Great, Imposing Things

There was no day in the year more anticipated by Sirius Black that the first of September. It was better than Halloween, and April Fools. It was better than Christmas, even if there was significantly less pudding involved. It was that wonderful day when, after three months being alone and miserable at home, he would see his friends again.

This year was slightly different, of course. He hadn't been at home for two of those three months, and never intended to be there again. He had already spent a week with the Marauders, drinking and swimming and setting things on fire - generally doing everything they could think of that Remus wouldn't let them do at school.

This year, he was doing it backwards. It was strange, finding himself twitchily scanning Platform 9¾ for any sign of Kreacher, so as to successfully avoid the horrid little thing, rather than looking for a tuft of ridiculous hair, or the awkward jerky movements of a tall boy in a jumper too small.

Indeed, James and Remus had been stood with him until moments ago, the three of them having travelled to King's Cross together from the Potter's. They had barely boarded the steaming train before James had spotted a flash of red hair and bolted after it armed with a very sorry attempt at puppy dog eyes, and Remus had wandered off to attend the prefects meeting.

For a few minutes, Sirius just stands in the middle of the corridor, gazing up and down for anything familiar - be it in a Wahey-I've-found-you! sort of a way, or the more likely Oh-God-I-Wish-I-hadn't. After a moment, he decides he probably looks like an idiot, and makes his way up the train. He slowly moves past the compartments, peering into each of them and hoping to find it empty. When at last he manages to find something recognisable, it is most definitely of the Really-wish-I-hadn't variety.

In a swish of black school robes trimmed with green and silver, Sirius finds himself looking at his own slate-grey eyes on a face that is so similar to his own, but so different. The first thought through his head, bizarrely, is that his nose was much nicer. Somehow, Regulus manages to look down at him despite being several inches shorter. Which is infuriating.

' Oh,' Regulus said, both looking and sounding so much like Walburga that Sirius briefly considers the involvement of Polyjuice. ' It's you.'

' You sound disappointed,' Sirius said, forcing a cheerful tone. ' Not happy to see your big brother?'

The younger boy's mouth curled downwards in a way that clearly said not.

' Of course not,' Sirius said, lightly. ' I suppose it's a poignant reminder of everything you don't have the bollocks to be.'

' Quite the opposite,' he spat, his face the mask of contempt.

It struck Sirius that that was exactly what it was. A mask. Regulus had always looked up to him, or he thought he had, before he had come to school. But he had never had the guile to defy their parents openly. He wanted their approval so desperately. It was more than a little sad, Sirius thought. That didn't mean he was going to be any easier on his brother.

' Hmm. And you've been hailed the perfect son since I left, have you?'

Regulus had always been frighteningly good at keeping that Pureblood indifference in his expression, but Sirius was just as well trained in the art. He spotted the cracks - the twitch of a muscle beneath his left eye, a slight clench in the jaw. He had touched a nerve. The people he had called parents weren't capable of love.

' Didn't think so,' he said quietly, stepping forward to move down the train.

Regulus didn't step aside and before Sirius could wonder why, they had been joined by another black-haired boy in his school robes. Between the greasy curtains of hair, the thin pale face of Severus Snape sneered out at him.

' Snivellus!' Sirius cried, suddenly brimming with a vicious excitement at the prospect of some good, old fashioned hexing.

Snape seemed to have other ideas though. He hadn't moved to clutch his wand, or flinched and ducked away like he normally did. He stood with his arms crossed over his chest, sneering stupidly around the obstacle of his massive nose. Sirius raised his eyebrow questioningly.

' Problem, Black?'

' Wow, Snivelly, I'm impressed. Did you finally grow a pair over summer?'

' Hmm, very funny,' he said, voice slow and slimy. It was a very disconcerting tone, a sudden confidence in the drawl. ' But I fail to see why I should be afraid of a boy that ran away from his own mother.'

Sirius didn't even think to draw his wand before he had lunged at the oily boy with his fists. He heard a satisfying crack as his knuckles collided with that hideously prominent nose. He had thought they were alone in the corridor, and was surprised when a female voice spoke up.

