Much to his very own dismay and family traditions, Sirius Black was sorted into the house of Slytherin on the fateful day of first of September 1971. He may be a Black by name but deep inside he knew he didn't belong with the snakes down here. Perhaps that's the reason why he had managed to befriend all the Gryffindors in his five years at Hogwarts. James Potter was closer than a brother and they spent most of their time in the Gryffindor common room just like this fine day.

"Reckon you could sneak this one onto Snivellus' dorm?"

"I could but it wouldn't make him smell any different, that slimy git!"

Both the boys were huddled together by the commonplace fire and were busy planning another prank on the Slytherins. Their last one had ended both of them in detention with Professor Slughorn but being a member of the Sacred Twenty-eight has its benefits.

"What if we flood the entire dorm?"

"Hey! That would have my bed too."

"We could charm your bed with one of the drying spells."

"Hate to break your bubble mate but none of us is capable of doing those charms yet. Nor can we step into the library without that piercing Pince's eyes following us around everywhere."

"We should really befriend some prefects."

"How about Evans?"

"Nice try to hurt my feelings there, how about her Hufflepuff friend, what's his name?"

"Remus Lupin"

Sirius said the boy's name a little too enthusiastically to be considered normal with his voice reaching an octave higher. Remus Lupin, the Hufflepuff heartthrob had managed to steal bad boy Sirius' heart back during the beginning of their fifth year. It took Sirius one look at the boy to harbour a crush and one smile along his way to get rid of all his confusion. Since then, Sirius had tried numerous ways to woo the boy's heart and had failed miserably at all of them. It was as if his tongue would get tied every time he tried to talk to the boy sans the one time Regulus was behind it. He even tried following him into the library one day for he was worth the effort but before he could muster the courage to actually utter human words, he had tripped on his own shoelace right in front of Remus and the embarrassment was enough to put an end to his futile methods for at least a few weeks.

Several months had passed and the only progress Sirius had made so far was that he had somehow managed to have Remus as his Potions partner which explains his depleting grades in the subject. He had jumped from an average of E to straight-up D by just a single assignment. Well, this is what would happen if one would spend most of their time getting distracted by their partner and counting the freckles on their cheeks rather than working on the given task. He had done the same this very day and almost managed to set the entire classroom on fire. If it hadn't been for Remus' promptness, he would be scrubbing cauldrons somewhere in the castle. While Remus performed the Aguamenti charm on the inflicted damage, Sirius stood there trying to hide the grin that was slowly making its way on his face.

"Would you stop smiling and rack your brain for an idea?"

"Uh-sorry what?"

"How are we going to convince Lupin to teach us the drying spell without him getting suspicious?"

"Well since it is a Tuesday, Remus has the rounds on the third-floor corridor along with that Ravenclaw git, maybe we could hex the Raven and talk him into helping us?"

"Sounds like a plan to me. Also, mate, a bit easy on the stalking there, all right?"

Sirius who was now blushing Gryffindor red simply gathered his belongings and was out of the common room back to his own dorm.

On the way back, he decided to just pay a little visit to the kitchens, a little snack wouldn't hurt him and nor would the wonderful view he could get if he were lucky enough. Deciding against it and then finally making up his mind to just get a muffin, he was on his way down the stairs. He tickled the pear and took in the smell of food as the door opened but bumped right into a body.

"OW!"

Something had prickled him r on his chest and he was left there to let out a string of fresh curses much to the horror of the black and yellow-robed boy in front of him.

"Woah, language please, Black."

The familiar sound of Remus Lupin brought back the goofy smile on his face and his chest didn't seem to hurt that much anymore. He glanced up and his heart might as well have leapt right onto the Hufflepuff's hands. A deep blush had started to stain his cheeks and was making its way along his neck. One could tell Sirius was thinking rather thinking hard to say a word, just one word perhaps even a sound but it was as if someone had taken his vocal cords out and glued his lips together. He simply stood there staring up at Remus' face.

"I-Is there anything on my face?" Remus rubbed his nose as if to make it clean of the presumed dirt but mostly out of sheer nervousness.

Indeed, your beautiful eyes, that beautiful nose, those gorgeous lips I can't stop dreaming about and the freckles on your cheeks that are driving me wild.

Sirius' mind goes on a loop with these words and his mouth opened and closed resembling a fish.

Sirius was still quiet and watched in horror as Remus deeply furrowed his brows and continued to gaze at him in confusion. He excused himself and went back to his common room.

Sirius stood at the entrance to the kitchen as he watched Remus enter his common room without even sparing a second glance in his direction.

"I'm going to die alone."

His chest began to hurt again.

At around eleven at night, James quietly sneaked into the Slytherin common room for who knew their password was something as easy and obvious as 'pureblood'. He began his way up to the stairs onto the boy's dormitories. James had been waiting for Sirius for the past half hour with the invisibility cloak draped around him but that git had apparently forgotten their little visit to the third floor and was sleeping soundly on his bed.

