꧁ʙᴏʀɴ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴜʀᴘʟᴇ꧂

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 9

"I could squish your head so easily right now" Romie chimes, parting his hair down the middle with help of the fine tooth comb.

Sirius pats her socked feet once or twice, sounding very sure of himself in his declaration, "You love me, Moonette"

Yes, but there's a Lupin that's loves him a great deal more, a Lupin that's unequivocally, foolishly in love with him. The Lupin that Romie's adamant Sirius' intense gaze is unwaveringly fixed to as they speak. An artful smirk twists at her lips, violet eyes gleaming brightly at the opportunity dangling in front of her. She leans down, before beginning the braids, adding her arms to the rest of her limbs tangled around him and cooing as she nestles her head against his,

"I do, I love you, Padfoot. Do you love me? Like the baby sister you've always wanted?"

"I never wanted a baby sister. Baby siblings are hard fucking work" Sirius retorts, grunting at the strictly accidental, unintended swat to the back of the head by Romie's moving hand. She smiles sickly-sweet, apologising just as, "Oh, i'm so sorry. Muscle spasm"

Whether he believed it was a spasm or not, Sirius waved her off, tipping his head back accommodatingly for the tight weaving she's starting at his hairline. It takes up a lot of Romie's concentration, barely even registering that he's playing with the hems of her fluffy, lilac socks. It's only when she hears an abrupt clearing of a throat, that she's attentive to him, and what he starts to broach, tone careful and quiet,

"On the topic of baby siblings, Prongs mentioned something to me the other day..."

Romie's ears perk up, making a mental note to spend that little bit extra on James' Christmas present this year. She takes another silky strand waving around his ear, matching his timbre, "Oh, he did. Did he?"

Sirius hums again, absently stroking the pad of his thumb against the soft skin of her lower shin, speaking again after a long minute, "He had a few concerns, about your friends — old and new..."

His voice lowers as he trails off, and Romie's forced to chew the inside of her cheek to stifle her laughter at how he's skirting around the subject as much as possible. Tugging playfully on one of the threaded pieces of his hair, she bites the bullet and goes for it, dropping the 'R' bomb that Sirius hadn't dared to,

"Like I told James, Regulus was helping me out with some homework, that's all. Remus helps you out all the time"

"Yes, that's what i'm worried about" Sirius mutters tightly, nose scrunching up and lips pursing firmly into a thin line.

That's exactly what he's worried about, his Moony, his Moonshine, his Moonbeam helps him out with his homework, help he doesn't necessarily need but wants, because well, he'd be a stupid idiot to object to extra time to spend around the greek chocolate loving god that is Remus Lupin. Romie's just as clever as her older brother, he's taught her all he's known, so Sirius is wondering just what 'help' his troublesome younger brother is giving to her that the rest of them couldn't.

"Word has it, he's the one that managed to fix your skirt too" Sirius adds, this time, scrunching up Romie's nose, having to dig deep for the strength not to huff, puff and swear, "Yes. He was"

Bastard.

She's still not over that.

Remus groans quietly, freezing the both of them in motion, hoping that his heightened hearing hasn't woken and alerted to him to their conversation. That certainly wouldn't bode well just yet. Fortunately, the groan was only in response to the throb of his bones upon turning over on to his other side, his breathing slowing as he slips back into a snoring sleep. Romie can practically feel Sirius' pathetically soft, cooing heart, trying her hardest not to smack the life of out him for failing to make a bloody move already.