It starts…

In the days that followed, Sirius knew that having told Remus about Regulus was the best thing he had done this year. Earlier that day, when Macnair and Lestrange had taunted him for being the lost 'Black sheep' of the family, Remus had been there to stem the rage that had immediately swamped Sirius. He'd placed a firm but gentle hand on Sirius shoulder, laughed at them and turned Sirius away to talk about something or other. Sirius hadn't paid much mind to what Remus had been saying, he'd only listened to his friend's soothing voice. He was overwhelmed with gratitude and he smiled stupidly at whatever it was that dear old Moony was chattering about. Maybe there was hope after all. If Remus could help him by just being there, he'd return the favour. That day he set about planning a little research into werewolves and the rights entitled them under he law. If he was meticulous enough, he might stumble on something that Remus had missed.

And so, that evening, Sirius found himself in the common room on the couch alongside Remus, for once putting his brain to use.

"What fascinating book could possibly have gotten you reading Pads?" Remus asked, looking up from his copy of their Herbology text, Potting Perturbed Plants. Sirius hadn't yet mentioned to Remus what it was he was doing and when he did, he was pleased to see Remus flush.

"That's really not necessary."

But Sirius merely grinned, reached out a hand and ruffled Remus's hair, "Course not," and he immediately went back to reading, his hand resting for a short while on Remus' shoulder. He could feel Remus watching him. He looked up again.

Remus smiled, "Thanks" and he lowered his head to his own book.

The days grew shorter and the evenings longer. The Christmas holidays would seen be upon them. Sirius for the first time found himself doing more studying than he'd done in years. Night after night, the four Marauders would sit up together, each one stuck into a book. More often than not, Peter would let out long low moans and then chuck his book across the room where it would land just short of the fire. Remus would tut vaguely when this happened. James also moaned quite a bit but for a different reason. All this studying was taking away the time he spent devising plans to get Lily to go out for him. It seemed to have struck him that he only had about six more months to go before he'd forever lose sight of her. He made up for it by seeking her out every other second, badgering and pestering her relentlessly.

Along with a fire just barely burning in the grate, Remus and Sirius sat alone in the deserted common room. They had both been working for the entire evening. Sirius pulled out his book on werewolves again. The more he read, the angrier he got. Remus had never told him much but for the first time, he noticed just how few rights his friend had. He looked up at Remus and a warm feeling filled his chest. He had been there to talk with every evening. He watched his friend push his hand through his hair and scribble furiously over a few long arithmetic equations. It must have been that Sirius was terribly bored, because he couldn't seem to tear his eyes away. The boy's light brown hair dazzled with firelight. Soft shadows flickered over his arms. It was an extraordinary sight and it confused Sirius. He looked back into the book, stared at a picture of a werewolf howling to the moon and then carefully glanced back up. Remus was now staring into the fire. His eyes were glazed over and a length of bangs slipped into his face. Sirius blinked as an incomprehensible desire rose in his chest. He wanted to push them out of Remus's face. Something was chewing at his brain. Very slowly, as Remus stretched out his legs and lay back against the couch, a soft heat began to burn in Sirius's stomach. He tried to imagine how the shadows would make all Remus's scars look and then before he knew it, he was picturing what he'd look like without a shirt on. Sirius almost choked. He stared at the picture in the book again – stared unblinkingly until his eyes burned. He willed himself to think about James or Peter and the next prank they'd pull or Christmas and mistletoe and…and how he'd be alone with Remus. He felt a wave of horror wash over him and he looked up once more. Remus met his eyes. Sirius stared into the dizzying amber and the same ponderous heat pulled low in his stomach. He blinked rapidly. His heart was thudding in his throat.

"Tired?" Remus asked. Sirius nodded barely registering what his friend said.

"Yeah, me too." Remus yawned, "Think we should head up to bed."

Bed. He'd enjoyed sleeping with Remus the other night, enjoyed the comfort and closeness. Sirius felt his face grow hot and as he packed up his things and followed Remus up the stairs, he tried to keep his eyes from straying to places they really had no business looking at. No, no, no, he reprimanded himself. And slowly, very slowly, the thought crossed his mind, that he might just have another problem on hand.

