October
On Sunday morning, Sirius awoke to the sound of The Beatles.
He didn’t know much about popular culture, and generally tried to avoid it, but they were one band that you simply couldn’t not recognize. Annoying as it was.
Well shake it up baby, now!
(Shake it up baby!)
Twist and shout!
(Twist and shout!)
Come on, come on, come, come on baby, now!
(Come on, baby!)
Come on and work it on out!
(Work it on out!)
He groaned and pushed himself up out of bed, snapping open the privacy curtains to his four-poster.
At least Remus had the decency to be playing it quietly.
Well work it on out, honey,
(Work it on out!)
You know you look so good,
(Look so good!)
You know you got me goin’, now!
(Got me goin’!)
Just like you knew you would!
(Like I knew you would!)
He huffed.
“I’m awake now, thank you.” He said, sarcasm dripping.
“You're welcome.” Remus made no moves to turn it off.
He was sitting casually on his own bed, curtains wide open and legs out in front of himself, crossed over at the ankle. He was reading a book. He did not bother to look up from it.
How does one listen to lyrics and read at the same time?
The dorm room was empty, bar the two of them.
“Where are the others?”
“Already gone down for breakfast.”
“Ah.”
Sirius got changed quickly, opting for a pair of jeans and a black v-neck t-shirt. Remus arched a brow, finally looking up from his novel. “You sure? It’s cooling off out there,” he gestured vaguely, “might want something a bit warmer.”
He eyed the wool sweater the other boy was wearing. “I’m fine. My sport literally involves ice.”
“Right.” He nodded, casting aside the book and getting up, finally striding over to the turntable to silence John, Paul, George, and Ringo.
Come on and twist a little closer, now!
(Twist a little closer!)
And let me know that you’re mine!
(Let me know y-
They walked in silence together to the food hall.
When they arrived, Sirius surveyed the room for any sign of James or Pete, but they were nowhere to be found, so he and Remus sat together, just the two of them.
There was always a lot of food to choose from, but the boxer never strayed much from a few (bland, in Sirius' opinion,) choices. Today he stirred a mug of black tea and spread butter over plain toast. Sirius picked away at an assortment of fruits and cheeses, along with a croissant.
"You don't eat much, do you?" The question came out of nowhere. He had barely even registered the thought before it tumbled out of his mouth.
Remus' expression was indecipherable. "No, not generally."
They settled back into a somewhat awkward silence for a while.
"What book were you reading?"
A soft smile tugged at the other boys lips when he looked up at him this time. "The Catcher and The Rye."
"I've heard of it." He had, he didn't know what it was about, though, he was about to ask, when-
"What's your favorite colour?"
"What?"
"Ah... Thought we were playing twenty questions."
Oh.
They lapsed into a silence again.
"I asked you a question, you know." Remus said quietly after a while, stirring at his tea once more.
"Oh. I thought you were making fun of me."
"Why would I do that?"
Sirius shrugged, he didn't know what else to do.
"So?" Remus started again.
"So... what?"
"What is it?"
"Um, I don't know, I guess." If Sirius hadn't felt awkward before, he definitely did now.
"You don't know?"
"Yeah, I guess I've just... never really thought about it. I don't know."
Remus hummed, nodding slightly, and for a moment it felt like the conversation was about to die once more, until, "Mine's orange."
"Orange?"
"Mhm."
"Why orange?"
"Not sure. It's a very specific kind, though. Not the bright kind, like an earthy- almost yellow kind. Like turmeric."
Sirius scoffed. "Turmeric is not orange. Are you colourblind? It's not 'almost yellow'- it is yellow."
Remus was smiling, now, "Nah."
"Yeah!"
"Nuh uh!"
"Yuh huh!"
"NUH UH!"
"YUH HU-"
"GENTELMEN," All noise in the room ceased immediately as Professor McGonagall's voiced boomed through the hall. "That's much better, thank you."
Chatter resumed. Sirius and Remus' bickering did not. They finished up their food quickly and made their way to the beaten down path leading to the village. Remus had a good few inches on him, and Sirius had to walk briskly to keep up pace with his long legs. This was all fine, though, as the weather was cool and staying moving helped to stave off the chill creeping up his arms.
The other boy must have noticed this, because, "I told you so..."
"Christ. You're like a primary student sometimes. Did you know?"
Remus laughed. It was not supposed to be funny, but for some reason, Sirius found himself laughing along too, arms wrapping tighter around his middle as he did so.
By the time they made it to the tiny little town, he could feel the effects of autumn; see it impressed in the form of gooseflesh on his skin. September bleeding into October like the ink writing of a book damaged by water. A memory came to him. "Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, creeps in this petty pace from day to day, to the last syllable of recorded time..."
Remus lit up like the sun reflecting against the moon, obviously knowing the quote. "And all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
"Yeah-" Sirius found that, once again, he was smiling. He found, (perhaps without fully consciously forming the thought,) he did that a lot around Remus.
"That's one of my favorite plays of his." The other admitted.
"What is your favourite?"
Remus smiled softly. "I don't know."
They walked in companionable silence until reaching the general store. Remus slowed to a stop. "Do you mind waiting here for a moment? I'll be quick."
"Off to go get condoms?"
Remus rolled his eyes and stalked off.
Sirius waited, wiggling around a loose piece of cobblestone with his foot.
When he came back, he was carrying something black and shiny, draped over an arm. "It won't be the warmest, but they have very little selection and it was in your size. It's better than nothing." The thing, in question, was a leather jacket.
