"Psst! Padfoot!"
Sirius stopped scrubbing a large golden trophy and wiped the sweat off his brow before reaching into his pocket and pulling out his mirror. He looked around for Filch once and then smiled down at James' face.
"What's up Prongs?"
James lifted his hand and flexed it, wincing in pain.
"I've done a million lines for Sinistra, my hand feels like it's gonna fall off," he moaned. He turned his mirror to show the parchment of lines he'd written, which said repeatedly "I will not steal the Telescopes and throw them in the girls lavatory" over and over again, all the way down the page.
"Yeah well at least you're not stuck polishing trophies for Filch. He didn't even let me use magic."
"That bastard."
"He's such a squib."
"He's such an arse-licking ponce."
Sirius snorted.
"Where is the old hag, anyways?" James asked.
"That's the best part," Sirius whispered, an evil grin spreading over his face. "He got a kitten."
James stared at him like it was Christmas.
"You're joking!"
"And he's named it 'Mrs. Norris'," Sirius sniggered.
"What the fuck kind of name is that?" James said, roaring with laughter.
Sirius shook his head and tossed the trophy aside.
"D'you know what the time is?"
James' mirror twisted upside down as he flipped his wrist over to check his watch.
"Pushing ten o'clock."
Sirius yawned widely and rubbed his face.
"Uhg, I'm so bloody exhausted. At least Moony's getting better at spells, all these hours of tutoring are givin' me no room to sleep."
There was a slight pause and then, with a rather odd tone, James mumbled, "Mm-hmm."
Sirius scowled.
"What was that Mm-hmm about?"
"Nothing," James said innocently, watching his face closely for a reaction. "Sometimes it just seems like… well…"
James cast around for the right words but then shook his head.
"Nevermind."
" 'Sometimes it seems like' what?"
James chewed on his lip for a moment.
"You two aren't keeping any secrets from us, are you?"
Sirius' heart skipped a beat.
Shit— had they really been that obvious?
Or was he referring to something else? It had to be something else— how could he have possibly found out? He hadn't caught them at it, had he?
"Er… why do you ask?" he murmured finally.
James was scrutinizing him.
"Do you really want to know?"
Sirius froze. He couldn't blink or breathe or speak or think.
James seemed to notice and went on without waiting for permission.
"That first night back, when I went down to get Moony some food from the kitchens, I was looking on the map and saw you two in the dormitory… at first you were both in separate beds, but the next time I looked at it, you were in his bed— right with him. By the time I came back, though, he was asleep and you were in the showers."
Sirius' mind was racing, trying to formulate a logical excuse in a fraction of a second.
"It just seemed strange to me that you—,"
"I was just helping him with spells. He was practicing the Revealing Charm. I was just helping him practice."
James stared at him.
Sirius tried to think of how he would behave had he in fact not been getting off with Remus. But the rush of anxiety was getting to him and he couldn't process logical thoughts properly.
James looked down and away from him for a moment and then opened his mouth, taking a breath of air as if about to say something, and then reconsidering it.
But then he burst out with it anyways.
"On the train ride here… you said something about Mary that just struck me as a little odd. You've never even talked to her before, but you kept insulting her... I mean— it would have been funny, but then you kept at it even when Moony got back. It was really strange…"
Sirius didn't say anything. His voice had been struck dead.
"Look, I don't care," James said quickly, realizing how panicked Sirius was. "You don't have to tell me. But I keep noticing these weird little things and wondering if there's something going on that you two aren't telling me."
The defensive side of Sirius sprang up again.
"What do you mean by 'something'? What do you even think is going on?"
James shrugged.
"Well… I've noticed how protective you are of him. Two weeks ago after the full moon, you kept staring at him… and the way you took care of him right after he transformed. And on top of it all, I heard this morning that he turned Mary down to go to the Valentine's Day Hogsmead visit…"
"He did?" Sirius said, a wide grin spreading over his face completely beyond his control. He then caught himself and coughed gruffly, trying to force it away.
But James had seen.
Slowly, a hardened expression of disbelief formed in his features. His eyes bored hard into Sirius', unsmiling, almost fearful of the truth.
"You and him… you're not…?"
Sirius stared back at him with the same fear and anticipation.
"Are you?" James demanded.
Sirius sighed.
"Okay—Prongs… don't flip out…"
.x~*~x.
Sirius dashed across the dark corridor with James, exhilaration pumping through his system, and crouched down behind a large statue of Trapdin the Timid. He muffled a bark of laughter with his hand and both he and James looked back across the wide expanse of stone floor to where Remus and Peter were huddled in the darkness, looking around for Filch.
