanted to know exactly what Sirius had meant by that, but refrained. If he was honest with himself, he would now he was not only slightly afraid of what the answer might be.

Sirius then stood up and moved to sit next to Remus on the sofa. "So, what has been bugging you?" he asked.

"Nothing," Remus said automatically. Years of this sort of question in his situation had conditioned him into saying it.

Sirius watched him. "When has that ever worked on me?"

Remus smiled slightly in spite of himself.

"So are you going to tell me what's wrong?" Sirius asked again.

Remus shrugged. "I'm just feeling sort of confused," he said noncommittally. This was the last conversation he felt like having with Sirius right now.

Sirius leaned in close to him. "I'll let you in on a little secret. Confusion can be a good thing. A little chaos and disorder and," he paused, "not knowing what exactly it is you want isn't always a bad thing."

Remus watched him carefully. Sirius looked very focused and completely well, serious. His voice was hushed, as though this really was a secret.

"Why is there never any grey area for you, Sirius? You make this all sound so easy. Everything is not always black and white," Remus said.

"Why not?" Sirius countered. The look on his face made Remus feel uneasy again.

"Sirius, this conversation is going nowhere. I'm not even sure of what we're talking about anymore," Remus said wearily.

"Mmm," Sirius agreed. Though he was sure Remus knew exactly what they were talking about. "Perhaps you should go to bed then. After all, you told Marlene you were tired." He raised a questioning eyebrow at Remus, though the rest of his face remained stoic. "Or was that just some sort of clever ruse to get her to go away?" he asked lightly.

Remus stood up. He threw Sirius a dirty look. "I'm going to bed." He didn't even pause to ask Sirius if he was coming up too.

Sirius watched him go. Perhaps Remus really did go for the whole "in distress act" (he refused to put damsel in front of it). Perhaps this was going to be easier than he thought.