Disclaimer: Don't own, no profit, just for fun.

The Aftermath of the Chocolate

James was confused when Sirius walked back into the Common Rooms sans Remus, but sporting a very dazed expression. Any and all inquires were waved off as the blue eyed boy began to stumble up the stair case to the dormitories.

Before James could so much as rise from his place on the couch, where he had previously been staring into the fire and trying desperately to replace the disturbing images of Remus licking him with ones of Lily when she crossed her legs in just the right way to expose a creamy expanse of thigh, Sirius came marching back down the stairs with an extremely determined look on his face.

"Er, Sirius?" The boy in question stopped in his progress out the portrait hole long enough to spare his confused friend a glance.

"Later James," was all he said before continuing on his way. James, not one for being left out of the loop, huffed in his seat before quickly rising and chasing after Sirius.

"Sirius! Sirius, slow down!" James yelled as he jogged to catch up with his friend who was walking so fast he almost seemed to trot. "What's up with you? And where's Rem?" Sirius looked at James from the corner of his eye.

"What? No more 'Remy'?" he asked in a mocking tone, which caused James to frown.

"Sirius, what's wrong?" James asked firmly, grabbing Sirius' sleeve to slow him down. "What happened?" Sirius, for his part, didn't want to slow down but didn't see having his shirt ripped in two as an option.

"James, I just need to do something, okay? Please just let me go and I'll explain later." Brown eyes searched his blue ones and found the foreign signs of what appeared to be desperation and…fear.

"Fine," James said softly after a moment, gently releasing the cloth in his hand. "Just…be careful. And don't do anything stupid." Sirius smiled thankfully before flashing a flirtatious grin.

"Right-o, Jamsie. I'll be back before you can say, 'Bob's your uncle.' And Remy dear is in the Hospital Wing still, in case you were still wondering. Save me a seat at lunch!" And with that he was off down the hall and around the corner leaving behind a confused and mildly bewildered James Potter.

(break)

When Remus walked in through the portrait hole some hours later, he had no memory past writing his Charms essay. Apparently the chocolate he had consumed was a product charmed to lower the inhibitions of the eater upon activation and then erase their memories after the effects wore off. It was banned in nearly all respectable stores, having been used widely as a date rape drug of sorts. And of course, it was very convenient for Remus because now he had effectively licked James in a very un-Remus way, causing the poor boy to feel terribly awkward, and revealed one of his biggest secrets to Sirius. A secret he hadn't been planning on revealing and now had no memory of doing so.

It's great how these things work out, no?

So, in walked Remus who slowly made his way to James and Peter who were absorbed in a game of Exploding Snap. He settled himself delicately on the sofa where his things had been neatly stacked, as the other two turned to look at him.

"Hey Remus, how ya feelin'?" Peter asked, looking at him with concern. "I heard you went to the Hospital Wing. Something about bad chocolate?"

Remus nodded, looking thoughtfully up at the ceiling. "Yes, it was charmed it would seem."

"Oh, uh…charmed how?" James asked, avoiding Remus' curious looks.

"An inhibition lowering charm. I can't remember the past few hours or so."

"Ah, right then," James said, seeming much more relaxed. "That's that then." He turned back to his game and picked up the next piece.

"I didn't do anything…odd, did I?" Remus asked innocently. He watched as James froze before laughing nervously.

"No, no. Why would you think that?" he said, trying to sound casual but refusing to turn around. Even Peter was looking at him oddly. Remus couldn't help but smirk inwardly. Perhaps it was that lingering side effect Madame Pomfrey had mentioned.

"So I did," Remus stated. He saw James tense slightly as he slid off the couch and moved toward him. "What did I do Jim-Jim? You can tell me," he said sweetly.

"You didn't happen to have any more chocolate, did you?" James asked as he cowered from the oncoming boy. Remus' smirk began showing outwardly now.

"No, I'm just curios. Tell me and no one gets…hurt," he purred. Purred. Remus and purring were not a safe combination and James knew it. Not good at all.

"You licked me! Okay? Just…don't you purr at me! Gah!" he shouted as he fell into the table, exploding all the snaps. Remus chuckled to himself before tilting his head. Peter was rolling on the floor as tears leaked out of his eyes.

