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“But you’ll help me study, won’t you, Remus?” Lily asked, hugging her books to her chest as she and Remus wove in and out of crowds, wandering down the hall to head back to the dorms before dinner.
“Only if you help me with potions,” Remus muttered, already dreading the paper he had to finish that evening. It was peak springtime, exams were quickly approaching and the nervous energy around Hogwarts was simply buzzing. He was grateful to have Lily, who was always ready to study, proofread his essays, and attend study halls. His other friends, however, were off enjoying the good weather. Sirius and James never had to try hard to make good marks. It was infuriating.
“Er, Remus, I think something’s…” Lily hesitantly reached out, but just as quickly pulled her hand back. “Ouch!”
Remus turned to see an intricately folded paper crane flying behind him. It had lashed out at Lily for trying to grab it, knowing its intended target wasn’t her. Remus knew exactly where it came from and he sighed heavily, ignoring the sudden thrill of anticipation that shot through him. He quickly glanced around the hall and sure enough, standing high in an alcove, wand held aloft, was Sirius Black, grinning that trademark grin. Sirius nodded his head, well, go on.
Remus opened the paper crane, slowly, carefully, so as not to rip it, although when he first touched the bird, it fell motionless in his hands. He recognized Sirius’ messy scrawl immediately, hasty script with narrow loops and curves. Meet me at the old hag, it said with a rather elaborate drawing of the one-eyed witch statue, which was charmed to move its outstretched hand back and forth as if waving at him. Remus tried not to think how long that took to figure out. He looked up, but Sirius was gone.
“So, I’ll see you later then?”
He looked up to see Lily give him a knowing smile and his cheeks burned. He opened his mouth to speak, but decided against it, and gave an awkward nod instead. She rolled her eyes and turned to continue walking toward the grand staircase, throwing a casual, “have fun, lover boy,” over her shoulder.
Remus turned his gaze toward his feet, willing his face to cool down and to ignore the curious glances he received from passersby in the crowded hall. He turned on his heel and took the familiar path to the statue of Gunhilda de Gorsemoor, a commonplace for him and his friends, especially around parties as it guarded the secret passageway to Honeydukes cellar. He assumed this was just another childish heist of sweets with his roommates, but as he approached the statue, he was alone. In fact, the whole corridor was empty.
“ Dissendium ,” he muttered and the statue moved smoothly to reveal the hidden tunnel. Still, he didn’t see his friends, but assumed they left without him. They had a headstart afterall. He walked into the entrance of the passage and was immediately pushed back against one wall by a still-grinning Sirius Black. He huffed out a laugh and couldn’t help but smile.
“Hi,” he whispered. The statue was moving back to conceal them inside, taking with it the light from the corridor. He blinked a few times to adjust his eyes to the dim lighting of the tunnel.
“Hi,” Sirius replied, hand against Remus’ chest, leaning forward, close, close, so very close.
“Where’s-” before Remus could finish asking where their friends were, Sirius’ lips were on his, silencing him. Oh .
Sirius and Remus had been secretly snogging for months now. Well, not so secretly anymore since James, Peter, and Lily knew about it, but still. They weren’t dating because they were more than that. They had always been more than that, just like they had always been more than just friends, even before the snogging. But now, pressed against the wall of the secret tunnel to Honeydukes cellar, Remus couldn’t remember the last time he spent time with just Sirius and oh, he felt both wonderful and horribly guilty.
He pulled back, but Sirius continued his attention on his neck, teeth grazing, lips brushing the sensitive areas that were so familiar to him.
“I’ve done it again, haven’t I?” Remus breathed, voice shaky as his hands tentatively ran up the back of Sirius’ school jumper. Sirius just hummed, probably not listening, mind elsewhere. When he wanted something, he always knew how to get it.
“Sirius,” he tried again as Sirius’ teeth grazed his ear, his hot breath leaving gooseflesh in its wake. Remus shivered and tugged at Sirius’ belt loops, pulling him closer. “I’m sorry.”
At that, Sirius took a step back with a furrowed brow, a narrow gaze, hands still gripping Remus’ hips, keeping him there. “ Remus ,” he whined. “I’m doing some of my best work here.”
Remus smiled and hooked his leg behind Sirius’, who stumbled forward. “Yeah, yeah, and I’ll let you carry on in a second, just…”
Sirius leaned forward to brush their lips together gently, then pressing his lips to his reddened cheek. That seemed to satisfy him, at least for a moment. Still leaning most of his weight on Remus, he blinked expectantly. Another go on.
“I don’t remember the last time, we–Well, I’m sorry that I haven’t been–With exams and things, I just…”
Sirius rolled his eyes and silenced him with a kiss, soft, lingering. The kind of kiss that made Remus melt, made him wonder how someone could love him so tenderly, so genuinely. Sirius ran his fingers through his short hair, tugging a bit at the nape of his neck. Remus looped his arms easily around his waist, familiar, comforting. Sirius pressed a few more short, quick kisses to Remus’ lips, causing them both to pull back grinning.
“You don’t have to apologize, Moony,” Sirius whispered in the quiet space between them. He sighed happily as Remus tucked a strand of hair behind his ear, left his hand resting on his neck, thumb lightly trailing up and down, over and over. “Just missed you.”
Remus felt his cheeks heat up again and ducked his head. Sirius laughed and poked his cheek.
“So maybe invite me to one of your study sessions or something, yeah?” he offered.
“Why would you come?” Remus rolled his eyes. “You don’t have to study.”
Sirius grinned, leaning forward to turn his attention back to Remus’ neck. His lips were soft, breath warm; he took his time, wet tongue and grazing teeth and before long Remus was going to become just a puddle on the floor. When he got up to Remus’ ear, he smiled triumphantly, tongue tracing the shell of his ear.
“Maybe because I still have work to get done,” he murmured gently. “And besides, then I can walk you back to the dorms, maybe take a couple detours along the way…”
“There it is,” Remus whispered, eyes still closed. “The real reason Sirius Black wants an invite to the library.”
“Yeah?” Sirius teased, smiling. “What’s wrong with that?”
Remus sighed, feeling wet lips against his jaw and neck. His fingers fumbled to grasp Sirius’ jumper. Sirius Black always had a unique way of burning him up from the inside out and Remus had a habit of singular focus. Lately, that had been on his studies, final exams, approaching deadlines, but on the rare and wonderful occasions where Sirius Black got to be his sole focus, he was nothing less than enthusiastic.
“Nothing,” Remus replied, shivering as Sirius’ hands tugged his tie loose, exposing more of his neck. “Nothing wrong with that at all.”