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Sirius had never paid much attention in Astronomy, he didn’t have to. The constellations and planets and everything else taught in the class had been drilled into his mind since he could think more than ‘hungry’ and ‘I pooped.’ And then Remus Lupin came along.
The boy whom Sirius and his new best mate James shared a dorm with (one of their three dorm mates at least) was scrawny and more bone than anything else. He had sandy blonde hair and hazel eyes that were more gold some days than others, and he was covered in scars. Some were pale and silvery, like the ones on his upper left arm, others were jagged and pink like the ones on his neck. He always dressed in khaki pants and a sweater on days they weren’t required to wear the uniform. His socks always matched too, but they were never just plain colors. They always had some kind of fun pattern to them: a niffler, a snitch, carrots, little rainbows, colorful stripes, the list went on and on.
Remus Lupin was an interesting person to share a dorm with. He was fairly neat (at least compared to James) and he was incredibly organized, but he was a whirlwind of chaos and disaster a lot of the time. He would crash into things, trip over air, knock into people in the halls, all while reading a large tome from the library or cursing louder and harsher than Sirius had ever heard anyone curse before. (Remus would always get scolded for cursing, but Sirius was sure he had seen Professor McGonagall hiding laughter before tugging the scarred boy away to her office.)
Sirius Black hadn’t paid much attention to his Astronomy class until Remus Lupin had barreled into the Astronomy tower classroom, later than even the Ravenclaws who had been working on some kind of study that they wouldn’t explain. His tie was thrown casually around his shoulders and his robes and hair were sticking out in every direction imaginable and then some. He had a wild look on his face, as if he had just made the discovery of a lifetime, and a satisfied pep to his step as he took his seat three cushions in front of Sirius.
He couldn’t help but stare at the boy who was usually so punctual that he was there before the teacher most days. His lips quirked up in the beginnings of a smirk when the boy was still able to answer all of Professor Sinastra’s questions correctly. It seemed that even when late, Remus Lupin was a better student than Sirius ever could hope to be.
That was the first time that Sirius Black truly noticed Remus Lupin, and coincidentally, once the two started dating, the Astronomy Tower had become the spot that they spent the most time in. Sirius would point out stars and constellations and planets and give Remus his version of their tale while Remus would create his own constellations and tell Sirius the story he gave them. Those were wonderful nights.
When Remus learned that the first time Sirius had truly noticed him was in Astronomy class in first year, he had laughed and called him an “ironically helpless romantic.” Sirius hadn’t argued with that.
The Astronomy Tower was where Sirius first noticed Remus, just as it was where they had their first date in sixth year and their last date of their school years in seventh year. It was also where Sirius proposed the summer after graduation. (Minerva McGonagall had been more than happy to let them into the school over break to see one of her favorite ships sail to a whole other sea.)
Even now, Sirius Black will see a random cluster of stars and remember a constellation Remus had made up, and he’ll have the strange urge to send Professor Sinastra a thank-you letter for putting Remus in a seat so close to his that year, allowing him to watch the boy in admiration from not-so-afar. (He actually did that once. The professor had laughed, shown Minerva who also laughed, and sent a letter back telling him that he was very welcome. She still had that letter somewhere.) One day, Sirius Black’s godson would find that letter and he would laugh upon reading it, but he would also remember it years later when he realized that he had met his partner in Astronomy class too. (He would also send a letter to Professor Sinastra.)