Past - In the previous chapter, Caleb smashes James up with a bludger, Lily joins the hate crew and Sirius develops a plan to crush the man.
I sank further into the blue and sliver sheets, head still firmly propped up by the spiralling mahogany bedposts, as a gazed across the gap at the impressionable 5th year. Fabian and I had been playing this 'game' for little over a month or so – one to show his brother he was a responsible adult and the other to destroy the man that stood in his way – though it hadn't conspired to much, other than the modest pursuit we liked to call 'sexy time' in which we'd lock his dorm off and jump on his bed making copulatory sounds until Kaaleeb almost broke down the door.
The boy shuffled on the other side of the bed and met my eyes. "Sirius?"
I gave a small regarding grunt and nodded for him to continue.
"Sirius, are we ever going to do anything proper?"
"Oh, your innocence never ceases to amaze me, Fabian." I chuckled, shaking my head in amusement of the child's naivety "By 'proper', what do you mean?"
"Like, well, proper… you know, like kissing and fondling and… SEX…" He pulled a wide nervous grin and fingered the duvet cover as if it were a truly intriguing relic, in what seemed to be an attempt to mask the initial randiness of the statement.
I scooted my body up a fraction and stared at him in an odd cocktail of humour and genuine intent. "You don't even know if you swing this way. The fact that your brother does makes me think that you don't…"
"Well I wouldn't know because I've never tried anything. Anyway, what if I wasn't gay, per say, and I just fell in love with a man? I mean we have the same interests, attitudes and you really wanted to fall for someone aga-"
"No, I've been down that road before and it's gotten me into more shit than it was worth…" I paused, mulling over the concept in my head. "Though, I do have a thing for rare stones and your gift… interests me…"
A small part of his face glowed as if some kind of candle had been lit within him, his eyes sparkling carefully inside his head. "Oh, well, I did collect stones when I was a child," he smirked "but I used to feed the ones I didn't like to the cat…"
"I think I like you even better the more I talk to you." I beamed, sliding forward across the gap and resting my head in my hand.
"Oh you always liked me!"
"Vain bastard"
"You can't talk – you're one of us!"
My body shifted further toward him, up to the point I was perched over him, mere inches from his face. "Enlighten me, Brown, what can you do with your gift? To what extent does it work?" I edged my face closer to his, to the point that we were breathing each other's breath, listening to the rhythms of each other's hearts – my every moral fibre screaming to go back, my head staying firmly in play "How about we give Mark Hamill a go? …What I quaint little Luke Skywalker you make… or this time Christopher Reeve… Oh Superman! Who'd have thought Fabian was a film nerd – it's not coming out until December!"
He bore a subtle grin and drew me closer. "Kiss me!"
"I'd be pleased to, Clark Kent…" I laughed, vibrating through our lips. "Real people now! Erm… James Potter… well… you got his nose wrong but good try… or… Lucius Malfoy." I let out a hearty yelp of happiness at the fact I was dominating over what appeared to be my cousins fiancé. And then my mind clicked, a cloud of dark thoughts seeping into my head, controlling the every part of my body. I leant into the boy's ear, playing with it a bit and then carefully whispered into the hole. "Why don't we try… Remus John Lupin?"
X
I dragged myself up the windinging staircase to my dorm, head scraping against the outer wall, pulling my hair into a lopsided mess, as I wallowed in an ugly disarray of self-pity and self-loathing. He was fifteen… that's not even legal… I was going to end up on some kind of sex offender's list and people would stare at me in the streets and say to their little children "Don't go near that man. He's the town pervert!" and then, eventually, I would depart this life a miserable elderly monster without a Remus Lupin to call my own…
I placed a firm hand against the old wood and pushed cautiously – him and Clabe had been in here when I'd left and, well, if they were going at it when I walked in I probably would have died on the spot.
"Hey… Caleb… what would you do if you found out that I was, say, a half-breed or something?"
I froze, leaving the door still only a crack open. Should I intervene? I mean this could cost him, if Kaaleeb was as clever as he pretended to be…
The boy snorted. "Well, what can I say? I'm a 'Mudblood'… Though, it would all have to depend on what sort of half-breed you were. For example, in the case of a Veela I probably wouldn't be that surprised: you're stunning!"
I gave him a hateful glare through the door, the smooth talking bastard.
Then there was a quite shuffle, the sort that meant nothing good. "But, if you were something like a werewolf, say – and I know I really shouldn't discriminate because in the wizarding world I'm not really top notch – but, I don't know… I think I would be sort of worried at first, and then I don't know what I'd do…"
Silence.