"Wouldn't it have made more sense to just bring me in with you?"
"Would you have allowed me to buy you anything?"
Sirius sighed. "I don't need this. Thank you, but save your money, I'm fine. Take it back." He pushed the cloth in Remus' outstretched hand away.
"Can't," he mused, "no returns or exchanges."
Begrudgingly, he put it on and found that, indeed, it was a perfect fit. The leather was cold at first but warmed up quickly, and he noted it worked better than he thought it would at staving of the seven degree chill.
When he met Remus' gaze once again, he found the other man to be looking at him with an expression he hadn't seen on him before. His eyes flitted over his chest and shoulders briefly, observing the way it fit him, before nodding sharply and continuing on, turning away.
The rest of the day passed uneventfully.
On Monday morning, Sirius was walking side by side with Remus in the hallway, watching James’ wild mop of hair flounce around ahead of him as they made their way to their social studies class.
Remus must have been tired, perhaps from all the socialization the prior two days, because that morning he had opted to fill an entire water bottle with tea during breakfast, rather than his normal cup. He carried it with him now. Sirius found it somewhat amusing, or, perhaps, endearing.
James turned at their door and entered the classroom for roughly one-and-a-half seconds before rushing out, again, grinning wildly.
“MRS. NORRINGTON IS SUBBING!”
“Who?”
“She’s this old lady- she subbed for one of my classes before- blind as a bat and deaf too. This is going to be great!”
Sirius got excited in his chest.
“We have to get seats together! C’mon Moony!”
They rushed into the classroom, but it was already too late. In the hurry to rearrange seating to their own fancy, the other students had all grouped together first, leaving no available places side by side.
“Bollocks!” James cursed.
“Shit.” Sirius agreed.
They all slowly trudged to the remaining seats, each one at a random location in the classroom. Remus somewhere to his left and James off to his right. The infamous Mrs. Norrington was there, already reading a novel at the teacher's desk, licking her fingers to turn the pages.
After a few awkward minutes of silence, she set it aside, and, standing on thin knobby knees, began roll call.
His surname starting with a ‘B’, Sirius was far up on the list, and one of the first to be called.
“Sirius Black?”
“Here!” James hollered without hesitation, grinning like a madman once again.
A few more names until “Remus Lupin?”
“Present!” Sirius cackled.
Across the room, Remus glared at him, before rolling his eyes and accepting his fate. He took a long drink from his tea.
There were quite a few more names to be called, until, “James Potter?”
“Here...” Remus muttered, raising his hand.
The old woman finished with a few more names- a few of which were mis-pronounced, many of which belonged to the wrong students. With attendance then complete, she immediately retreated back to her desk to resume reading.
Immediately, a pencil hit Sirius, hard, in the side of his head. It had come from the direction of James.
Turning around slowly to level him a death glare, he threw it back at the boy without hesitation, hitting home right on his glasses, sending them askew.
The pencil sailed at him once more.
He tried to dodge it, but it wound up smacking him in the shoulder this time.
This repeated a few times, until he was hit square in the mouth mid-laugh. The wood clacked against his teeth rather painfully. Scoffing, he dug around through his unorganised bag, retrieving his pen. He threw both projectiles at his friend in rapid succession. Full-force.
James scooped them up and hurled them, simultaneously, at Remus, who was actually doing the assigned work. (The nerd.)
Both of them gloriously hit him in the forehead.
The sandy-haired boy set his gaze on Sirius, before reaching to retrieve his tea-filled water bottle. Slowly, dramatically, he unscrewed the lid and pulled out the teabag within it, brandishing it as a weapon of mass destruction while maintaining direct eye contact.
It was terrifying.
Sirius desperately tried to mime for mercy, whisper-screaming “No, no, no!” But it was no use.
Remus was swinging it around like some sort of wet unholy slingshot, locked in and ready for the kill. Sirius looked to James for backup, but he was already dying of laughter, hand clamped over his mouth and silent tears of mirth streaming down his face.
The sopping teabag flew through the air toward him, and he leaned back violently, quickly, nearly tipping over backwards.
It sailed past him. However, the girl sitting beside him was not so fortunate. It socked her square in the face with a great SPLAT. She shrieked, seething.
Many students were now in on the joke and laughing, and Sirius was backhanded hard by her, before she grabbed her bag and stormed out.
James was on the floor and clutching his abdomen.
You won’t one-up me, Moony, he thought, I’ll have the last laugh.
Glancing up quickly to check he was in the clear, he found Mrs. Norrington to be fast asleep, book on her chest and drooling. (Ew.) He took off his shoe and chucked it at his betraying friend, but Remus was faster; catching the rouge footwear straight out from the air.
It’s all over now .
Sirius braced for impact.
Remus, however, stood up calmly. Shoe in hand, he strolled right out of the classroom, leaving Sirius to gawk in silence.
Humiliated, lopsided, Sirius stalked out into the hallway, one foot higher than the other- like a pirate on a peg leg. He found Remus to be not too far away; throwing and catching his shoe in one hand absentmindedly while leaning up against the wall.
He was expecting him to put up a fight- maybe hide it somewhere, or use his height to his advantage and hold it out of Sirius' reach- maybe put it in a toilet so he'd have one wet shoe for the rest of the day.
Remus simply handed it back to him, then walked back to class.
Confused, and perhaps a bit flustered, Sirius put it back on and then followed him.