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Sirius forcefully puts Remus out of his mind, and thankfully doesn't think of him until they visit the bookshop. Regulus spots Remus immediately behind the counter, and elbows Sirius. 'Cela va être la fête.'

'What are you going to do now?' Sirius asks, flipping through a book without reading the pages. Regulus grins at him.

'Il va se sentir incompétent.'

Sirius raises an eyebrow, but Regulus ignores him. 'Bonjour,' he says, in perfect, smooth French, and the quiet boy looks up at him. Regulus says, 'Je voudrais acheter quelques livres d'Éluard,' and the boy stares at him, not understanding.

'Él-ua-rd, le poet, idiot,' Regulus says, and the boy replies, calmly, 'those are in the back row of the poetry section.'

Regulus's eyebrows rise. 'Eh bien, allez me les chercher,' he drawls out, and waits until Remus is out of sight to talk with the bookshop owner, an old man with a crooked smile.

'Monsieur, votre employé s'est montré d'une grande impertinence,' he says, and Sirius feels his stomach turn when he sees Remus reaching up for the sixth poetry book by Éluard. 'Vous feriez bien de surveiller la manière dont il répond aux clients, ou nous irons faire nos achats ailleurs.'

Remus returns to the counter, struggling under the weight of the books, even though Sirius knows they aren't that heavy. He looks far too scrawny, that Remus.

'Finalement,' Regulus says, and then glances at the books. 'C'est tout?'

'Yes,' Remus replies, still stubbornly in English, and Sirius feels it's been enough. Regulus is annoying to the point of it being annoying.

'Allons-y, Reg,' he says, coming up behind him. 'Je veux aller manger.'

Regulus looks at him, then at Remus, an almost sadistic smile on his face. 'Go put them back, then, Lupin,' he says. 'It's all you're good for, isn't it?'

He leans forward gracefully, making it seem like an accident to whisper in Remus's ear, 'Mudblood filth.'

Sirius doesn't look at Remus, instead pulls Regulus to his feet and walks with him to the door, disappearing into the throng of people.

'Spoilsport,' Regulus tells him, as they weave their way back through the sea of heads and voices.

Sirius doesn't reply, instead shrugs his shoulders.

'Bloody shirt-lifter,' Regulus says, out of the blue, and Sirius stops walking.

'He's – what?'

Regulus stops a step away from him. 'He was staring at you as we left.'

'That's – that has nothing to do with this,' Sirius says, and Regulus snorts.

He's sitting by himself on the rocks. There's a cigarette in his left hand, the fire at its tip forming a haze of nicotine and smoke that swirls and mixes with the clear air.

'Give us one, then.'

Remus is suddenly next to him, holding out his hand. Sirius is shocked, but hands him one anyway, and watches with fascination how Remus lights it with a match from a box he has somehow with him. Remus smokes like he's been doing it for years.

'You shouldn't smoke, you know,' Remus says, after a while. 'It's unhealthy.'

Sirius gives him a look. Remus grins in return, flicking his cigarette out into the ocean and watching the smoke trail as it falls and hits the water surface. 'No, you can't say anything, this is my first time.'

'Fuck you,' Sirius says, pointedly, and leans forward to kiss him.

Translations
- Cela va être la fête: literally, this is where the party is. Regulus means he's going to have some fun. In a bad way.
- Il va se sentir incompétent: he's going to feel incompetent.
- Bonjour, je voudrais acheter quelques livres d'Éluard: hello, I would like to buy some books by Éluard. Particularly, this should be seen as an impolite and belittling way to ask Remus to fetch those books; Regulus can't really be bothered to ask Remus to get him these books, he should just go immediately.
- Él-ua-rd, le poet, idiot: Él-ua-rd, the poet, you idiot.
- Eh bien, allez me les chercher: Er, right, so go get them for me. The tone indicates Remus is rather slow for not having thought of this when Regulus asked.
- Monsieur, votre employé s'est montré d'une grande impertinence. Vous feriez bien de surveiller la manière dont il répond aux clients, ou nous irons faire nos achats ailleurs: Sir, your employee is showing great impertinence. You would do well to keep an eye on the way he talks to customers, or we shall be taking our business elsewhere.
- Finalement, c'est tout?: Finally, is this all?
- Allons-y, Reg, je veux aller manger: let's go, Reg, I want to eat.