Year 7
1977
Late October
The werewolf had just destroyed the bed by ripping it to pieces and the he watched in the corner as the dog crawled on his belly towards him. The wolf knew something was wrong, he could feel his side stinging and looked down. There was a weird object sticking into him. He scrabbled at it with his paws and whimpered every time the wood moved.
Prongs stood in the corner, stamping his feet and blowing hot air as he anxiously watched him. The wolf growled in his direction, distracted for a brief second by the smell of fear rolling off the animal's body. The dog was at his feet now, whining in the back of his throat. Moony let the piece of wood fall to his side and bared his teeth at Padfoot in a silent growl. There was a quiet yipping sound coming from the smaller black canine in front of him, but the werewolf ignored it and instead turned in circles trying to look at the wound that was now leaking blood across the floor. The large stag lumbered forward, backing Moony into a corner.
He howled as loudly as he could and was cut off midway as he felt the dog lick at his side. He looked down. The other animal was trying to fix the damage the bed had caused as he licked the fur of the werewolf, now matted with blood and dust. Moony shook his head viciously as he felt himself grow dizzy. Suddenly he collapsed on the ground and felt himself prodded onto his good side by the antlers of the stag. The dog was still there, but now a smaller animal, a rat, was scampering around Moony's face making annoying squeaking noises. Moony gathered his strength and snapped at the rodent a few times before it got the message and scurried away, out the door.
The stag watched through the boarded windows for the first rays of light, but Remus could feel the moon's pull waning. There was a disturbing snapping sound and he howled again, feeling the pain in his broken leg more acutely as it began to shift back to human bones. The werewolf closed his eyes and panted as Remus readied himself for the transformation.
When he howled again the dog and stag fled the room. He whuffed pitifully and opened one bloody eye in time to see a man with mangy black hair standing by the door. The man's mouth opened and the werewolf saw it moving, heard the sounds, but couldn't make them out.
Bite. Blood. Human. Bite.
Those were the werewolf's last thoughts as he tried to stand again. He lunged towards the door and the three wizards standing anxiously on the other side heard his heavy body thump against the magically reinforced wood before another howl broke the silence. In just a few short moments Remus would be back.
Sirius hopped from foot to foot as he waited for the noise in the other room to still.
James and Peter had their wands out. James's face twisted painfully when he heard the howls turn to human cries and he made a move for the door, but Sirius had already opened it and was stepping inside. James and Peter followed him quickly, stopping dead when they saw the mess on the floor and the huddling mass of broken flesh and bones that was their best friend. James snapped out of his fear quickly and knelt next to Remus.
"Pete, go wait and come get us when you see her."
Sirius tossed the bundled Invisibility Cloak at Peter.
"Hurry up, Sirius. There's still blood everywhere!" James yelled anxiously, scrambling under the bed where Peter had hidden Remus's clothes earlier in the night. He threw the shirt to Sirius who pressed it quickly against Remus's broken side to try to stem the bleeding.
Peter ran back down the tunnel as fast as he could.
"Jesus Christ." Remus moaned, keeping his eyes closed. His entire left side felt like it was oozing molten lava. "Why do I feel like I'm on fire?"
He squinted up from the bloody floor of the Shrieking Shack and was met with the top of James's scruffy head.
"Shh, Moony. Just lay still for a minute." Sirius seemed to appear from thin air on his other side and gently held him down.
Remus felt light headed and blinked a few times, hoping he would stop seeing three of James's head.
"Fuck." James whispered as he took the bloody remnants of Remus's shirt off the werewolf's ribcage. It was only a few minutes after dawn.
They hadn't been able to take Moony out into the forest and the werewolf had been ferocious. In his rage he had torn apart the large bed upstairs and managed to slice open a good portion of his left side on the splintered beams, Padfoot had reacted instinctively, licking the wound to but it had done no good. Sirius also suspected his left leg was broken, mauled when the werewolf had tumbled down the stairs in their frantic game of 'tag' earlier. This was a particularly serious injury, but the shock was setting in and Remus was delirious.
"Fucking hell, James, put the pressure back." Sirius nearly shouted. He scrambled for Remus's pants and school robes, also under the bed.
Remus really wanted to open his eyes to see what was wrong, but he found himself quite incapable of moving anything.
"Guys, she's coming. Just exited the castle."
"Shit, we have to go."
"Remus, hold this there, mate. Come on, just hold it tight."
