Disclaimer: The characters mentioned in this story are not mine, they belong to J.K Rowling, AKA: The Green Monkey. However the storyline is mine, as far as I know, if I have plagiarised please tell me and I will most definitely make sure that you are killed in a similar way to Rasputin, as I am studying the Russian Revolution. Soooo cool. If you don't know how he died, look it up. It's great. Thanks and enjoy. Oh, and please excuse any monkey references. I have a strange obsession and usually can't help it. Don't worry, it's being looking into. Cheers.
Chapter One: Of Table Legs and Tempers
Remus Lupin was supposed to be studying. He was supposed to be researching the properties of a water dwelling Phinknit. He was supposed to be taking notes from the large volume of Small Hazardous Pests, The Official Guide. He was not, however, supposed to have his eyes transfixed on a certain dark haired, grey eyed, Gryffindor youth, who was at this very moment deeply engrossed in a staring competition with a table leg in a rather hilarious attempt to get out of studying.
"Sirius, I think that you might find…"
"Silence, Moony!" Sirius riposted, raising a finger to silence Remus while keeping his eyes fixed on his opponent. "You'll make me lose my concentration. The bastard's beating me 2-0."
"Might I point out an obvious flaw in your ingenious scheming, Padfoot?"
"You may," replied Sirius, after few moments of deep pondering or intense table-leg-glaring, Remus couldn't quite decide which. "But only because you said I was ingenious."
Remus rolled his eyes, but continued anyway. He would get Sirius Black to work if it was the last thing he did. "It would seem that your… urm… adversary is at a serious disadvantage in this competition, as it is missing the necessary visual organ's to complete the task of staring."
"It!" Sirius exclaimed stridently, tearing his gaze away from the table leg. "Do not objectify Teddy!"
Resisting the overwhelming urge to roll his eyes, not only at the fact that Sirius was engaged in a staring contest with an inanimate object but that he had given it the name Teddy, Remus decided that the best way to win this argument was with common sense. Not even the infamous Sirius Black could defy all reason.
"Objectify!" He countered exasperatedly. "Sirius, it is an object! Actually, it's not even an object. It's part of an object!"
"What!" gasped Sirius loudly. If there was one thing Sirius Black loved, it was to cause a scene; but if there was one thing Remus Lupin couldn't stand, it was to make draw any unnecessary attention to himself, especially in a library.
"Don't you listen to him, Teddy," Sirius wailed, clinging to the table leg as though it was a large, chocolate covered marshmallow.
"Teddy!" Remus hissed, trying to keep his voice as low as possible. "Padfoot, it's a table leg! It has less cognitive thought processes than Wormtail!"
"How dare you!" Sirius said, raising his voice higher still. "Teddy is one of the world's most achieved beings. Tell me, Remus dear, could you hold up a table for over a hundred years and still be in as fine a shape as Teddy, here?"
"Sirius, while I'm sure that your logic makes perfect sense to the criminally insane and highly delusional, right now we need to work. Please," Remus continued, motioning to the large pile of books stacked up next to him, "can you finish this… umm… competition, after we finish the assignment? I'll even help you."
"Aahhh, I see your logic," Sirius lowering his voice to a conspiratorial whisper and stroking his imaginary beard in a pondering fashion. "Four eyes must be better than merely two! We may be onto something here, Moony."
Unable to think of an appropriate response to his friend's lunacy, Remus resolved that the best idea would be to bang his head repeatedly on the desk. When it came to a choice between his brain cells and attempting to understand Sirius's inexplicable logic, Remus was more willing to sacrifice a few crucial childhood memories for the greater good of his sanity.
"Studying hard I see," came a familiar voice through the rhythmic thudding of his skull connecting with the solid wood.
"Oh, sod off Prongs," Remus mumbled, not lifting his head from the table.
"Cheer up, Moony," said James, throwing himself into a nearby chair, placing a friendly hand comfortingly on Remus's back.
"Jim!" Sirius exclaimed excitedly. "Excellent! Look, Moony. Six eyes are even better than four. We've got him now!"
"I'm not helping you win a staring contest against a table leg!" Remus said heatedly, raising his head to glare at Sirius.
"Still can't beat Teddy, huh?" James said, shaking his head, amused.
"You've dealt with this too?" Remus queried.
"Yep. We had a potions assignment last Thursday. Though, to his credit, Padfoot did keep it up for three hours."
"How did you finally get him to work?" Remus asked, almost desperately. Sirius had just taken to marching around the table chanting "four eyes good, two eyes bad".
