When the Sorting Hat announces, "Gryffindor!" with what Sirius thinks is a touch of smugness in its voice, he isn't sure whether he feels resentment or relief. He can hear mutters from the Slytherin table as he hops off the stool and though he avoids the accusing eyes of most of his cousins, he is sure that he doesn't imagine Andromeda's pleased smirk.
One of the older Gryffindors claps him on the shoulder when he sits down and he hears something further down the table that sounds like, "Can't believe we've got a Black." He ignores it. Truthfully, he hadn't know what he would do until he sat up there, the dark, claustrophobic interior of the hat finally silencing his doubts. He doesn't want to be in Slytherin, not really.
Anything that might have been resentment slides away at that last thought. He can deal with the rest later.
He's tapping fingers on the table a few minutes later, hungry and a little bored now that his turn is done, when he glances up at the newest Gryffindor to be sorted - "Lupin, Remus." The kid puts the hat back on the stool and smooths down his robes as he takes a few shaky steps toward the Gryffindor table, though he still looks vaguely crumpled to Sirius' eyes. He's small, too, incredibly so. Still, when he slides into a seat further down and meets Sirius' gaze, he doesn't look away.
It lasts a moment, broken by the announcement of another name and Remus turns his head to politely watch.
The feast, when it comes, is all that Sirius expected and more - and one of the other new Gryffindors Sirius met on the train, James, is sitting by his side, keeping up a constant stream of chatter even with his mouth full. Sirius is aware that although no one is protesting his presence in this house, there is still a barrier between him and the others. He doesn't let it worry him. It'll pass.
They follow the prefects up to the dormitories later and James hooks an arm around Sirius' shoulders when he finds out they're in the same room, his grin wide and unabashed. Sirius has never had a friend like James before - he knows they're friends already, because James has said so, which is new in and of itself - and he grins back, following him up to their room. They unpack and chatter, meeting two of their other roommates, a boy names Peter and another who looks vaguely queasy the whole time and when the door opens and Remus comes in, Sirius pauses in piling his books up next to his bed.
No one else seems to notice, though Remus' eyes flick to him before he looks at the other boys in the room. James is already bounding over to him, sticking out a hand for Remus to shake, which he does, albeit somewhat cautiously. "I'm James," he says, "James Potter."
"Remus Lupin," Remus says and nods to the others. He begins a quiet conversation with the queasy-looking boy, who Sirius assumes is muggle-born and Sirius only looks up when James bounces down onto his bed.
"You excited for class?" he asks Sirius, who barks out a laugh in reply.
"Maybe," he hedges. No point in sounding too eager, but James' smile is a little knowing.
When Sirius looks back up, he notices Remus watching him again. It's not as unsettling as it should be.
At first, it's just the two of them - him and James. They're partners in class and they mess around at the back (when they can get away with it, which is to say not in McGonagall's class) and by the end of their first month, between them they've landed detention a total of eighteen times. A red-haired girl in their class tells them that she's heard it's a new record and, when Sirius laughs, assures him that it's not something to be proud of.
They talk to the other boys in their room and sit with them for dinner on occasion, but Remus at least seems too interested in class to be drawn into their games.
Then there's the night when he doesn't come back to the room. Sirius only notices because they're usually the two up the latest - James works all his energy off in the day and always falls asleep earlier than Sirius expects him to - and worry knots in his stomach as the hour grows ever later. It's definitely past curfew, but Remus said nothing to them in the day about not being here. Sirius frowns. He has looked awfully pale, the last few days. Maybe he's just sick.
It's enough of a comforting thought that Sirius eventually nods off to sleep, though his dreams are far from pleasant and he wakes up just after sunrise, when there are still streaks of orange in the sky.
At first he wonders what woke him, but then he notices Remus' small frame in the corner, near his own bed and he sits up. "Remus," he says, careful to keep his voice a whisper. Everyone else drew the curtains around their beds last night, but he's pretty sure the curtains don't keep that much noise out.
Remus freezes and when he looks at Sirius, Sirius winces. He's paler than he's been all week and there are dark circles under his eyes. It looks like he's been punched, quite honestly, and Sirius is out of bed before he even thinks twice about it.
"What happened?" he asks as he gets closer. "You were gone all night..."
Remus swallows and this time he does drop his gaze to his bed, then forces it back up again. "I was in the infirmary," he says. "It's nothing serious, just- They wanted to keep an eye on me."
Sirius nods, thinking that it looks serious as hell, but he knows well enough when a subject should be dropped. "It wasn't," he begins, but then isn't sure how he wants to finish the sentence. "No one-"
Remus shakes his head sharply and sucks in a breath like it hurts him to move. "It's nothing serious," he repeats. "I get sick a lot." He offers Sirius a weak smile and Sirius, unable to do anything else, returns it. He isn't sure he believes Remus but there are ways of fixing that, of keeping an eye out for him.
"All right," he replies. "So long as you're sure."
This gets a little more of the steel back in Remus' gaze, a look that is vaguely familiar to Sirius, probably because it's directed at him every time Remus sees him messing around instead of doing his homework. He grins. "You gonna sleep now?"
Remus nods. Sirius steps back, heading for his own bed - because he feels like he'll be able to sleep better now, knowing that Remus is, in fact, okay.
"Remus?" he whispers again before he gets into bed.
"Yes, Sirius?"
"If- If you want to hang out today, with me and James, I mean, then you can. We're going to go explore the grounds some more."
Remus' side of the room is still in shadow and Sirius senses rather than sees his smile. "That sounds fun," he says. "I'd like that."
They say nothing more, but Sirius falls back asleep with a smile on his face.