Chapter Text
“Oi, Black!” The comforting sound of James’ voice filled Sirius with a familiar joy. He spun around on his heels, dropping his trunk down where it was. He takes in the sight of his best friend for the first time in months. Had he gotten taller?
Ever since first year, they had always managed to share a dorm, that’s just how it was. And yet, every year they are still just as excited as ever, to see each other walk through the doors of their home for the year.
At that, Peter stumbles through the doors, his trunk wobbling nearly out of his hands. James rushes to hold the door open with his heel as he throws up his hands to grab Peter’s trunk.
“Pete mate, you really gotta figure out how to carry your trunk inside on your own,” Sirius says while grasping the cool handle of his own trunk and placing it quite neatly beside his four-poster bed.
“Yeah, I know,” Peter mutters sheepishly, his hand finding the back of his neck as it always does when he’s embarrassed.
Peter lugs his trunk over to his own bed, placing it down with a thud.
They silently share the same thought; Where was Remus? He was always the first one there, already setting up the room.
Luckily, their question was quickly answered as the door to their room creaked open a third time.
Remus, lean and quite tall for their age stumbles inside, his shoelace catching on the doorstop. James stifles a laugh, grunting as Sirius elbows him in the side.
The boy throws up an awkward half-wave, as he makes his way to the empty bed, tossing his trunk beside it.
Sirius’ eyes were drawn to Remus—just curiosity of course.
Remus clears his throat and leans against one of the posts on his bed, One foot propped on the wall, his knee bent, his eyes drifting to the wall behind the three eager boys.
As Remus begins unpacking his trunk, a daunting task the other three haven’t even touched, books and fancy pens are laid out gently in their drawer on his nightstand.
“You think we could borrow your homework again this year?” James questions half-jokingly, nodding to the open drawer Remus stands by.
"At least pretend to miss me before you use me for my brain," Remus jokes, finally turning around to greet the boys.
Sirius sighs, “Moony!”
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“Did you miss me?” Sirius asks from beside Remus. They’re all sprawled out around the common room in front of the fireplace working on the first day's homework. McGonagall had already assigned a paper to be due by the end of the week, which was expected at this point.
“Of course, I missed you, Pads. I always do.”
“But, you missed all of us the same?” Sirius seemed to be hoping for a specific answer, almost holding his breath.
Remus paused, contemplating his next words, “Yeah Pads, I missed you all the same.”
Sirius seemed to fold back into himself, away from Remus. “Right, yeah.”
Peter and James make eye contact, sighing at the obvious tension between the boys.
“Let’s take a break from the paper for a while, lads. I think we’ve been productive enough for one night, don’t you, Peter?” James says, attempting to diffuse the tension.
“Yeah, yeah! We could go to the lake?” Peter agrees immediately, eager to appease James.
“We could invite the girls?” James suggests, looking to Sirius and Remus for their opinions.
“Sure, whatever,” Sirius says, obviously still in a mood.
Remus brightens slightly at the idea of hanging out with the girls. He had always been close with them, Lily especially. “Sounds lovely.”
“I’ll go ask them! Why don’t you come with me, Siri,” James nudges Sirius.
“Yeah, alright.” Sirius stands to go with James. He looks to Remus, “See you later, Moons?”
Remus meets his eyes, unanswered questions dancing in the space between them, “See you then.”
With one last glance towards Remus, James eventually managed to drag Sirius out of the common room and up towards the girls’ room. Sirius knocks once, twice, three times to no avail.
“Guess they aren’t here,” Sirius claims, turning around ready to sulk on his own time, but James grabs the collar of his robes causing him to stumble back towards the door. After a few moments of waiting, the door creaks open.
“Who- Oh, hi James! Hi Sirius!” Lily stood before them in obviously new and freshly pressed robes, her hair just a few inches shorter. Yet still, she looked to have matured many years.
James didn’t seem to notice anything different, “Hey Lily, we were going to head down to the lake, would you all want to come?”
A smile spread across her face, “Let me ask the girls,” the door pulled shut for a moment, “They said yes. Meet you in ten?”
“That’ll work, we’ll tell the guys,” James and Sirius head back to the common room to find Remus still looking bothered by something, his nose in a book. Peter sat next to him, seemingly staring at nothing in particular.
“The girls said they’d be down in ten, are you gonna be done by then?” Sirius asks him, his voice tight.
“Yeah, I’m almost done with this chapter,” Remus answers, not looking up from the page, tension still lacing his voice.
“I’ll go ahead and save us a spot,” Peter interjects, already standing.
“A spot? Why do we need a spot at the lake?” Remus finally looked up from his book, causing Sirius to wince.
Why couldn’t Remus look at him? Had he done something wrong? He couldn’t bear the thought of Remus being mad at him. A voice snapped him out of his thoughts.
“Pads? You ready to go?” James placed a hand on the small of his back to urge him forward.
“Uh- yeah, where’d the others go?” Sirius shook his head slightly.
“They already left. You spaced out for a bit there, it’s all good,” James replied, still urging Sirius towards the door.