Archive of Our Own ^beta

"Truth or dare?" James asked Sirius with a wicked grin on his face.

Sirius had seen that grin before, right before certain doom, usually for Slytherins. He grinned back. "Dare!"

Everyone else in the circle giggled.

"I dare you," James said imperiously then he glanced around at the group. "Wait, wait, this is a secret dare. Everyone has to swear to secrecy, got it?"

Everyone nodded, even Sirius though they were all gathered on the floor of the common room after the first quidditch match of the year. Victory for Gryffindor, of course.

"I dare Sirius to convince the school that he's dating Remus," James said gleefully, and more giggles spread through the circle. Then James raised a finger. "But we can't make it too easy! You can't kiss him or anything more than that in public, and you can't call him your boyfriend or tell anyone you're dating, nothing like that, got it?"

A few people oohed, turning to face Sirius.

"I accept," he said. "Wait, wait, wait, do I get to tell Remus?"

He wasn't there, having gone up to their dorm room well before they got really rowdy. He had no idea this specific dare was going on.

"No!" multiple people shouted at him.

"Oooh, sorry, Sirius. Looks like the people have decided," James said, still grinning.

"What?" he asked. "How'm I meant to convince anybody if Remus isn't even in on it?"

"It can't be easy," one of the younger boys said, rolling his eyes. "It's supposed to be a challenge!"

"And if you don't do it by…let's say the holidays, we'll make you…” James trailed off.

"Dress in the Valentine's robes!" someone shouted.

"Yes!" James agreed.

"No," Sirius complained. They were garish and offensive, red and bright pink, frilly and layered, and terrible for his complexion. They’d been passed around as punishment for failed dares, bets, and challenges that the original owner had been lost to the shuffle of possession.

"You had better actually win the bet then," James said, still grinning gleefully.

"You're on!" he said, pointing at James then taking a drink.

The game moved on, and Sirius tried to focus on it rather than his budding plan. He went up to the dorm room an hour or so later with James and Peter. Remus was still awake, pillows shoved up behind him against the headboard so he could sit and read. He'd already changed into his flannel pajamas as well.

"Moons!" Sirius said, flopping in a slightly ungainly manner onto his bed by Remus's feet. "I'm gonna be a little weird because of a dare—,"

"Hey, you can't tell him," James said, trying to point at Sirius but his arm had gotten caught in the robes he was trying to take off. “It’s against the rules!”

"I didn't tell him what it is which I’m not," he snapped at James then turned back to Remus, trying to look more pathetic and pleading. "So don't be freaked out, okay? It's so I don't have to wear those stupid Valentine’s robes."

"I see," Remus said, sticking a finger between the pages as he closed his book. A hint of a smile played at his lips. "And what if I want to see you in the robes?"

"Moony!" Sirius complained, putting a hand over his wounded heart. "The betrayal!"

He smiled for real then. "I suppose I'll have to play along then."

"Yes," Sirius crowed, getting up from Remus's bed.

“You know this isn’t really a dare if you’re doing it after the game ends, right?” Remus asked. “This sounds more like you’ve placed some sort of stupid bet.”

“Oh,” James said, pausing in his undressing. “You have a point. It is more of a bet.”

“How drunk are you?” Remus asked.

“Hardly drunk at all,” Sirius said, waving a hand. “I don’t care. A dare is a dare, and I said I’m doing it, alright? Are you in, Moony? Please say you’re in.”

"Just don't mess up any of my school work, got it?" Remus said, warningly.

"I'd never," he said then giggled at the unamused look Remus shot him. Yes, alright, he'd done it once or twice in the past, but that would be rather against the spirit of the dare this time.

"Go to sleep," Remus said, rolling his eyes.

"Good idea," Sirius said, giggling again as James tripped out of his clothes.

Sirius had to fight for the bathroom with Peter and James, but he came out victorious. "Night, night everyone," Sirius called to the room at large before shutting his curtains.

Peter only giggled, but James and Remus said goodnight back.

The next morning, Sirius executed on his plan for the dare. He normally sat beside Remus and across from James in the Great Hall, and taking advantage of their usual arrangements, he inched closer to Remus.

Remus looked him over like he was trying to ascertain if he was about to hex him.

"What?" Sirius asked. "I did warn you."

"Alright," Remus said, turning back to his food. “Do what you must, I suppose.”

Sirius glanced down at Remus's plate. It was barely filled despite the last full moon only being a few days ago. Sirius wasn't meant to track his friends' dietary habits, but Remus religiously stuck to the same nearly vegetarian meals every time, and that was all perfectly fine and good if he were a normal teenaged wizard. He, however, suffered werewolf transformations which took a lot more energy than sitting in class. It couldn’t have impacted his growth as he was taller than Sirius who was by no means short, but he could pass for a scarecrow in school robes at a distance.

Sirius had a new mandate now under this dare. He was not simply a friend. He was convincing the school he was Remus's boyfriend. He quickly sneaked a couple pieces of bacon onto Remus's plate.

It might have worked had Remus been studying at the table like he often did the day of exams, but they had no exams. Instead, he frowned down at the bacon. Then he gave Sirius a questioning look.

"Is your dare to fatten me up or something?" Remus asked.

"No!" Sirius said, the back of his neck going hot.

James broke out in guffaws. Peter looked up from his cup of tea towards him, still only half awake.

"I'm being nice," Sirius insisted then lowered his tone. "And we can't talk about the dare."

"Giving me bacon is being nice?" Remus asked skeptically.

"Yes, very nice," he said. "Unless you want something else."

He nudged his own plate towards Remus that he'd filled a perfectly normal and healthy amount. He could give some of it away without leaving the table hungry, and stealing off each other's plates was very boyfriendly anyways.

Remus glanced down at Sirius's plate then up to his face. "Yeah, this is very weird."

"Moony," he complained as James tried to muffle more of his laughter. Peter only looked more confused as he shifted his gaze between the three of them.

"I'm not sure keeping you out of the Valentine's robes is worth this," Remus said.

"I warned you, and you said you'd help," Sirius reminded him.

Remus sighed. "Fine."

Sirius smiled. Remus returned to his plate, but avoided the bacon. Sirius would have to come up with something else to more effectively convince people they were dating.

As they stood to head to class, the bacon still sat alone on the edge of Remus's plate. Then Remus quickly reached out for the bacon with his bare hand. He ate the slices in two maybe three bites and swallowed without really chewing. He even quickly licked off the grease on the pad of his thumb and fore finger.

Then he glanced over to Sirius and froze, wide eyed like he'd been caught doing something highly illicit.

"What?" Sirius asked him. "It's just bacon."

"I'm not," he started then flushed and turned away. "Never mind."

"I don't see the problem," Sirius said, rushing to keep up with him on their way to their first class. "What's wrong with liking bacon?"

"I'm not supposed to," Remus said, studiously avoiding looking at him.

"Not supposed to like bacon?" Sirius asked.

"I can't just," Remus said then made a frustrated noise. He turned away from Sirius and kept walking.

“Remus?” Sirius asked, trailing after him.

He refused to speak to Sirius. He sat with Peter in class, leaving Sirius to sit with James.

“Good going,” James said quietly to him. “You’re definitely going to have to wear those robes now.”

“Shut up,” Sirius hissed at him.

“What?” James asked, but Sirius took a leaf from Remus’s book and ignored him.

Sirius struggled to pay attention during the morning as Remus continued to refuse to sit with him until lunch time. He didn’t switch seats with James or Peter at the Gryffindor table, but he did glower at Sirius when he sat closer to him again.

“What?” Sirius asked. “I’m sorry for this morning. I promise I won’t do it again.”

Remus huffed and focused on his food, eating the same plain, vegetarian meal that only mostly filled up his plate. Sirius kept his word and didn’t put anything else on Remus’s plate. He didn’t promise not to watch him, though, and Remus’s eyes kept drifting over towards the different meat dishes laid out scrumptiously on the table before them. Then he’d snap his attention back to his own plate.

Sirius decided against pressing his luck for discussing Remus's eating habits, but he still had to do something for the dare with Remus now not speaking to him over lunch. He spied his opportunity when they got up to head to class. He grabbed Remus’s extra books that didn’t fit into his bag before he could pick them up himself.

Remus gave him a skeptical look. “If you’re about to throw those down a toilet or something—,”

“Moony, I’d never!” Sirius exclaimed, mock aghast. Then he offered him a smile as he tucked the books under his arm since he didn’t have any more space in his own bag. “Let me carry them for you. Make up for this morning.”

“Since when do you make up for anything?” Remus asked, glancing down at his books then meeting Sirius’s eyes again.