"He can't hold anything, he's almost passed out."
"If we leave him he'll bleed out in the next three minutes."
"Well we can't stay."
"You and Peter go now, if you hurry you can slip out of the willow before she gets too close. Then hide behind that wall. Meet her outside the hospital wing like usual and leave me the cloak."
"Pads you're going to get caught."
"That's not important, James! Hurry up before she gets here and we all get expelled."
James and Peter grabbed their winter cloaks and exited the room. Sirius tossed the invisibility cloak over himself and shifted to Remus's other side. He held the boys bloody t-shirt in place and carefully watched his friend's breathing.
"Siri?" Remus whispered.
"Yeah, mate, I'm here. You need to be quiet though, no talking while we wait for the matron. She can't know I'm in here, remember?"
"Yeah…" Remus's voice was barely more than a breath. Sirius found himself bouncing on his heels anxiously watching the door.
He heard soft footsteps on the stairs and sighed in relief.
"She's here, Moony. I need you to hold this, and here let's cover you up a bit," Sirius flung the boys pants over his naked legs and held his hand over the soaked shirt.
"Why's this rag all wet, Siri?" Remus asked.
"Shh, Rem. Shh. Just sit right there and don't move."
Sirius dropped his friend's hand and pulled the cloak over his head just as Matron Fairley entered the room.
"Oh my!" she cried, diving next to Remus. "Mr. Lupin? Mr. Lupin can you hear me?"
"Who are you? Where's Sirius?" he slurred, his head rolling about helplessly on the floor.
"I'm Matron Fairley, Remus. I need to get you to the hospital wing immediately. You're hurt very badly." As she spoke, Sirius watched her conjure a stretcher. She carefully levitated Remus's mauled body onto it and scooped up his clothes.
"Here you are, Remus. Drink this." She pulled a nasty looking vial from her small Healer's bag and held the werewolf's head delicately as she poured it down his throat.
"S'awful." Remus sputtered.
"Yes, dear, but it'll help to stop you from losing more blood. Let's get you covered up," Here she transformed his pants into a nice thick blanket, before ushering the stretcher from the room.
Sirius waited exactly five minutes before he deemed it safe enough to exit the Shrieking Shack himself. When he came out of the tunnel under the Willow, he saw that Fairely was halfway to the castle herself. The floating stretcher that carried Remus had been disillusioned, but Sirius could still see the shimmering of light and air as it moved across the grounds. Holding the cloak tightly around himself he sprinted after the two, hoping to make it inside to wait with Peter and James before she arrived.
Sirius had to stop running once he reached the castle, only a hundred or so paces before Remus and Fairely, but he walked as quickly as possible towards the Hospital Wing. He cast a quick scorfigy on his hands before slipping the cloak off as he rounded the corner. James and Peter looked up, their faces pale and drawn taught with worry.
"She's right behind me." Sirius said quickly.
"You won't be able to see him for a while yet, you three. I suggest you go get some breakfast." The stretcher was still charmed, making it impossible for the boys to see their friend very clearly as Fairley opened the doors and entered her domain.
"Please, can't we just-," Peter started.
"No. I need quiet to work. Go eat and come back in half an hour." The doors clipped shut behind her and the three marauders stood in silent defeat for the briefest of moments.
"I don't know if I can eat right now." James said.
"Me neither, but we should at least go get something to bring back to Remus."
Peter nodded his agreement and took it upon himself to lead his two concerned friends to the Great Hall.
"He'll be okay, she's always been able to patch him up. And it used to be worse than that…"
"She gave him a potion as soon as she got there," Sirius added.
"Let's just get him some food." James said, grumpily.
The Great Hall was nearly empty at this hour, except for the handful of Ravenclaws and Slytherins who were unlucky enough to have a written and practical Potions exam in their first period. The three ignored the panicked voices at the other tables and sat down. The smell of warm bacon, sausage, eggs, and toast helped push aside their fear and the three were surprised to hear their stomachs grumble quite loudly as they loaded their plates.
"We should bring him some of this jam," Peter said around a mouthful of toast. "It's his favorite." He explained after swallowing the large bite.
Aside from suggestions of what to smuggle from the breakfast table, the three couldn't find the energy to talk to one another much.
"We've still got 15 minutes." Sirius said with a frown at his watch.
"Let's go see if the elves can give us one of those muggle things full of hot chocolate." Peter suggested as he hefted the over-flowing plate that contained Remus's breakfast.
