Liquid Luck [Sirius Black]/editing

Chapter 127

I haven't checked the map again after what I saw. I don't want to accidentally find the two names on top of one another and be scarred with mental images.

It's almost two in the morning when Remus finally comes tiptoeing into the room. He doesn't see me awake while he shuts the door, making as little noise as he possibly can. He turns around and freezes in place the moment his eyes meet mine in the dark. "K-Keeks...what are you doing up?" He whispers.

I cross my legs and rest my clasped hands in my lap. "I was waiting for you." I say softly.

"Oh. How, uh, how long have you been up?"

"Hours." I'm too tired to take my time with this conversation. I want answers and being blunt has always been a specialty of mine. "Listen, I saw you on the map."

Remus' eyes blow into two wide circles and his body stiffens. "Could we take a walk?" His voice, although just a whisper, is higher and shaky.

I get up from my seated position on the edge of Peter's bed and follow Remus out. We tread quietly side-by-side, neither one of us saying a word until the portrait swings shut and we're completely alone. "Are you upset?"

"So it's true?" I breathe out. "You and Regulus?"

He stops dead in his tracks and faces me with his eyebrows drawn together. "Me and – what?!"

"Remus," I groan, rubbing my sleep-deprived eyes. "You can't deny it. I saw what I saw."

His next reaction surprises me more than his first did. He laughs. He laughs so hard with his head thrown back and his hand over his heart. "Oh, Keeks, you've got it backwards."

"You're not seeing Reg?" I tilt my head to the side. He shakes his head at me. "But...no, it all added up."

"Well, I don't know what added up but I wasn't there to see him." He sighs, runs a hand through his hair, and spills. "I was there to see Evan."

My mouth drops open but I can't bring myself to form words just yet. Suddenly it's all making so much sense. Why Remus wouldn't want James and Sirius to know. The intense look they exchanged in the hall that one day. Evan's out of the blue apology. "You're why he apologized to me." I say.

My eyes flicker over to his flushed face. He shyly rubs the back of his neck. "Sort of. He actually did feel bad about everything."

"He's trying to be better because of you, that's so sweet." I grin, the hopeless romantic in me taking the wheel. "Tell me how this all started! I want to know everything."

"Okay, but come." He puts his hand in mine and drags me all the way to the Astronomy Tower where we settle in front of each other on the floor, under the sky full of stars.

"It's not such a good story but." A sheepish grin spreads across his face but he's quick to jump into telling the story. "Remember the surprise party we threw for Sirius' birthday? Well, Evan showed up uninvited so I got upset. I was cross with him because he hurt you all those times and he didn't even seem to care. I remember one minute I was threatening him, and the next he was kissing me. I was surprised at first because – what the actual hell, you know? But it was a good kiss, the kind that makes you forget everything. But I avoided him after that night because I felt guilty for liking it and still confused about my sexuality. He wouldn't leave me alone though. Said he couldn't stop thinking about me. And because I felt something when we kissed, I told him that if he ever wanted anything else to happen between us then he had to make things right with you first."