This is rated between a hard R and a soft NC-17, for some steamy bits near the end. Other than that, this is meant to be a light, kind-of fluffy piece. Hope you like it!

A/N: 'Adunatio' is Latin for 'union,' just so you know. And the italics are Remus' thoughts.

I also have some thanks to hand out. To ANNA, who has been my friend for ages, and assured me that the 'steamy' scenes were just that-steamy enough. To MINSTREL, who is my new good friend online, and who has not only inspired the snowball-fight scene, but has made my time on the Internet enjoyable. Thank you! To JASMINE, who practically memorized this story by beta'ing it for me. Many thanks for being so detailed, and attacking me for my overuse of commas and 'brackets.' She gets credit for inspiring me to insert part of the Zonko's scene, where Remus and silver almost meet. Also, she corrected all of my Americanisms and made the fic as British as possible, with weirdo spellings and all. :) And to YSRITH, who gave me encouragement early on, and who shared my sentiment for a non-virginal!Remus.

Believe me, it took eons to get this thing out. Thought I could just insert a few 'bloody's and 'git's and it'd be British enough. How little I knew! So again a major thank you to Jasmine for your immense help. And...enough babbling. Here's the fic.

 

Day One

A strangled cry woke Remus up, and he blinked slowly in the darkness. Crisp cotton scratched along his bare chest, and he could feel sticky sleep crusted in the inside corners of his eyes. Blackness surrounded him, and Remus' head felt light, making the world seem ephemeral in the early morning hour. But as he reached up to rub at his eyes, the sheet that had been covering his chest slipped down, and he realized quite suddenly that he was in his bed in the Seventh Year dormitory, the dark crimson curtains of his four-poster pulled shut.

A very quiet groan sounded from his left, and Remus knew that it was coming from Sirius' bed. Rapid breathing, and, yes, he knew what had woken him up. Even if Sirius had been discreet about it, Remus still would have known.

It was a funny thing, really, how all hormonally driven teenaged boys indulged themselves in the exact same activities, and yet refrained from talking about it amongst themselves. An occasional aside from the attention-seeker, and some uncomfortable laughing sometimes, but it was not analysed in the way that Quidditch and lessons and even girls were.

Sirius had always been one of those 'attention-seekers.' While other boys found their own private places to do what they didn't talk about, Sirius did it even when he could be heard. Not that he dropped his trousers in front of the Great Hall and started stroking himself in front of pupils and professors alike, but Sirius had been the type to laugh about it, calling it his 'early-morning ritual' in a joking manner to his friends-to which Peter had just played dumb, James had rolled his eyes, and Remus had coughed, embarrassed, and looked off to study a rather interesting spot on the carpet. Only Sirius could say out loud without blushing that he wanked off regularly without shame.

And regularly was the right way to describe it. Like clockwork, it woke Remus up many, many mornings, most often around the exact same time, about half an hour before it was time to wake up.

Remus wasn't delusional. He knew that James and Peter did it, just like Sirius did. They were just not 'attention-seekers' like Sirius was about it. Remus had once walked in on James during the day, but the curtains were drawn around James' bed, and Remus heard more than he saw. He had walked in, felt his face grow hot at the sounds coming from behind the drawn curtain, and quietly backed out of the room. Peter did it in the shower, and although he tried to be quiet about it, muffled moans and squishing noises still carried occasionally over the sound of running water.

Remus himself also preferred doing it in the shower, and sometimes in the Shrieking Shack before a full moon. It drained his body of some of the anticipation that he felt at changing into the wolf, and it was one of the only times that he found himself alone, for he never let his friends come into the room while he transformed. He felt too vulnerable, so he made them wait outside until they heard that he was finished changing, and then Sirius would push the trapdoor open with his nose to let him out. Sometimes, Remus wondered if his friend in dog form could smell the remnants of the activity that he engaged in before the change.

The first time Remus had woken up to the experience of hearing Sirius doing it, back in Fourth Year, he had thought that it was something different. He had heard a groan, and thought that Sirius might be hurt, or having a nightmare, and had softly called out, "Sirius? You okay?" Nothing but complete silence had been the answer, the groan ended. It had taken only one more time to figure out what the groan was actually for, and although embarrassed by it, Remus decided that he would never mention it.

By now, he was used to hearing the noises first thing in the morning, for he woke up at least once a week to them. This particular morning, Remus waited until a few minutes after that last soft groan signalled the end of Sirius' activity, and then got up to get ready for the day. Grabbing his school bag, he made his way down the stairwell to find Peter waiting for him down in the common room, like he did most mornings.

Hiding a yawn behind his hand, Peter squeezed his eyes shut, opened them, and grinned at Remus. "I'm starving. We don't have to wait for James and Sirius, do we?"

Remus' stomach rumbled, and he rolled his eyes. "We'll miss breakfast if we do, just like last week. Let's go-they'll come down when they're ready." They walked out together, and Remus reached into his bag to pull out his mostly-finished essay for Potions, which was his first lesson today.

They had it with the Slytherins, and one thing that he hated more than the actual lessons was Professor Wauldin, who smelled like sweat and had thick eyebrows that were grown together. The professor had once told Remus in a nasally tone that, "Lupin, your potion is exactly the same vomit-like colour as your hair, and it's SUPPOSED to be green," which had received snickers from the entire class, including his friends, though they tried to be polite about it. He had never been as snappy to his friends as he was for the rest of that day, and at the end, James had apologized sincerely. Peter had brought him an extra Pumpkin Pastry from the kitchens while Sirius had told him that his hair was actually the colour of caramel.

Remus spent a few minutes jotting a few more sentences on the properties of the Aging potion, making his handwriting extra large so that it would fill the bottom of the twelve-inch parchment. Peter took out his own and read it out loud, so Remus could pick and choose things to say that he hadn't already, and he found enough rubbish to finish taking up the last of the space. Breathing a sigh of relief, he stuck the parchment back into his bag and set about preparing a plate of food as the owls delivering the mail came swooping down, blasting the Great Hall with the sounds of fluttering and swishing wings.

Chewing on a piece of sausage, Remus listened to Peter read a headline out loud from the Daily Prophet. Something about the Dark Lord, and another attack. They had been increasing steadily within the last few months, and people were now afraid to leave their houses, or so the article said.

Peter's voice broke off as the paper was snatched out of his hands, and Remus watched with amusement as Sirius laughed, holding it high above his head out of Peter's reach as the shorter youth jumped for it and missed, accidentally landing on Sirius' foot.

"Ow, Peter! You broke my toe!" Sirius grabbed his foot and hopped up and down on one leg as he wailed out in absolute misery, making Remus and James laugh. He bumped into the back of a Ravenclaw girl who glared at him, while he just smiled apologetically and handed the paper back to Peter, sitting across from Remus. He seized a strip of bacon from the plate at the centre of the table and crunching it between his teeth. Bringing his knee up to his chest and rubbing his foot through his boot, he examined the scuff on the top. "You owe me a shoe shine!"

Peter snorted. "Yeah, right. Dream on, prat!" He leaned away and swatted at Sirius' hand, which had reached up to muss Peter's blond hair. "Hey, sod off! I hate that!"

"You know you love me," Sirius replied back, grinning.

"You'd better tuck in," Remus told him, pointing to Sirius' still-empty plate. "You've got about ten minutes to eat."

James sat on the other side of Remus, across from Peter, and stole a piece of sausage from Remus' plate. "Wasn't there an essay due for Potions today?"

Remus pushed his plate towards James, who eagerly ate another sausage. "Yeah, on the complications of using an Aging potion. Did you finish?"

James shrugged. "More or less," he answered with a smirk, the juice from the meat dripping down his chin. "What I didn't finish, I'll just take from parts of Sirius' essay."

Remus handed him a napkin, shaking his head, forcing his face to take on a stern look. "Cheating, James, really. You'll never learn a thing if you don't complete your own work in a timely manner..." He trailed off while Peter snorted.

"What I don't understand," Sirius complained, "is why we have to write about a potion AFTER the fact. Shouldn't we know of the consequences of taking something before we attempt to make one?" He dug into his bag, which was at his feet, and pulled out some parchment. "Mine's dreadful. I finished it last night. I might have embellished the descriptions of an old codger taking the potion and having his face rot off and his brittle hair fall out, though."

Remus found himself rolling his eyes. "And so you'll get top marks on it, I'm sure. Wauldin loves that gruesome stuff."

Sirius just grinned at him, shrugging, and then put his parchment back into his bag. "Well, I'll give him something gruesome to love next week. It's a Hogsmeade weekend, and I've saved up a little money to replenish my supply of Dungbombs."

"Oh, come on," complained Peter. "You can't possibly tell me that you've thought up a place to leave one that you haven't already."

Sirius smiled evilly. "Oh, quite the contrary, my dear Wormtail. I've never left one on his seat in his office, before. So obvious, yet so unexpected, you know? He'll probably sit down and set if off before realizing it's there."

"You can't get in there," Remus scoffed. "He has about four or five passwords guarding it, and the doorway's probably jinxed with a couple of hexes, as well."

"My money's on Sirius doing it AND getting away with it," James said around a mouthful of toast. He waved his fork around. "Remember that time, Remus, when he charmed that bed in the Shrieking Shack to moan really loudly for an entire week last term? Every man and woman in Hogmeade thought the ghosts were randy old spirits, didn't they?"

Remus' stomach began to hurt as he tried not to laugh too loudly at the memory. "I remember Dumbledore asking me who I had taken to the Shack, and whether or not I had been taught the precautions of safe sex."

"That prank was brilliant," Peter said through his laughter, wiping his eyes. "You know, Sirius, you should make whatever Dungbomb you put on Wauldin's chair semi-permanent, somehow."

Remus noticed Sirius' eyes light up at the challenge. The blue eyes focused on him. "Remus, you know any spells that could make it stick, and not come off of his robes for, say, a few days?"

Smiling at the image of Wauldin walking around with soiled robes, Remus nodded. "I can think of one, but Wauldin's not that stupid. If it explodes all over his bum, he'll just change into a different robe."

Sirius smirked. "Not if I nick them all, first."

The four laughed, and Remus looked forward to the following week, if only to see if Sirius was able to get away with such a prank. Sirius had the courage, of course, but sometimes the dark-haired boy was a little too rash in his plans.

But it wasn't as if Sirius were out to kill someone. He just wanted to play a harmless prank, so if he got caught, so what? It certainly wouldn't be the first time that he had come close to being expelled, and Remus really didn't think that Dumbledore would let one of the most clever students in the school be expelled so close to the N.E.W.T.S.

"I can't wait for next week, then," Peter said, breaking Remus' train of thoughts. "Is it really only Tuesday?"

"Now the rest of the week will drag longer than normal," Remus told him with a small smile.

Sirius groaned. "Speaking of Tuesday, it's time to go to our favourite lesson." He heaved his bag onto his shoulder and led the way out, Remus filing in beside him. James and Peter walked behind them, talking about the upcoming Quidditch match against Slytherin.

"I think we're making Melding potions today," Sirius commented to Remus as they sat down. He got out his Potions book, and Remus put his cauldron on the table in between them.

Sure enough, they were making Melding potions. Professor Wauldin glared around the room, instructing them on how to make it, making random comments that they had to take notes on, and then the pupils worked quietly as the various cauldrons bubbled.

Once, as Remus was reaching for the knotgrass, his hand bumped against something. Sirius' hand was reaching for the same thing, not moving though, and Remus looked up to find Sirius staring at him rather strangely, his blue eyes intense. "What?"

"Nothing," Sirius seemed to shake himself out of it, smiling at him, and grabbing at the knotgrass first, shaking some into the potion. "I wonder what the purpose of THIS potion is?"

"I think, but I'm not quite sure, that a Melding potion is supposed to be used to Meld things together," Remus quipped, and Sirius smirked at him.

"Well, how are we supposed to know if we haven't done our bloody essay yet, smart arse?"

"Tosser."

Remus could swear that Sirius winked. "Too right."

Letting Sirius stir the potion counter-clockwise with the heavy metal ladle, Remus looked up at the board, where the ingredients and instructions were still written down. They were using pure silver cauldrons today, and Sirius was adamant about Remus not getting too close to touching his skin to it.

"Have you boys added the crushed Erumpent horn, yet?" Professor Wauldin swooped down in between Remus and Sirius and peered into their cauldron. Remus held his breath, nearly letting it out in laughter as Sirius looked at him over the professor's back, holding his nose, waving the other hand across his face like a fan, his upper lip curled.

"No sir," Remus answered. "We were going to do that last." He reached for it at the same time as Sirius did, again, as the professor backed away.

With his left hand, Remus carefully sprinkled some of the crushed horn into the cauldron. Sirius, too, was adding some, his hand right next to his. Professor Wauldin almost smiled, Remus noted as he looked to his professor to see if they were doing it correctly. They must have been doing something right. In fact, it must have been something fantastic, because Wauldin had a rare twinkle in his eye. Fighting down his pride, Remus turned his attention back to the cauldron, not noticing the potion until too late. It bubbled frantically, and suddenly, the thick liquid expanded out of the cauldron, and Sirius yelped. Remus felt Sirius' hand grab his wrist, but not before he felt the hot liquid hit his skin.

"Bloody hell!" Sirius exclaimed, pulling his hand away from the top of the cauldron, just as the liquid settled down as quickly as it had erupted. Remus moved his burned hand down, too, but it was not voluntary. In fact...

"Well, be careful, class. If you add the crushed Erumpent horn BEFORE the knotgrass, like I said to do, then you won't have this problem. Adding it last will still make the potion work, but as I said before, it causes it to become a little...violent." The professor smiled down at where Sirius' right hand was Melded onto Remus' left wrist. "Tut, tut, boys. See what you get for not listening closely? Leave it to idiotic Gryffindors to screw up a perfectly good formula."

After that, Remus couldn't remember the order of things that happened. Between Peter and James jumping up from their chairs and yelling at the professor, to the entire class laughing, to Sirius shouting as he grabbed Remus' left hand with his left and tried to pry his right hand away, to the other cauldrons bubbling, it was absolute chaos.

Peter rushed over to them, snarling at where they were joined together. "That prat! He didn't tell us to not add the horn last. I was listening!" James found his way over, as well.

"You two better get to the hospital wing," he commented, but with a smile dancing in his hazel eyes as he cast a quick healing charm at the burns on both of their hands. Remus just glared at him.

"Well, I also happened to be listening. There's nothing that can be done except to wait! The professor said that this wears off about a week after it attaches human skin together." He pulled experimentally at one of Sirius' fingers, but it wouldn't budge. He could feel where they were seared into his wrist. "That stupid, bloody git!" Remus had never been so hacked off. "He knew this would happen! He let it happen on purpose!"

Sirius laughed, and Remus growled. "What's so funny?"

"At least it could be worse," Sirius replied, still grinning. "You could have been partners with Snape or somebody, right?" He leaned in close, suddenly serious. "And at least the full moon was a week ago. This'll wear off before the next one."

Peter agreed. "I don't think the wolf would be too happy to have a dog attached to him."

"So...you two will have to sleep in the same bed," James snickered, but stopped as he noticed Remus' glare. "Come on, Remus, you have to admit that it IS kind of funny."

"It's no such thing," Remus complained. "I mean, no offense, Sirius, but I've got a lot of work to do this week. I have to go to the library...and what about lessons? I have Arithmancy at the same time you have Muggle Studies, and I don't want to miss it. And...what about you? You can't write, now. How will you do your own work?"

Sirius shrugged, not concerned in the slightest. "It'll be okay. We'll figure it out. We'll just carry on as normally as we can, and we can take turns as to which lesson we both go to, alright?" He looked around the room, where the professor was waving the other students out of the door as the bell rang, signalling the end of the lesson. "Come on, let's get out of here."

Remus awkwardly picked up his bag and put it over his right shoulder. He was left-handed, and he felt lucky that he at least had use of his writing hand. He had no choice but to follow Sirius out of the classroom, fighting down the urge to hex Wauldin as the older man sneered at him. James and Peter had volunteered to clean up after them, knowing that they wouldn't be able to do it very well on their own.

As they headed to the dormitory, they didn't speak. Remus was well aware of where Sirius' hand was pressed into his skin. He was wondering how he would be able to do his homework, knowing that he would be burdened with Sirius', also. Feeling as if he was dealt the bad hand in the poker game called Life once again, he sighed, unashamed at feeling quite sorry for himself. Sirius just squeezed his wrist, and Remus glanced over to find the other boy smiling sympathetically at him, as if he had heard Remus' thoughts.

They ran into someone familiar rounding the corner to where the Fat Lady was. It was Lily Evans, a Ravenclaw, and James' girlfriend. Her long, curly auburn hair tumbled down her back and her petite but curvy form was not quite hidden beneath her robes. She smiled at them, raising her hand to wave, and Remus, not thinking, raised his left hand to wave back. Sirius' arm flopped alongside his.

"What happened?" Lily asked, astonished, as she took their arms into her hands and peered at where they were joined together.

"Potions accident," Sirius replied before Remus. "It'll wear off in a week."

Lily stepped back, eyeing him. "You don't look too sorry about it."

Remus looked over to Sirius, who was shrugging. "I'm not. I like Remus. He'll be fun to be attached to."

Lily just smiled and nodded, and turned to Remus. "Well, you don't look too thrilled, but it'll be okay. There ARE worse people that you could be attached to, you know." He nodded, sighing, as her eyes twinkled. "I've got to get to Divination. I'll see you guys later. Tell James I said hi." They watched her walk off.

"We'll be late for Herbology," Remus broke the silence gruffly. He tugged Sirius along, past the Fat Lady, through the common room, and into their dormitory. Pulling Sirius along to his bed, he set his bag down and threw the Potions book into his trunk, fetching his Herbology book and dragonhide gloves. Finished, he followed Sirius to his own bed to do the same, and they headed to Herbology together, again not speaking.

It was awkward, Remus thought, walking with his wrist attached to Sirius' hand. They didn't want to walk too closely together, so as to maintain an air of masculinity. But if they didn't walk closely enough, people would try and walk between them, and get caught by their linked arms. Remus kept finding himself drifting further and further away from Sirius, knowing that it just...looked funny if they were TOO close. Boys don't walk very closely to other boys.

It was when the fifth student got caught between them, and gave them an angry look before walking on the other side of Remus, that Sirius sighed loudly. "Oh, hell," he exclaimed, and pushed himself right next to Remus, his attached fingers brushing Remus' hip. Remus didn't say a word. What could he say? 'Sirius, walk a little further away from me, because I don't want to look like I'm gay?' No, that wouldn't do. He was conscious of how they must look, but there wasn't anything to be done about it, so he just kept silent as they walked to the greenhouses outside.

And it wasn't as if he minded THAT much, anyway. After all, Remus was used to walking with Sirius, James, and/or Peter at all times, and this time just happened to be only a little bit different.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The rest of the day was excruciatingly slow for Remus. Every time he wanted to do something, Sirius was there. When he needed to write, Sirius' hand attached to his wrist distracted and hindered him, because it was an unfamiliar weight on his writing hand. When he wanted to eat at dinner, he had to eat with his right hand, which shook with every bite, because it felt too strange to eat with Sirius' fingers coming towards his mouth.