' Stop that right now.'

' Evans,' Sirius said, desperately grasping for some kind of composure. ' He deserved it. You didn't…'

' I know. I was talking to them. I'll have ten points from each of you. You're lucky it's not more, for a premeditated attack on a fellow student,' Lily said calmly, in full prefect mode.

' Ahnd he ghets nohing fhor breahkin' mah nohse?' Snape cried through the blood streaming down his face.

Lily took a step towards him, then knelt down. It was an awfully friendly gesture, belied only by the harsh tone of her voice when she spoke.

' I heard what you said, Severus,' she warned, dangerously. ' And I don't think you should forget how much we've shared over the years. I still remember every word.'

It was a warning neither of the Blacks understood, but Sirius noticed Snape's already pale face lose what little colour it had. That could've been blood-loss, though, as there was rather a lot of it. Lily stood up, and the movement seemed to spur Regulus, who had been staring gormlessly at the scene, back into action.

' Get off him, you filthy mud blood.'

Lily turned around to dock him more points, no doubt, and only just avoided being covered in goo as the Slytherin heaved and vomited up a long, slimy grey slug. She looked up at Sirius, who determinedly met her gaze. He wasn't going to let his pathetic sheep of a brother call anybody that. She grabbed Sirius' arm and ushered him down the carriage, leaving Regulus gagging on slug-jelly and Snape choking on his own blood.

He was fully expecting a bollocking, and was well prepared to blank it all out when she started. He was taken completely by surprise when she smiled at him.

' What're you smiling for? Shouldn't you be threatening me with death by McGoogles?'

' Probably,' she said, still smiling.

' He must've hit me back, and I didn't notice, right in the head. Hard. This doesn't make sense. Even for me.'

' That was very sweet of you, back there. Thank you,' she said, pointing at a compartment before she walked away and adding. ' They're in there. And I won't tell McGoo- err, Professor McGonagall.'

Surely he imagined that slip-up? Lily Evans, prefect extraordinaire and general do-gooder, almost not properly addressing a Professor? That's almost less likely that Peter not swallowing his own tongue whenever a girl come within five feet of him. It was surreal.

' Thanks,' he muttered, but she'd already gone.

Sirius eased open the compartment door to find James and Peter sat on one seat, leaving the other completely empty. Bloody inquisition, he thought, wondering what he had done now. He didn't think he had offended anybody important, or accidentally spilled anyone's deepest darkest secrets. Lately.

' Err,' he said, eloquently. ' All right?'

' Fine. Yeah.'

' Right, Prongs, enough with the clipped pleasantries. Out with it.'

' Oh nothing,' he said in a tone that tried to be light but only managed to be high-pitched. ' Don't know what you mean. Nothing wrong at all.'

Peter shook his head slightly, and gave Sirius an apologetic look. Sirius put on his best indifferent expression and set his gaze level to his best friends. James refused to meet it for a moment then, all at once, jumped out of his seat, arms flailing in a mass of uncoordinated movement. It was dizzying. And very annoying.

' You were with Lily!' he says, accusingly. ' What were you doing with Lily? I don't like you being near her, communicating with my Lily!'

' Your Lily? Maybe you should tell her that,' Sirius retorts, loudly. Peter winces in the background.

' I don't want my chances with her ruined because you can't control yourself! You'll scare her off and she'll never even look at me again!' James wails, still flailing like a madman.

' I don't think you need my help there, mate,' he said with as much venom as he could fathom. ' Your great, conceited fucking balloon of a head'll do that for you.'

Without waiting for a reply, he stomped out of the compartment, slamming the door as hard as he could.

Whenever Sirius needed time alone on the train full of students, he snuck down to the very end of the train and unlocked the charmed door he knew was there, but couldn't see. It led out to a three foot wide fenced platform, evidently an emergency exit of some sort. His first thought when he had found it, at the beginning of his second year, had been Who hides and emergency exit? His second thought had been I wonder if anyone would notice if Snape never made it to the school, which answered his first one rather nicely.

