"Oi! Hazel!" Sirius called loudly through the throng of jeans and summer dresses. A startled head turned towards the Marauders. "Check it out, Peter's developed some muscle!" Ignoring the shorter boy's squeak of protest, Sirius yanked an arm high into the air, pointing and waving until Hazel turned her back on him.

"Why'd you have to do that?" James muttered, disapproval highly evident in his voice. Sirius glowered at him in response, before becoming distracted by Peter's swift kick to his left shin.

"Hey!" Sirius yelped, wincing as James gave Peter a high five.

"Nice, Pete," Remus said quietly, smiling at the smirking boy. "Standing up for yourself. Good job."

"Had to liven up this party somehow," said Sirius, his brow drawn sulkily. James nodded his agreement with some fervour.

"Until Evans – er, Lily gets here, there's absolutely nothing to hold my interest."

"Thanks, guys." Remus shook his head in mock injury. "Still, I can't believe you actually got her to agree to accept your invitation."

It was really quite miraculous, the way James had procured a promise of Lily's presence at his impromptu end-of-summer party, held in the delightfully sprawling Potter Manor. The news of her acceptance had managed to distract even Remus from more immediate personal concerns. His gaze had finally been pulled away from the circles of fatigue beneath Sirius' eyes.

"Things were different when I saw her in Diagon Alley," James explained earnestly, provoking an excessive groan from Sirius. They had all been told this particular tale several times in the past few days – several times each day, to be more precise. "She didn't seem to hate me with the same burning passion." He frowned lightly. "To tell the truth, I think she may have been distracted by stuff at home. I – I didn't really want to pry too deeply into the subject."

Remus blinked once in surprise. Tact? James? Tactful James? The world was surely ending. He puffed out his cheeks, and then decided to contribute. "She has this sister at home, James. A muggle. From what I've heard, she makes life extremely difficult for Lily."

James' frown deepened, and when he glanced over at Remus, his forehead was creased with worry. "She makes trouble for Lily? I, well, I never really knew…"

Sighing lightly, Remus offered a short smile. "Maybe she'd like to vent about it. Go and ask her. She just walked in."

Remus watched with some amusement as James ducked off immediately, weaving through the crowd of their school friends with all the agility of a top-notch Chaser. He finally popped up on the other side of the room, right beside a startled Lily, who almost spilled her entire glass of pumpkin juice all over her pretty lilac dress. Surprisingly, she didn't launch into the usual roaring reprimand; instead, she allowed James to dab at the wet splodge on her dress. Unfortunately, the slight smile she offered seemed only to increase the trembling that had beset his hands.

Remus could have sworn he heard Lily choke out a short burst of laughter as James inadvertently knocked the rest of her drink into the back of a passing member of the Gryffindor quidditch team.

"Someone finally seems to be making headway," Sirius breathed into Remus' ear, causing the lycanthrope to jerk sideways in shock, almost knocking Peter off his feet. Looking only too glad for a chance to wander off in the direction of Mr Potter's delicious selection of nibbles, Peter allowed the momentum to carry him forward through the crowd.

A sudden chill of tension settled over Remus, and his skin prickled. He rubbed at his arms nervously, sharply twitching when Sirius gave him a quick poke to the side.

"You alright, mate? Only you're looking a bit pale there." A slow smile spread across Sirius' face, and Remus stared at the cheeky glint that had appeared in those grey eyes. "Tell you what, I stored some chocolate away in one of those rooms down the corridor. Want to come with me and get some?"

With some effort, Remus shrugged nonchalantly. "If there's chocolate, you know I'm there." He could have sworn Sirius winked before turning to stride off through the chattering teenagers, who parted like a biblical sea before Hogwart's favourite Beater.

Well, he was left without a real choice, wasn't he? Taking a deep, steadying breath, Remus followed his friend's departing leather jacket.

"I don't really have chocolate," said Sirius as soon as he'd closed the door with a sharp click. Remus whirled about in the small dark room and glared. After a moment, he thought the better of it; after the pressing cheer and chaos of James' largest living room, this quiet seclusion really wasn't all that bad.

"Why would you tease me, you heartless fiend?" he muttered petulantly, collapsing onto the room's solitary couch. Remus peered about the walls, examining the tasteful portraits of flying hippogriffs with some interest. This must be a study of sorts, he decided.

