Hello again. Well, here it is...chapter two. No real slash yet...but there will be soon. They can't deny it for much longer! Hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: nope. still don't own Harry Potter.

Warning: preslash

The Magic of Shakespeare

Chapter Two

The next day in Muggle Studies they had a read-through of the play. As it turned out, there were actually quite a few kissing scenes, as well as a marriage. Sirius wasn't quite sure what he thought of all this yet.

"It is my soul that calls upon my name," Sirius read, "How silver-sweet lovers' tongues--" at this point there was a great deal of sniggering from the boys scattered throughout the room, who were quickly silenced by a collective "Shhh!" from the girls. Sirius glared at the offenders and continued, "How silver-sweet lovers' tongues by night, like softest music to attending ears!" Most of the dialect was like this, and Sirius worried about how he was ever going to memorize all of it.

It probably would have been easier to concentrate if the boys would stop laughing…The girls took care of this, but they were the same, if worse. Every time there was a love scene they'd all coo and giggle endlessly. It was really rather annoying, although it seemed to affect Remus more than him. Whenever either of those things happened, Remus tended to stutter and blush quite a bit. He was actually a good actor when everyone wasn't giving him such a hard time.

After they'd finished with the read-through, one of the main directors (an especially bossy girl with wavy blonde hair and clear blue eyes by the name of Elena) stood up. "Okay, that was good. All of you should practice tonight. Tomorrow we'll be having another read-through, this time on stage. It's a double period, so after the read-through we'll work some of the individual scenes." She announced. There were murmurs of assent from the rest of the students. Sirius frowned slightly. He had a shrewd idea of what "some of the individual scenes" would be. After quick conference with the other directors, Elena stood up again. "We've decided that we'll work Act Two, Scene Two." There was a great deal of whispering and giggling from the girls at this. Sirius flipped through his script and saw that, sure enough, it was a love scene. "So…Sirius and Remus, you two will have to get some extra practice in tonight," She added with a smirk in their direction.

"That went well, don't you think?" Sirius said lightly as they walked through the crowded hall. Remus cocked an eyebrow and shrugged in response. Sirius stopped walking and looked at Remus sternly. "You're only having a hard time because you lose confidence. You'd do a lot better if you didn't let them get to you."

"It's easier said than done. Being teased constantly can have that effect on a person," Remus replied glumly.

"Oh, come on," Sirius said, clapping Remus on the back. "Cheer up!" Remus smiled slightly. "There you go," said Sirius happily. "Anyway," He continued as they resumed walking down the corridor, "We have a bit of a problem." He looked furtively over his shoulder and lowered his voice. "Tonight is the full moon. Right?"

"Right," Remus confirmed.

"Which means you'll probably miss tomorrow's practice?"

Remus nodded. "Most likely."

"Augh, I can't believe you're abandoning me…" Sirius said dramatically, covering his face with his hand. After a moment he peeked through his fingers at Remus. "Those girls are crazy."

"I know."

That night, James, Sirius, and Peter sat in the common room as they waited for Remus to transform. James was studying a piece of parchment as Sirius paced impatiently.

"All right. Madam Pomfrey is bringing him to the Whomping Willow," James said. Sirius looked up and resumed pacing. Peter shifted in his chair. "She's going back to the castle…" Sirius stopped behind James's chair and looked over his shoulder at the map with anticipation. "All right. She's back inside. Let's go." James said at last, standing up.

Covered by the invisibility cloak, the trio quietly made their way downstairs. After checking that that the coast was clear, they crossed the entrance hall. Opening the tall oak doors, they stepped out into the night. They crossed the darkened grounds to the Whomping Willow and paused when they were just out of it's reach.

James cast off the invisibility cloak and turned to Peter. "Okay." Peter nodded and in the blink of an eye, transformed into a rat and darted forward. As soon as he was under the tree's branches, they began to violently thrash around and attempt to smash him. However, he was too small to hit, so he successfully reached the trunk of the tree unharmed and pushed a knot with his paw. At once, the tree became completely still again. A stag and a large black dog bounded forward to follow Peter into the tunnel. They followed the long, dark tunnel at a run. Eventually it began to slope up and they ended up in a shabby room with boarded-up windows. They left the room and walked along the dim hallway. Sirius padded forward into another room, where a werewolf was pacing restlessly.

Again, Sirius felt great sympathy for his friend. He had not idea what it was like, and was glad that they'd found a way to help him, even if it wasn't much. It would be worse if Remus had to go through it alone.

