Mischief Managed Year One: Mayhem of the Moon

Chapter Eight- The Beginnings of Suspicion and Intrigue

"Well yeah, he was doing the same thing."

"No, he wasn't." STUPID!

He was so stupid! Why was he engaging in an argument with a boy bigger than him who didn't care about the rules and didn't seem opposed to violence? He instinctively covered his face, ready to be knocked to the ground and kicked. He braced himself to be treated how all the other kids had treated him. Instead, Sirius groaned.

"Shit, you're right. I'm such an idiot. It's not my fault... I was just pissed off because..." he stopped abruptly as if finally realizing who he was talking to. "Forget it. Let's just go back," Sirius snapped and started walking. Remus hurried to follow him. In his haste not to be left behind in this dark strange place, he bumped into Sirius. He made a slight choking sound, unable to get rid of the feeling Sirius would decide to beat him up and do so.

"Stop that!" Sirius snapped, still seeming not to care at all about their current location.

"S...stop what?" he stammered.

"Quit acting like I'm going to hit you. Geez! You're jumpier than Peter, I swear!"

"Sorry."

"Whatever. Just...calm down. It really pisses me off when you do this. But...I still don't get it, why did you come after me? James and Peter didn't."

Sirius' tone made it clear that it wasn't James and Peter being called into question. Remus didn't doubt for one second that it was his own actions that Sirius had deemed suspicious.

"I...just wanted to make sure you were ok."

"But you're afraid of me? You jump every time I look at you."

"You did draw all over my face."

"Oh geez, are you the kind that holds grudges? That was forever ago. It wasn't personal and I won't do it again, so quit being so weird."

Remus was glad Sirius' hand wasn't on his shoulder, because he knew he flinched again at the comment.

Remus didn't know how to be a normal boy. He almost wanted to ask Sirius to teach him, to teach him how to blend in and be a part of this strange club full of invisible rules he didn't understand. He felt hopelessly overwhelmed by it. Remus had a feeling no matter what he did, he wouldn't get it right.

"Sorry."

No, this was clearly not the right answer to give. He almost screamed in frustration as he felt Sirius' intense gaze focus on him. He was doing the opposite of blending in. He was by far the most suspicious boy in their class and it was terrible. He made up his mind to study his classmates closely and to do better at this. But for now, he had to quickly find a way to distract Sirius, who didn't seem opposed to pointing out his weirdness and questioning it.

"I think James said something about going through your trunk, by the way," he whispered quietly.

"He better not have!" Sirius shouted in a playfully affronted tone as he took off running. Remus relaxed, glad the distraction had worked. Although this meant Sirius had left Remus the precarious task of not losing nor running into him until they reached a hallway with enough light to make the trip back bearable.

He let out a sigh of relief when they quickly entered the Gryffindor common room. Remus had actually gotten quite close to reaching it by himself despite the moving staircases. Sirius seemed much better at navigating them, and Remus hoped he hadn't missed some trick during the prefect's rant.

"Whoo, that was fun!" Sirius was grinning at him, eyes gleaming with mischievous delight. It truly was like nothing had happened between them. Remus was astonished by the strange nonchalance Sirius had to simply let things go.