James had to fight the urge to kick him but thought better of it as other inhabitants wouldn't be so amused with a Gryffindor in their dorm. He quietly shook him but could only manage a slight movement on Sirius' behalf who turned over and pulled the blankets up to his shoulders. Losing patience rather quickly, James' recklessness took over and he poked the sleeping boy with his wand right into his stomach.

Sirius woke up with an indignant 'Omfph' and rubbed his eyes open to see a rather angry James towering over him.

"What do you want?", he carefully whispered while still rubbing his stomach.

"What do I want? I want? We were supposed to meet up a certain prefect tonight, you bastard! I have been waiting outside your common room for the past half hour!"

"Oh yeah, I know, I just thought what use would it be to ask him when you know he wouldn't help us? He's a prefect for god's sake, James. And helping the most troublesome kids of the school would be the last thing he would agree to."

"Is it because you forget how to talk when he's around?"

Sirius immediately got up from his bed and smacked James on his head.

"No, I don't."

"Oh please Sirius, it is too obvious you fancy him."

Sirius let out a disgruntled groan and mumbled something unintelligible.

"Let's go then."

James and Sirius were on their way to the third-floor corridor where a certain prefect and a Ravenclaw git were patrolling tonight. The former were hidden under the invisibility cloak and the general quietness of the castle at night was somewhat scaring them. Even Peeves seemed nowhere to be found.

They spotted Remus near the stairs who looked quite bored standing there as Gilderoy Lockhart tried to chat him up. Without really thinking about his actions, as usual, Sirius sent a stunner in Lockhart's direction and successfully knocked him out.

Startled by the sudden silence, Remus immediately grabbed his wand and pointed it towards the stairs.

"Revelio!"

The invisibility cloak flew off from and James began to run after it leaving Sirius alone with Remus.

"What are you both up to now? I don't have the energy to stop you now, Black."

Sirius found himself completely overwhelmed by the overall situation. He had to respond now or else he'll blow any chance he has with the boy.

"We were looking for you actually."

How he got the courage to say something, he didn't know but he'll go for it for now. Maybe this is a dream. Well if it were a dream, they would probably end up in a broom closet somewhere in the next five minutes. Not that he dreamed of that on a daily basis.

"Oh, so what do you guys need?"

"We uh- um just needed your help with something, something like a prank."

All his earlier confidence started to drain as Remus looked at him up and down, face visibly confused.

"You know I'm a prefect right?"

"Y-yes, we just want to learn a spell, that's all."

"What spell?"

Sirius desperately wished James would come back and take over the situation. He would rather just stand there and stare at Remus than answer these questions. He began to chew on his bottom lip and looked around racking his brain to say something to avoid the questions till then. He didn't even notice the softening expression on Remus' face and how his eyes were watching his lips.

Remus knew that Sirius fancied him. Yes, it was that obvious. And Remus found it absolutely adorable how Sirius would stop functioning every time they would be together. He had thought of making the first move but the colour of his robes would always stop him. Yellow and green don't go together. Besides, it was really fun to see Sirius struggle. He had even requested Professor Slughorn to have Sirius as his Potions partner.

And he would love to help them on a prank. He really enjoyed the mayhem and had spent hours thinking of an alternate universe where all of them would be in the same house even if it were light-years away. He had even included a fellow Hufflepuff, Peter Pettigrew in this little reverie.

Remus was staring at Sirius intently, silently hoping he would say something, anything, he really wanted the conversation to go somewhere, lead them to something. If they can't be together in the broad sunlight then perhaps the darkness of the night would suffice.

Even for a single night.

"I'll help."

Sirius stared up at him as if his entire world had started building again, block by block.

"But you'll have to tell me what spell it is first, Black."

Sirius opened his mouth but then quickly suppressed his words. This was his chance. Pranks have always been such lucky charms for him. It was a silly prank that led him to James and now an even sillier prank that was going to lead him to Remus. God had finally decided to be good to him.

"The drying spell."

"Alright, it's not that complicated. Perhaps we can practise it somewhere around?"

Smooth. Sirius thought to himself.

This was beginning to sound a lot like the dream he was having before he was woken up. He wouldn't let James ruin it again.

"Sure"

Remus lead the way and Sirius followed him to the empty Charms classroom. Both of them entered and Remus held the door open for Sirius, much to his delight.

If he could have his way, Sirius would immediately push Remus up against the wall and snog him senseless. That wouldn't even require talking. He smirked to himself and yet again failed to notice how Remus' eyes were fixed on his lips.

The smirk on Sirius' lips was driving drove Remus wild with desire and action. He simply wanted to go over there, grab him by his chin and press their lips together. His thought process somehow took over him and by the time he got to his senses, he was towering over Sirius who had his back to the wall.

For what felt like light-years, both the boys looked at each other and then slowly leaned in and pressed their lips together. No more time was to be wasted in trying to talk or even think. Remus' hands soon found their way down to Sirius' waist and that earned him a clean-swept of Sirius' tongue against his mouth. The kiss deepened and none of the boys wanted to stop.

And that's how James found them minutes after, wondering how long he had been gone for.