Sirius slid down against the rails, legs splayed, head thrown back, eyes closed to the passing clouds, and tried to block everything out. He concentrated on the blustering wind around his little bubble of shelter, the rustling as it whipped the leaves on the trees that flickered in a blur of green and brown.

He knew he shouldn't have reacted so strongly, should have stayed and talked it over. But Sirius wasn't in possession of a particularly broad spectrum of emotional capabilities, and he acted without thinking, as demonstrated many times before. His brain had stopped even trying to provide him with appropriate responses, and resorted to anger. He could do anger.

He wasn't sure how long he was sat there before the door slid almost noiselessly open. It was closed carefully, quietly, and Sirius knew who it was without opening his eyes. With three short, light steps Remus was standing in front of him.

' James told me what happened.'

' I don't want to talk about it, Moony,' he said flatly.

' Okay,' was the response, and the werewolf didn't move.

There was a silence of complete stillness, then as rustle of shifting clothes as he crouched down, perched precariously on his heels between Sirius' knees. Another pause, a hesitation and then there was a hand on his thigh. It was nervous, fingers twitching tentatively, and Sirius opened his eyes to meet the questioning brown of Remus', which were closer than he'd expected.

' I don't really want to talk about that either,' Sirius supplied, ignoring the slight flush he could feel on his cheeks and keeping eye contact.

' Well,' Remus supplied, a little hoarsely, ' We don't have to talk.'

Sirius swallowed hard, certain he had misheard the implications in the statement. He stared for a moment, then blinked and Remus stood up again, taking Sirius' hand.

' Now come on, Pads. You'd better talk to James.'

Sirius allowed himself to be pulled back into the train and down the corridor, mainly because this meant Remus was essentially holding his hand. His grip was firm, just the right combination of guiding and forceful. Sirius rather liked it.

When they reached the compartment, James was pacing it's four step length. He jumped when the door closed, and looked deservedly abashed. He blinked too many times in a minute, his mouth flapping furiously but soundlessly before Peter broke in.

' I think he's trying to say he's sorry.'

James nodded solemnly, adding, ' I panicked, mate. It's just - she didn't hex me this morning. I talked to her and everything, and she didn't even draw her wand!'

' Significant improvement,' Remus said, encouragingly.

' I reckon she's having a funny turn,' Sirius said. ' She didn't report me to Minnie McGoogles for fighting, either.'

' Must be ill,' Peter speculated.

' Everyone can have an off day,' James said, sighing contentedly. ' I think I'd miss it if she didn't ever shout at me.'

' I wouldn't,' Remus put in. ' You were fighting?'

' Anyone we know?'

' We know everybody, Wormtail, you prick!'

' Not the first years,' Remus observed, then he frowned. ' You haven't been fighting first years, have you?'

' You really think that little of me, Moony?' Sirius asked, and received a raised eyebrow and a quirk of a bitten back smirk. ' You'll like it, Prongs.'

' Snivelly?' he asked, hopeful.

' Yup,' Sirius replied, grinning. ' Broke the bastards nose, great imposing thing that it is.'

The three of them fell about laughing, and even Remus didn't look wholly disapproving, and everything horrible about the day was completely forgotten.

My sincere apologies for posting then taking this chapter down. I re-read it and really wasn't happy. There was way too much going on in one chapter, and it didn't flow well. Also, I managed to make Sirius out to be a right man-slut, which always annoys me, so out it went. As such, I have made appropriate changes, both to the chapter and to the story plan in general. Speaking of which…

I could use your help. I have some scenes planned that involve our favourite canine couple to be fairly publicly affectionate, but when I thought about it, I'm really not sure whether Peter should know about them or not. I guess my thinking is that this relationship was canon, so I want it to fit as well as possible. And I really think that if Peter knew about the relationship, she would've brought it up in PoA, in the shack. The only reason Harry believed Sirius was because Remus did, and if Peter could have said 'Well you would take your boyfriends side', I am sure he would have. So, what do you think?

Thanks for reading, Pleas let me know what you think. Thank you!