Cinnamon's Wake
Sirius was cranky today, it was 7 in the morning and he was already dressed, ready to leave for an early meeting, waiting for Harry so they could leave togethe. Sipping his coffee, he grimaced at the TV.
"Hey, I have an idea for a new reality show. How about everyone just looks out their freakin' kitchen window for a change?" Sirius told Harry as soon as he walked into the room.
"Ooh. He's grouchy this morning." Harry teased.
"Let's just say the world has a formidable opponent" Sirius sniped.
"Wait -- shouldn't you be baking?" Harry accused suddenly
"I don't know. Shouldn't you be knitting?"
"Padfoot! The Hogwarts bake sale is today!"
"I know. I've got it covered."
"They expect the things to be homemade," Harry said suspiciously, eyes narrowed.
"I know." Sirius huffed
"By someone other than Dolly Madison." Harry snarled.
"I said I have it covered," Sirius said before grabbing the keys and heading out with Harry, they both started on their way, Sirius to work and Harry to the bus stop.
"Bye," Sirius called out
"I'll see you later at school." Harry nodded
"For what?" Sirius quirked
"Padfoot! the bake sale!" harry said looking immensely distressed
"Ha! I got the vein in the forehead. Whoo!" Sirius laughed
"Sadist." Harry said giving him an unimpressed glare.
x
Once the table was set up for the sale Molly Weasley set out a complicated array of baked goods she'd managed to make when Sirius had come knocking on her door, in exchange for babysitting all the kids for one night.
"OK-- we've got our French fantasies, American treats, and our Italian taste sensations. Well, what do you think?" she cheered.
"Amazing." Harry beamed at her
"Incredible." Sirius smiled
"It is good, isn't it? Well, final touch." Molly said getting out the blowtorch to caramelise the creme brulees
"Oh, can I do that?" Harry asked, eyes glinting with far too much maleficence for Sirius' heart health.
"Okay, honey, just this once," Molly said handing it over, which happened to be right before Harry lit the tablecloth on fire.
Sighing, Sirius filled a cup with lemonade from a nearby table and extinguished the flame. The woman that owned said lemonade didn't look too pleased with that.
Sirius fumbeled trying to give them his best smile
"Um -- hi. Oh, well, gee...what is that, a dollar? Let me find you a dollar. You know what? I'll take two -- I'll drink one. Mmm...tasty and flame-retardant" He said raising the glass in an awkward sip, trying to diffuse the situation before he got sent to the headmasters' room or whatever it is old white ladies were capable of.
"Very Henry the Eighth." Sirius heard from behind him, looking around to see Remus Lupin. Great.
"Well, we're not into subtle," Sirius said coldly, not sparing the man another glance.
"Good to see you, Sirius" Remus smiled "Good to see you, Mr Lupin" Sirius sneered.
"Remus." he corrected
"Mr Lupin," Sirius said resolutely
"Remus."
"Mr Lupin. Meet Molly, our neighbour. Molly, Mr Lupin." he said pointedly glaring at the other man.
"Sirius, could I borrow you for a second?" Remus asked eyes imploring.
"okay- yeah, sure-," Sirius said hesitantly, looking to make sure Harry wasn't around anything flammable before walking alongside Remus.
"You know, Sirius, I would love for the ice to thaw." Remus started
"There's no ice." Sirius shrugged
"Well, you repeated my full name four times. That's ice." Remus smiled, self-deprecating and a little amused,
"No, that's not ice, it's wintry." Sirius teased, still angry but melting. Damn it, the ice was thawing for sunshine Lupin, because of course it was.
"I was doing my job when I didn't let Harry take that test. I didn't like it but I had to do it." Remus reasoned, sounding if not a little despaired.
"I know." Sirius conceded, he actually had rationalised when he wasn't feeling particularly murderous towards the teacher.
"And I'd do it again," Remus added pointedly, because of course he did, bastard.
"OK." Sirius huffed once again not too happy with how this conversation was going.
"I really do think Harry's a great kid and I'm going to do my damnedest to make sure he gets through Hogwarts in one piece," Remus said softly, looking at Sirius completely sincere.
"I appreciate that," Sirius said, feeling as sincere as he looked.
"And I'd like us to be friends," Remus said, shockingly enough.
"We are. Me too." Sirius managed, a little wary.
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. Really, truly, I swear. There's no more ice. We're walking in a pool of tepid water." Sirius joked, smiling at the other man.
"Good," Remus said nodding looking relieved
"Good," Sirius reassured.
"I'm going to propose something here. I'm not sure how you're going to take it". Remus continued, non squetori.
"Oh wow, intrigue." Sirius teased, noticing how worried the other man looked suddenly.
"I'd like to see you sometime. Away from the ivy, away from the gargoyles, away from here." Remus rushed out
"Are you asking me out on a date?"Sirius said shocked, for the second time in their five minute conversation, I mean there was heavy flirting but he hadn't expected Remus to outright ask him.
"Yes," Remus said firmly nodding a little too quickly for it to match his aloof tone.
"Mm. Well, uh, I don't want to go out on a limb here, but I'm guessing if the headmaster won't let a kid be thirty seconds late for a test he'd probably frown on a teacher dating a parent." Sirius probed, slightly salty and a little intrigued.
"I do my job well, I'm dedicated to my students, and there's nothing in the Hogwarts book of ethics that prohibits it." Remus shrugged, like this was no big deal, like hell it wasn't.
"Yeah but I'm guessing it's sort of an unwritten rule." Sirius pressed, trying to talk himself out of what was clearly a poor, a poor decision for a man that man got under his skin too easily.
"Do you want to go?" Remus said simply
"And Harry would probably freak at the thought." Sirius continued like he hadn't been interrupted just then.
"Do you want to go?"
"And the other parents would have a field day with this kind of thing."
"Do you want to go?" Remus repeated, stopping Sirius' thoughts for a minute
"Yes," Sirius said immediately, no reluctance where there should've been.
"Good." Remus smiled, cocky, too cocky
"Wait," Sirius said shaking his head, trying to clear his mind, clouded with thoughts of the gorgeous man in front of him asking him out.
"What?" Remus said tilting his head curiously.
"No," Sirius said firmly, well as firmly as he could in the face of the adversity that was Remus Lupin.
"Why?" Remus asked amused
"I can't. It's wrong. It's weird." Sirius said frantically trying to convince himself that it was in fact all of those things.
"I'll pay." Remus teased
"You're on." Sirius laughed
"Really?"
" I'm kidding. I don't know. You're Harry's teacher."
"I know."
"Could you quit?" Sirius asked watching Remus look exasperated
"Right, that's crazy." He assented
"Okay. Um...how about coffee? A sort of pre-date. Very casual, no strings, no obligations. We'll just see if it's even worth going down the road of including food in the deal." Remus rationalised.Sirius considered this carefully.
I mean coffee never hurt anybody right, maybe he would even have decaf, there's nothing safer than decaf right?
Sirius took a quick breath before he could change his mind, "I'm going to be in town tomorrow because I take a class at Godric State and there's a coffee shop across the street that I sometimes, almost all the time, go to around 4:00 and usually exactly 4:12. I could not stop a person from entering said establishment around that time, nor would I avoid them if I knew them... if they did."
"See you around, Remus," he called out finally turning to leave but not before he heard the other man call back out, hearing the laughter in his voice.
"Indeed. You will."