And the worst, of course, was when he had to use the toilet. Thankfully, Sirius was the first to voice his need of it.

"How, exactly, are we going to pull this off?" Remus asked, trying to fight down the flush in his cheeks. Sirius just grinned.

"We'll just stand next to each other and go at the same time," he said. "It's simple enough. I mean, you have to go too, right?"

Remus sighed. It was more complicated than that, and he told Sirius so. "I do, but...what about...er...you know..." He couldn't get the words out, and it was an embarrassing enough situation as it was.

Sirius' eyes widened in understanding. "Shit."

"Exactly," Remus said pointedly.

"Well," Sirius frowned as they made their way to the nearest boys' loo, "I guess we'll also go at the same time, and just put our arms under the wall between the cubicles."

"So someone has to crawl under it?" Remus asked, disgusted. "You'll have to do that. I'm not crawling around on that floor-there's no telling what's been sprayed around..."

Sirius let out his usual bark-like laugh. "You're too paranoid, Remus. The house elves clean all that up."

Remus huffed. "Still, I don't want my hands to touch the floor."

"Fine, I'll be the one to go under the wall, okay?" Sirius grinned over and up a little at Remus, who was slightly taller. "Just don't look at my willy while we're taking a piss."

He danced away from Remus' fist, which was aiming for his bicep, and laughed again. They made their way to the toilet, and Remus, with a red face and his eyes closed almost the entire time, did his business quickly at the same time as Sirius. They didn't speak, Remus tried to ignore the sounds as much as he possibly could. When Sirius crawled back under the cubicle wall and grinned at him, Remus just huffed. They made their way over to the sink, where Remus had to help Sirius wash his one free hand.

The hardest thing was changing into their night clothes. Remus didn't know what to do. The sleeve, of course, could not be made to get off of his attached hand. Luckily, James came in, saw what they were trying to do, laughed, and said a simple Engorgement charm that widened the sleeve enough for Remus to put his head through and shimmy it down his body. Sirius did the same with his own shirt.

Determined to not look at Sirius while changing, because he knew that it was what boys didn't do, Remus pulled on his pyjama bottoms. Ever since Remus had told his friends about his condition, he had gone to sleep without a shirt, as he did while growing up. The scar was twisted and ugly, running in a semi-circle on the right side of his torso, in the front and back, near his waist. But he got hot when he slept, so he sacrificed his dislike of the scar for comfort. Glancing back over to find Sirius dressed in his usual black boxer shorts and white t-shirt, Remus tugged them both to the bathroom.

After they had each brushed their teeth, they walked back into the room and looked at each other. "We can sleep in your bed," Sirius said, and Remus nodded, feeling his lips tighten with exasperation at how hard it was to deal with their problem. The beds were pretty small, only made for one person, really, so when Remus lay on his back, Sirius next to him, his right arm was off the bed. He tried turning away from Sirius, to lay on his side, but now his left arm was bent backwards, and it was uncomfortable after a few blood-draining minutes. Sighing, Remus turned and faced his friend, jamming his head into his pillow. He had a hard time, though, still, because he couldn't sleep on his side without bending his knees. Sirius, who was still lying on his back, was taking up too much room to do this.

"Hey," Remus said softly. Sirius turned his head, still awake, and looked at Remus. He was barely visible, for the curtains were drawn, and only a sliver of moonlight drifted into the crack in the corner, where the heavy crimson curtains met the stone wall.

Sirius seemed to know what Remus was going to ask, and shifted so that he also lay sideways. Now they were facing each other, but Remus was okay because he had more room to bend his knees a little. Sirius also bent his knees, and they touched, but it was still about as comfortable as they were going to get.

"Goodnight, Remus," Sirius said. His minty breath washed over Remus' face.

"'Night." Remus closed his eyes, the warmth from Sirius' clothed chest making him sweat a little, but it wasn't too bad. There was nothing like the presence of a warm body to make it easier to drift off to sleep, he thought as sleep took him, the closeness synonymous with safety.

Even if that warm body WAS a bloke's.

Day Two

Movement and a loud gasp woke Remus up. It was still dark, pitch black, in fact, and Remus had a hard time believing that he had even opened his eyes. His face was sweating and he lifted his left hand out of habit to wipe at his forehead.

Oh. Right. I'm attached to Sirius. And that's what had woken Remus up, for he wasn't used to sharing a bed with someone. Remus' sharp eyes were getting used to the darkenss and he began to make out shapes. A blackness that was Sirius' hair, the outline of a nose, a pair of eyes staring at him.

Little puffs of breath were coming out of Sirius' nose, and Remus could feel them on his chest, for they were closer now than they were when they drifted off to sleep. Grunting a little, Remus scooted back a little, finding the closeness unnerving when he wasn't half-asleep. He had always been the type of person that felt uncomfortable touching people, for some reason. Maybe it had to do with his condition, and the fact that touching human skin reminded him of what he could never do on the nights when he was a wolf, but he didn't think so, because his parents told him once that he had never liked them holding him when he was little, before he was bitten. As he scooted back, however, Remus began to regret it, because a musky smell filled his nostrils.

His breath hitching, Remus felt his eyes widen as he looked into Sirius'. That smell...it was a scent that Remus detected sometimes coming off of Sirius as he first made his way past his bed in the mornings. It was the scent that he had been engulfed in after he had slept with Naylia Thatcher, a fellow Gryffindor who was a year ahead of him last year.

It was the smell of semen.

"Sorry," Sirius whispered then. "It's a habit. I couldn't help it, though I never knew how hard it would be to do with my left hand."

Remus felt his mind reeling. How could Sirius be so...casual about it? He had been wanking off not a breath away from Remus, and all he could say was, 'It's a habit,'? Remus pushed back, off the bed, and opened the curtains with his free hand, not looking at Sirius. He felt as if he were going to throw up, or faint, or...he didn't know what he was going to do, exactly.

The smell was what was unnerving. It still wafted up from the area of Sirius' crotch and permeated the entire enclosed space of the bed, almost choking Remus as he sucked in air from the room. How could he DO that with Remus being RIGHT THERE...?

"Well, now that I see how uncomfortable it makes you, I'll try to not do it until we're separated again, okay?" Sirius asked from behind Remus. Sitting back down on the bed, his back to Sirius, Remus nodded his head. He didn't really believe it. After all, it was a natural thing. But Remus was going to be damned if was going to pleasure his own self with Sirius standing there next to him, watching him, in the shower...

"We have to take a shower," Remus mused aloud, closing his eyes at the thought. Now there was nakedness to contend with.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They had tried, upon entering, to each take a separate stall, but they found that it was almost impossible, for a large wall separated each shower. Remus had known what that had meant, and he resigned himself to the inevitable.

"Nice arse," Sirius quipped. Remus whirled around and glared at him, blinking his eyes at the warm water that streamed out of the shower.

"Stop looking," he growled back. He turned back around, rinsing the rest of the suds out of his hair one-handed. But the sight of Sirius, grinning and completely starkers with dark hair plastered to his forehead and steam waving the lines of his body, was hard to erase. It was strangely alluring...

No, it's not. I'm straight! Remus jerked out of the running water and reached for a warmed towel, hastily drying himself off roughly and wrapping it hastily around his waist. "Are you done?"

"Yes, you can turn around now," Sirius said, and Remus sighed in relief, glad that this was over. He turned around...and Sirius was still naked.

Remus cried out in frustration, and Sirius chuckled. "Come on, Remus, it's not like we haven't seen each other before."

"Not on purpose, we haven't," Remus found himself wanting to beat his own head in with a hammer. Or maybe, Sirius' head.

Sirius finished with his shower while Remus stood, averting his eyes. Sirius actually started humming at one point, his voice garbled by the water, and Remus had to focus all of his attention on the maze of cracks that lined the stone walls to bite back his annoyance.

"Come on, I'm a bit peckish," Sirius noted a bit later, and Remus found that he was actually starving. "We're going to miss breakfast. If you hadn't taken so long, staring at my handsome body...not that I blame you..."

Remus just grunted. He was amused, but he wasn't going to let Sirius get the upper hand. Let the dark-haired boy think that he was angry and upset about the whole situation.

And so they went down to the Great Hall for breakfast, after dressing awkwardly, for James wasn't around to cast the Engorgement charm again, and Peter was nowhere to be found, apparently not waiting like he usually did.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The day passed in another miasma of frustrations, not unlike the previous day. Remus began to appreciate the fact that he wouldn't be permanently attached to Sirius forever. They went to Arithmancy that day, Remus promising Sirius that they would attend Muggle Studies on Friday. The teacher, Professor Vector, raised her eyebrows at the way they were joined together, but she didn't say anything. She just tightened her lips and told Sirius not to disrupt her class. It wasn't that hard to convince her that Remus would have to miss the next class so that Sirius could attend his own.

The real difference about this day was Quidditch practice. Already one up in the season, since Gryffindor had beaten Ravenclaw, the team had been practicing feverishly, the whole House looking forward to the upcoming match against Slytherin, which was to take place in a few weeks time. Sirius played as a Beater, while Remus didn't play at all. He liked flying, but he was never as good as some of the others were. He also didn't think that it would be prudent to commit himself to another regular schedule besides school itself, considering he was out for a few days every month, anyway.

After much persuading from Sirius and Peter, as well as James' whispered insistence that Sirius desperately needed the practice, Remus found himself outside that evening, dressed comfortably in an old, faded grey jumper and a pair of brown trousers. Sirius had his Quidditch uniform on, and was clutching his Nimbus Excel, the newest model to date. Remus looked over at him.

"And how are we going to pull this off?" Remus eyed the other players, who were in the air, some trying to discreetly stare down at where Sirius and he were joined. Sirius seemed not to notice as he steadied the broom.

In fact, what Sirius suggested was near impossible. Remus didn't think that it would work, but as Sirius instructed him to get on the broom backwards, facing Sirius, and put his head on Sirius' shoulder so his friend could see, he began to sigh. It was uncomfortable. Sirius had brought their joined arms to fold in between them, and Remus was practically sitting in Sirius' lap, because he would be blocking the view if he wasn't. So Remus found his thighs thrown over Sirius', chest against chest, his head right above Sirius' right shoulder so that Sirius could use his left hand to swat the club. The biting wind mussed his hair and made it fly into his face, and even Sirius was turning his head so that the strands wouldn't get caught in his mouth.

"This isn't going to work," Remus told him. "You can hardly see because of my hair, and you can only use one hand."

"You're off your head!" Sirius shouted back, because they had taken to the air, the wind carrying their voices every which way. "This is a brilliant idea!"

Remus eyed the players that he could see, who were gaping at them, and James, who was unsuccessfully trying not to smile. "You wouldn't be saying that if I had thought of it."

"You have plenty of good ideas, Remus," Sirius replied. Then he shouted, "Oi, you, what're you looking at, eh? Never seen two boys ride a broom together before?"

His face heating up, Remus buried it into Sirius' shoulder and concentrated on the feeling of the wind rushing through his hair. Sirius was warm, and the warmth seeped through the clothes straight into his chest, making his breath short. Remus burrowed closer, digging his nose into the shoulder of his friend, and it smelled a little like sweat and a lot like...what is that smell? "Are you wearing some type of cologne?"

"Yeah, Lily got it for me for Christmas," came the reply. "You like it?"

Remus loved it. It was masculine and spicy and seemed to fit Sirius perfectly. "It's okay." He found himself snuggling closer, pressing more firmly into his friend, wondering how he could have missed when Sirius had put it on that morning. He supposed it was sometime when he was trying not to watch while they got dressed that morning.

They said nothing for the rest of practice, and Remus rather enjoyed the feeling of the wind in his hair. He shook every time Sirius swung his left arm to hit at a flying Bludger, and he wriggled closer to his friend as a particular difficult flying move was executed, Remus holding on for dear life. He was sure he was going to fall off the thing, despite having seen Sirius perform the upside-down move for years. Finally hearing the whistle from James, Remus sighed in relief in the knowledge that the practice was over. Landing next to where Peter was grinning at them, Sirius told him that he needed a shower.

"But we'll go back to the dormitory showers. The Quidditch changing room showers are all in one space, and I know you don't want that," Sirius said to him as they made their way back to the castle. Remus just nodded.

It was still evening when they got back. Engorgement-charming their clothes off, Remus followed Sirius into the shower stall, making his eyes stay glued to where Sirius' short dark hair stuck to his neck from sweat, and not drift lower. Why he felt the urge to let his sight drift lower in the first place was beyond him.

"Wash my back?" Sirius asked, holding out the soap. Remus, groaning inwardly, scrubbed at the smooth, muscular surface, perhaps a bit too hard, concentrating his gaze on a brown mole on the left shoulder blade, and Sirius sighed. "Want me to do yours?"

"I can manage," Remus replied. He finished Sirius' back and turned them around so the soap could wash off. Sirius turned around and faced him.

"Have you ever had sex, Remus?"

Remus stared at him. What kind of question was that? "None of your business! Why do you care, anyway?"

Sirius grinned. "I just want to know. Call me nosy, if you'd like." Remus felt the hand attached to his wrist tighten. "Come on, tell me."

Remus rolled his eyes. "I'd rather not talk about it while we're both completely starkers in the shower together." He watched as Sirius, still smiling, looked down. "Hey!"

Laughing then, Sirius looked back up, his eyes sparkling. "You can have a free peek at me, now."

Exasperated, Remus turned off the shower and grabbed two towels from the rack, throwing one at Sirius. "I don't want a free peek."

"Are you a homophobe?" The next question hung in the air for a few seconds. Remus turned back around to find Sirius still standing there, the towel on his arm, an odd expression on his face.

Remus wondered why Sirius was asking him these questions. What was he trying to say? "I'm not a homophobe. I'm just straight."

"Right." Again, that weird expression, and a shadow crossed Sirius' face. "Time for bed, don't you think?"

"Actually, I have to finish that essay for Transfiguration."

Sirius nodded. "Oh yeah, so do I." He wrapped the towel around his waist, finally, and stepped out beside Remus, still dripping water. Rivulets ran down his face from his hair, and his shoulders and chest were glistening. Remus forced himself to look away. It was odd, what the sight was doing to him.

What did it mean?

Day Three

Remus awoke to someone saying his name, very lightly, right in front of him. It was a whisper, even the ghost of one, but Remus had always been a pretty light sleeper.

He opened his eyes, waiting until they adjusted to the darkness, and found Sirius' nose almost touching his own. Sirius' eyes were open also, and by the faint sunlight creeping in through the slight gap in the curtains, Remus could only see blackness in those eyes. Blackness, surrounded by a very slim ribbon of blue, and Remus slowly realized that Sirius' pupils were dilated. Probably the darkness...

A curious feeling was settling around the front of his left thigh. Something like...wetness. Gasping, Remus drew himself backwards, and accidentally fell out of bed. Some shifting came from above, and Sirius' head poked itself over the side, pushing the curtain outwards.

"I'm sorry!" Sirius actually sounded embarrassed, though his voice was quiet, so as to not wake their friends up. "I can't help it, Remus. Not when you're right there, and all I can smell and see..." He cut himself off abruptly, but he had already said enough. Remus looked up at him from the floor, astonished.

"I...you..." Remus couldn't get words out. Sirius had wanked off to the sight of him? This meant...

"I mean, a warm body was next to mine," Sirius said then, seeming to correct himself. "I was dreaming about Gwynne Osmer, you know, Lily's friend, and I guess my body just...reacted to the feeling of someone being next to mine." Remus made himself nod, but he didn't believe his friend. Not when Sirius had whispered HIS name. But his nod seemed to relax Sirius.

Reaching out a hand, Sirius smiled down at him. "Come on, it's only four in the morning. You're probably still tired after last night." They had worked on the essays until about midnight, way past the time when everyone else had gone to bed. Remus had helped Sirius with his, since Sirius couldn't write anything legibly with his left hand.

Remus allowed himself to be pulled up, his thigh still wet, and a wet spot on the bed itself made him weary. But he WAS tired. He made himself ignore the wetness as he looked into his friend's face. "I thought you went to Hogsmeade with her that one time," he said. "Didn't anything come of it? She said that you two...you know."

Sirius sighed. "No, we didn't do anything. She went with me, but ended up going back to the castle with that bloke who finished a year before us-red hair, really tall...remember him? The Hufflepuff?"

"Mmm. Ricky Darwin. He was a right sod, wasn't he?" Remus smirked. "That prat thought I was talking to one of his girlfriends once, and he threatened to hex me. Got sent home for suspension a week later, after he threw that Dungbomb at the Slytherins during breakfast one day, right in sight of the teachers."

"Yeah, I couldn't stand him." Sirius looked closely at Remus. "I never knew he threatened you. Why didn't you say something?"

Remus smiled at the familiar-sounding protectiveness in his friend's voice. "I can take care of myself, Sirius. Besides, he didn't end up doing anything." He shifted so that his head lay more comfortably on the pillow. "Sorry he stole your girl."

"Nah, she wasn't my girl," Sirius replied. "I just thought she was hot."

"She was," Remus agreed. He could smell the evidence of Sirius' earlier action, but he chose not to mention it. "I slept with Naylia."

"What?"

"Naylia Thatcher. I'm answering the question that you asked last night in the showers." Remus felt a little more open, which was why he decided to tell Sirius. "It was last year, when we were dating."

Sirius sounded astonished. "Why didn't you tell us?"

Remus shrugged. "Like I said, it wasn't your business. Plus, I didn't want to say last night because...well, it didn't seem appropriate to be standing naked next to another naked boy, talking about shagging a girl."

"And now, laying in bed next to me after I've wanked off, it IS appropriate?" Sirius asked, his voice light. "Was she the only one? How many times did you shag her?"

Remus laughed a little. "Yes, she was the only one. And I only slept with her a few times."

"Did you...like it?" Remus thought the question sounded a little forced. He thought back to one of those nights, in her own dorm room, in her bed, the sweat, the feel of her breasts pressed up against him, and way her legs had wrapped around his hips so tightly that he could hardly move.

"Yes. What's not to like about sex?" Remus had felt almost completely satisfied after every time, but there had been something...missing. He never found out what that was. Perhaps love? He never loved her. He just...liked her a lot. She had finished school, and didn't return his owled letters during the summer holiday. He had never heard from her after that.

"I've shagged three people," Sirius said suddenly. Remus was startled. The way Sirius bragged about it, he would have thought that Sirius had the run of the entire school. Everyone usually looked upon Sirius as being a bit of a lad.

"Who were they?" He actually found that he was quite curious.

"Erm...well." Sirius seemed embarrassed. "There was Robyn, first."

Remus grinned. "You were going out with her in Fourth Year!"

"Yes, it was then." Sirius smiled back at him. "It was so awkward, too. Couldn't get into the right rhythm, and her knees were still kind of knobbly, and I was so much taller than her. It was strange."

Laughing lightly at the image in his head of a fumbling Sirius, Remus shook his head. "I never thought I'd hear you be the one to admit to having a not-so-perfect shag." Sirius laughed with him. "Who were the other two?"