“I do make up for things,” Sirius protested though he could admit it was a more recent development in his behavior. “Is there something else you want me to make up for?”

Remus stared at him in confusion. Then he turned to James and Peter. “He’s behaving strangely, isn’t he?”

Peter nodded fervently, but James was trying to muffle his laughter.

“What is this dare?” Remus asked.

“It’s a secret,” Sirius said, treating him to his most charming smile. “Just let me be nice and make it up to you.”

Remus’s expression softened, almost turning to a smile even, and he picked up his school bag. “Fine, if you really want to carry my books, have at it.”

“Thank you, Remus,” Sirius said. He made sure to walk with him as closely as he could without them knocking into each other the whole way. Remus shot him a suspicious look for it, but sighed and let it go instead.

The second class after lunch, Sirius had with James and Peter, but not Remus which meant he couldn’t carry his books again.

“You’re laying it on quite thick,” James commented as they prepared for class.

“I have to, don’t I?” Sirius asked. “I don’t have forever.”

“What is this bet anyways?” Peter asked.

“It’s a dare, and it’s a secret,” Sirius told him. “So you don’t get to know.”

“I don’t?” he asked, his frown slightly pouty as he hadn’t completely lost his baby fat yet. “I thought just Moony didn’t get to know.”

“No, it’s a secret to everyone who wasn’t there when we made it,” James confirmed. “Sorry, Wormtail. You’re not going to get it from us this time.”

“Not yet,” Peter said. “I’m sure I can figure it out eventually.”

He probably could. Becoming an animagus had only made him better at eavesdropping.

“I must admit I am surprised though,” James said. “I had thought Remus was made of sturdier stuff than to be charmed by the likes of you.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Sirius asked.

“Normally it only works on little old ladies,” James said with a grin.

“Like you’re any better.”

“Am too,” he retorted.

“Oh yeah?” he asked. “Been on a date with Evans yet?”

James flushed scarlet. “No,” he admitted.

“Then don’t claim you’re any better than me,” Sirius said decisively before focusing on class.

He didn't get the opportunity to carry Remus's books with their last class of the day together as they were coming from different directions. He did, however, snitch them from him at the end of class.

"Sirius," Remus asked, treating him to a stern look.

"Remus," Sirius returned with his charming smile.

"Don't give me that look," Remus said.

"What look?" he asked innocently.

"That one," he said, gesturing to Sirius's face with a finger.

So Sirius switched to a pout.

Remus bit down on a laugh. "Why are you trying to carry my books? You already made it up to me this morning."

"Because I can," he said. "Why, do you really want to carry them?"

Remus glanced down at the books in Sirius's arms. "Not really."

"Then why are you complaining about it?” he asked, leading the way out of the classroom.

Once they were out in the halls, Sirius drew closer to Remus's side. He cast him another suspicious look, but said nothing at least for another few yards.

Then Remus leaned in towards him and quietly said, "If this dare is to lull me into a false sense of security so you can curse me with something stupid—,"

"Moony," Sirius hissed, genuinely offended. "You know I wouldn't do that to you."

"Oh, do I?" he asked. "I seem to recall that time you made James bubble like a fish whenever he talked and that time you gave Peter little rat whiskers he couldn't get off for two days."

"They were cat whiskers, and as you should have noted, neither of those instances applied to you," Sirius said. "Besides, that was years ago. I'm more mature now."

"Oh, yes, after a year and a half, you're so much more mature now."

"Thank you, Remus," Sirius said, soaking in the compliment and beaming as if it weren't sarcastic.

Remus chuckled, not very loudly, but it was warm. "You are ridiculous."

"But you love me," Sirius said, and he'd said those words to Remus before in conversations similar to this one, but not in some time. Not in a year and a half as Remus had said. He hadn't dared.

Remus grinned, but then he reached up and gently nudged Sirius's face away with the back of his fingers. "Stop fishing for compliments."

In the past, Sirius would have jerked and swerved away or ducked his head to keep from turning his head whichever way it was Remus was trying to get him to look. This time, with a dare on the line, Sirius turned back towards Remus, pressing his cheek and jaw against his fingers. "And what if I don't?"

Remus blinked then slowly pulled his hand from Sirius's face. "What?" he asked.

"What?" Sirius asked, losing whatever thread of the conversation he'd been following with Remus's unexpected answer.

"Sorry, what were you saying?" Remus asked, combing the fingers he'd had against Sirius's face through his hair like he was trying to flatten it. His hair wasn't the disaster that James's always was, but he wasn't doing much more than ruffling his curls.

"I don't remember," Sirius said.

"Oh," Remus said, combing faster. "Sorry."

"No need to apologize," he said. "You can stop ruining your hair."

"Right," he said, snatching his hand away from his hair.

“Now you’re making him weird,” James commented from behind them.

“Shut up,” Sirius told him, shooting him a glare over his shoulder.

“I’m just saying,” James said, holding up his hand.

They made their way up to their dorm room as a group, and Sirius handed Remus back his books. The real problem with NEWT classes was how much time they took up, but Sirius managed to finish off one essay and start the second before he started getting too antsy to keep sitting down.

He got up and made his way over to Remus’s desk, knocking on the edge of it. “Hey, fancy a walk?”

“Oh, you need to be taken out, do you?” Remus asked, smirking.

“Moony, you’re so hilarious,” Sirius said, rolling his eyes. “Do you want to go or not?”

“Alright,” he agreed, getting up from his seat. “Anybody else want to come?”

Sirius shot James a glare.

“No, I said I’d help Pete on this, and then maybe I can join in,” James said.

“On what?” Peter said, looking up distractedly from his own work.

James crossed the room to look over Peter’s shoulder at whatever he was working on. “Yeah, this potions essay. We’ll see you later.”

“Suit yourselves,” Remus said, holding the dormitory door open for Sirius.

“Where do you want to go?” Sirius asked Remus. “We’ve got a little daylight left.”

“Wherever,” he said with an easy shrug.

“Alright, follow me then,” Sirius said, taking hold of Remus’s arm as if he didn’t know the school and the grounds as well as Sirius did himself.

Sirius kept to the main passageways this time. People seeing him with just Remus and not the whole group  of them would help with the dare. Besides, the point was to take a walk, not quickly shuffle themselves back off to their schoolwork.

"Where are we headed?" Remus asked.

Sirius shrugged. "I thought we'd just wander."

Remus chuckled. "Alright, wander away then."

Sirius led the way outside, discussing a few of their assignments since they'd picked different topics. He couldn't stop himself from attempting to scent the air. Surprisingly, transforming into a dog hadn't significantly increased his sense of smell. He instead received different clarity of information depending on on whether he assumed his human or dog form. 

"Smell anything?" Remus teased.

Sirius smiled. "Yes, mostly decaying leaves, though. What about you?"

"What about me?"

"You have a nose, don't you?" he asked. "What do you smell?"

"I—but I'm not," he stumbled over his words, blushing.

"Not what?" Sirius asked, taking Remus's arm and guiding him off the path as a group of fourth year girls came out of the castle behind them.

Remus stumbled slightly stepping off the path, and Sirius took a firmer grip on his arm. "Not an animagus."

"What's that got to do with anything?" Sirius asked.

"I don't," he said then lowered his voice, "I don't pick up traits the more I transform."

"You know humans also have a sense of smell, right?" Sirius asked.

"Oh," he said, flustered. "Um, I smell grass, I suppose."

"Well, if you suppose," he teased.

Remus huffed and shoved gently at Sirius's shoulder. "Come off it."

Remus led them, continuing to walk away from the castle on the grass. "Is mud a smell?"

"Probably," Sirius said. "It's definitely a taste. Bertie Bott’s is very accurate."

Remus chuckled. "I'll take your word for it."

They hadn't the time to do a full lap of the castle before dinner, and Remus led them back in at the next entrance. He made Sirius clean off his feet before they went in. They met James and Peter at the Great Hall, and Remus said nothing about Sirius moving closer to him.

"Good walk?" James asked. "Sirius do his business?"

"Shut up," Sirius said, kicking him in the shin which did very little to remove his grin.

"It was a good walk," Remus said, completely ignoring their spat. "But it's getting very muddy out."

"Just wait ‘til it freezes," Peter said.

"What'd you do to your hand?" Remus asked.

"Too much writing," he said, letting go of his right hand to shake it out.

"You write too small is your issue," James said. "Putting a lot of space between lines isn't the same as actually writing bigger."

"I do write bigger," Peter complained.

"Hardly," James said.

"Become ambidextrous then," Sirius suggested.

"I can't. My left hand's useless," Peter said. "We can't all have a talent for it, Padfoot."

Sirius didn't have a talent for it.

"You only need to put in the practice," Sirius said with a shrug.

