Remus's Dog
"What do you reckon she means - something has changed, Potter?!" James hadn't shut up about it since getting back from the hospital wing -- which was quite a long time ago by now.
At first, James Potter had been very excited - unable to sleep, he'd laid in the hospital bed eating tarts and swiping the crumbs from his chest, jittery with anticipation for the next day, but Lily Evans had acted exactly the same as always. She sat with them at breakfast and talked mainly to Remus, like usual, and she and Remus took turns herding the first years about the castle. She sat with Rey or Peter in their classes, like she always did, and when James made loud noises or said something she either rolled her eyes or snorted, like usual...
And she did all that for the entire week following the Incident With The Stag And All That as James was referring to that night now.
"What has changed?!" James demanded, waving his arms desperately.
It was Halloween night and the Great Hall was decorated with big smiling jack-o-lanterns and floating candles like stars. Professor Flitwick had the horny toad choir up front and he was waving his wand, a conductor orchestrating the evening's entertainment. They ribbited and sang, the droning sound of it echoing about the hall. Sirius hugged Moony close, excited that finallythey were getting to have Halloween together. "'Member last year? I spent Halloween stalking about the Shrieking Shack, believing you had a boyfriend out there!" he laughed.
"You did what now?" Remus asked, looking at him - he'd never heard this story.
Sirius turned pink. "Nothing."
"He insisted you had a boyfriend - who turned out to be Peter in a great misunderstanding - and after throwing that colossal fit about not wanting to miss the Halloween feast, he went and snuck off to the Shrieking Shack to spy on you and catch you snogging off with your boyfriend," James supplied, "Because he's a git and wouldn't listen to anyone when they said that you didn't have a boyfriend."
"He could have had a boyfriend!" Sirius persisted.
Remus laughed, "You're an absolute idiot." He kissed Sirius, feeling rather carried away and heady with the excitement of a holiday, not caring who saw as he pressed his mouth against Sirius's. And Sirius bloody loved it - grabbing onto Moony's hair and pulling him closer so their noses smooshed and Remus lost his breath. When Sirius released him, Rey had to gasp for air and Sirius grinned at the flush to his face before turning back to dinner.
Across the Great Hall, Evan Rosier sneered at the display Remus and Sirius were making. He shoved his plate away and turned to Mulciber and Goyle, sitting on either side of him, "Those bloody queers need to get a damn room... Disgusting filth... And even if it wasn't disgusting on principle, Lupin's not even pure. Black's buggering half-blood pillow-biting filth."
Goyle smirked.
"What?" Evan looked over at him.
"Haven't you heard the rumors going about the school?" he asked.
Evan stared at Goyle.
"It isn't Black that's doing the buggering, they say. Somebody caught them at it and Black's the girl in their, er, situations," Goyle snickered, finding this positively hilarious.
Evan's eyes flicked back to Sirius and Remus across the Great Hall.
Sirius's birthday was coming up quickly and though he insisted he didn't want anything for it, Remus was worrying what to get for him - nothing would beat the stereo, which Sirius used every possible chance he got - so he got the idea that part of his gift would be to figure out a way to make the stereo work inside of Hogwarts without the eleckytricity that it ran on. He spent hours in the library researching the subject matter - even with Sirius right there, who would lazily either fall asleep across Remus's lap or else whine he was bored while he flicked through his own books, never once asking what Remus was reading or even noticing the subject matter. This always made Remus smirk to himself, feeling rather stealth.
It happened on one such afternoon that Sirius sat up and stared out the window behind them, his elbows on the table, leather jacket on, his hair all up in it's usual knot at the back of his head. "Aren't you finished reading yet? You've been reading for hours, Moony. Let's go snog by the magizoology books." He grinned.
"I'm almost finished, just a few more pages," murmured Remus.
Sirius groaned. A few more pages meant another hour at least. He leaned his head back so his head rested on the table, his throat bared, adams apple bobbing in frustration. Remus looked over, staring at the flexing muscles of Sirius's neck... he squirmed a little. Sirius's neck had always been a weak spot for him. He thought about tossing the book aside and kissing it but he knew if he did that he'd never finish the chapter he was reading and it was really informative and he had a feeling this would be the book that would tell him how to do what he needed to do in order to magically modify the stereo. He turned back to the book hurriedly, purposely turning his head away so he wasn't tempted to stare at Sirius Black's throat.
Sirius sat up, looking around to be sure they were utterly alone in their corner of the library - they were - and pop he was Snuffles and he slid under the table and rooted his nose up under Remus's arm, distrupting his book, the points of his black ears floating into Remus's vision of the page. Remus looked down, "Are you mad?"
Sirius licked his face.
"Stop it."
Sirius just grinned up at him doggy style. Remus switched hands he was holding the book with and ignored Sirius, going on with reading. Quickly, Sirius ducked back under the table and nosed his way back up on the other side, pressing his big wet nose to the pages of the book and snuffling so that a spray of dog bogeys went all over the page.
"Bleeding disgusting mate," Remus complained. He put the book down a second and Sirius's tail wagged excitedly. "What in hell're you going to do if Madam Pince comes over here?" Remus demanded, looking down at him and Sirius's whole body shook with excitement. "You're so mad!" Remus laughed.
Sirius thought he might've won the battle and gotten Rey to stop reading, and he quickly climbed up on the bench, licking Remus's face, and changed back to a person mid-lick so that one moment it was a dog lapping Rey and the next it was Sirius Black, perched funnily on the bench, holding his heavy black boots' toes with his hands, his knees flapping to the sides, tongue pressed to the side of Remus's head all sloppily.
"Stoppp itttt," Remus said, laughing and beating him off.
Sirius grinned. "Come snog me, Rey. I wanna be snogged. I want you to take me and slam me against the bookcase back there and have your way with me." He leaned really close and he whispered in his ear, "I'm a dog. I want to play.... ruff."
Remus looked at him.
"We can play ball."
Remus stared.
Sirius grinned, "I'll fetch your stick."
Remus couldn't help but laugh at that. "You're sick, you know that? Absolutely sick."
Sirius grinned.
"I'll tell you what. You be patient for just a few more minutes - just a couple more pages - and I'll give you a... a bone." Remus flushed.
Sirius's face broke into the wildest grin yet. "Yeah? You'll give me a bone will you?" Sirius looked down, "You have a bone then, Moonshine?"
"Just give me a few more minutes to finish this chapter."
"But I want it now."
"Sirius. Sit."
Sirius whimpered.
Remus stared at him.
"Alright." Sirius sighed. He looked around, returning to his original position. He was even more antsy now. He felt like he couldn't sit still. "I'm just going to go to the toilet real fast. When I get back, you better have those pages finished or I'll bleedin' throw the book out the window."
"Uh-huh," Remus replied, barely listening.
"You better have a big bone for me or I'm gonna be pissed," Sirius added, and he threw himself to his feet, heading for the door of the library, leaving Remus alone at their table.
It wasn't until Remus finished the chapter, some fifteen minutes later, that he realized Sirius hadn't come back from the toilet.