Sirius stopped laughing. "Oh, well...I'll tell you some other time. It's kind of embarrassing." He wasn't looking at Remus now. "I promise I'll tell you later. I just have to...think about some things first."

Remus watched Sirius' face, the way the moonlight drifted in from the window, silvery light through their open bed curtains, illuminating the smoothness of skin. There was the slight hint of dark stubble on Sirius' square jaw and upper lip, and the shaggy, straight dark hair fell in a tangle across his forehead. Remus moved his gaze back to Sirius' eyes, which were still not looking back at him.

"You know you can trust me with anything," he said. Sirius looked at him, then.

"I know," came the whispered reply.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Ten inches of parchment on the properties of Melding Potions, to be handed in on Tuesday." Professor Wauldin walked across the front of the classroom, a smirk on his face as he glanced down to where Remus and Sirius were sitting. "And since you two are sharing a brain this week, it'll be twenty inches for you, to make it fair to the others."

Remus groaned. He'd have to write the whole thing himself, since Sirius was obviously not able to do so.

"What was that, Lupin?" Wauldin asked nastily. Remus looked up at him.

"I didn't say anything."

"Detention, Lupin. Monday night, seven-thirty, this classroom. And twenty points from Gryffindor for your cheek." Wauldin sneered. "And if your predicament is not resolved by then, Black may accompany you to get a head start on whatever detention he may get later on this year for one of his insolent pranks."

Remus opened his mouth to argue, but Sirius squeezed his wrist. The bell rang then, and Sirius half-pulled him up out of his seat in eagerness to leave.

"Ouch, Sirius!" Remus made a grab for his bag and swung it onto his shoulder, letting himself be dragged out of the room, around the still-sneering Professor, to join up with James and Peter, who were waiting. Sirius shot an apologetic but thin smile back at him.

James was biting his lip as they approached, a sure sign that he was holding in laughter. It was his trademark, the face he made when a prank had been pulled and he didn't want to be blamed. Peter, however, smiled full on.

"You two sure have been sticking around each other a whole lot, lately," Peter said, raising his eyebrows. James let out a snort, but recovered quickly as Remus glared.

"Glad to provide such entertainment for your pleasure," Sirius replied calmly, blowing a blast of air up to clear the hair out of his eyes. His hair didn't look as tidy as it usually did, and James pointed it out with a flicking finger. Sirius did not look amused.

"Watch it," Remus told James. "He's mad because I wouldn't help him tidy up his hair this morning, and he couldn't really do anything with it but run fingers through it one-handed. He's a bit put off."

"I'm not," Sirius argued. "You just think it's funny that you still have use of two hands, and I don't."

Remus huffed. "Yeah, I think it's HILARIOUS that I have to write twenty inches of a stuffy, sodding, bloody stupid essay on a potion that we already KNOW the dangers of."

"Settle down, you two," James leaned in, patting a glaring Sirius on the shoulder. "You can't be fighting this week. There's still, what, four more days to go after this one?"

Remus was about to tell James where to stick his four days when Lily showed up, grinning up at her boyfriend and letting him lean down to give her a quick kiss. She turned to Remus and Sirius.

"You know, I've been reading up on Melding potions," she told them. "I found a way to dispel the effects of the potion if human skin is involved-"

Remus whooped, interrupting. She shot him a look, the kind of look that a parent gives to a child to make them behave, and he cleared his throat, abashed. She continued.

"Anyway, as I was saying, I found a way to dispel the effects, a potion, but it has to be applied to the joined skin within three hours after the occurrence. Sorry." She gave Remus a sympathetic smile and wrapped her arm around James' waist. She looked up at him. "I have to get to my lesson, and so do you. I'll see you later, okay?" Giving another smile to Remus, Sirius, and Peter, she waved and trotted off down the hall.

"Well, you heard what she said," Peter said, leading them back to the dorms to exchange their books. "I wish she could have found that solution in the right amount of time. Do you reckon Wauldin knew about it?"

Remus snarled. "I'm sure he has a whole stock of it in his office." He felt a squeeze on his wrist, and turned to find Sirius watching him. "What?"

"You're snarling," Sirius told him.

"I don't snarl!" Remus snarled back. Sirius grinned. "What's so funny?"

"What're you so hacked off about?" Remus didn't answer the question, but instead dragged Sirius over to his bed as soon as they reached their room, getting out his things for Herbology.

The truth was, Remus had started feeling edgy since that morning. Nothing in particular happened, he thought. Sirius had snapped at him when he refused to help with hair styling, and the shower was once again awkward, and the lingering, pungent smell from the bed caused his head to ache. He was feeling twitchy, irritated, and confused. And the worst thing was, he wasn't even sure why.

He wasn't sure if he could survive the rest of the week from Hell.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Let's go outside for a walk," Sirius said to him later. It was evening, after Astronomy, and the common room was still crowded. Remus and Sirius were sitting at a table in the corner, playing chess, and Remus was losing spectacularly. At the thought of fresh air, he nodded and stood, suggesting the borrowing of James' Invisibility cloak to get outside without bringing the wrath of teachers down upon them.

When they got outside, hidden under the cloak and heavy winter robes made of wool, they headed towards the lake. Shimmering faint white light gleamed down upon the grounds around them, lit by the partially hidden half-moon, almost obscured by the clouds. The trees from the Forbidden Forest were black shadows in the distance, and the lake was an eerie calm, nothing breaking the smooth surface of the water.

Remus sat down next to Sirius, facing the lake, and slid the cloak off of them. Taking a deep breath, he felt himself relax. It had been a long, tiring day.

"I need a haircut," Sirius mumbled quietly, moving a lock out of his eyes with his left hand. Remus turned to look at the profile of his friend.

The length suits him. Remus moved his left hand, carefully, to the top of Sirius' head, feeling the black strands tangle around his fingers. "No, it's nice," he said. He separated his first finger and his middle finger, unknotting a snag. "The length adds more...I don't know. It adds something good to your face. It's better this way."

Sirius' eyes were closed, only wincing slightly when Remus tried to untangle some more strands. "Really? You don't think it makes me look like a girl?"

Smiling, Remus shook his head, even though Sirius wasn't looking at him. "You look completely masculine, I promise." A smile crept onto Sirius' lips, which made Remus watch them. "Besides, my hair's longer than yours. Am I girly-looking?"

"Of course not," Sirius barked a laugh, and then leaned his head closer to Remus' hand, his face becoming serious. "Remus..." The blue eyes opened, and the dark head turned towards him. Remus felt his stomach fluttering. It was similar to what he had felt the first time he had kissed a girl, but...strangely comforting, as well.

But...Sirius is a bloke! Remus jerked his hand away from Sirius' hair, and tore his eyes away to look out across the lake, staring at the tiny ripples in the water made by the slight wind. He scooted a little further away from the warmth of Sirius' body, and heard his friend sigh, but he didn't ask what was wrong.

Instead, they only sat for a moment longer before Remus steeled himself to look at Sirius again, and told him that he was tired. Nodding, Sirius stood, and helped Remus up, and the two of them wrapped the cloak around themselves, making their way back up to the castle, not exchanging another word.

Day Four

Remus awoke, blinking with bleary eyes in the dark, and let his eyes adjust. He had pulled the curtains only halfway closed the night before, and the clouds had seemed to shift away from the half moon since earlier, so moonlight drifted into the enclosed space.

Attached to Sirius, his brain reminded him, and Remus forced himself to breath steadily, closing his eyes again, listening to any sounds of what he had woken up to for the past few nights. There was nothing-only the soft sound of Sirius breathing. Grateful, Remus thought about the dream that he had woken up from. It had been a good dream, one that involved himself and someone else in a very steamy situation, though he couldn't right then remember who that other person was. It had left him half hard though, but he ignored his nether region, for there was nothing he could do about it then.

But as Remus tried to will himself back to sleep, he heard the faint sound of cloth shifting, and he kept his eyes shut. The movement, he sensed, was coming from down towards the foot of the bed. But not quite that far down...

There was a bit of a steady sound and a very gentle movement of skin on skin. It went on for a few moments, and then there was a faint smack of a liquid substance, like it was being slicked onto something. Sirius' breathing had started to speed up.

Oh, no. Remus knew that if he didn't stop what Sirius was doing right then, he would be awake for the whole thing. But he couldn't make himself move, fascinated with the feeling of Sirius' rushed breath on his face and the slight movement of the mattress as Sirius moved his hips just a little. It was a little odd, though, how it wasn't regular. It was jerky, as though Sirius couldn't get into a good rhythm. Remus remembered how Sirius had said it was hard to do what he was doing with his left hand.

Maybe I should help him. Remus inwardly pounded himself. He's a bloke. So am I. He doesn't want me to help him. And I don't WANT to help him. But this internal, one-sided conversation didn't convince him. Remus felt his body starting to respond even more to the sounds that Sirius was now making, which were hitched breaths and sporadic, quiet moans. The place where their knees were touching was searing jolts of electricity through his skin.

Remus could feel his own arousal, which curled deep in his belly, making him rigid with desire. He tried to tell himself that it was human nature to react that way to other people who were sexually aroused, but he knew that the problem was something else entirely. There was no use in denying it-the idea was stimulating because it was happening with Sirius, not because it was just another human next to him. Remus ached to touch himself, but he dared not, for fear of Sirius finding out that he was awake, and he was listening, and he was aroused by the thought of what Sirius was doing so close to him. The crashing realization made him catch his breath.

Biting his lip, Remus tried to block the sounds out of his mind, now. He didn't want to come all over himself from the breathing and moans alone. He could just imagine the humiliation. He tried to think of unarousing things. Wauldin having sex. Wauldin having sex with Dumbledore. Wauldin having sex with Dumbledore, during a full moon, with Snape watching. Remus shuddered involuntarily, the thought still not stifling his erection.

And then Sirius moved the hand that was attached to his wrist just a little, which moved his own left hand, and the backs of Sirius' attached fingers brushed against one of his bare, hard nipples.

A shot of painful desire stemmed from there, and Remus clenched his eyes and mouth shut, determined not to gasp out loud. He wanted to move his hips closer to Sirius' slightly jerking ones, and press his hardness against his friend to relieve some of the tightly coiled tension, but he couldn't make himself do it. Instead, Remus shook, sweat drenching his forehead, and controlled himself until Sirius finished, after what seemed like hours later, and wetness spread over the bed around Remus' own crotch.

Stifling a groan at the thought of what had produced that wetness, Remus kept his eyes shut. For a long time, Sirius didn't move, but then Remus heard his friend's voice.

"Remus...I'm sorry again." Remus opened his eyes, his body still shaking slightly, and stared into Sirius'. "Remus...I..."

"S'kay," Remus made himself mumble. "It's only natural. You didn't wake me until just now anyway, so I didn't even hear you." He shifted away from Sirius and pushed back the covers, sitting up and lugging his legs off the side of the bed, his back to the other.

"Remus..." Remus felt a hand on the side of his torso, on his ribcage, and the touch burned. He jerked away and stood up, waiting for Sirius to take the hint.

A long, frustrated sigh came from Sirius, and they were both finally standing, Remus not looking at Sirius at all. They made their way to the nearest boys' toilet, and relieved themselves, though Remus was still hard, and it was becoming painful for him to even walk, much less take a piss.

And after that was the shower, in which Remus insisted on turning the water as cold as he could possibly get it without making Sirius uncomfortable. It was a test of his will, for the tight feeling in his chest told him to turn around and look at Sirius and push him into the wall, with the water running in small trails down his Quidditch-toned body, jerking hips together so hard that they could both come within a matter of seconds. But, restraining himself, Remus only let out a shuddering breath, keeping his back to his friend, willing his hardness to alleviate. I shouldn't be hard in the first place. What's got into me?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The day passed in a haze, and Remus wasn't sure how he had managed to get through in at the end. Instead of Arithmancy, he found himself in Muggle Studies, Professor Sammons smiling down at him with sympathy, her painted pink lips curling up at the corners. He took notes for Sirius on Hypotenuses and Cosines, and Sirius sat next to him, watching his hand with an unnerving stare.

"Stop it," Remus told him quietly.

"What?" Sirius took his gaze away from Remus' hand and turned it onto his eyes, blue orbs innocent. "What am I doing?"

Remus sighed. "You're just...never mind. Let me take these notes for you in peace." He got to writing again, and Sirius settled down, now looking out the window behind the professor.

A few moments went by, and the only sound was the scratching of quills and the professor's voice. But then, as Remus dipped his quill into his inkpot, he heard a wet noise beside him. As he turned, he almost dropped his quill in shock.

Sirius had his lips wrapped around a liquorice wand, his cheeks hollowed out. Pulling it slowly out of his mouth, his eyes closed, he licked along the side of it, pausing at the tip before placing his lips around it once more.

Remus jerked out of the trance that he had dived into, facing the front once more with a snap of his body, his heart racing. Stop! Stop looking! Don't think about it! Unfortunately, he had surprised Sirius into yelping, which pulled several students out of their own studious efforts and caused the professor to frown.

"Mr. Black," she started, "if there's something you'd like to share with the class, go ahead and...IS THAT A SWEET?" She practically flew to where they were sitting. Sirius sat still, the wand still in his hand, drooping just a little where it had been salivated on. She snatched it out of his hand, ignoring the wetness, and huffed. "I believe that Professor Wauldin said that this...situation with yourself and Mr. Lupin will be resolved next week?" Sirius nodded. "Well, Mr. Black, I'll be assigning you a special project when you're able to do your own work. Something on how liquorice wands have changed the whole of Muggle society throughout history, hmm?"

The class snickered, and Sirius looked up at her, horrified. "But liquorice wands aren't a Muggle sweet!"

"Oh, really? Then what are you doing here in Muggle Studies, testing one out? I suppose you'll just have to make an extra effort on it then," she almost smiled, and walked back to the front of the classroom to resume teaching. Several of their classmates, including Evan Rosier and Augustus Rookwood, two particularly nasty Slytherins who sat in the row in front of them, mocked Sirius' last words in whiny undertones. Rosier even turned around and pretended that he was enjoying a liquorice wand himself, but in a lewd manner that made Sirius growl quietly at him.

But the whole time that all of this was going on, Remus only barely noticed. He couldn't shut out the memory of Sirius' lips, and Sirius' tongue, and the way Sirius' cheeks hollowed out...

"You alright, Remus?" Sirius was whispering. "You just got really flustered all of a sudden."

Remus felt that if he turned to look at his friend, he would be unable to stop himself from grabbing the boy in front of him and licking away the remaining flavour of liquorice off of the other boy's tongue. Stop it! You don't want to do that! "I'm fine," he snapped instead, pretending to write down the last thing that Professor Sammons had said about Tangents.

Sirius didn't say or do anything else for the rest of the lesson, and when they got up to leave after the bell, Remus was very glad indeed that students were required to wear robes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Every thought caused a reaction in his nether region. Every sight made him want to hurry to the nearest bathroom and wank off. Remus was aroused on and off for the rest of the day, and it nearly made him crazy while causing an almost mind-numbing pain.

It didn't help when Sirius told him that he had Quidditch practice again that evening. Suppressing a groan, Remus followed his friend out to the pitch after dinner. He had kept his school robes on over his shirt and trousers, hoping that he would be able to get away with bunching the material in front, between his erection and Sirius' crotch. Seeing as how it was cold outside, he thought that he might be able to get away with it. But as he was about to swing his leg over the broomstick, Sirius stopped him.

"Those will just get in the way," he told Remus. "And aren't you hot? I saw you put regular clothes on this morning."

Remus nearly panicked. What was he going to do? "I hate to do this, Sirius, but I don't feel much like flying tonight. Do you think you could skive off, just this once?" All of the pleading he thought he possessed, he put into his words and his look.

He thought that Sirius was about to make his whole life a miserable hell by refusing anyway, but after a pause, his friend just nodded. "Okay. You don't look so well."

"Just a bit knackered," Remus replied, relieved. He gathered the broomstick in his right hand and walked with Sirius back to the castle. All he had to do now was get into bed, and then he'd be able to perhaps relax himself enough to sleep, sans erection.

His luck, however, did not seem to be running with him. Sirius, as soon as they headed up to the room and the Quidditch gear came off, announced that he needed a quick shower before bed. "I know you're tired, but I'm all sweaty from just walking out there in that hot old thing," pointing to the crimson robes that were now in a pile on top of the stuff in his open trunk.

How am I supposed to get through THIS? Remus nearly groaned with the word "sweaty" coming out of Sirius' mouth. Closing his eyes, forcing every non-arousing thought he could conjure into his head, he made himself nod.

The bathroom took years to get to, and the length of time it took for Sirius to get undressed took nearly as long, as Remus had hastily stripped and faced away from his friend as soon as they stepped outside the shower cubicle. Trying not to think of the fact that Sirius was completely naked, standing connected to him, he could feel the ache of his long-lasting erection. When they got into the shower, Remus stood facing the corner, attempting to keep himself as still as possible. Sirius was moving around behind him, and he nearly jumped and shouted when he felt something brush against his arse.

"Sorry, my hand slipped," Sirius mumbled to the back of his head. Remus, not trusting himself to speak, just nodded again.

But his cock throbbed even more insistently, and suddenly, Remus felt as if he were about to explode. Ignoring the embarrassment that he felt burning at his cheeks, he cleared his throat. "Sirius?" He winced as his voice squeaked unnaturally.

"Hmm?"

Remus took a deep breath, swallowing his pride. "Don't pay attention to me for the next few minutes, okay?" Without waiting for a reply, he scooted right up to the corner, well aware of Sirius' presence right behind him, and reached down with his right hand to touch himself.

Pleasure shot through him at the mere brush of his hand, and he wrapped it around his cock, a groan escaping between his lips before he could hold it. He stroked slowly at first, awkwardly, for he had never attempted this with his right hand. It was good, SO good, the friction of his hand against his hardness, the combination of sweat and steam forming on his forehead, the feel of the water running in rivulets from his hair down his back, some of it channelling into the cleft of his arse. He attempted to go faster, the pressure in his balls was building rapidly, but his right hand wouldn't do what he wanted it to, and wouldn't go faster, and couldn't stroke in the exact right angle.

"Fuck," he snarled, and braced his body against the wall with his right hand, the tile slick under his hand, while he brought the weighted left hand down. Closing his eyes, Remus threw his head back as he worked in this all-too-familiar fashion, his left hand flying over his cock with ease, pausing to rub his thumb along the tip, squeezing a few times at the base, shaking it to prolong the ecstasy that threatened to overwhelm him. He could hardly breathe, it was so GOOD, and his skin was tingling all over, his knees weakening, his muscles straining at the tension. A quick, gentle cupping of his balls, and then back to a few hard, pumping strokes of his cock, and Remus looked down to see the hand that was attached to his wrist. Sirius' hand. With a choked cry, he came, his arse clenching, his body shaking and threatening to collapse as he watched the tiles get coated with the gooey white trails.

For a brief, cloudless moment, Remus felt deliciously drained, watching the water that dripped over the sides of his neck wash his hand clean. He cupped his hand to catch some of the water, and then splashed it on the wall in front of him. He felt like doing nothing and everything at once, wanting to both sit right down where he was in the shower to trotting down to the kitchens for a snack.