"I…licked you? That's not that bad. Why are you acting like I tried to rape you or something?" Remus asked, moving to sit back on the couch. James immediately uncurled himself from the fetal position to indignantly explain himself.

"You were sitting, no, laying on me! All, all cat like. Purring and laughing and, and snuggling into my stomach. Then you whispered some very, uh, suggestive things into my ear and then you…licked my neck."

Peter and Remus had stopped laughing and were now staring at James, whose cheeks had grown steadily pinker, with wide eyes and open mouths.

"I am so sorry," Remus said, regaining his composer. "I didn't…do anything…else, did I?" James shook his head.

"Nah, Sirius pulled you off and took you to the Hospital Wing."

"Did I jump him too? Did he say?" Remus asked, very worried about what he may have done. James shook his head again.

"He didn't say, but he did rush off right after he came back. Wouldn't tell me where he was going. Something might have happened. I dunno." Remus paled at the prospect of having a large block of time missing from his memory when he had obviously been inebriated and acting like a sex starved teenage boy. Which he kind of was.

"Oh Merlin," he groaned, putting his head in his hands.

"Don't worry," Peter said, piping up again. "I'm sure you didn't do anything too horrible or frightening. Maybe you just groped him a bit," he continued, causing Remus to groan again and James to snort.

"Yeah, Pete. That's not too bad," James said sarcastically, holding back snickers. Peter rolled his eyes.

"Compared to what he could have done, I'm obliged to say that a little fondling of certain areas is the least of anyone's worries." Remus blushed and nodded.

"Very true." Which caused James to sputter and stand up.

"Well, time for lunch then," he said, straightening his clothes. "Sirius asked me to save him a seat. You can ask him exactly what you did there." And with that the three went off to the Great Hall with Remus secretly fretting over what he might have said and done.

(break)

Sirius was feeling very satisfied with himself as he sat haughtily at the Gryffindor table, smugly munching a lunch roll.

As he sat he looked over to the Hufflepuff table and blatantly winked at the blonde sixth year he'd just finished snogging in an empty classroom not more than ten minutes ago. The girl blushed heavily, gave a flirtatious smile in return, and turned to chatter excitedly with her friends giving Sirius sufficient cause to smirk and take a bite of his lunch-time bread treat self-assuredly.

That was, until Remus Lupin sat down right in front of him and proceeded to look everywhere but at Sirius.

A quick glance to the right showed that James was next to him busying himself with loading his plate with mashed potatoes.

"Hey guys," Sirius said after a moment, feeling decidedly awkward.

"Hey," Remus returned softly, not looking up from his empty plate.

Sirius watched him silently as he finally picked up a chicken wing and hesitantly picked it apart. The black haired youth looked away from the top of that sandy-haired head when Peter loudly cleared his throat. Sirius looked over and saw, for the first time, that he was seated right next to Remus.

"Hello Sirius."

"Hi Pete…." He replied, a bit confused by Peter's greeting.

"So, I hear that you took Remus to the Hospital Wing. Something about bad chocolate…?" Sirius nodded dumbly.

Now, most wouldn't know it but Peter had a way with words. He was good at manipulating people with them and trapping them into corners where they would let slip the information he was searching for without even realizing that had been what he was after. The Marauders knew this and used the trait to the best of their ability.

"Yeah, I took him part of the way there but I didn't go in with him," Sirius said, glancing quickly over to see Remus' reaction. He was still looking at his plate.

"Oh? Why not?"

"He...I…Well, I saw him to the door." And Sirius looked down, feeling embarrassed for reasons he didn't know. Remus had stopped playing with his chicken and looked up.

"What did I do Sirius?"

"Wha…?" Sirius stated dumbly, confused as to why Remus of all people was asking him what had happened. "You…you don't remember?"

And that only confirmed to the other three that something had indeed happened.

"No mate, he doesn't remember. The chocolate was cursed or something." Hearing this Sirius looked to Remus in concern.

"Are you okay? It didn't hurt you did it?" Remus shook his head.

"It was just a charm to lower my inhibitions and I think that, based on what James told me, it may have increased my sexual drive. Pomfrey didn't mention anything like that, but that's just an opinion. I don't think I'd lick James like he was a lollypop just because I was feeling a bit less inhibited."

"Oh…but your memories…?" Sirius asked, trying to process what he'd been told.

"Gone. Erased. He can't remember anything past writing the Charms essay."