"Leave him be," Remus said.

"Why?" Sirius asked. "He can defend himself."

"Please."

"Alright," Sirius agreed then added. "I'll do it for you."

James choked into his pumpkin juice, and Sirius expected Peter to have to try and resuscitate him, but after a couple coughs he was giggling into his hand.

"Have you done something to him?" Peter asked, looking between Sirius and James. "He never lays off me that easily."

"That's not true," Sirius said as James shook his head.

"It is," Remus said. "Normally, you'd go bragging for another twenty minutes about your ambidexterity."

"That's not true," Sirius insisted again. "What would I even have to talk about ambidexterity for twenty minutes? My left's still better than my right anyways."

Especially now that he no longer returned to Grimmauld Place.

"We know, Sirius," Peter said with a sigh.

"Well excuse me for making a suggestion," he said in a huff. "I'll just keep them to myself from now on, shall I?"

"I'm sure Remus will want to hear them," James said, voice a little hoarse from the coughing fit.

"No, I won't," Remus said promptly.

"Moony," Sirius complained. "You're hurting my feelings."

"Oh, sorry," he said sarcastically. "Would you like me to kiss it better?"

"Yes, please," Sirius said, offering him his cheek.

"What?" Remus asked as James made a warning noise and frantically shook his head.

"You've cursed him," Peter said.

"I'm not cursed," Sirius said.

"That's against the rules," James said, ignoring Peter.

"No it isn't," Sirius said. "Just because I can't do it doesn't mean he can't."

"A technicality," James said. "You're still not supposed to."

"Is this about that stupid bet?" Remus asked.

"Dare," James and Sirius corrected him at the same time.

"Whatever," he said, waving his hand.

Peter tried to wheedle more information from James and Sirius about the dare, but James was stalwart, and Sirius paid more attention to Remus dropping out of the conversation and eating at a far faster pace than normal.

“See you back at the dorms,” Remus said abruptly as he got to his feet.

"Wait," Sirius said, catching his wrist before he walked away. "You're okay?"

For a moment, Remus looked ready to tell him off then he relented. "Fine, just have essays to do."

"Alright," he said, reluctantly releasing him.

He returned to face the table as Remus left the hall early. Remus's plate still had a bit of food left. Sirius frowned down at it.

“Sirius?”

“What?” he asked, looking up.

“I was asking about transfiguration,” James said.

“Oh, sorry, repeat the question.”

As they finished eating, Sirius nabbed a handful of shortbread biscuits and wrapped them in a napkin. “I’m going on ahead,” he warned James before heading up to Gryffindor Tower.

Remus had holed himself up in a corner near a window despite the sun having already set. He scribbled away at an essay, not even looking up until Sirius sat down across from him. He gave him a wary look.

"You didn't finish eating," Sirius told him gently before setting out the napkin.

"Thanks," Remus said, dropping his quill to untie the napkin. He smiled as he saw the biscuits, taking one to eat.

Sirius turned away to watch the few other students either returning to their dorms or setting up to study in the common room. He sensed eyes on him. He looked back at Remus.

"Do I need to be worried about this dare?" he asked.

"No, I shouldn't think so," Sirius said.

"Alright," he said. "You weren't kidding about you behaving strangely."

"Not that strangely," he said. "It's just..."

"It's just what?"

"More than I'd normally let myself get away with," he said tentatively.

"You don't let yourself get away with things?" Remus asked skeptically.

"Of course," he said. “Do you think I do everything on a whim?”

Remus held out one of the biscuits towards him.

"That's for you," Sirius told him.

"It's for bringing them up," Remus said, wiggling it in his face.

Sirius took it from him just so he'd stop having to look at it. He didn't take a bite until Remus ate another one. "These aren't even the good ones," Sirius grumbled.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Remus said. "Shortbread is amazing."

"I know you think that, but—,"

"You have a passionate love affair with dark chocolate, yes, I know."

"It's not an affair," Sirius said, taking another bite of the biscuit. "It's a committed relationship."

"Oh, pardon me for underestimating the depths of your feelings," Remus said, smiling.

"I forgive you," Sirius said loftily.

"How gracious of you," Remus said. "Will you be taking her name after the wedding then?"

Sirius burst out laughing, loud enough for it to tip over into sounding like a bark.

"Shut up, Moony," Sirius said after he'd calmed enough to speak again, but it did nothing to wipe the proud smile from Remus's lips.

"I didn't say anything," he said. "You may want to make some more progress on your homework though."

Sirius sighed. "If I have to."

"Unfortunately, you do."

Sirius stood up, resting a hand on Remus's shoulder as he passed him on the way to the stairs. "I'll be right back."

He gathered his things from their dorm room then rejoined Remus at the table.

Sirius whittled away at the dare between classes and assignments and everything else. He continued to sit as close to Remus as he could at meals, asked to carry Remus’s books to every class they shared, and enticed Remus out to walks just the two of them even as the weather grew increasingly dismal. Then one day, he found he still had a couple of Remus’s books in a class they didn’t share together.

“James,” Sirius hissed quietly. “Which class is Remus in?”

“You don’t know what his schedule is by now?” he asked in response.

“No, just tell me.”

“Ancient runes,” he answered which none of the rest of them were taking at the NEWT level.

“Fuck,” Sirius said quietly, pulling aside the top book to reveal the ancient runes textbook underneath it.

“Fuck,” James agreed.

Unfortunately, Sirius just had to sit there with Remus’s two textbooks like a nincompoop. As soon as class ended, he was up on his feet and as close to running as he could get without a professor yelling at him, a well practiced art. He had nearly made it the whole way to the ancient runes classroom before he spotted Remus.

“Remus!” he called, holding up a hand.

Remus turned towards him.

“I am so sorry for taking your textbooks, I really didn’t mean to,” he apologized, practically shoving the books into Remus’s chest.

“It’s alright, Sirius,” he said, taking the textbooks back from him. “They’re my books. I should have remembered to take them from you. Besides, no harm done. I looked over Lily’s shoulder.”

Lily Evans did indeed stand right beside Remus with her own textbook in her arms. She also looked perfectly put together and wasn’t panting from running halfway across the castle.

“Evans, hi,” he said. He wasn’t even James so why did he want to turn around and disappear under his cloak? He quickly tried to fix his windswept hair.

“Black,” Lily greeted with an air of amusement. “Why were you the one carrying Remus’s books?”

“Because I am a nice person,” Sirius said.

If anything, Evans looked even more amused. “I like to think I’m a nice person, but I still don’t carry my friends books unless they can’t do it themselves. Oh, look at that. Remus’s arms work.”

“Exactly,” Sirius said. “That’s what’s so nice about it. Isn’t that right, Remus?”

“Sure,” Remus said with an air of confusion before turning to Evans. “Honestly, it’s not hurting anyone so I figured I’d leave him to it.”

“Are you saying you don’t appreciate my help?” Sirius asked.

“When you’re not stealing my books, I suppose I appreciate it.”

“But you just said it wasn’t my fault,” he spluttered.

Remus grinned.

“Fuck off,” Sirius told him, smacking him in the stomach but nowhere near hard enough to hurt. “See if I run on your behalf ever again.”

He turned and walked away towards their next class.

“Thank you, Sirius,” Remus called after him, loud enough for everyone to hear.

Sirius glanced over his shoulder. Remus was still grinning as he followed behind him, but Evans kept looking back and forth between the two of them as if they were a puzzle she couldn’t solve. It’d serve her right if she tripped down the stairs not watching where she was going.

Thankfully, Halloween and their first trip to Hogsmeade approached to distract anyone from the running incident.

"Do you want to go to Hogsmeade with me?" Sirius asked Remus as they were walking to class. Sirius had decided to risk carrying Remus’s books again.

"Were we not going already?" he asked.

"Well, yes," Sirius admitted. "But I meant with me this time."

"Are James and Peter not coming? They didn't say they were busy," he said.

"No, I don't think so," Sirius said. "I only wanted to know if you wanted to do something just, you know, the two of us."

Remus slowed and turned to face him. "Do...you want to do something just the two of us?"

Sirius nodded because admitting so out loud was far more embarrassing. He had contemplated asking before, a little over a year and a half ago, but well, he'd thoroughly mucked that up, hadn't he?

"Oh," Remus said. "That's alright. If that is what you want to do."

"It is," he said quietly.

"Alright then we'll do something. Just us."

"Save me," Peter said in irritation and he rushed down the hall to join them. "Prongs is making a fool of himself over Evans again, and you two walked off leaving me to deal with it alone."

"I did not make myself a fool," James argued, following behind Peter and easily able to keep up due to his long legs. "I politely asked her out, and she said she'd consider it."

