Sirius watched as Remus' eyes traced along the length of the sentence, flicked back, and then read the next line. The light from the window caught in his eyes, illuminating his brown lashes and the golden flecks in his irises. He reached up to scratch his nose absentmindedly and then, instinctively, glanced up and caught Sirius staring at him.
Sirius looked hastily out the window again. The rolling country hills outside were covered over in a thick white blanket of snow. January sixth had arrived sooner than they had expected. It didn't even feel like they had been on holiday at all, what with the exhausting mission and then Remus' physical recuperation after.
With some special potions from Dr. Leibrock, Remus had been able to climb a flight of stairs for several days now. His recovery was still on-going, but the rest of his strength-building would take place at school under the guidance of Madam Pomfrey and Kate, who would be visiting him for counseling every other weekend.
He'd been released to go to Diagon Alley the day before for new school supplies and a replacement wand, and had managed the entire trip with only a brief rest outside Florence Fortesque's Ice Cream Parlor before he was on his feet again. The Healers had admitted that his recovery had been a little rushed, and that they didn't expect his endurance to last very long over the next few months. But overall he was recovering well and they had no reason to keep him from his studies any longer.
And so here they were, sitting in a compartment on the Hogwarts Express, and virtually drowning in a sea of letters piled in stacks around them. Someone from the hospital had exhumed Remus' casket the previous day and delivered the contents to ward 46. It had been filled with the hundreds and hundreds of letters to him, Remus' broken wand, and an album of pictures of him from the time he was a child. It had also held the linked journal that he shared with Sirius, which was now lying beside him on the seat under Leo's cage.
As he read, Remus suddenly leaned forward in his seat and pointed at a cursive word on one of the letters.
"What does this say? I can't figure it out from context."
Sirius squinted at it.
"I think it says 'forever'."
Remus frowned, re-read the sentence, and then smiled.
"Yeah, that's it."
Sirius grinned.
"Who's it from?"
"Pallas."
From the corner, James let out a burst of laughter.
"Oh god, now they can start talking to us again."
Remus looked over at him.
"What'd you mean?"
"They've been avoiding us like the plague," Peter answered. "Thought we were all suicidal delinquents without you."
Remus glanced curiously at Sirius for a fraction of a second and went back to the letter.
A few students walked by the compartment and lingered for longer than necessary, staring through the window of the sliding door at Remus. Sirius sighed, stood up, reached over, and pulled the blind down over it.
"I don't mind them," Remus mumbled quietly without looking up as Sirius collapsed into his seat again. "They're the ones who wrote me all of these."
Sirius crossed his arms and leaned back.
"Well then they should grow some manners and come inside to say 'hello'. It isn't nice to stare."
Remus raised his eyebrows at him.
"Uhm, hi pot, this is kettle— you're black."
Sirius smirked and kicked him in jest.
But Remus dropped the letter suddenly and clutched at his leg in extreme pain.
"Oh, shit!" Sirius hissed, jumping in alarm. "I'm sorry! I didn't… er… mean to…"
He trailed off as Remus abandoned the pretense of being in pain and roared with laughter. James and Peter doubled over too as they realized he had been joking.
Sirius just sat there, dumbstruck.
"Bastard," he spat.
"Your… face…," Remus choked out between peals of laughter.
The hours trailed off and the sky outside grew dimmer as they traveled farther north. Some students would occasionally come knocking on the door to welcome Remus back. To Sirius' intense jealousy, Mary had come in, blushing furiously, and asked to speak with Remus alone. When they exited together, James had watched Sirius with an odd expression, as he had thrown several insults at Mary behind her back and then glared furiously at her when she walked Remus back in and departed.
"So what'd she want?" Sirius demanded. "A good 'thank-god-you're-alive' snog?"
Remus turned scarlet and glared at Sirius.
"It's none of your business, actually."
"So she did want to snog you—,"
"I didn't say that! Stop making assumptions—,"
"That little flirt brings it upon herself—,"
Remus' face contorted with fury, but it wasn't his voice that rang out in anger.
