The Marauders - Order of the Phoenix Part Three

The Boy at the Art Show

"Here, this'll calm your nerves."

Sirius swung into Remus's view, holding out a flute of shimmering golden champagne. To Sirius's surprise, Remus not only took the glass but quickly knocked his head backward and took a great swallow of the drink, emptying the flute with a gasp and holding the empty glass out to Sirius.

Sirius turned the glass in his fingers, grinning, "Damn Moony."

"I feel like my skin is on fire."

"What are you so nervous about?"

"I didn't think they were using any of my pieces!" Remus hissed. "And this particular piece - well - it's... you'll see."

"Self Portrait of a Werewolf," Sirius read the brochure they'd handed out to them at the door, "By R. J. Lupin." He grinned at the brochure, then up at Remus. "I like that you chose to use your initials for your artsy name."

Remus stared at him for a moment, then reached out and took Sirius's still full champagne glass and knocked that one back as well.

"Hey!" Sirius protested. "That was mine."

"Your nerves, as always, are just fine. It's mine what needs soothing." Remus drew a deep breath as Sirius took the second empty glass, holding both in one hand, the stems criss-crossed. "It was a stupid class assignment," Remus explained, "And I was goofing off with Lula and Stewie. He asked me about my scars and I joked that they came from a werewolf."

Sirius's grin crawled across his face, spreading over his cheeks and igniting that silver glint in his grey eyes which always gave Remus pause.

"Lula's the one who gave it the name," Remus said. "I didn't think I'd get a good grade on it, much less that it would be stuck in the art show. Nobody cares what your class assignment works are called." He flushed. "Now everyone who sees it and reads the title of it will know and --"

"They're muggles, darling, they think you're being silly." Sirius leaned closer, his mouth right up close to Remus's mouth. "They've no idea about the madness within." His voice was practically a purr.

Remus shivered and Sirius snickered, running a palm over Remus's back. "I'm just saying," Remus murmured, "We could potentially just turn around and go back home and forget all about the art show and just have some personal time instead, if you know what I mean?"

Sirius stared into Remus's eyes for several long seconds, then abruptly turned, shaking his head. "Nahhh - I'd rather look at this brilliant painting you've done that's been added in at the last moment." Sirius turned, slinging his arm around Remus's shoulders and pulled him over toward the temporary walls that had been set up to display the art all over the room. He laced his fingers of his free hand through Remus's and paused to deposit the two empty champagne glasses on a table. "Show me to your portrait, mon artiste." When Remus hesitated to take the lead, Sirius shook open the brochure again. "I mean, there's a map in here, Moony, I'm going to find it anyway."

Remus sighed heavily. "It's this way." He gestured and Sirius beamed as Sirius led him along.

Sirius didn't know much about art aside from whether he thought something was cool looking or not, which was the limit of his critiquing capabilities, but there was quite a few really cool looking pieces in the arts show and he pulled Remus to a stop more than once to look at some thing or another. There were sculptures made from clay and some from other sorts of materials - iron rods melded into the shape of skeletal figure holding an umbrella, and another that was a cloud and rain made of blown glass that hung from the ceiling on invisible wire. There were drawings - black and white sketches of landscapes and intricate hand-drawn city scenes with crisp black lines. There were paintings, small and large alike, stretched on canvas and hung with little spot lights that showcased color and movement, daubs that seemed to make parts of the compositions nearly three dimensional.