Chapter 2: Nightmares
"Are you all right?" Sirius asked as he sat down on the foot of Remus' bed. "It sounded like you were having a nightmare."
"Yeah, I'm fine," Remus said with a smile, Sirius' presence shaking off the ghost of his nightmare. Sirius patted him on the shoulder with a smile and started to get up to back to his own bed.
"Wait!" Remus said, grabbing at Sirius' bare arm- the boy only ever wore boxers to bed. "Don't go. Please. The nightmare- it'll come back. Please." Remus sounded close to tears. Sirius sat back down.
"Of course I'll stay. Budge up, then." Remus moved over and Sirius slid under the covers next to him. The bed was a little small for two sixteen-year-old boys, so Sirius scooted flush up next to Remus, wrapping his arm around Remus to save space. He could feel Remus' heart pick up pace slightly under his palm, but said nothing, assuming Remus would say so if he felt uncomfortable. He lay quietly waiting for Remus to speak up. However, Remus said nothing, so Sirius closed his eyes with a smile and fell into a deep sleep. Next to him, Remus too fell asleep to sweet dreams of entrancing grey eyes and strong warm arms.
Remus was the first of the Marauders to wake, just as he was every morning. For a moment he was confused as to why Sirius was laying next to him in his boxers before memories of the night before came flooding back. He blushed slightly and smiled, reveling in the feel of Sirius' arms wrapped around him. Then he sighed, knowing good things can only last so long, and proceeded to get up and ready for school.
When he came back into the room after showering, the other three boys were up. He went to his bed and got dressed, pulling his curtains shut as usual. When he emerged, completely dressed and ready to go, Sirius was coming out of the bathroom after taking his shower. Remus stared as Sirius walked by, towel wrapped around his waist, water still slowly dripping down his muscled arms and chest. He was practically drooling.
Sirius looked up and saw Remus staring. "Like what you see?" he joked, striking a pose playfully. Remus just blushed and muttered something about breakfast before hastily gathering his school things and leaving the room almost at a run. James and Peter gave Sirius a what-was-that? look, to which Sirius just shrugged, giving them a baffled look back.
By the time the three other Marauders had arrived at the Great Hall for breakfast, Remus was finishing off a bowl of porridge and had returned to normal. Sirius walked up and sat down next to Remus. The Gryffindors sitting nearest to them all went silent. Remus dropped his spoon with a clatter, and turned in his seat to stare at Sirius, breakfast forgotten. James and Peter still stood standing, looking at Sirius with wide eyes.
"What?" Sirius asked, slightly annoyed that everyone was staring. He was met by shocked silence. Eventually, Peter spoke up.
"It's just that… well, you never sit there." It was true. Every day, Remus and Peter sat on one side of the table, and Sirius and James sat across from them. It had been like this since the day they got Sorted.
"So what?" Sirius sounded peeved, but also a little defensive. "I want to sit here today."
James stared at Sirius, brow furrowed, head tilted slightly to the side. Sirius stared back at James, chin up and jaw set defiantly, but it seemed like there was something else in his eyes- almost like he and James were having some sort of silent conversation. After a few moments of this, James shrugged and walked around to the other side of the table. Peter followed James' lead, and Remus felt Sirius' body relax next to him. By then, the entire Gryffindor table had gone silent to watch the scene play out, but now they were all whispering excitedly to each other about this strange change. The Marauders may be mischievous and chaotic, and unpredictable as far as what prank they would pull next, but the group still had their routine. For something like this to be changed was unheard of. The only other time something like this had happened was back in the Incident in 5th year, which no one really knew much about, but still didn't like to think of.
Sirius piled sausages onto his plate and dug in as usual. Peter was far too distracted by the food to worry much further about what had just happened. James ate calmly and quietly, still seeming to be going over the silent exchange between him and Sirius, but otherwise at ease with the situation. Remus picked up his spoon again to finish his breakfast, but his brow was wrinkled as he thought about what had just occurred. He glanced down at his watch out of habit and sighed. It was almost time for class; he'd have to figure it out later. He got up from the bench and picked up his bag, heading down to the dungeons with the other Marauders.
Ten minutes later, Remus was seated next to Sirius, with whom he would be working on the day's potion. This was another change. Sirius was always with James, Remus with Lily, and Peter with Lily's friend Alice as his reluctant partner. Today, however, Sirius was with Remus, Lily with Alice, and James with Peter- Lily had pulled her wand out threateningly when James so much as took a step towards her to ask if she would be his partner. Remus felt bad for James, but not as bad as he felt for Sirius. While Peter was bad at Potions, Remus was completely abysmal. He would read the instructions carefully, doing exactly what the textbook would say, and yet he would invariably destroy the potion somehow. The only thing keeping him from blowing up his cauldron every lesson was Lily's extraordinary Potion's skills. Of course, James and Sirius blew up cauldrons at least once a month, but they did it to cause pandemonium- Remus, on the other hand, never meant to.
Luckily for Remus, though, Sirius was also fairly good at Potions. He was probably third in the class, after Snape and Lily. Remus watched as Sirius pushed his hair back away from his eyes, bending over the textbook to read the instructions. He told Remus what to do smoothly and efficiently. They were finished with their Hiccupping Solution before any one else in the class, and had done a very good job, too, which was a first for Remus. Usually, Lily took over and Remus just sat there, passing her ingredients as she asked for them. Sirius, on the other hand, had shown Remus what to do, letting him really contribute. Not that Remus was ungrateful towards Lily- it was really safer for all parties if Remus just sat to the side. However, it was nice to have someone show so much faith in him. When Slughorn performed one of his usual sweeps through the classroom, he stared at Remus' and Sirius' cauldron in shock. He had mumbled a quick word of congratulations for a job well done, and then continued on to the next cauldron. Remus had just smiled proudly.
"See?" Sirius whispered in his ear. "I knew you could do it." Remus couldn't help but shiver as he felt Sirius' breath on his neck.
James didn't miss this small exchange. He ran his fingers through his hair as he considered what he had seen in Sirius' eyes at breakfast. It had almost looked like Sirius was pleading with him to understand something. James just couldn't figure out what it was that he was supposed to understand. It was obvious Remus was the key- the key to what was the question. James resolved to owl Sirius about it over their Christmas Break.
As it had turned out, James hadn't needed to owl Sirius about it after all. Three days into break, Sirius had shown up on James' doorstep with his trunk in hand.
"I'm done with them," was all James ever got out of him. The Potters welcomed Sirius into their home, brushing aside his apologies for imposing and intruding on them. James' parents knew that Sirius and James were practically brothers, and they got their guest room set up immediately for Sirius. When Sirius mentioned something about getting a room at the Leaky Cauldron the next day, they just smacked him upside the head playfully.
"Nonsense," Mrs. Potter said, her hazel eyes twinkling merrily much like her sons. "You'll be staying here until break is over, and then going back to school with Jamie," she said, ignoring when James rolled his eyes at the silly nickname. "Then, if you want to spend Easter Break away from school, you'll come here again with Jamie and we'll put you back in our spare bedroom. Same goes for Summer Holidays."
Sirius had hugged her with tears in his eyes and thank you's on his tongue. Mrs. Potter just hugged him back, kissed him on the cheek, and sent him off to bed. When the boys returned to school, Sirius told Remus that he had left his family.
"My wish came true," Sirius said, somewhat excitedly. "Maybe yours will, too."
Remus had just looked at Sirius' smile and hoped that he was right.