Sirius ran over to the werewolf and barked in greeting, Peter and James close behind.

The next morning, they helped Remus to the front of the tunnel. His clothes were ripped and torn, his body bruised, and there were several long scratches across his face. One of his arms was slung over Sirius's shoulders as they walked, so that Sirius was supporting most of his weight. They left him close to the opening, where Madam Pomfrey was waiting.

He wasn't in any shape to attend classes that day, so Sirius headed to the Muggle Studies room later that day alone. The class was congregated in the hall outside the classroom. After all the students had arrived, Professor Mullen spoke up. "We're going to be holding today's practice in the Room of Requirement," She called. "That's also where you're going to perform the play. Please follow me." They walked down the corridor, up the staircase, and to the seventh floor.

They followed this hall for a while, until Professor Mullen stopped by a tapestry depicting trolls in ballet costumes. "Wait here," She instructed them. They watched as she walked by a bare stretch of wall three times. The third time she passed it, a large polished door appeared, and on it hung a gold sign that read "Theatre." There were several gasps from the class and excited whispering broke out. Sirius stifled a yawn. He was unimpressed; he and the other marauders had used this particular room many times. Professor Mullen opened the door and stepped inside. The class followed suit, and found themselves in an enormous well-lit proscenium theatre the size of the Great Hall. There were rows upon rows of red cushioned seats, as well as balconies on the sides of the room. At the front was a large wooden stage hung with a dark red curtain complete with an orchestra pit.

"Wow," Sirius muttered. That seemed to be the exact thought of the rest of the class, who were looking around in awe.

"Yes, impressive, isn't it?" Professor Mullen said as she led them down one of the red-carpeted aisles to the stage. "Well, you can proceed with your read-through." She sat in one of the front row seats and looked at them expectantly.

"All right," Elena called, taking charge at once. "Let's all get on stage." Once all the actors were all standing on the bright stage, she continued, "Okay. Since we're doing this read-through in the theatre, I thought we could stand and maybe try a bit of acting along with it. Just improvise for now--we can work more on acting after we have the lines down." She paused and looked closely at the boys assembled on the stage. "Wait a minute. Where's Remus?"

"He's, uh, sick," Sirius answered.

She turned to him. "Sick?" Sirius nodded. "After the read-through I was hoping to work on one of the love scenes. How are we supposed to do that if Juliet isn't here?" She glared at him as though it was his fault. He shrugged and yawned. "Fine. I guess we'll have to have a stand-in." As the meaning of those words sank in, there were audible gasps from the girls and they all began to whisper and giggle amongst themselves. The boys observed all this with indifference and a bit of jealousy.

"I'll do it," one girl with curly red hair volunteered.

"No, I wanna do it!" Her friend cried.

"No, me!"

"Me!"

More voices broke out at once. It seemed as though every single girl in the class was vying to be Juliet, and none of them were going to give up without a fight. Elena frowned as they all argued and glared again at Sirius. He smirked and gave her a look that clearly said "It's not like I can help that everyone wants me."

She rolled her eyes. "Okay," She called. No one listened to her and continued bickering. "Settle down! Settle down!" Finally, enough voices died down for her to continue, "We're wasting time. Now, who would like to stand in for Juliet? Raise your hand." Every girl (and a couple of boys) raised their hand. "All right then," she finally sighed. "I'm thinking of a number between 0 and 100..."

After many hopeful guesses, a pretty girl with dark brown hair and hazel eyes guessed the correct number of nineteen. She left the group of girls, all of whom were looking deeply disappointed, and stepped onto the stage. Sirius smiled and winked at her, and she blushed crimson.

"Now that that's over, let's get on with the read-through," Elena said crossly. The rest of the practice went well, although by the end of it Sirius was wishing even more that Remus had been there. Even though it was sometimes awkward, he had to admit that he enjoyed performing the play with him. "Now, we'll have practice here for the rest of the time," Elena announced at the end of the period. "So come here tomorrow for class. And, starting tomorrow, we'll be having regular practices in the evening as well. Oh, and Sirius, be sure to practice that scene with Remus tonight." The girls, as usual, giggled at this. He yawned and nodded. He was used to this sort of thing by now--he just wished that Remus was too.

"They were all fighting over you?" Remus laughed. Classes were over for the day and he and Sirius were walking back from the hospital wing.

"Yeah. But it's not like I can help it that I was born with such devastatingly good looks," Sirius replied with a grin.