"C'mon!" James hissed at them.
The silver rays from a skylight shone down directly in the center of their route, illuminating their path. They saw Remus reach up and place his hand on Peter's upper-back before dragging the other boy up and dashing over to their hiding place.
"Mew! Mew!"
Remus stopped and looked around.
Peter kept running for it until he had dove ungracefully behind the statue, but Remus held his wand aloft, starring around for the source of a strange high-pitched squeaking noise that had rent the air. His eyes scanned into the darkness just beyond the dim light of the moon.
Until—
They all froze. A fluffy brown kitten hopped into the moonlight and pranced right up to Remus. Dumbstruck, he continued to aim his wand at the little thing in astonishment.
"Mew! Mew!"
Both Sirius and James doubled over laughing, clutching their stomachs and pressing their fists into their mouths.
The kitten looked up at him pompously and cocked its head to the side before reaching out with a tiny paw to bat at Remus' shoe lace.
James squirmed from hysteria and knocked hard into Sirius, who was forced sideways out of their hiding spot. He coughed, trying to compose himself, before walking over and grabbing Remus by the forearm to haul him away.
Remus laughed too and rubbed his eyes.
"I thought it was some kind of detector Filch had set up—,"
"Reoowwrrr!"
All four of them froze.
Sirius turned back, frowning, and saw the miniscule creature sitting down calmly, staring up at them.
"Did that thing just—?"
"REOOWWRRR!"
The kitten had opened its little jaws and let out an air-splitting yowl that echoed into the silence of the castle long after it was finished.
Remus stared at it in disgust.
Heart hammering, Sirius reached into his pocket and pulled out their map, searching frantically for—
"Filch!" Remus whispered, pointing at the grand staircase. His black ink dot was at the bottom of it, and as they watched, it moved swiftly up several steps at an alarming rate, heading directly towards the second floor corridor they were standing in.
"Move!" Sirius shot at the other two, and then ran full-out in the opposite direction as he searched the parchment for any other professors.
James caught up with him and pointed at a tapestry half way down the corridor that concealed a hidden shortcut to the fourth floor. Sirius skidded to a halt before it and wrenched it aside, letting the other three pass before flying up the staircase after them.
They were almost to the top when they heard it for a third time.
"REEEOOOWWWRR!"
Sirius turned on his heel and looked down the long passageway at the kitten who was now sitting politely on the bottommost step.
"Why you little fucking—,"
"Padfoot, no!"
James grabbed his upper arm and tried to drag him away again, but he resisted and raised his wand to blast the pint-sized feline into kingdom come.
"Caught them, did you, my pet? Oooh, we've got them now!"
Sirius' spell died in his throat. He stumbled backwards and James tossed the Invisibility cloak over his head.
Remus and Peter had already made it safely through the tapestry at the top of the stairs, but James knew he and Sirius couldn't have made it with Filch's voice so near— and before they could even take two steps upstairs again, Filch had torn the second-floor tapestry aside and peered upwards, a lantern swaying in his hand.
They froze, barely breathing, knowing full-well they had nowhere to go. If they ran for it, Filch would surely hear it and catch them all. Sirius looked sideways at James under the cloak and mouthed "What do we do?"
James grimaced and shook his head.
Well— at least Remus and Peter would get away…
"I got you brats now!" Filch wheezed, ascending quickly. "Think you can befoul the House tapestries and upside all the tables? Not in my castle you can't!"
The evil kitten let out a few mewls of agreement and hopped up the stairs, it's gleaming yellow eyes staring directly at them, leading it's master to their exact position—
"Diffindo!"
The heat of a spell soared past them and hit one of the steps below with a loud snapping sound. The kitten, which had been mid-hop when the spell made contact, let out a terrified yowl of surprise as it dropped right through the floor and landed with an enraged squeak in the classroom below it.
"Mrs. Norris!" Filch screamed, diving headfirst into the missing step. "Mrs. Norris! AARRGHH! NOOO! HEEEELP!"
Sirius and James roared with laughter as Filch struggled to dislodge his head and shoulders from his position. Mrs. Norris was still mewling angrily from somewhere below their feet.
As they tore the cloak off their bodies, they looked up and saw Remus standing at the top of the stairs, his wand by his side.
"Nice one, Moony," James smirked. He then pointed his own wand at the step and cried, "Servare Incantatum!"
