Gryffindor Cabin
The next week passes in a blur of staff training and increasing summer heat. Sirius trades his leather jacket for black muscle tanks and learns more about campfire building than he ever thought would be necessary. After the night at the bar, Remus has warmed up but is still keeping himself at an infuriating distance from Sirius and the rest of the new staff. Unfortunately, Sirius doesn’t have time to ponder this as the first round of campers will be arriving in the afternoon.
McGonagall sweeps into the storm shelter where the check-in desk is set up, with a clipboard in one hand and a coffee mug in the other. She often reminds Sirius of a professor or maybe a drill sergeant. “Okay, I have your final cabin assignments. I will hear absolutely zero complaints, got it?” Sirius nods along with the others. “Molly and Mary will be with the female horse campers in the Burrow. Marlene and Lily are in Shell Cottage with the in-campers. Arthur and James will be with the male horse campers in Cabin 9 and 3/4. Which leaves,” Sirius feels a smile creep onto his face. “Remus and Sirius in Gryffindor with the rest of ‘em.”
James elbows Sirius in a less-than-subtle manner and Sirius is too busy looking at Remus to shove his friend off. Remus raises his eyebrows ever so slightly when his eyes meet Sirius’s. It’s better than nothing, he tells himself.
“Please move into your cabins, do any prep needed for the next two weeks, and be back here by 1:30 for check-in,” McGonagall says.
“Hey–wait, I know nothing about horses, you know that right?” James was wide-eyed.
“You’ll learn,” Arthur grinned and threw an arm around James’s shoulders.
~~~
When the pairings are announced, Remus is convinced Minerva is playing a cruel, cruel trick on him. To Remus’s utter surprise Sirius, and the others, have been completely immersed in camp. In two days Sirius could build and assemble a tent just as fast as anyone else. Remus finds this quite annoying. It doesn’t help that the sun has given Sirius a warm glow and that his stupid tank tops leave his strong arms on full display. Remus’s resolve is weakening with every passing day.
Sirius is pestering Remus about this and that as they walk through the woods towards Gryffindor. Remus can’t bring himself to be bothered by this though. A breeze is coming off the lake and the sun is strong. The anticipation of the arriving campers is almost tangible and Remus is perfectly content, despite Sirius’s constant chattering and his very tight t-shirt.
“This one, right?” Sirius points to a small red cabin with peeling red paint. The sign outside the door is penned in gold, and two tall pine trees stand guard on either side.
“Home sweet home,” Remus nods. Gryffindor has always been his favorite cabin. It was the first one he ever stayed in, so maybe he’s biased, but Sirius is grinning up at the rickety old building too.
“Oh I totally want the top bunk,” Sirius laughs as they enter the cabin.
“It’s all yours,” Remus smiles and pushes through the curtain that separates the camper’s beds from the counselor’s. He drops his bags on the flimsy mattress that covers the bottom bunk and goes about organizing his things. He watches as Sirius pokes about the whole cabin, before climbing up into his own bunk.
“Remus?” Sirius says a few minutes later.
“Yeah?”
“Um, could you . . .” Sirius sighs. “Could you help me with my sleeping bag?”
“What? Sure, just bring it down here.” Remus groans.
Sirius clambers down from his bunk and plunks down next to Remus. Their knees brush together on the edge of the bunk and Remus does his best to ignore it. Sirius hands over his sleeping bag which has somehow become tangled around itself.
“How did you even–never mind, I don’t want to know,” Remus shakes his head and starts to unravel it. The bag is bulky and Remus finds it hard to keep distance between him and Sirius. Every time he pulls on the knots their arms bump, and their legs are pressed together. Remus’s head is spinning at the contact but he focuses on the task at hand and eventually, the sleeping bag is untangled.
“Thank you,” Sirius doesn’t get up, doesn’t pull himself away. Their legs are still touching. “God, if I can't put out my sleeping bag imagine how helpless I’ll be with the kids.” His tone is light, but a slight grimace passes over his face.
“Don’t worry when I first came here I couldn’t do all this stuff either.” Remus offers, a little awkwardly.
“You were like twelve,” Sirius deadpans.
“Actually eight,” Remus corrects him.
“Oi, piss off,” Sirius laughs. Remus laughs too and he fears he’s starting to truly like this infuriating man.
After their bunks are properly made for the coming days they move into the main cabin. Remus hangs camp banners and string lights while Sirius sits crisscrossed on the ground and makes a welcome sign with markers from Remus’s backpack.
“What do you think?” Sirius holds up the finished sign.
“Is that a dog?” Remus points at the unidentifiable yellow animal that Sirius had scrawled across the bottom.
“It’s a lion!” Sirius says, indignant.
“Right,” Remus indulges him.
“It is!”
“Whatever you say.”
With Gryffindor cabin properly adorned for the incoming campers Remus and Sirius make their way back to the storm shelter with just a few minutes to spare. Before long Remus sees cars rumbling into the dusty parking lot.
Sirius graciously offers to walk the kids to the cabin, so once the first boy is dropped off Remus waits in Gryffindor with him. It takes barely twenty minutes for all six boys to arrive at camp and Gryffindor's cabin is quickly descending into chaos. Remus is tackled in a hug by Fabian and Gideon. Molly’s little brothers, and Illvermony’s most faithful campers. A small brunette boy kicks a soccer ball around, while Sirius redeems himself by helping a blonde boy with his sleeping bag.
Once everyone is settled in they start with introductions. Fabian and Gideon, prefer to go by Fab and Gid. The brunette, Oliver is a third-year camper and is completely obsessed with soccer. The blonde is Christopher has never been to sleep-away camp before. The final two, Dean and Seamus are best friends dressed in completely matching outfits. From their lightning mcqueen crocs to their neon green baseball hats.
Remus goes over camp rules, and then Sirius goes over the schedule for the coming weeks. They find a rhythm quickly as they hit on all the essentials.
“Why do you sound like that?” Oliver interrupts Sirius.
“Like what?” Sirius smiles in a way that makes Remus’s heart do something traitorous.
“Like all fancy, or something,” Oliver explains.
“Yeah, why?” Dean adds.
“When I’m not at camp, I live in England,” Sirius explains.
“Like where the Queen is?” Fabian looks amazed.
“That's the place,” Sirius agrees. “And where I come from we come from we call that a football,” He points at Oliver's ball.
“No. This is a soccer ball. Footballs are brown.” Oliver says.
“I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree,” Sirius shrugs.
“I guess so.” Oliver crosses his arms.
“Do you know the Queen?” Seamus gapes at Sirius. He shrugs and winks. Seamus’s jaw falls even further.
“Hey, Remus!”
“Yeah, Fab?” Remus says.
“Where’s Molly?”
“Who’s Molly?” Christopher asks.
“My big sister,” Gid says proudly. “She works here.”
“Wait so do you guys know like everyone and everything here?” Seamus looks impressed.
“Pretty much,” Gid and Fab say in unison.
‘Wow,” Sirius says quietly.
“This is just the beginning.” Remus smiles.
“The beginning of what?” Dean asks expectantly. Remus and Sirius just laugh.