To Love Someone
Chapter 2- Light Reading
The next morning, after getting about 3 hours of fitful sleep in the bathtub, Sirius returned to his room to find Remus gone and all of his stuff packed up, with the bed made and everything. Fuck, he thought to himself. Taking a shaky breath, he went about packing and getting ready for the day, putting off going to breakfast for as long as he could.
"Sirius! We were wondering when you'd be up, dear," Dorea said sweetly, setting a plate filled with bacon, sausages, and French toast in front of him at the table. She filled the glass at his plate with orange juice.
"Sorry, must have overslept," he told her, taking a large sip of juice. James and Peter both looked too tired to be fully aware of their surroundings as they ate their breakfast with their eyes half closed. There were bags under Remus's eyes, but other than that there were no signs that he had lost sleep over what had happened.
"You alright, son?" Charlus asked Sirius peering over the paper at him. "You're not eating your bacon."
"I'm fine, just a bit tired is all," Sirius explained. He took a dramatic bite of bacon, which made Charlus chuckle.
As he made pleasant small talk with Dorea about her French toast recipe, Remus slipped his hand into Sirius's under the table, lacing their fingers together. Sirius choked on his sausage.
"Alright there Padfoot?" Remus asked, smirking over at him.
"Just peachy," Sirius gasped, coughing up a half-chewed bit of meat onto his plate.
"Sirius, mate, that's disgusting," James groaned, flinging a bit of French toast at his friend.
"Went down the wrong pipe or something, I guess." He glanced sideways at Remus, whose attention was back on Dorea. Something weird was going on here.
After heartfelt goodbyes at the train station, the four friends were on their way back to Hogwarts for their last year.
"Can't believe we're seventh years now," James said, spreading out on one of the seats in their compartment.
"Seems like just yesterday we were ickle firsties," Peter chimed in, shoving James's feet off the seat next to him and plopping down.
"What time do you have to meet the other Prefects?" Remus asked James, settling in next to Sirius on the other side.
"Noon," the other boy answered.
"Can you wait an hour to see Lily?" Sirius teased.
"It's been an entire summer. One more hour isn't going to make a difference." James threw the wrapper from the chocolate frog he was eating at Sirius, who caught it and threw it back at him.
"What's the plan for this year, then?" Remus rolled his eyes and pulled a book out of his bag, settling in leaned up against the window for the long ride to school.
"There isn't one. What about you, Pads? Marlene McKinnon was getting pretty friendly at the end of last term."
"She's not really my type…" Sirius trailed off and fixed his gaze on Remus, who was already too lost in his book to realize what his friends were talking about.
"Bollocks. You don't have a type."
"Just because I haven't been in love with Lily Evans since first year doesn't mean I don't have a type." Sirius's voice took on an edgy tone, causing James to throw up his arms as if surrendering.
"Suit yourself, mate." The boys fell into a comfortable silence. Peter had fallen fast asleep against the cold window, and James was silently counting down the minutes until he got to see Lily again. Remus was still reading his book, with Sirius curled up on the seat next to him, his head in the taller boy's lap. With one hand, he held up his book, and with the other, he absentmindedly ran his fingers through Sirius's long hair. This wasn't unusual for the two boys, they were very touchy-feely friends, but this time, something was different. Even James could feel a slight shift in the air, but he shook it off. No way were his friends gay. They would have said something. Wouldn't they?
"Alright, well, I'm off. Duty calls, you know?" James told his friends after an hour, heading off to the Prefect's compartment.
"Keep it in your pants!" Sirius called after him, giggling. Remus tugged lightly on his hair. "Ow! What was that for?"
"What was what for?" Remus feigned innocence and smirked down at Sirius.
"You cheeky bastard!" The boys were smiling at each other when the train hit a bump and jerked Peter awake.
"What are you two smiling about?" He asked, giving them a weird look.
"James. He's pathetic," Sirius blurted out, blushing a little bit. Remus burst out laughing.
"Yeah. I can't believe he's still chasing Lily after all these years," he added, focusing his attention back on his book. Sirius drifted off to sleep, focusing his attention on the feeling of Remus's fingers in his hair.
"Sirius? Sirius, mate, it's time to wake up," Remus whispered quietly, gently scratching his head. The other boy's eyes slowly fluttered open, his vision coming into focus on Remus.
"What time is it?" He asked, his voice slightly hoarse from sleep.
"Time to get changed."
"Five more minutes." Sirius closed his eyes and snuggled into Remus, making the other boy laugh softly.
"James and Pete are going to be back, come on." Remus pulled Sirius up off of the seat and got both of their trunks down, throwing Sirius's robes at him. The two of them got changed in silence, backs to each other, and just as they finished, their two friends came barging into the compartment.
