Word count: 1,269

Chapter 22

What Comes Next?

Remus was distracted as Sirius studied across from him. For once, it wasn't because he wanted to kiss the other boy, and for once, Sirius had actually become engrossed in his studying. His brow was furrowed as he read and re-read a passage of his Defence textbook. He was oblivious to the glances Remus kept tossing his way.

With a sigh of frustration, Remus laid down his quill. It was no use; he had been letting his hand hover above the parchment for so long that the ink he'd applied to the tip had dried.

He stretched, trying to refocus his mind on the studying he was meant to be doing. When he opened his eyes, Sirius was finally looking at him, one side of his lips quirked upward.

"Alright, Moony?"

Remus bit his bottom lip as he debated how to answer. His distraction could easily be played off as homework fatigue, but he found himself too preoccupied not to share the true nature of his thoughts.

"Have you decided what you'll do after Hogwarts?"

Sirius' grin morphed into a frown. While he'd been leaning casually against the back of his chair, he straightened and leant forward, his eyes cautious as he looked at Remus. He cast a careful gaze around them before he spoke in a low voice.

"I thought I'd made it obvious by now. I want to fight."

Remus' stomach tightened.

"Yes, I know that, but I meant as a job. No one's going to pay you to fight Voldemort. Not unless you mean that you want to be an Auror. They'd gladly take you if that's the case, even with some of your marks. I don't think they're too picky right now."

Sirius laughed.

"Me? An Auror? We both know I'm not good enough with authority to keep that job. I'd be kicked out of training the first day, if they accepted me at all. Everyone's better off if I stay away from that."

"Then who's going to pay you, Padfoot?"

He couldn't keep his irritation out of his voice over the way Sirius refused to take his future seriously.

"You need to eat somehow," he continued. "You're not going to get any money from your parents like James is sure to."

Something dark flickered in Sirius' gaze. If Remus hadn't been frustrated himself, he might have backed away from getting a serious answer out of the other boy. At the moment, however, he couldn't shake the incessant need to know what Sirius planned to do with his life.

"I couldn't get a job if I wanted to, Sirius, and I do want to. Meanwhile, you plan on waltzing out of Hogwarts and taking whatever's offered to you, don't you? You're not even trying to accomplish anything."

A tense moment passed where Sirius stared at him, an unreadable expression on his face. As the silence stretched on, Remus grew to regret his words.

When Sirius spoke, his voice was carefully controlled.

"I'm sorry that I view the war as more important than anything else. I'm sorry that I want to make the world into a place where you can take whatever job you want to without bastards judging you for shit that isn't your fault."

Remus closed his eyes for a moment.

"I didn't mean to make you sound like an awful person, Sirius. It's just… Everything…"

"I know," Sirius said, making Remus' eyes fly open to look at him. "I'm just as pissed off as you are that you can't do whatever you want to after Hogwarts."

Remus doubted that, but he didn't argue.

"But I don't think me taking a job or not will help you. Fighting in the war will," Sirius concluded

Remus gave an uncomfortable shrug, looking down at his notes that laid in front of him. There were twice as many notes as Sirius had on the same topic, and it wasn't just because he was better at studying than Sirius. He found Defence fascinating.

"I doubt that. Things were bad for werewolves before this war. They will be after it too."

"Then we fight the war, win, and keep going until there are no more bastards."

Remus raised an eyebrow, though he couldn't help himself from grinning at the idea of Sirius going after every prejudiced person he encountered until there were, miraculously, none left. He didn't think Sirius would succeed, but it did sound like something he'd attempt.

"Good luck with that."

Sirius reeled backwards, clutching at his chest. He, too, was smiling again.

"Do you doubt me, Moony?"

"You? Of course not, Padfoot. The only people I doubt are the rest of wizarding society."

"Ah." Sirius nodded. "The bastards. Yes, no one knows how much they dislike change better than me, dear Moony. It will be a difficult task, but I've always enjoyed a challenge."

Remus laughed.

"Please, stop calling them bastards. The purebloods at least take a lot of pride in not being bastards."

"Don't I know it," Sirius said with a smirk. "Sometimes you've got to think that they're making up for some deep seated inadequacies."

He stood up and took the chair next to Remus, promptly wrapping his arm about Remus' shoulders. Remus glanced around for Madam Pince, relieved when she didn't seem to be anywhere in sight.

"We're okay then?" Sirius asked softly.

Worry coloured his voice, prompting Remus to smile gently and pat Sirius' leg.

"We're okay," he said, emphasizing his words with a kiss.

When he pulled away, he did his best to set his face into a stern expression.

"But you really do have to find a job."

Sirius smiled sheepishly back.

Lily bounded towards the table Remus had taken in the library with far more energy than Potions homework warranted.

The second he glanced up at her, she shoved a newspaper under his nose. He recognized it instantly as the Prophet, though article she was showing him was a small one buried towards the end of the paper. He hadn't noticed it when he'd read his own copy earlier in the day, distracted as he'd been by the headlines full of torture and death.

'Even in hard times, one researcher hopes to provide wizarding world with relief from threat of werewolves,' the headline read.

Remus had to read it several times, and he still wasn't sure what to make of it. It sounded anti-werewolf enough that Lily's large smile made him uncomfortable.

"Are you reading it?" she asked, pushing the paper closer.

Holding his breath, Remus read farther than the headline.

"Can you believe that?" Lily asked once he was finished. "Soon, maybe you won't need to transform in the Shrieking Shack. You could go to the Hospital Wing or stay in your dormitory, and there'd be no worry about any accidents happening."

Remus grimaced. The tone of the rest of the article had been similar to the headline. A researcher wanted to make werewolves less of a danger to good, upstanding citizens. He wasn't sure he felt as if he and other werewolves being helped very much, even if the researcher's experiments with a potion to 'tame' him, as the article had put it, were successful.

He didn't know how to explain that to Lily in a way that didn't make him feel uncomfortable.

Because of that, he tried to smile.

"It would be nice to keep my mind when I'm a wolf," he admitted.

Lily's smile softened, and she reached out to pat his hand before she tucked the paper back into her bag.

She didn't mention it again as they set to work on Potions.