And then the realization of what he had just done came crashing down on him. He had just wanked off in front of one of his best friends. And a male at that. Realizing that Sirius had not said a word, Remus was terribly afraid, all of a sudden.

He couldn't turn around. "Sorry. I'm...sorry. I just...it's been a while...I couldn't hold off..." He realized that Sirius was still not saying anything, and he finally glanced over his shoulder.

Water spurting from the shower sprayed onto the top of Sirius' head, dripping down his shoulders and his face. Staring at the floor in front of him, the dark-haired boy was breathing fast, his face red.

And his left hand was clenched around his softened cock. Remus looked down to see the last remains of whiteness washing down the drain.

Sirius looked up then, and smiled. "No need to apologize. Seems as if once a day isn't good enough for me. I'm surprised you've held out this long, to be honest." His eyes looked hungry, and he licked his lips despite the fact that they were wet from the streaming water. "I think I'm ready to get to bed, now."

The water was turned off, and they dressed for bed awkwardly. Remus tried to banish the image of Sirius standing under the running water holding his cock out of his mind. He finally lay down next to his friend and closed his eyes.

As the soft puffs of Sirius' breath blew over his face, Remus could only think of one thing.

Only three more days to go.

Day Five

Remus sighed pleasurably as wet lips made their way down the column of his throat. It tickled slightly, and it was a wonderful feeling. But not as wonderful as the hands that were stroking his stomach, making him shiver.

"Remus," a voice whispered from his collarbone, and Remus could only moan in reply as he felt a hand shoving into the waistband of his pyjama bottoms roughly and quickly, curling around his erection. He pushed his hips forward.

"Reeeemuuuuuusssss," the voice taunted again, the mouth of the person now somewhere lower, near his navel, and Remus hissed in excitement as he felt a tongue swipe into it. His pyjama bottoms were pulled down his hips a little, freeing his cock, and he felt it being blasted with hot air as the mouth drifted lower and laughed quietly over it. "You okay, Remus?"

Okay? He was more than okay, and he told the owner of the voice in his groans as he threw his head back against the pillow even as a warm, wet sensation surrounded the head of his cock. A tongue hastily flicked at the slit, and lapped at the underside where the head met the shaft, and Remus flung his hands down to clutch in the hair of the person, forcing their head up to look at him.

Sirius' previously-occupied mouth now quirked into a smile. "Remus," he said again, before dragging his tongue over the tip of Remus' erection, still staring at him.

"Remus. Remus."

"Remus. REMUS!" Gasping for breath, Remus fought the hand that was on his chest momentarily before realizing that he was in his bed, still attached to Sirius, and that it had been a dream. He suppressed a groan as he looked at his friend's worried face, trying to ignore his throbbing morning erection.

"I think you were having a bad dream," Sirius told him, his left hand still a weight on Remus' chest. "You were groaning like you were in pain or something."

I AM in pain, Remus thought wildly as he pushed the hand off his chest and sat up. He ignored his friend as he swung his legs away from Sirius and pushed his way through the part in the curtains of his four-poster, running his right hand awkwardly through his hair. His cock throbbed pleasantly, but he attempted to ignore it as he dragged Sirius out of the bed and headed to the bathroom.

A red face and a semen-splattered corner later, Remus felt himself calming down a little. It was time to admit to what he had been dreading to face.

He was attracted to Sirius.

He wasn't sure of when it happened, exactly. All he knew now was that he wanted to push his dark-haired friend against the wall of the shower and grind his hips into the other boy's. He wanted to claim those lips with his own.

But boys did not just suddenly admit feelings of lust to other boys. It wasn't natural, it wasn't commonly accepted, and it certainly wasn't safe to assume that feelings were mutual if one wasn't sure. Remus turned around after draining himself, finding Sirius staring at him again.

After a moment, however, Sirius turned his gaze away and resumed rinsing the suds out of his hair, facing away from Remus.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was Saturday, and a Hogsmeade weekend, and so Remus found himself walking down the road to the Wizarding village with his friends. The biting winter wind froze his toes through his worn boots, and his hands were almost numb. He kept both hands in his pockets, his left one in deep so that Sirius' hand would be covered, too. Lily kept smiling at him behind Sirius' back, and James kept smirking at Sirius when he thought Remus wasn't looking.

"-said that she likes Sugar Quills, so I thought I'd buy her some. You know, since I thought it might be a nice thing to do. Don't you think so?" Peter was blathering on to Lily about a Ravenclaw friend of hers that he thought quite fetching.

"Personally, I think you should find a way to Meld yourself to her." Lily grinned at Remus' scowl. "What? You and Sirius have never been so close..."

"Can't you shut her up?" Sirius inquired James in a much-too-polite tone. James just sniggered.

"You can try it yourself. I've learned my lesson already."

Lily smiled up at her boyfriend. "And I'll have to keep teaching you if you continue to be cheeky about it."

"In that case," James grinned, "I'll try to be even more cheeky, Professor. Teach away."

When they arrived at Hogsmeade they all split up, Peter wanting to go to Honeydukes, and Lily dragging James to Gladrags to buy some new robes. Sirius wanted to go to Zonko's to replenish his stock of Dungbombs. They all agreed to meet in the Three Broomsticks later on.

"I have exactly two galleons and five sickles. You think that'll be enough for twenty Dungbombs?" Sirius asked as they walked through the doorway to the shop. Remus only shrugged, looking towards the shelf of the all-new Nose-biting Teacups.

"Big seller," a gruff voice said next to him, and Remus turned to see a squat man with a bushy moustache eyeing him. "I expect that'll be the trend now. Those teacups, I mean." He picked up the nearest cup delicately. "The trick is to know how to handle them. They don't hurt you, but they play a nice prank on someone that you want to startle."

Remus was reaching for the teacup that the man was handing him. He noticed that the man had a nametag that said, "Brian" and his shirt was actually embroidered with 'Zonko's Joke Shop' across the chest. Surely, this man wouldn't allow him to actually be hurt by one of these...

The cup flew out of the other man's hand, shattering on the floor nearby, making several browsing students jump.

"Oh, so sorry," Sirius said, a little breathless, a smile on his face not unlike the one that he usually had for McGonagall after a prank had been played at school. "I didn't see you there. Here, I'll pay for it, okay?" He dug into his pockets and placed some coins into the man's hand.

Brian-the-employee walked away, grumbling after glaring at their joined arms, counting the sickles as he went to go ring the 'purchase' up. Remus glared at Sirius.

"You should be more careful," he told the dark-haired boy as he stepped over to the shattered remains of the teacup on the floor, levitating the pieces into the nearby dustbin. "Now you've just lost yourself some money, prat."

Sirius just bit his lip and nodded, seeming distracted. He led the way through the crowd towards the Dungbombs.

When they were leaving after twelve purchased Dungbombs were secured away in Sirius' pocket, Remus glanced one more time at the intriguing teacups. He skimmed the sign underneath the display.

All-new Nose-biting Teacups! Make your friends laugh! Be the entertaining host at dinner parties! Looks and acts like a real teacup until the innocent bystander picks it up and holds it incorrectly. Snaps at the nose with rubber teeth, so as to not actually harm your guests. Made with porcelain, the outside of the elegant cup is engraved with pure silver markings along the rim and the handle.

Pure silver markings.

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Remus found himself suddenly outside, wanting to say some sort of apology to Sirius for snapping, but the other boy was looking at the ground rather forlornly.

They had actually not spoken to each other since the night before. After Remus had woken up with both his morning erection and his realization of his attraction to his friend, he had refrained from speaking more than one syllable at a time.

Unfortunately, Sirius chose that next moment to comment on the lack of communication between them. "You mad at me about something, Moony?"

Remus winced at the sad tone in Sirius' voice. He forced himself to smile and look over at his friend. "No, I'm not mad. Why would I be?"

"I don't know. Ever since yesterday, in the showers..."

"Let's not talk about that," Remus said a little harshly, and then immediately felt bad at the look on Sirius' face. "Look, I'm just a little embarrassed, okay? You may not be, but I don't fancy letting everyone know about my private activities." He sighed. "It's just humiliating. I'll get over it. It's nothing you did." Except for when you whispered my name the other morning as you wanked off in front of me, starting me down this impossible path of thinking that you and I could possibly...

"Good," Sirius grinned, interrupting Remus' frantic thoughts. "You up for going to Honeydukes, now?"

Feeling himself starting to relax, Remus nodded. He walked beside Sirius, his right hand in his pocket, feeling the two knuts nestled in there between his fingers. His mouth watered at the thought of a Sugar Quill.

When they got to Honeydukes, they looked around for Peter, but he wasn't there any longer. Sirius went immediately over to the liquorice wands, staring longingly at the display of sweets. "Damn, I spent all of my money at Zonko's. You think they'll let me return one of the Dungbombs?"

The liquorice wands were two knuts each, and Remus was really hoping to get some Sugar Quills, which were three for only one knut, but he found himself pulling the coins out of his pocket at the same time his mouth opened, spilling the words, "I can buy you one."

It was worth losing the chance for a Sugar Quill. Sirius' face lit up, and he grinned at Remus happily, his eyes sparkling. Remus fought down the urge to smile, himself, as he forked over the money.

"I'll make it up to you," Sirius said as he took the two coins, using them to pay for his liquorice wand. He winked at Remus.

The only thought that Remus had as he followed Sirius out the door was that Sirius had already more than made up for it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The common room was unusually quiet for a Saturday night, and Remus' hand ached as he set his quill down, rubbing his eyes tiredly with his right hand. He was about twelve inches into his essay for Potions, and he had already run out of things to say. He noticed, looking over what he had already written, that his writing had steadily increased in size the further down the parchment it was.

What else can I say about the bloody Melding potion? Remus elbowed Sirius in the side, who let out a snort and sat up from where he had been resting his head on his folded arm.

"I thought you were going to help me," Remus pointed out. Sirius had agreed to look things up and read aloud what could be included in the essay, while Remus did the writing. The essay had been halfway written before Remus had realized that Sirius had dozed off.

Sirius yawned widely. "Sorry, mate. Just a bit knackered..."

The table at which they were sitting was crowded. James was across from Sirius, working on Astronomy homework, while Peter was sitting across from Remus, his quill scratching steadily as he jotted down the differences between Lethifolds and Demiguises.

"Maybe you two should go and get some sleep," James said, his forehead furrowed as he finished the last chart that he had been sketching with a flourish. He looked up and smiled. "Go on, I'll look over your essay, Remus. I'll add a few things to it so you'll have something to add when you're ready to finish."

"Thanks, mate," Remus murmured, unsuccessfully trying to stifle a yawn. He stood, dragging Sirius up with him. "Come on, let's go to bed."

Slowly, Remus led the way to the dormitory. The sconces on the wall made the bed curtains glow orange, and Remus barely made it out of his jumper before he was pushed to the bed from behind. Stumbling, he looked behind him to see Sirius, staring at him sleepily.

"I don't need to undress," Sirius told him, his eyes half shut. "I just need to lie down."

So Remus kept his trousers on, falling into the bed. He had barely had time to push the curtains out of the way. Lying on top of the covers, he closed his eyes and sighed.

With the curtain still open on Sirius' side, Remus felt himself drifting off to sleep. He wasn't sure if he was still awake when he heard Sirius whisper goodnight, and he was sure that he was already asleep and dreaming when he felt the other boy's lips on his forehead.

Day Six

"Oi! Get up, you lazy gits!"

Remus heard a groan in front of him, and he opened his eyes, only to shut them the very next instant. "Merlin, shut the curtains, will you? It's too early for it to be so bright."

"Early?" It was Peter's voice, and it sounded amused. "It's two in the afternoon, sleepy head. You've already missed lunch."

Remus growled softly. Was it really so late in the day? Why couldn't he just rest for a few moments longer?

"Come on, Moony, wake up," Sirius said, and Remus forced his eyes open to see his friend lying in front on him, a small smile stretching his lips. The door clicked softly as Peter left the room. "Peter's right. We need to get up. There's all that homework, and that essay for Wauldin that we have to finish, and you've got a Prefect's meeting tonight."

"Wauldin can go bugger himself," Remus replied grumpily, but he pushed himself up to a sitting position. Sirius was still lying down sideways. "If I have to get up, so do you."

Sirius blew out a breath of air, and sat up as well. The t-shirt that he had worn the day before was wrinkled, and his hair was completely disheveled. The dark strands were flat on one side, and sticking up on the other. Remus grinned, reaching up with his right hand to smooth down the ruffled side.

"I need a shower," he said brightly, suddenly wide-awake. Sirius' hair was soft and warm. Sirius closed his eyes, leaning slightly towards his hand.

Get a grip, Remus. Boys don't touch other boys' hair without looking strange. With a pang of regret, he pulled his hand away and moved to stand. When he got to his feet, he stretched, curling his spine backwards and he bent his neck back, feeling the satisfying 'pop'. He turned to Sirius.

"When you do that, you almost look like a cat," Sirius told him quietly, his eyes wide.

"Do I?"

A nod. "Definitely. Cats do that thing when they wake up, where they stretch on all fours and curve their back like you just did."

"So I should get down on all fours?" Remus said it before he thought about it, and inwardly winced as he saw Sirius' eyes go even wider and his mouth drop open a little. "Uh, that didn't sound like I meant it to-"

"S'alright." Remus thought that Sirius' cheeks might have turned a little pink, but it was probably just the light. Then again, the only light in the room was the orange one coming from the sconces on the walls.

Sirius got up and led the way to the bathroom. When they got there, he turned around suddenly, almost making Remus run into his chest.

"Hey," he said. "Why don't you ever use the Prefects' bathroom?"

Remus wasn't even sure that he knew himself, but he thought that maybe his unconscious self might have had a thought. "I suppose it's because I didn't want to go in there by myself. I know where it is of course, and I've been there a few times, but it's too much of an open space for me."

"Could we go check it out? I always wanted to go see it. I heard it has a bath, with these bubbles that shoot out of the faucet."

As much as he thought it was probably a bad idea, Remus shrugged and asked, "how about we go there after my meeting tonight?"

"Really? Excellent!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I need a break!" Sirius pushed the Charms textbook away from him with a groan, sitting back in his chair. Sometime during the day, he had taken a piece of parchment and attempted to write using his left hand. It had been wildly unsuccessful, looking worse than if Remus had written with his right hand, the words crooked and uneven on the paper. He had given up when Remus had told him that it looked like a child had written it.

Remus sat back, sighing. He was in the middle of his Transfiguration essay. They had worked out a system-Remus would write while Sirius would research the next homework assignment that was to be finished. It was never-ending. The N.E.W.T.S. were coming up, and Remus was trying to diligently cram everything into his head at once, while still managing to ignore the thoughts his mind kept turning towards.

Of Sirius.

"Let's go for a walk," Sirius said then, looking pleadingly at him. Remus sighed, but agreed-they had not taken a break all day, and it was close to dinnertime. Pushing his things into his bag, Remus set the stuff beside the table and stood, stretching. The crick that had settled in his neck sometime after the Potions essay was finished ached in protest.

James and Peter decided to join them, and the four of them had just walked outside when something hit Peter on the side of the head. It had snowed the night before, and the grounds were covered with the soft whiteness, only marred by the spots where other students had trod, and where Lily Evans had gathered a multitude of snow with her friend Gwynne. Lily laughed at them.

"I knew you guys would be out here before long," she said between gasps. Gwynne was grinning also, a snowball held in her own hands. Without warning, she took aim, pelting Sirius in the chest.

Staring down at where the patch of white splattered across the front of his blue jumper, Sirius smirked, and then took a chunk of snow and lobbed it at the two girls. It fell halfway short, not being packed down, and the two girls' laughter drifted across the grounds.

"Come on, help me," Sirius said, his eyes lighting up as he dragged Remus backwards to set up 'camp' a few feet away. James began piling snow in front of them, making a sort of fort, and Peter was busy packing snow into tight balls that would serve as their ammunition.

Remus couldn't help but grin at the following fight that ensued. Lily and Gwynne kept pelting snowballs at them, hitting one of the boys almost every single time, while the boys were distracted with their own laughter, and kept missing.

"Let's try some strategy," Peter suggested, and they agreed for Peter to go at the girls from the left side, behind an old beech tree, while Remus and Sirius would swing around to the right. While distracting the females from either side, James would go up the middle and charge.

Remus was feeling light-headed and giddy. He hadn't had this much fun since...well, he couldn't even think of the last time. He wasn't thinking of homework, or N.E.W.T.S., or even Sirius. He was focusing instead on what the girls were doing, who were taunting James, at the moment acting like he was about to moon them. Remus helped Sirius gather a bundle of packed-down snowballs into his jumper, which he held into a makeshift basket in front of him. He was glad of the fact that he had put on several layers before he went out.

When the two boys were loaded up on ammunition, they crept stealthily over to the right, Remus holding his shirt up with both hands. It had started snowing again during the strategy-planning, but they were happy about this, for it hid them, or at least as well as white snow could hide two boys wearing blue jumpers and beige trousers.

Remus almost jumped, so strongly was he concentrating on what the girls were doing, when he felt a hot breath on his ear. "Let's both get them at the same time," Sirius whispered with a grin, his eyes sparkling with mischief as Remus turned to look at him. White pieces of the snow caught in Sirius' dark hair, and a lone speck was perched on the lashes of his left eye. His cheeks, Remus noted, were pink from the cold, as well as his nose.

"Hmm, yeah," Remus agreed to whatever it was that Sirius had said as he stared. Sirius grinned at him for a second, his eyes flicking downwards. Remus felt a fluttering in his stomach. Did he just look at my lips?

But one moment later, and Sirius was reaching for a snowball, looking off to where Lily and Gwynne had turned on Peter, who was yelling a battle cry and flinging snowballs at them at lightning speed. Remus felt a tug on his wrist as Sirius surged forward, his left arm cocked back.

"Die!" Sirius shouted and Remus laughed, rushing forward with Sirius almost to where the girls were ducking Peter's snowballs, and dropped his load of their own ammunition. He picked a snowball up in each hand and lobbed them both at Lily.

And then James was whooping and running towards the fight, snowballs flying from his hands. One hit Gwynne on the neck; the other hit Sirius on the arm.

Throwing more snowballs at the girls, Remus felt his giddiness return. He pelted Lily on the back, and he managed to catch Gwynne's backside just as she was blocking one of Peter's.

"Oi, we've got 'em surrounded," Sirius beamed at Remus. "That was a good one, Moony!"

But then, suddenly, the tides were turned. The girls were miraculously hitting Peter, James, and Remus and Sirius almost all at once. "Retreat!" James shouted, and Peter ran off with a yelp, a handful of snow having been shoved down the back of his heavy shirt by Lily. James was covering his head with his arms, and it sounded suspiciously like laughter, Remus thought, coming from under those arms.

Sirius was dragging him backwards, and Remus had taken a step to run away from the girls when he got hit in the face with snow, making him stumble over a small hole that his heel got caught in. He went down onto his arse, feeling Sirius being dragged down with him.

Remus felt Sirius actually fall on top of him.

Sirius.

On top of him.