Sirius shared a look with Remus.

"Did she actually mean that?" Remus asked.

"Yes," James said with a smile as Peter scoffed and said, "No."

"I guess you'll find out if she talks to you again," Sirius said.

"She will," James said confidently.

Peter rolled his eyes.

"Now you just have to find a date to Hogsmeade then," Remus said to Peter.

"What date?" Peter asked. "Who are you going with?"

"Sirius."

Peter turned to give Sirius a suspicious look. Sirius shifted Remus's books in his arms to give him a little wave.

"Since when?" Peter asked, confused.

"Just now," Remus said, smiling. "It's not that big a deal, Pete, just a little time for me and Sirius. I'm sure we can meet up with you."

Sirius pretended that hadn't stung a little.

"No, it's alright, I'll find a date," Peter said, pushing past them and onto class with James.

Sirius knocked into Remus before following them.

"What?" Remus asked. "What are you mad about?"

"I'm not," Sirius said, trying to keep his voice bland.

"Hm, well, you sound mad," he pressed.

Sirius shot him a look.

"See there," he said, pointing at Sirius's face. "You are mad."

"I am not," he insisted, keeping his voice cool.

"Is this about inviting Peter along?" Remus asked. "He didn't even agree to it."

"It's not because I'm not mad."

Remus sighed. Then he pressed in closer to Sirius and quietly told him. "Sorry."

Sirius didn't have to look to tell that he meant it, but he turned his head to face his earnest expression anyways. "You don't even know what you're sorry for."

Remus tilted his head.

"It's fine," Sirius said. "It doesn't matter."

"It does to me," he said.

Sirius forgave him.

"I can get you those chocolates you like," Remus offered.

Sirius stuck his nose up. "Honeydukes doesn't carry the chocolate I like."

"Right, because you're a posh bastard with a taste for the too expensive," he said, smiling. "I can't afford it if it's not in Honeydukes."

"How dare you," he said, mock offended. "Implying I was born out of wedlock. It's unseemly."

"Oh, how terrible," Remus said, sarcastic and derisive. "Impinging on the sanctity of your parents' marriage."

Sirius really did try not to laugh.

"We're going to be late to class," he said, picking up his pace.

"If we are, it's your fault," Remus said, lengthening his stride and easily catching up to him.

Halloween dawned cloudy and cool on the weekend, but not rainy. Sirius bundled himself up appropriately for the trip. Evans didn't actually go with James, her friends dragging her off instead, but James didn't even look that put out. Peter did nearly abandon the date he had with a Hufflepuff girl he'd started talking to the year before, but James waved him off to join his quidditch teammates who spotted him and asked him if he'd been into the supply store yet.

That left Remus and Sirius on their own.

"Where to?" Remus asked.

Sirius shrugged. "Wherever. Oh, except for Honeydukes. If you were serious about the chocolate, I want it last."

"Alright, if that's what you want," he said.

Sirius nodded.

"Come on," Remus said then put a hand on his back. It could be perfectly friendly, his hand landing between Sirius's shoulder blades. James had certainly done similar to him loads of times. But Remus hadn't.

He guided Sirius into the main bookshop in Hogsmeade. Normally, Sirius would complain for appearance's sake, but he was rather distracted by the hand. It lingered all the way until they reached the first bookshelf.

This shelf held works of fiction, and Remus asked him which ones he'd read already. Rather too many of them in Sirius's opinion. His tutors had walked him through nearly every classic novel there was regardless of age inappropriateness, and becoming a bookworm was the only moderately acceptable way to ignore everyone at a dinner party which saw him through many modern novels as well. Then he’d been sorted into Gryffindor, and it was no longer seen as a sign of his ambition.

Remus had read a few of them and gave Sirius his opinions. He seemed to like many of their aspects except for the themes.

"Why do you keep reading them if you don't like them?" Sirius asked.

"Intellectual pursuit," he said with a shrug. "I like knowing personally what's in them and how they influenced the novels that came after. Besides, I need something to do in the summer."

"That sounds like we need to visit you more," Sirius said.

Remus offered him a half smile. "We'll see if that’s the case after school ends."

Sirius tried to ignore the dampener that put on the mood. All of them would be less safe for leaving Hogwarts’ grounds, but Remus would be the worst off. Sirius picked through the bookshelf and plucked out one of the modern novels he'd read. "You might like this one. You read murder mysteries, right?"

"Yes," he said, taking it from Sirius. "Why do you think I'd like it?"

He shrugged. "It's good."

The werewolf in it had been proven innocent. Sirius’s mother had no idea that was in the book as his copy had survived at least until his departure.

Remus smiled as he turned it over to read the back. "Thank you."

"It's nothing," Sirius murmured. "Just a recommendation."

"Sure," Remus said, pressing his free hand to Sirius's back as he passed him to reach the cash. He bought the book, tucking it away in his bag afterwards.

"Ready to go?" he asked Sirius when he returned.

"Yeah," he said, leading the way out the door and feeling Remus's hand on his back once again.

They wandered the village, poking in and out of stores and discussing everything from books to quidditch to their essays. They even had lunch at the Madam Puddifoot’s tea shop amongst all the real couples and frilly decorations, but it was the only place for an actually decent cup of tea.

"It's not," Remus said, slovenly sitting with his elbow on the table and propping his cheek on his fist and holding his cup by the rim rather than the handle there explicitly for that one purpose. Sirius had no intention of correcting him even as he sat upright in his chair and held the tea cup properly.

"It is actually," Sirius retorted. "They're the only ones who don't scald it or over brew it."

He breathed in the light scent before taking in the delicate taste and mix of flavors.

"Since when did you care?" Remus asked. "You don't even take tea at meals."

"Always," Sirius confessed. "The Hogwarts house elves always brew too much at once. It's undrinkable."

"I see," Remus said, shifting his head so now it was his jaw propped on his hand. "Will I have to keep taking you back here to get a decent cuppa?"

Sirius quickly dropped his eyes to his tea. "Suppose so."

Remus chuckled. "We'll come again next time then."

Sirius did his best to hide his own smile behind his cup.

They eventually met up with James that afternoon though they never did find Peter until they'd all returned to the Great Hall for the feast. Sirius caught Remus reading the new book he'd bought in bed before they turned out the lights.

The torrential rain for the next two days kept Sirius and Remus from going on any walks, and James teased Sirius for gazing forlornly out the windows around the castle.

Then came Sirius's birthday. He unfortunately still had his usual classes to attend, but alas. He triple checked all of his belongings for any pranks, and double checked his hair hadn't been turned purple or something equally ridiculous over night. The rest of the boys all said happy birthday to him as they woke up.

"You didn't get me anything, right?" Sirius asked James.

"You told me not to because you're an adult and boring now," James said then yawned.

"Yes, exactly," he said.

"What?" Peter spluttered. "You didn't tell me that! I got you biscuits."

"It's fine, Petey," Sirius said. "I just don't want a big deal made about it."

"Oh, good," he said letting out a breath. "They're the chocolate ones you like."

"Thanks," Sirius said.

Peter pulled them out for him once they sat down at the table. He'd even gotten Honeydukes to wrap them in Gryffindor red and gold. "Happy Birthday," he said again.

"Thanks," Sirius said as he tucked them away in his bag to save for later.

As he looked back up, he caught the hint of a smile on Remus's face. "What are you looking so cheeky about?"

"Nothing," Remus said, voice even but his smile spreading.

"What?" Sirius asked.

He shook his head, "No, it's not anything."

Post arrived, and an owl landed in front of Sirius’s plate. He'd never seen the bird before, but he took the package from it all the same. It flew off without even waiting for payment. He plucked the note from the top of the package.

It read in typed letters Happy Birthday Sirius.

"What the hell did you do?" Sirius asked Remus, shooting him a sharp look.

"At least look at what it is before you get mad," Remus said, gesturing to the package.

Sirius snapped the twine then ripped off the paper. It was a box of chocolates from his favorite chocolatier. From France. He lifted the lid. He didn't need to read the placard to tell dark chocolate candies with his favorite fillings were inside.

"I told you not to—how did you even—," Sirius turned to glare at James.

"You said I couldn't give you an expensive gift," James said with a shrug. "Didn't say anything about how much money I could give Moony."

"Technicality," Sirius snapped at him.

He was unrepentant.

"Do you really not like it?" Remus asked.

Sirius turned to him, and he looked concerned.

"You didn't have to do that for me," Sirius told him quietly.

"I know," he said. "I wanted to."

Sirius swallowed, running a hand over the box.

"And I wanted to spend James's money," Remus added.

Sirius smiled. "Alright. Thank you."

"Good," Remus said, relieved.

"Way to show me up," Peter groused.

