Author's Note: Good day to you all. I know I haven't written for a while but I've been busy with school. gasp Final year! Only 5 weeks until the English Exam. Anyway, here's something I was working on a couple of months ago, just finished it off to this morning because I had nothing better to do. Dedicated to Evalanis for all her help with the development and putting up with my ill-tempered rants when I couldn't get it right. Thanks Charlie.

Cheers,

EC

Friendship on Fire

"Don't touch the tea, the tea is hot." She said, pressing his hand firmly against the heated cup.

Remus felt his hand burn as it was held against the scolding mug. His mother's hand forcing his own to stay in place while the heat flowed into his pudgy five-year-old fingers. At first, there was a pleasant tingling spreading throughout his palm, but the sensation soon turned to a searing. He yelped in pain, withdrawing his hand to the safety of his chest and caressing it carefully as though it were a wounded animal.

Eying the culprit venomously, Remus made a note of what the tea had done to his hand. Swearing vengeance against an inanimate object as only a small boy could, he committed the sensation to memory and how quickly the lovely warmth was replaced by scalding pain.


Crack! The noise shot through the night, piercing the silent shadows. Remus let out a shuddering breath releasing a strangled note to follow the blast. He could feel the hot throb of his bones snapping to reform his human skeleton. Though he underwent this transformation three nights every month, the searing pain brought on by the reconstruction of his skeleton never altered. Crack! He gritted his teeth. He would withstand heat, withstand pain.

Night's wind passes over his hairless form, nature's attempt to cool his burning, but fire still raged through out his body. Reaching through fingertips and down to his far most limbs, the pulsating heat broke into a cold sweat. Remus felt an involuntary shiver attack his senses, moving down his spine ferociously, yet he knew it was not the cold. It was the mixture of hot and cold, ice and fire, that caused his violent reaction.

Drawing a shuddering intake of breath, Remus felt the heat slowly subside. Smiling graciously, he fell back to the cold earth, soaking in its cool comfort.


First it was a shock, those warm hands pressed against his cool chest, painful almost. Then they moved, softly yet surely tracing patterns of fire over his goose-pimpled flesh and sending shivers down his spine. Once it had begun, it couldn't stop. It was tantalising, and so close to pain that Remus was sure an uncontrollable gasp would ensue from his lips at any second, but it never came. He sat on the brink of pain but didn't fall.

Lips were hot and wet against his own, sending fire throughout his body and making everything come alive. Above him, Sirius moved gently in time with the actions of his body. The steady beat sent heat further down his body, stirring emotions and appendages, and where the fire went, Sirius' hands followed. Lower, and lower, they travelled, radiating warmth, yet also the cause of the Remus' own pulsating heat.

Faster, and faster, they moved, heat on heat giving birth to frictional heat. Lips of heat, breath of heat, hands of heat, body of heat, soul of heat, friendship on fire. At last, it all came together in a final outpouring of sweet, unimaginable heat. The power of which was so strong, so earthshakingly hot, Remus was sure he would call out unspeakable words into the night sky. His mouth opened, but was silenced by Sirius' lips moving with fervour and taking upon himself Remus' passionate cry.

As the intensity of the encounter slowly faded, Remus lay back, into the safety of his lover's body. The heat did not leave him this time, but blazed inside of him. Sirius kissed him softly and wrapped his arm securely around him. Instead of shying away from Sirius' warmth, Remus snuggled deeply into his friend's embrace. Sighing contently, Remus found comfort in the heat he had so hated and feared, and love in the friendship they had ignited.


Remus stared into the fire, the flame reflecting back into the hollow of his brown eyes. The golden eyes that used to sparkle with passion and excitement could no longer be brought to life by the warm flame burning cheerfully atop the white pillar.

The candle grew smaller and smaller, whilst the tiny fire danced merrily on, licking the wick hungrily. Running his hand gently through the flame, Remus watched the beautiful colour char his pink flesh to a scratchy black. He could no longer feel the heat he had feared, yet come to love. The warmth had left when he did. Now it seemed that no matter what he did, he could not bring that light back into his life. That comforting warmth, the searing passion, the burning desire, all had left this world with him.

"Our love is friendship on fire, Moony." He heard the words, the passionate voice, and felt Sirius' lips brush gently against his ear, his hot breath familiar on his neck. "An unquenchable flame. Burning, always burning. It can't be extinguished. It burns. It fights. It survives."

Remus withdrew his hand from the flame and brushed it past his ear. Nothing. No breath of friendship, no fire of love. Only the false heat radiating from his scalded hand, and the warmth of memories, long forgotten.

"Sirius," he whispered to the flame, so softly it was barely audible. He hadn't said that name in three years. Not a mention, no single utterance. Remus inhaled deeply. "Sirius," he whispered again, louder his time. He could feel the heat returning. A hot ball welling in his chest. "Sirius!" He cried out, feeling the heat rising up into his throat. He attempted to swallow it, but it wouldn't budge. "Sirius." He coughed desperately trying to dislodge the obstruction. "Sirius," he repeated one final time, covering his face with his hands. The grief was overwhelming. The loss he had prevented himself from living was all rising in one enormous outpouring of an anguished man.

As sobs racked his body, Remus felt hot tears return heat and pain to his numb body. Running unchecked down his cheeks, they left trails of wet fire behind them and calling him to feel again.