"Oh come on, Prongs, do we really want to be jumping that step forever?" Remus whispered as they finished climbing the staircase to join him. Peter was right around the corner, keeping a lookout for teachers.
"Just think of how many students'll fall right through it tomorrow!" James sniggered.
Sirius laughed too and imagined the surprise on Snivellus' face when he'd step unknowingly on the trap...
"It's brilliant! Why haven't we thought of a trick-step before now?"
"Better yet, why couldn't you do it on the last day of our seventh year," Remus muttered darkly.
Sirius tossed the Marauders map to Peter, who took it and walked ahead of them, scanning for professors. He then slung his arm around Remus' shoulders as they made their way back up to Gryffindor Tower.
"You're aim is getting better— and thanks for having our backs," he murmured.
Remus flipped his wand in the air and then twirled it between his fingers, grinning appreciatively. But when Sirius didn't remove his arm from around his shoulders, he looked sideways at him and then half-glanced pointedly at James.
Sirius smirked and looked around too. James averted his eyes quickly before speeding up to join Peter.
"He knows," Sirius whispered so that only Remus could hear.
Remus' eyes bulged and he forgot to move his left foot. Sirius had to stoop to catch him before he hit the floor and Remus quickly fumbled to support himself again as Peter and James looked around.
"Uh— I, uh— tripped on the— uh— a stone—," he stuttered. Sirius supported his forearm and could feel him trembling in shock.
Peter frowned at them in confusion, but James looked uncomfortably away.
"Did'you check the fifth floor, Pete?" he said unnaturally loudly.
As James steered Peter ahead again, Remus assaulted Sirius with his eyes.
"How?" he mouthed furiously.
Sirius smirked and leaned in to whisper in his ear.
"He was getting suspicious. So I told him."
Remus stared blankly ahead of them as they climbed another staircase. Then, glancing again at James, he leaned in to whisper back—
"What'd he say? Is he alright with it?"
Sirius grimaced and shook his head. He slowed down and they fell ten yards behind the other two.
"Not—exactly… but I think it's cos he's my best mate," Sirius whispered. "You know how it is."
Remus' eyes widened worriedly.
"Look, it's been a week and he hasn't acted any different so far—,"
"A week?!"
"Sh! Honestly, I think a part of him already knew… the hints he was throwing out right before I told him pretty much said it all."
Remus rubbed his face in irritation. His forehead was wrinkled up in stress.
"Shit," he breathed.
Sirius shrugged and tried his best to act like it didn't matter to him.
"We couldn't hide it forever."
Remus sighed testily.
"I know… just… shit."
Sirius let out a breath of laughter. As they rounded a corner, something about the stress in the other boy caused Sirius to do something he'd never done before— he reached out and firmly grasped Remus' hand in his and held it tight, interlacing their fingers as they walked on.
Remus was struck silent. He looked down at their hands, back up at Sirius, and then back at their hands. His palm was soft beneath Sirius', his long graceful fingers hanging limp in the embrace.
Sirius grinned awkwardly at him. But after a short look of disbelief, Remus gave in with a small smile of his own and clutched Sirius' hand in return. Sirius beamed uncontrollably and stroked the pad of his thumb over Remus' knuckles as they came to a halt in front of Gryffindor Tower and looked up.
James was standing there, his arm outstretched to hold the back of the Fat Lady's portrait open for them— with his eyes staring directly at their entwined hands.
His face was uncomfortably stony. As both of them froze, his hazel eyes flicked up and darted between their faces.
"Too much?" Sirius winced at him.
James sighed and jerked his head irritably, signaling them to come inside.
"Just don't start snogging in front of me and I'll be fine."
.x~*~x.
Remus raised his arm and focused at a large throw-pillow on the floor. He twirled his wand upwards expertly and then reached out to grab the pillow as it soared across the room and into his hand.
"Brilliant!" Sirius cried. "Knew you could do it— you got that faster than the Shrinking charm."
Remus smirked and tossed the pillow on the ground again.
"It is getting easier," he admitted.
He pointed his wand at Sirius and preformed the same movement. Sirius felt himself pulled forward several steps and let out a burst of laughter, pulling Remus in for a kiss.
Remus blanched and started laughing too.
"You need a shave, you mutt."
Sirius smirked and rubbed his stubble-covered cheek into Remus' smooth one before striding past him and over to the desk.