"Oh! That reminds me, we put some chocolate in the bag last night, Sirius, remember?" James pulled out three bars of Honeyduke's finest milk chocolate.
"Let's get going. I want to be there on time so she doesn't change her mind." Sirius snatched the chocolate from James's hand and left the Great Hall. The others followed, Peter looking a bit ridiculous with the heavy tray of breakfast foods.
"I think I dropped the toast." He admitted thirteen minutes later as they stood outside the Hospital Wing. James was tenderly holding a thermos full of hot chocolate while Sirius shifted impatiently from foot to foot.
"It'll be okay, Pete." James said kindly.
Sirius suddenly knocked heavily on the door, which gave way under his fist. The boys rushed into the silent room. Remus's bed was in its usual spot with the curtains drawn, but Professor Dumbledore was speaking softly with Matron Fairely.
"Ah, boys." He said with his twinkling smile. "Matron Fairely has just been explaining Remus's injuries to me. She would like him to sleep today, apparently he lost quite a bit of blood last night."
"But, well, sir, we've brought him all this breakfast." Peter squeaked. James and Sirius glared at the Matron.
"Yes, which is very kind of you, Matron Fairely has also agreed to wait to administer Remus's sleeping potions until after he has eaten. Mr. Potter, if I might have a word with you?" Dumbledore stepped away from the curtain, allowing Sirius and Peter to surge past the Matron.
The entirety of Remus's chest was bandaged and Sirius was happy to see there was no more blood oozing from the gash on his left side. His leg had been splinted and was propped delicately on a few pillows. The skin had the slightly sickening green-ish tinge that sometimes accompanied the use of Skel-o-grow. Sirius looked away from it quickly.
"Tell me," croaked an exhausted Remus, "that you have chocolate."
"Of course we do!" Peter said happily. They deposited all of the food on Remus's bed tray and took a seat at the foot of the dingy hospital bed.
Sirius pulled more chocolate from the bag that they always stashed outside the hospital wing the night before full moons.
"Fairley is simply amazed I was able to apply pressure long enough to keep myself from bleeding out." Remus said as he stuffed five pieces of bacon into his mouth at once.
"Don't talk with your mouthful, mate. Its a bit disgusting." Sirius made a gagging noise to emphasize his point. Remus blushed slightly and Peter giggled.
"Well, what happened?" He asked after chewing and swallowing.
Peter stood as he recounted last night's events in great detail (after Sirius had cast a Muffalato spell, of course). Remus munched away on his breakfast platter, humming happily when he found that they had brought his favorite jam (and made Sirius grimace when he dipped a large hunk of chocolate in it).
James pulled back the curtains and joined them just as Peter was finishing his story, "Fairley says we've only got ten more minutes." He announced.
Everyone groaned in annoyance, even Remus, who was so exhausted he was struggling to keep his eyes open as he sipped the delicious hot chocolate so carefully crafted by the house-elf Cherry.
"What did Dumbledore want?" Sirius demanded in a careful whisper. James looked around at them all, eyes hovering on Remus.
"Let's talk about it later. I think Remus is already asleep."
Sirius and Peter turned to look and were shocked to see that Remus was indeed nodding off over his thermos of hot chocolate. Sirius prised the drink carefully from his hands and placed it on the night stand. Peter helped him brush the crumbs from the blankets and the three stood studying Moony.
"If you're just going to stare," he said dopily cracking open one eye-lid, "then get lost. I'm trying to recover here."
"Sure thing, Rem." Sirius said, placing his hand gently on top of Remus's. The werewolf twined his fingers around Sirius's and squeezed gently before letting go.
"Maybe one of us should stay." James whispered.
"Binns wouldn't notice…" Sirius continued.
"There will be no skipping class today. Remus needs sleep and the rest of you need to go. He can't recover if you're badgering him all day." Fairley popped up behind them, effectively putting an end to their plans.
"But-" Peter started to object.
"No, Mr. Pettigrew. We made a deal last year when the Headmaster came to me and told me that you all had found out. You would be able to visit him and stay unless I say otherwise. This time, I'm saying no. His injuries are too extensive. Go."
She shooed the three out and slammed the door behind them.
"Something has been going on with him." muttered James as the three exhausted wizards walked slowly from the hospital wing.
"He has been really preoccupied…he let me copy straight from his Herbology homework and didn't say a word!" said Peter.