"Why do you care?" James burst out angrily.
Sirius started and looked around. Both Peter and James were looking at him like he'd gone mad.
It was only then that he realized how ridiculous he must seem to the other two, who still had no idea about their relationship. A strictly-platonic friend was supposed to be trying to get his best mate laid, after all, not sabotaging him. And so, ignoring Remus' satisfied smirk, he made up a lame excuse and avoided the subject for the rest of the trip.
Sometime after the food trolley had rolled by, Sirius excused himself to go to the loo and slid the door open.
Half a dozen students who were mulling around outside fell silent and scurried away as he stepped into the corridor and made his way down the car. As he passed from one car to the other, a girl's voice rang out at him.
"Sirius!"
He turned.
Lily Evans was coming up the car towards him, her dark red hair flying behind her. She had been in their compartment earlier to greet Remus and had ended up crying all over James' shoulder (as he had patted her solemnly while trying to conceal a shit-eating grin).
"What's up, Evans?" he said stiffly, shoving his hands in his pockets.
She stopped in front of him and bit her lip.
"I didn't get to say 'thank you' to you earlier," she said.
"Well, you're welcome, then" he dismissed quickly, turning away and trying to shake her off. He didn't have a clue why she was thanking him, and he couldn't care less.
"Wait!"
Sirius gritted his teeth and faced her again, wincing.
"For rescuing him, I mean," she elaborated. "I know you three didn't just find Remus by coincidence."
"And who's to say we didn't?" he shot at her.
She laughed at him knowingly.
"You don't have to admit it. I don't give a shit if you tell me or not, cos I still know you did. Somehow you three managed to rescue him."
She paused as if waiting for him to deny it. He just stared at her.
"I don't think anyone's ever been rescued from the Death Eaters before," she went on, "and it must have taken some real skill to find him. And, well… I know I've been hard on you for breaking rules before, but… you're not all that bad. So I just wanted to say thank you."
Sirius' glare had slowly slid off his face during her speech.
"Er… right," he said finally.
She grinned at him and extended her hand.
"Truce?"
He looked at it for a moment and then, cautiously, took it.
"Yeah… sure. Truce."
.x~*~x.
If James and Sirius had been famous pranksters before Christmas break, it was nothing compared to their popularity on the first day of term. They were the talk of the entire school. Everyone in the hallways would break out in whispers as they passed by with Remus— all wondering what had happened to him, how he'd escaped, and where on earth those slashes came from.
It also seemed like no one believed that the three greatest troublemakers in Hogwarts history simply stumbled upon Remus. Lily wasn't the only one who could see right through the Daily Prophet's cover-up story. Fortunately for them, the alternative rumors about how they found him were so far-fetched they weren't worried in the least about anyone actually discovering the truth.
The rumors swirling about how he got his scars were even wilder; they ranged from a terrifying Infiri attack, to Voldemort personally slashing him across the face with talon-like fingernails.
Anyone with the nerve to actually comment on them though had been made an example of— the final being Snape, who, after sneering in front of the Slytherin 6th years about how Remus' new scars would look even more dramatic in the moonlight, had been hit with several boil curses by James and Sirius and then stuffed headfirst into a toilet.
No one had commented on them since.
Remus had never been the subject of so much attention before and was having trouble dealing with it. More than once, Sirius had to pull him into a broom closet and kiss away all his frustrations, while running his hands up and down Remus' arms for comfort, trying to calm him. On top of it all, he was so physically exhausted by third period that it took every vial of potion Sirius had in his pockets just to get him through Ancient Runes and down to the Great Hall for lunch.
Their last class of the day was Transfiguration. Remus was too tired to take notes so Sirius had placed a charm on his pen to make an exact copy on Remus' parchment. As they finished up the lecture portion of the class and moved on to applying their technique into the spell, Professor McGonagall passed out several pincushions they were supposed to be transfiguring into porcupines.
