Chapter 10 – 1976

Over the summer Sirius had missed Remus like crazy. He had barely been able to stop thinking about him, and the way the Wolf had been with him in the last few months of term. He thought, or at least he hoped he knew what was going on. He thought about their whole relationship: how there had been an instant connection between them; how he had been able to confide in Remus about his parents, and how hurt he had been when Remus would not confide in him. After he had found out the truth about his friend's condition their bond had only strengthened, and Sirius had realised that he would do anything to protect Remus. That was why he had gotten the idea of becoming animagi; so that he and their friends could do just that.

Sirius loved being Padfoot. It gave him the freedom he had always craved and it was wonderful, but it was more than the freedom; he loved being Padfoot because when the Dog was with the Wolf he somehow just felt complete. He'd thought of Remus as this part of him that was missing before, but he'd never really understood just what that meant. That was until the night that the Wolf had made him his mate. Although a massive revelation to himself it was also very confusing to think about, because while the Wolf and the Dog knew that they belonged together, Remus did not.

Remus had no memory of what transpired during the full moon, he had no memory of marking Padfoot and making him his, and he had no idea how much Sirius wanted to experience it all with Remus himself. Sirius didn't know what to do, it wasn't like he could just walk up to his friend and ask 'will you sleep with me? We've done it before, you just don't remember.' That would not go down well, but at the same time, by the time September rolled around Sirius wanted, no, he needed just that, he needed to be with Remus.

As he made his way to platform 9 ¾, Regulus trailing behind, he couldn't settle his nerves. He hadn't been allowed to leave Grimmauld Place again, save for one visit to Diagon Alley to buy his school things for the new term. He had met James and Pete there, but it had been the day after the full moon and the one person he really wanted to see hadn't been able to come. His stomach tied itself in knots when he finally spotted him, heaving his heavy trunk onto the train.

'Here, let me help you with that.'

Remus looked up to find his knight in shining armour, or at least knight in leather jacket and tight jeans. Damn he looked sexy, and his hair had grown even longer over the summer.

'Sirius, hi! He exclaimed, joyfully, and Sirius returned his grin.

Once the boys had safely stored their luggage in an empty compartment they made their way back to the platform to look for James and Pete. Just as they got to the door someone knocked into them as they hurriedly jumped off the train without any sort of apology. Sirius lost his balance and fell into Remus, trapping him in between the window and his own body. He knew he should move off of him but somehow he just couldn't bring himself to do it, and for a moment it seemed that the two were very much alone on the train, until Remus coughed.

'Um, Sirius?' he eventually asked, looking up to find Sirius watching him, a strange yet familiar glint in his eyes, and he felt himself blush.

Sirius coughed too. 'Right, sorry Remus,' and he pushed himself off of his friend and smoothed down his clothes for good measure.

They found James with his parents, still exchanging farewells and went over to say hello. James grinned when he saw them. The boys lingered just long enough to greet Mr & Mrs Potter before making their way back to the train, James in tow. By the time they were back in their compartment Sirius noticed that James was still grinning,

'OK, what is up with you?' he asked curiously.

'Lily' was all that James said.

Remus rolled his eyes before digging into his bag for his book.

'What about her?' Sirius asked as he took the seat next to Remus, and James sat opposite.

'After you left Diagon Alley last week I found my parents in Flourish & Blotts, talking to Lily's parents. They were saying how they would love to see a magical house, seeing as they're muggles, so Father invited them all over!'

'And they came?'

'Yup! Lily's sister wasn't very nice though, and she had a huge argument with her at the dinner table. I got the feeling that happens a lot. She was in a huff because she didn't want to come all the way to London to bring Lily here. Anyways, they decided to leave far sooner than they had intended since Petunia was making a scene, but then mother said that Lily could stay with us if she wanted, and that we would bring her to Kings Cross to save them the journey.'

'And she stayed?' Sirius asked, excitedly.

'Yup, she sure did.' James grinned.

'And…?'

'Ah she still managed to resist my charm, but she's warming up to me, I can feel it.'

As James gave Sirius all the details of his week with Lily, Remus pretended to read his book, although he wasn't really listening to James either. Instead he let his mind wander back to moments before, when he had been accidentally trapped beneath Sirius' body. Something was different about him, had been different actually for a while now, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Over the summer Remus had thought about him in the same way he had done since the end of third year, when he had gotten jealous of all Sirius' girlfriends. He had fantasized about the day they would finally be together even though he knew Sirius would never know how he felt, or feel the same way in return.

Yet in the last couple of months of their 5th year at Hogwarts something had definitely changed. It seemed almost as if Sirius was trying to get closer to him, both physically and emotionally. He only dared to hope what this could mean. He looked at him now, engrossed in conversation with James; his Sirius. They had been friends for 5 years, but it seemed as though they'd known each other forever. He wished he could just tell him everything, but their friendship was too precious to compromise. He was glad to be going back to school with his friends, but sharing a dorm with Sirius was getting harder and harder, literally.

The first couple of weeks of the Marauders' 6th year seemed to fly in. The classes were more intense, and at the weekends the Gryffindor common room turned into a party zone. It was fun, but a little crazy, and Sirius hadn't had a single moment alone with Remus. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing to be honest. On the one hand being alone with him would give Sirius the opportunity to try and coax out the part of Remus that the Wolf already knew, but there were dangers to that, namely, losing his friend completely.

They finally got a quiet moment the night before the first full moon of the term. Remus was feeling too tired to join in with the Saturday night frivolities so the four friends decided to stay in their dorm. They were making their way through Remus' chocolate supply when there was a knock at the door. To everyone's surprise it was Lily, asking if James was coming down to the party. James looked between his friends guiltily, not sure if he should leave them, but they encouraged him to go and so he left with his crush. Pete fell asleep shortly after having consumed far more than his fair share of the treats.

Remus was stretched out on his bed, and after clearing away the empty packets Sirius climbed on to join him. They sat in comfortable silence for a while, just as they had always done, sometimes there was just no need to talk. Both of the boys were thinking about the upcoming full moon. Sirius was nervously wondering if the wolf would act the same after so many months apart. Remus was wondering, well hoping actually, that he would wake up in the Shak again with Padfoot curled up beside him.

'Pads?' he said, breaking the silence.

Sirius hummed in response.

'Could you…er…'

'What is it?' Sirius asked, concerned.

Remus looked into those deep dark eyes. 'Nothing,' he sighed, 'never mind,' and he glanced away nervously.

Sirius watched him carefully but didn't press him any further.

'Could you transform into Padfoot for me?' He asked suddenly, voice barely a whisper.

Sirius grinned and sighed in relief, for a brief moment he thought Remus was going to ask him not to come tomorrow! Gladly he turned into the dog and snuggled up close to the warm body of the boy beside him. Remus smiled and instantly began to stroke the soft fur, right behind the ears the way he knew Sirius liked it. Neither knew who fell asleep first, but when James crept into the room several hours later he found his best friend's bed empty, and Remus sleeping peacefully, body curled around the soft black dog.