It was truly astounding that he'd never seen it before. He spent the whole of the next day watching Remus. He noticed his dimples whenever he smiled and how girls blushed when he spoke softly to them. Even Remus's gravelly laughter as he listened to James ask Lily out for about the fifth time in one week. James returned to his seat scowling.

"It's our last year! I don't see why she won't give me a chance. Just one little tiny insignificant date. Two hours of her time. Is it really that much to ask?" Sirius was far too used to this sort of behavior from James to really concentrate on what his friend was saying. On any other day, he might have commented and given James some hearty words of encouragement. But today, he was too busy staring at Moony, Moony with his shining amber eyes. Remus shook his head and smiled slightly.

"I think you should take my advice this time Prongs. Lay off for a couple of months-just a couple!" he said as James opened his mouth in protest.

"And then ask her again." He rubbed his forehead, "And James, call her Lily. Hard as it may be, it might make a difference."

James didn't say anything so Remus went back to eating toast. Sirius watched him scrunch his nose up and retract the bread from his mouth in distaste. Marmalade. Yeah, that was right; Moony hated fruit before the full moon. Peter took it from him. Remus's eyes moved to the empty plate of bacon, almost all of which he'd polished off. Shortly after they'd found out Remus was a werewolf, they'd noticed how much meat he ate before his transformation and so they'd agreed, albeit silently to leave it for him at these times. With a sigh, Remus returned to his Charms book and idly flicked through the latest section they were covering.

"What are you goggling at Mooney for?" James said

Sirius snapped out of his reverie. He stabbed his finger with his fork.

"Not gogglin," he said and stuffed a spoon of corn flakes into his mouth. Remus looked up at this. He glanced down quickly and pretended not to notice. Curse Prongs! He had the sudden urge to elbow James quite violently. His cheeks were growing hot and for a couple of minutes, in which a strange silence settled over the four marauders, Sirius did not look up.

It was for this reason that Sirius decided he had best tamp down on the staring, well, so to say. If James, unobservant James hat noticed, then Remus certainly would too, if he hadn't already. The thought of Remus finding out what Sirius was thinking made him feel vaguely nauseous. His new plan of action, and he spent the rest of the evening carrying it out, involved checking that Peter and James weren't looking before he glanced at Remus. Once Remus had caught his eyes as he did this and smiled. Sirius's stomach had flipped over crazily. He couldn't think of anything clever enough to say so he had instead returned the smile and then brought his book down to rest on his lap. Heat was spreading to completely awkward places. When the feeling didn't go away and when Sirius had decided he could no longer take the suspense of making sure no one was looking while he ogled Mooney, he started to feel panicky.

"You guys, I think I'm gonna call it a night," he said, intending to head up to bed where he could mull over these new and wholly confusing thoughts.

"What, no girl to snog tonight? Unusual…" James didn't look up from the chess game where he and Peter were playing in front of the fire. Sirius said nothing but the tone of his voice, yes, that slightly innocent tone, was a little more loaded than Sirius felt comfortable answering to and with a brief nod to the other two, he traipsed up to the dorm. What did Prongs mean by unusual? He shook his head. He was getting paranoid. How could James possibly know what he was thinking when not even he did? Well, not really.

He lay staring at the ceiling and listened to the clock tick. He tried to concentrate on its constant rhythm, tried to make himself fall asleep thinking of Quidditch and then girls – yes, lots of girls he thought. Think of girls, not your best friend. Not how your body is betraying you. Or your mind. He pressed his palms hard against his eyes.

"This is so wrong." He mumbled aloud, "wrong, wrong, wrong."

"What's wrong?"

Sirius jumped and snatched his hands away from his eyes. Remus stood in the doorway, leaning lightly against the frame. For a while he didn't reply. Remus didn't move.

"Uh, nothing, just talking to myself." Though they'd recently had the conversation about being open with one another, Sirius was grateful that Remus didn't push for an answer. He stayed standing in the doorway for a bit longer and then moved to his own bed where he deposited his book and picked up a towel. Before shutting the bathroom door, he turned around and caught Sirius looking at him. The bathroom light haloed about his head. His eyes were dark and his hair streaked in gold.

"There's a very fine line between right and wrong, Sirius." He said and gently shut the door.

A/N: Well, another chapter done. Took me long enough. I'm not sure my story is going in the original direction I intended it to, but hey, the characters have snatched it and done away with all my plans, well, the few I had. Tell me what you think!