"Pete, you are totally the smartest Marauder." Sirius lamented moments later as he and James left Peter at the stairs to Gryffindor tower. "Why did I think History of Magic was a good idea?"
"You need it for Auror training, Sirius. To make up for your O.W.L.S, McGonagall told you…" Peter was genuinely pleased to have received such a compliment from Sirius, but he felt horrible watching his friend's walk away wearily. Well, at least he had his stash of sugar quills and a nice warm bed waiting for him upstairs.
Sirius and James slept through the entire two-hour lecture. They were both startled awake when Lily threw her notes down on the desk.
"These are for Remus."
"Thanks, Evans." Sirius said blearily, rubbing his swollen eyes.
"Potter I need to talk to you about patrol." She said, holding James back as the three exited the classroom.
"Yeah, okay. Uh, Sirius, grab me a seat, will you?"
"Sure thing," Sirius told him, stowing Lily's notes away in his bag.
"What's going on, then?" Lily asked James quietly as they paused in the hallway. James looked up at the milling students but didn't see Sirius's mop of hair anywhere. Invisibility cloak, then. He assumed the other animagus had made a trip back to the hospital wing.
"I spoke to Dumbledore. He needs us to meet with someone at the next Hogsmeade trip."
"Together?"
"He didn't trust me going by myself, I think."
"Because he knows you're reckless, Potter."
"I'm not reckless, Evans. I'm frustrated and we're stuck inside this castle while people are out there dying."
"He needs us here, James. We have to trust that."
James scoffed and glared out the window.
Sirius was having trouble listening to them as they huddled against the window and tried not to huff impatiently, which James would have heard. Invisibility cloaks, for all their magic, didn't mask sound.
"How's Remus?" Lily asked, gazing out the blurry glass as well.
"Shit. It's all shit, Lily. He could have fucking died."
"But he didn't." Lily said quickly, trying to console him while ignoring her own panic at the fear in James's voice.
Sirius felt himself tense up. Remus had told them all Evans knew, but he was still uncomfortable hearing her speak about his furry little problem so openly.
"Only because we were there holding his side closed so he didn't bleed out."
Lily closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
Sirius stopped breathing and waited for Lily's response. Would she berate them for being near Remus when he was transformed? How much had Moony told her when she confronted him at the end of fifth year?
"That's why you can't leave, James. If you leave, Remus will die...maybe not the first transformation, but he's got a lifetime ahead of him, and he needs you all there."
"Remus could leave too." James challenged.
"You want us all to just drop out, don't you?"
"What are we doing here, Lily? There's nothing for us in this school anymore. We need to be out there, stopping them! The Ministry is fucking useless, you know? They're already being brainwashed by the Death Eaters. We're losing, Lily, and it hasn't even started...not really, at least."
"So, what, James? You think you can just storm into the Ministry and start killing everyone you think might be one of His followers? We can't be like them and just go around avada-ing everyone in our way. We're here to keep an eye on the new Death Eaters. We need information on them so we can win."
"That's what Dumbledore keeps saying." James shook his head and turned away from Lily. "Let's go, we're late and I don't fancy getting told off today."
Sirius fled as quickly as he could down the hall, arriving just a breath before Lily and James. There weren't many open seats left, so he found himself next to a Ravenclaw girl.
"Thanks for saving me a seat." James muttered grouchily as he plopped down in the chair next to Lily in the front row.
Lily Evans had always found peace in potions. She did not have to do any complicated wand work, or properly articulate certain spells. No, with potions she was simply manipulating the magical properties of her ingredients. It was relaxing even when it was complicated by the sometimes highly volatile concoctions.
Lily sighed as she flipped another page in her textbook; searching for something she could make with the ingredients Slughorn had given her this week. She didn't need any extra practice for her N.E.W.T.S but Lily had bigger goals in mind than her final set of exams at Hogwarts: the Order needed a potions mistress. Granted, Dumbledore hadn't asked her yet, but Lily was hoping he would soon. Healing potions were expensive and you couldn't buy too many of them without raising eyebrows at the apothecary.
When Slughorn had suggested an independent study project with her last month Lily had jumped at the chance. It would be worth the headaches caused by the Professor's incessant flattery and badgering if she could learn the more complicated healing potions.
