...

"OW!" hissed the boy on top of him.

"Sirius?" Remus questioned, pretty sure he recognized the voice.

"Salazar Slytherin! What the bloody hell are you doing, Remus?"

Sure enough, it was Sirius. He got off him and helped him to his feet sounding amused, as if the previous outbursts hadn't happened at all.

"Are you alright?" he had asked, before realizing it might not be the best idea. He was sure this would set off Sirius again. But instead, he laughed. It was a tense laugh but he truly seemed amused, and Remus for the life of him couldn't figure out why.

"Please be quiet, it's past curfew," Remus muttered, trying to calm down. Sirius scoffed but still sounded amused.

"Well, you don't seem to care about rules much yourself, seeing as you are out here."

"I'm only out here looking for you," he responded without thinking. Remus was very stressed to be standing in the middle of the nearly pitch-black corridor waiting for someone to find them. There was a long silence. Unable to see much of anything, Remus thought Sirius must have ditched him.

"You...you're out here because you were worried about me?"

Remus jumped, surprised Sirius was still there. The boy had grabbed his shoulder tightly. He wasn't sure if it was supposed to be a threatening gesture, as Sirius sounded more stunned than anything but Remus took it as such. He desperately did not want to deal with any more drama and wanted simply to get back to his bed before they got expelled.

"Please, can we go back now?" Remus asked pleadingly, unsure what he would do if he got in trouble at school this soon. More importantly, he was unsure what his father would do.

"But I thought you hated me?" Sirius asked coldly.

This definitely caught Remus off guard. Him? Hate Sirius? Whatever for? He wasn't so petty as to hold one, rather cruel, prank against someone. Though he had a feeling that wasn't why Sirius thought he didn't like him. It must have been because he couldn't see Sirius, or maybe it was the hand still on his shoulder but Remus found himself answering truthfully.

"Hate you? But you are the one that hates me!"

There was a long silence as both boys digested the words spoken.

"So you...you aren't judging me because I'm a Black?"

"A what?"

"A Black. I am the heir of the house of Black," he sounded offended now, as if he thought Remus was mocking him.

Instead, the very tired Remus was simply becoming more confused and stressed by the minute.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what that is. But can we please go back? We are going to get caught."

However, Sirius seemed to discard the second part of his sentence entirely, making no move to go back or let Remus go.

"But you seemed afraid of me on the train and all defensive, as if you knew who I was. As if you figured I'd be a pureblood bastard like my family!"

"Is that why you got mad at James?" he asked, nervous as to where Sirius' line of questioning was going. He had indeed been afraid of Sirius but not because of his heritage or family, simply because he thought the shadow man had come to take him away again. However, he never could explain this to him nor did he want to. Luckily, the question seemed to throw Sirius off-topic.

"Well yeah, he was doing the same thing."

"No, he wasn't." STUPID!

He was so stupid! Why was he engaging in an argument with a boy bigger than him who didn't care about the rules and didn't seem opposed to violence? He instinctively covered his face, ready to be knocked to the ground and kicked. He braced himself to be treated how all the other kids had treated him. Instead, Sirius groaned.

"Shit, you're right. I'm such an idiot. It's not my fault... I was just pissed off because..." he stopped abruptly as if finally realizing who he was talking to. "Forget it. Let's just go back," Sirius snapped and started walking. Remus hurried to follow him. In his haste not to be left behind in this dark strange place, he bumped into Sirius. He made a slight choking sound, unable to get rid of the feeling Sirius would decide to beat him up and do so.

"Stop that!" Sirius snapped, still seeming not to care at all about their current location.

"S...stop what?" he stammered.

"Quit acting like I'm going to hit you. Geez! You're jumpier than Peter, I swear!"

"Sorry."

"Whatever. Just...calm down. It really pisses me off when you do this. But...I still don't get it, why did you come after me? James and Peter didn't."

Sirius' tone made it clear that it wasn't James and Peter being called into question. Remus didn't doubt for one second that it was his own actions that Sirius had deemed suspicious.

