Past - In the previous chapter, shit happens and Sirius saves Remus' skin.

Fabian danced into my dorm, grinning and singing to himself, before he dropped to the ground in an elaborate finishing pose, an arm outstretched, the other curved elegantly, both pointing to the mess of red hair in top of his head.

"For the dance, I have decided to go-" His head lifted to look at me through a veil of vibrant colour "-ghingha!"

I moved towards him, giving him a faint smile "What, as opposed to ginger?"

"Mmhm... and it matches my eyes!" He shifted his head to look round me at the mirror "Oh, yes, I am one sexy beast!"

"Don't get your hopes up, kid," came the snide groan of his elder brother.

"Why, because in 2 years he might end up looking like you?" I laughed, hugging the youngest.

"Fuck off, Black!"

My grin spread – pissing him off was like an elixir of life, each blow making me float higher and higher "Oh, are you still smarting from when I put those Doxys in your pants draw?"

"Yes," he snarled "and that time you hexed my broom so it was stuck on right turn; and the time you drew penises all over the essay it took me 3 days to write that I didn't find out about until the next morning when I gave it to the professor and it had 'I LOVE COCK' written in capitals on the first page; and that time you put me under a confundus charm and gave me a frog with a blonde wig and made me snog it"- his whole body convulsed as if recalling something truly horrific - "and I snogged it until it died!"

I put my hand to my chest and pulled a sympathetic smirk "You know, it hurts to have such wisdom pulsing through my veins and, I've been hoping, that if I bang him hard enough, some of this wisdom will pass through me unto your little brother here."

The Ravenclaw's face scrunched up into a ball of ugly hate "You're a dick – imagine if I went and fucked your little brother!"

"You can have him! He's a munt!"

"Oh, shut up!" he snapped, throwing himself on the bed, next to Remus who was attempting to muffle his laughter "This isn't funny! You're supposed to be my partner!"

"Aw, is you ego hurt, Kaadweeb?" I chuckled.

"Didn't I already tell you to fuck off, Sirius I-have-pubes-for-hair Black?"

"If your pubes looked as good as my hair does, you'd probably be a porn star with a talking penis and, since you're neither, you can only dream that my hair looks like pubes!"

"Who says I don't have a talking penis?" he growled.

I paused for a minute in mock-contemplation "That might just explain why you're such a dick! Do you let your cock do the talking?"

"You know, you're like one of those wasps, the ones that crawl under your skin and plant their eggs and then when they hatch loads of tiny wasps burst out from the depths and attack people!"

"Hmm..." I smirked "I probably am – I mean I've already 'planted my eggs' in Remus and Fabian... I'd say Remus might even be ready to hatch so I wouldn't go anywhere near his hole for the next few weeks or you might be attacked by loads of tiny Blacks!"

He clambered to his feet and gave me daggers from across the room "No one speaks about my boyfriend like that! We're taking this outside!"

"I'm sorry, I was only presenting my wish to impregnate him..." My lip jutted and I pulled my puppy dog eyes "Besides, I like it in here – it's more embarrassing for you with more people around!"

He stepped towards me, nostril flared, flexing with each raging breath; eye twitching; fingers balling into a scarlet fist "Why don't you say that to my face, you little shit?"

I kept my expression quite vacant as he drew even closer to me, I wasn't threatened, I was curious to see what he'd do next.

"Well?" he spat as he effectively stood on me and pressed his furious little face ever closer to mine.

What it appeared, at that moment, was that he'd forgotten it was Sirius Black he was playing with and Sirius Black is not one to play fair or get into meaningless fights with idiots. So I licked from his weird-arse bum-chin to his hair line, giving him a pleased smile when I was done.

"You taste like loneliness and butt crack... I think you need to get that sorted out..."

"And you'd know all about what that'd taste like, wouldn't you?" laughed Remus.

"Yes, and I don't think it's yours though, yours tastes like roses and sweet things... or have you changed your diet since the last time I checked?"

"The last time you checked must have been over a year ago so probably..." and then he bore a wide grin "Oh, sorry, I forgot you liked to lick my arse in the night!"

"Oh, Rems, honey, it's not only in the night, I'm a full-time Remus arse lick! Ready for your every waking call! I like to lick surfaces after you've sat on them – it's the only thing that keeps me going these days!" I grinned.

"There's something seriously wrong with you, darlin'"

"Touché, Moons..." I rubbed my eye with my fist, trying to draw away the emotions that were building up within me through a faint punch.

This room was stifling me, the faces, the people, the tension, tightening and tightening as if we were all pulling for one dainty piece of rope. I wanted to push back, to let it all free. I needed to be alone. My body shifted itself to the door in a slow drowsy movement, scrambling for air, for peace, for a place to warm myself, warm the chest of a man with a glass heart; face clawing as it had been doing for the passing months, hurling into a look of hate, not that I did, I was just straining, straining to stop the tears.

"Toodle pip, I'm off to the races..." I called, trying to retain the norm.

I was going to die if it were like this tomorrow, if I had to watch them dance, if I had to induce their joy with a set of pleasant melodies, if I had to pretend I was happy. I was tired of pretending, sick and bloody tired of it. From this stand point, death seemed soothing, a friendly hand, a strawberry boat upon a river of bliss.

The dorm door clunked open behind me, followed by a crude slam.

"Where do you think you're going? I wasn't finished!" growled Clabe, grabbing my shoulder.

I turned slowly, giving him a cold, hard look – I wasn't going to waste my time or energy putting on an act for him "Well I was... so get out of my sight..."

"Oh, hard man! Getting all surly! Think you can take me on?"

"What is there to achieve if you fight me when there's no one around?" I sighed, pressing away from him and moving toward the staircase "Leave me alone..."

"I'm trying to assert my dominance over worthless losers like you!" he sneered, pursuing me further down the steps.

I leant against the wall and heaved down to my feet "Remus doesn't care about dominance, he needs your heart, your body, your love; not empty promises. If you can't give them to him your more worthless than any 'loser' you will ever encouter."

His throat gurgled with laughter "Who said this was about Remus? I just want destroy you, fair and square!"

"You've already taken everything I have and I lost my pride a long time ago – there's nothing left to destroy apart from an empty shell."

He smirked, passing me on the way down with a knock on the shoulder "I guess I'll have to take the shell, then..."