"I didn't." James said grinning. "I figured that if you can't beat them, join them." With that, James stood up and fell in line behind Sirius.
"Four eyes good, two eyes bad! Four eyes good, two eyes bad!"
Remus sighed, and resumed his previous position of one Remus head acquainting itself with the table that was currently in possession of a leg named 'Teddy'.
It was almost ten o'clock. The candle had been lit long ago and Sirius and James had disappeared even earlier pleading quidditch practice. Remus looked around at the huge pile of books he hadn't even made a dent in. True, he had finished his research of the Phinknit two hours prior to the lighting of the candles, but he still had the comparison of the Aughisky and the Kelpie to finish before he could retire to the warmth and comfort of his bed.
Eyes straining in the pathetic light the candle offered, Remus took down an interesting paragraph on the fresh water Kelpie. The amplified scratch of his quill told Remus that the library was all but empty, with the exception of the librarian, Ms. Frost. Never was a woman more aptly named, Remus though bitterly. From across the huge expanse of bookshelves and tables, the ancient librarian's eyes bore deeply into the back of Remus' head. For, if it weren't for him, the library would be closed by now and Frost would be able to get on with her bitter existence. As it was, Remus knew that he would be shooed out once the clock, which always ran five minutes fast, struck ten.
Remus paused for a moment and turned in his chair. The old woman had just risen from her chair and was hobbling towards his table. Turning back to his work, Remus scribbled faster until his normally clear lettering became frighteningly similar to Sirius's illegible scrawl. He finished the sentence and wrote out the page number just as Frost reached him.
"Time's up!" She rasped slamming Remus' large volume closed.
"Thank you," said Remus politely, blowing on the ink gently to ensure it wouldn't smudge when he closed his book. "Oh, and I'll take these with me." He said, motioning at a further four volumes to his left.
"Borrowing hours are between eight and ten." Frost replied, narrowing her eyes at the 16-year-old boy.
Remus looked up at the clock. It was thirty seconds past ten. Gritting his teeth he smiled at the librarian, though he was sure that he looked a beast baring his teeth at an adversary. "Of course, could I put them on hold then and pick them up in the morning?"
"That would deprive other students from the use of these books."
"I would be here at eight o'clock sharp to pick them up." Remus tried. The books had taken him hours to track down and the assignment was due tomorrow after lunch.
"I said 'no'. You will return these books to me and then you shall leave my library immediately, is that understood, young man?"
"Yes ma'am," Remus replied sullenly, placing the long sought after book in Frost's spindly fingers. The last thing he needed was to make an enemy of the old hag in his last two years at Hogwarts.
Packing his things silently and efficiently into his bag, Remus kept his eyes downcast. For he was sure that if he were to look directly at her, some kind of feral beast would rise out of him. It was a fear that ate at him daily. That he would harm another person. Take a life. He did not want to risk anger, especially this close to a full moon.
Teeth clenched, homework half finished, and bookless, Remus Lupin left the library and headed for the Gryffindor Common Room. He would just have to come back in the morning and borrow the books before breakfast. He'd have to work through lunch to finish on time, but if he could get Sirius to work they might be able to pull it off… again. Remus hated leaving work to the last minute. He needed to have time to systematically go over what he'd done, perhaps change the wording here and there, cross reference the information he'd gathered from one book with information from another source, just to make sure he go it right, re-read, alter more wording, then it would be ready to be submitted for examination by his professors.
"Copernicus" Remus snapped irritably at the fat lady.
"There's no need to be prickly about it," the fat lady replied in a huff but swinging open for him none the less.
Remus sighed and stepped through the portrait hole. Tired and irritable, he made his way up the stairs to the dormitory he shared with Sirius, James and Peter. To his surprise, Sirius and Peter were laughing heartily together and James was missing. Usually the only thing that brought Peter and Sirius together was their friendship with James, and the only thing that secured Peter's friendship with James was James' sympathy for Peter.
"Moony!" Sirius exclaimed, seeing Remus in the doorway. "We've been waiting up for you for ages. You haven't been in the library all this time have you?"
"Actually, Sirius, I have." Remus replied coldly, crossing the room to his own four poster and setting his bag down. "Doing our assignment."
"Oh, I would have come back to help you but I figured that by the time I finished Quidditch training you'd be have done it all anyway. You being the studious one and all." Sirius replied, obviously thinking that this excuse was more than adequate to pardon him from the lack of work he'd put into their assignment.