It was easy enough work for James and Sirius. James was always the best at Transfiguration, and before three minutes were up, he was the first student in the class to accomplish the spell. Sirius was second, although he took an extra few minutes. Their porcupines blinked around at everyone else and flexed their impressive brown needles for McGonagall to see as she awarded each of them ten points.
Sirius turned around to see how Remus was managing… and felt his heart sink.
His head was propped sideways on his hand, eyes shut, completely exhausted.
"Moony!" he hissed as McGonagall lectured Jacob and Pallas on their wand movements. James looked around too and chucked a balled-up piece of parchment at his shoulder.
But it seemed Remus had fallen asleep. Sirius glanced around and saw McGonagall moving towards Peter and Remus' table. Before she could turn her head, Sirius pointed his wand hastily at Remus' pincushion and whispered, "Oritus Acus!"
"Miss Winston, you're pronouncing it wrong, do look at your notes again—."
McGonagall froze. She looked down her nose haughtily as she took in Remus' closed eyes, his wand lying abandoned on the desktop, and the porcupine gazing up at her with watery black eyes.
She blinked.
This was probably the first time a student had ever even dared fall asleep in her class.
But as she stood there, with Sirius and James staring at her in anxiety, her pursed lips softened and she smiled sadly down at Remus for a moment. She then waved her wand at the porcupine, which morphed immediately back into a pincushion.
"Mr. Black!" she barked suddenly. "Five points from Gryffindor," she turned towards him and held up the cushion. "Some of the needles were still silver."
.x~*~x.
Sirius fell back into his pillows six hours later, utterly exhausted. Spending the day under the gossiping scrutiny of a thousand students had definitely taken its toll on him.
Bolder classmates had come up to interrogate them during mealtimes on what had really happened over Christmas break. Fortunately though, Remus had come up to the dorms after just five minutes at the dinner table and had been sound asleep ever since, so he'd missed the brunt of it all.
Sirius hoped dearly that the interest surrounding Remus' return would dissipate soon… he hadn't counted on it being this hard, and he got the impression Remus was feeling the same way. His difficulty performing even the simplest of spells showed clearly how much stronger he needed to get. Perhaps he should have spent another week in St. Mungos after all…
Sirius laid there for a while, staring up at the crimson canopy of his four-poster bed, thinking...
James had snuck down to the kitchens for some extra food for Remus, taking with him their rough-prototype map of Hogwarts to test its accuracy. Sirius kept his eyes open, waiting for Peter to get out of the shower so he could jump in after him.
His mind drifted in and out of daydreams. The flickering shadows cast by the lanterns were his only company now. As he lay there, he absentmindedly glanced around at Remus' bed and saw the curtains drawn around it.
He had figured they would be. Remus must have wanted some privacy so he could get a full night's sleep and wouldn't be disturbed by—
Sirius sat bolt upright, staring at Remus' curtains.
What was that?
Right as he had been about to look away, a bright ball of blue light about the size of a Quaffle had bounced around inside the drapes of Remus' bed, causing them to flutter wildly. But just as he'd seen it out of the corner of his eye and done a double-take, it was gone. The strange bouncing light vanished as quickly as it had appeared, and Sirius was left sitting there with his mouth gaping open wondering if he'd gone crazy.
Was Peeves snooping around Gryffindor Tower? Or had he just imagined that? Maybe the isolation of the dormitory had played tricks on his mind… but it had sure looked real.
"Er… Remus?"
The curtains around the four-poster didn't budge. Frowning, he slowly slid off his bed and tip-toed over to the edge of Remus' mattress. Feeling extremely foolish, he lifted his hand and carefully parted the curtain a fraction of a centimeter.
Sirius realized immediately it hadn't been his imagination.
Remus was sitting up in bed, holding his wand aloft and jabbing it irritably through the air with a defiant expression on his face. Their NEWT-level Charms book was lying open on the mattress in front of him and as Sirius watched, Remus glanced down, traced along a paragraph in the book with his finger, and then waved his wand in their air again. His lips were moving but Sirius couldn't hear his voice or the sound of the bed springs. Remus must have placed a Silencing charm on the curtains.