Remus shuddered and opened his eyes, willing himself not to react to the closeness. Sirius was gazing down onto his face, his dark hair falling forwards.

"Hey," Sirius said shortly, and Remus let out a breath of air, feeling somehow relieved. He wasn't sure of what he thought Sirius was going to say, but he was glad that it didn't happen right there, in front of the others.

Whatever 'it' was going to be.

"Hi," he answered, Sirius' smile infecting his own lips. He grinned up at the other boy.

"Oh. I never noticed," Sirius said, his eyes widening, but the smile not leaving his face. "You have a dimple in your right cheek. Pity we weren't attached on the other side."

Remus wrinkled his nose. "I wish I didn't. It makes me look like a little boy."

"But you don't look like one when you wrinkle your nose like that," Sirius replied sarcastically, his left hand coming up to slowly reach over and touch the dimple. "Really, it's nice. I like it."

Remus stilled at the pressure of the hand on his cheek. "Hmm," he said noncommittally, forcing himself to look into the other boy's eyes. His stomach flipped and churned pleasantly at the look Sirius was giving him. Almost as if...

"Get a room!" Remus turned his head, and James was standing only a few feet away, his hands on his hips and a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. Peter was next to him, smirking, and Lily and Gwynne were each combing their fingers through their own hair, Lily watching them with slightly raised eyebrows.

"You two done?" She looked as if she were fighting down a smile. "It's almost dinnertime."

Remus was suddenly pulled up to a standing position, and Sirius was flinging a handful of snow at James. Laughter didn't subside until they were all in the Great Hall, the heat from the castle warming them from the outside as cups of hot chocolate were thawing them from the inside. Remus sipped his silently, his thoughts swirling around in his head.

When had he become attracted to Sirius? He had a suspicion that it was before the Potions accident had happened, though he wouldn't have been able to pinpoint the exact moment. He remembered the time that his three friends had confronted him back in Second Year about his condition, and he inwardly grinned at the memory of Sirius' face as he solemnly declared that Remus would only have to leave Hogwarts if he 'refused to allow the four of them to remain friends.' And then, it was only a few months later when Sirius, by himself, had told Remus of the idea to become Animagi, his eyes lit up with excitement at the challenge. Was it then that Remus had fallen for the other boy? When he realized that there was someone who not only cared about him despite the truth of what he was, but also wanted to lessen the anguish? A part of Remus had always dreaded the change each month, not because of the pain, but because of what he could potentially do. What if he got out? What if he bit someone? What if he killed, or worse, made someone to be like him? His three friends wanted to extinguish that fear, and it had come through the mouth of the one boy that Remus now wanted as more than a friend.

Back then, Sirius had been scrawny and a little short. He had always looked younger than the rest of them, even Peter, because his eyes had been a little big for his face, and his hair had always been tousled. Sometime during their school years, though, Sirius had filled out from playing Quidditch. He had grown to be taller than James and Peter, and he had started tidying his hair to where it was still messy, but stylishly so. He had become, as Remus had overheard girls all over the school saying, one of the most handsome boys in the entire school.

So why hadn't Remus realized it? He knew that it wasn't popular in the Wizarding world to run around telling people that you were attracted to people of your same sex. It was frowned upon by some, and just completely horrifying to others. Remus couldn't think of one person in Hogwarts that was openly gay.

People were people, no matter who they were attracted to. Remus knew that HE had no business judging people. After all, isn't that what everyone had done to the idea of the werewolves they studied in Defense Against the Dark Arts class? Assumed that they were monsters, even in their human forms? That they had extraordinary powers that made them more dangerous than normal people?

No, Remus didn't have anything against gay people. He never had. He just didn't want people to have another thing to judge him on. He had never wanted to call unwanted attention to himself, as he knew he would have done if he had ever openly gone after another boy.

But also, he had never been attracted to another boy. It never occurred to him that he could be. He had liked Naylia, and a few other girls before her, but he had never set his sights on another boy because he had not looked.

And now, peeking at Sirius beside him through his hair, Remus felt relieved. He had discovered a truth about himself that made him want to shout it from the rooftops. He realized that if he was attracted to boys as well as girls, then he just doubled his chances of finding someone that would accept him for who AND what he was.

Sirius looked over at him then, and smiled with his lips closed while he chewed, almost as if he could read Remus' thoughts.

Sirius accepts me for who and what I am. The problem was, did Sirius feel the same way about, well, boys? Was Remus just being delusional into thinking that Sirius could possibly be attracted to him? There was that one morning, when Sirius had whispered his name as he came in bed, but was that just wishful thinking? Did Remus just imagine it all? Was this just a way for his mind to tell him something that his heart had never done?

Remus thought. There's only one way to find out. His thoughts turned towards the memory of Sirius wanting a tour of the Prefects' bathroom.

The problem now would be finding the courage to go through with trying to obtain what his heart, mind, and body desired.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"-turns patrolling the fourth floor Ancient Runes corridor tonight. Don't hesitate to give any student out of bed a detention." James pushed his glasses up his nose, and looked up. "Any questions about the schedule for tonight?"

"Yeah," Sirius said loudly, and then yawned while James rolled his eyes. "When are we supposed to sleep?"

"It's not my fault that you got yourself attached to a Prefect," James sniffed. "Remus has duties, and you'll just have to suffer through it. After all the assignments he's had to write out for you, I think you can afford to do this one little thing for him."

Remus, who was trying to ignore the stares coming from all of the other Prefects, nodded. "It's alright, James. We'll be up for my shift tonight."

"Why are we having to do this, again?" Sirius asked testily. "I mean, what's going on in the fourth floor Ancient Runes corridor?"

"I told you, I don't know." James sighed and put down the page of announcements that he had been holding. Lily reached over and took his hand, smiling gently at him.

"As James said, we'll be taking the first watch," she told the Prefects. "Holly and Sean, you two are the next hour." A pair of Hufflepuff Fifth Years nodded from the couch they were sitting on. "Tim and Nancy, you guys are third." Two Slytherin Sixth Years nodded. "Remus, since you're already equipped with a second person, you guys will be fourth." She hid a smile quite unsuccessfully behind her hand. "The rest of you...everyone remember the order? I'll give all of you the list. Relieve the pair before you when you are ready to start your watch, okay?" She handed out slips of paper that told the order. "And remember, don't go snooping around the Ancient Runes classroom. It's supposed to be secret. Dumbledore specifically told James and I to not even ask him, because he'd go sockless for a whole year before he told anyone what was going on."

"Right. Anyone got anything else to report?" James waited only a second before saying, "Meeting adjourned!"

Remus listened to Sirius rant about the unexpected patrolling duties that night all the way back to the Gryffindor common room. He wondered, like everyone else probably did, what was so secretive that it required all-hours surveillance of the corridor on the fourth floor, but he knew that it was his job to carry out his duties without question. Which was one of the reasons why Sirius would have made a terrible Prefect.

"-bloody Head Boy badge is bigger than his actual head," Sirius was saying as they stepped through the portrait hole. "Stupid git thinks he can just boss me around now, as though I'll jump to his command without a care in the world. As if I don't have better plans for tonight!"

"What other plans DID you have for tonight?" Remus asked while raising his eyebrows, amused, knowing very well that Sirius had none.

Sirius huffed without looking back at him as they climbed the stairs to their dormitory. "Like sleeping, of course!" He stopped right outside of their door and turned to face Remus. "And taking a tour of the Prefects' bathroom for another, remember? You said you'd show me."

"Oh, yeah, I forgot," Remus lied. He had not pushed the thought out of his mind ever since dinner. "We'll go now." Turning back around, he led the way down the stairs and back out of the portrait hole, causing the Fat Lady to huff exasperatingly.

How am I going to do this? Am I just going to wait until he gets undressed, and then jump him? Am I going to strip in front of him and then tell him that I fancy him? Is he even planning to take a bath, or did he just want to see it? Remus' feet seemed to know where to go, for his mind was too preoccupied thinking about the upcoming situation. He realized that Sirius had never said that he actually wanted them to take a bath. They found themselves on the fifth floor, passing by the statue of Boris the Bewildered. At the fourth door down, Remus stopped, leaned in, and whispered the password, "mint bubbles," to the door. It opened with a small creak, and he pulled Sirius inside.

"Wow!" Sirius stared in awe around the large room, his mouth hanging open. Remus found himself unable to take his eyes away from the other boy's face, for Sirius' eyes were wide in shock and admiration as he looked at the chandelier, and the painting of the mermaid-who was absent, as Remus noticed when he glanced at it quickly-and especially at the giant, gaping hole that was the bathtub. It was big enough to double as a swimming pool, but tonight, Remus certainly did not want cold water gushing out of the taps. He grinned at Sirius, who smiled back at him, and led the way to the nearest tap, which was encrusted with an emerald in the golden handle.

"Want to test it out?" H was nervous as he asked, careful to tone down the anxiousness in his voice even as he ran his fingers over the green jewel. There was silence for a moment, and Remus suddenly realized that he was afraid of Sirius' reaction.

"I didn't just want a walking tour of the best bathroom in the castle, Moony," came the response. Remus grinned down at his own hand as Sirius added, "Especially now that I've seen the tub."

Remus felt heat rising in his face. Nervous, he turned the tap that he was holding, and piles of green foam gushed out as holes surrounding the bottom of the pool-sized tub spurted out steaming water. Sirius was reaching over to turn on the next tap, and watermelon-sized bubbles soared out.

"Come on, I want to see some of the rest!" Sirius was already dragging Remus around to the other taps, turning some on briefly and then turning them off again. They left others running. The tub was filling quickly with green and blue foam, and bubbles of every size, and jets of water were bouncing along the surface. When it was full, the taps all turned themselves off automatically, and silence filled the air as the two boys stood, eyeing the steaming, foamy water.

"Well," Sirius said, his voice echoing off of the white marble walls, "I expect we better undress." He took out his wand and cast an Engorgement charm on Remus' sleeves.

Remus pulled his shirt off, pulling his wand out of his trouser pocket to cast the same charm on Sirius' sleeves. They undressed quietly, and Remus snuck a peek at Sirius, only to find Sirius watching him.

"Ready?" With a grin, not waiting for an answer, Sirius dragged him over to the edge of the tub, and forced Remus in at the same time he jumped.

Sputtering, Remus came back up to the surface. They had jumped in at the deeper end where their feet didn't touch the bottom, and the foam was making it hard to see, for it rose higher than their heads. Pulling Sirius along, Remus swam to the shallow end. When he felt his feet touch the bottom, he led the way over to the comfortable underwater benches that lined one side. He sank down onto the bench, the foam coming up to his neck, but the water only rising halfway up his chest.

Sirius let out a relaxed sigh as he sat down next to him. "Ah, I've been wanting a nice, hot bubble bath for AGES," he said. "How come you never come up here, again? I'd be here every day if I was a Prefect."

Remus blew a high mound of blue foam away from his face. "The regular bathrooms are a lot more convenient."

He turned his head to find Sirius' head right next to his, green and blue foam perched on top of it. He laughed, and Sirius furrowed his eyebrows. "What?"

Remus shrugged and lifted his right hand to bat the foam off of the dark hair. "It's all over you," he said.

"It's all over you, too," Sirius replied with a smile. Remus wiped foam out of his own hair, and then put his hand back into the warm water. He sat back, the wall of the tub a lot more comfortable than what he would have thought.

"So tomorrow will be the last day you have to put up with me being stuck to you." Remus looked over again to find Sirius frowning a little, looking at him. "You won't have to do my homework anymore."

"I don't mind so much," Remus told him.

Sirius snorted. "Come on. Like that essay for Wauldin-you had to do twice as much as everyone else, and I didn't have to do a thing. And you having to take notes for me in Muggle Studies, and you having to share a bed with me, having to be woken up with my, er, early-morning habit..."

"I really don't mind," Remus said firmly. He steeled himself, finding a fragment of his Gryffindor courage as he looked into Sirius' eyes, and said, "I've had a lot of fun this week with you."

"Really? I haven't been annoying?"

Remus smiled. "Not at all."

They lapsed into a comfortable silence, still looking at each other, and then Sirius said, "Do you think we'll unMeld at the same moment as the accident last week?"

Frowning, Remus thought. Wauldin had said...around a week. "I'm not sure if it'll be the exact moment. It might be a little over or under. Why?"

"Well, that detention tomorrow night," Sirius started, but Remus interrupted with a loud groan.

"That ruddy prat," he spat. "I didn't even SAY anything to him, and he still found an excuse to punish me. I mean, what did I ever do to him?"

Sirius didn't answer. Instead, he finished what he was going to say. "I'll still come with you even if the Melding potion has worn off. After all, he did say that I was supposed to."

"You don't have to-" Remus started to say.

"Of course I do. And I want to."

Remus lowered his gaze to the water, feeling a smile creeping on his face. "Thanks."

"Hey, you want to share that liquorice wand you bought me?"

Shrugging, Remus nodded. He actually wanted to do something that involved Sirius sucking on another thing besides sweets, but he couldn't say THAT out loud, so when he felt Sirius start to stand, he followed him.

"I put it in my trouser pocket this morning," Sirius explained as he climbed out of the tub, his arse flexing right in front of Remus' face. "I figured I'd eat it sometime today. Thanks again, by the way, for buying it for me." He turned back, looking down at Remus, who was still standing in the tub. "You coming?"

Shaking himself out of his momentary trance, forcing the naughty thought that sprang into his mind at that last question, Remus nodded. "Yeah, sorry, mate." He climbed out of the tub himself, padding over to where they had shed their clothes, their wet footsteps slapping against the hard floor. Water trailed behind them, as well as some foam. Remus waited as Sirius bent down, and he couldn't help but let his thoughts swirling madly. I'm not looking, I'm not looking, I'm...looking...damn it, Remus, stop... Sirius was still fishing around in his trousers for the liquorice wand. He finally seized it, and stood back up to face Remus, holding it up.

Remus found out that his eyes refused to stay focused on a safe area. Against his better judgment, his gaze locked in on Sirius' crotch like a magnet.

Bits of blue and green foam were caught in the dark patch of hair. Hidden partially by a particularly large spot of blue foam, Sirius' cock was half-hard. Swallowing, Remus willed himself to look away, but he quickly realized that he couldn't. He was trapped, a slave to his inner desires. Oh, Merlin.

"Ahem," Sirius cleared his throat lightly, and Remus made himself look at the other boy's face, feeling his cheeks, still flushed from the warmth of the tub, heating further.

"Well, let's get back in, then," Remus said quickly, his voice higher than normal, ignoring Sirius' inquisitive look and leading the way back around to the shallow end where they had been sitting. He practically jumped in his haste to get back under the water, causing Sirius to stumble behind him, knocking them both into the tub.

"Bloody hell," Sirius grumbled, but as Remus forced the foam out of his eyes, he could see that the other boy was smiling.

Making his way back over to the bench, Remus settled down, noting that some of the foam had subsided. He closed his eyes and felt Sirius sit down next to him.

Something that felt suspiciously like fingers secured firmly to his thigh just then. His eyes popped open, and he inhaled sharply, for the fingers were very, very close to his crotch.

"Are those-" he stopped, clearing his throat, because his voice had reached an unnaturally high pitch again. "Er, are those your fingers?"

This might be the moment that he had been waiting for. Perhaps, just perhaps, Sirius was going to tell him that there was an attraction there, and that the fingers were there on purpose. Surely, Remus couldn't have just been dreaming when he had heard Sirius' voice that said his name that one morning...

But Sirius just looked panic-stricken, and the fingers disappeared in a heartbeat. "Sorry! I thought that was the seat."

The silence that crept over them was uncomfortable, and Remus could almost feel the tension restricting his breathing. He tried for those long seconds to gather his courage. Now was the perfect time to tell Sirius how he felt, for after they unMelded, they would probably never be alone together again. Sirius was best friends with James, and Peter was rarely absent from where ever the other three seemed to be. So just then was the one chance that he had to clue Sirius in on the fact that he had developed a completely unexpected, mind-blowing crush.

Taking a deep breath, still trying to piece together what he might say, Remus decided to just blurt it out. "I have something to-"

"Remus, I think that I-"

They both stopped, laughing a little, and Remus quickly gathered his wits about him and said, "You first."

"Well," Sirius licked his lips, the sweat on his forehead glistening from the heat of the water. "I wanted to tell you who the other two people were. You know, that I shagged."

Out of all the things that Sirius could have said, this was nothing that Remus would have guessed. With his heart in his throat, Remus tried to gulp it down, not able to speak. He didn't want to hear about girls that Sirius had been with. Not here, not now, not while Remus was on the verge of just discovering his own feelings about Sirius. But he wanted to be a good friend above all else, so instead of stopping Sirius from saying what he was going to say, Remus nodded.

"Daniel Watkins and Terrence Carmichael."

Oh.

"It was last year when I slept with both of them. You know, Daniel's that Ravenclaw in our year, and Terrence is that Sixth Year Gryffindor." Sirius paused to lift his left hand and run his fingers through his hair. "I realized that I fancied blokes after I shagged Robyn. It was so uncomfortable with her, and I noticed the next day that she was sort of...well, boy-like. I mean, wasn't she? She was flat-chested, and she didn't wear makeup, and her hair was short. And also, I was starting to understand that I was paying close attention to boys. In the showers after Quidditch practice, my eyes wandered. I thought that maybe it was normal, you know, to be curious about other boys. But none of the others ever looked. And then-" Sirius stopped and looked into Remus' eyes.

Remus was completely transfixed. The steam had matted down the dark strands of Sirius' hair, making it stick to the pink, flushed cheeks and furrowed brow. A drop of sweat dripped down from the end of Sirius' nose, and the upper lip, darkened with stubble from the absence of the daily shave, was soaked. Remus wanted to reach out with his tongue and lick it, all of it, but he couldn't. He realized quite suddenly that he was afraid to take that step. Sirius had opened the one closed door that Remus thought was in the way, and it turned out that there was one other door. That one, though, Sirius could never leave open. It was up to Remus to decide when to break through his fear of being an 'outcast' and being 'different.'

"You don't hate me, do you?" Sirius asked then, almost in a whisper.

"No." How could he? How could he possibly hate the most wonderful friend, the most handsome and energetic and clever and excellent person that he had ever known?

Sirius only waited a second more, studying the blank face in front of him, before holding his hand up. Clutched in his fist, soggy from the water and the steam, was the limp liquorice wand. He moved it, and Remus found it being shoved into his mouth.

Biting automatically, Remus felt the sweetness coat his tongue. He chewed slowly, sitting back, wanting to watch Sirius eat his own piece but not able to do so. What was he so afraid of? Sirius had just told him that there was a chance. So why was he being such a ruddy coward about it all?

"I'm getting pruny," Sirius said then, and Remus felt his heart sink into his stomach. Yes, Sirius wanted to get out of the tub. Sirius wanted to leave. He wanted to get out of the one situation that would guarantee that they were alone together, naked, while still being stuck together like they were. Was this the last time it was going to happen? Did they really need another shower the next morning? Would they be separated by tomorrow night?