Remus breathed in and out slowly, desperately trying to keep his temper. "Sirius, because you didn't turn up, we both have to work through lunch tomorrow to make sure we can hand this damn work into Professor Kettleburn on time. So right now we need to sleep. I have to be up and in the library by eight tomorrow to get the damned books we need. Goodnight."
"Sorry, Moony, I can't do it." Sirius replied.
"Can't do what?" Remus yawned, stripping off his robe and shirt before turning and looking for his pyjamas. He was never a well-muscled boy and didn't usually put his body on show if he could help it. His chest and stomach were covered in old scars long faded into taut white streaks, souvenirs from past transformations. They did not pain him anymore, only pulled uncomfortably on occasions if he overexerted himself. He was less self conscious around his four closest friends, but was still not completely at ease around them and preferred to change from one garb to another as quickly as he could.
"I can't work through lunch tomorrow." Sirius answered, walking towards Remus, pyjama top in hand.
"Why not?" Remus asked quietly. He could feel his teeth grinding and the anger rising within him again. "What possible reason could you have?"
"I have a date," Sirius shrugged.
Remus saw red. This was the final straw. Sirius was leaving him to do all the work because he had a date with some floozy. Ignoring the offering of pyjamas, Remus let out mighty battle cry and launched himself at Sirius. Sirius gave a surprised yell of protest as he was sent flying backwards onto Remus' bed.
"Moony what in Merlin's name are you doing?" Sirius bellowed attempting to push Remus off him. But Remus's grip was too strong, his friend held him firm. Sirius didn't understand. Even when Remus was in his lycanthropic form he had never attacked him. Looking up at his friend's fierce eyes and snarling mouth, Sirius saw the beast that lived within Remus.
"A date!" Remus growled, baring his teeth to expose his canines. "You can't help me because you have a date!"
"Yes!" Sirius roared. "I have a date! What does it matter to you if I have a date?"
Remus' face abruptly fell. His lips lowered and his eyes grew wide. Releasing Sirius' arms Remus rolled off his friend and lay panting on his back. There was more to his anger than Sirius not doing his share of the work. Something he daren't contemplate. He was now all too aware that he was lying half naked on a bed with Sirius Black and his nerves were going crazy. Not only that, but Remus had attacked Sirius to get him there.
Thankfully, Remus was excused from an explanation when James came barging through the door.
"She said 'yes'!" He cried at the top of his voice, grabbing Peter and turning him round the room in a quick jig. "She said 'yes'! She said 'yes'! She said 'yes'!" He crowed again, and again. Finishing Peter off in one final twirl, James collapsed in between Sirius and his aforementioned attacker.
"Didn't you hear my boys! She said 'yes'!" He repeated looking from one friend to the next. "Isn't anyone going to congratulate me?"
Despite James' excitement, he was not completely socially inept. "Okay, what did I miss?" He asked, focusing the brunt of his attack at Sirius.
Remus stared pleadingly at Sirius, holding his gaze for only a few moments. But it was enough for Sirius to understand the full meaning
"Oh nothing worth mentioning, Prongs," he said boldly, mischievous glint back in his eye. "Moony here just though he could tackle me unawares. He's just sore he lost. Our dear Moony almost got away with it too, didn't you. If it weren't for my outstanding physique," he said standing up and whipping off his shirt. "He could have won." Sirius continued, kissing his right bicep and flashing the other three a winning smile.
"Show off," James muttered, grabbing his toothbrush and making for the bathroom. Peter shrugged, grabbed his own toothbrush and scampered out after James.
Distracted by Sirius's amusing antics, both he and Peter had failed to notice that when Sirius removed his shirt he had passed it down to Remus. He now lay silently under his covers, wrapped in the shirt that still held Sirius' warmth and scent.
Remus felt Sirius dismount his bed in a sudden shift of weight. He thought the other boy had gone to his own four poster until he felt hot breath and soft lips brush his ear. "Sleep well, Moony," he whispered softly, before padding across the room and climbing into his bed.
The sudden retraction of warmth sent Remus' head reeling. When Sirius spoke to him, Remus had felt sure that a jolt of heat had shot through his body. The feather light touch of his lips made him shudder with a delightful mixture of hot and cold. Too tired to even contemplate the meaning of all that had happened, Remus convinced himself that it was only because that time of the month was nearing. Savouring the feeling for a few moments longer, he committed the sensation to memory before rolling over and carrying it into his dreams.