Sirius cleared his throat. "Actually, I brought you here to kiss you," he said conversationally.

Remus gaped.

"Honesty is the best policy and all that," Sirius breezed, strolling about the edges of the room. He plucked a quill from a desk that stood in the far corner and twirled its feathered end about between his fingers. "So how about it?"

Remus cleared his throat hastily. His trachea felt like it was attempting to crawl right up itself and deliver oxygen straight to his brain without dilution. "What, are we – are we actually going to discuss all this?"

Sirius shrugged. "If you like. Me, it's quite simple. While locked in my room for the first few weeks of the holidays, I got some things cleared up in my head. For example: I want to kiss you. And I want you not to hate me, too."

"Er, I don't hate you, Padfoot, you know that," Remus interrupted awkwardly, patting his hands down on the air. "I held your hand the other day, remember?" He smiled weakly at the black-haired boy, who pointed the feather affirmatively.

"That you did. And you – you helped me get to sleep the other night."

Looking at the floor, Remus felt himself glowing crimson. They hadn't discussed this. Not one of the Marauders had dared mention anything about the fact that Sirius and Remus had woken up in the same bed one lovely summer morning. In fact, James had specifically avoided the topic, undoubtedly looking to ward off further confrontations like those that had disrupted their friendship earlier that year.

"You needed me," he said softly, his eyes firmly glued to the floorboards.

"Right." A clatter sounded from across the room, and Remus wondered if Sirius had tossed the quill back onto the writing desk. What was he doing now? "Just like you need all of us at the full moon."

"Yes," Remus answered simply.

"So?"

"So what?"

"Do you want to kiss me back or what?"

"Well," Remus choked, his trachea making sudden progress. "Well, er, well, I mean, er –"

Before he could move, a black boot entered squarely into his vision. Remus' wild eyes followed the boot from its silver-tipped heel to its sprawling laces, then up the long reach of black denim, crawling from belt buckle to black leather, and from leather jacket to waiting smirk.

"You think too much, Moony, my man," Sirius said with a sad shake of his head, and reached down to pull Remus to his feet. "Go with what feels right. Give in a little."

To hell with it, Remus thought fiercely, and gripped back at Sirius' forearms. Sirius seemed a little startled by the sudden movement, but wide eyes closed the next moment as mouths came together and ended the discussion.

"Wow," Sirius finally gasped, pulling away. He ran a hand through his black hair and stared down at Remus.

"Wow," Remus agreed, focussing on breathing for a moment.

"First is the worst; second is the best; third – "

"If you say anything about hairy chests, I will stab you one," Remus warned loudly, fighting hard to keep his smile from surfacing.

"Golden princess," Sirius smirked, and received a cushion soundly to the face.

"Just how old did you say you were?" asked Remus dryly as he collapsed onto his back, narrowly avoiding a return swipe. He closed his eyes as he sank back against the soft leather of the couch. "Oh right, sixteen. Evidently a terrible age for teenage boys."

"Don't discuss me like some old bottle of wine," Sirius murmured, and the warmth of his breath eased over Remus' face. Brown eyes snapped open to fix on laughing grey, which hovered mere centimetres away. Remus raised his neck, peering about to find that Sirius' hands were set inches away from his shoulders. He had to restrain a sneeze as strands of fine black hair brushed against his cheek from the falling drape of Sirius' fringe.

"And if you must, at least taste properly before deciding," Sirius continued with a breath of husky laughter. Remus watched wordlessly as soft lips descended, utterly fearless in this darkened room. It was a tantalising show. And then – and then thought and concentration and contemplation failed as those lips met his own, and all that was left was the physical sensation, the soft pressure on his mouth, the cushion pressing into his back.

Finally, oxygen and lungs seemed to press for each other's attention, and Remus pulled away. He could feel the smile imprinted into his lips, and he knew there was no way to hide it. His mind returned the next moment, and he found that he harboured no inclination to keep from beaming back at Sirius.

How incredibly bizarre. A pure, buoyant feeling. Happiness untainted by lies, or secrets, or betrayal, or inner turmoil. How odd.

