Marlene watched Sirius pilling toasts on his plate and the piece he still had in his mouth, hesitating between feeling impressed or disgusted.
"You know you can take your time right?" she finally asked. "Class won't start for a while."
"And you'll probably get sick if you eat all that so fast," Lily added, clearly disgusted.
"I don't even know how you can eat anything so early in the morning, all of you," Mary commented, looking at her tea like it had insulted her.
Sirius tried to talk, but his toast stopped all the sounds he made from having any meaning. James translated.
"It's not for him, it's for Moony. He's sick and probably won't go out of bed but Sirius doesn't want him to starve."
"He probably wouldn't starve from missing one breakfast," Mary sighed.
"Not the point," interrupted Sirius, finally finished with his own breakfast and getting up to leave with a plate and a cup of tea. "I'm a gentleman, I take care of my conquests."
"Like you have several conquests," laughed Peter. "And he is the one who conquested you."
"That's not even a word."
"Whatever, you're whipped, it's pathetic."
"You're all just jealous that Moony does not love all of you pathetic worms the way he loves me."
"Can't argue with you there, he's a catch," said James, looking almost too serious. "Still don't get how you landed him."
"Love potion probably," said Marlene.
"Or some kind of Stockholm syndrome," offered Mary.
"Yeah, poor Remus lost his senses, locked away with all these losers. We should plan a rescue mission."
"Don't you dare even think about coming too close to him," Sirius said loudly to cover their laughter. "I'll bite you, I mean it."
With that, he departed, second breakfast in hand, but he couldn't leave the room before James called after him.
"Please tell him that I'm totally ready to leave Lily for him, he just has to say the word."
"Same here, I'm single if he asks," added Lily.
Useless, the lot of them. Of course anyone would be lucky to have Remus, he was the greatest thing life had created since life itself. Sirius would know. Being with Remus had helped him understand the meaning of the word happiness, it had made him agree with every cheesy cliché about love the world had to offer, from the butterflies to the fluffy songs (it also taught him a lot about sex and how great it could be, but this was a whole other subject).
Sirius was the luckiest boy in all of Hogwarts, because Remus loved him back. Here were the stupid butterflies again. But he was alone so, instead of trying to repress the feeling, he just started to walk faster to get to the tower. The common room was almost empty, but Sirius didn't linger there and rushed towards their room. Once there, he moved as quietly as possible, putting the breakfast down on Remus' nightstand before slowly opening the curtain. No one had bothered to try and wake up Remus earlier. The full was a few hours away, and they knew he would probably not get out of bed.
Sirius had uncharacteristically slept in his own bed the night before, since Remus had gone to sleep much earlier, and he didn't want to risk waking him up. Merlin knew he needed the rest. However, he couldn't go to class without making sure his boyfriend would be okay, and therefore had rushed his whole morning routine to get a few minutes with him. He couldn't even see him, as Remus was all the way under the covers. Before Sirius could react, an arm appeared from under the cosy hideout and grabbed him. Not that he offered much resistance, but he was dragged down and soon found himself lying next to his hidden boyfriend.
"Moony, wait, my shoes will get on your bed."
"Don't care," said a small voice.
"Wow, you must really be down."
Sirius quickly took off his shoes before joining Remus under the covers. His boyfriend didn't even open his eyes but crawled to him. He always fit just right in his arms.
"Hey."
"Hi."
"How are things?"
"Everything hurts. Why didn't you come here last night? Or this morning?"
"Didn't want to wake you."
"But I wanted to see you."
"You're not even seeing me right now."
Remus sighed and moved just enough so that Sirius could see him open his eyes. He couldn't suppress a smile.
"Hi again."
Remus groaned and went back against Sirius, putting his nose against his boyfriend's neck.
"You're cold."
"Good thing you're warm then."
"But you're hiding under all that you shouldn't be cold."
"It just… happens."
Sirius sighed. He hated everything about this. He often wished he could take all of Remus' pain and feel it himself. It would hurt less than seeing him like this and be so powerless. There was no spell or potion for that (he had looked).
"Is there anything I can do to help? I mean it, anything. I can go to Hogsmeade if there might be something… Oh and I can bring you our sugar stash, there is some chocolate left."
"Just stay."
