Work Text:
If you're not familiar with mythology you can read the explanation below, just to understand a small part of the story better.
''Romulus and Remus
were twin boys born to a princess named
Rhea Silvia
. The king where the boys lived was scared that someday
Romulus and Remus
would overthrow him and take his throne. So he had the boys left in a basket on the Tiber River. They were found and raised by a wolf. Eventually Romulus killed Remus and founded the city of Rome.''
Fourth Year:
'Hey Sirius have you seen my-' Remus started as he walked into the dormitory to find Sirius carefully watering the house plant Remus had given him as a joke last week.
'Hiya Remus,' Sirius said, not looking up from the plant as he seemed to measure out the perfect amount of water.
'You're taking awfully good care of that plant.'
'You sound surprised,' Sirius said accusingly, raising his eyebrows at Remus.
'I guess I am,' Remus said, absentmindedly reaching out to touch the leaves. Sirius eyes went wide as he slapped Remus' wrist away from the plant, 'careful!'
'Ow! I was just looking!' Remus defended, rubbing his wrist where Sirius had hit him.
'Lies. You were squeezing the leaves, she doesn't like that.'
'She?' Remus asked. Sirius gestured towards the plant, as if that explained it.
'She's obviously a she.'
'Does she have a name?'
'Maybe. But you're going to laugh at me. Or yell at me because you hate it.'
'Hm, try me,' Remus said, looking at Sirius expectantly, sitting down on the edge of his bed.
'Rhea Silvia.'
Remus burst out laughing. 'Oh Sirius, why,' he asked disbelievingly, shaking his head.
'I thought it was fitting! You gave her to me, so I thought I'd name her after you, kind of at least... I was going to name her Romulus, but Romulus was a guy, and I didn't want you to be reminded of the brother that murdered you every time you looked at my nightstand.'
'Sirius, you are aware that I was not personally murdered by Romulus? That I am in fact a different Remus?'
Sirius rolled his eyes, 'yeah Remus, I get that. Do you like it though?'
'Sure Sirius, it's great,' Remus smiled, 'I didn't know you knew mythology.'
Sirius shrugged, 'well when you meet someone named Remus you can get curious.'
'Ah, that's how I got into astronomy,' Remus smiled, seeing Sirius' grin from the corner of his eye. He looked at Rhea Silvia to avoid Sirius' look and cleared his throat. 'Right well, eh, I actually came here to see if you had seen the map.'
'Oh yeah, I'll get it,' Sirius said, walking away to rummage through his trunk, leaving Remus sitting on the edge of his bed, smiling at Rhea Silvia.
Fifth Year:
It was a Thursday night and Remus was supposed to work on a transfiguration essay with Sirius, but he was nowhere to be found. At this point, Remus had looked everywhere for him. The Quidditch pitch, the common room, their dormitory. He'd even looked for him outside. He finally went back to their dormitory again, maybe James knew where he was. Or he could consult the map. He opened the door to find James and Peter playing a game of exploding snap.
'Hey Prongs, do you know where Sirius is?'
'No idea mate. You could check the map, it's in my trunk.'
'Thanks,' Remus said, walking over to James' bed. He dug up the map, 'I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good,' he murmured. The different rooms of the castle appeared. Sirius Black, Sirius Black... Remus glanced over it.
'Huh...'
'What is it Moony?' James asked looking at the map over his shoulder.
'He's... in the library,' Remus said slowly.
————
'Padfoot, what are you doing here?' Remus asked, plopping himself down on the chair next to Sirius. Sirius visibly startled, hiding some of the books on his table under pieces of parchment.
'What is that supposed to mean? I spend plenty time here,' Sirius huffed. Remus raised his eyebrows in question.
'Alright, maybe not, but I wanted to do some research.'
'And what exactly is this research you so subtly tried to hide when I sat down, hm?'
Sirius scratched his neck, seemingly trying to think of a good lie. Remus picked up one of the books he had tried to hide. Muggle house plants and other greenery, it read on the cover. Remus raised his eyebrows in surprise. Garden spells and enchantments, read another title.
'What is this about?' Remus asked. Sirius sighed in defeat.
'Rhea Silvia got a brown leaf the other day. She seems a bit down. I was trying to find some spells that could make an alarm go off whenever the soil is too dry or something. They also apparently have books about muggle plants here, and I found out Rhea Silvia is ''Epipremnum aureum'' or ''Devils Ivy'',' Sirius said, 'isn't that the coolest name for a plant Moony? Muggles really know how to name their stuff. It had some information on the amounts of water she needs and the amounts of sunlight too. And apparently she's supposed to grow towards the floor. I was scared that wasn't normal.'
'How come you're so invested in this plant?' Remus asked, smiling fondly at Sirius.
'I don't know,' Sirius shrugged, 'you gave her to me... And I think it's cool to have something muggleish.'