Grinning, he moved to the headboard and parted the very end of the curtain before slipping through them and climbing onto Remus' pillows. As soon as he was inside, the sound of the book pages rustling and Remus' spell-casting filled his ears.
"Monstrair!" Remus cried, unaware of Sirius' presence as he concentrated.
Sirius lowered himself directly behind Remus and leaned against the headboard. As Remus looked down at the description again, Sirius stretched his legs out on either side of the other boy and slid his arms around Remus' waist.
Remus jumped a little and tried to look behind him. Sirius took the opportunity to kiss under his ear and then look over his shoulder at the book.
"You're pronouncing it wrong. Should be Mon-strair. Not Mon-strair."
"Shit, Pads, you scared me," Remus whispered. "So now even my Silencing Charm doesn't work?"
"No, it does. I just got suspicious when I saw a blue ball of light dancing around your curtains."
Remus sighed and leaned back into him as Sirius wrapped his arms further around Remus' body.
"I'm completely useless," Remus spat. "I can't pull off a bloody Revealing Charm to save my life."
He kicked the book away in irritation and tossed his wand to the side.
Sirius didn't say anything. The Revealing Charm had been the first spell they'd mastered at the beginning of the school year and it was supposed to be a ball of purple light, not blue.
If Remus was still struggling with that spell, it meant he still had twenty six other spells to master before he'd caught up with the rest of their class.
"Don't worry about it," he said finally. "I'll help you catch up, it'll be fine."
Remus shook his head.
"I can't hold you back, too. Maybe I'll just… not take as many classes next year. I could drop Care of Magical Creatures or something…"
"No! After all the effort you put into raising those Griffin hatchlings last year? You can't just throw all that away!"
"How am I supposed to get caught up then?" Remus shot back. "Unless you've got a Time-Turner in your pockets, there's nothing you can do to help me."
Sirius thought for a moment. Remus let his head fall back on his shoulder and Sirius tipped his head sideways until their temples were resting together.
"I know today was hard on you…" he said finally."But it's going to get better. I'll tutor you if you'll let me, and I can brew some extra potions to get your strength up."
"Sirius…"
"No, listen to me— every day for an hour after dinner we can practice spells— and I'll take you out on the weekends to the Quidditch pitch so we can go running when James is in practice. You'll be back in top-form in no time."
Remus didn't say anything for a while.
"I've never practiced Apparating, either. We're supposed to take our tests over Spring break, remember?"
Fuck.
Sirius hadn't thought that far ahead yet.
"Well… we have three lessons before then. And if I can get you ahead in all of our practical classes, you'll have more time to focus on Apparition."
Sirius lifted his wand and flicked it.
"Flagrate!"
For a minute, Sirius drew six red boxes in the air in front of them and labeled them January through June.
"These are the dates of our Apparition lessons," he said, writing the dates inside each respective box. "By the first of February—," he labeled it, "you'll have every spell in the first two chapters of Charms, Transfiguration, and Defense class mastered. Chapters three and four by March first," he labeled it," and chapter five by Spring break. Three months and you'll be caught up. If Peter can master an Animagus transformation before OWL's, you can do this."
Remus snorted.
Sirius lowered his wand and both of them stared for a moment at the hovering calendars. He could tell Remus was considering the amount of work ahead of him and doubting his own abilities.
"C'mon," Sirius murmured, pressing his lips into the nape of Remus' neck. "Trust me. You can do this."
Remus swallowed dryly and then nodded.
"I'll try. Just don't be too disappointed if I fail, alright?"
Sirius smiled in his neck.
"Alright."
He trailed his lips higher until he was nuzzling his face into Remus' soft brown hair. It smelled like shampoo and ink and chocolate.
"Did you get any sleep earlier?"
"Yeah. But then Pallas came storming in for something an hour ago and woke me up. So I just started reading my letters for a bit before practicing spells."
Sirius looked down and saw three letters torn open on the mattress beside the pillows. Remus' brown leather journal was poking out underneath it.
