🌀 Raven Haired Midnight Dancer 🔆

“Do you ever get upset about it?” Lily asked, gesturing to the small group of people across the courtyard.

Remus, who had honestly been so wrapped up in the book he’d been reading that he’d forgotten to listen to what Lily was saying, blinked and looked up. “Erm…what?” 

“It must suck,” she elaborated, pointing to where Sirius was sitting, surrounded by a group of girls who were all clearly fawning over him, “to watch him like that.”

But Remus just snorted, shaking his head. “Nah.”

She stared. “Not at all?”

He shrugged, thinking for a moment, considering how he felt. “I…it used to,” he admitted finally, biting his lip. “When he first started…y’know. Dating.” His lips curved at bit at the word, because it was still an amazing thing to say. He and Sirius Black were dating. Boyfriends. “I thought…why wouldn’t he want one of them? They’re all pretty, nice, funny…easier to be with.”

It was nice that Lily didn’t argue. Clearly, she disagreed–she was one of the most fiercely supportive friends Remus had. But she also had always understood the feelings of low self-confidence he’d struggled with for so long. “But then?” Lily prompted gently.

“Then, I walked by a group of them one day. He didn’t see me coming,” Remus explained, feeling a goofy grin form on his face. “Guess what he was talking about?”

“Pranks with Potter?” she suggested snarkily, rolling her eyes. 

“Me,” he replied with a smile. “He kept going on about me. So yeah…I’m not….it’s not something I worry about.”

Lily grinned widely, eyes shining. “Good. You shouldn’t.”

And, sure enough, when they got up a few moments later to head back inside, Sirius’s voice could be clearly heard: “And then Remus–you all know Remus, he’s so bloody hilarious, you know? Well, he said…”

"Get him to the couch!" Effie ordered sharply, watching like a hawk as James and Monty both carried a shaking, bleeding Sirius to the couch, ripping off his shirt to get a better look at the various bruises and lacerations underneath the fabric.

Remus, who watched from a meter away, couldn't help but press a trembling palm to his mouth as he gazed tearfully down at his boyfriend, terrified that Walburga and Orion's wrath had finally been too much.

But as Effie moved the tip of her wand over Sirius's ghostly pale skin, the wounds began to knit themselves together and color began to slowly return to his body. Everyone in the room stared, holding their breath, as Effie healed the sixteen-year-old, praying that it wasn't too late; that he'd run away in time.

Remus, who never cried, felt tears in his eyes.

But after what seemed like an eternity of waiting, hoping, staring…Sirius's eyelids fluttered open.

"Hey," he muttered gruffly, causing Remus to let out a huge sigh of relief. 

"Sirius! What hurts, dear?" Effie demanded, her voice urgent but kind.

The Gryffindor's face twitched as he looked around. "S'not fair."

Remus's heart clenched. 

"Pads. Pads, s'okay. You don't have to go back there. You're staying here, we're not letting them take you back to that hellhole," James said passionately, causing Remus to nod emphatically. 

In Remus's opinion, he'd take down Walburga and Orion himself rather than let SIrius go back to them.

But Sirius met Remus's eyes. "Nah. Nah. S'not fair b'cuz," he swallowed and gave a loopy, lopsided grin. "M'shirtless. But my Moony isn'. Wha' happened to equality?"

After a split second of shocked silence, James burst into a roar of laughter, Monty and Effie chuckling along as well. Remus, however, felt himself blush. "Merlin, Sirius, you idiot," he murmured fondly.

“Listen…” Sirius was saying, waving his hands in the air and grinning with a confident smile. “We all know that I could pull anyone in the castle, alright–?”

“So you’re saying McGonagall?” Peter jumped in, grinning.

“Anyone my age,” Sirius amended, rolling his eyes at his friend. “I’m the master. Nobody’s as amazing as me, and I’m sick of you lads not respecting my talent! It’s fine to be jealous, but–”

But James was absolutely not going to let his best friend act so ridiculously. Snorting, he sat him in his bed and looked Sirius in the eye. “Oh, you’re so amazing? Pick up Moony, then.”

Remus, who’d been minding his own business reading his book, jumped and looked to James. “What?”

James grinned at Sirius. “Pick up Moony, Pads. You’re so good at getting a date? Get Moony all hot and bothered.”

It was clear that Remus was not fond of this idea, judging from the way he looked like he’d just sucked on a lemon, but James was looking at Sirius, who’d turned bright red. 

“Fine!” he stammered, too stubborn to turn down a dare. “Fine, I will!”

So Sirius sideled up to Remus, who now looked mildly amused, his pale face turning even redder as he fiddled nervously with a lock of his hair and stared at the ground. He looked so un-Sirius that James had to chuckle.

“Um, hey, Moony?” Sirius muttered, his voice the least confident James’d ever heard it. “Um…”

Everyone looked at Sirius expectantly, but the boy just squirmed again and coughed. Then he sniffed and looked at his naked wrist. “I–shit, it’s, erm, late! Gotta go shower and get ready for class tomorrow!”

Before Remus could ask what "this" meant, Sirius caught him by the scarf and tugged him behind one of the stone pillars overlooking the courtyard.

"The hand-holding," Sirius said under his breath. "It's lost its effect."

Remus raised an eyebrow. "Let me guess, that girl is stalking you again."

Sirius risked a glance around the pillar before ducking back again. "She's still there."

Remus leaned sideways to look.

"I don't see anyone."

"Disillusionment charm," Sirius shot back instantly. He reached out and slid both of his hands into the front pockets of Remus’s jumper, stepping in so close their chests brushed. "She's advanced. You need to look at me like you're madly in love with me so she loses hope."

Remus eyed him. He knew exactly what the shimmer of a Disillusionment charm looked like. He knew for a fact there was no invisible girl spying on them. He had known for three weeks.

But Sirius’s hands were warm inside his pockets, and the smell of him was completely short-circuiting Remus’s brain.

So he shifted his weight, slowly bringing his hands up to settle firm on Sirius’s hips.

"Alright," Remus said after a moment. "We should probably kiss then."

Sirius’s eyes widened. "What?"

"To scare her off," Remus said simply. "We should probably make it convincing."

For the first time since he'd concocted the whole ridiculous plan, Sirius seemed to run out of words.

"Yeah," he managed after a beat. "Convincing."

Remus didn't give him the chance to think twice. He leaned in and pressed their lips together. The kiss was slow at first, almost tentative, until Sirius let out a soft, startled breath and kissed him back with enough feeling to make it painfully obvious they'd both been waiting for an excuse. Sirius's fingers curled into the front of Remus's jumper, pulling him closer as the kiss deepened.

When they finally pulled apart, the chilly air rushed between them. Sirius was flushed from the cold and something else entirely, his breathing uneven as he searched Remus's face like he was trying to work out what had just happened.

After a long moment, he cleared his throat.

"...Do you think she believed us?"

Remus laughed softly, his thumb brushing absentmindedly along Sirius's jaw before it came to rest beneath his chin.

"I'm not sure," he admitted. "Might have to keep it up for a while."

"How long is 'a while'?"

Remus pretended to consider it.