Disclaimer: Devastation from disownment…
A/N – Love to verecundus (again), WishFlower, catch that snitch (awesome name, by the way ;D), and evol love for blessing me with your wonderful reviews! I love you all, and your reviews make me extremely, unbelievably happy, so please review!
Sirius' POV
Breakfast that morning was back to normal. Well, as normal as it was before Remus started avoiding me. Because he had been avoiding me, no matter what pathetic excuse he stutters out. But we're past that now, I hoped.
I loaded a second helping of every dish in front of me onto my plate and dug my fork into the mountain of food. But before it could complete its journey to my mouth I looked up and saw Remus staring at me with amazement from across the table.
"Where do you put it all?" He asked when I looked at him.
"I have a hollow leg."
"Oh," he shifted his attention to James beside him, who was at the moment relating his latest crusade to win Lily Evans' affections.
"And I was waiting there at the end of the shoe trail, flowers in one hand, chocolates in the other, and then I asked her to accompany me to Hogsmeade next weekend." He sighed in remembrance, obviously not realizing the average person doesn't appreciate discovering all their shoes missing, then finding one after another leading in a trail to an arrogant git who won't take a hint. "She got so angry her face got as red as her hair, it was so adorable. I'm sure she'll come around soon and accept my invitation."
I fought to keep the food in my mouth as a bark of laughter burst out of my throat involuntarily. James had been saying the same thing for the past 3 years, "Oh, she'll come around soon".
I attempted to swallow while suppressing chuckles and only succeeded in nearly choking to death on a chunk of unchewed breakfast. Peter pounded on my back until I bellowed hoarsely, "Peter, I'm bloody fine!"
"Yes, well," Some mate James was; he didn't even seem concerned with my health after my brush with death. Said 'mate' glanced around at the tables in the Great Hall, just now starting to fill up with groggy students who took the opportunity to sleep in. "I better get going, it's almost 9. Quidditch practice will be starting soon and Shacklebolt will have my head if I'm late again." With that he stood up from the table and headed off to change in the Gryffindor locker rooms.
"I heard Shacklebolt increased the practices to 2 ½ hours on Saturdays. If they're really serious we might take the cup this year," Remus remarked.
"We better. I think I'll have to kill myself if Slytherin gets it again," I warn.
Peter scoffed at me.
"What? Slughorn's had that trophy in his room for 3 years straight! And Regulus never lets me forget it. I think a lesson in humility is far overdue for my baby brother." A mischievous smile replaced my despair.
"He's hardly your 'baby brother'. There's barely a year's difference between you two," Peter pointed out.
"Aw, shut it Pete."
Remus pushed his plate away from him and said, "I'm done eating. I don't know what you two want to do, but I'm going to the library to do my homework."
I weighed my options, Studying with Remus or hanging out with Peter… The preferred choice was obvious.
"Hey Remus, do you think you could possibly help me study for those 3 tests next week?" I plead.
"Why should I?" He asks, but with a small smile on his lips, "I seem to remember a certain git being rather unappreciative last night."
"I appreciate you! I really do." I turned my puppy-dog eyes to their highest intensity and unleashed them on Remus, adding a small pout for good measure, "Pwetty pwease?"
His cheeks flushed pink and I grinned in triumph.
"Fine," he muttered to the table. "The first test is on Monday in DADA, so we'll start on that. But I'm expecting some sort of payment; I'm no longer letting you solicit my services for free."
I laughed outright, and then asked, "What would you like then, most revered professor?"
"Hmm," He tapped his chin, eyes unfocused as he thought hard. "I want… one piece of chocolate for every question you get wrong."
"Done." We shook hands, and I might have held onto his a little too long, for Remus coughed politely and I released him from my grip. I felt my grin falter, but renewed it before either friend noticed. "Just don't expect too many, I don't intend to be an enabler to your addiction."
"I am not addicted to chocolate!" Remus protested, "I just rather enjoy it quite a lot!"
"Yeah, sure, whatever you say Moony," I drawl as I stand up from the table and start to stroll toward the open doors. "Denial is always the first sign…"
I heard my little werewolf sputter indignantly then jump up from the table and stalk down the aisle to meet me as I reached the large doors. Peter was right behind me.