Remus pulled himself up away from Sirius, still sucking on his piece of the liquorice wand, and climbed partially out of the tub without looking at the other boy. It would do no good to ogle when Sirius clearly wanted to get out of there.

A tug at his wrist stopped him. He turned back to see Sirius standing in the water, watching him. "Where are you going?"

"I..." Remus was confused. "I thought you wanted to go."

"I never said that. I just was commenting." Sirius held up his hand. His fingertips were wrinkled from the water. "See?" He frowned. "But if you want to leave-"

"No!" Remus slid back into the tub, realizing that his tone had been harsh. He softened it. "No, I just thought that you meant that you were finished."

Sirius sighed and smiled at him, and Remus felt his heart jump back into his throat. "I could stay in here all day," he said, leaning back onto the bench. Remus sat, also.

They were silent again. Remus wondered if he could say what he had wanted to say earlier. And then, Sirius asked, "What were you going to say before, when we spoke at the same time?"

This is it. This is the moment where I tell him that I fancy him. Remus gathered up what little courage he had, opened his mouth, planned the order of the words in his mind, and blurted out what he had been wanting to say for hours.

"Nothing."

Prat! Idiot! Stupid git! Remus winced as Sirius shrugged and turned, facing forwards.

What am I so afraid of? Damn it!

"What do you think is going on in that classroom?" Sirius said.

"I'm not sure."

"Do you think it's a surprise of some sort for the school? Or maybe Dumbledore has a secret treasure or weapon or something in there. Or it could be a fascinating new creature! What if it's-"

"Why would he keep something like that in the Ancient Runes classroom, though?"

Sirius thought silently for a minute. "I suppose you're right. It must be something minor, but still secret. I wonder what it could be?" He grinned over at Remus. "You think we could sneak in there during our watch and take a peek?"

"Absolutely not," Remus admonished. He gave Sirius a scolding look as the other boy whined pitifully. "It's Dumbledore's business. He trusts us to not go snooping around."

"But Moony-"

"No." Remus tried to fight down his smile as Sirius whined some more, giving him a puppy-dog look.

"You take all the fun out of life, Remus," Sirius said, but he was grinning. Remus flicked some water at him, and Sirius roared, and suddenly, Remus found himself under the water.

He broke the surface, mirth bubbling in his stomach, and he blindly reached around for Sirius, foam covering his eyes. Bark-like laughter came from his left, and he hauled in his arm, attempting to dunk the other boy. He felt his left arm being forcibly curved around his front, and Sirius' right arm was sliding up around his neck to settle on his right hip. Reaching up to wipe at the foam on his face, Remus opened his eyes to find their attached arms in front of his stomach, Sirius' wrist bent awkwardly. A warm body was standing directly behind him.

"I've got you," Sirius said quietly, his breath short, air puffing against Remus' ear.

Because of the weird way Sirius' wrist was bent, Remus was completely covered on all sides by arms and the body at his back. He stood still, closing his eyes. If this was all he would be able to get out of his new affection for his friend, then so be it. If he was too cowardly to admit anything other than friendship, then innocent touches like this would have to fuel the fantasies he knew that he would have, probably for the rest of the school year.

And then Sirius moved, and he felt something poking at his arse.

Suddenly, he was dunked down again, Sirius' arm coming up from his right side, and he stood once more, blinking the foam and water from his eyes, the other boy facing away from him, head down.

"Sorry. I didn't mean..." Sirius trailed off, still not looking at him, and it seemed as though he was trembling just a little.

Now! Say it now! "What are you sorry about?"

"I didn't mean to fall for you, Remus."

"I...what? What did you say?" Remus could feel all of his courage returning. He could do this. He had to take the next step. Sirius had completely blown all of the doors open with this latest confession, and he would be damned if he allowed them to close again. "You...you like me?"

"Yes." Sirius turned around to face him. The foam had almost completely dissolved, leaving a dripping, sweaty boy standing with water coming up to his navel. Glancing down, Remus could see the thatch of dark hair below the surface of the rippling water.

"You don't have to be sorry," Remus whispered, his throat too tight to be any louder. He took a step closer, and forced himself to smile a little. "After all, you just made it a little easier for me to say what I wanted to say earlier."

Sirius was silent, studying his face, his eyes, his hair, even his neck. Remus closed his eyes and breathed, and he could swear that he still felt Sirius' eyes on him. He could feel himself getting hard. That searing gaze on him, trailing down his torso...

"What did you want to say earlier?" Sirius prompted. Remus opened his eyes to find that Sirius had inched even closer to him. They were now standing about a foot apart from each other.

"I..." Remus cleared his throat. Why was this so hard? "I think...I mean...I want...I..."

Sirius interrupted him. Not by words, but by leaning in, and soft lips against his own, and oh, it was perfect. Remus kissed back eagerly, his right hand coming up to scrape his thumb across Sirius' stubbly cheek.

"That?" Sirius asked, pulling away. Remus let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding.

He wanted to kiss Sirius again. So he did.

This time it was harder, more passionate, and Remus opened his mouth to lick at Sirius' bottom lip. He nipped at it gently, and then moved to the upper lip, running his tongue across it in one swipe. Sirius groaned and pressed closer to him just as he opened his own mouth, and their tongues were touching, their chests pressed together.

Remus moved his left hand carefully to where it could settle around Sirius' waist. His right hand moved up to the boy's hair, curling his fingers around the dark strands as he pressed in closer, caressing his tongue against the other, running it across the back of the upper set of Sirius' teeth.

The heat and the steam was making his mind hazy, but Remus still heard the creak of the door when it happened just as he felt Sirius' left hand grazing lightly down his back. Pulling away with a suppressed groan, he turned to look at the door.

"Oh, it's you," Severus Snape said with a sneer, looking as if he contemplated pulling out his wand. "Didn't know I'd be interrupting your little love fest."

"Sod off, Snivellus," Sirius said scathingly. "You don't belong here-this is a bathroom. You know, with a bathtub. That's what this big thing full of water is." He paused. "And YOU'RE not a Prefect! You aren't allowed in here, anyway, you greasy git."

"And I must have missed the announcement," Snape said smoothly, raising his eyebrows, "that must have granted YOU that particular honour, Black."

"Come on," Remus said quietly to Sirius, swallowing down the lump in his throat. He succeeded in tugging the other boy over to the edge of the tub, and climbed out, ignoring Snape, but facing away from him as he waited for Sirius to get out.

"See something you like, Snivellus?" Sirius asked, and Remus looked over his shoulder with a frown, finding Snape still watching them. Or, rather, him. "He has a nice arse, doesn't he? You'd like to come over here and squeeze it, wouldn't you?"

If the steam and the water had not made Remus' face as hot as it already was, it would have heated just then. Instead, he used that rise of embarrassment to forcibly pull Sirius up out of the water, lead the way to the corner with the pile of heated towels, and wrap one securely around his waist, making sure Sirius was doing the same.

"I don't go for used goods," Snape taunted from the other side of the tub. Remus tried to ignore him. Please, Sirius, let's just get out of here. Please.

But Sirius had turned around to face Snape, towel also wrapped around his waist, another draped over his neck. "Remus is as unused as you are, although for a different reason. Yours being that no one would be willing to touch you with a ten-foot pole!" He pulled the towel that was around his neck up to his hair, and began to rub at the dark strands with it vigorously while leading the way over to where they had shed their clothes earlier.

"And Lupin's reason is...because he's taken?" Snape said as Remus pulled his shirt on, not caring about the fact that his hair was still dripping wet. "I'm sure inquiring minds would like to know."

"If that inquiring mind is yours-" Sirius started with a hint of anger, but he was cut off.

"Don't be ridiculous! I wouldn't touch HIM with a ten-foot pole!" Snape turned away from them jerkily and turned the handle that would drain the tub. "Pity these handles aren't silver, eh, Lupin?" He walked over to the nearest tap and touched it, watching it as it sprayed bubbling bits of white foam in the space that had just been emptied. He snarled. "Besides, I don't go after beasts, Black."

Remus had to use all of his strength to keep Sirius from hurling across the room. He wasn't as strong as his friend, especially when it came to a Sirius that was full of anger, but he managed to succeed. "Come on, let's go. Ignore him! He's just trying to get us in trouble."

He managed to get a still-snarling Sirius into his clothes, and he pulled the other boy to the door. Sirius was still huffing madly.

"Let's go," Remus repeated. The door shut behind them, and Remus glanced down at his watch. "It's almost time for us to patrol."

They walked in a tense silence up to the fifth floor. Remus kept thinking that maybe, when they got to be alone together during their watch, they might be able to...well, maybe snog some more. Not that he relished the idea of completely disregarding his duties as Prefect...

But when they rounded the corner to the corridor that housed the Ancient Runes classroom, they found it empty. Remus glanced at the list from the meeting.

"Tim Zabini and Nancy Davies should still be around here somewhere," he told Sirius quietly. The corridor was only lighted by the torches hanging in racks on the walls, spaced far apart. It cast dim shadows across the stone.

Walking further along, they discovered where the two Prefects were. Remus found himself grinning at the two of them, wondering if they had somehow read his mind as to what HE wanted to be doing.

"Tut, tut! Shame on you two!" Sirius said then, putting his left hand on his hip and glaring at the Slytherins, who sprang apart at the sound of his voice. "Snogging like a couple of Sixth Years-"

"We ARE Sixth Years," exclaimed Tim, but Sirius continued as if he had not heard.

"-be an example for the swotty little First and Second years, and here you are, throwing Dumbledore's trust out the window." Remus felt his smile disappear. Sirius didn't want to indulge in the same activity? The other boy continued to scold, "-can't believe that you two are Prefects. What if a student had been out of bed? What if one snuck into the Ancient Runes classroom? What if there was some mad creature being held in there, and they gobbled the student right up? Where would your little Prefect sense of honour be then, hmm?"

"Come on, Tim. Let's get out of here," Nancy said as they walked away scowling and glaring. Remus turned to Sirius.

"That was a little harsh, don't you think?" He couldn't help but feel a pang of hurt at the way Sirius had been averse to the act of kissing. Was Sirius having second thoughts?

But as soon as the two Slytherins rounded the corner, Sirius pushed Remus into the wall, and their lips were once again pressed together.

Remus thought it was incredible, the way he loved this, despite the fact that the cold hard stone was unyielding against his back and his knees were beginning to weaken, threatening to spill his body to the floor. He wrapped his right arm around Sirius' waist and pulled the other boy in closer, feeling his cock once again responding to the close quarters.

"Hello?" A voice nearby made Remus pull away from Sirius reluctantly, causing a small groan to issue from the throat of the dark haired boy.

"Who is it?" He called out softly, and Nearly Headless Nick, the Gryffindor ghost, appeared from around the corner.

"Hello!" Nick repeated with a broad smile. Remus fought the ridiculous urge to throw something at the ghost. "I'm supposed to help you two patrol tonight, since they want a post at either end of the corridor, and you two can't separate, of course."

"Sure we can," Sirius grumbled sarcastically. "We've just spent this week PRETENDING like we were Melded together."

But their duty was set. Not only were they prevented from spending their time together exploring each other's mouths, but they couldn't even sneak a peek into the Ancient Runes classroom, which Remus WAS curious about, despite what he had told Sirius. They placed themselves at one end of the corridor, and they could just make out the glowing white form of Nearly Headless Nick at the other end.

"So when did you decide that you...you know," Sirius motioned back and forth between them during the patrol. "I figured out that I fancied you last year, when I was shagging Daniel and wishing he was thinner and had lighter hair."

"And so you just automatically assumed that you had a crush on me?" Remus raised his eyebrows. "There had to be something besides that."

Sirius smiled rather sheepishly. "Well, there was the fact that I was extremely jealous of Naylia, even though James and I never cottoned on to the fact that you were shagging her." He paused for a moment, and then his grin widened. "Oh, and one time, in Transfiguration, I got hard from watching you suck on a Sugar Quill."

Remus stumbled. "You did?" The thought of Sirius sitting in class, watching him, hiding an erection with his robes...

"That was after Daniel and Terrence, of course. I realized that I wanted you, so I laid off of other blokes after I confronted my feelings. I didn't think I had a chance in hell with you." Sirius turned. "I really thought you wouldn't like boys. That you wouldn't like ME. After that day in the shower last week, when you said you were straight-I had never been so miserable in my entire life, I don't think."

"I expect I was trying to fool myself," Remus found himself whispering, staring into Sirius' eyes, which were flickering from the fire in the nearby torch. "I didn't want to be even more different from other people, so I convinced myself that I didn't feel anything for you other than friendship." He smiled a little. "In Muggle Studies, with you sucking on that licorice wand, I couldn't think after that. All of my blood was somewhere else."

Sirius winked. "That was deliberate, you know. It was worth getting in trouble, to see you all flustered like that."

Remus laughed quietly. He stepped closer, resisting the urge to grab the other boy and press his mouth to the soft lips in front of him, but he needed to feel the closeness. He got just close enough to stand with his head buried in Sirius' shoulder, his eyes closed, and he felt a wave of relief run through him. How could I have so much luck?

"You two okay over there?" Nick called out, and Sirius mumbled obscenities under his breath as they pulled apart and resumed walking.

It was a good thing, though, that they did. Remus saw a movement out of the corner of his eye, and he turned to see a ripple of something black against the shadows of the nearest adjoining corridor. He touched Sirius' shoulder with his right hand and pointed.

"Oi!" Remus winced as Sirius shouted and dragged them over to where they found someone standing just around the corner of the adjoining corridor, black robes pulled tight around them, their mouth set in a frown. It was not, as Remus expected, a curious First or Second Year.

It was Peter.

"What are you doing?" Remus hissed at their friend. Peter sighed and closed his eyes, drooping his head.

Remus waited, and thankfully, Sirius didn't say anything. Finally, Peter looked up. "What they're preparing in the Ancient Runes classroom is for the N.E.W.T.S. Er...someone told me about it. I guess I wanted to see for myself what it was going to be." He ran his fingers through his thin blond hair and looked up at Remus. "I'm sorry, Moony. I didn't know they'd have you on duty. I guess I'll just go back up to bed, eh?"

Somehow, Remus was surprised at the explanation. Peter usually did his work, whether it was copying it from one of his friends or doing it on his own. But seeing Peter standing there in the dark, one hand in the pocket of his robes, the other in his hair...he got a little angry. Certainly, Remus indulged in a little cheating himself now and then, like he had with the Aging potions essay, but he would never stoop so low for something as important as the N.E.W.T.S.

"You know, Peter, you're not stupid. You could actually study for them, you know?" He felt Sirius squeeze his wrist, but he ignored it. "Some people just have to work harder at some things. You think I take the easy way out? You think it's a walk in the park to let myself agree to run around with you three every month, putting other people, including yourselves, in mortal danger? You think I wouldn't rather just stay in the Shack and not risk it? It's not easy, Peter, to allow myself to be talked over by you and James and Sirius, here. It's not easy to stop myself from running to Dumbledore and confessing and absolving myself of the guilt I feel at betraying his trust."

He felt the anger drain out of him at the look on Peter's face. Sirius squeezed his wrist again.

"Remus...I'm sorry, mate. You're right, of course." Peter reached a hand out to clutch at Remus' shoulder. "And thank you for saying I'm not stupid. I guess I WAS just trying to take the easy way out. Don't know what came over me."

"Yeah, well," Sirius said quietly, and Remus looked over to see a small smile playing at the corner of the dark-haired boy's mouth, "I'll just let you copy me for the Ancient Runes homework, Wormtail. That way you won't have to resort to cheating at this sort of level."

Remus snorted, not angry anymore. "Go on to bed, Peter. We'll be up in a little while-our shift is almost over." He paused. "Is that all that we're guarding? Something for the end of the year?"

Peter nodded, and Sirius let out a soft groan. "And I thought it would be something brilliant! A stupid N.E.W.T.S.-related thing...ugh!"

Smiling, Peter patted Remus' shoulder and nodded at Sirius. He then backed off quietly, heading back to their dormitory.

"You really consider it hard to roam free with all of us every month?" Sirius asked him as they went back to patrolling.

Nodding, Remus sighed, pushing the always-present weight of guilt back down out of his chest. "I just really hate fooling Dumbledore."

"Can anyone really ever fool him, though?" Remus turned to look at Sirius, confused. Sirius continued. "I mean, remember that time when he knew about that Bones bloke selling O.W.L.S. exam papers to the Fifth Years two years ago? He seems to figure everything out, Remus. I bet he knows about us, but lets us go because he thinks the three of us are enough to stop you if you get out of hand."

Remus felt the weight in his chest lift slightly. "You really think so?"

"I'd bet a hundred galleons on it."

And Remus could only smile.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The shift ended when the elated feeling of happiness had settled down in Remus' chest, and Seventh Year Slytherins, Evan Rosier and Narcissa Black, came and got them, sneering as they passed. Feeling sleepy, Remus walked with Sirius silently up to the Gryffindor tower, climbing into the portrait hole to find the common room deserted. Just as he was making his way over to the boys' staircase, Sirius pulled on his wrist. Remus turned around.

An arm snaked around the right side of his waist, a hand settled at the lower part of his back, and Remus felt warmth spread through him as Sirius pushed hot, wet lips to his own. Standing in the middle of the common room, sure to be caught any minute by a restless student, Remus wanted to drag Sirius down to the rug in front of the fireplace and continue what had been started in the Prefects' bathroom. As he felt his lower lip being stroked with a slick tongue, he could feel pressure from Sirius' left hand, and it sent prickles of electricity through him as the hand lifted the bottom hem of his jumper and touched his bare skin.

"I knew it!" The voice came from above them, and they jumped apart and looked up to see James standing on the small balcony on the second floor of the boys' side, goggling down at them, his eyes overlarge behind his glasses. "You two..."

Remus felt a horrible sense of dread. Here it was. The point where he would be completely marked as being 'different' and 'weird.' Sirius might not have been embarrassed, but Remus felt as though James were about to brand him and mark him for all of the school to see how abnormal he was. Not only was he a werewolf, but he also fancied boys. A particular boy who happened to be the object of almost every girl's affection. He wondered if Sirius would just blow this off, pretend like it wasn't what it looked like. He wondered if this would scare the other boy into pulling away from him emotionally. It didn't matter what passed between them this very evening. Sirius wouldn't let himself be branded as abnormal, would he? And Remus was scared. Scared of being branded that way himself. But yet, the realization of his feelings for Sirius, and the admission of the returned feelings, made him happier tonight than perhaps any other moment in his entire hard life. Sirius accepted him for who he was, and found him desirable despite the terrible truth. Remus felt as if James were about to tear his whole world apart. Sirius would pull away, he knew it, and he would never find another to fill that spot that the dark-haired boy had so quickly filled up in his very soul.

"Jealous, Prongs? Lily's no Remus, after all. Pity you have to miss out."

Remus' rampant thoughts halted.

"When you can pick your jaw up off the floor," Sirius continued solemnly, looking up at their gawking friend, "can you please go back to bed so we can finish snogging here?"

"You...you..." James was stuttering, and his eyes were practically popping out from shock, but he seemed to piece himself together quickly. "I'm just shocked that you haven't told me. Ever since you told me about Daniel and that other bloke-"

"James knew?" Remus interrupted, looking at Sirius, faking a hurt look. He actually wasn't surprised. After all, Sirius and James were best friends first.

