Title: The Marauders and Their Love's – Chapter Four
James was sitting in front of the fire playing exploding snap with Peter, Remus was looking ill and Sirius was acting like he wanted the girls' attention.
He glanced at his watch and gasped, "C'mon guys! We have 15 minutes!" He yelps to his friends.
"Till what?" Peter asked very confused.
"Sunset idiot!" James hissed at him while Remus made a face.
"I think it's coming on a bit early…" Remus groaned and James, Peter and Sirius jumped up, Peter went to get the door and cloak and James and Sirius helped Remus up to the room.
"James, Peter, go out and make sure its clear! Freeze the tree and make sure no one notices!" Sirius snarled as the four of them made it out into the dimming light. "Go!"
Peter changed into a rat and skittered off followed by a stag. "Remus, should I carry or let you ride?"
"Carry, ride too dangerous… Cloak might fly off…" Remus moaned, the effects of his condition becoming more obvious. Sirius noted this and bundled his friend up and ran as fast as he could down to the Whomping Willow.
He arrived to an almost unfrozen tree and managed to get all four of them in before it unfroze. He changed into a dog and put Remus on his back and ran down the tunnel and into a dusty room.
He managed to get the poor boy onto the bed and close the door before his transformation got too out of control. He, Peter and James waited until there was no more howling of pain from the room before transforming and going in.
'Moony, are you okay?' James asked.
'Yeah, it was early, and I don't know why…' Remus snarled back.
'You were really light Moony, its not a good sign!' Sirius barks. 'If you don't weigh more by next month, I'm going to force feed you!'
'I'd like to see you try. You're not the alpha male!' Remus growls.
'And neither are you. So I challenge you to an Alpha Male fight, winner overrules in everything.' Sirius roars.
'Peter, let's leave quickly!' James said quickly running out of the room with a rat following him.
The stag and rat stayed outside for about an hour they sat and listened to howls, roars, whimpers, and finally a soft, 'You win…' From Sirius!
'Sirius gave up!' Peter said, eyes going wide.
'Wow… Remus must have been going good.' James reasoned and they ventured into the ruined room. They were shocked to see Sirius cleaning Remus' wounds.
'As the non-dominant male, I have to help the Alpha.' Sirius mumbled, seemingly very embarrassed. 'Now, let's go into town, scare some people.'
'Not into direct town, at least I won't go in, you guys can, then we'll go to the Barrens behind the mountain.' Remus injected posing as an Alpha Male just for the sake of it.
'Yes, that sounds good…' Sirius said, Peter and James glanced at each other then nodded in agreement.
They did as was talked about. Peter was riding on James' back They trotted back to Remus and the four of them sprinted down to the Barrens. This was their favourite place to hang out, in their forms or in person.
They were playing catch-and-kiss for no apparent reason, and James was joining in. Peter was it first, he got Sirius, who then was so puppy like in his approach of his alpha, that he managed to get Remus and lick his nose and all over his Werewolf friends face before snickering and running.
James wasn't very fast, and found he was tagged so he went for Peter, whose size made it extremely hard for him to get caught.
The four of them stopped in their tracks as they heard a loud, low voice. "Beasts!"
'HAGRID!' Remus yelled and all four of the ran towards the hillside.
"Remus Lupin! You're lucky you have a reason! But those other beasts, I just wanna look at ya!" Hagrid called.
'That was close. We're very lucky…' Sirius breathed as they said their goodbyes to Remus for the rest of the night.
Sirius took a detour the next morning to the hospital wing. "Madame Pomfrey… Is Remus in?" He asked timidly.
"Of course, come along, come along." Madame Pomfrey says ushering him into the back room, Remus' room.
"Hey Moony, how are you?"
"Bit worse than usual, but that happens when you fight…" Remus smiled slightly.
Sirius takes out a package and hands it to the boy in the bed. Another smile, "Thanks…"
"Not a problem." Sirius smiles back going to breakfast, cheeks glowing red.
"Sirius, mate, what happened?" James chuckled seeing Sirius' cheeks.
"Nothing…" Sirius said softly, his eyes strangely glazed over. That smile gave him shivers.
"Poor Moony, having to spend most of this beautiful Saturday in the hospital wing…" James sighed as the three of them sat outside near the lake. "We should hold a party…" He added and Sirius rolled over.
"James you're a freaking genius!" Sirius yelped punching the air. "Wormtail, you still got your dungbombs?"
"Y-yes of course I-I do, Padfoot… Why?" The small mousey boy said.
"You're going to give them to a confunded 3rd year, and she's going to drop them around the Common Room!" Sirius grinned. "Then, when everyone leaves, James can charm the fat lady into leaving for a few hours. We get butterbeer and everything first, of course, then go get Moony and have ourselves a party!"
"Or," Drawled James, "We could use a classroom. McGonagall will let us use one, and she won't check on us if we ask her just right! We could get a big classroom, too. Invite a couple extra people…"
Sirius looked back at his best friend. McGonagall really did favour the boy… "Fine, but I'm getting Moony."
James grinned and messed up his hair. Peter fiddled with something in one of his pockets. It was a small bottle filled with ruby red potion. It hadn't taken as long as the stranger said it would, and he was grateful, tonight would be the perfect time to use it.
"Lily…" James asked. Sirius nodded.
"Snape." Peter said suddenly, the two other boys whipped their heads around. "No, we should invite him tonight… For a laugh…" Peter whispered.
James smirked and nodded, "There's these two girls, too, Varley and Christina Yewel, Ravenclaws."
"Sounds good." Sirius nodded. James stood up to go find the girls and Peter went to get Snape. "5:30." The two nodded. Sirius stayed for a moment before going to a statue of a witch and sliding inside it.