"Excuse me?" Sirius stuttered, lucidity pouring back into his eyes, which had carried a sort of hazy sheen until that moment. "Did you just say, 'how odd'?"

"How odd to be so happy, you berk," Remus bit, flushing hot with embarrassment, but his smile only grew.

Sirius ducked his head forward unexpectedly and pecked Remus on the lips. "Know what kept me going through the first weeks of hell this summer? What kept me happy and sane?"

Remus, whose cheeks had discovered new realms of the colour red, shook his head. "Wait," he said before Sirius had finished opening his mouth to elaborate. "Padfoot. Dogs are always happy, aren't they?"

Sirius tossed his head to one side, staring at Remus as if in disbelief. "Did you really just say that, Moony? 'Dogs are always happy'? You're making me wonder why you always complain so much about the full moon. I mean, you must be having a ball of a time, stuck inside the body of a canine and all."

Remus snorted, thwacking Sirius half-heartedly in the side of the head. "Werewolves aren't exactly dogs, you spanner."

"You howl," Sirius protested, waving a hand towards the ceiling. "At the moon, I mean. Padfoot can howl, too. And we both have paws." He reached out for Remus' limp fingers and stroked the pale skin with the side of his thumb. "You know," he continued, refusing to allow Remus to negate the point, "Moony and Padfoot aren't so very different when it comes down to it. If a wizard saw Padfoot, he would run away screaming. The Grim's just about as welcome in wizarding society as a werewolf. Maybe less."

"Maybe," Remus allowed, his smile fading as sorrow finally crept into his eyes, "but unlike the Grim, werewolves actually kill people."

"Maybe," Sirius said softly, grabbing Remus' hand a little closer to his chest, "but you don't. And you never will. And what's more is that Padfoot will always be there to give ample warning to potential werewolf victims in the handy form of the Grim."

Remus' heart leapt a little in his chest as he stared right back into the earnest grey of Sirius' eyes. "I know," he replied, brushing his fingers against the smooth leather of Sirius' jacket. "I trust you."

"You do?" whispered Sirius, his voice hushed entirely despite the complete privacy of the small room. Remus blinked. The memory of the entire full moon debacle, Snape's involvement and the betrayal and all, had utterly escaped him throughout this conversation. He was glad. And he knew then, without another doubt, that he did trust Sirius. He trusted him with his heart, his entire heart. Blood pumped strongly in his chest, counting the affirmative.

"I trust you," Remus repeated, the smile flooding back across his mouth.

"How odd," Sirius muttered, prompting Remus to tap him sharply on the forehead. "What? Oh, sorry. I was just contemplating this extreme feeling of happiness that's taken over my body. It feels like I've been hit with at least seventeen Cheering Charms. I feel a little dizzy, to tell the truth."

Remus rolled his eyes. "Go on, tell me what kept you happy and sane while you were living with your parents, or has your mind rolled on from our original topic of conversation?"

Sirius' eyes found Remus and held them steady. "What do you think? I thought of you, of course. I thought of you, and I ran through schemes in my head to make you realise that you like me, and as soon as I felt too pathetic, I became Padfoot and waited for the full moon."

"Worked, didn't it?" Remus mumbled, lowering his eyes. His pulse seemed to be hammering out a spicy Latin dance, while the buoyant feeling in his chest scaled unprecedented heights. His body was breaking records in every arena, and yet it wasn't until foreign fingers had propped themselves beneath his chin that he could raise his eyes once more.

"'Course it did," Sirius smirked, a distinctly canine point to his molars. "Us Marauders always get what we want, and do what we want, and seduce –"

"You'll have to tell Prongs that," said Remus with a wry grin, "not to mention Lily, and I'm sure that'll go down well."

"Be quiet and kiss me, you bloody werewolf," barked Sirius in reply, and that was that.

THE END

A/N: Fa la la fluff!

*dancing about with a string of tinsel and reindeer antlers dangling off one ear*

SAD NEWS: This story has finally come to a close – but don't despair, for an epilogue approaches! I really hope you enjoyed the ending to the substance of the story.

Thanks for sticking around through the insanity of study questions and barrages of angst and other werewolvian dilemmas!

Keep a watch out for the Christmas Special Epilogue.

Thanks guys! And…

REVIEW!

xx Froody