Disclaimer: All characters and such created by JK Rowling and co., even if I wish it were me
A/N: One more chapter to go!
Part Eleven
"Sirius."
Sirius opened his eyes to his Evans sitting on the sofa beside him, her shirt draped over her shoulders and doing nothing to cover her bra. James was still staring from by the fire.
"Yeah?" he grunted, fixing his eyes on her to prevent them from wandering over to Remus, who was sprawled on the floor now, Julie tracing patterns over his scars and giggling in a way that made Sirius want to tear his hair out, transfigure it into a machete and throw it at her head.
"I know."
"What?"
"I know about your thing for Remus. Worked it out." She added proudly.
Sirius froze, staring at her in fear, before flicking his gaze around to check that no one else was listening in, before turning and demanding, "WHAT," when he probably would have denied it had he not just finished his fifth bottle of firewhiskey only a moment before.
"I know you like him." She whispered with a smile and a pat on the shoulder that was missing a shirt sleeve that was currently burning in the common room fire. Sirius could only open and close his mouth in a genius impression of a goldfish, making Evans laugh. "And I think you should tell him."
"What? No! He'll think I'm a pervert, that his own best friend has been—"
"Trust me, it'll be fine."
"Says the girl who can't even admit she likes the guy who's been chasing her for, like, ever!" Sirius protested throwing his hands up to prove his point. Evans narrowed her make-up smudged eyes at him and got to her feet determinedly. Sirius watched in shock and a certain amount of admiration as she approached James, yanked him to his feet and flung herself at him in an enthusiastic kiss.
James, in his defence, only stood still in shock in her arms for about half a minute, before clutching her closer and kissing her eagerly to catcalls and wolf whistles from onlookers. Sirius gave a low whistle, before grabbing another bottle and downing the contents in one go. Courage considerably heightened, he looked up to catch Remus' eyes sliding from James and Evans to him, the smile disappearing to be replaced with uncertainty.
Sirius took a deep breath and stood at the same time as Remus and followed him into a deserted corner. Remus leant back against the wall, frowning slightly. Sirius wanted to reach out and smooth the crease between his brows, but tucked his hands into his pockets instead, looking down, his Dutch courage suddenly vanished.
"Sirius, about earlier," Remus was saying, but Sirius was finding it hard to pay much attention, instead fixated on the way Remus' stomach moved when he sighed heavily in that older-than-his-age way he had, "I don't know why I…what I mean is, I'd like for us to go back to normal. Ever since I said about that thing with Robin, you've been acting all—"
"IthinkImightbeinlovewithyou."
Remus blinked and, for a moment, Sirius hoped the garbled mess had been misheard. After all, he hadn't even admitted that to himself yet – he had known he liked Remus, but love? Was that what it was? Maybe it was, judging by how right it felt when the words spilt from between his lips uncharacteristically clumsily. For an awful moment, Remus just stared at him in silence, his face blank.
Sirius was about to run away and bury his head in the nearest pile of sand available when Remus grabbed his arm firmly and pulled him out of the common room and down the corridor a few feet to push him into an alcove.
"Going to take advantage of me again?" Sirius asked defensively, trying to glare across at the other boy whilst his heart was attempting to beat out of his chest. Remus stepped forward, closing the gap between them in the small space.
"Never," he answered quietly, "I just want to kiss you again."
Sirius mouthed wordlessly, the action seeming to be his most favoured that night and settled with simply admitting, "I don't understand."
"Shut up, Pads." Remus smiled and all it took was for him to call Sirius that short, sweet pet name and he was gone, leaning in and brushing their lips together softly. This kiss was so different to the other one; tender and chaste, a barely there point of contact that made Sirius' toes curl as he kissed Remus. Yes, was all his heart could flutter in earnest.
When they broke apart, Sirius grinned at Remus' silly smile, at his single sock and tasselled hair. Remus grinned back crookedly. Sirius went to reach for him again but pulled back as a girl's voice called Remus' name from the direction of the Fat Lady. Remus pushed him further back into the shadows and pressed close against him, waiting until the calling stopped. Sirius didn't have to try to stay calm this close to Remus, given who the voice belonged to.
"Aren't you going to go to her?" Sirius asked sullenly, pushing Remus away, more gently than he had last time. Their sweet kiss was still dancing in his mind, not allowing him to say goodbye just yet.
"Julie?" Remus asked in surprise, "No. I don't like her. She was after you the whole time anyway."
Sirius lifted his eyebrows to show he didn't believe the story.
"Honesty," Remus nodded, moving forward again and pressing his hands on the wall either side of Sirius, "She just used me."
"Well her flirting was shit," Sirius gasped as Remus bent his head to lay a trail of feather light kisses along his jaw, "I didn't notice anything."
"That's because you were too busy watching me."
Sirius ignored that and tried to concentrate on the conversation, pulling away and looking at his friend uncertainly, "You knew I liked you."
"Yes." Remus shrugged, even though it hadn't been a question, "Since the day you told Lily you liked someone. The way she reacted to something I said helped me to work it out."
"Yet you still carried on with Sweetie and Julie and whoever else," Sirius accused, suddenly feeling too drunk for this discussion and wishing he could melt into the wall and disappear. Which would be cool if he could scare other students trying to make out there with creepy sounds.
"Robin Harrison told me that seeing other people would catch your attention." Remus shrugged again, this time smiling like butter wouldn't melt. Sirius scowled at the name.
"That guy you told us about at the Prewetts' party." He clarified distastefully.
"Well I only thought it apt as it was him who had suggested the idea."
"He only wanted to get into your pants!"
"He did and his idea worked, didn't it? Worked out well on both sides."
Sirius looked away, not certain of how to continue. Remus waited patiently, the faux gentleman he was, allowing him to pick his next question.
"Do you…err…do you like me?"
Remus gave him an amused smile, like Sirius was a slow child who needed everything explained to him at a flobberworm's pace.
"Only for about three years."
Sirius choked at that, "Three? Three years?" he paused, contemplating this, "What took me so long to catch up?"
Remus laughed. And laughed and laughed and laughed until Sirius joined in, the absurdity of the both of them infectious. Eventually, they calmed down and Remus stepped forward for the millionth time that night and this time Sirius let him.
"I remembered, by the way." He murmured in his ear.
"What?" Sirius mumbled distractedly, trying to twist his head to get to Remus' mouth.
"The night of the Prewetts' party. I remember the kiss. I always did."
Sirius stared at him before hitting him lightly on the chest with a dizzy laugh, "You remembered all this time?"
"How could I forget Sirius Black getting hard just because I kissed him?" Remus asked insolently and leaned in to kiss him again. This kiss wasn't rough and angry, or sweet and barely there. This kiss was thorough and full of a slow, burning promise that electrified Sirius' body and sent shocks through him, making his nails dig into Remus' back when his tongue stroked his own, or he sucked his lip into his mouth and bit down lightly. When they pulled apart, Sirius looked down pointedly.
"I'm not the only one who gets hard over just kissing."
Remus just laughed and pulled him closer for another breath-stealing kiss, grabbing Sirius' hips and pressing against him, letting Sirius feel just how hard he was after a kiss. Sirius heard a small whine and realised with dismay that it had come from him. Remus pulled back, his bright, amber eyes burning into Sirius' grey ones.
"Dorm?" he asked in that low, husky voice.
"Dorm." Sirius agreed breathlessly.
A/N2: So our pups are finally together ^-^ aren't you so happy? Just one more chapter to go :) R&R! I see you readers who aren't reviewing - would it help if I told you I have the puppies locked in a room as a reward for anyone who reviews? Muahahahaha *evil grin*
