"Now, who's next?"
"Get her, really? Was that all you could come up with Sirius?" James complained as they walked back to Hogwarts.
"Well, it was probably a better idea than whatever yours was." Sirius argued, lightly pushing James.
"We should continue to study this further. I can't wait to run some tests on this residue." Remus rumbled, looking in awe at the slime in the Petri dish.
"About that... When I went to Slughorn, trying to scrape together that 500 we needed for the camera, he seemed surprised we still existed. I don't think we have much long left in that university." James said, kicking his feet on the floor.
"Well then we better start stockpiling whatever we can get our hands on, I'll make a trolley full of stuff." Sirius declared, looking proud.
"I can't believe that happened to us!" Sirius said, pacing the floor of the office. His mind was abuzz, thinking of all the possibilities and gateways that this could open up for their research.
"Do you think animals have ghosts?" James asked, trying to balance a pencil under his nose.
"It's a high possibility." Remus said.
"What about dinosaurs?" Sirius jumped on a swivel chair, and spun around excitedly.
"I have no idea," James said as he loaded countless pieces of equipment onto the cart Sirius had acquired (stolen from the people next door). The cart was looking full already, it was piled high with all of Remus' and Sirius' lab equipment, but there would be room for James' thing too, if he found the right spots.
"I still can't believe we saw a real ghost." Sirius whispered in awe, as Remus and him pushed the cart full of equipment down the dimly lit street, back to their apartment. It was a cold night, and Sirius didn't bring a jacket with him. So there they were, pushing a lab trolley full of stolen equipment, with Sirius under Remus' arm.
He was staying warm, that's what Sirius told himself. And when they got back to their shared apartment (the three of them were roommates), he could grab his jacket to make the journey back to the lab, to bring around the second trolley. (Remus had refused to part with any of his lab materials, and it turns out James has more stuff than both of them combined).
Part of Sirius didn't want to get his jacket, purposely forgetting it, then he could stay snuggled up against Remus, under his arm. It felt so nice and cozy, and when Remus let go of him to open the door, Sirius almost grabbed Remus' arm to pull him back against him.
-------------------- Homophobia, (Internal and External) starts here, read at your own risk.
But that would be weird, because they were both men, and that was something that a girlfriend and boyfriend would do. Men weren't meant to do those sorts of things. But Remus had put his arm around Sirius first, when he noticed him shivering. Sirius wondered what it would be like to hug Remus, to feel those long and muscled arms around both sides of his body, but then he would need an excuse to hug Remus, so it wasn't weird.
Sirius had started to pay close attention to Remus, watching how if he has his music on (Remus has a strange taste in music), his body gently swayed to the beat. Or that Remus could sing, his deep baritone voice like liquid gold in Sirius' ears, or that-
"Sirius, you're staring at me. Do you need anything? Because you look like you're trying to figure out the mysteries of the universe." Remus' rich voice invaded Sirius' ears, and made his brain short circuit.
"I err- No, wait yes! Err- what, hang on, I- jus- err- Huh?" The words that came out of Sirius' mouth must have made Remus amused, because he threw his head back and laughed as he stepped in the door. Remus' laugh alone nearly gave Sirius cardiac arrest. He stood there dumb-struck for a second, and then walked through the door behind him.
These feelings had only just started, but they were waging a war against Sirius' common sense. It wasn't natural, and it would only jeopardise their friendship and work.
Sirius did end up forgetting his jacket, but not on purpose. All these new thoughts and feelings were running rampant in his brain, overriding all common sense. He was once again, tucked under Remus' arm, trying to burrow into the other man for warmth.
Just as they walked past the New York Public Library, a voice called out from the shadows.
"Hey Fags!"
They turned around, Remus let go of Sirius. Four teenage boys staggered out from behind the lions. They wobbled over to Sirius and Remus, surrounding them in a semi-circle.
"What?" Remus drawled, putting his arm casually around Sirius. Sirius' brain short-circuited yet again and he nearly fainted.
"You're disgusting, you know that? People like you shouldn't be allowed to exist. You should have all been shipped off to Vietnam and left to rot there in the 70s." The same boy spat on Remus' shoes.
Remus winced as the boy mentioned Vietnam. Sirius knew something bad had happened to Remus there, when he went ages ago on a research trip, and he came back all scarred. But Remus doesn't like to talk about it, so no-one else really brings it up, because it's not their story to tell.
"Is that your car?" Remus nodded toward a beat-up looking Cadillac.
"Yeah, yeah it is, bet you ain't never even touched a Cadillac in your life, fag." Another kid with a southern accent piped up.
Remus turned to walk away, he didn't get two metres before one of the hooligans threw a half empty beer can at his head.
"Hey! We're talking to you, Fag. Now hold still, the both of ya. You're about to get your asses kicked." The southern one said, as he walked up to Remus, getting in his face (the guy had to stand on his toes though, a very funny sight indeed).
"No, I'm just going to break the hands of three small children." Remus smiled, canines glistening in the moonlight.
"There are four of us." A dark haired boy said, looking confused.
"One of you has to drive the rest to the hospital," Remus declared.
"oooooooh. Scary." The biggest of the boys stepped forward, taking a swing at Remus.
Remus grabbed the boy's fist and twisted it until a wet crunch came from the bone. The kid let out a pained sound, and fell to the floor, clutching his wrist.
"Now, who's next?" Remus grinned.