She couldn't focus today, though. Her left leg was bouncing up and down and she kept fussing with her hair; pulling it up, taking the elastic out again, braiding it, getting frustrated with the wispy pieces around her face until she lost all patience and slammed the book closed. She shoved her chair back violently as she stood up, knocking it to the ground. She righted it with a flick of her wand, but her silent spell work seemed to be as erratic as her mood and the chair ended up hovering a few inches off the ground as Lily packed away her books and exited the library.
The librarian walked around the corner a few moments later and nearly ran into the floating chair. She dropped her precarious stack of books with a shriek and glared at the empty worktables in search of the culprit.
"Damn Marauders." she mumbled to herself as she fixed the chair and gathered her books.
"Ms. Evans, what can I do for you?" Matron Fairley asked as Lily quietly opened the door to the Hospital Wing.
"I was wondering if Remus was awake?" She glanced down the row of beds until she saw Remus's habitual one, curtains drawn as usual.
"I was just going to wake him for his next round of potions. The tray's beside his bed, dear, if you'd like to administer them for me? I've got a group of second year's who've just come from Potions...they've managed to singe off all their eyebrows and some have started growing tentacles!" the woman bustled away with a shake of her head.
Lily walked calmly to the Remus's corner of the room and dropped her school bag on one of the empty beds around his. She paused outside the curtain and whispered quietly, "Remus? It's Lily."
There was no response so Lily quickly peeked in and was happy to see him sleeping. She sat down on the bed next to him and picked up his large spindly hand in both of her own. She looked quietly at the scars that criss-crossed the backs of his palm and his forearm. She knew if she pushed up his sleeve she would see more. If she took off his shirt she would catch a glimpse of the bubbly scar tissue of the first bite. Some of the scars were very old and had turned shiny, nearly silver, while the newer ones were still dark and purple. She rubbed her thumb gently along his knuckles and watched him sleep for a moment. He had a new gash along the corner of one of his eyes, cutting his eyebrow neatly in half. Lily reached, letting his hand fall to her lap, and ghosted her fingers across the dark line.
"Am I still pretty?" Remus croaked as his eyes fluttered open.
"Not as pretty as me," Lily joked quietly with a sad smile.
Remus quirked his lips and struggled to sit up. Lily watched him carefully but didn't make any moves to help him. When he had leaned forward enough she stole another pillow from the neighboring bed and placed it behind him.
"Thanks." he said with a grimace. His hands were pushing gently against his side and Lily could see the thick bandages through the hospital gown.
"Remus, what's going on?" She asked him sternly.
"Could you get me the one for the pain, Lils? Fairely's been atrocious and hasn't let me have anything to numb this yet. She's worried I'm becoming dependent." Remus rolled his eyes at the thought.
"You need to take the blood replenishing first, and eat some of this toast. You know pain potions tear up your stomach." Lily swiveled away from him and pulled the tray of potions, toast, and water into her lap. The two sat in silence as Lily gave him each vial and forced him to eat something.
"Ta." he told her, laying back and closing his eyes. "You should really reconsider St. Mungo's offer, Lils. You'd be great there."
"Remus." she said sternly.
"What, Lily?"
"You told me last year that I wouldn't see you like this again. Remus, what happened to your side? You said that they had found a way to help, but James told me you almost died this morning."
Remus didn't say anything for a while. The silence was so long that Lily started fidgeting with her hair again, something that, coincidentally, drove Remus insane.
"You've been reading the Prophet, yeah?" he asked. He was looking away from her, staring at the dingy linen curtains around his bed so that Lily couldn't see his eyes while he spoke.
"Of course, we've all been reading it."
"I don't just mean the headlines, Lil. Have you really been reading it, front to back?"
"Not always, no."
"There have been kidnappings. Since school has started over ten children have been kidnapped. It's being written off as just more families being punished for not siding with Voldemort...but I think there's something else going on."
"What are you talking about, Remus?" Lily demanded.
"Last month there were some disruptions at one of the Ministry's werewolf facilities. You know how they like to keep us all locked up together when we transform...some of the werewolves got out."
"Oh my god."
"They didn't attack anyone, at least not that the Prophet's reporting, which is the weirdest thing. It means that there's someone out there who's controlling them."
"How did they get out? I don't understand."
"You can't escape from those cages, Lily, not on your own. The locks are made with a special blend of steel and silver. The bars are too and just standing near them makes a werewolf panic."
