Author's Note: Harry Potter and the rest is to J.K. Rowling
Chapter Four
"What's that?"
"Nothing." Remus never prided himself for his reflexes, but he had to admit that he managed to stick the new box of Chocolate Frogs back in his bag in record time quite beautifully.
"Is that candy?" Sirius went on, leaning down over Remus. "Don't want to share, do you?"
"I don't know what you're talking about, Padfoot."
"Come on, Moony, how can you keep secrets from your boyfriend like that?" Sirius put on a hurt-face.
"Mr. Moony would like to ask Mr. Padfoot what he means by boyfriend—" Remus began.
"Aren't we going out with each other?"
"One date, Sirius, doesn't constitute a relationship," said Remus, drily. "Don't be a git."
"Remus, how is it that you care nothing for my poor heart?"
"I don't know how come you haven't noticed it yet, but you don't have a heart."
"You may have a point there, Moony," said Sirius, discarding the hurt-face and replacing it with a sort of dewy expression that Remus sees on James whenever he sees Lily Evans. "I don't have a heart because you have it there already, in your hands."
Remus choked. "That's in real bad taste, you know."
Sirius leaned further down, ignoring the fact that Remus was shrinking away from him in a manner very much unlike a werewolf's.
"Moony—"
"Yes, Padfoot?"
"I really hate it when my friends keep secrets from me. Especially you." Sirius reached down and pulled the box of Chocolate Frogs from Remus' bag. "Now, what have we here? Candy, as I thought... and a card."
"Give that back."
"Hope to see you on Valentine's Day," Sirius read from the card. "Hearts and kisses, your Pink Bunny?????" His voice rose when he said the last words, and Remus was just bracing himself against his friend's imminent laughter when Sirius went on, "Who is this, Moony-kins?"
"I have no idea," said Remus, faintly. "Did you just call me 'Moony-kins'?"
"As your boyfriend, I'm perfectly entitled to call you anything I want," said Sirius. "And I'm also perfectly entitled to inquire as to your little amours, your cheating heart, Moony."
"You're scaring me, Sirius."
"I can't believe you, Rem. You have been keeping this all to yourself, haven't you?" said Sirius. "What kind of friend are you, mate?"
"Look, it's not like I know what that Pink Bunny is," Remus began. "Besides—"
"Yes?"
Remus refused to meet Sirius' eyes although he knew Sirius was trying to catch his own. It was well known among the Marauders that it was impossible to tell what Remus was thinking unless they look into his eyes.
"I was afraid that someone else might know about my secret."
"What secret?"
They both turned around to see Amelia Waterhouse standing close to where they always sat during Arithmancy classes. Amelia played Chaser for Gryffindor, and she was one of Lily's friends, so Remus thought she was a decent enough girl, but she did have an unhealthy sort of interest in Sirius.
"Secret?" Remus said, mildly.
"Yes, secret. I heard you talking in whispers. Really suspicious, if you ask me. I hope you don't get expelled for whatever you're planning."
"Of course not," Sirius snorted.
"Then what were you talking about?" Amelia said.
"We were talking about our date for Valentine's, if you must know," said Sirius, quite nastily. Sometimes, Remus thought, the only thing saving Sirius from being a downright git was the fact that he was beautiful.
"You're going out with each other?" Amelia burst out, louder than Remus thought necessary. She turned to Sirius. "With Remus?"
"Yes, Waterhouse. With my adorable little Remykins here."
Remus felt Sirius' hands on his shoulder, the strong grip as the other boy pulled Remus close in a one-armed embrace.
Amelia opened her mouth to say something else, but then the door opened and Professor Flinchly walked inside the classroom.
"Is something the matter, Waterhouse?" the professor said, squinting up at Amelia like a short-sighted goblin.
"Nothing, professor," Amelia mumbled, moving back to her seat.
Remus looked down the floor and wondered what he needed to do to make it swallow him up.
*
"Mr. Prongs would like to extend his congratulations to Mr. Padfoot for having succeeded at asking Mr. Moony out on a date."
"Mr. Padfoot thanks Mr. Prongs and asks him not to say anything more about the matter as he is not inclined to talk about it right now."
James sighed, leaning back against the bleachers and looking up at the goal hoops like he had never seen the like before.
"This doesn't mean you've won, you know."
"Indeed, mate, I'm very aware of the fact."
"A kiss, Sirius, before Valentine's day ends," said James. "Unless you could find another way to let us know that Remus is indeed burning with passion for you. From what I can see now, I don't think he's too happy about the matter, is he?"
"Well, that's—" Sirius began, then remembering what he had said earlier, he stopped. "None of you business, James, old boy."
"Now you're keeping secrets from me? You're really ready to fly from the nest, aren't you?" James said.
"I'd tell you all my secrets if you tell me yours." Sirius grinned.
James blushed tellingly, backing off from Sirius a few steps. "What makes you think I have one?"
"I don't know, mate. Probably because your face looks red as a beet?" Sirius said, sweetly. "Bones is waving you over."
James turned around to see the Quidditch captain making expansive gestures in the middle of the field. Five other people were making their way towards him, most of them dragging their broomsticks against the ground. More than half of them were less than awake and none had eaten breakfast yet.
"Well, I'll be getting there then." James allowed a look of relief pass over his face. "You'll wait for me?"
"There's something I need to do. I'll just meet you over the Great Hall, okay?"
*
If there was a time Remus needed James' Invisibility Cloak more, he couldn't remember it. The only thing he was grateful for was the fact that it was Peter going down the Great Hall with him and not Sirius.
"Hey, Black's going out with Loopy, have you heard?"