It was Friday evening of the week after Valentine's Day, and they were practicing non-verbal charms for an hour in the Room of Requirement before Remus needed to get to bed. He'd spent the first twenty minutes on the Silencing charm and another twelve attempting to shrink a porcelain vase— it kept shattering as it shrunk before Remus finally got the wand movement right. But his Summoning charm had taken him less than ten minutes to get right.
Even though Remus had been steadily improving week after week, it was actually a surprise to Sirius how well he was doing for today— since breakfast, he'd been glum and sulky, at times downright depressed. He hadn't spoken much during classes, hadn't returned any of Sirius' affections, and hadn't even eaten that much at mealtimes (when he was usually ravenous).
Confused, Sirius had passed several notes to him under the desks trying to get a response out of him, but it was in vain. Some sort of dark spell had come over the other boy and it was only in the heated moments of their tutoring that he'd finally come out of his shell.
Sirius bent over the mahogany desk, searching for their schedule. He finally found it amidst their essays and spell books, and ticked off three spells from the list.
"You're ahead," he praised. "We could keep going if you're up to it?"
Remus shook his head silently and sank down in a squashy red armchair.
"Not… tonight."
Sirius shuffled their essays around.
"You're almost caught up to the rest of class, you know."
Remus didn't say anything. Sirius glanced up and saw him staring down at a copy of the Evening Prophet that was protruding from Sirius' satchel. A frown creased between his eyebrows and he reached down to tug it out.
Sirius huffed through his nose and went back to the calendar, adjusting some of the notes to fit Remus' progress. For the third week of February, he was doing better than expected, even if he was lagging on some of their more current spells.
Sucking for a moment on the tip of his quill, he looked over at their weekend homework assignments and scanned through them.
"How did you manage that Blinding hex in Defense today?" he asked absentmindedly.
Silence.
"Moony—?"
He looked up again. Remus didn't acknowledge the address at all.
Scowling, Sirius straightened up and strode around to the back of his chair to see what he was reading.
He had flipped it open to the Political section. The first article was splashed with a black-and-white photo of none other than Bartemius Crouch. He was at a podium giving some sort of energetic speech, standing next to a young witch with a fussy bow in her hair and a toad-like face. The headline above it read GREYBACK ESCAPE PROMPTS STRICTER WEREWOLF REGULATIONS.
Sirius started.
"That bastard!" he seethed, reaching out to grab the newspaper and bring it closer to his face.
"Who the hell does he think he is?" he spat, scanning the article for quotes to rage over, "— 'the dangers all werewolves pose to society can no longer be ignored'— 'untrustworthy Dark creatures'— 'employers should conduct thorough background checks before hiring potential criminals'—, Merlin, I can't believe this shit!"
Remus sat silently, listening to his rambling. He hadn't even flinched when Sirius had grabbed the paper from him.
"This can't last much longer, I mean Dumbledore would never let this stand—,"
"I'd like to go to bed now."
Sirius looked up. Remus had got to his feet and slung his messenger bag over his torso. His was staring away, intentionally avoiding any eye-contact.
Sirius surveyed him in surprise.
"You… you don't want to talk about it?"
Remus tensed up.
"I'd rather not discuss it right now."
Sirius gaped at him.
"But—,"
"Please. Don't."
Sirius felt like he'd been punched in the face. He'd never heard Remus' voice so hardened before, so cold.
"Remus…," he said weakly, reaching out to touch his shoulder.
The smaller boy flinched away from the touch and crossed the room to wait by the doorway. He scuffed the stone floor with the tip of his shoe and stood silently, staring downward.
Sirius set the article down and leaned against the chair. Something told him this wasn't just about the article…
"Look, I can't just leave it off like this," he said gently. "You need to tell me what's going on, you've been on edge all day."
Remus chewed on his lip and shook his head.
"I'll talk with Kate about it."
Sirius blinked.
With Kate…
He would talk with Kate about it…
Kate.
Not him.
After an entire day of ignoring his demons, of neglecting any confidence in his friends, and reading such an article in the paper, he was going to wait two days to speak with his bloody counselor about it?
Something deep inside Sirius that had been festering, something that had been pushed down and ignored and neglected suddenly bubbled up and burst inside his chest like lava exploding from a volcano.
"You'll talk with Kate about it?"
Remus looked up. The anger in his voice must have frightened him, but Sirius didn't care.
"What the fuck does she ever say to you that I wouldn't?!— or James, or Peter? Do you have any idea what it feels like to know you can't trust me enough just to listen to you?! Do you have any idea how that screws me up inside?!"
Remus' face twisted in frustration.
