A/N: Sorry for the late update! I was getting ready for my finals and still is! It would be in mid-June and my next update after this would be awhile because of it.

Apology in advance for this!

THE STAR AND HIS MOON

Chapter 3

When Sirius woke up the next morning, he realised right away that Remus' bed was unusually empty. It was Saturday and it was their tradition to walk towards the Great Hall together for breakfast on Saturdays. James and Peter preferred to sleep in, so Remus and Sirius used to always eat their breakfast together; just the two of them.

Not anymore, he has a boyfriend now, remember?

Smiling a wry smile, the dog animagus started his trek towards the bathroom. He felt like a fresh, cold shower was in order to make himself look presentable to everyone else. He made his way down towards the great hall fifteen minutes later, and as soon as he stepped into the hall, he'd wished he was somewhere else.

Remus was sitting quite comfortably and in close proximity with his new boyfriend. They looked good together...Sirius ruefully admitted despite how much he hated the fact. The new couple acted like they were the only two people in the huge room; smiling and laughing at each other with identical look of affection. Sirius felt his appetite quickly dwindling the longer he stood at the entryway staring at them.

Just when he'd decided that enough was enough, he didn't see the need for breakfast anymore; Remus turned at his direction and caught his gaze. He forced himself to place his grin back in place and started to walk towards the couple. His legs felt like it was made of lead from the way it stuck firmly on the ground.

Forcing himself to approach the new couple, he placed himself in front of his unrequited love and smiled at them both.

"So, how's our new couple going?"

Jennings seemed genuinely surprised at his sudden question. From his reaction, Sirius guessed that Remus hasn't told him about the fact that the Marauders knew about their relationship. Sirius smiled in what he hoped was a reassuring manner before going on with his explanation,

"Jennings, Remus told us about the two of you yesterday and we're fine with it all."

Jennings looked relieved. Before the raven-haired Gryffindor was forced to talk anymore, Lily Evans stepped into their small circle and seated herself next to Sirius.

"Good morning Remus, Jennings!"

"Hello to you too, Evans," Sirius commented sarcastically at her lack of greeting for him. Lily turned to him with a smile before replying, "Morning to you, Mr. Black. I didn't realise you were there."

The Marauders knew about how much Sirius and Lily loved to tease each other; acting as if they were enemies when they were anything but. Times had changed them for the better and the unregistered dog animagus had become close friends with the intelligent, red-haired girl. Lily Evans had also learnt to forgive James for all of his past stupidities and they were now almost, not quite, a couple. Thus, she was the one girl that would be seen normal in conversing with the infamous Marauders.

"Haha. Very funny," commented the raven-haired dryly before turning his complete attention to his breakfast; feeling eternally grateful for his best friend's future girlfriend's entry. Now I can concentrate on my food and quickly get out of here.

He didn't want to be seen as rude and brought himself into the conversation that the other three students were having. If he acted out of character, Remus would probably think that Sirius wasn't sincere in his happiness at the brown-haired boy's new relationship. He couldn't have one of his best friends feeling sad or let any misunderstanding to pass between them; so he told himself to act and react as he usually did.

But that didn't mean that he wouldn't escape from the painful scene when given the opportunity. As soon as he finished his food and the other three seemed to be enthusiastically engaged in a three-way conversation, Sirius excused himself and made himself quite scarce. Not wanting to face his other two best friends just yet, he found himself walking towards the direction of the Astronomy tower.

He knew there was no way in the world that there would be anything worth looking at in the sky at this time of the day, but it was due to that very reason he could avoid any unwanted company. An ugly, green emotion was rising within him and he needed time to cool down and prevent himself to act in his usual brash way and hurt anybody because of it.

It was an hour later when he returned to the dorm. When he entered the Marauders' room, he was greet by the sight of his three best friends conversing and laughing with Jennings. So deep was he in his contemplation he'd forgotten about the meeting that they were going to have with Remus' boyfriend.

So much for avoiding the painful truth. Merlin must hate me.

Mentally sighing at the unavoidable meeting, he stepped into the room with his mask perfectly in place. James turned at the sound of the door being opened and grinned at him.

"Sirius! You're just in time. We were going to tell Jennings here about the time when we snuck into Hogsmeade last year."

"Nice, Prongs. You were being very specific there. Narrow it down from about twenty to one specific time, will you?"

James glared at his sarcastic comment while Jennings was looking quite in awe at the ebony-haired boy's words.

"You snuck out into Hogsmeade for twenty times?"

"Well, around that. We always need to go on regular basis because of James and my rebellious nature and also to make sure that Remy's pile of chocolate wasn't dwindling too little," teased Sirius with a grin on his face.

Remus looked affronted at his words.

"Hey! Just because I love my chocolate doesn't mean that I'm telling you to sneak out and buy them! You've always decided to stuff me with Honeyduke's chocolate specialty yourself anyway," but his words were without heat and he couldn't help himself from grinning at Sirius' words.

