Three of the four marauders sat in an abandoned corner of the library, two of them thoroughly unhappy with their placement. "Moony! Why are we here, the library's a horrible, horrible place to spend a Saturday!" Sirius groaned, face buried in the large tome in front of him as he clasped Remus' hand desperately.
"You're supposedly looking up useful pranking spells. I am trying to do my charms work." Remus stated calmly, squeezing Sirius' fingers slightly as his eyes never left the text book in front of him.
"I think I'm allergic to this place..." James muttered darkly, squinting his eyes against the burning pain of being trapped in the library as he sneezed several times on the trot. "Can't you just take the book out and read it in the common room?"
"No. Its one of the older tomes, I'm not allowed to take it out. You and Pads are free to leave if you're so desperate to go." Remus retorted, placing his quill down for a moment to turn the tome's large page. "I can more than hold my own in a library, I don't need bodyguards and I'm quite happy with books for company."
"Psh. Pads won't bloody leave your side!" James huffed, crossing his arms exasperatedly. "And Peter's rubbing me the wrong way today, Lily's nowhere to be found and everyone of note is revising for bloody tests!" Remus sighed, running a hand through his ash locks before glancing between James, the look of an overly tired mother resting on his face.
"Pads, why don't you go with James and play cards or chess for a while?" Remus stated slowly, leaning forward onto the table.
"But I want to play with you!" Sirius pouted, brow falling unhappily.
"Sirius. Don't act like a child, its unbecoming. You can play with me later. Me and James have 'joint custody', per say, and right now, its time for you to play with James. I'm sure he'll go out on the quidditch pitch with you or something." Remus stated, seeing James' face light up like a lantern at the mention of quidditch.
"Siriuuus, Don't act like a chiiiild, it's unbecomming!" Sirius mocked, standing up and nodding to James tiredly. James jumped up happily, throwing his bag over his shoulder and attempting to drag Sirius out of the library, but Sirius stayed stationary for a moment, smiling at the werewolf hopefully. With a roll of his eyes, Remus stood up, homework forgotten as he wrapped his hand around the back of his partner's head and pulled him in for a rapid, passionate kiss, other hand trailing his partner's face languidly. Pulling back slightly, Remus rested their foreheads together, staring into Sirius' eyes.
"Have fun playing quidditch." He whispered breathlessly, a smile playing on his lips.
"I do wish you two wouldn't do that in front of me." James squirmed, pulling on Sirius' arm. "Its nauseating."
Remus smiled as James dragged Sirius away, the pureblood not breaking eye contact until the last possible second. Touching his lips lightly, he sat back down, completely oblivious to the silent figure watching between the books.
James jogged back from the Quidditch pitch rapidly, victory playing on his lips as he heard Sirius curse behind him. The aristocratic Black child shouted that he was going to search for Remus, and James grinned, amused by the budding relationship between his friends.
"Is there a reason why you're grinning like a maniac, Potter?" James turned to face the voice, spotting Snape smirking at him, Lily in tow trying desperately to pull him away from the griffindor.
"For the love of Merlin, Severus, leave James alone." Lily huffed, pulling at the slitherin's arm with all her might, though her words escaped the notice of both parties.
"I was just reminiscing about the time we charmed you upside down very near here." James sneered, eyes boring into Snapes own. "Fancy a repeat performance?"
"James! Don't you even think about it Mister, I am not going to let you -"
"Perhaps you should mind your tongue, Potter." The look from Snape made James' heart drop, and although his bravado remained in tact, inside his mind was churning. "There are certain facts, about certain people, that I'm sure would be rather... damaging, were they to escape, lets say, from my lips."
"You're bluffing." James stated easily, lips tightening as he glared at Snape. "This is all just some elaborate way of getting me in a position you want."
"There are some that say the Marauders, as a group, are too close to be 'just friends', but I happen to know that there are certain people within that group that are in fact much more..." Snape smirked,
"You sneaking little lying bastard!" James threw himself forward, only to be stopped by the tiny body of Lily Evans.
"Both of you, stop this right now!" Lily yelled, glaring between the two older men angrily. "James, stop threatening Snape. And Severus, what on earth do you think you're doing, threatening MY friends over frankly trivial matters? You do both realise that there's a war going on outside these gates, and this is how massive conflicts start, with a few harsh words between petty enemies. Severus, go back to the Slitherin common room, and don't even think of whispering a single word of what you know to anyone. You hear me? ANYONE. If you so much as think of telling the rest of Hogwarts, you can cross me off your already short friends list." Snape slinked off sullenly, glaring at James as he disappeared into the shadows surrounding the castle. Sighing, James stepped closer to Lily, knowing whatever happened in the next 2 minutes could make or break their relationship.
Apologise. A voice that sounded surprisingly like Remus resonated through his head. Even if you think you did nothing wrong, apologise. "I'm sorry, I just don't deal well with people threatening Remus or Sirius, and it was -" Lily placed a hand to his lips softly, smiling gently.
"Its okay." Lily nodded, removing her hand quickly. "Severus was threatening your odd little pack-like group, so you went on the offensive. Once again, it was almost sweet to watch you defend them." Lily grinned. "Just, next time, use your wit, not spells or threats of violence."
"I'll try." James smiled cautiously back, completely unsure of how to behave around a 'nice' Lily. Glancing at her watch, Lily headed to the castle, walking backwards as she smiled at James.
"I've got to tutor some fifth years. See you round." She smiled, waving over her shoulder as she turned to jog into the castle. James grinned once more, scuffing his feet upon the floor. Man, I need to listen to that Remus voice in my head more. Time to stop trying to shut it up with Chocolate.