"Hello, my dear best mates! I hope you had an enjoyable train ride, mine was most fantastic," James practically sung, entering with a flourish.
"Finally manage to produce a successful cheering charm, then?" Remus asked, looping his tie around his neck and pulling it tight.
"Ha ha." James rolled his eyes and shoved his Muggle clothes back into his trunk as they pulled up to Hogsmeade station.
"Right, lads, ready to take Hogwarts by storm for one last year?" Sirius asked as they stepped off onto the platform and into a waiting carriage. They laughed and joked with one another on the way up to the castle and throughout the feast, and finally they were on their own in the castle.
"I've gotta go take the firsties up to their dorm and then do rounds with Lily, password is 'immortal,' I'll see you later tonight!" James shouted at them, running backwards to catch up to Lily and the first years. Remus rolled his eyes, the boy was whipped.
"I-I have to m-meet someone," Peter stuttered, before running off down a dark corridor.
"The bloke gets weirder every day, I'm telling you," Sirius muttered.
"Looks like it's just you and I for now, then," Remus grinned, linking his arm through Sirius's.
"I wonder how we could fill these lonely hours?" Sirius smirked and nudged Remus with his elbow.
"Yeah. I wonder." Remus smiled back at Sirius, and a plan started forming in Sirius's head. He and Remus had at least two hours before James would be back, and he knew exactly how he wanted to spend them.
They entered the full common room and were greeted by Frank Longbottom.
"Hey, guys! How were your summers?" The boy asked them, smiling brightly.
"Good, good! How was yours, Frank?" Remus asked, much to Sirius's annoyance. Frank was nice, but Merlin, the boy could chat.
"Not bad. Took a holiday with Alice and her family to Austria, that was fun."
"Austria seems nice, I've never been but I've always wanted to go." Frank launched into a whole spiel about Austria and it's history, architecture, and people. The look on Sirius's face was positively murderous, but luckily the enthusiastic boy didn't notice. Remus, however, did.
"Sirius, play nice," he whispered forcefully, tugging hard on a lock of Sirius's long hair.
"Ow," Sirius whisper-yelled. Frank didn't notice the two boys' side conversation, and continued talking for a good forty five minutes. Remus, being the polite bastard he is, didn't have the heart to tell Frank that they really didn't care about Austria, or about his mother. Augusta Longbottom was a sweet lady who made delicious oatmeal cookies, but Remus and Sirius had other things on their mind that they'd rather be doing.
Finally, when Alice showed up, Remus and Sirius were able to make their escape up to the dorms.
"Finally," Sirius groaned, flopping down onto his bed. "I love the guy, but he doesn't know when to shut up." Remus laughed and collected a pair of pajamas from his trunk.
"I'll be right back. I'm gonna go get changed and brush my teeth." The young werewolf disappeared into the bathroom, leaving Sirius alone to his musings. He and Remus had been flirting earlier, right? It could have been just his imagination, after all, he sometimes had trouble reading signals. No, he couldn't think like that. The night before, something had clicked between them. And, Remus had grabbed his hand at breakfast that morning! That had to mean something. With a huge smile on his face, he pulled on his own pajamas and cast a quick tooth brushing spell so his breath would be minty fresh when he kissed Moony again.
When Remus emerged from the bathroom, Sirius was lounging on his bed, looking through one of his many books.
"Doing a bit of light reading there, Pads?" Remus asked with an amused smile, sitting down next to his friend.
"Yeah, it's one of my favorites," Sirius told him, pretending to be engrossed in the book.
"Oh, really?" Sirius nodded. "I didn't realize you could read runes."
"I'm...learning?"
"Maybe I could tutor you." Remus grabbed the book out of Sirius's hands and set it down on the nightstand next to the bed. Sirius was looking at him with lust in his grey eyes, and Remus's expression mirrored his. The wolf was hungry.
"Maybe you could. You always did have a talent for tongues." As they bantered, they had gotten closer and closer, until their lips were just a few centimeters apart. Both boys were breathing heavily, their hearts pounding loudly in their chests. They were so close, their lips were just about to touch-
"Hello, lads!" James yelled enthusiastically, barging into the room. He was too into his own thoughts that he didn't notice the compromising position his friends were in, just flopped facedown on his bed with a happy sigh. With a quiet groan and a longing look at Remus, Sirius reluctantly made his way over to his own bed on the other side of James's, ready to listen to whatever Lily story his friend had for them.
A/N: I should probably mention that I don't own Harry Potter, nor do I own any of the characters, settings, or anything else you might recognize; if I did, I wouldn't be driving a 1992 Audi 100s. xxx