"Did you… ever get around to reading my last few letters to you?" Sirius asked tentatively.
Remus shifted uncomfortably.
"No… the third letter was really depressing and I just…can't really deal with it right now. I don't even want to think about anything that's happened unless it's in a session with Kate."
Sirius scowled even though Remus couldn't see him.
"So you're what? Bottling it all up until every other weekend?"
Remus rubbed his forehead irritably.
"You don't get it."
"Yeah, I don't," Sirius shot back at him. "You haven't told us anything so it's not like I would."
"I don't want to talk about it!" Remus said forcefully. "You three are the only distractions I have! Why can't you just… just shut up and help me forget about it?"
Remus had tensed up in his arms.
Sirius cringed. He knew he should apologize... he needed to… it would be the right thing to do… he even opened his mouth, ready to say it, the words on the tip of his tongue— but then stopped. There was an intense squirm deep inside his abdomen.
He hated apologizing for anything, even when he knew he was wrong.
So he opted for the next best thing. If Remus wanted to forget...
Slowly, he slid the palms of his hands up Remus' chest, lingering longer than necessary as they passed over his nipples. Pressing his lips once into the other boys neck, he then grasped his shoulders and started messaging them gently, working up a good pace as he felt the muscles relax under his fingers.
Remus closed his eyes.
"Merlin, that feels good," he sighed.
Sirius could feel the warmth of Remus' skin through the thin pajamas he wore. The air around them slowly turned heavier, more intimate.
As he moved his hands higher up Remus' neck, shivers broke out across the soft creamy skin. He felt his body react instantly, his erection hardening as it rubbed ever-so-slightly where his groin straddled Remus' back.
"Gods, I want you," he breathed hotly directly in the shell of Remus' ear.
A small moan escaped Remus' throat as Sirius moved his hands lower, rubbing along each side of his torso. Sirius smirked when he peered over Remus' shoulder and saw a rather obvious tent in his pajamas. He slid his palms around to caress Remus' abs and then gently stroked over it, eliciting another needy breath.
Remus gulped and felt around for something. Sirius thought he was about to flip around and face him, but he didn't. Remus was fumbling with the letters next to them and then pulled their linked journal onto his lap.
"Read it," he croaked, his voice gravely with lust.
Sirius frowned.
"Uhm… Moony, those letters aren't exactly…"
"Not those ones—," he pulled the journal open and flipped to a letter marked March 5th.
"This."
Sirius looked down and felt his ears heat up.
Those letters… those letters they had written to each other in the one week of their relationship, which contained so many filthy promises and confessions.
Sirius couldn't count the number of times he had jerked off over the notes Remus had written back to him. That whole week had been one spell of bad luck after the other— they hadn't been able to properly get their hands on each other due to James and Peter's near-constant presence. So to satisfy their sexual urges for the other, these letters had been written…
Remus pressed the cover into Sirius' hands, and as he took it, Remus reached down and untied the drawstring of his pants before sliding them over his pelvis. His engorged cock sprang free and he grasped it in his fist, spreading the pre-cum around the shaft and tipping his head back on Sirius' shoulder again.
"Read it," he breathed again.
Holy, fuck-
Sirius trembled in arousal, trying to keep his eyes in focus as they watered in lust.
"D-dear Remus," he whispered against the smaller boys' earlobe. "It took everything I had not to... to rip your clothes off in Potions today. I don't know if it was the fumes in the air, but... but I... I couldn't fucking breathe next to you."
His throat caught and he had to clear it before continuing.
"All I could think about was the way your... cum tastes in my mouth. I wanted to sh-shove you in the supplies cupboard and..."
He trailed off, listening to Remus' breath flutter as he jerked himself.
"...go down on you, s-swallowing your whole prick down my throat."
Remus whimpered, thighs trembling.
"Your— your balls clench up every time I suck... and your precum is so sweet. I want to fuck you with my fingers the next time I suck you off and feel you clench around me…"
Sirius lowered his voice and breathed the words against the shell of Remus' ear, trying to make it as dirty as possible.