"Don't start on this, Pads. You think I want all that weighing on every conversation I have with you three? I'm not just doing it out of spite— I'm not telling you cos I know it would change everything."
"Well, it's changed everything by you not telling us!" Sirius shouted. "I'm not the only one with trust issues anymore!"
Remus looked affronted.
"It's none of your business what happened—,"
"It's all of our business!"
"Stop yelling at me!"
"Then fucking listen! You haven't told us shit, and now that anything new comes up, you just give us the cold shoulder and say you'll wait to speak with Kate!"
"I do that for a reason—!"
"Why don't you just spit in my face next time, it might be less of an insult—,"
Remus gaped at him.
"You don't know what you're talking about—,"
"I would if you'd just tell me!" Sirius shouted, not giving in to any sign of weakness from the other boy. "What happened this morning? Why have you been like this all day?"
"I'm not—,"
"TELL ME!" Sirius roared. "I'm sick of you keeping everything from me, I need to know what's going on with you, I feel so bloody useless! Tell me something, tell me any—"
"FINE!"
Something about Remus' character seemed to shatter. The calm, sweet, rational boy was gone. All traces of kindness left his eyes, and the only thing left of his expression was pure undiluted agonizing pain.
He wretched the strap of his school bag over his head and drew a letter out of the pocket before throwing it viciously on the ground.
"I got told today that I inherited my parent's house. The house they died in! Now when summer comes around and everyone else is enjoying themselves, I get to go back and live in the house where they were slaughtered! So excuse the fuck out of me if I didn't go running to you!"
Sirius' mind was reeling but he stood his ground.
"Why— why couldn't you have just told me bef—,"
"Because you didn't love your parents!" Remus screamed. A wave of hot energy seemed to swell around him and the floor beneath them trembled. "You didn't lose them, you ran out on them! There's no way you could ever understand! You have no idea what it feels like to know the parents who protected you are DEAD because of—,"
"It wasn't your fault—,"
"YES IT WAS!"
Several glass and porcelain objects around the room shattered. Sirius had never seen Remus like this before. Every cell in his body was fuming with self disgust, and Sirius could distinctly see the monstrous essence of the werewolf on his human face.
"If I hadn't been so stupid," he raged, pacing back and forth, "if I had just waited until I could research at the Ministry, if I hadn't jumped to conclusions that my attacker was just a normal wizard, just like me, just like—,"
Sirius stepped forward to grasp his shoulder.
"There was no way you could have known—,"
Remus shoved him off.
"I should have known! I should have taken the time to realize how much was at stake, and I'm never going to forgive myself—,"
"You didn't kill them—,"
"THEY'RE DEAD BECAUSE OF ME!"
Sirius' voice caught in his throat as Remus turned on him.
"Is this what you wanted?!" Remus yelled hysterically. "For me to fall apart and for you to somehow be the knight in shining armor who comes to the rescue?! You can't just RESCUE me from everything, Sirius! What ELSE do you want to know?!"
Sirius shook his head but Remus went on storming at him.
"You want to know what they did to me down there?! You really want to know?! FINE: They tortured me and possessed me and starved me! And they'd string me up in front of the entire group and humiliate me! So now you can run off and tell James and Peter all about how they'd lock me up on full moons with innocent Muggles, and I'd wake up in their bloody remains the next morning!"
Sirius couldn't breathe with the horror of it. Gods, Remus had been right, he didn't want to know any of this…
"And you know why they did it?! It was all in revenge for me trying to live a normal life and go to school! Every day it was something new, something worse, and the entire time all I could think about was that my parents were dead because of me and I deserved everything they did to me—"
"How can you think that?!" Sirius shouted.
"You have NO IDEA what I go through every day! You can never understand the burden on my shoulders, knowing I killed them in my stupidity!"
Furious tears spilled from his eyes as he completely broke apart, every wall crashing down as he raged on.
"Every night I dream about losing you and James and Peter, about all of you dying because of something I've done, something I've caused! If I ever lost you— if I— you don't realize how scared I am of losing you— you should have just LEFT me down there and let me—!"
"DON'T!" Sirius shouted, "Don't you DARE say it!"
Remus panted heavily and seemed to cast around for words. He tore his palms across his face to wipe the tears of rage from his cheeks.