'Right... well,' Remus blushed slightly at 'you gave her to me' but cleared his throat, 'I was looking for you. We have that transfigurations essay.'
'Oh yeah. Sorry Moony, I forgot. Let's get started then.'
————
'So what was he doing in the library?' James asked when Remus got back to the dormitory. Sirius had wanted to stay in the library a little longer. He was set on finding the right spell for Rhea.
'Looking up spells for his plant,' Remus said, gesturing in her direction. James and Peter snorted.
'That doesn't surprise me, I think he loves that plant more than he loves any of us.'
Peter hummed in agreement, 'I actually found him singing to it the other week.' Remus and James laughed at this.
'Don't let him hear you calling her an ''it'' Wormy, he'll hex your bullocks of.'
'She's a lady Prongs, can't you see!' James said, mimicking Sirius' voice.
'Oi! Are you lot making fun of me?' Sirius suddenly asked, entering the dormitory.
'Eh... no...' James said innocently, 'we wouldn't dare make fun of you and the ''love of your life''.'
'Oh you were talking about Rhea were you? I can't help it that I'm the only one with a girlfriend here.'
'Oi, me and Evans are practically dating!'
'Evans and I,' Remus corrected lazily, 'also, didn't she jinx you this morning at breakfast?'
'Perhaps, but she did it out of love,' James said, 'and Pete has a girlfriend! That Hufflepuff.'
'Yeah! And she's not a plant,' Peter agreed.
'Nor is she as pretty as one,' Sirius said, poking out his tongue at Peter.
————
'Moony,' Sirius whispered, poking his head through the curtains drawn around Remus' bed.
'What's up Padfoot?' Remus asked sleepily. Sirius did this sometimes. He would go up to either James' or Remus' bed to talk in the middle of the night. Sometimes because something had upset him during the day, sometimes because he just wanted to talk about something and it couldn't possibly wait until the next morning.
'Sorry, did I wake you? I'll go back to bed,' Sirius whispered, seeing the sleepy look in Remus' eyes.
'It's fine Padfoot, what is it?' Remus asked, sitting up a little in his bed. Sirius lifted the covers of Remus' bed and got in next to him. This had always been normal for them, he had done it since he was eleven. Only this year, Remus had discovered his not so small crush on him, and he moved awkwardly away from Sirius, who was laying impossibly close to him under the covers.
'It's just that I can't figure out what spell is best for the plant.' Remus rolled his eyes, of course Sirius would come over to his bed in the middle of the night to talk about gardening spells. He saw him sit up and cross his legs, bending over to grab something of the floor next to Remus' bed. It was Rhea Silvia. Remus sighed, sitting up across from Sirius, 'please don't get soil in my bed.'
Sirius grinned, 'Course not Moony.'
They read some of the pages about plants in the books Sirius brought and finally settled on a spell that would make Silvia's pot change colour whenever her soil got too dry. Sirius had wanted to use a spell that would have made the plant scream for water, but Remus told him that would probably not be appreciated by James and Peter. Or himself, for that matter.
'Thanks for helping me Moony. And for not making too much fun of me for caring so much about this plant,' Sirius murmured softly, eyes slowly closing as he lay opposite to him under the covers. He was looking at Remus from under his eyelashes. Long beautiful eyelashes that brushed his cheeks softly. Remus hummed, feeling himself drift of to sleep. He felt Sirius scoot closer, their knees now touching.
'Moony?' Sirius asked softly. Remus could feel his breath on his face now. He opened his eyes to find Sirius' face only inches away from his own.
'Yeah Padfoot?' Remus whispered back. Sirius' eyes flickered to his lips. He brought his hand up to his cheek, thumb stroking across Remus' cheekbone. He swallowed hard.
'Sirius?' Remus asked, lips only an inch away from Sirius'. 'What are you doing?'
Sirius only hummed softly in response. He was smiling now, smiling that Sirius Black smile. His hand trailed downwards from Remus' cheekbone to his chin, swiping his thumb across it softly. He was leaning in now, bumping his nose against Remus'. Dipping his head slightly to press a soft kiss right below Remus' ear. Then his jaw, his neck.
Finally Remus had enough. He grabbed Sirius' chin and tilted his head towards him, meeting his lips with his own. Softly at first, but soon growing more urgent. Sirius' hand ended up on the back of his neck, sliding upwards into Remus' hair slowly, tugging at his curls. One of Remus' hands ended up on the back of Sirius' neck, the other one cupping the side of his face.
Sirius pulled away suddenly, leaving Remus slightly dazed, his lips parted. When he opened his eyes he saw Sirius gesturing to his left, a brilliant shade of red tainting his cheeks. He looked to the left now, trying to find what had made Sirius pull away. He snorted as he saw what Sirius was pointing at. Rhea Silvia's pot had turned a bright shade of blue, telling them she needed water.
'Sorry Moony,' Sirius grinned, 'duty calls.'
'Should've known I was just the mistress.'