Remus moaned as his hand flew faster over his cock. Sirius stared in awe at him for a moment, an intense wave of need coursing through him knowing that it was his voice doing this.
He paused for a moment to reach down and slid his hand lovingly across his inner thigh, achingly close to Remus' erection.
"Spread you legs for me," he whispered. "Wider... yeah, that's it. Stroke the length, not just the head. Fuck yeah… jerk it for me…"
Remus was panting and arching back into him. Sirius shifted his groin closer and rubbed himself against Remus' backside as he went on.
"Dear Remus," he moaned. "I d-dreamed we were fucking last night, and you were on top riding me. Your dripping cock was bouncing up and down as you slammed onto me. So fucking tight and hot and wet inside, and you'd go wild every time you'd drop down, like you were starving for it."
Remus keened and stroked himself faster, breathing shakily. Sirius pressed his lips into the soft brown hair and growled, "Move your hips like I'm fucking you… Oh god, yeah…like that. Want you to cum screaming."
Remus squirmed and Sirius saw his toes curling before he forced his eyes back on the page to finish reading.
"I reached up to jerk you off and your head flew back, your hair sweaty and your hips bucking faster and faster, until your dick throbbed and you shot all over me, drenching me in your cum. And I came so hard, right when you clenched around me, fucking yourself on me as my cum filled your tight—,"
"Sirius!"
Sirius closed his lips on the skin below Remus' earlobe and mouthed eagerly on it as Remus gasped and convulsed. His milky semen squirted forcefully up the length of his body as he climaxed, gaping open-mouthed at the ceiling in ecstasy. Sirius sucked harder on Remus' neck— the pressure and friction in his groin had grown too unbearable and he shuddered hard into his own orgasm, his legs quivering on either side of Remus, boxers now soaked and sticky.
Sirius dropped the journal and wrapped his arms back around Remus' chest, clutching him tighter and closer to his body than before. Both of them were still trembling. Remus reached down to wipe his hand on the mattress and then craned his head sideways to catch Sirius' lips with his own.
In that moment, it didn't really need to be said. It could have gone completely unspoken and Remus would have understood his feelings. But as they kissed slowly, their heart rates returning to normal and butterflies squirming in their stomachs, the words spilled from his tingling lips and into Remus' mouth.
"I love you."
Remus' lips paused. He pulled back a little, brown eyes staring desperately into his own, and nudged the tips of their noses together. A tiny smile was playing at the corner of his mouth as he whispered back—
"Love you more."
.x~*~x.
BANG
Sirius lowered his wand and strode through the flapping wooden doors of the Hospital wing alongside James and Peter, heading toward Remus' bed at the end of the ward. Remus was sitting up in bed with a book lying open in his lap and grinning at them.
"You three don't ever change, do you?" he smirked as they drew closer.
"No need to change what's already perfected," James quipped.
Sirius scowled at him as he sat down on the mattress at the foot of Remus' bed and pulled out some fireworks.
"That coming from the boy who earned twenty points in classes today and then didn't even do anything to lose them."
"There weren't any opportunities."
"We saw Snivellus three times in the corridors. There was plenty of opportunity."
"Lily actually spoke to me today if you didn't notice—,"
"All I noticed was that you're getting all responsible and shit, and I don't like it."
Remus doubled over laughing at them.
It was the day after January's full moon and they were visiting for lunchtime. It had been an eventful night, sneaking into the grounds and exploring almost a mile into the Forbidden Forest. They'd ran into a couple of unicorns in a clearing and even fought off a giant tarantula that was creeping around the edge of the Black Lake.
It was exhilarating to have Remus back. They had to be extra careful with him after he'd transformed back, though. The weakness he was still burdened with was going to hinder his transformations for several more months to come. Sirius had made James in charge of covering Remus with the cloak so that he could immediately administer strengthening potions when Remus had stopped heaving. And almost as soon as he'd gulped down a slab of Honeydukes chocolate, he'd passed out into a deep sleep from exhaustion, unable to even feign interest in the conversation about their nighttime adventure.