Remus left the library as the sun was setting, rushing down the corridors to ensure he didn't have to deal with a very annoyed Sirius when he finally reached the dorms. Reaching one of the more empty corridors in the fourth floor, he slowed his walk, overly aware of the unnatural silence filling the hall. The lights began to flicker, before darkness ascended through the tight corridor, Remus slowing to a complete halt as cold fear of the unknown filled his veins.
"Well well well, what do we have here?" Remus frowned as the voice ricocheted around the corridor, the distinctive sound of a 'click' paired with heavy, rich boots filling Remus' heart with dread as he spun to see the approaching heir, followed by a number of large brutes.
"Lucius." Remus nodded courteously, still hoping in the depths of his heart that he could escape.
"That's Mr Malfoy to you... Remus." The pureblood smirked as he repeated the name, uttered in his ear by one of his passing guards. "A lot has changed since I left three years ago." He stated, circling Remus slowly as he examined every inch of the teen in front of him. "Its amazing how fast a little bit of money and a few threats here and there will push you up the social ladder. I'm here on official ministry business, and as such I am now officially your superior, and should be treated as such."
"Ministry Business?" Remus stated lightly, feeling more than put off by the older man's forward behaviour.
"Background checks." Lucius grinned, sharp teeth ready to tear into Remus. "We wouldn't want anyone untoward gaining an education here, you know." The pureblood banged his cane harshly on the wooden floor, and one of his followers scurried forwards, immediately whispering towards Malfoy.
Remus' frown deepened as he spotted the chart in the brute's hands, his sensitive hearing too affected by the thudding rain hitting the roof to pick up any conversations not directly at him. Nonetheless, when the word 'werewolf' was whispered into the tall man's ear, it may as well have been screamed across the room.
Hairs stood up on his neck as Remus looked for an escape route, noting the widening grin on Malfoy's face with a mix of fear and confusion. "My little beast." He stated, both hands resting on his cane securedly. "Continue, Wilkson."
"Currently in a relationship with Sirius Black." Remus' brow deepened as he wondered silently how they had come to know this, and Lucius' brow raised at this information, before Lucius smiled once more.
"The blood traitor?" Lucius confirmed, turning to face his brute for a moment. At the affirmative nod, his smile widened tenfold. "Really? In that case, I'll have so much more fun breaking you." Lucius hissed, placing the silver head of his cane under Remus' lowered chin to raise him to eye level. Remus winced as the cold abrasive metal hit his skin, unable to compress the quiet whimper of pain that left his lips at first touch.
"Hurts, doesn't it?" Lucius laughed, his brutes joining in and halting in time with the pureblood's laughter. "They say that silver feels highly acidic to the skin of a werewolf, burning through it with the power of a strong potion." Remus felt a few cold drips of blood slide down his neck, and his breath hitched in his throat as the pain hit harder, burning through layers of skin as if it was mere cobwebs. The circle laughed at the apparent pain on the werewolf's face, though a sharp glance by Malfoy soon silenced them. "Now, if you behave, we shan't have to do that too often."
Lucius cursed as he heard approaching footsteps "Don't whisper a word of this to your precious Black traitor, else he'll be the one lying broken at the end of our visit." Lucius smirked, handing his cane over to one of his brutes. "And remember, around here, the walls have ears." He smirked, before clicking his fingers once. The lights dimmed, and by the time they brightened once more Remus was alone in a near-empty corridor, just one pair of worried footsteps approaching him rapidly.
He tried to focus his eyes, to get a grip on reality once more, and smiled thankfully as he spotted the lithe figure of James Potter in front of him. "Rem! Was that Malfoy? What is - Oh, you're bleeding!" James frowned, dropping his bag to the floor so he could tilt Remus' head upwards to look at the burn under his chin. "Maybe you should go to Mme Pomfrey, this looks pretty bad."
"James, I just fell over on the stairs, its not that bad." Remus smiled, insides in turmoil as he tried to understand what had just happened. "I can fix it myself, don't worry."
"If you're sure..." James frowned, picking his bag off the floor and letting it go with a shrug. "Common room?"
"Kitchen first, I'm starving." Remus grinned twitchily, glancing around once more in confusion, hoping he could stem the flow of blood before Sirius saw it and went into full blown panic over the injury. Sighing tiredly, he lead the way to the kitchen, smiling to ease the worried look on James' brow.
Review numbers are vastly declining, how depressing... I guess this story is getting worse! Ok, reviewers, I need constructive criticism! What am I doing wrong, what am I doing right, etc! :)
Also. I have 3 'new' Remus/Sirius oneshots on my profile; 'Mr Tambourine Man' and 'Seven Stages of Grief' are angsty little ditties, but they were fun to write and very lacking in reviews. '10 Occasions When Kissing Is Not Appropriate' is a much more light hearted affair, and currently much more popular than the other two. Ok. that's enough self endorsement! Onwards.
OH! Little spoiler of a fic in progress before we go;
"No. I take it back. I don't agree to this at all. I don't like Padfoot. I don't." Remus shook his head, mind spinning from the absurdity of it all. Yes, occasionally he would look over at Padfoot with what could be mistaken for admiration, but that was just because he was wondering how his friend achieved such shiny locks! And okay, occasionally he would consider what it was like to hold one of those large, aristocratic hands in his own, but that didn't make him gay..."
If anyone fancies Beta-ing this (currently unnamed) story, please tell me so! :) Much love.