Remus sighed exasperatedly. "Uh-huh," he said with raised eyebrows.

"What? You don't think so?" Sirius said, pretending to look shocked. He put on a sad face. "I'm hurt."

"Okay, okay. Sirius, you are the finest student Hogwarts has ever had. It's no wonder everyone is madly in love with you," He gave Sirius a sidelong glance. "How's that?"

"Better." They walked in silence until they reached the Gryffindor common room. Dinner was over and it was crowded. James and Peter waved from a table in the corner where they were playing Wizard's Chess.

"Hey," James greeted when they came over. "Damn," he muttered as one of Peter's knights clobbered his pawn. "Anyway, how're you feeling, Moony?"

"All right," Remus answered.

"Uh…" Sirius began, turning to Remus. "We're supposed to work on one of the scenes in the play for tomorrow."

"Oh, really?" James said, looking up. He smirked at Remus.

"Okay," Remus said, averting his eyes.

"Have fun!" Peter called after them as they set off towards their dormitory. Several other people in the common room laughed.

"We will," Sirius said with a wink.

Remus looked as though he was torn between embarrassment and amusement. His cheeks were flushed as he asked, "Which scene are we supposed to work on?"

"Act Two, Scene Two," Sirius said as they reached the dormitory.

Remus crossed the room and took out his script. "Oh, so a big love scene?" He sat down on his bed.

Sirius plopped down next to him. "Of course." Sirius cleared his throat and looked at his script. "Um…He jests at scars that never felt a wound." Pausing, he continued, "But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Moo--er, Juliet is the sun." Suddenly, he realized that his face felt rather hot, and the awkwardness of the situation hit him. Nevertheless, he continued reading. He had a lot of dialogue at the beginning of the scene. "See, how she leans her cheek upon her hand, O, that I were a glove upon that hand, that I might touch that cheek!"

"Ay me!" Remus read. After that, Sirius had more lines. Now that no one else was around, Remus was reading his lines very well. He paused for effect at the right places, and changed his tone according to what was being said. Sirius found himself almost mesmerized by Remus's words.

Towards the end of the scene, Sirius said, "Wouldst thou withdraw it? For what purpose, love?"

"But to be frank, and give it thee again. And yet I wish but for the thing I have: My bounty is as boundless as the sea, My love as deep; the more I give to thee, The more I have, for both are infinite." He paused. Sirius gazed at him in wonder. The way Remus read it, he almost believed what was being said. "I hear some noise within; dear love, adieu! Anon, good nurse! Sweet Montague, be true. Stay but a little, I will come again."

Sirius closed his eyes and just listened to the sound of Remus's voice. It was so melodic, and in a way, relaxing. Sirius felt as though he could sit there all night and just listen to him. He opened his eyes at length and realized that Remus was staring at him. Lines. He had lines. How long had he been sitting there like that? He hastily looked at his script. "O--O blessed, blessed night! I--I am afeard. Being in night, all this is but a dream, Too flattering-sweet to be substantial."

"Sirius? Are you all right?" Remus said, looking at him in concern. Sirius looked down at his hands nervously. Nervously? Since when did he get nervous? "Your face is all red."

Why did he feel like this? Why was Remus affecting him so much? "I--I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" Sirius's head snapped up as he felt Remus's fingers softly touching his cheek. Remus's face was very close. Too close. His amber eyes were full of concern and puzzlement. Sirius swallowed, finding that he couldn't speak. Why? This had never happened to him before. He reached up and covered Remus's hand with his own. His eyes swept across Remus's face. His beautiful eyes. Fair, almost luminescent skin. There was still as long scratch across his cheek that Sirius found himself lightly tracing with his finger. His full, pink lips. "Sirius?" Remus's voice broke the heavy silence and Sirius snapped back to his senses. His lips were just inches from Remus's. At once, Sirius snatched his hand back and jumped off the bed.

"I--I'm not...feeling well." Sirius stuttered to a bewildered Remus. He fled from the room, slamming the door behind him.

"What…what the hell…?" Remus said, touching his cheek where Sirius had touched it.

James looked up in surprise as Sirius tore across the room, his face a deep shade of red. "Sirius!" He called, but he was already gone. Remus appeared at the bottom of the staircase to the dormitory, looking confused and holding a hand to his cheek. James turned to him. "What on earth did you do to him?"

"I don't know."

To be continued...

so! I really didn't expect the chapter to end like this...I was just writing and it sort of happened. I swear, my stories have minds of their own. anyway, please review:D