Mind You
"Your clan is looking for you Sirius Black." Remus recognized Alexander's scent as soon as they reached the library. He didn't catch where he was though. Him and Sirius were reaching the further end when they heard him.
"I'd appreciate if you stopped doing that. Do you just camp out here, Wilde?" Sirius seemed acquainted. He didn't even turn to face the voice, Remus finally caught his voice, lying in the bay of a window.
"Believe it or not, I'm also running from your family. Loud the lot of them." The odd Slytherin boy was using a bunch of books with his robe on top as a pillow, reading another book without turning to face Sirius. Remus thought it was a use of books he could start employing.
"I believe that of Bella." Bellatrix, Remus had leaned and remembered. Sirius started running his finger through the bookshelf.
"That one's in the restricted section," he still hadn't bothered to meet their gaze's, "I asked Pince for it a while back and she refused."
"Legilimency runs in his family, Lupin, nothing to be afraid of right now anyways." Sirius caught his puzzling expression, finally.
"The aptitude for it, you still have to lean it, horrible it is. I wanted to get it out of the way first as soon as I reached Hogwarts. But no, the books I need are in the restricted section." This felt like it was mostly to himself. "Thought I'd give it a go. and right now I'm stuck listening to everyone's thought around me all the time, it's fucking dreadful."
"Sorry?" Remus' face was still trying to figure out what to make of it. He was starting to feel anxious, he didn't know what Legilimency was, but the prospect of someone hearing his thoughts was also, fucking dreadful.
"You didn't do anything, I was the one that fucked up." Alexander closed his book, as if finally interested in the conversation. "You don't know what Sirius is planning, do you Lupin? Well if you get the book, I'll give you the common room's password, if you promise to get Snape."
"Problems with Snivellus?"
"Would deal with him myself but he's threatened to rat me out to my family more than once. Bitter reptile. You know how they get about blood-loyalty. Any-who." With that, Alexander left, the conversation, and opened his book.
Remus turned tail as soon as the book opened, grabbing Sirius. He had too many secrets to get near someone who could hear his thoughts. He heard his heart beat against his chest, but luckily for him that drowned out his thoughts. They were all the way out of the library when he finally heard Sirius "Lupin!"
"What's happening mate? I know he's a slytherin but he just kind of stays there. You're acting weird." Remus didn't notice it, of course, but he was blushing, bright red, sweaty, and couldn't thread his thoughts together. "Feeling alright?" Remus laid his back against the wall and let his weight go down to the floor.
He hadn't even known why he took Sirius with him, it was probably a mistake.
"Look," he joined him in the ground, "if it's about the reading thing, nothing to be ashamed of. We'll fix it before he cares to tell anyone."
It was a lifeline. It was either spilling the beans on that or the fact that he was a ravenous creature that once a month could eat him alive.
"Are you sure?" Remus had calmed down a little, he hadn't thought about the wolf itself, just the fact the had to keep stuff quiet, so if he only heard his thoughts, he couldn't have gotten there.
"If I'm being honest," Sirius seemed to be sitting in a confessional, like the ones at St. Edmond Matron made them take every weekend, he looked slightly guilty, and couldn't face Remus, "I've been researching some spells to help you read. You never said anything, but it wasn't a hard guess after detention." Remus was not dense. He knew Sirius was onto him, he'd confronted him about it. But never in a million years, would he have guessed that Sirius Black, posh class clown of Gryffindor tower would be looking for spells to help him learn how to read.
"You're what?"
"Well it's been hard, since you don't want to tell me about it, but I thought it'd help you out, what kind of friend would I be if I just ignored it after I knew it."
"You think of me as your friend?" For some reason that was the most moving part for Remus.
"I mean, we live together, mess around together, eat together, sleep in the same room together, see each other every day, we PLOT PRANKS TOGETHER," Sirius smiled at him, grinned, his canines had a spark, a signature Sirius Black grin, "what else would we be?" he laughed at him, "it's James, Pete, you and me. We're best friends." Every thought he had before, every anxiety, was, for a moment, extinguished.
"You sound just like Evans." Sirius begrudged the thought and theatrically showed it.
...
"I have a solution." You could always count on James Potter, "But you lot better not say one single thing about it, never, ever."
"You want us to take an unbreakable vow?" Sirius said, "I'm more than willing."
"'Course not, your mental Black." Potter said, "Just a promise is good enough."
James opened his trunk, Sirius hung over him like it was a treasure chest, which it might as well have been, because it did keep the greatest treasure they'd have for he next years.
James unveiled a cloak.
Underwhelming. Remus was thinking it was going to be a magical something, it was a fancy robe, but it wasn't even pretty. Where they try to give it to Pince in exchange for the book or something?
Then James tried it on. He was gone. He was...
"Invisible!" Excitement rolled off Sirius's voice.
"My father gave it to me while I was packing, he said he was sure it would be helpful." Mr. Potter sounded like an amazing father. Not that Remus' would know, honestly.
"My family would kill for one of these!" He was being quite literal.
"Come on, I think we should all fit down here. And it's late, Madame Pince should already be out of there."
The castle was much harder to navigate at night. To the boy's surprise however, Lupin seemed to manage directions with so much ease, "I take a lot of walks," couldn't very well tell them he had werewolf vision. They managed to get by without any trouble from Mrs. Norris, thus Filch was none-the-wiser.
In the dead of the night, the library was a scary place, some books whispered, some books wailed, someone--Peter--kept shaking under the Invisibility cloak.They stood before the restricted section, a black rusted gate, locking the more dangerous books in the library.
"Now what?" Peter said.
"Did you think this through, Sirius?" James didn't turn to face him, but was sure to have shot him a nasty look.
"Of course I did." He paused. He said nothing. "We're going in the restricted section."
"But HOW are we getting in?" James pushed, "That lock is far more complicated than any unlocking charm we can cast."
Remus figured Sirius was drawing blanks at this point, he tried talking the lock into opening, hoping for the best. It didn't work. Remus groaned. Loudly, unexpectedly. "You're not asking any questions about this." He stated. He pulled a hair pin from his robe, one he'd borrowed earlier from Lily. Wizards never thought about muggle solutions.
He started pushing the pin inside the lock, hearing the click of every point in the lock get in the right place until a louder click was followed by the opening of the lock.
Peter squirmed at the click.
"You absolute beauty Lupin! I could kiss you!" Sirius shook him around.
James turned to him in amazement. Wordless.
"Wizards never think of stuff like that as far as I've seen." Remus shrugged, it'd work for him so far. He wasn't particularly bright, just most wizards made the same mistakes.
"Now hurry, we don't want to be caught here!" Sirius pushed forward. Too loudly for stealth, but an empty library wasn't much of an audience for him.