"If you keep acting like that I might have to reconsider upholding my end of our bargain," he threatened.
I mocked terror and squealed out, "Oh no! Please, anything but that! I promise I'll behave Professor Lupin, anything to keep you happy!"
His cheeks flushed once more, and said simply, "Shut it, Pads."
I just laughed and patted him on the back.
\*(o_o)*/
Remus' POV
Peter decided to tag along with Sirius and me to the library, after a quick stop in our dormitory to grab the necessary textbooks, because he had nothing better to do. I doubt it even occurred to him to take this opportunity to get some studying in as well. As it was, he just sat across the table from us looking bored as I went over everything in our textbook about the three unforgivable curses. I made Sirius take detailed notes on everything, much to his frustration. I had guided our group to my favorite table in the library, a small, old thing tucked away in a corner of the library rarely visited for academic purposes by anyone other than myself.
We both had our heads bent over my textbook, rather close, enough for me to get drunk on Sirius' musky scent. The only thing that kept me sane was the rattling off of memorized facts and properties which earned me several looks of awe from my pupil. The scritch of Sirius' quill over a scroll of paper was the only sound to accompany the melody of knowledge spilling out of my mouth for a surprisingly long amount of time.
Suddenly Peter rose abruptly from his chair and announced, "I'm leaving, this is getting a smidge too weird for me." And with that, he left.
I gazed at Peter's retreating back in bewilderment, then turned my head toward Sirius, "What do you suppose-," I stopped short when the turning of my head brought my nose within two inches of Sirius', who had turned to me also. My eyes locked with his and I was frozen as if charmed.
As minutes had marched on through our uninterrupted study session Sirius and I had inexorably inched closer and closer unconsciously, until at this moment the sides of our bodies were nearly flush together, sitting on the edges of our seats. The feel of his thigh against mine sent shivers racing out to all my extremities and back, and that spot radiated heat throughout the rest of my body. His eyes held me prisoner, I was trapped in the swirling vortex of stormy gray flecked with silver. We were caught in that moment, unable to break free and restart the clock, and I confess I wasn't keen on the idea of time continuing.
Then, when it seemed that moment would last an eternity, Sirius leaned just the tiniest bit towards me, the beginning of an attempt to close the space between us. That small, infinitesimal movement terrified me, and that was what finally broke the spell over me.
I leapt to my feet inhumanly fast and knocked my chair backwards, stuffed my books into my bag and tried to stutter out an excuse, any excuse to get me out of there, "I- I have to go… do something. You c-can't come." I didn't dare to glance even once at Sirius' expression, worried my terror was as recognizable on my face as my nose.
My attempt to make a hasty escape was thwarted when Sirius clutched my wrist in his strong grip and held me in place. I tried to resist, but my resolve was too weak and I peaked a glance at Sirius. He was looking pleadingly at me, guilt and remorse in his eyes, along with something else I wasn't sure of.
His voice was quiet when he murmured desperately, "Please don't run away again, Moony. Please, I'm sorry, I won't do it again." He sounded so pitiful, I couldn't doubt his sincerity. He wasn't joking around anymore.
I stared into his eyes again, but remained in control of my mind and actions. But I couldn't decide what to do, run away and hurt Sirius, or stay and possibly do something I might deeply regret later.
I was still pondering exactly what I should do when a few moments after Sirius' muttered apology James appeared from behind an enormous bookshelf, spotted us, noticed Sirius' hold on my wrist, took one look at my panicked expression, strode toward us between the bookshelves, and smacked Sirius soundly on the side of his head.
A/N – Man, it took me so long to write even this much. I had intended this chapter to be longer, but I felt I owed you guys something after all this time. I'm sorry I left you hanging for so long, homework will be the death of me. The second half of the chapter is soon to come!
I can now see this story is going to be much longer than expected, so now I'm making every effort to make sure it fits in flawlessly with the world in J. K. Rowling's head, but a few small things might be different and I'm putting that up to the fact that things might have changed in the 20 years between James and Harry's time. As such, I may be making adjustments to the other installments. You have been warned.