Boys Will Be Bugs

Chapter 41: Third Year

"Hi! We almost missed you!" greeted James, out of breath as usual. He seemed to be unable to walk through the train's corridor, preferring instead to run and possibly bowl over a few unsuspecting students. Remus jumped up when he saw Sirius and couldn't stop himself from hugging him. He'd missed him more than he'd realised. Sirius returned the hug, apparently thinking along the same lines because he squeezed extra hard. They lingered slightly, before pulling apart awkwardly and sitting down opposite each other. Remus studied Sirius for a moment, trying to work out what was different.

"Your hair," Remus began. "It's really long." It was certainly longer than it had been before, right past his shoulders. Sirius fiddled with a few stands absent-mindedly.

"Yeah, I grew it out." He looked a bit shy over it. "It looks weird, doesn't it?" Remus shook his head quickly.

"Not at all! I like it," he added for good measure.

"Really? My parents kept calling me a girl and said I should cut it off."

"Don't listen to them, mate," said James. "Bloody hypocrites anyway. I've seen plenty of wizards with long hair, especially purebloods. They think they look so sophisticated, and I don't see your parents complaining about them. "

"Yeah I know," Sirius sighed. "I guess it's just me they've got a problem with." Lily pinched the end of his hair.

"Christ, Sirius, it's nicer than mine. Lucky bugger." She wasn't wrong. His hair wasn't as straggly as it usually was, messed up from his hands running through it and his refusal to use a hairbrush for weeks on end. It was still wavy, but it had a shininess to it. Remus struggled to stop looking at it, but he soon tore his eyes away when he realised it was making him feel weird and he didn't like that. He stared out of the window instead, and waited for the conversations to start up again. He didn't notice Owain staring at Sirius just as hard, with an almost wistful look on his face.

"What'd you do for the holidays then, Re?" Sirius asked, looking at him expectantly. His expression answered Remus's question on whether James had told him about his mum or not. Sirius had no idea.

"I went to James's house."

"Yeah, James said! You two built a den or something." James smiled and launched into his own retelling.

"Yeah and I told you about pirates, right Sirius?" Sirius nodded. "We should play pirates together, it'd be fun. Swords are more fun than wands."

"I've never been to someone's house before," said Sirius. "At least, not a friend's house. I've been to plenty of houses with my parents before, for... meetings and stuff." He didn't elaborate on what sort of meetings, but Remus could imagine.

"Wish you could come to my house," said James.

"Why can't you?" asked Lily. "Seems to me you could just tell your parents you're going to someone else's house, and then go to James's instead. You've got a floo network, haven't you?"

"Yeah, but it's too risky. My parents will find a way to check on me, plus they'd only approve of kids who are kids of the twenty eight, and they all talk with each other all the time. They'd work it out immediately." He was starting to work up a mood, so Remus tried to divert his attention.

"Hey Sirius, have you ever read Treasure Island?" Remus asked, knowing full well that Sirius hadn't. Sirius curiously shook his head. "It's about this boy who finds a treasure map and sails to an island with a few other people, but one of them forms a mutiny and kills two of the guys. His name's Long John Silver and he's a pirate." Sirius– as well as James– was intrigued. James was already excited at the mention of a pirate.

"Does he have a sword?" asked James. Remus nodded.

"Yup! And probably a pirate hat as well. They all try to find the treasure, but when they do, the original pirate crew ambushes them and fights them. There's a lot of sword fighting in the book, in fact most of it's just sword fighting."