"And on top of everything, I'm fucking useless in class!" he spat. "You asked me how I managed the Blinding hex? Well I didn't—,"
"It doesn't matter, you're still ahead of schedule—,"
"I'm ahead on my CATCHING UP schedule!" Remus vented. "I'm still behind everyone else, I'm still struggling to stay level! You don't get it! You think it's so easy, but you've never tried performing a spell from first year and found you can't any longer! That you have to re-learn a spell you've known for five years! You have NO IDEA how humiliating it is!"
Remus was pacing again, glaring at his surroundings.
Sirius was struggling for words that could pull him back together.
"You do a lot better when you have an ounce of confidence in yourself—"
"Oh, okay," Remus laughed bitterly, "I'll get right on that, between my nightmares and—,"
"You saw yourself just ten minutes ago, as soon as you'd forgot about that bloody letter you managed the Summoning charm in no time—,"
"WHO CARES?" Remus bellowed, the glass in the window pane next to him cracking. "I'm still unprepared for what's out there! As soon as I leave here they're going to be after me again and I'll be worse than a sitting duck! And this time I'll lose even more than I lost last time—!"
"Just shut UP!" Sirius yelled finally. "I'm not going anywhere and neither is James or Peter—!"
"Say's YOU, the top bloody student of our year! Not all of us have everything handed to us on a silver platter, some of us have to actually try to learn spells, we're not all perfect like you—!"
Snapping in frustration, Sirius raised his wand and cried, "Pedes Lapsus!"
Remus realized what he was about to do a split second before he did it and raised his wand with lightning speed through the air. A loud whipping sound emanated between them as Remus deflected with a nonverbal Shield charm and then stared at Sirius like he'd gone mad.
"What—?" he breathed in confusion.
Sirius glared and waved his wand at Remus, thinking Levi Corpus!
"What are you doing?!" Remus shouted, deflecting again.
"I'm trying to prove to you that you're stronger than you think you are!" Sirius shot back. "I'm sick of you doubting yourself all the time!"
Remus gritted his teeth.
"Tell that to the werewolves who're gonna be hunting me down the rest of my— STOP IT!"
Sirius, not wanting to hear any more of it, had sent a leg-locker curse at him as a distraction.
"Then fight back!" he roared. "I know you have it in you, you just need to stop doubting yourself!"
Remus opened his mouth to retaliate and Sirius shouted "Incarcerous!"
Remus slashed his wand in fury and deflected. He breathed heavily, staring hard at Sirius like he was seeing him clearly for the first time.
His eyes darkened, a feral shadow stirring within their depths.
Neither of them knew who raised their wand first— all they knew was before they could think twice, they were dueling harder than they'd ever battled in their lives.
"Stupefy!"
Sirius blocked it and waved his wand in a wide circle, crying, "Glacius Ventus!"
Frozen wind with sharp ice crystals hurled at Remus, who whipped his wand and yelled, "Aestus!"
The crystals turned to mist and he cast, "Vulpesortia!"
Three red foxes blossomed from his wand and then charged at Sirius, fangs bared as Remus commanded "Oppugno!"
Sirius flicked his wand hurriedly and thought, "Evanescere!" at two of them, but he was too late to get the third. It leaped at him and sank its jaws into his forearm, tearing and yanking at the fabric.
Yelling in rage, he slammed it into the stone floor and stepped on its tail, casting a Stunning charm at Remus before stabbing his wand into the fox which shattered into wisps of red smoke.
Remus aimed his wand at the exact time Sirius raised his and their spells met in mid air. Gold spell collided with violet, causing an almighty blast that consumed the room in a deafening explosion.
If anyone had been standing outside looking up at the seventh floor of the castle, they would have seen several windows shatter from a small room on the south end, and bursts of light soaring out the jagged glass for several more minutes. The sheer sound that rang out from their hidden room was enough to call the Slytherins from their dungeons. Explosions shook the topmost towers and the rumble of deflected and colliding spells rolled through the ancient stone floors and shook the steel on the suits of armor.
Inside their room, not a single feature was left unscathed. Every delicate trinket was destroyed, every cushion shredded or burning.
Plumes of black smoke rose up from the ruins of the mahogany desk and the squashy armchair. It filled the roof, building towards the floor, until Sirius suctioned the cloud into his wand and morphed it into a black marble canon ball and blasted it across the room towards Remus.
Remus flicked his wand and the stone smashed into the charred desk as it flew up to shield him. He then aimed his wand at the burning chair and turned it into a ball of flames which bounced twice on the ground in sync with his wand and then flew at Sirius, who ducked. It soared out the window and fell flickering into the glassy surface of the lake below.
