You and I
Sirius turned the page of the book he was reading aloud, and looked up to find Remus watching him with tired eyes. He smiled warmly.
“Good morning,” he greeted.
“Morning,” returned Remus in the gruff voice he always harboured after the full moon. Sirius smiled a little more.
“Feeling alright?”
Moony only groaned, shifting so that he was on his back and facing the ceiling. Sirius watched the slow rise and fall of his chest with steady eyes.
“Could be worse,” Remus admitted after a long sigh. Sirius reached for his hand and began to lovingly run his thumb over his skin. Remus turned his head to look at him again.
“Are you tired?” he wondered. Sirius shrugged.
“Not as much as you, I’ll bet,” he replied. Remus chuckled dryly, moving his hand to encircle Sirius’. They looked at each other, really looked at each other, and Sirius’ smile widened. He looked from side to side to check no one was watching then dipped down to press a tender kiss to Remus’ chapped lips.
Remus turned over onto his side and held Sirius close. Sirius kissed him again before drawing away.
“The party…” started Remus.
“We got a bit…Got a bit carried away,” admitted Sirius, wondering how much had been Remus and how much had been the wolf.
“God, it’s all a blur,” Remus groaned again, dragging a hand over his face.
“Well,” said Sirius carefully, “We’ll have to do it again sometime. Maybe that’ll jog your memory.”
Remus grinned at him. A grin full of teeth. Sirius grinned triumphantly back.
“Should’ve known we’d find you here,” said James, and Sirius whipped around to see him and Pete coming up to Remus’ hospital bed.
“Are you two ever apart these days?” goaded Pete.
“Oh, sod off,” returned Sirius.
“How’re you holding up?” James asked Remus, who looked slightly aggravated by the intrusion.
“He’s fine,” Sirius cut in, knowing how much Remus hated being pitied.
“So now you speak for him too?”
“Sod off, Pete!”
“I’m alright,” Remus told James, “Anyway, it’s the weekend, I don’t have to worry about attending class.”
“Yeah,” agreed James, “Just take it easy.”
“I do have revision to do,” Remus pointed out, “And homework.”
“It’s not urgent,” Sirius waved it off. Remus rolled his eyes. “What? It’s not.”
***
Sirius stayed with Remus for the whole day, forcing him to have some rest (which he had a feeling was putting him in Madam Pomfrey’s good graces). James and Pete dropped in and out, and eventually Remus decided he’d rested more than enough and they all headed back to the dorm.
That was how they all found themselves strewn across the common room with their respective (slightly urgent) homework. They’d finished dinner a while ago, and would probably be heading up soon. That was, as soon as Sirius could finish the particular essay he’d been set.
“Evening lads,” greeted Marlene jovially as she descended the stairs from the girl’s dorms.
“Are you going somewhere?” wondered Remus.
“Off to see a certain Slytherin someone, I’ll bet,” piped up James before she could reply.
“Yes, well, you’d know all about that, wouldn’t you Potter?”
Sirius turned to James, who was frozen stiff.
“What do you mean?” Sirius asked Marlene. Marlene gave him an incredulous look.
“You don’t know?” she stage-whispered.
Sirius looked back at James, who was so nervous he might have been about to combust.
“What?” repeated Sirius, feeling as if he’d missed something major.
“James kissed a Slytherin boy at the party!” she said all at once. Sirius’ eyes widened. He looked back at James, then back at Marlene.
“What?”
“You didn’t tell him, James?” asked Marlene.
“He better not be related to me, James, I swear to Merlin,” commented Sirius. James practically squeaked.
“Well,” breathed James, “I think he’s your third cousin…”
Sirius frowned, trying to remember whether he had any third cousins, and if so, who they were.
“Just kidding!” said James suddenly, and he began to laugh in a frightened, awkward way.
“Merlin, James, calm down,” Sirius told him, “I’m probably related to half the house anyway.”
“He did sort of look like you,” commented Marlene thoughtfully.
“They all look like that!” Peter cut in.
“Hey,” admonished Sirius, “This beauty is one of a kind.”
“Oh sorry, of course,” replied Marlene sarcastically, “No one could compete with the great Sirius Black.”
“That’s right,” he told her. She rolled her eyes at him.
“I’m off,” she announced to the group.
“Have fun!” Sirius called after her as she exited the portrait hole and flipped him off. He turned back to the rest of the Marauders but none were paying him any attention. Remus was sharing some kind of undecipherable look with James as Pete looked between the two of them, and as Sirius watched, he couldn’t shake that feeling that he’d missed something.