Over the last week, classes had slowly become easier to manage. But it was a constant struggle. Sirius had taken him out the previous Saturday to push him around the wide dirt track inside the Quidditch pitch, trying to get his strength up before the full moon. His spells were also becoming better— and as Sirius pointed out, much of it was probably due to his new wand, which needed to be properly broken in over time. Sirius' after-dinner tutoring sessions with him were helping this, since it was a much different wand than his previous.
To help keep up with everything, he'd kept Remus on a continuous plan of food, strength potions, and ten hours of sleep. And all those essays they'd copied from Remus in the previous years were now being paid back in kind, as the three of them stayed up late into the night finishing Remus' homework for him. It didn't seem fair to them anyways that he would be given the same amount of coursework, but since no one really knew what had happened to him besides the Ministry and the Order of the Phoenix, the professors had no real reason to excuse him.
All of it seemed to be working. It was now only noon and, after a quick six-hour nap, Remus didn't seem worn out at all by the previous night. There weren't any dark circles under his eyes and he looked eager to speak with them.
James pointed his wand at Madam Pomfreys office door and cast "Muffliato!" as Sirius chucked a firework on the floor and lit it off.
"So—I've found a spell that might help label disguised beings on the map," Remus said, staring for a moment at the crackling red and silver sparks before turning to the book in front of him. "Nomen Revealio combined with the Plotting Detector enchantment hasn't been showing you under your cloak, Prongs."
"What's so bad about that?" Peter said, trying to light another firework.
" 'Cos if someone else had a cloak, we wouldn't be able to see them."
Remus turned his book around and pointed to the page.
"I think if we used this Matter-Detecting charm on the map before the other two, it might make the parchment perceive beings at a deeper level than just visibility. And… I was also thinking of placing a Writing-Essence charm on it… just to add some personality."
Sirius frowned at him. There was a Speaking-Essence charm which was usually placed on portraits. It was used to mimic a person's personality long after the witch or wizard had died, like in all of the Hogwarts paintings. But he had never heard of a Writing-Essence charm before.
"Why would we do that?"
But James had perked up and burst out with the answer before Remus could respond.
"So we could write to people through it— and keep it hidden from anyone who shouldn't see it!"
"Actually, I was just thinking we could tell them to turn left or right—," Remus said nervously.
"If Snivellus ever touched it," Sirius interjected as he caught on, "it could throw all sorts of insults at him—"
"And we'd only let real troublemakers see everything—"
"Yeah, we can combine it with a Concealment Curse so any professor would just see it as a piece of parchment—"
"Or they'd have to swear they were up to no good before they could use it!"
Sirius grinned around. Remus was staring at them with a "What have I done?" expression on his face.
"Brilliant idea, Moony!" James said, lighting off several spinning fireworks.
"You should re-write it though, now that you're back," Sirius added as he pulled out a chess set. "The Marauders Map that Wormtail drew looks like shit."
"Hey!" Peter squeaked.
Remus raised an eyebrow at him.
"The Marauders Map?"
"Lily gave it to us," James said casually, with the air of talking about a current girlfriend. "She just… gets me."
Sirius roared with laughter and James chucked a chess piece at him irritably.
"One of these days, Mister Padfoot, even you are going to find someone who makes your knees weak and your blood boil and your mind numb, and when that day comes you're not going to be laughing anymore."
Sirius' hands slipped and he knocked over five chess pieces on accident before glancing uncontrollably at Remus.
The other boy had raised the book to cover the lower half of his face, but his scarlet cheeks were still visible over the top. As Sirius stared at him, Remus glanced up. The understanding in his bright brown eyes hit him like a jolt of electricity.
"Are we playing, or what?" James interrupted, shoving the chessboard towards him. "It's been almost half a year since we've done this, and I'm ready to kick all of your arses halfway to Sunday before the hour is up."
~*~ Please Review! ~*~