"So that means…"
"Someone broke them out. There's someone going around, letting werewolves who have been convicted of petty crimes out of their special little jail cells and then controlling them." Remus sounded extraordinarily bitter while he talked. This tone was a habit of around the full moon.
"What does this have to do with the kids going missing?"
"Fresh, young, werewolves." Remus said quietly.
"Remus, are you sure about this?"
"He's raising an army, Lily. And its not just with the fanatic purebloods at Hogwarts. Its everywhere. There are reports of giants migrating closer to muggle areas. A few rogue vampires have even been spotted outside of London. And now the werewolves."
He rubbed his temples gently and Lily fetched a hangover cure from her robe pockets. Fairely wouldn't ever give him more than five potions at a time, but Lily had worked with Slughorn last year to make something special that wouldn't interact with the others. Full moon headaches, Remus had once told her, where the worst.
Lily then pushed aside the curtains and grabbed her folded copy of the Daily Prophet. She flipped past the first page where the headline mentioned a family of five muggles found tied up in the basement of an abandoned building with the dark mark floating above.
"Parents outside Liverpool report 10 year-old boy missing." she read. Remus closed his eyes and 'hmmed'. Lily's frantic eyes read the other headlines on the next few pages until she saw something that made her heart stop.
"Werewolf Facilities guards strike after second breakout and murder of wizard. That was last night." Lily shoved the paper in Remus's face.
"I hate him!" Remus cried, dropping the paper and pushing the tray of empty vials off the bed.
"Remus!" Lily cried.
"Ms. Evans I think you'd better run along, free period is just about over." The Matron was standing inside the ring of curtains now, moving to tend to Remus who was breathing shallowly and clutching his side. Lily realized he must have re-opened his wound because she could see the crimson blood staining the hospital gown. She snatched the newspaper from the bed.
"It'll be okay, Rem." Lily told him softly. The sound of his deranged laughter followed her from the room, even after Fairley cast a silencing charm around the werewolf.
Remus wasn't released from hospital until Saturday afternoon. Sirius, who had spent all of his Friday night huddled beneath the invisibility cloak in the bed next to Remus, was given strict instructions from Fairely as he helped Remus out of his sickbed.
"Mr. Black, don't allow him to do anything that will re-open that wound! I've had to use muggle stitches and I'm not sure how I feel about them, quite frankly, it seems barbaric tying someone's body back together with strings! No running, climbing too many stairs, reaching for books on top shelves, no heavy lifting. If you start bleeding again, Remus, dear, come back here so I can sort you out. And, Mr. Black, don't allow him to get those stitches wet just yet, cleaning charms will have to be enough until later this week."
Remus, who hated how his hair felt after a cleaning charm, glared at the woman.
"You'll thank me for it when you're still alive, Remus." she said, holding her hands up in defense.
"Gods, I wish it wasn't the middle of the day so you could just levitate me back." Remus groaned as he and Sirius reached the top of the first flight of stairs.
"I can still levitate you." Sirius told him with concern.
"People would talk."
"People are talking now, mate. You look like a 90 year-old man hobbling about like that."
"Well excuse me for having a freshly healed leg and a giant wound on my side. Makes moving a bit more painful than usual."
Sirius found himself staring at his friend's new eyebrow scar. He found it quite dashing.
"And can you please stop staring at my disfigured face? I'm already self-conscious about it."
"There's nothing wrong with your face, Moony." Sirius told him as he leaned against the banister while Remus caught his breath.
"I look like I've been in a knife fight."
"I think the scar looks quite dashing." Sirius found himself admitting.
"Really?"
"Yes, makes you look all handsome and deadly."
"Right, now I know you're just having me on."
"I'm not, Moons. I'm being serious."
There was an awkward pause while Remus noticed Sirius blushing.
"Ah, fuck it, Pads. Will you levitate me back?"
"Don't fret, Moony, love, the dashing Sir Padfoot will sweep you off to safety!" Sirius dropped a roguish wink and Remus found himself floating much higher than was necessary above the floor.
"Sirius! I don't like heights!"
"Yes, love. I just wanted to make sure everyone got a lovely view of those dashing pants you've got on underneath your robe."
"Sirius what did you do with my trousers?!" Remus screamed from above, struggling to hold his robe closed as he swooped through the air.
"Vanished them, of course." Sirius told him calmly. A group of third year girls were giggling up at Remus having caught a glimpse of his smashing arse clad only in his tight grey pants.