"Oh, come on… I still love you. I just think that this 'what if' is over the top – Werewolves are really intimidating creatures… I suppose it might be ok for you because you're gay so there's not really a chance of impregnating a woman with the devil-sporn… But, you must have heard all of the things that Greyback dude has done, it'd be a bit stupid not to be even a little scared by the idea of a werewolf!"
This man was, if possible, worse than me… and that meant a lot! So, if I didn't deserve Remus, he certainly didn't!
"What, so if I was a werewolf, you'd leave me?" he sighed, a quiver resting at the back of his throat.
I was in my right mind to walk into the room and punch the idiot. Which one, I hadn't decided yet, though Remus deserved it for being such an imbecile to think this arsehole would ever accept him and Kaaleeb deserved it for being such a (for use of a better word) mother-fucker!
"Oh, for God's sake Remus! Why are you hurt by this? It's not as if it's real! I've made it perfectly clear that this is a stupid 'what if?' and it shouldn't be put seriously! I'm sorry for hypothetically valuing my life!"
Oh Merlin… oh Merlin on a bike… I should stop this, stop it right now…
"What is it, Rems? Why all of a sudden? There must be a reason, right?"
A loud intake of breath seeped through the crack.
How could I stop it? He's on the verge of finding out… I could always blurt it out, but then I would ruin the life of the man I loved… I could interrupt… but the idea would already set in the Ravenclaw's mind…
"Are you o-"
I flopped into the room rather dramatically, as to whisk away any drags of the conversation. "Ugh, you have no idea how tired I am! There are still 4 days until my" I coughed sharply in an attempt to get them to take notice "time of the month, which makes me think it's gonna be a strong one!"
Remus stared at me in awe, eyes bulging from his head, Clabe handing me a heartfelt sneer.
"Rems, I know you hate me… but can you help me with my fury little problem this month as well? I know that last time it was pretty close but I really need you this time if my gut instinct is right…"
His face still held no promises. "What are you on about, Sirius?"
I dumped my body onto my bed. "Oh, come on… He's your boyfriend, you don't need to pretend in front of him – he needs to know your friends, right? It's better than him getting the wrong idea!"
"But-"
"I'm tired… I think I'm going to go to sleep…" I stood and made my merry way at undressing.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" came the shrill voice of the man I despised.
"Um… going to sleep…?"
"THEN WHY ARE YOU-"
"He sleeps naked…" Remus sighed, in the reasoning tone I just loved being surrounded by.
"What?"
"You know… n-a-k-e-d… your 'birthday suit'… when you're not wearing any clothes… like undressed… all exposed to the world…" I jeered, using the Ravenclaw's dark, unimpressed looks like some kind of fuel.
"Don't patronise me!" He growled.
"You're the one who asked. Besides," I clambered back onto the bed, completely unclothed, lying on my belly and lazily swinging my legs in the air "I'm what they call 'hot' and if you are truly as homosexual as you pretend to be you wouldn't be able to resist!"
He stared at me blankly, completely ignoring his partner who now had his head buried in his hands in shame. "What, pray tell, is there to resist about you?"
"Please don't get him started, Caleb!"
"Well," I smirked, propping my head in the back of my hand "My strong, comforting biceps that could protect you from harm; abdominals to touch all night; supple latissimus; ripping pectorals and my personal favourite: a nice firm arse." My head rolled to the side in order to observe the most beautiful man on the planet, see if he would understand what I was about to say. "In terms of my personality: though I may not seem the most faithful of characters and some of the things I do are downright idiotic, my intentions are pure; I care for those I love when they're in danger; I don't lie about my emotions; when I say you're beautiful, I mean it..."
He flinched a little, turning to Kaaleeb who was still regarding me with the utmost despising.
"Is that it?"
"Oh, I could list more, but then we'd be here forever. Goodnight!" My body rolled to face the wall and I wrapped myself in my bedding like a sexy human fajita.
"What?" perked the wonderful voice of my Remus Lupin "But you need to be there when I announce to the house about the Easter Ball the Prefects are organising!"
"I'm not putting my clothes back on..." I sighed, turning my head a little so that I could see him "Just say it now!"
"Oh but I thought you'd like to bask in the glory of being jumped on by and army of little girls..."
"Shut up and get on with it or I'm going to stop listening!"
"Well, I think you know what a ball is, but the point I need to talk to you about is that Flitwick told me to tell you he wants you to play piano."
"Tell Flitwick that I told you to tell him to fuck off!" I snarled, flipping my head back to its original place and curling up.
He chuckled a little. "Yeah, he thought you'd say something like that... so, with a bit of persuading on my part, he said if you do, he'll charm your bike to fly!"
"I love you, Remus John Lupin!"
He didn't reply...