"Always knew they were a couple of queers, if you ask me—"
"Never knew Black would actually go for a half-blood—"
"Forget about half-bloods, have you seen the state of his robes?"
"What they really should be worrying about is that the infamous Sirius Black is actually dating a prefect, don't you think?" Peter said, between giggles.
"James is dating one," said Remus, rather shortly. "Why can't Sirius?"
"Oooh, are you sticking up for him now?" said Peter.
"Well, as he's apparently my boyfriend, I don't see why not."
"Is this sarcasm that I detect in Mr. Moony's tone?"
"Me? Sarcastic, Mr. Wormtail?" said Remus. "Must be another person."
"Well, now that you have a boyfriend, your secret admirer might stop sending you stuff, right? You being taken and all?" said Peter. Of course Sirius had told the rest of the Marauders about the Pink Bunny incident as soon as he could, which was during lunchtime the day before. And as far as Remus could tell, none of them had been able to fully grasp the gravity of the matter.
"We ought to be grateful for small mercies, right, Remus?"
"What's that, Padfoot?" said Peter, who had turned around as soon as both of them heard the other boy's voice.
"Oh, this?" Sirius looked up at the box he was carrying like it had dropped out of the sky. "Nothing much."
"That's a big nothing much there," said Remus, justifiably, since the box was almost as tall as Peter was, and just as wide. "Whom did you kill this time?"
"Some Slytherin berk who was making fun of you," said Sirius.
"Be serious."
"I am, love." Sirius winked at him, making Remus want to crawl under one of the tables as most of the students in the Great Hall started looking at them like they were a broadcasted Quidditch match. "Here you go."
Remus reached out instinctively when Sirius handed him the box. It was fairly heavy, and Remus had to wonder just how far Sirius had carried the thing, and where it had come from.
"What's this?" he said. Please, please, please let it be a hex this time.
With his kind of luck, of course, Remus should have known what to expect. Peter, who wasn't a patient person from the start, had already started on opening the box to reveal enough candies and cakes to feed each and every one Gryffindor staring at Remus Lupin and Sirius Black with open mouths.
"Can't say that you have a cheap boyfriend, right?" said Sirius, grinning.
*
That was a joke, and as the saying goes, every joke was half-meant.
Sirius rested his chin on top of the table, letting his fringe cover half of his face. It was unusual for him to actually spend time alone, nor did he want to, since he wasn't too keen on getting bored with his own company. But James was in the Quidditch field for another gruelling training with Peter in tow and as much as Sirius loved his friends, he wasn't quite in the mood for sitting down the bleachers when it was cold enough outside for icicles to form under one's nose. At rare times like these when Sirius wasn't with James it was usually Remus who kept him company, but in light of recent events, Sirius knew it was probably best if he stayed away from Remus for a while.
Now that most of the school knew that the two boys were 'going out', Remus not only has to deal with Sirius' admirers but also the rest of the Hogwarts staff. It amused Sirius to see that most of their professors felt torn about the matter. Keeping the wizarding community a secret from the rest of the world in general made most witches and wizards tolerant about issues like homosexuality and the rest, or so they want to think. This was all very well in theory, but finding out that there were a couple of queers in Hogwarts itself was another thing entirely and no one was really sure how to react to the matter.
Professor McGonagall, head of the Gryffindor House, only sniffed when she heard the news, saying quite loudly that she hoped Remus would be able to keep Sirius some from mischief when it seemed that nothing else could calm the boy down. This made the rest of the professors think that expressing any kind of opposite reaction would not only be in bad form, but would probably be looked down upon as some sort of Death Eater activity.
With the rest of the school aside, though, what Sirius was really worried about was how Remus was taking it. They haven't had the chance to talk privately since he'd given Remus the large box from Honeydukes, and Sirius was wondering if Remus was avoiding him.
If it had been another person, Sirius would have had gone ahead as he usually does, allowing chance to do the rest. But for some reason he wasn't quite ready to think about just yet, he couldn't quite let his chances with Remus fall solely on luck. Remus was the kind of person who thought everyone of his actions through before actually doing anything, and Sirius knew that the other boy deserved some space at the very least.
Except that they were really just going out to spy on James and Lily and Sirius had just blown the whole thing out of proportion.
"Hey."
Sirius looked up to see Remus looking down at him from behind, both eyebrows raised and a smile hovering on his lips.
"Moony."
"This is quite an unexpected development, seeing you alone in the library," said Remus, sitting down next to Sirius. "What gives?"
"Quidditch practice," said Sirius, shortly.
"Hm." Remus placed his stack of books between them and began rummaging in his bag for his notes.
"Hey, Moony," Sirius began. He waited for Remus to look up from his copy of Advanced Potion Making, one hand fiddling with the corners of his robes. "You're not angry at me?"
"Why should I be?" Remus smiled.
"Well, I figured you didn't quite enjoy that scene back there in the Great Hall," Sirius let his voice trail off. For some reason, his chest felt like there were Peppermint Toads inside instead of his heart. Maybe Remus was right, after all.
"I wasn't crazy about it, but you were just trying to protect me from that Pink Bunny thing, right? I mean, they're not really looking at me right now as Remus Lupin, you know. Just Sirius Black's boyfriend." Remus laughed gently. "Besides, Cauldron Cakes are pretty nice."
"So we're still on, Valentine's Day?"
"To see James' first date with Lily? Wouldn't miss it for the world."
The realization hit Sirius like a stray Bludger while he was looking at Remus' smiling face; the reason why he was acting like a hopeless git in the first place:
He was jealous of other people looking at Remus.