"Guilty. But that doesn't mean that you tried to stop us from doing it. You knew about the treats that would be coming on your way every time we decided to go out," Sirius replied back.

The banter went on for quite awhile with James and Peter involving themselves in it and Jennings questioning them of their adventures and pranks. He seemed to be genuinely impressed by the things that the Marauders got up to and he was easily included into that night's conversations. There weren't any of the expected awkward silences and all five of them were relieved at the easy atmosphere that Sirius and James managed to bring up. After all, it was obvious that the two pranksters were always at the centre of all of the commotions that night; never leaving anyone feeling left out and always coming up with the funniest topics to talk about.

Sirius himself was just glad that he was able to act normally in front of everyone else. The hurt from his heartbreak was still there, but it was able to be soothed through his interactions with Remus and his friends' comforting presence. Jennings was a nice guy and Sirius couldn't find it in himself to dislike Remus' boyfriend. He knew that he felt a great jealousy towards the other teen, but Sirius didn't see the point of acting hostile to someone so amiable who made Remus happy.

He knew that there would be times when he'd feel like he did just before though, but he decided that he would deal with it as they come. For now, he could immerse himself in pulling pranks and spending as much of his time having fun with his friends rather than wallowing in self pity. It wouldn't be like him if he was to change and he didn't want anybody to suspect his deeper-than-platonic feelings towards Remus.

He told himself to settle for Remus' friendship. It was far more than what he'd deserved considering what he'd nearly made Remus do at the end of last year. The incident with Snape still left a bitter taste in his tongue and mind. Remus had forgiven him after only a month of silence and Sirius felt a deep gratitude for his friend's forgiving nature and kindred soul. He knew that it was way less than what he'd deserved, but he couldn't complain in happiness of what he was able to gain back.

There were times when Remus couldn't put his full trust in him anymore and Sirius knew that it was due to his own doing and even though he'd do anything to turn back the time, he realised that he'd have to live with this mistake. Hopefully as time passed, Remus would be able to trust him like before. This meant that he would have to prove himself worthy of his friend's trust. He'd have to keep his feelings inside himself, for fear of another reason for Remus to avoid him and be wary of him.

If Remus found out of this truth, this time he might not ever trust him ever again. Sirius couldn't afford that and so he forced himself to stay silent and be grateful for all that he has.

His drive to nearly cause their –and especially Remus'– expulsion was caused by a deeper reason than simply boredom and hatred towards the Slytherin rival. It was because he'd been jealous. Remus had been nice and paying an unnatural amount of attention towards Snape during their fourth year. He'd always been polite to the Slytherin git, unlike his other three friends from the start, but that year had been the breaking point for Sirius who'd realised about his feelings towards his fellow Marauder.

Remus had always tried to stop his three best friends from taunting Snape, but despite his apologies and helps, the black-haired Slytherin had always been snobbish and rude towards the brown-haired boy. One day, on the afternoon just before full moon, Sirius had met Snape on his way to the Shack.

"Black, fancy seeing you alone and not with those stupid friends of yours."

Sirius walked past the other boy, not wanting to start a fight. Remus and the others would be waiting for him and he didn't want to be late. Snape didn't seem to like being ignored though, for he continued,

"Are you having a fight with them? So the great Sirius Black is alone now?"

Sirius couldn't help but paused at the mocking comment.

"Go away, Snape. I'm not fighting with any of them. It's none of your business anyway."

"You think anyone would listen to you just because you're a Black, don't you? Not everyone else is like that Lupin friend of yours."

"Don't you dare to bring Remus into this," growled Sirius; his anger barely able to be restrained.

"Well it's true, isn't it? He's a weakling, that one. Just like Pettigrew. He probably befriended you and that idiot Potter because he wanted to be popular. Such a sad existence," sneered the other boy.

Sirius saw red and turned before launching himself at the other teen. He'd landed punches at Snape's face, forgetting fact that he was able to do magic. The Slytherin student got some and managed to avoid some of the hits that were aimed towards him.

"Don't ever say that again, you hear me? Remus is way braver than any of us, especially you, you self-centred prick! You don't understand the pain he has to go through months after months! So don't you dare say anything like that against him or you'll be ensured of pain forever!"

Sirius had promptly run off, his mind realising that he was late for the full moon. He didn't think twice about his words and it wasn't until the incident happened the next month that he realised the implications that his words brought. Snape had listened to his words and got curious about Remus; leading to finding out about his lycanthropy.

Sirius had regretted his irresponsible words. He wasn't thinking and it nearly cost Remus his dream. This time he would stay silent and keep his feelings locked inside.

He'd thought that with this, everything would be alright. Remus would continue to happily date Jennings, he would stay silent and James and Peter would end up dating their respective crushes. He didn't count on the little accident that would cause misunderstanding and chaos between the newly formed couple and him.

TBC

Okay, what do my dear readers think? I wanted to include my own made-up version of 'The Prank' and so I decided to put it in here! [: I followed the note on one of the HP wiki version that said it happened before Marauders' fifth year chronologically. ^.^