Sirius turned back, whipping his wand to fire three Boil hexes across the room. But right as he dislodged his leg from a fallen stone and lifted his wand to deflect Remus' next curse, Remus blasted through all three of his hexes with a scream of rage and hit Sirius with a Disarming spell so powerful he was thrown backward into the cracked wall. His wand flew across the room and clattered loudly on the floor into the sudden tense silence.
Sirius groaned.
He lifted his hand to feel the back of his head. Warm stickiness was matting up his hair and his fingers were crimson when he brought them back. Panting heavily, he stared around at their battlefield.
Dust was settling in the air. The soft crackling from two burning cushions was the only sound besides their breathing. A cold night breeze flowed into the room from the shattered window panes and three craters in the wall.
He blinked and coughed harshly into his fist, spitting out clots of blood and dust. His arm was aching from the fox bite, and he was pretty sure he had at least one broken rib.
Swallowing, he looked up at Remus.
He was still standing there with his wand raised, frozen in the same position in which he'd fired his last spell.
They stared at each other for a long moment, the enormity of their actions finally crashing down on them. Slowly, Remus' arm fell to his side. His eyes had lost their hatred and fury. They were now searching Sirius' vulnerably as the orange embers of the fire glittered in his irises.
Tension swelled up, their emotions racing, their hearts hammering in their chests as they gazed at the other from across the ruins.
And then they snapped.
Sirius forced himself to his feet hurriedly as Remus chucked his wand on the floor and tore across the room at him, both speeding up as they drew nearer before smashing their lips together fiercely and falling to the floor in the passion of their embrace.
Remus fell hard on top of him, Sirius' already injured head smacking into a fallen brick. Stars burst under his eyelids in pain but he kept clutching at Remus, pulling him in closer and moaning insatiably.
Sirius opened his mouth and tried to devour more of him, whimpering as he felt their groins rub together. Excitement burned inside his abdomen as his cock hardened and he rutted up into the needy boy as they snogged wildly into the floor.
He reached up and slid his hands into the rumpled brown hair, nipping his teeth on the smaller boys bottom lip before plunging his tongue in again. They moved rhythmically in unison, their sticky lips sliding in equal pace and strength, ravenously consuming each other.
Remus finally pulled up and away from him, gasping hard for air. His fingers worked frantically at Sirius' chest, snatching as his clothes. A growl escaped his throat and he tore the fabric apart, shredding it open and dipping his head down to bite hard into the exposed skin.
"Fuck, Remus…"
The blood rushed into his cock as a warm wet tongue flicked at the wound. Remus grasped his torso and pulled him nearer as he sucked around one of his nipples.
Sirius tried to push him sideways and onto his back. He was usually on top and in control, after all— actually, he was always on top and in control.
But as Remus realized what he was doing, he growled dangerously and threw him back into the floor, glaring up menacingly as his mouth trailed lower.
"Remus," he breathed.
The smaller boy ignored him and sucked harder on his flesh.
His prick was aching, straining against his trousers in confinement. Remus cupped the bulge and Sirius moaned as his hand moved softly across it, stroking through the fabric. Then, without stalling for a second, Remus reached up with both hands, curled his fingers under the waist band of his pants, and yanked them down hard over his pelvis.
Sirius gasped in pain as the buckle bruised into his hip— but then they were past his thighs and past his ankles and quickly cast aside onto the floor.
Remus raised himself over Sirius as he writhed in need, and surveyed him with smoldering eyes. His breath hitched as he took him in, all messy and disheveled and wounded, his swollen cock throbbing in arousal.
Remus reached down to touch him lightly with the tips of his fingers, as if making sure he was real.
"Do you have any idea how beautiful you are?" he whispered achingly.
Sirius felt something swell in his chest. His need for the other boy increased tenfold and he squirmed beneath him, completely exposed.
"Have me, then."
Remus licked his lips and slid both of his hands onto Sirius' pelvis, staring at his leaking member with unhidden desire.
"So beautiful," he murmured quietly, before bending down to suck the glistening tip into his mouth.
Sirius gaped and closed his eyes in pleasure.
Remus lowered his head onto him and sucked steadily, rubbing the flat of his tongue into the slit to get more precum out.
He grasped Remus' brown hair for support and started thrusting up, slowly fucking his mouth as it bobbed on his dick. Remus was trembling and it took Sirius a moment to realize he was jerking himself off as he sucked.