"I...just wanted to make sure you were ok."

"But you're afraid of me? You jump every time I look at you."

"You did draw all over my face."

"Oh geez, are you the kind that holds grudges? That was forever ago. It wasn't personal and I won't do it again, so quit being so weird."

Remus was glad Sirius' hand wasn't on his shoulder, because he knew he flinched again at the comment.

Remus didn't know how to be a normal boy. He almost wanted to ask Sirius to teach him, to teach him how to blend in and be a part of this strange club full of invisible rules he didn't understand. He felt hopelessly overwhelmed by it. Remus had a feeling no matter what he did, he wouldn't get it right.

"Sorry."

No, this was clearly not the right answer to give. He almost screamed in frustration as he felt Sirius' intense gaze focus on him. He was doing the opposite of blending in. He was by far the most suspicious boy in their class and it was terrible. He made up his mind to study his classmates closely and to do better at this. But for now, he had to quickly find a way to distract Sirius, who didn't seem opposed to pointing out his weirdness and questioning it.

"I think James said something about going through your trunk, by the way," he whispered quietly.

"He better not have!" Sirius shouted in a playfully affronted tone as he took off running. Remus relaxed, glad the distraction had worked. Although this meant Sirius had left Remus the precarious task of not losing nor running into him until they reached a hallway with enough light to make the trip back bearable.

He let out a sigh of relief when they quickly entered the Gryffindor common room. Remus had actually gotten quite close to reaching it by himself despite the moving staircases. Sirius seemed much better at navigating them, and Remus hoped he hadn't missed some trick during the prefect's rant.

"Whoo, that was fun!" Sirius was grinning at him, eyes gleaming with mischievous delight. It truly was like nothing had happened between them. Remus was astonished by the strange nonchalance Sirius had to simply let things go.

Remus nodded, hoping he was convincing enough. They climbed the many stairs together he realized with a heavy heart that maybe he was the kind of person who held onto grudges for a ridiculously long time. After all, he still held a grudge against the shadow man.

"James, you...," Sirius trailed off as both Peter and James were fast asleep in their adjacent beds. There was a half-finished game of something strange-looking laid out on the floor, evidence of the unproductive worry-free time the two boys must have had. Only a small candle had been left burning to allow Sirius and Remus enough light to get into their own beds.

"Bloody idiots didn't even wait up," Sirius muttered and slapped Remus on the back in a friendly manner.

Of course, Remus stiffened. He really couldn't help himself. But he rushed into his bed before Sirius could question him further. He curled up under the covers, still dressed, but nervous Sirius would fling open the curtains if he attempted to change now. Instead, he muttered a good night that was returned, and tried to calm his racing heart enough to fall asleep.

...

Sirius lay in his bed for a long time, worrying about his mum's and family's reaction to the house he got placed in. Once he got sick of fretting about that, his thoughts turned to Remus. For Sirius was more perceptive than people gave him credit for, which was how he liked it. So Sirius had picked up on how Remus had purposefully changed the topic earlier in order to keep the focus off himself. It was the same thing his uncle did when his mum was attacking Sirius' uncle's life choices and asking him questions to be sure he was 'upholding the Black family honor.'

So while Remus thought he had managed to distract Sirius from him, in fact, Sirius was more curious than ever. He shifted in his bed, listening for something to indicate if Remus was awake or not. His interest was definitely peaked, now that he knew Remus wasn't just some judgemental pig. The boy had become something of a mystery, and there were few things Sirius liked more. He was already coming up with speculations that got wilder and wilder as they carried him off into sleep.

...

"Wake up! Sirius, mate, wake up!"

He opened his heavy eyelids to find James grinning down at him like the fool he was. He scoffed and playfully pushed him back. Things were fine between them, tension forgot, no need to apologize or dwell on feelings. He was so grateful for this.

"Piss off Potter, I have to get my beauty sleep," he responded, in a posh female voice that caused James to laugh and nudge him.

"You'll miss breakfast and your classes, your highness."