"It's alright, Peter," James said as he set a box on the table next to Peter's gift. "I got him an old classic, stink pellets."

Sirius laughed. "You truly know the way to a man's heart."

James's grinned proudly. "Of course."

"Thank you," Sirius told them all again, and they returned to their breakfasts.

As they were getting up for class, Sirius remained behind a moment to open the chocolate box. He nabbed one of the chocolates and took a bite from it. The cracked dark chocolate shell revealed a fluffy pink interior that tasted of cherry. He put his hand over his mouth as he absorbed the old familiar flavors, trying to hold them all in.

“Is it still good?”

Sirius startled, glancing up to see Remus still standing beside him. He ducked his head and nodded, unable to get the words out and embarrassed Remus had caught him savoring the treat.

“That’s a relief,” Remus said. “That was a lot of money to get a gift wrong.”

Sirius forced himself to finish the bite. He turned towards the box to pick it up, but he still had half the chocolate in his hand. He turned back to Remus. “Do you want to try it? I know I just ate a bite, but,” he said then shrugged.

“Sure.”

Sirius held the half up towards him and then Remus leaned down and ate it straight from Sirius’s hand. Sirius gaped at him then snapped his mouth shut as the back of his neck burned. He had a dare to win, and this would undoubtedly help if anyone had even seen it, but Remus hadn’t ever been told what the dare was even about. What was his excuse?

“Holy shit,” Remus said, putting a hand over his mouth. “That’s so good. I saw they do liquor ones. Can you get those for me? I want a hundred.”

“Of course,” Sirius said.

“Are you okay? We need to get going to class,” Remus said.

“Right, yes, I’m fine,” he said, abruptly standing up. He had to get the gifts that were still on the table, but the chocolate had melted on his finger and thumb. He quickly licked his thumb.

Remus had eaten from that hand.

Sirius shook his head and quickly gathered up his gifts and school things. Remus would have to carry his own books this time as Sirius carried the chocolate box in his hands. He wasn’t about to let them spill anywhere.

“What are you so smile-y about?” Sirius asked as he caught Remus’s grin.

“Happy’s a good look on you,” he said, reaching out and touching a knuckle gently to Sirius’s jaw.

Sirius lost his voice for a second. “Am I not normally happy?”

“Not quite like this,” he said, and his hand rested a moment on Sirius’s back before pulling away.

Sirius knocked his shoulder into Remus’s for a second more of contact.

Once in the classroom, he ensured his chocolates would stay where they were in their box with a quick spell to put them away in his bag and pull out his textbook instead. He spent the next week and a half slowly eating them all one by one and added trying to get Remus to try them with him to his strategy for the dare. The fact that he kept the chocolates in their dorm room and mostly got him to try them there was utterly irrelevant no matter how many strange looks James shot them. Remus had gotten him a nice gift. Sirius could share it with him if he wanted.

Those days, however, also led up to the full moon. Their walks became less like jaunts and a way to spend time together between the end of class and the start of dinner, and more a way for Remus to burn off energy once the moon rose. Sirius had to make sure to wear enough layers to not catch a chill in the night air, but that he could also take off easily if he started to sweat from Remus’s brisk pace.

“Are you cold?” Remus asked him nearly every night. “You can go back in.”

“I’m fine, we’re moving,” Sirius responded.

Remus was silent the night before the full moon, watching the sky more than where he was going. Sirius stuck as close to him as he could.

The next night, Remus was escorted to the Shrieking Shack by Madam Pomfrey, and Sirius sneaked his way there with James and Peter. They had their routine down at this point. They entered the secret passageway underneath the Womping Willow once Madam Pomfrey had made her return. Sirius ran down the tunnel first. He made no attempt to be quiet, and barked upon entering the shack to announce his arrival.

Remus barked once in return. Sirius approached him, sniffing at him and nudging his nose against Remus’s face in greeting. Remus was always a little slow to respond at first, and eventually he started sniffing Sirius’s face in return. He whined, antsy to get moving.

Sirius barked cheerfully in response and guided Remus out of the Shack to meet with James and Peter in their stag and rat forms. Remus scented the air as soon as they were out on the grounds. He caught some scent as he picked a direction and started tracking it, moving away from both the castle and Hogsmeade.

The worst part whenever Remus caught a scent was how far he was willing to travel, and he always resisted when James tried to stop him from wandering too far, giving warning growls and snapping at him. For now, though, they all followed Remus as he steadily led them on into the night. Sirius kept closest to him, and Remus looked back over his shoulder every so often to check they were all there.

Sirius caught the scent of hare. It smelled near enough that Remus could certainly catch it. He fell back as Remus switched to stalking, moving more quietly through the foliage. James fell even further behind Sirius. Then Remus shot off through the dark after a fast moving blur.

Sirius turned his head away as Remus caught and killed the hare. Remus returned quickly, the animal hanging limp from his jaws. He laid the carcass down before Sirius. When he didn’t move towards it, Remus nudged it towards him with his nose. Then he whined.

Sirius hadn’t turned vegetarian after becoming an animagus the way James practically had, but biting through fur and skin still presented some difficulty to him even in dog form. Approaching the kill was enough for Remus to dig in, placing a fore paw on the small body, biting down then ripping up. He glanced up at Sirius before lowering his head and biting and pulling again. He broke apart the skin, tearing at the muscle underneath. He gnawed on it for some time before tearing at it again, pulling away the fur and ripping the limbs, glancing around every time he raised his head.

Then he nudged what remained of the hare towards Sirius again. He whined pitifully. Sirius reluctantly approached. He mimicked Remus’s movements, placing a fore paw down upon the body, nosing at the flesh before grabbing it in his teeth and pulling up. He ate a few mouthfuls before backing away. Remus whined at him, but Sirius sat down and looked away from the hare. After a few moments, Remus returned to eating.

He appeared to have little interest in doing anything after he’d eaten his fill. He found a soft patch of ground and laid down, barking at Sirius to join him. Sirius sat down nearby, but didn’t lie down, needing to keep an eye out in case anyone approached. Remus whined, but Sirius ignored it. James kept watch on the other side of Remus a few paces away.

The sky eventually lightened with the coming dawn, and they made the trek back towards the Shrieking Shack. Sirius left last, approaching Remus and nuzzling his face again once the others had left the room. Remus pressed his head back against his. He whined when Sirius pulled away, but Sirius didn’t turn back. Instead, he slipped out of the Shack and into the secret passageway.

James and Sirius ran for the castle with Peter hanging onto James’s antlers for dear life. They transformed back into human closer to the castle as they needed opposable thumbs to get back inside. They swiftly made their way back to their dorm. James’s status as Head Boy was terribly useful for getting in and out without any trouble.

Sirius undressed but didn’t bother with pajamas before crawling into his bed as this was more like a nap than proper sleep. The alarm woke him far too soon. He yawned loudly as James shut it off. He scrubbed the sleep from his eyes as he rushed through getting ready for the day with the other two. They walked straight to the hospital wing.

Madam Pomfrey pulled open the door when they knocked. “He’s well enough, but I will kick you out if you’re rowdy.”

“Thanks, Madam Pomfrey,” Sirius told her, giving her his most charming smile.

She rolled her eyes as she moved out of their way.

Remus had his usual bed at the back of the room, away from the foot traffic and the couple of other kids who’d been there overnight. Remus always looked awful the first thing after the full moon. Even with Madam Pomfrey cleaning him up, and the wolf being far more calm these past couple years, he still had skin pale enough to practically match the starched sheets, dark circles under his eyes, and looked as if he’d lost weight he couldn’t afford to.

Sirius reached his bed first. Remus squeezed his eyes shut tighter then slowly opened them.

“Hey,” Sirius said quietly, sitting down on the edge of his bed by his hip. “Good morning, Sleeping Beauty.”

Remus turned his head towards him, though it was a little more of a flop than being fully controlled. “Fuck off,” he said, his voice rough.

“Rude,” Sirius said.

“How you feeling?” James asked through a yawn.

“Fine,” Remus said which was obviously a lie.

“No new scars, yeah?” Peter asked.

“No,” he confirmed. “All good.”

“We all made it through another month,” Peter said, raising his fists in mock cheer. “Mission success.”

“Need anything?” James asked Remus.

“Water?”

Sirius grabbed the cup off the table. He guided the straw towards Remus’s mouth. Remus took hold of the cup as he drank, but Sirius didn’t let go.

“Thanks,” Remus said as he pulled back. His voice sounded better.

“You’re welcome,” Sirius said, setting the cup back on the side table.

They talked for a few minutes before Madam Pomfrey started guiding all the guests to head down to breakfast. James and Peter said their goodbyes and headed for the exit, but Sirius stayed where he was.

