"Okay, fresh blueberry muffins with the cooling charm on them, so no worries." Peter said, dropping the food parcel on the nightstand and falling back into his usual seat.
"Thanks, Pete." Remus croaked, sitting up as James and Sirius crawled onto the foot of the mattress to play gobstones. It was lunchtime and they were on their usual hospital visit.
Sirius was avoiding his eyes. Remus felt a hard knot of guilt in his abdomen for shoving him away that morning, but he had panicked and couldn't properly explain at the time why he didn't want to kiss him. And he certainly hadn't expected that look to cross his face. Where the hell had that look come from?
He'd never seen Sirius' face look like that before. He'd expected maybe a little joking laugh and for him to whisper something along the lines of "Okay, okay, too far, you're right." The last thing he'd ever expected was for Sirius to actually look rejected.
Sirius' eyes flicked up at him as James arranged the game. Remus tried slanting his eyes apologetically. Sirius just stared at him so Remus' eyes fell back and he hesitated before giving him a small grin.
Sirius blinked. His eyes roamed over Remus' face before, shoulders falling reluctantly, his lips curved back into a nervous little smile.
Remus couldn't help himself. Completely beyond his control his grin widened until he was positively beaming. Sirius saw it and let out a bark of laughter.
"Uhh…" James said, utterly bewildered as they doubled over laughing stupidly. "Did I miss something?"
Sirius coughed gruffly, trying to compose himself. Remus shook his head clear and reached out to grab a muffin.
"Inside joke, Jamie." Remus chuckled.
James frowned.
"Sure, inside joke. For all I know you two've been sneaking behind our backs and shagging each other—"
Remus choked violently on his muffin.
"So we're sneaking out Friday night!" Sirius said distractedly, almost yelling at him.
"Re-heally?" Remus coughed, his windpipe burning in protest.
"Yeah, so we're going to need you to draw up another plan tonight once everyone's gone to bed." Peter said. "We're sneaking a bunch of booz out of the Three Broomsticks for your birthdays next month."
Remus nodded. He, Sirius, and James all had March birthdays. Sirius' was the 2nd, his was the 10th, and James' was the 27th.
"Whe-hen's the party thi-his year?" he sputtered.
"We were thinking the first Saturday," James said. "'Cos everyone'll be celebrating Saint Patrick's day the next weekend and Easter's coming early this year."
"Why," Remus said after gulping down some pumpkin juice. "didn't you just get it all on Saturday when you were already there?"
James and Sirius blinked at him.
"You know," Remus said pointedly. "when you wouldn't have been breaking any rules?"
James frowned in confusion.
"I don't understand your point."
Remus laughed at him, shaking his head resignedly and kicking James from under the covers.
.x~*~x.
"Remus, the corridor on the fifth floor of the northern corner isn't wide enough to hold that statue, you're thinking of the second floor on the south end—"
"No, you're thinking of the statue of the hag with the dreadlocks on the fourth floor, this isn't that one, this is the goblin with the warts on its nose—"
"Oh, wow, well then that is the ugliest goblin I've ever seen in my—"
"It's supposed to be ugly you complete arse—"
"Yeah, well then that's the ugliest ugly goblin I've ever—"
"Oh, shut up you two." James snapped, standing up and walking over to fix the warts on the nose.
"Happy?" he said after a few seconds. Sirius scoffed at him.
Remus turned back to the parchment and drew another corridor that was supposed to represent the tunnel leading out of the witches hump and into the cellar under Huneydukes.
"Okay, so we need to get in to stock up on toffee's and chocolates which should take us about twenty minutes to get there and another twenty to get back, and if you count the ten minutes inside and the ten minutes back to Gryffindor tower then it's going to take us an hour, and from there we can go out the tunnel behind the mirror—" he drew a large right-angled corner, some curves to represent the staircase leading one floor down, and then three corridors away another passageway to mark the tunnel behind the mirror, "—and that's another twenty into Hogsmead but this time we'll need to get into the locked cellar which is going to take longer than Honeydukes, so I figure that trip total will take probablyyyy… hmm… an hour and a half?"
He heard a murmur of agreement and wrote it down on the time slot. Then he stepped back and threw himself into an ottoman to admire his work.
"Merlin, I wish I didn't have to draw up a bloody map each time."
"It looks good though." Sirius said from behind him on the sofa.
"Yeah, but still… it's getting old."
"Well then draw up a map that we can use each time." Peter said.
"Oh, okay, I'll get right to that in my abundant spare time—"
James and Sirius laughed.
"Actually, that might not be a bad idea." James said after a while.
"It's illegal to draw a map of Hogwarts." Remus said. "Haven't you ever read Hogwarts A History?"
"No." James, Sirius, and Peter said in unison.
"Drawing a map," he said, rolling his eyes, "especially with the war going on could help someone plot an attack on the school which is why it's forbidden in the first place."
"How the hell would they know if we did or not?"
"There's an enchanted blueprint of the school locked in a vault under the lake. It can sense when it's been copied and if there ever is one made the enchantment sets fire to the parchment it's drawn on."
Silence met the end of his speech.
"And if they ever found out who drew it we'd be expelled." Remus finished.
"Well, you wouldn't sign it with your bloody name." Sirius said. "Haven't we been signing all our payment notes with 'Moony'? Just do the same thing."
Remus scoffed at him.
"What if you drew it over summer?" James said. "Then you could finish it and we could cast concealing charms on it before it caught fire in the castle."
"I doubt it's that simple." Remus said. "And anyways, I don't know everything about Hogwarts yet. How would we even know I've drawn it properly?"
"We'll help." Sirius said, grinning. "It'll give us more reasons to sneak out. And we're going to be sneaking into the grounds each month now so we'll know we've got that accurate."