"…Oh," he said again, looking down in thought.

So, Remus doesn't remember kissing me. Or telling me he likes blokes. Sirius looked up a Remus again. Part of him was relieved that Remus didn't remember. But part of him was also inexplicably saddened. It seemed the sandy-haired boy would only open up when under the influence of some…drug thing.

"Sirius…what did I do to you?" He looked up and stared into amber eyes trying to think of what to say.

"You…" But as he looked into those eyes he couldn't bring himself to say that he now knew one of the boys most guarded secrets. Remus hadn't really wanted to tell him...

And so Sirius forced another smirk onto his face, not willing to show the hurt he felt at not being trusted enough by his smallest friend to be told any of his secrets.

"Oh Remy, you just kissed me is all," he said casually. Barking out a laugh at the shocked looks on his friends faces. "Oh yes, I knew I was irresistible, but really Remus, you were fierce. Practically jumped me in the hall. I feared for the well being of my shirt, the way you were trying to rip it off and all."

"I…I…" Sirius almost felt some sort of morbid gratification at seeing his werewolf friend pale and being to fidget nervously. He could barely repress the malicious glee he felt at causing Remus discomfort. It was what he deserved for leaving Sirius in the dark.

"I was shocked really. You're a feisty one, but you wouldn't know it to look at you. The way you were clinging to me, if it had been James he would have fainted I'm sure."

Remus was blushing now, most of his face hidden by his bangs.

"Sirius…" James said so softly that he was barely heard. "I think that's enough."

"Yeah," Peter agrees, just as quietly. But Sirius ignored them both, not quite satisfied. Not being considered enough of a friend to be trusted, it stung. And you didn't sting Sirius Black without being stung back.

"And the noises you made…" Sirius continued, leaning closer to Remus' bent head, lowering his voice, "they were shocking as well. When you had me pinned against the wall, practically shoving your tongue in my mouth, you made such wild sounds. Had it been another place, another time, different circumstances, such noises coming from a human being attached to me by the mouth would have been erotic. They were positively…animalistic."

And Remus shot out of his seat and fled the Great Hall with as much grace as he could with his head bent. Sirius had only seen a second of the other boy's teary eyed face and the guilt threatening to break out was firmly pushed away.

"Sirius you prat!" James whispered harshly. "What the fuck was that!"

"He deserved it…" Sirius muttered darkly.

"Deserved it? Why do you think he deserved it!"

"He's keeping secrets from us James! He doesn't trust us! He doesn't want to tell us!" Sirius shouted.

"Of course he trusts us! He's just scared Sirius! Can you imagine what it's like to be him? Once a month having your body mutate into a monster? To be scorned by society for something you can't control? To be labeled a 'dark creature' and classified as something other than human when all you're guilty of is being in the wrong place at the wrong time? You don't know what it's like for him so don't tell me he deserved that Sirius! Don't you fucking dare!"

Somewhere during their argument the two rose from their seats and in the silence that followed they suddenly realized, in a terrifying moment, where they where. The Great Hall.

"You know," Peter said calmly, sipping at his iced tea, "this may be why he doesn't tell us, aside from the whole scorn and abandonment thing. We might expose his secret. It is a scary thing, to trust your future with someone else. To depend on others to keep you safe and hide your greatest flaws from the world."

"But we wouldn't-"

"Having those flaws shoved in your face hurts too. If we hurt him, berate him for something as simple as eating a bad chocolate, something else he couldn't control, what makes you think he'll ever tell us he's a werewolf," he continued on, ignoring the interruption and looking pointedly at Sirius,

"Being scorned by those closest to you for telling them what you are, or being scorned for being too afraid of the hatred you think will come with the truth. Quite the choice, wouldn't you say?"

There was only more silence followed by Peter's startlingly eye opening words. The two dark haired boys could only stand and stare, jaws slack, at Peter.

"Oh, and I put a silencing spell ages ago, so no one is any the wiser about Remus' condition. They all simply think you're having a row but have no idea what it's about."

That was the moment that Sirius and James found a new respect for Peter Pettigrew, the Marauder that had always been seen as a tag along. That was the moment that he won his way permanently into their hearts.

And Peter sipped his tea again, knowing that Remus was probably alone in Gryffindor Tower, hating himself for even existing.