Sirius grinned and shoved his foot in his face in response. They jostled each other good-naturedly, then Sirius dropped to his boxers and got dressed for the day. He noticed both Remus and Peter were gone. The latter's bed was unmade and his little area of the room was becoming a mess, which Sirius could respect.

On the other hand, Remus' trunk, if you could even call it that, hadn't even been touched yet and his bed looked like he hadn't slept on it. Sirius wasn't sure why this irritated him so much, only that it did.

"Where are the others?" he asked, pulling his new robe on. Luckily he had a few that weren't custom Slytherin robes.

"Peter got up when I did, but decided he'd rather go eat than get your lazy ass out of bed."

"And Remus?"

"Thought you didn't care about him?"

This caught Sirius off guard. Had he really been that rude to him? Did Remus actually have a reason to flinch every time he was near him? The thought filled him with dread...and irritation.

"Well that was before he was our roommate, now wasn't it?"

"He's really odd. What eleven-year-old boy is that neat?"

"A swot," scoffed Sirius, as if this explained everything, even though he knew it didn't.

"Yeah, but if that's the case why did he break curfew last night? You were both gone for a while. Peter and I got sick of waiting for you."

"Yeah well, I had a whole castle to explore."

"You know I didn't mean it that way," James said abruptly, looking at Sirius warily.

"Yeah, I know. I guess I shouldn't have been such an ass," he muttered reluctantly.

"A little less ass would be nice," remarked James, with a mock sophisticated tone. Sirius snorted and punched him lightly on the shoulder. They wouldn't mention last night again. There was no need to do so. That's just the way it was.

Sirius didn't see Remus at breakfast. The meal would have been a blast and had nearly ended in a food fight, but that stuck-up prefect had got in the way. Then when they went back to the dorms, the three of them discussing the castle's secret passageways excitedly, Remus was sitting in his bed looking over a very badly used textbook as if he had never left the room. His trunk was gone now, probably tucked under his bed. Remus glanced up briefly when they entered, but then back down at his book as if they didn't matter.

It didn't make sense. If Remus really had gone after him because he was worried, why didn't he take more interest or at least talk to them?

It was so...infuriating. James didn't seem to care much and Peter didn't seem to notice. It made Sirius even more frustrated because he was sure he wasn't crazy. There was something really off about the kid. He should have been getting ready but instead, he flopped himself down onto Remus' bed, pointedly ignoring the way he jumped.

"Gosh, you are so boring! Reading textbooks is only permitted during class. Put it down and play a game of gobstones with me."

"I...I...uh...,"

There he went stammering again, with his big Puffskein in the headlight eyes.

"Sirius, stop harassing him. I thought we agreed to leave him be, if that's what he wants."

"Well, maybe I'm not sure that's what he wants!" he retorted, more out of spite than anything. But Remus, who was very close to him, flinched badly and took a shaky little breath.

Had Sirius accidentally hit the nail on the head? This roommate of his certainly was a mystery.

"Well geez, that's really easy to remedy. Remus, do you want Sirius sitting on your bed and insulting your choice of activities?" James responded in his dry humor tone.

Though he was seriously asking Remus, going so far as to turn to see his response in case it wasn't a verbal one. Sirius wondered vaguely if James was more attentive than he let on too. Remus shook his head, sure enough choosing not to speak. Or not able to? Feeling disheartened, Sirius clambered off his bed and got ready for classes.

All thoughts of Remus left his mind as they went from one class to another. Now it wasn't the subjects that kept his attention, but the like-mindedness of James who spent most of the class period coming up with pranks with him. Occasionally Peter pipped in with an idea, offering a few decent ones. Sirius didn't understand why James had taken Peter under his wing. The two of them actually seemed to get along well, but he couldn't help but find Peter almost as irritating as Remus.

At least Peter tried though, that couldn't be said for his other irritating roommate. Throughout all their classes, boring ones like History of Magic and mildly entertaining ones like Transfiguration taught by their stern head of house, Remus sat in the front row and spent the whole time diligently writing notes.