"And what are you going to sign it as?" Remus laughed at him. "Moony's lapdog?"
James and Peter roared with laughter.
"Nah, we'll think of some nick-names of our own." Sirius stood up and clapped him on the shoulder. "Almost sixteen, mates! Time flies when you're prepping an Animagus transformation illegally."
Remus laughed and stood up too, unclipping the parchment and rolling it up.
"Yeah, and I can tell it's really humbled you too. Sixteen going on eleven, you three…"
.x~*~x.
Remus was strolling down a corridor with Lily on their usual patrols. It was another Wednesday night and he still had a lot of studying to do once he got back in. Lily was chatting enthusiastically at him. He sighed, thinking about his date with Mary and wondering exasperatedly why Lily had been made a prefect instead of her. Lily was going on about her favorite Quidditch team and his mind was drifting away from the conversation in boredom. He'd never really been a fan of the sport, even though James was one of his best friends. He smirked a little thinking about James' newfound obsession with her… they might actually make a good match if he would just deflate his head a little.
He sighed as they rounded a corner and without paying attention almost ran head first into— Mary.
"Hi!" he said, rather loudly.
Mary giggled a little and blushed.
"Er…" Lily said, grinning at her friend. "I'll just…leave you two alone, shall I?"
She turned and walked away, glancing back over her shoulder before turning to go downstairs.
"How've you been?" Mary said smiling.
"Good," he breathed. "How were your… er… classes?"
Mary laughed.
"Remus, we had the exact same classes today—"
"Oh!" he said, laughing too. "Right, sorry."
She giggled again and glanced around.
"Come 'ere, you." she said, grabbing hold of his collar and steering him gently into a secret passageway behind a large tapestry.
Remus grinned and pulled her closer to him. Their lips met… she tasted like strawberry lip balm again… her mouth moved against his softly, gently. She moaned a little when he sucked lightly on her bottom lip and he pulled her closer, steering her head with one hand and the other on the small of her back.
His stomach swooped a little when he felt her breasts pressing against him. She was so small and warm… her body was so soft… she had so many curves. He'd never realized just how much a girl's body curved inward and outward. There didn't seem to be single angular part on her body. Her soft hair fell around her shoulders, smelling strongly of shampoo and vanilla.
His lips were getting numb from the friction. How much time had passed? They were getting used to taking breaths every so often but his lungs were still seizing for oxygen, and his hair was rumpled from her hands running through it. He moaned into her mouth and she sighed, whispering his name into his lips before their tongues slid against each other again.
He fumbled a little when she pressed her wet lips against the corner of his mouth, steering him towards her neck. He fidgeted… he'd never been in control before. It felt strange and awkward. He moved his lips along her jaw line and then sucked lightly on the skin below her ear.
He felt her giggle a little and pull back.
"What?"
"It just tickles a little… and now I'm all wet and messy." she laughed, reaching up to wipe the saliva off her neck.
His ears burned.
"Uhm…" he said. He wasn't sure what to do with her now.
She blinked up at him expectantly and he felt a jolt of panic stab him in the gut. His chest felt very hot and the back of his neck started to perspire.
"I have to go!" he said suddenly. "I, uh… I forgot, I have a uhm… a thing that I promised… that I have to—"
He stumbled away from her apologizing and then turned, running back up the stairs. He cringed in shame, panting as he drew nearer to the Fat Lady's portrait.
How could he have just frozen like that? His mind had gone blank. He should have pressed her against the wall and snogged her some more. He should have whispered in her ear and told her how beautiful she was. He should have… he should have done a million things. He'd never been so embarrassed in his entire life.
He spat the password at the Fat Lady and ran up the stairs to the dorm without even looking around for the other three, slamming the door behind him. The room was empty. He cursed into the silence, seizing fistfuls of hair.
Why hadn't he been able to get a grip on himself? One little fumble and suddenly it was like he had never snogged before, like he was as inexperienced as a bloody third year. What the hell would she think of him now? After Josh he probably looked like the biggest joke in the school. Maybe she would go running back to him now for a proper kiss… he'd obviously proven he wasn't up to par with her previous boyfriends anyways.
God… he'd have to see her tomorrow in class…
He stood, face screwed up in misery, savoring his isolation when he heard something— it was a soft squeaking sound.
Lifting his head, he looked around. Was Peter in his rat form, snooping through the dormitory?
He heard it again and turned. Walking forward, he realized the door to the bathroom was closed and light was shining out of the crack at the bottom. The squeaking must have come from the metal shower faucets because the slapping sound of water and swiveling steam resonated from the base of the door.
He sighed and flopped down on his bed. It was probably Jacob… he always hogged the hot water which meant he wasn't going to get any. Irritated, he flipped onto his side, staring around. He squinted at the bed next to him where Jacob slept. It didn't seem to be disturbed at all.
He sat up again and looked around the dorm. Sirius' shoes and robes were thrown haphazardly on his bedspread and a single black sock lay crumpled slightly between his bed and the bathroom door.
Something snapped inside him.
He launched himself away from the bed, crossed the room and burst through the door, slamming it loudly behind him.
Hot fog assaulted him and he couldn't see even six inches in front of him.
"Whoa! Who the hell's out there?" he heard Sirius call.
Remus strode forward, something of a growl escaping from his throat, and wrenched the shower curtain aside. Sirius stood there gaping at him, completely naked and steaming, soapy suds sliding down his lithe body. Droplets fell from his wet locks and his parted lips glistened from the hot water.
"Remus? What are you—?"
Remus stepped forward, the shower pouring over him as he slammed Sirius into the tile wall and breathed achingly against his mouth.
"I just… need you."
~*~ Please Review!~*~ Ego boosts keep me going :)