“What’re you doing?” Remus asked him.

Sirius glanced around, double checking no one was paying attention. James and Peter hadn’t looked back, and Madam Pomfrey had stopped to speak to some young looking Ravenclaws near the front of the room.

Sirius turned towards Remus, leaning over him and nuzzling his face, greeting him the same way as he had the night before. He breathed in, taking in his scent, the herbal smell of the potions he’d taken, the fresh sheets, and the faint remains of the underground passage beneath the Whomping Willow. No scent of sickness or blood.

Remus returned it though he moved far more slowly.

Sirius sat upright.

“What was that?” Remus asked.

“Nothing,” he said.

The dare must have taken hold of his sanity. Sirius had experienced the urge to nuzzle and sniff in human form before, especially around Remus, but that was no reason to actually go and do it.

“Sirius,” Remus said.

“Mr. Black,” Madam Pomfrey said. “It is time for breakfast.”

“I’m coming,” he called then more quietly to Remus, said, “I’ll see you later.”

He didn’t look at Remus as he sped from the room. He caught up to James and Peter.

“Where were you?” James asked. “I thought you were right behind us.”

“I was. I’m here, aren’t I?” Sirius asked.

“Sure,” he said, not completely convinced.

Remus was released from the hospital wing in time for dinner. He looked better back in uniform, the circles under his eyes not quite so severe, but he was still pale and skinny.

Sirius shifted closer to Remus. He received a glance, but Remus turned back to his own meal. Sirius filled up his plate, but he got extra slices of ham. He left it on the edge of the plate that was closest to Remus.

Remus sighed, but he didn't say anything. His eyes flicked over to the ham again and again as he ate his boring vegetarian meal as James went on about quidditch with Peter nodding along with him.

As everyone started standing up and to return to the common room, Remus snitched the ham with his fingers like he had the bacon. He ate it all in just a few bites as James and Peter were distracted by Peter accidentally knocked over his half empty goblet with his elbow. Sirius could have quickly righted the goblet and cleaned up the mess with a quick spell, but that could have brought attention to his and Remus's side of the table. He did nothing, and Peter righted the cup by hand as James cleaned up the mess by spell.

Remus still had his fingers against his lips as he looked over at Sirius, wide eyed. Sirius stared back, not certain what else he could do in this situation.

Then Remus jerked to his feet and walked from the Great Hall.

"What's wrong with him?" Peter asked. “He’s not about to be sick, is he?”

"Did you do something to him?” James asked, serious in a way that had become more common in the last couple of years.

"I don’t think so,” Sirius said then stood. “I need to go."

He rushed out of the hall, looking for Remus. A hand snagged his arm and dragged him into a side corridor on the way back to the Gryffindor Tower.

"I swear," Remus said, biting out his words and flushed in anger. "If your stupid little dare is to mess with my food—,"

"It's not, it's not, I swear, why would you even think that?" Sirius asked, meeting his eyes and trying not to tilt his chin to expose his neck.

"Because this is the second time you’ve done this, and the first time was after you made that stupid dare. Don’t think I haven’t noticed that neither you or James have called it. This is important, Sirius," Remus said then lowered his voice. "This is my health and everyone's safety you're messing with."

"I know," he said. "That's what I'm worried about."

"Oh, like you were with Snape?" Remus asked.

Sirius sighed, closing his eyes. "This isn't like that at all. Please, Remus."

"Everything okay?"

Sirius turned to look at the end of the corridor. Evans stood there looking concerned. "None of your business, Evans,” he snapped at her.

Remus tightened his grip on Sirius's arm. "Don't be mean."

"I'm not being mean," he insisted.

Remus turned to Evans. "We're fine, thanks. Sirius apologizes for being rude."

"I am not being rude," Sirius complained, trying to pull his arm free from Remus's grip. "She interrupted."

"I just wanted to be sure you weren’t ill, Remus,” Evans said. “I’ll leave you be if you’re all good.”

“Thanks,” Remus said with a wan smile.

Evans gave Sirius one last suspicious once over then left.

Remus released Sirius's arm and fixed him with a narrowed eyed, suspicious look. "You swear the dare isn't to do with my food or anything else like that?"

"No, the dare has nothing to do with that," Sirius promised. "I didn't know you'd actually have an issue with it. I was just doing—,"

Sirius pressed his lips together. It was a little too close to revealing the truth.

"Doing what?" Remus pressed

"The dare isn't about your food, but the first time, I did what I thought would help fulfill the dare since I'd noticed your food—,"

"Noticed my food?" Remus asked, a touch offended. "Why would you notice my food if the dare is not about it like you just claimed?”

Where did he even start with that? "It isn't, I swear it. Look, you don't want me to talk about this in public.”

Remus glanced towards the main hall. Other students were passing by, not looking their way, but perfectly able to if they so desired. "Fine," he said with a huff. "Let's go."

Remus took hold of Sirius's arm again and dragged him towards Gryffindor Tower. People moved out of their way when they noticed their approach.

"Ow, ow, ow," Sirius complained. "Be gentle with me, Moony. I'm very fragile."

Remus scoffed. "No, you're not."

He pushed Sirius into their dorm room first then shut the door, using a spell to lock it and then used a silencing charm. He turned to Sirius as he tucked his wand away. "Explain what you meant about noticing my food."

Sirius sighed, running a hand through his hair. "Look, I know you're not supposed to talk about how anyone eats, but I can't help it if I noticed that you always eat the same thing at the same time so yes, I did think it would be nice to give you a little bit of extra food, alright?"

Remus huffed, rolling his eyes. "That's not the issue. I'm not asking you to blind yourself through every meal. I'm on a specialized diet for my condition, of course it’s obvious.”

He lowered his voice for ‘condition’ even though he'd put a silencing charm on the door.

"This issue is that you thought it was okay to tempt me with bacon and ham," Remus said.

"The pork is the issue?" Sirius asked. "You can't be allergic. You'd have had a reaction already."

Remus smacked his palm on his own forehead. "I'm a werewolf, you idiot."

"I don't see what that has to do with pork," he said.

"I can't have meat!" Remus snapped at him, ripping his hand away.

Sirius frowned. "What do you mean you can't have meat? I've seen you eat meat for your little specialty diet."

"Only poultry and fish," Remus said.

"So you can have meat," Sirius said. "What's the problem then?"

"Bacon and ham are considered red meat," he said, frustrated. "I can't have it."

"Why not?" he asked. "It's doesn't make you sick—,"

"It does!" Remus snapped again, this time reaching out and gripping the lapels of Sirius's robes. "Eating red meat encourages the wolf's hunger."

"Oh," Sirius said, leaning back from Remus's face, but not very concerned about his anger. "So whichever healer gave you that diet is a massive idiot."

"What?" Remus asked, shocked somewhat out of his anger. "He's the only person who works with juvenile werewolves."

"Yeah, and he's an idiot because it's backfiring massively," Sirius said derisively. "You're starving every full moon. All you do is go hunting, and you must think I'm some stupid baby because you keep trying to get me to eat it, too."

"What are you talking about?" Remus asked. "I don't hunt. I don’t know how to.”

"We told you we let you out at night now, right?" Sirius asked. "It's why you've stopped biting yourself so much. Prongs wouldn't let you travel very far at first, but I told him wolves travel miles so every time since you’ve gone hunting. You’re not always successful, but you’ve caught birds and hares and such."

"What?" Remus asked, back to outrage. "That isn't me, Sirius! I'm not some wolf animagus. It's not me in control when I turn, and you let it go hunting!? Have you all gone mental?"

"No, but we're a far sight better than your healer! Has he ever even seen you transformed? We have," Sirius snapped in response. "And it's you transforming so who else could it be? Any wound you give yourself while transformed is still there when you're back to human and if tracking down hares keeps you occupied and not hurting yourself, it's a win in my book."

"No, it isn't!" Remus said. "It could hurt someone if you let it out and feed its hunger like that!"

"But Remus— !" Sirius's anger suddenly drained away. "You're starving when you transform. I thought it was just because of the toll it takes on your body, but Remus...are you hungry now? When you’re human? Regularly?"

"What?" Remus asked, but he'd shrunk back from Sirius even if he hadn't let go of his lapels and wouldn't meet his eyes. "No, I'm not hungry."

"Are you lying?" Sirius asked, taking hold of Remus's arms, making sure to be gentle. He just couldn't let Remus escape this conversation. "You barely fill your plate when you're the tallest boy in the year."

"The diet is tailored to my dietary needs," Remus said, voice quiet. "It's not like my growth's been stunted or something."

"Is the dietary needs including the transformations or is it based on regular humans who don’t transform?" Sirius asked, ducking to try and meet Remus's eyes, but he turned his head the other way.