"Harder…" he begged. "Suck it… harder…"
He could feel release boiling up inside him, his balls clenching as the wet heat of Remus' mouth pulled him over the edge—
"Oh, fuck!" he screamed at the ceiling— not in completion, but in frustration.
Remus had pulled off him and sat up, wiping his mouth sinfully on the back of his hand and grinning wickedly.
"Nnguh…" Sirius moaned, eyes shut tight— it was fucking torture to feel so much straining pleasure without the fulfillment of release.
"I didn't realize you were so close," Remus breathed, hands gliding over his thighs to comfort him. A large surge of precum dribbled onto Sirius' abs, his cock now a dark pink from all the pooling blood.
It took an extreme amount of control on his part not to reach down and finish himself off as he saw Remus twist around and reach for something on the floor. Sirius squeezed his hands into fists to restrain himself from jerking his aching member just once to end his agony.
Remus turned back towards him, now grasping his wand.
"What's the spell?" he breathed.
Sirius froze in fear.
Oh, shit…
He'd never done this before.
He'd never given himself over to anyone before.
And that loss of power was, in a word, terrifying.
He stared at the wand in Remus' hand, wondering if he could pretend he'd forgotten the spell—
—Until shallow needy breathing reached his ears. Tearing his frightened eyes off the wand, he glanced back up at Remus and all his fears seemed to vanish as he was overwhelmed with desire.
Remus, unbeknownst to Sirius watching him, licked his bottom lip with his tongue and reached down to stroke himself. His eyes were hooded and he moaned desperately, staring down at Sirius' body in lust.
Sirius felt his cock throb as he watched the muscles flex in Remus' torso. A glistening string of precum was leaking from his gorgeous prick onto Sirius' perineum.
Sirius' jutting cock bobbed as he bucked his hips uncontrollably and seethed hurriedly, "It's Voluptatem Totalus, but use Purgare first, they're both nonverbal."
Remus coughed dryly and pressed his wand against Sirius' pucker, casting both spells. Sirius held his breath as they both hit him and his heart rate sped up rapidly, fingers scrabbling against Remus' outer thigh to urge him closer.
Remus ran his hands up Sirius' sweaty body, lips parted achingly in need, and whispered against his collarbone.
"Lube?"
Sirius gritted his teeth and growled, "Glissant!" at Remus' cock. Slippery clear gel coated it from tip to base, and Sirius' mouth watered as he saw the liquid glistening and dripping off his swollen balls.
Fisting his hands into the mussed up brown hair, he nipped harshly on Remus' bottom lip and snarled at him, "Fuck me, Remus, do it and don't make me beg."
A wild, untamed look of surrender lit up Remus' face as he positioned himself over Sirius, spread his keens farther apart, and thrust in without hesitation.
Sirius arched back with shock— holy fuck, this spell was good. No wonder Remus had made him keep going the last time— there was no higher pleasure than this, no orgasm that could possibly compare…
Remus snapped his hips forward, releasing a pent-up scream of ecstasy into Sirius' shoulder as he pounded into him hard, arms trembling as they struggled to support himself.
"Oh, god yes!"
Sirius clutched at Remus' shoulders, thrusting upward, eyes watering from the intensity of it all. His leaking cock slapped hard into his stomach as the brown-haired boy rammed into him relentlessly and leaned up to pressed their foreheads together.
"So… tight…" he breathed as he dragged their wet lips together. One of his sweaty hands came up to wrap itself around Sirius' prick, stroking hard and fast as his groans became louder, signaling his peak.
It was too much for Sirius— a wrenched scream tore through his throat as the pleasure coiled in his groin and he shot all over Remus' pumping hand. His toes curled under and his neck arched back as the tremors rocked through him, giving himself over completely to Remus.
As he stared down at Sirius with undiluted fascination, Remus bucked three more times, incomprehensible curses and sentiments spilling from his lips as he came too, spilling inside the other boy. Trembling, he hung his head and collapsed against his body, panting hard, still sheathed inside him.
Their arms entwined around their bodies, holding each other closer and listening to the loud rhythmic beating of their hearts.
Stars had blossomed in the night sky and Sirius reached down to pull his shredded robes around Remus as they slowly sat up, groaning from their injuries and aching muscles.
Remus gasped as he slipped out of Sirius. Their eyes connected and Sirius reached up to brush a damp lock of hair away from his eyes.
"You're so incredible," he whispered, smiling widely.
Remus' mouth hitched up and he hesitated before letting out a burst of laughter and positively beaming down at him.
"You're not too bad yourself."
~*~ Please Review! ~*~