"Of course I did!" James grinned. "He couldn't tell the one that he fancied about it, especially since he thought that you were straight. He was afraid. Friendship first, right?"

"Sorry, Remus. I DID tell James about it." Sirius glared up at their friend, who was now hanging dangerously over the railing of the balcony.

Remus waved the apology away, feeling himself smile. "I'm not mad." He looked up at James. "So you don't oppose?"

James snorted. "I know that Sirius says that 'Lily's no Remus'," he garbled his voice at that last bit to attempt to sound somewhat like Sirius, "but I rather prefer Lily's lack of what you've got, Moony, if you get my drift. So why would I oppose?"

"I don't mean to ask if you're jealous..." But Remus trailed off as he noticed, his heart pounding, that James was smiling benignly down at them, now. He approves.

"Why don't we continue this conversation in the morning?" Sirius asked, and Remus looked to see Sirius staring up at James with a curious expression on his face. "We'll be right up, James."

James nodded. "I won't hold my breath. I'll see you two tomorrow at breakfast." And with a wink at Remus, and no other words, James disappeared back into the dormitory.

"Where were we?" Sirius leaned in and placed his lips against Remus' cheek.

Remus' heart was still racing at the acceptance of the fact that James, one of their two best friends, didn't have a problem with them being together. He felt happiness spread through him, and he found the urge to hug Sirius seize him. He deflected the next incoming kiss and buried his nose into the other boy's neck, squeezing tightly around Sirius' waist.

"You're honestly shocked about James being happy for us?" Sirius murmured, his breath stirring Remus' hair.

"I didn't know what to think," Remus replied truthfully. "I didn't know he knew about you already." He pulled back slightly to see a frown on Sirius' face. "Don't worry, I'm really not mad about you telling him and not telling me. And I'm assuming you didn't tell Peter?"

"Nor did I tell Lily," Sirius said. "It wasn't that I didn't trust you guys, you know? I just didn't want to make a big deal out of it before I sorted out my own feelings."

Remus' heart sank slightly. "What if Peter and Lily don't agree with it? What if they hate us? What if it gets out, and the rest of the school hates us?"

"Peter isn't the type to be judgmental about something like that, and neither is Lily. As for the rest of the school; they can all go and sod off."

"You really think they'll be okay with it?"

Sirius sighed and raised his left hand, touching Remus' cheek with soft fingertips. "Let's not worry about that now, okay? We'll deal with it as it comes. For right now, let's just worry about us, and how much time we'll be able to spend with each other around lessons and practice and homework and studying."

Remus smiled, realizing that if Sirius was so calm about it, then he could be, too. "I'll try to relax." He closed his eyes, tilting his head towards Sirius' hand, which now stroked his cheek.

Turning his head, Remus kissed the bottom edge of Sirius' palm. Sirius moved that hand to the back of Remus' neck, and gentle pressure coaxed the both of them to move in close.

The heat from the dying fire in the fireplace was making Remus sweat, but he didn't care. He opened his mouth and stroked his tongue along Sirius', swallowing the moan that tore out of the dark-haired boy's throat. He pressed in close enough for their chests to press against one another, and he felt Sirius' left hand return to his lower back, clutching at the back of his jumper.

"Couch," Sirius muttered, and Remus tried not to let his lips leave the other boy's as they made their way over to the piece of furniture. Remus fell forward onto Sirius, who had laid down, all the while fighting to continue kissing.

Remus felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise as Sirius moved to kiss his jaw softly, slowly making his way over to Remus' ear even as his left hand pulled at the neckline of Remus' jumper. Remus shuddered as a tongue traced along the shell of his ear, flicking inside, and then teeth were clenching at his earlobe. It felt so good, and so hot, and Remus wanted to tear off his clothes immediately. But then Sirius was nipping at his neck, and it sent tendrils of euphoria throughout his body, making him tilt his head further to allow more. Lips reached his collarbone, smoothing a wet trail along the ridge with a tongue, and a gasp escaped Remus as Sirius dipped the tongue into the hollow between the bones. Who ever knew how excited one could get with just kissing at the neck? Why had Naylia not been able to make him feel this way?

And then Sirius was back at his mouth, and Remus clutched the fabric at Sirius' hip as he felt Sirius do the same, the fingers clenching hard enough to bruise. Sirius grunted below him as hips pressed together, and Remus almost bit Sirius' lip as a jolt of desire shot through him from his growing erection, the thin fabric of the trousers that he had on not hiding it in the slightest.

He pushed his hips down again into Sirius', feeling bold and light-headed at the inarticulate sounds of pleasure that poured quietly from the other boy. That feeling of fevered desire rushed through him once more, and he continued to jerk his hips down, first tentatively, and then firmly. Sirius was meeting him, thrust for thrust, and waves of ecstasy unfurled within him as he buried his nose against Sirius' neck, licking at the salty taste of sweat that he found there. Sirius groaned beneath him, and Remus could vaguely feel a hand touching the skin beneath the hem of his jumper, on his right side, and then fingers dipping into the waistband of his trousers.

Remus settled one of his legs between Sirius' and pressed closer and harder. He felt powerful, the moans coming from the warm body beneath his stroking his ego as he rubbed himself harder against Sirius' upper thigh, the friction from the fabric of his boxer shorts and the muscular leg deliciously sending him closer to the edge. His left arm was bent uncomfortably between their chests, but he barely registered the ache. He pressed his mouth again to the other boy's, snaking his tongue in as he brought his right hand up to clutch at the shaggy black strands of hair in front of him. The pleasure mounted higher and higher as he thrusted faster and harder into Sirius' thigh.

It felt like only moments had passed, and they probably had, but as Remus felt Sirius' hand clench at one cheek of his arse, he lost control of his body. He thrust a few more times and gasped into Sirius' mouth, his body shuddered as he came, hard, and he felt Sirius seize up under him, letting out a small "ah!" as Remus released in a earth-shattering explosion of ecstasy.

Panting afterwards, Remus felt mildly embarrassed. He brought his head up to find Sirius smiling up at him, sweat beaded at his hairline and upper lip.

"That was incredible," the black-haired boy murmured, and Remus' heart, still pounding, soared. What do I have to be embarrassed about?

The roaring sound that had only moments before been in his ears settled down, and he relaxed, basking in the warm feelings that rushed through him. Laying his head on Sirius' clothed chest, he thought he could hear the other boy's heart beating just as fast as his own.

"I think we should get to bed," Remus said quietly, not really wanting to get up, but knowing that they shouldn't lay there for long, or else they risked falling asleep and being woken up by some early-rising First or Second Year.

"I can't move," came the mumbled reply. Remus grinned and hauled himself up, dragging the other boy with him. The front of both of their trousers were dark.

Sirius pointed at Remus. "I think you wet yourself." He grinned.

Remus snorted. "I'm not the only one."

Shrugging, Sirius touched Remus' cheek with his left hand, running his fingers along the scratchiness of the stubble. Remus sighed, reaching up to cover Sirius' hand with his own.

"I'm glad that this happened," he whispered. Sirius smiled, nodding slowly. Remus continued, "I don't know how I didn't realize sooner, what I felt for you. How could I have been so bloody blind?"

"It doesn't matter now, Remus. What matters now is the fact that we both know, and we can act on our feelings. I'm not afraid of what others think, and I know that you are, a little, but remember...I'm right here. I'm not going to turn you away, or pretend that this hasn't happened."

Remus wondered if the fire had suddenly started up again, or a window was left open, somehow letting in warm night air despite the fact that it was still winter, because he felt his cheeks flush hotly at Sirius' words.

"Let's go to bed," the dark-haired boy said, and he tugged an unreluctant Remus up the stairs.

Day Seven

Remus woke in a sweat. It's Monday. Classes. Detention. He tried to remember why he was so distraught.

And then it came to him. It's the last day I'll be attached to Sirius.

Hearing a muffled groan next to him, Remus bit his lip, thinking about the upcoming day. Wauldin HAD said that the potion would last about a week, so there was no pinpointing the time when they would be separated. Would it hurt? Would Sirius' hand rip the skin of Remus' wrist off? Would it be the opposite, with Sirius' skin coming off? The essay that had been assigned had clued Remus in to the fact that when human skin was Melded together with that particular potion, the magic tendrils that raced just beneath the surface of every witch or wizards' skin dissolved it after around seven days, because skin wasn't meant to be Melded. He had not found out how it would finally unMeld, however. Briefly, he wondered what happened if Muggles were attached together with the potion. If there were no magic traces to dissolve it...

Another groan sounded, and Remus was brought back to reality even as his mind swam fuzzily from lack of sleep. It had been late when he had finally drifted off, because he was too busy thinking of why Sirius had not wanted to...well, cuddle. Not that Remus NEEDED cuddling or anything. But after what had transpired between them in the common room...it was unclear about why a wall of tension had settled between them as soon as they had laid down in Remus' bed.

But now, with the memories of the previous evening searing his brain and the quiet moans breaking the silence, Remus felt quite confident. No matter that they had not slept with arms around each other. He opened his eyes to find Sirius in the same position that he had been in on other mornings-facing him and staring at him while puffs of breaths escaped his mouth.

"Want a hand with that?" Remus asked quietly, and then bit his lip as he realized what he had said. Sirius apparently stopped what he was doing, because a grin spread over his face a second before quiet laughter escaped from his lips.

"I can't believe you just said that," Sirius gasped in between chuckles. "The look on your face right now is priceless!" He shook his head, still laughing. "'Want a hand,' he says!"

Remus tried not to cringe as he heard either Peter or James let out a sleepy snort, and he tried not to look at Sirius as he waited for a sign that they were not being overheard. After a moment, not another sound came from the other beds.

"Well, do you?" He whispered it quickly, not waiting for the answer. He gathered his courage and snaked his left hand down between their bodies to find that Sirius had unbuttoned the flap of his boxer shorts, and had pulled his cock out of it. So THAT'S why it was so wet that one morning... His hand came in contact with the hardened flesh, a slick wetness at the tip. Running his thumb across it, Remus felt himself starting to get excited as he watched Sirius' face, tiny spasms in the lips and eyes telling of the other boy's pleasure.

Remus found that it would be easier to...well, to do anything, if Sirius was lying on his back. So he pushed at Sirius' shoulder lightly with his right hand, swiping his thumb across the tip of Sirius' cock again. Sirius rolled over with a shudder, and Remus got a better grip.

It was smooth, doing this with his left hand, even with the weight of Sirius' hand on his wrist. The angle was perfect, and Remus marvelled at the satiny feel of the heated organ against his palm, the outside rim of his hand brushing tight curls that peeked out of the flap as he stroked downwards.

Sirius was moaning, his hips coming up off the bed in a steady rhythm. Remus watched him, his head turned sideways, as Sirius' head tilted back deeper into the pillow. His mouth was open slightly, and his eyes were closed, and Remus was entranced at the beauty of it. He rubbed his thumb across the tip of Sirius' cock again, spreading the moisture there, wanting to see Sirius lose himself in pleasure. He sped up his strokes, carefully reaching over with his right hand to delve under the rest of the confining cloth of the boxers, scraping his fingernails lightly over the skin of Sirius' balls.

"I...want..." Sirius was trying to gasp out something between moans, but Remus didn't want to stop to find out what it was. He squeezed his left hand, and then sped up his strokes again, pausing now and then to run his thumb along the tip and the upper ridge of the head. He knew what gay men did, and how they had sex, but he had never had time to dwell on it. Was it really pleasurable? He ran his fingers over the light dusting of hair on the heavy balls, and then drifted down further, stroking his middle finger on the patch of skin behind the balls. He reached the puckered opening that he sought, the cloth of the boxer shorts tight against his wrist, his heart racing, his mind hazy because of the throbbing of his own cock. Circling his finger around the opening, he noted it was dry, and he realized that he needed some lubrication to do what he wanted.

Quickly, he swiped his finger on the tip of Sirius' continually weeping cock, coating it as he maintained the steady strokes of his left hand. Sirius was gasping and moaning, and Remus knew he didn't have a lot of time to do what he wanted. He brought his finger down to Sirius' hole again, and this time pushed in lightly.

How could anyone fit in there? He nearly groaned at the tightness that clenched around his finger as he slowly pushed it in. It felt hot, but it could have just been the fact that his whole body was on fire, including that finger. When his finger was in up to the knuckle, he pulled it out slowly and then pushed it back in, watching Sirius' face again as the other boy clenched his teeth.

Remus felt a wave of exhilaration rush through him as short pants and quiet grunts came from Sirius' mouth. Leaning towards the other boy, Remus licked under the jaw, coaxing more sounds out of the exquisite throat. A few swipes of his tongue, and Remus wanted nothing more than to stop time, just so that he could live in that perfect moment forever, with Sirius' cock in his hand and his name on those beautiful lips.

"Remus," came the pant, "I..." Sirius' body jerked, and it was the only warning that Remus had before he felt his left hand become splattered with come. Sirius' eyes were squeezed shut with pleasure, and his back was almost entirely bent backwards, bowed off the bed in an arc. Waiting a moment for Sirius to climb down off of his powerful orgasm, Remus pulled his finger out of the clenched hole and rubbed the other boy's stomach as he watched him.

Taking his left hand away from Sirius' softening cock, he brought it up to his mouth. Never before had he tasted his own come, but he knew that it wasn't supposed to be entirely unpleasant. The scent alone was driving him mad with desire, and his own cock was hardened into steel already, just by watching Sirius. Touching his tongue to the stickiness on the web between his thumb and forefinger, Remus tasted what seemed like a watered-down substance with a slightly sour aftertaste. Those that said it wasn't entirely unpleasant were right.

Sirius was watching him lick his own hand with blazing eyes. "That was almost as good as last night," he croaked out. Remus raised his eyebrows.

"Almost?" But then Sirius' left hand came down, shoving into his pyjama bottoms without any bother to the tie on the waistband. The fist clenched around his aching cock and squeezed firmly, and Remus gasped.

"I want to see you, Remus," the other boy said lightly, and Remus bit his lip as he felt the hand tighten around his cock. "I want to taste you."

Sirius didn't wait for an answer, but Remus thought he had made his thoughts obvious anyway, for a moan escaped his lips as Sirius scooted down to the end of the bed, pulled his pyjama bottoms down over his hips, and immediately engulfed him with his mouth.

Remus knew he wouldn't last long. Sirius' tongue teased along the underside of his cock, and then a gentle sucking pressure sent thrills of rapture through him. He jerked into that moist, hot mouth, not able to help himself, as he was delirious with desire. A steady hand held the base of his cock, squeezing and moving up and down in time with his hips. Clutching the sheets beneath him with both hands, he bit his lip harder, breathing strongly through his nose as wet lips released him, only to fasten themselves underneath, on the underside of his cock, nibbling lightly without the scrape of teeth. Dizzying stars were flashing beneath his eyelids, and he could feel his heart straining to burst out of his chest, maddening in its frantic beats. He tried to control his thrusts when that hot mouth once more fastened around him, not wanting to cause Sirius to gag, but he couldn't help but raise his hips off of the bed slightly as the steadily increasing suction seemed to pull him up. It was almost painful, the way he wanted to release himself into Sirius' hot, wet mouth, but he didn't want the sensations to end. The ecstasy wasn't flowing through his body anymore; it was centred in his groin, and Remus felt as if he would never be able to feel anything again except for the pulsing waves of pleasure that shot outward from that very place. Spots danced before his eyes, clouding his vision as he lifted his right hand to thread his fingers through Sirius' hair, pulling gently to warn the other boy of the fact that he was about to come.

Sirius didn't let up the licking and the pumping of his hand, and Remus exploded, his body going into spasms as he thrust up into air, only a split second later feeling Sirius' lips attach around the head of his cock again. His body felt as if it were on fire, burning flames of pleasure through his very bones as he came down off his orgasm. His pulsating cock softened as Sirius continued to lap at the length of it, and it felt almost painful and over-sensitive as the stimulation caused him to groan. A wet tongue licked at his stomach and abdomen, where the first spurt of his seed had spilled, and then Sirius was snaking back up to the head of the bed. Remus still had his eyes closed, basking in the sensation of just having the most incredible orgasm he had ever had, sated beyond his wildest dreams. Lips pressed against his own, and he opened his mouth to taste himself on Sirius' tongue.

"Now THAT," Sirius whispered into Remus' ear with hot breath, "was just as good, if not better, than last night." Remus panted, trying to get orientated on where he was, when it was, what day it was, and what the bloody hell he had been doing his last six years of school, when he had not even looked twice at Sirius as anything more than a friend. He turned his head, feeling woozy and sleepy, catching the dark-haired boy staring at him with half-closed lids.

Remus felt a hand touch his stomach, where the last remnants of his semen stuck to his skin in the places that Sirius' tongue had missed. He felt the hand brush through the trail of hair that let up from his groin to his navel, and he shivered at the thrill that ran though him at the light touch, the resurrection of his previous arousal beginning to stir in the depths of his chest. He wanted to rest a moment, kiss Sirius, and then initiate another go, but he knew that the sun was ready to start peeking over the horizon soon.

Although he didn't want to move from the embrace that Sirius now had him in, Remus knew that the others were probably about to wake up, if they weren't already. Especially Peter, who had always been an early riser. Now that they needed a shower, Remus didn't relish the thought of having to restrain himself from touching Sirius as they cleaned up next to one of the other two boys.

"Let's go and get a shower before the others wake," Sirius whispered in his ear, and Remus vaguely wondered if he had spoken his own thoughts aloud. He nodded, forcing himself to sit up and pull his pyjama bottoms back up. He watched as Sirius tucked himself back into his boxer shorts, and they both scooted off Remus' side of the bed, making their way quietly towards the toilet.

The water had just been turned on, and Remus had just allowed a tiny smile to spread across his face while watching Sirius stare at him hotly, when he heard the sounds of bare feet on the tiles outside of their shower.

"We'll have another go later on," Sirius leaned in close and whispered into his ear. Nodding, wanting to strangle whoever it was in the next shower over, he quickly washed up and rinsed off, trying to ignore the other boy. It would not do to get excited when he wouldn't be able to relieve himself until later. Sirius, it seemed, appeared to have the same thoughts, for as soon as Remus was finished, he turned around to find Sirius facing away from him.

But nothing stopped Remus from admiring Sirius' backside as they stepped out of the shower to get ready for the day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Remus felt the change in the air as soon as they stepped into the Great Hall. Over near the Hufflepuff table, there were three boys staring at him and Sirius. At the nearest end of the Gryffindor table, a girl was whispering to one of her friends, and they both turned to look at him also. Eyes seemed to follow them as they made their way over to where James sat by himself, surrounded by empty seats.

Did everyone know? Was it something about the way they walked? Was it obvious in the look of his hair, or the way Sirius' robes were swishing? Had James stamped it across his forehead in bright pink letters as a prank?

Remus looked uneasily over to where more pupils were staring at them very noticeably. Dread rose in the pit of his stomach, and his appetite flew from him as he glanced down at the piles of bacon and kippers on plates in the middle of the table.

