Chapter 2
How do you think I'm going to get along
Without you, when you're gone
You took me for everything that I had
And kicked me out on my own
Are you happy, are you satisfied?
How long can you stand the heat?
***
The next six months passed in a blue-tinted haze. Sirius eventually adjusted to the feeling of living away from home for so long, and threw himself into his studies - with sufficient time allocated to pranking his peers with James, of course. Peter was, to put it mildly, a background character in the movie of Sirius’s academic achievements. Sirius liked him, of course, and they got on well enough, but he didn’t contribute anything meaningful or really make any difference to Sirius’s life.
Sirius had always been smart, and Walburga and Orion raising him with governesses and tutors galore helped him get to the level of intelligence where now, he could coast by doing minimal work and still get high A’s and B’s. He knew he would have to apply himself properly eventually, when exams, and of course, final year came around, but it was still first year! Everybody knew first year didn’t really matter, and it just set you up in the teachers’ mental ranking of the classes. Sirius was sure he’d be at least top three in every class, and therefore wasn’t too worried about tests and assignments - until one random fucking Wednesday.
He’d forgotten about the fourth boy who was supposed to be arriving from Germany until he arrived, stumbling into the Great Hall during breakfast on Wednesday with bags in hand. Noticing people were staring and that he’d interrupted a meal, he flushed bright red and hastily exited before Sirius could get a good look at him. The only thing he really noted was his height - obscenely tall - and general lankiness.
***
Chemistry that afternoon was as tedious as ever - Sirius already knew all of the coursework, and Slughorn was so boring, and he was contemplating the merits of falling asleep on his table when the lanky boy from breakfast rushed in the door, dropping his books on a random counter and quickly sitting down, getting a pen and notebook out to take down notes from the board.
James straightened up. “Oi, Sirius, I reckon that’s the new kid - the one that’s supposed to be in our dorm.”
Sirius looked at him incredulously. “Ya think?” he muttered sarcastically.
The ‘new kid’, as James ever-so-elegantly put it, raised his hand from the desk he sat at near the front of the classroom, and Sirius marvelled at the juxtaposition of his ridiculously perfect posture, and his tatty, clearly second-hand uniform. He pulled it off surprisingly well though, Sirius thought, and shushed an irritating voice in the back of his head that sounded suspiciously like his mother reminding him that he was not, under any circumstances, supposed to find boys beautiful. But he was beautiful, and Sirius found himself smiling softly at the ill-fitting jumper that swamped his scrawny frame.
He continued to smile as Professor Slughorn called on the boy, who answered the question scrawled on the board to a standard that not even Sirius would be able to reach, and -
Wait. What the fuck? The professor smiled broadly at the boy, proclaimed his answer ‘perfect’, and no, this would not do at ALL.
Sirius was supposed to be the only one answering questions correctly in this class. Who does this boy think he is, swaggering in on his stupidly long legs and taking over people’s clearly preassigned classroom roles?
James nudged him. “Looks like you’ve got some competition now, mate,” he sniggered. James could go fuck himself.
***
When Sirius went back to the dormitory to freshen up before dinner, he saw the boy unpacking his clothes onto the previously empty bed. He flinched minutely when the door opened, but quickly turned around and offered a hand to Sirius with a large grin. “M’name’s Remus Lupin,” he beamed, “and I’m guessing you’re one of my roommates.” He had an accent, which, obviously he would, but Sirius wasn’t expecting it to be so…soft.
Sirius warily shook his hand, remembering the boy’s display in class before. “I’m Sirius,” he offered coldly, “Sirius Black. I sleep on the bed next to yours.” Remus’s smile dropped slightly at his hostile tone, and he gently nodded.
He moved to leave, heading to the bathroom, when Remus called after him.
“Do you think, maybe, if it’s not too much trouble, I could sit with you and the rest of the dorm at dinner?” he hesitantly asked. Good. He should be hesitating.
“That should be fine, yeah,” Sirius replied, “you’ll just have to get down quick because otherwise all the spots will be taken.” Remus smiled again.
“Sounds good!” he exclaimed softly. “Thanks, Sirius.” Sirius waved him off as he made his way to the bathroom.
“Thanks, Sirius,” he muttered, mocking the other boy. Fuck Remus Lupin. Fuck Remus Lupin and his stupid accent and his stupid long legs and his stupid smart brain and his stupid manners. Fuck Remus Lupin all the way to hell.
***
Weeks, months, and years later, in drunken rants and late-night chats at university, Sirius Black would denote that otherwise normal Wednesday afternoon chemistry class as the moment he knew he needed to absolutely fucking destroy Remus Lupin.