"See you for tutoring next week, Remus! Will you teach us how to vanish trousers then?" One of the cheekier girls shouted after him.
"Sirius! I'm going to kill you."
Sirius couldn't even bring himself to feel guilty as he levitated the grumbling Prefect all the way to his four poster bed.
"Why is it so clean in here?" Remus asked suspiciously.
"Evans was in here yesterday evening muttering and cleaning while she waited for James."
"Since when does Lily come into the boys dorm?" Remus asked, now confused.
"Not sure, honestly. She and James scampered off after he was done showering from Quidditch."
"Hmm…"
"Yes, hmmm. Now, I hate to break it to you, but your hair has definitely gone off and it could really do with a wash."
"You heard Fairely, I'm not allowed to shower."
"Come on, I'll wash it for you in the sink."
"Hold on, I need some music, I'm out of my mind from the silence in the hospital."
"I could sing to you." Sirius joked.
"If you sang my ears would certainly start bleeding and I think I've lost enough blood."
"That's what those icky blood-replenishing potions are for, Moony!"
Remus ignored him and hauled his muggle record player out from beneath his bed.
"Let me do it, Rem." Sirius said, kneeling down behind him. Sirius put his hand on the small of Remus's back and carefully nudged him aside before carrying the magically altered record player into the bathroom. He set it carefully on the floor before transforming Pete's toothbrush into a lovely armchair for Remus to sit in.
"Right, which soap is yours?" Sirius asked as he started down at the mass of empty and half empty soap bottles on the floor of the bathroom.
"I don't keep my shampoo in here. Who knows what you all would put in it." Remus came into the bathroom as he spoke. In one hand he held his Pink Floyd record and in the other a bottle of soap. He had removed his shirt (and found a pair of old pajamas to replace his vanished trousers) and was sporting a towel around his neck.
"Right." Sirius watched him as he put the record on and carefully dropped the needle, before tapping the whole contraption with his wand to make it spin.
Remus handed him his shampoo and sat down carefully in the armchair.
"Lean your head back." Sirius told him, turning on the water and waiting for it to get warm.
"Thanks for this, Pads." Remus murmured quietly as Sirius ran his fingers through his brown hair, wetting the locks.
"I know you're a diva about your hair." Sirius teased.
"I am not a diva about my hair." Remus argued.
"You are, a bit."
"Whatever." Remus found it quite difficult to argue when Sirius's fingers were massaging his scalp in such a relaxing way.
"Would you wash it again?" Remus said sleepily as Sirius was rinsing his hair.
"Sure."
"And you've got to condition it too."
"Remus you don't have enough hair for conditioner, mate."
"Just do it, Pads."
"Fine."
"Mmm. Feels so nice." Remus was nearly asleep.
Sirius watched one of the more ambitious drops of water slide down Remus's face and just under his ear. He used his thumb to flick it away, but left his hand there, nearly cradling Remus's head. He sat down on the arm of the chair just as Remus's eyes flickered open.
"Sirius?"
Remus felt his eyes fall shut once more as Sirius pressed their lips together.
Now, seeing as Sirius was never one to half-ass things (except for his homework assignments), Remus found himself party to a rather long and drawn out kiss. This provided him with plenty of opportunity to think things through as Sirius slid from the armchair to straddle his lap. Remus's first thought was that kissing Sirius was certainly one of the hotter things in life. His second thought was more of a realization that he wanted very much to get as close to Sirius as possible, something he was certain Sirius agreed with seeing as the other boy was pushing himself shamelessly against Remus's bandaged body. Gently pushing, but shamelessly nonetheless.
Third; he realized that even though Sirius's lips against his own and the feeling of his body as Remus's hands ran under his shirt were making Remus arch up and shake desperately, he couldn't ignore the voice in his brain saying that Sirius was his friend.
"What are you doing?" Remus asked breathlessly as Sirius pulled away to kiss behind Remus's ear. The skin there was soapy and wet and Sirius much preferred the taste of Remus's lips to his shampoo.
"Um. I believe this is snogging." Sirius leaned back slightly, looking Remus full in the eyes.
"Yes, but why, Sirius? You're not gay."
"And where is that written in stone?" Sirius demanded, sitting on Remus's lap. He traced Remus's bottom lip with his finger as he continued speaking softly, "I was snogging you, I enjoyed it, you enjoyed it, why does it matter if I've never said I'm gay before?"
"Because you're not gay."
"Well neither are you."
