Mischief Managed Year One: Mayhem of the Moon

Chapter Eight- The Beginnings of Suspicion and Intrigue

Remus nodded, hoping he was convincing enough. They climbed the many stairs together he realized with a heavy heart that maybe he was the kind of person who held onto grudges for a ridiculously long time. After all, he still held a grudge against the shadow man.

"James, you...," Sirius trailed off as both Peter and James were fast asleep in their adjacent beds. There was a half-finished game of something strange-looking laid out on the floor, evidence of the unproductive worry-free time the two boys must have had. Only a small candle had been left burning to allow Sirius and Remus enough light to get into their own beds.

"Bloody idiots didn't even wait up," Sirius muttered and slapped Remus on the back in a friendly manner.

Of course, Remus stiffened. He really couldn't help himself. But he rushed into his bed before Sirius could question him further. He curled up under the covers, still dressed, but nervous Sirius would fling open the curtains if he attempted to change now. Instead, he muttered a good night that was returned, and tried to calm his racing heart enough to fall asleep.

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Sirius lay in his bed for a long time, worrying about his mum's and family's reaction to the house he got placed in. Once he got sick of fretting about that, his thoughts turned to Remus. For Sirius was more perceptive than people gave him credit for, which was how he liked it. So Sirius had picked up on how Remus had purposefully changed the topic earlier in order to keep the focus off himself. It was the same thing his uncle did when his mum was attacking Sirius' uncle's life choices and asking him questions to be sure he was 'upholding the Black family honor.'

So while Remus thought he had managed to distract Sirius from him, in fact, Sirius was more curious than ever. He shifted in his bed, listening for something to indicate if Remus was awake or not. His interest was definitely peaked, now that he knew Remus wasn't just some judgemental pig. The boy had become something of a mystery, and there were few things Sirius liked more. He was already coming up with speculations that got wilder and wilder as they carried him off into sleep.

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"Wake up! Sirius, mate, wake up!"

He opened his heavy eyelids to find James grinning down at him like the fool he was. He scoffed and playfully pushed him back. Things were fine between them, tension forgot, no need to apologize or dwell on feelings. He was so grateful for this.

"Piss off Potter, I have to get my beauty sleep," he responded, in a posh female voice that caused James to laugh and nudge him.

"You'll miss breakfast and your classes, your highness."

Sirius grinned and shoved his foot in his face in response. They jostled each other good-naturedly, then Sirius dropped to his boxers and got dressed for the day. He noticed both Remus and Peter were gone. The latter's bed was unmade and his little area of the room was becoming a mess, which Sirius could respect.

On the other hand, Remus' trunk, if you could even call it that, hadn't even been touched yet and his bed looked like he hadn't slept on it. Sirius wasn't sure why this irritated him so much, only that it did.

"Where are the others?" he asked, pulling his new robe on. Luckily he had a few that weren't custom Slytherin robes.

"Peter got up when I did, but decided he'd rather go eat than get your lazy ass out of bed."

"And Remus?"

"Thought you didn't care about him?"

This caught Sirius off guard. Had he really been that rude to him? Did Remus actually have a reason to flinch every time he was near him? The thought filled him with dread...and irritation.