"It is," he said, but it sounded like a question. "Sirius, he's the best healer there is for this."

"He's not good enough," Sirius said firmly. "You shouldn't be going hungry."

"I'm not," Remus said, but he was still avoiding his eyes. "I can't eat that stuff, Sirius. Please."

"Why not?" Sirius asked. "I already told you when you hunt, you're calmer. You don't hurt yourself. If you were full before you transformed, maybe it would be even easier for you."

Remus dropped his head. "You don't know what I want to eat."

"Try me," Sirius said, giving his arms an encouraging squeeze. 

"Sirius...I want to eat it all raw," he said, voice barely above a whisper.

"Alright," he said with a shrug. "That's fine. I'd be more concerned if you wanted to pair it with white wine."

"I'm not joking, Sirius," Remus snapped, finally looking up again. "It's not normal!"

"Hate to break it to you, mate," Sirius said, patting his shoulder. "Plenty of people eat raw meat. I quite like it actually."

Remus flustered, opening and closing his mouth several times. "But you're a dog animagus."

Sirius laughed. "Being a dog has changed my tastes, but not that. It's actually the bacon that's a new favorite."

"What?" he asked. "But bacon's cooked."

"Yes, I know," he said. "But I like beef tartare, salmon tartare, eat my stakes rare, lamb rare, caviar and oysters are raw if we're counting fish. My whole family and plenty of others eat all of that, and they're not any kind of animagus. Oh, you know what's actually messed up, and it's not because it's raw?"

Remus just stared at him in confusion.

"Foie gras," he said. "It does taste good, I'll grant you that, but you have to force feed the bird to make its liver fat. That's definitely worse treatment than letting a wolf hunt."

"But," Remus started, looking lost. "But I can't just...I can't give in like that."

"Give in to what?" Sirius asked.

"I don't want to go giving the wolf...cravings or tastes."

Sirius sighed. "What's your goal, Remus? To keep everyone safe and not bite anyone else while you're transformed, right?"

"Yes, of course," he said with a nod.

"So when are you not hungry?"

Remus looked at him like he was mental.

"Just go with it," he said, making a gesture for Remus to continue.

Remus shrugged. "You're not hungry when...you've eaten?"

"Exactly," Sirius said with a smile.

Remus scoffed, rolling his eyes. "You're not that clever, and you certainly don't know better than an actual healer."

"I'm not gonna make you do anything you don't want to," he said, "But if you want to keep snitching my bacon or my ham, it’s fine."

Remus shook his head, but there was definitely a faint smile on his lips. "You are ridiculous."

"Maybe a little," he said then more earnestly. "But I do mean it about how hungry you are. If you actually are hungry during the day at least tell Madam Pomfrey, please?"

Remus chewed on his lower lip.

"Come on. You can't just go hungry," Sirius said.

Sirius had tried it before to get back at his parents. It hadn't done much except make himself more vulnerable.

"Alright," Remus agreed.

"Good," Sirius said, offering him a smile.

A loud bang sounded from the door. Remus huffed, pulling out his wand and unlocking it and removing the silencing charm.

James popped his head in, annoyed look on his face. "We've been trying to get in for ten minutes."

"It's been like five seconds at the most," Peter said from behind him, exasperated.

James sent Sirius a narrowed eyed looked, assessing him from head to toe. "You didn't tell him the dare?"

"That's what you're worried about?" Sirius asked.

"It wasn't about some stupid dare," Remus said.

"Then what was it about?" Peter asked, crossing the room to his desk.

Remus flushed. "None of your business."

James looked over to Sirius.

Sirius kept his mouth shut. If Remus didn't want to talk about it, he wouldn't say a thing.

"If it's a prank against us, I will be sorely disappointed in you," James warned them.

"Who has time for that?" Sirius said. "I'm behind on my essays."

"I can help," Remus offered quietly.

"Oh, now you can help?" James asked. "What about all fifth year begging you to at least check that I didn't misspell an ingredient?"

"They're written out in the books," Remus said with the same frustration he had held that entire year. "I'm just returning a favor for Padfoot."

"What favor?" James asked.

"None of your business," Remus said, going for stern, but the blush on his cheeks took away from it.

Sirius tried not to giggle. Remus grabbed one of his textbooks and retreated to his bed to read. Sirius followed his lead and took a seat at his desk to work on his assignments.

The next morning at breakfast, Sirius moved closer to Remus and set extra bacon on the edge of his plate. Remus stole it at the end of the meal, using his fingers again.

“It would be less suspicious if you just used your fork and ate it normally,” Sirius said, doing his best to whisper into Remus’s ear as they walked to class. He was just enough taller than Sirius to make it a bit difficult.

“You want me to eat off your plate?” Remus asked.

“Well, if you’re not going to put it on your plate,” he said then shrugged.

Remus sighed, turning away.

At lunch, Sirius left sausages on the edge of his plate. Remus at least used a fork to nab them this time. At dinner, Remus served himself the world’s smallest slice of shepherd’s pie. He ate all of it.

Sirius leaned into him, “Did you like it?”

“Don’t make it weird,” he said. “But yes, it was good.”

They couldn’t walk that evening as Remus was still behind on his work so Sirius got ahead in his own schoolwork and started making plans.

“Can I borrow your cloak?” Sirius asked James while Remus and Peter were still studying.

“Why?” James asked, giving him a suspicious look.

“I need to ask the house elves something,” he said.

James narrowed his eyes. “Fine, but you better not do anything to my cloak.”

“When have I ever?” he asked.

He took the cloak and slipped out of Gryffindor Tower. He made his way into the kitchens. He pulled the cloak off as soon as the portrait hole closed behind him.

Several house elves surrounded him to ask him if he needed anything.

“I have a few dishes I’d like to try, but I’m not sure if you could make them,” he said.

They all rushed to assure him that they could and asked for a list. He gave it verbally as well as a date for when to make it then left for the night.

On the weekend, the weather improved, and Sirius and Remus could go on their walks again. They walked close enough to jostle into each other, especially as they went over the grounds rather than sticking to the paths. Sirius’s feet slid out from under him at one point, and Remus caught him by the arm, pulling him upright again.

“Thanks,” Sirius told him.

“It’s no trouble,” Remus said, but he kept his hand around Sirius’s arm from then on though his grip loosened.

As everyone headed down to dinner that evening, Sirius tapped on Remus’s shoulder.

“What?” he asked.

“Come with me,” he said, motioning for him to follow.

He led Remus downstairs, waiting for the Hufflepuff stragglers to pass them, then proceeded to the kitchens.

“Sirius is back!” one of the house elves called once they’d entered. “He brought his friend.”

There was a flurry of activity as the elves set them up at a side table and brought the food they had prepared for them.

“Made just today,” one assured them.

“What is this?” Remus asked.

“This is the appetizer,” Sirius said, gesturing to the prepared slices of baguette and spreads. “Terrine and pâté. It’s cooked, but this is terrine de lièvre, terrine de campagne, et pâté de foie de chevreuil.”

“I don’t speak French,” Remus said.

“Oh,” Sirius said then paused to recall the English. “Hare, pork and liver, and venison liver.”

“Seems like a lot of liver.”

“I like the liver ones,” Sirius said, raising his nose. “If you don’t like it, someone has to eat it.”

Remus chuckled. “How will you ever survive?”

“I’ll manage,” he said, taking a slice of bread and a knife to spread the terrine over it.

Remus copied him and took his first bite. “This is amazing. Do you eat this all the time?”

Sirius shook his head. “I used to eat it more. The Potters normally use only the vegetable ones.”

Remus finished the rest of his slice and started in on his second. “Why would you ever make this out of vegetables?”

“It’s also good,” he said then shrugged. “Just not as good as the liver.”

Remus ended up eating the majority of the pâté and bread, but Sirius did manage to eat enough to satiate his own cravings for it. The elves whisked away the plates and set two new ones before them.

“Now, this one is raw,” Sirius said, gesturing to the beef tartare. “It’s beef, but I think you’ll like it.”

The elves had paired it with an arugula salad which was probably for the best with the meat heavy meal they were having.

Remus prodded it a couple times with his fork then scooped up a small bit of it. He put the fork in his mouth then closed his eyes.

“You alright, mate?” Sirius asked.

Remus swallowed slowly and sounded genuinely emotional as he said, “It tastes so good.”

“Good, it’s supposed to.”

Remus ate as quickly as he had all the spreads, even the arugula salad wasn’t safe from him. Sirius ate at a more normal pace, and lost part of his salad as a consequence.

“Stop eating my food,” Sirius said, trying to nudge Remus’s hand away.