He made his way along the cramped tunnel towards Hogsmeade. He was glad he had bought his bottomless bag with him.
He made his way into Honeydukes and bought as much lollies and sweets as he felt necessary then went to The Three Broomsticks. He bought two cases of butterbeer and a couple of bottles of FireWhiskey.
He went down the beautiful street to a small party place and bought streamers and balloons then went back to Honeydukes to go back to Hogwarts.
He went to find James and Peter. "Guys, I've got everything! Have we asked McGonagall?" James nodded grinning.
"C'mon, I'll show which room she let us use!" James chuckled looking a Sirius with interest. He lead them towards the most unused part of Hogwarts and opened the door to a room with a key.
He pushed open the ratherly large door to reveal a large room. Sirius smiled at his friend, perfect room. He took out the decorations and handed some to each. "So everyone knows here at 5:30?" He asked as the three decorated the room.
"Everyone except Moony." James called back.
"I'll get him soon." Sirius smiled. Peter, who was setting up a table with drinks just smiled weakly.
"Why are we having a party?" He asked them.
"Because we can!" James and Sirius cheered together. Peter just sighed and moved down to set up the food. He had gone to the kitchens not long ago to get more proper food.
"Well, it is now 5 o'clock, so I shall go get Moony! See you soon!" Sirius roared down the large room to James and Peter who were fussing over music. They didn't stop talking, they just waved.
Sirius sprinted up to Gryffindor tower to have a quick shower and get changed. He left his hair wet and his shirt was barely on when he ran from the common room to the hospital.
"Madam Pomfrey!" He called slipping to a stop outside the Medi-Witches room. She came out looking startled at his appearance. "Can Remus come to a party?" She nodded and he ran into the wing to drag a confused Remus out of the room.
"Come on! Party! Actually," He changed directions and went to the 7th floor and pushed his best friend into a room, fashioned as a large bathroom. "Shower, dress!"
Remus just did as he was told showering quickly. He had barely dressed when Sirius grabbed his wrist and spun him to face him. Remus didn't know what had happened, but he could taste FireWhiskey.
"C'mon, don't make me carry you!" Sirius warned chuckling deeply as he lead the way to the room James had gotten for them.
"What just happened?" Remus asked.
"Hm? Nothing. In!" Sirius said going red for a moment before pushing Remus through the door.
"Sirius, Remus! Thought you'd never get here! I see you stopped for a shower." James laughed looking at their wet hair. Sirius nodded slightly before moving around the room.
Snape was sitting at a table alone, the Yewel twins were eating and chatting away with Peter at another table. James seemed to have just finished dancing with Lily.
"C'mon Sirius, you gotta dance with everyone. 5 galleons you won't!" James smirked and he ran off to dance with Lily again.
Sirius smirked in the same way as James and went to ask one of the Yewel twins to dance. Remus stood in the doorway and watched before he went to sit at the table with Snape.
Sirius danced quite exuberantly, and as soon as the song finished, he bowed, kissed the girls hand and went to ask her sister to dance. The same thing again, then he danced with Lily, then James, then Peter. Remus and Snape were talking quietly about school when Sirius came over and asked Snape for a dance.
James was laughing his guts out, but stopped when Snape nodded with a smile. The two had just finished dancing when Peter went up to Sirius. "I love you. I hate Remus because you two are so different, and yet you pay him so much more attention! I'm jealous of how your great at magic." He squeaked.
Snape grinned lazily. He loved putting Veritaserum in potions. And that courage was too much for Pettigrew. The room grew quiet, then, realizing what he'd done, Peter ran.
James chuckled a bit then he realized Peter was serious. Remus went red. How dare Peter be jealous of him because he knew how to talk to Sirius! In his burst of anger, Remus failed to notice everyone had gone back to how they were before Peters outburst.
He had also failed to notice the hand in front of him. Until it waved a bit. "Remus, would you like to dance?" Sirius asked shier than he had everyone else.
Remus took his hand and they started to dance quite slowly. But that was because it was a slow song. "Peter must have gotten the wrong message, I mean, to say all that. I mean, I got nothing against gays." Sirius sighed softly. "I can't have anything against them, being one myself…"
Sirius seemed to move slightly away from Remus as he said that, but the Werewolf stayed close. "I couldn't hate you for it, Sirius, so stay close." He murmured as his dark haired companion placed his head on his shoulder.
"I should have been upfront about who I want to be with…" Sirius breathed against Remus' neck. "I shouldn't just do quick little things like a have." Remus remembered the taste of FireWhiskey after he had changed.
"Have you have any FireWhiskey?" He asked roughly.
"I – yes…" Sirius muttered.
"I've never tasted it before today… I must say, when I tasted it, it tasted better than butterbeer on a cold day." Remus whispered to his friend.
"You do know I didn't mean to…"
"To?"
"To kiss you…" Sirius sighed.
"You did, I know you did, that's why you rushed us here." Remus' voice cracked. The music had ended, and everyone was leaving, but no one noticed them as they left. James left the key though, and left too.
"Remus…" Sirius started but Remus cut him off.
"I don't know how you feel Sirius, maybe I don't want to know, not after what Peter said. But, I'll leave you with this." Remus whispered in the darkness, moving away from Sirius, but then grabbing his face in his hands, he kissed his friend, softly, passionately, the total opposite of what Sirius had done earlier.
Then the hands on his face were gone, as were the lips, and he was alone in the room. Sirius sighed and started to clear everything away.
He stayed in the room for the night, cuddled in a dark corner. He thought over the kiss, there was so much emotion put into it, but what emotion?! Sirius' mind was turning, he was so confused! He wanted to know what this feeling in his chest was, the one that when Remus entered a room, or talked, a warm hand would clench his heart. The one that would make his breathing quicken when Remus smiled. The one that made him kiss his best friend.