"Excuse me?"
"Its annoying to have someone tell you what you're allowed to feel, isn't it?" Sirius asked snottily as he stood up. He was, Remus could now see, clearly embarrassed. The flush in his cheeks wasn't from his desire.
"I'm just confused, Sirius."
"Well you don't need to ask complicated questions. I was just expressing some affection for you." Sirius slid down the bathroom wall to sit on the floor.
"Expressing affection? What does that mean?" Remus drawled, as he got more comfortable in the chair.
"Your first question should be, 'My, Padfoot! Where did you learn to be such a deliciously good snog?'"
"I'm not asking that."
"Fine then, I'll ask it. "Where, my dear Moony, did you learn to kiss?"
"You think that the boys I've been with just wanted to hold hands?" Remus teased him.
"You just never talk about it, I didn't think of you as some...sexual being until you told me about that Hufflepuff bloke,"
"Sexual being?" Remus interrupted.
"So excuse me, if I'm just a little shocked." Sirius finished. He drew his legs up and balanced his elbows on his knees, avoiding Remus's eyes. The faint blush was still there.
"Sirius, you're all over the place and I'm trying to keep up but you're making it a little hard."
Here Sirius snickered.
"Difficult," Remus amended, glaring at him. "Jesus, Pads. Get your head out of the gutter."
"I love when you use those muggle curses like that." Sirius announced.
"Are we not going to discuss your affections for me?" Remus tried again.
He sat and watched Sirius in silence as the final notes of the album trailed off. The record player kept spinning so the bathroom was filled with the dull scratch of the needle until it reached the end of the disc and finally stopped.
"Okay, well. When you're ready to answer the complicated questions, come and find me. I'm going to change and copy Lily's notes from class." Remus stood up (he had been waiting for the visible signs of the Sirius snog-fest to go down) and started toweling his hair dry.
Sirius just started up at him from the bathroom floor, biting his lip. Remus leaned down, quite an impressive feat since his whole side was one, large linen dressing held together with an impressive sticking charm, and dropped a lingering kiss on Sirius's swollen lips.
"Cheers for washing my hair, Pads."
Sirius sat and watched Remus, cute little arse and all, exit the boys toilets.
"Hurrah! He's back!" Peter yelled moments later as he and James tumbled into the dorm.
"Sirius why are you sat on the floor?" James demanded, poking his head into the bathroom. "And why's there an armchair in front of the sink? Oi! Does Moony know you've got his music-thingy in the toilets?!"
"He was just washing my hair for me, Prongs. I'm apparently not allowed to shower until this mess heals up." Remus, now clothed, was standing behind James in the doorway. Peter joined them until all three were staring down at Sirius, still in an embarrassed puddle on the bathroom floor.
"Lookin' a bit peaky there, Padfoot. You alright?" Peter asked.
"Yeah, mate." Sirius grabbed the record player from the floor and stood up. "I used your toothbrush for the armchair though, sorry about that." He tossed the words casually over his shoulder before dropping the record player on Remus's bed.
"Remus can I come to the library with you? I've got an essay to finish." Sirius grabbed his school bag and ignored Peter's shouts of protests about his toothbrush.
"Oi, save a spot for me. I've got to shower and then we'll meet you down there." James shouted from the shower.
"Peter?" Remus asked.
"Nah, got plans."
James wolf-whistled as Peter blushed.
Sirius held the door open as Remus walked by.
"Want me to levitate you to the library?"
"No thanks, Padfoot. I'd like to make it there with all my clothes."
"That's no fun, Moony!" Sirius cried dramatically, two steps behind.
Remus paused and turned in the narrow staircase. He looked Sirius up and down slowly and from where Sirius was standing the dim light made the werewolf's eyes glow in a way that sent shivers down his spin.
"Oh, Sirius…" Remus whispered, placing his hand on Sirius's hip. He stepped up so he was just one step below, his mouth a breath away from Sirius's neck. "You don't know how much fun I can be."
Remus was gone down the stairs before Sirius could open his eyes.
Sirius Black wasn't sure he could handle whatever it was that had just begun in their bathroom, even if he was the one that started it.
A/N: Ouch, this took weeks and weeks. School has started again, obviously, and I got seriously sidetracked. Not to mention that when I wrote this something just felt off. I'm still not happy with it, but I've been re-editing for two weeks now so I'd say its as good as it'll get without any feedback. Thanks for reading!