“But I’m hungry,” he said, sneaking his hand around to get his fork on more of Sirius’s salad.

“You’ve already eaten more than me!”

Remus reluctantly relented.

Their dishes were cleared, and a new plate with a set of shortbread biscuit dipped in dark chocolate were placed before them.

“Is planning dinners like this some posh bastard thing you were forced to learn growing up?” Remus asked as he took a bite out of one of the biscuits.

“Not exactly,” he said. “More like I picked it up along the way.”

“It’s dreadfully useful,” he said.

“Thanks,” Sirius said dryly. “Are you happy?”

Remus smiled. “Definitely.”

“Good,” he said then more hesitantly asked, “Are you full?”

Remus paused with a biscuit halfway to his mouth. He stared down at their little table. “Yeah, I think a couple more biscuits should do it.”

He popped the biscuit into his mouth.

“Yeah,” Sirius said. “Me, too.”

They finished off the biscuits together then made their way back up to the Gryffindor tower, and Remus’s arm brushed Sirius’s the whole way up.

“Where the hell have you two been?” James asked as they returned to their dormitory.

“Don’t you have the map on you?” Remus asked.

“Yes,” he admitted, glowering at him. “You were in the kitchens, but it’s more fun to make you admit it.”

“I just want to say, it’s very rude you didn’t invite me to whatever secret fancy meal you were having,” Peter said.

“You hate raw meat,” Sirius said.

Peter blanched. “Never mind. I’m happy to have missed it.”

Sirius chuckled.

They played a few rounds of cards, avoiding the assignments they had due that week until James had to go on his rounds as Head Boy. Then Remus switched to the new novel he’d bought so Peter retired to bed early, and Sirius found himself organizing his desk to the dulcet tones of Peter’s snoring.

“Heading to bed?” Remus asked as Sirius turned towards the bathroom.

“Yeah, why? Need anything?”

He shook his head. “Thank you, Sirius, for…for dinner, I guess. I think I am going to speak to Madam Pomfrey.”

Sirius nodded, offering him a smile. “Good. That’s good. I hope it helps.”

Remus smiled back.

Sirius turned and got ready for bed.

The following week turned out to be horrendous as Sirius had multiple assignments due. He’d started on them before hand, but he had to spend considerable time finishing them out. He could hardly spend any time with Remus beyond ferrying his books to their classes. Remus also got bolder stealing food from his plate even though he now served himself meat.

“Stop it,” Sirius snapped during dinner on Thursday, genuine irritation leaking out. He turned his head away from Remus.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean it,” Remus said, putting a hand on Sirius’s back.

He didn’t turn back.

“I’ll stop if you want me to,” Remus offered.

Then he felt Remus’s nose press quickly against his jaw, a supplication. Then he pulled away.

Sirius faced him. “Can you just not do it this week? I don’t have time for it.”

“Alright,” Remus said. “I won’t.”

Sirius sighed and returned to eating.

“What is going on with you two?” Peter asked. Then he turned to James.

“Don’t look at me,” James said. “I’ve no idea what they’re doing any more.”

“Nothing,” Sirius snapped at them.

“Testy,” Peter commented.

“Shut up,” Sirius said.

Peter pressed his mouth shut.

Remus ran his hand over Sirius’s back before he pulled it away, leaving him to his food.

On Friday afternoon, Sirius turned his last assignment for the week in and celebrated with a nap after class. He woke feeling fuzzy, but he had time enough before dinner to start putting his books away properly and clear up the detritus of his frantic work.

“Welcome back from the dead,” James said. “I’m nearly done with this then I’m free and clear for the weekend.”

“Lucky you,” Peter said. “I’ve got this due Monday, and I’m nowhere near done.”

“Poor you,” Sirius said, more focused on his cleaning.

The door to the dorm flew open, and they all turned towards it.

“Why’s there a Ravenclaw girl asking me if we’re dating?” Remus asked Sirius, barely having taken a step into the room.

Sirius blinked. He turned to James. “Please tell me that counts.”

James looked at him all confused before his face cleared. He said, “Oh, yeah, sure. If they’re asking Moony it’s definitely gone around.”

“What?” Remus asked. “Can you just tell me why she asked?”

“Alright,” Sirius said, running a hand through his hair, hoping it wasn’t a complete mess as he did this. “Remus, do you want to date me?”

“I, er, you got a Ravenclaw girl to try and ask me if I wanted to date you?” he asked, looking adorably confused. “Is this a joke?”

“No, it’s not a joke, I’m asking,” Sirius said. “The girl’s unrelated. Mostly. I don’t know who you’re talking about.”

“Give him a break,” James told Remus in a faux whisper. “He just woke up.”

Sirius shushed him, motioning for James to go away. Then he turned expectantly back to Remus.

“You want to,” Remus started, pausing as his cheeks turned pink. “Yes, but you need to buy your own chocolates. I don’t always have access to James’s Gringotts account.”

Sirius laughed.

“No!” Peter burst out. “No, you can’t, you’re going to start snogging in the dorm, and I’ll have to see it.”

“You have a problem?” Sirius asked.

“Yes, this dorm is a sanctuary, and I’d prefer not to see any of you in that light,” Peter insisted with a sniff. “Besides, it’s not fair if you can bring your boyfriend in, and we can’t bring in a girlfriend.”

“You’d have to get a girlfriend first,” James said, earning himself a scowl from Peter

“I promise to only snog him outside,” Sirius said. “Happy?”

“Hardly,” Peter said grouchily.

“Sirius,” Remus said.

“What?”

He motioned for him to come over.

“What is it?” Sirius asked when he reached him.

Remus pulled Sirius outside of the dorm by the arm, shutting the door behind him.

"What?" Sirius asked.

Remus kissed him. Nothing more than a gentle peck to his lips, and still a thrill went through Sirius’s body. He stopped Remus from leaving, cupping his neck and pulling him back in to kiss him properly. He made it too difficult as he started chuckling.

"Stop laughing," Sirius told him crossly.

"Sorry," Remus said, not sounding apologetic but he did at least keep close.

Sirius pressed his nose into Remus's face, intending to get as close as he could to him while he waited him out, but only succeeding in making him chuckle more.

"Are you always this antsy to kiss?" Remus asked, and he seemed to be sniffing along Sirius's cheek to his jaw down to his neck.

"Maybe," Sirius hedged.

Remus nipped the side of his neck, making him jolt. Sirius slapped his hand over it to protect it from Remus's teeth. Remus stood upright, allowing Sirius to see his smug smile.

“I don’t understand how anyone thinks you’re the good one,” Sirius huffed.

“I’m sneakier,” he said. “Can I ask now what that thing was with James? What needed to count?”

“The dare was I had to convince the school we were dating, but I couldn’t kiss you or call you my boyfriend or tell people we were dating,” he said. “If a Ravenclaw girl was asking you about it—,”

“It’s pretty obvious, got it,” Remus said. “So did the wanting to ask me out come before or after the dare?”

“Well,” Sirius hedged, the back of his neck getting hot.

Remus’s grin turned even more smug if possible. “How long then?”

“I’m not feeding your ego,” Sirius said, but his voice didn’t sound very stern at all.

“Oh, come on, Sirius,” he said, nuzzling into the side of his face. “Please tell me.”

“It might have been a year and a half, two years ago,” Sirius said, and Remus instantly pulled away from him. “You could see why that might have been a bad idea.”

“I can,” Remus admitted quietly, reaching out for a lock of Sirius’s hair, not so much toying with it as fussing with it to get it to lay just so.

“Well?” Sirius prompted.

“Shh,” he said. “I’m trying to think up star related pet names for you.”

“No, you can’t,” he said, tucking his hair behind his ear and pulling it from Remus’s hand.

“Well, the dog one’s are far too easy,” he said. “It’s really unfortunate you’re named after the dog star.”

“That’s not what Sirius means, that’s just what people call it because of the constellation,” Sirius said huffily.

“Oh, what’s it mean then?”

“It’s Greek for glowing or scorching.”

Remus studied his face. Sirius tried not to bite his lip in case Remus decided to kiss him again. Instead, he said, “I think I’ll stick with calling you Starshine.”

“What? Don’t call me that,” he complained as Remus laughed.

The dorm door opened, nearly hitting them before they moved out of the way.

“Have you just been outside the door the whole time?” James asked. “You know dinner’s starting soon, right?”

“We’re coming,” Remus promised as Peter gave them a skeptical once over.

“Let’s get going,” James said, leading the way down the stairs.

Remus took hold of Sirius’s hand as they walked.

“Does being boyfriends mean I get to steal your food again now?” Remus asked.

“I’m stealing yours right back,” Sirius said.

Remus laughed.