Sirius felt his heart break a little at how small his Moony sounded. He held him closer and kissed him everywhere he could reach, slowly.
"You know I can't. I have to get you notes and if it looks like we both just skipped class to make out we could get in trouble, and I know you don't need that right now. We need all the time we can get to plan our last year pranks… and study I guess."
Remus snorted, and at least there was that.
"It helps when you're here."
"Good to know."
"I mean it… it's not just… I always like being with you but… this close to the full, the wolf likes it too."
Sirius moved away just slightly, just enough so that he could see Remus. He felt that it was a conversation where they had to look at each other. Remus looked resigned.
"You, James, Peter, Lily… it's like he recognizes you and he… I mean I feel better when you are around, but not in the way I usually like hanging with you… It's like I need it. When I touch you or when I… ugh this is so hard."
"I know, I know, I'm sorry it is, but I'm listening."
"I hurt less when I'm close to all of you. I feel… safer, warmer, calmer and all of the wolf things like how my muscles hurt or how hungry I get, it's all quieter."
"Why… why didn't you just say? We could totally help with that! James would hold your hand all day you know? Lily would just keep hugging you until you are tired of it! And I… I'd love nothing more than to spend every second with you in my arms, day and night, I'm pretty sure it's like my purpose on this earth."
"Because it's… I'm ashamed. Like even having your smell around helps and I get… jealous, like so possessive it's terrible."
"How terrible?"
"I get mad when people talk to you."
"Aw."
"I am not joking."
"Me neither! I'll help, we'll help. Moony you do not understand how desperate we all are for a way to help you! And all we have to do is unleash all of our affection! I feel like it's Christmas."
"That makes no sense."
"I don't care. I love you. Oh Merlin, is that why you always hug me with your nose on my neck?"
"Ugh…"
"Oh it is."
"Stop mocking me, I hate this. It makes me feel gross."
"I love the way you smell too, you know. I could get drunk on it."
"It's not the same th-"
Sirius interrupted him by licking his cheek and laughed when Remus complained loudly.
"See, I'm gross too, and I can't get enough of you either. Also it makes me crazy when you wear my quidditch jumper. My name on your back… Moony I'm light headed just thinking about it."
He actually was and decided to resolve the issue by kissing Remus' neck. He would definitely be late to class.
"Sirius please…"
"Everything you want, but I have an idea first."
He got out of bed and rushed towards his own, pretending he didn't hear Remus groan. He came back as soon as humanly possible, holding a huge jumper.
"What's that?"
"My jumper."
"I have never seen you wear that ever."
"Watching me much Lupin? It's actually something I wear to sleep when it's cold. I don't wear it when we stay together, first of all because you're a human heater, but mostly because it would take away most of my chances to get laid."
"Whatever you say."
"Do not flirt with me. I forbid it. I have to get to class at some point. Anyway, it should be big enough for you. And it's warm. And I've been sleeping with it for years so it must smell like me."
Remus sat up and put on the jumper above his shirt.
"One of my uncles gave it to me years ago for Christmas. Maybe he made it himself, I'm not sure. We don't talk much but my mother hates him so it's a good sign."
He fell silent for a few seconds.
"Do you like it?"
"It's almost like you are hugging me," answered Remus with a genuine smile.
Sirius felt his heart do widely embarrassing things and moved to kiss Remus, just in case that it could help.
"I'll be back at lunch to hug you for real. Classes aside I won't let you out of my arms until the sun has risen tomorrow, and even a bit after that too. You should tell the others. It's not shameful and they'll be happy they can help so easily.
He kissed him again and again so Remus couldn't answer. He found out that he could make him agree with a lot of things this way. He was starting to think that missing the first hour couldn't be so bad when Remus broke the kiss.
"Please go before I make you stay."
"Okay, I can totally do that."
He kissed him one last time before getting up and putting his shoes back on.
"Please use your wand to warm up your breakfast and eat it. I'll bring something else later. Okay, you have that, you're warm, you have a book and…"
"Sirius, I'll be fine. Go."
"Okay… I love you."
He gave him another last kiss, and finally, reluctantly left the room. Remus looked better already. Maybe he finally had a way to help, and Merlin knew he wouldn't refuse a second in his boyfriend's arms.