"Bloody hell, does everyone know?" He sat, not expecting an answer. But James just let out a small 'hmph', causing Remus to look up at him with raised eyebrows.

"What?" The Head Boy was chewing a mouthful of eggs, and he spoke around them. "I only told Lily and Peter."

Remus groaned, putting his head down onto his right arm. He didn't know if Lily or Peter would have told anyone about them, but the whole school seemed to know. He felt a hand on his left arm.

"Hey, remember what I said last night?" Sirius asked him in soothing tones. "The whole lot of them can go bugger off if they don't like the fact that we're together now."

"But how do they know?" Remus asked. He really didn't think that Lily would ever say anything, but he wondered about Peter, only because of the fact that their blond-haired friend was willing to cheat on his N.E.W.T.S. Did he say something to someone after James had told him?

"I told Peter not to tell anyone," James said then, "and he would never betray my trust. Nor will he ever betray yours, when you choose to tell him yourselves officially."

"And speak of the devil-" Sirius broke off as Remus looked up to see Peter grinning at them, taking the seat next to James.

He leaned across the table, his eyes twinkling. "I'm sure you would have told me this morning, but James said it last night. I'm happy for you two." He straightened up and grabbed several pieces of bacon. "As long as you two aren't carrying on while I'm in the room..."

Remus felt himself flush. Of course it wouldn't have been Peter that told! But he couldn't help but frown at the thought that the only one who knew besides Peter and James was Lily. Would she have said something to one of her friends, maybe Gwynne, and they, in turn, told someone else, spreading the news until it had circulated around Hogwarts?

And then, his suspicions were entirely wiped blank as he felt rather than saw someone standing directly behind him. He turned his head to see Snape sneering at him, with Evan Rosier and Theo Avery flanking him.

"I hope you didn't have time to defile the bathtub last night, you filthy fairies. I warned everyone I could about your relations with one another." Snape was curling his lip, his dark eyes blazing as he stared down his over-large nose at them. "It's no longer your little love secret."

Inwardly cringing as he remembered the fact that Snape would have told the whole school about their 'love fest,' Remus really hoped that Sirius wouldn't cause a scene. But just as he turned to tell the other boy to ignore the Slytherin, Sirius stood up and did something completely unexpected. He put his left arm around the slightly shorter Snape and hugged him tightly.

"Severus, love! So smashing to see your handsome face this fine morning! I noticed you didn't shave today...it's a sexy look for you. I could just eat you up! Again, I mean." Sirius was almost shouting as he grinned, pulling slightly away from his startled arch-nemesis, and then planting a sloppy kiss on the grimacing mouth. "Last night in the bathtub was so wonderful, wasn't it? Who knew that you had such a talented mouth? I don't think I've ever seen Remus lose control like that, and I KNOW I've never heard him scream so loudly before." Remus was sure that his eyes would be popping out of his head at any moment, as well as Rosier's and Avery's.

A cackling sound came from behind Remus, and he turned away from the disturbing scene to find James and Peter doubled over in laughter, clutching each other for support.

"Snape, you never said that you were in on it!" Rosier exclaimed with disgust, backing away, Avery moving with him.

"What in Merlin's name is going on here?" Professor McGonagall had arrived, frowning in turn at Sirius, who was still grinning, and Snape, who was sputtering, his face red with anger and embarrassment. Remus hid a smile behind his hand as their Head of House turned to him. "Well, Mr. Lupin? Would you care to explain why Mr. Black and Mr. Snape are disrupting a perfectly good breakfast?"

"Er...no, Professor." Remus fought to keep a straight face as he looked up at her with what he hoped was a good puppy-dog expression. "They were just discussing homework."

She stared at him, her lips pursed in thought. "Indeed. Please have a seat, Mr. Black. And please go back to your own table, Mr. Snape. I don't want to see any more 'discussions of homework' taking place during mealtimes between the two of you. Do you both understand?" Snape nodded, scowling as he turned away, and Sirius beamed at her, receiving another suspecting look as he sat down.

"That, mate, is the best thing I've ever seen happen since that time in Fourth Year when you hexed that dirty pair of underpants that we nicked from the Slytherin dormitory to flap around Snivellus' head during dinner," Peter said cheerfully, pounding a still-laughing James on the back. "And this one wasn't even planned, so I say it takes the top spot as the BEST prank ever." He raised his glass. "Cheers!"

Sirius shrugged, a smirk settled on his lips, as he raised his own glass. He stood up briefly and bowed, taking a seat again before McGonagall could rush back up and scold him. Remus just rolled his eyes. Trust the 'attention-seeker' to bask in the glory of causing havoc.

"Sorry I had to involve you, Moony," Sirius winked at him then. "I think I would off myself if old Snivelly ever laid a hand on you."

Remus found himself chuckling. "So would I, come to think of it."

The rest of breakfast passed uneventfully, and Remus even ate with his left hand, now that it didn't bother him to see Sirius' hand coming towards his mouth. Sirius grinned over at him a few times, and Remus fought to keep the blushing in his cheeks down, as he knew that he must have been showing some sort of reaction to Sirius' affections, because James and Peter kept glancing at each other and smiling at him and Sirius. When they got up to leave and head over to their first lesson, which was Charms on Monday mornings, Remus turned around to see Snape shooting daggers at the back of Sirius' head with his cold, dark eyes. If looks could kill...

Normally, Remus didn't approve of how Sirius had always treated Snape. James acted the same way, but he had let up a bit since he had started softening Lily up to him during the end of their Sixth Year, and by the start of the Seventh, Sirius was almost alone in being the one to torment the Slytherin. Remus always just watched with apprehension and a bit of disappointment usually, but the scene at breakfast was well deserved, he thought.

And with his mind occupied by the events at breakfast, he didn't register at first, as they passed through the door to the Charms classroom, the feeling of pressure on his wrist lessen. He looked down at the same time as Sirius, and they both opened their mouths in shock and glanced back up to stare at each other as Sirius raised his right hand, independent from Remus' left.

It looked as though the Melding potion had worn off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

His mind wandered for the rest of the morning, missing the important points of every lesson. He was sure that Sirius wasn't exactly concentrating either, because the dark-haired boy sat, holding a quill in his right hand and twirling it with his fingers, staring vacantly off in any direction other than the Professor of the lesson they were in. James caught Remus looking distracted once, and shrugged and smiled as if to say, 'It had to happen sometime, mate.'

Wildly, in a fit of panic, Remus wondered if he could manage to whip up another Melding potion. He was halfway out the door of their third lesson, History of Magic, when he was halted by the sounds of his name being called after him. He stopped and turned around, frowning.

"Where are you off to in such a hurry?" Sirius caught up to him, his dark hair falling messily onto his forehead and his blue eyes crinkling at the corners. Remus stared at him silently, wishing that he could just start the week over. How could Sirius really be so beautiful?

He realized that the other boy was waiting for an answer from him, so he searched his mind for something to say. The truth was not so horrible, so he blurted out, "I'm making my way down to the dungeons to see if I could make another Melding potion."

Sirius' gaze flitted over his face, and Remus knew that it was a stupid idea before the words even finished leaving his mouth. But Sirius just grinned and said, "This time, we'll have to control how we get Melded. Perhaps if we did our fingertips, my left to your right hand? That way, we would still have use of both of our hands, and I could still look at your dimple all day."

Letting out a small laugh, Remus shook his head. "You and your fascination with my dimple. Is it really so interesting?"

Sirius reached over with his left hand and touched it, which made Remus smile even more broadly. "It's a part of you. Therefore, it's handsome and rugged and breathtaking. Just like the rest of you."

Remus raised his eyebrows, knowing perfectly well that he didn't have Quidditch muscles or loads of chest hair or anything that constituted as being 'rugged.' He told Sirius this, but the other boy just waved his words of modesty away.

"You're beautiful, Moony," Sirius said, his eyes flashing. "Your body is fit, your face is mesmerizing, and your eyes are so..." He trailed off, seeming to fish around for an appropriate term.

"Brown?" Remus supplied, amused.

Sirius shook his head and barked out a laugh, and then, in the middle of the corridor, he pulled Remus in close with strong arms wrapped securely around his neck. Remus could see over his shoulder, and he noticed with trepidation that several pupils were watching them, including Peter and James.

"Er..." He started to say something, not knowing how to tell Sirius that they were being looked at.

"Let them stare," Sirius whispered, kissing his neck and then his mouth very quickly, and then pulling back, grinning at the surrounding crowd and bowing dramatically. "Hope you lot enjoyed the show! But now it's time for both of us to get to our next lesson, so I trust you don't think I'm too rude in telling you to sod off and leave us in peace."

And with that, he took Remus by the arm and steered him away. Remus, instead of feeling dread at what their peers were whispering to each other as they left, felt elated. Sirius wasn't ashamed.

It was enough to make Remus soar on a cloud for the rest of the day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At dinner, Remus noticed some people smiling at them, and others frowning, but most just stared. He found that he didn't really care so much, anymore. Sirius was WITH him, and it didn't matter one jot what everyone else thought.

Halfway through the meal, he was listening to James' animated retelling of the moves of the Seeker of the Pride of Portree in the previous weekend's game against the Wimbourne Wasps. The Head Boy was leaning over, miming a cupping move with his left hand, when Lily and Gwynne sauntered up.

"Hi, Remus. Hi, Sirius," Lily smiled at them both, her eyes twinkling. Remus took a quick glance at Gwynne to see her staring at Sirius, the corners of her mouth twitching.

"So, Remus, I'm glad you decided to come to your senses about Black, here." Remus stared at her, shocked. How did SHE know about it?

"Whoever said Remus had any sense?" Peter muttered, grinning into his pudding.

Sirius mock-growled at him, and then turned to Gwynne. Remus picked up his goblet and took a drink as she smiled.

"What do you know about it, anyway?" Sirius asked her. She shrugged, examining her fingernails.

"Daniel told me about you last year," she said. Remus swallowed, looking over at Sirius, who was staring at her. She continued. "And I should have known, anyway, after that Hogsmeade weekend."

"What about it?"

She gave a pointed look in Remus' direction, and then turned her attention back to Sirius. "I wanted it to be the perfect date, but the only thing you talked about was Remus, here."

Hiding his pleased smile behind his goblet, remembering that it was their Fifth Year that Sirius and Gwynne had gone to Hogsmeade, Remus glanced back over at Sirius to see him sitting still, red-faced.

She leaned over and whispered just as Remus took another sip of his drink. He barely heard what she said to Sirius. "Daniel told me all the juicy details. So you like to bottom? You love having a big cock up your arse?"

Choking, Remus' eyes watered as he sputtered, setting down his drink. Gwynne just winked at him and strolled away, Lily following her with another grin in their direction.

Sirius was shaking his head. "Women," he muttered, his cheeks pink. "Who needs them?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was after dinner, and Remus was struggling in one corner of the common room to edit his Potions essay one more time, for Wauldin had always been a stickler for grammar, and Remus had been distracted the last time he had tried to finish the damnable assignment.

Remus found, though, that he still couldn't concentrate. He looked up to see Sirius sitting with Peter across the room, chewing some Drooble's Blowing Gum and grinning in his direction. Remus smiled half-heartedly and waved, wondering at the fact that he wasn't put off by the fact that Sirius was only done with his homework because Remus had finished it the night before, not knowing if their skin would be separated by Monday's lessons. He gained another blinding smile from Sirius, making a warm feeling start up in his cheeks and flow down into his body, and he turned his attention back to his essay.

It was twenty-two inches long, written in his rather small writing. Despite the occasional inkblot, Remus thought it was quite perfect, and knew that they would possibly receive an 'O' for it. Perhaps even an 'E', though he wouldn't hold his breath. Wauldin never gave 'E's to Gryffindors.

James swished down the stairwell just then, wearing his Quidditch robes and clutching his broom. Remus noticed that there were several others wearing their robes, as well. He watched as James walked over to where Sirius was sitting, leaning down to speak quietly to the other boy.

Noticing the pleading and then angry look that Sirius gave James, Remus saw his...what, boyfriend?...get up and cross the room. He reached Remus and smiled down at him, but Remus could tell that the smile was strained.

"We have practice tonight, and I completely forgot about it. I have to go, according to the captain," he spat the last word, glaring over his shoulder at James, "since I skived off last week, and our match against Slytherin is coming up."

Remus shrugged, unconcerned, wondering why Sirius was acting so angry with this. "Okay. I guess I'll be up here when you're done. Maybe later we can go to the Prefects' bathroom again..." He started to smile, but stopped once he realized that Sirius was frowning.

"You won't be here when I'm finished. You have detention, remember?" Remus sat in shock, wondering how he could have forgotten. He groaned and looked at his watch, swearing when he saw that it was a quarter past seven. Cursing under his breath, he stood and started to throw his things into his bag. A hand on his arm stopped him.

"I'm sorry I can't go with you. I know I told you that I would..." Sirius looked genuinely sad, but Remus waved it off while continuing to put away his things.

"I'm not mad about that, Sirius. I just realized that I have fifteen minutes to get down to the dungeons, and I still have to look over this essay, and there's that Herbology homework that I haven't started yet..." he trailed off as he felt a pair of lips against his cheek. Sirius pulled away and smiled at him.

"Leave your stuff. I'll get it. You don't want to be late for detention," Sirius told him gently. Remus nodded and swallowed the lump in his throat as all of his feelings for the other boy swirled in him. He managed a smile.

"Hey," he said, watching as Sirius chewed once, "you have any more of that gum?"

Sirius smiled sadly at him. "Sorry, this was my last piece. I could see if anyone else has any..."

Remus shook his head. "Don't worry about it. I just wanted something to occupy my mind a little, and maybe distract my nose from the scent of the cleaning paste that I KNOW Wauldin's going to make me use to clean cauldrons or something."

Setting his bag back down, he planted a quick kiss on Sirius' lips, ignoring the stares of the other Housemates, and waved vaguely in James' and Peter's direction as he climbed swiftly out of the portrait hole.

As he started down the corridor, he heard footsteps behind him. He turned to see Sirius rushing towards him. "Did I forget something?"

Sirius shook his head, grinned, and pulled him in close for another kiss. Remus knew that he had to hurry, but the feel of the other boy's mouth on his was making time almost stand still for him. He started to groan and get into it, memories of that morning racing through his head, when he felt a lump of sweetness come in contact with his tongue, and Sirius pulled back from him.

"You can have my piece," Sirius said breathlessly. "I'll wait up for you." And he turned and raced back into the portrait hole, leaving Remus standing in the empty stone corridor with used gum in his mouth. Squishing it between his teeth, Remus could still taste a little of the original flavour of the gum, and a lot of Sirius. A part of him would have once found it revolting to be chewing someone else's used gum, but his mind now said that he'd already tasted much more intimate fluids...

Sighing contently, chewing on his gum, Remus started moving again. Touching his newly free wrist absently, Remus let his mind wander as he made his way down to the dungeons. He tried to assess his feelings, and he realized that he was happy. Undeniably, gloriously happy, and he grinned at the empty corridor as he made his way down it. The torches on the walls seemed to brighten, and by the time that he reached the Potions classroom, Remus' heart was soaring. He knocked on the door and then opened it, beaming at the surly Professor when he entered.

"Hmm, Lupin, right on time. I see that Black is not with you, so the Melding potion must have worn off already. Pity." He sneered.

But not even the task of cleaning the First and Second Years' cauldrons the Muggle way destroyed Remus' mood. As he worked, he fantasized about Sirius, remembering the dark-haired boy's hands on him, still tasting him on his tongue. The time passed quickly, and Remus looked down in disbelief as he realized that he had just finished the last cauldron.

"It would appear that you're done, Lupin," Wauldin walked up from where he had been sitting at his desk, grading papers. "I just have to inspect these to make sure that you have cleaned them properly, and then you can go." Remus waited, putting away the cleaning supplies as Wauldin strolled around the pile of cauldrons, swiping his finger in some. Finally, he nodded. "Remember," he said as Remus reached the door, "that twenty-inch essay is still due tomorrow. I trust that I'll see it on my desk with both yours and Black's names on it."

Remus nodded, and hurried out of the classroom, anxious to get back up to the Gryffindor tower. He was the only one out, as it was late, but he passed McGonagall, who raised her eyebrows at him. He explained that he was returning from detention, and her lips tightened as she eyed his Prefect badge with a hint of disappointment, but she nodded and let him go. He practically ran up several stairwells, reaching the Fat Lady and almost shouting the password in a haste to see Sirius.

When he was inside, he looked wildly around the room, but it was empty. He glanced at his watch. Only ten-thirty. Where is he? He noticed his bag still lying on the table in the corner, and he walked over to it, finding two separate assignments out in plain view. The Herbology homework was finished, as he noted when he unrolled the first parchment. Setting it back down again, he reached for the second. It was the Potions essay, written over again in Sirius' neater handwriting, spanning what he knew was more than the twenty-two inch length that it had been before. He unrolled the parchment until he got to the bottom, and noticed several sentences at the end that he had not written. As he read, he felt as though he had been drenched in butterbeer, and it had seeped into his very bones, making them warm.

Melding potions, it read, are the greatest potions ever concocted. Hogwarts itself was built using a Melding potion to bind the bricks together, and Obscurus Books has started using the fantastic potion to bind their books, so that they'll still fray as time goes on and they age, but never again will one of their books fall apart from wear and tear. It's such a wonderful potion, and everyone should learn how to make one, for they can come in handy. Especially if it involves Melding human skin together. My experience with being Melded to someone has changed my life for the better. Infinitely so, and I would like to thank Professor Wauldin for allowing me the opportunity to be Melded to the most wonderful, clever, and handsome bloke that I know. Truly, being Melded to the object of your affection for a week is something to be tried by everyone.

Grinning by the end of it, Remus rolled the parchment back up, knowing very well that Wauldin would not appreciate that last paragraph. Tucking it into his bag, happiness coursing through his very veins, he looked up to see Sirius standing at the bottom of the stairs, James' Invisibility Cloak draped over his arm.

"Fancy a bath, Mr. Prefect?" He asked it with a seductive smile, and Remus dropped his bag back onto the table, long strides taking him into Sirius' embrace quickly.

"I can't stop thinking about you," he whispered into the other boy's neck. He kissed the skin that he found there. "I don't care anymore about what others think about us. I don't care about what Snape's going to say to us for the rest of the school term, and I don't care what Wauldin's going to think when he reads what you wrote. I'm just lucky to have you."

Sirius tightened the grip around him. "I'm the lucky one, Remus," he said. "And I'll shout it in the middle of the Great Hall tomorrow if you want me to."

Remus smiled. "No, I don't think you have to do that."

"Good, it'd take away from my eating time." Sirius pulled away and grinned, reaching up with his right hand to run his thumb across Remus' jaw. "How'd you get so good-looking, anyway?"

Remus rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. You don't need flattery to satisfy me."

A gloriously huge grin graced Sirius' lips, and Remus thought that his heart would explode from contentment.

"Now, my dear Padfoot, you mentioned a bath?"

And with that, the pair slipped on the Invisibility Cloak and made their way out of the portrait hole. They were not seen again until morning.

END