Even Lily, who was easily as much as a swot as Lupin, took the occasional break to whisper to one of her friends next to her. By their last class, Sirius had realized that Remus was the only kid in their class who seemed to have no desire to sit with someone else. He didn't start conversations with anyone. In fact, Remus barely looked anywhere besides his notebook and textbook, and that included not looking at the teachers.

But again, Remus left Sirius' head as he focused on the friends who he actually liked to talk to. Especially James. He was sure the Potter's must be related to the Blacks and that James must be some sort of cousin. Because he had never gotten along with someone this well.

Sure, James seemed to get along with almost everyone, and usually had more patience for the slow or irritating people than Sirius did. But he didn't think James counted him in the same group as the others. He was pretty sure James saw him as an equal, both as a partner in crime and a friend. It was a wonderful feeling and he was sure nothing could ruin his day.

But that was before he was harshly reminded that he wasn't the only Black currently at Hogwarts.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the disappointment of the Black family. I'm surprised you can smile like that," came the annoying simper belonging to none other than the prissy Narcissa Black. She was both his cousin and a constant thorn in his side. Of course, she wasn't the worst cousin by far. But that didn't mean he was pleased to see her. He certainly wasn't happy by her ever-annoying condescending tone that made it hard for him not to feel like he was a naughty child.

She had always talked to him like he was a baby compared to her when he wasn't, in fact, that much younger. Now that he was at Hogwarts and was in Gryffindor she actually sounded worse, now sounding as if he was a dog in need of scolding. He glanced at James, who was regarding Narcissa with contempt. Sirius hoped that it was for his sake and not just because she was a Black.

"Why don't you go play with the little Slytherins, Sissy, and leave us alone. In fact, I'm surprised you've unglued yourself from Malfoy's face long enough to notice anyone but yourself," he shot back at her, mirroring her condescending tone.

He knew she hated it when he called her 'Sissy.' Only her friends had that 'privilege' which is precisely why he refused to call her anything else when they were alone. Sure enough, her face grew red with anger, both due to the name and his subtle threat at her less than ladylike behavior at school.

"Oh shut up, Sirius. You're just a little boy who doesn't understand love. Have fun dealing with your mum later. I heard she's already getting the basement ready for you," she sneered, and Sirius felt the color drain from his face. He thought he saw a flash of regret in her eyes, but they hardened just as quickly and she sauntered off, ignoring James entirely. Sirius felt sick and was grateful for the hand James had on his shoulder to steady him.

He had refused to think about what was awaiting him when he went home. This was made easier by the fact he hadn't heard from his mum yet, which wasn't surprising. Besides, by the time he got home, she would have cooled down a little. Right?

She hadn't pulled him out of school, which was a good sign. Besides, even in Gryffindor, he was the future heir of the Blacks. Sometimes he had nightmares where his mum killed him off so Regulus could be the heir, but he knew that wouldn't happen. After all, that would cause too much of a scandal.

"HEY!"

He hadn't realized James had been waving a hand in front of his face for a while now. He shook himself, bringing himself away from Grimmauld Place and back to Hogwarts where he was safe...for now.

"Sorry, mate. She really gets under my skin, she does."

He hoped his nonchalant attitude would vanish any traces of worry James might have about him completely zoning out like that. Sure enough, his friend just scoffed and flung his arm around his shoulders.

"I'd say. She's a bright ray of sunshine, that one is," he responded, voice dripping with sarcasm that Sirius appreciated greatly.

"Come on, let's go to the dorms. We've got a few hours before dinner."

"Alright. But, Sirius?"

He tensed up, unsure what he'd do if James asked what was in the basement or why he had reacted that way when it was brought up.

"Y..yeah?"

He forced himself to sound as calm as he could and braced himself for serious inquisitive eyes to bore into him. Instead, James shoved him playfully then screamed 'race you' at the top of his lungs, already running through the halls at detention-earning speed. Laughing delightedly, Sirius raced after him, leaving his worries about his home where they belonged.