The Comfort of Knowledge, Chapter 3
The two boys stared at one another in silence.
"Sirius," they heard a voice saying in the distance. "Sirius, come on, McGonagall is going to throw a fit if we don't sit down."
They both blinked in unison, genuinely startled by the interruption.
Sirius kept his gaze intent on the other boy as his friend impatiently pulled him back towards some empty seats near the entrance.
When they were finally seated, his friend could barely keep the incredulity from his voice.
"Merlin Sirius, what was that all about?"
"I know him," he muttered back distractedly. He watched intently as Remus turned his attention back to the students around him.
"Who? That guy over there with Abby? How could you know him? I've never even seen him before in my life. He must be visiting or something."
Sirius didn't answer. All of his attention was being absorbed by the brown-haired boy across the room. There were noticeable changes, of course—his height, his hair, his clothing—but he still had the same glowing eyes that Sirius remembered so well.
What was he doing here?
Several minutes passed before Sirius was finally able to tear his gaze away. When he did, he quickly realized that he was not the only one fascinated by the golden-eyed boy.
Much to Sirius' unexplainable irritation, the boy's pensiveness did not seem to deter the girls in the slightest. He was new; and as the evening progressed, it became apparent to Sirius that this was enough to keep the girls giggling with excitement and the boys gawking with envy.
Remus, for his part, looked remarkably calm.
While he admittedly had a somewhat distracted look about him, it was clear he was managing to converse smoothly with those around him.
For several minutes, Sirius simply watched the boy's lips – trying to get an idea about what he was saying. In all honesty, it did not appear to be anything more than small talk but Sirius found that he had no qualms about continuing to watch the other boy.
It was not until the fair-haired fifth year Ravenclaw, Terry Shane, squeezed himself into the seat beside Remus that Sirius' study was interrupted.
Remus turned to face the other boy and Sirius' view now consisted of the back of Remus' head.
Inexplicably, he felt himself tense. He sat up a little straighter to get a better view of the two.
"I suppose it would be pointless to ask you why you've been staring at that kid for over an hour…"
Sirius clenched his jaw at the comment but turned and forced himself to look down at the empty plate in front of him. He couldn't explain why it was so easy to tell James about his vile, detestable family, and yet it had been too difficult to bring up the sweet (and albeit only) meeting in the bookshop.
Perhaps, had he done that, it would have forced him to acknowledge that after three years he would not be seeing Remus again.
But now all of that had changed, hadn't it? They had somehow found each other again.
Sirius looked over at Remus and was surprised to find the golden eyes staring back at him. Remus offered him a shy smile but turned away quickly to answer another one of the girls' questions.
Sirius watched as Shane leaned in to add something, making Remus laugh softly and shake his head at the comment.
Sirius felt something twinge inside of him.
Much to his friend's obvious bewilderment, he proceeded to stab moodily at some pie in the center of the table for the remainder of the evening.
At half past 9, James, who had long ago given up hope of having any sort of conversation, nudged Sirius once and began walking up to the Gryffindor common room. When Sirius followed several minutes later he found that, for the first time in awhile, he didn't mind walking alone.
As he lay in bed that night, all of his thoughts were centered on when he would next get to see his old friend.
He was worried about the younger boy.
Thinking back to their first meeting, he knew that none of the girls here deserved the right to call Remus their friend.
Sirius would have to watch out for him.
With that thought in mind, he closed his eyes and welcomed sleep.
When Sirius awoke the next morning, it was to the sound of someone rustling around loudly in his trunk.
He sent a glare in the general direction of the noise and was not surprised in the slightest when an unruly head popped up at the foot of his bed.
"Morning, mate— mind if I borrow this?"
Sirius didn't respond but slowly sat up and continued to glare down at the other boy.
He had been dreaming of Remus and was slightly annoyed at the sudden disturbance. He barely even glanced at what James was holding up as he strode past him and dressed in silence.
Sirius stared thoughtfully at his reflection in the mirror for a moment before heading wordlessly down to breakfast.
From where he sat, Sirius had a fairly unobstructed view of Remus at the far end of the table. However, as he quickly noticed with no small amount of annoyance, a certain blond Ravenclaw had decided to once again abandon his own table for the Gryffindor one.
Sirius scowled at him but Shane did not look away from Remus long enough to notice.
Soon enough the room was abuzz with the sounds of students busying themselves with last minute homework. When they began to wander off to their classes, Sirius lost his view of Remus and was forced to head towards his first class of the morning.
Throughout the course of the day, he made all kinds of efforts to talk to Remus, but between Sirius' old admirers and Remus' new ones, the two boys never had a moment alone.
It was not until the students were filing out of the last classes of the day that an opportunity finally arose.
As Sirius was making his way back to the Gryffindor common room, he noticed the object of his thoughts slip past a few fifth years and make his way towards the main entrance of Hogwarts.
Sirius followed without hesitation. Once outside, he spotted the boy immediately.
"Remus!" he called out. "Remus, wait up!"
The other boy turned around slowly at the sound of his voice.
"Sirius," he said with a small smile. "It is good to see you."
Sirius felt his insides warm at the sound of the other's voice. It had changed since the last time they'd spoken.
"Where are you off to?" he finally asked.
Remus' eyes looked furtively to the sky but quickly returned to Sirius' face.
"Just for a walk," he answered softly. Although he was still smiling, the boy seemed inexplicably tense.
"Would you like some company?"
At Remus' slight nod, the two boys fell into step together.
As they walked further away from the castle, Sirius tried not to shiver noticeably at the cold air blowing around them. In an effort to distract himself, he began to take note of the changes in Remus' appearance.
Although Sirius still stood quite a few inches above him, (something that was unexplainably pleasing to Sirius), it seemed his friend had grown taller as well.
He looked away from the younger boy and felt a genuine smile tug at the corners of his mouth.
When they finally reached the lake, they both took a seat at one of the benches positioned around the water.
Nervous, thrilled, impatient – Sirius turned to stare boldly at the other boy and waited until the golden gaze was focused on him before opening his mouth.
"So," he began seriously. "You've become a bloody Casanova."
For a moment, Remus just stared at him intently – studying his face in the same way Sirius had studied his earlier. Then, just as quickly, Remus let out a puff of laughter and shook his head – a grin spreading across his face.
"Hardly," Remus answered.
And just like that, it was as if the two had never parted.
They talked and laughed until the cold air seeping through their cloaks began to get harder and harder to ignore.
When the sky began to turn dark, Sirius finally voiced the question that had been plaguing his mind since first seeing his friend again.
"Remus, why now?"
Remus had been staring at the sky again and Sirius noticed him frown slightly at the question.
"It was just time for things to change, I suppose," he said quietly.
They sat together in silence.
"Sirius?"
"Yeah, Remus?"
"Perhaps we should get back."
Although he did not reply, Sirius stood and held out a hand for Remus to take.
After pulling himself up, the two stood for a moment looking into one another's eyes.
"I'm glad you're here, Remus."
"Me too," came the soft reply.