At The Stars

At The Stars

"I hate the night sky."

"That's understandable, Remus," Sirius whispered into the silence. A light breeze wafted gently through his hair and he ran his fingers through the grass at his sides. He and Remus were lying on the damp, grassy expanses of the Hogwarts grounds, staring into the starry sky. The moon hadn't risen yet, but Remus insisted on checking his watch nervously. "You are, after all, a werewolf."

"Shh," Remus hissed irritably, even though he knew nobody else would be out on the grounds at this time of night. Even if there was somebody stupid enough to be out this late, they would never see Sirius or Remus. They had borrowed their friend James' Invisibility Cloak, and couldn't be seen by the human eye.

"How much longer?" Sirius asked idly, yawning lightly. Remus checked his watch again.

"Five minutes."

"You shouldn't worry so much, Remus," Sirius muttered, no hint of scolding present, "the moon is waning." Remus picked at a fresh scab on his left hand.

"Waning or not, the moon is still my enemy." He let out a ragged breath. "Can we not talk about it?"

"Sorry," Sirius said nonchalantly, his eyes searching the heavens above him. Silence engulfed them once more, and Sirius looked over at the fair-haired boy beside him. "I'm sorry," he said more earnestly, and Remus turned his head to look at Sirius, a look of light confusion crossing his features.

"For what?"

"I shouldn't bring you out here like this. It's rather selfish of me."

"Selfish?"

"Yeah. I just come out to gaze at my own stupid star, and you're sitting here petrified of the bloody moon."

"Your own star?"

Sirius sighed, mildly frustrated at Remus' ignorance, and rolled his eyes lightly. "Do you ever pay attention in Astronomy, Remus?"

"Well," Remus began meekly, squirming under Sirius' penetrating gaze, "no, not really. His excessive lectures on the phases of the moon sort of turned me off the subject."

"Remus, we had two lessons on the phases of the moon," Sirius said, exasperated. "But that's beside the point," he added quickly. "When we were learning about the ancient views on astronomy - how the stars and planets got their names, how people put the stars together with stories to form the constellations, things like that - Professor Etoile mentioned the horoscopes. The one I was born under is Pisces, and the Pisces constellation contains my star." Sirius looked back at the sky. "There it is, right there." He pointed through the Invisibility Cloak at the myriad of stars above them. Remus continued to look at Sirius' spellbound face, not daring to look into the night sky. The moon should have risen by now, and he hated seeing it slowly rising to apogee. Sirius looked back at him and frowned slightly. "Oh, go on, the moon won't bite." Fear shone through Remus' eyes, but Sirius pressed on. "For me?"

Shifting uncomfortably under Sirius' gaze, Remus bit his lip and looked up at the sky. The moon shone brightly down at him, the waning crescent burning harshly through the darkness. Remus flinched slightly, and Sirius grabbed his shaking hand. "Don't look at the moon, please," Sirius pleaded. Remus tore his eyes from the glistening sliver of his enemy and concentrated, with difficulty, on the twinkling pinpricks of light scattered across the inky black sky. "Okay," Sirius' soothing voice whispered next to Remus, "can you see the red, unblinking star?" Remus gulped and cast his eyes about the sky, looking for a red star.

"Yes," he breathed finally. Sirius wriggled closer to Remus, so that their shoulders were touching.

"That's Mars. If you look three stars to the north and four to the west, and you'll find it. It's a big, bright star twinkling furiously."

"I see it," Remus whispered after a moment. The star in question was larger than those around it, and did seem to be twinkling energetically. It was also, Remus noted nervously, rather close to the moon.

"That's my star," Sirius said dreamily, running his thumb gently over the back of Remus' hand.

"Why is it your star?" Remus asked tentatively.

"Well, I was born under it, for one thing. My mother gave birth to me... well, in a field. My dad was too scared to leave her side for help, so he delivered me, under the stars. My mother told me the first thing she saw when she regained consciousness was that star." Sirius paused. "The story was much more romantic when she told it," he said, wrinkling his nose.

"What's the star called?" Remus asked, gazing intently at the bright star. A smile crept quietly onto Sirius' lips and he chuckled.

"Sirius," he said bemusedly, "The Dog Star."

"Ah," Remus said simply, "I see. That makes sense." He looked over at Sirius, who had turned to him. "Because, you know, your Animagus is a dog and everything," Remus babbled, acutely aware of the lack of space between himself and Sirius. Sirius smiled, and his breathy laugh tickled Remus' face.

"You're a fast learner, Remus," Sirius said, noticing that Remus was lying very still, "for someone who never listens in class."

Remus forgot his nerves and gaped indignantly at Sirius, who was smiling at him with an amused glint in his eyes. "I do listen in class, Sirius, I just -"

Sirius' mouth caught Remus' at an odd angle, so that he was kissing more of Remus' bottom lip than he would have liked. Remus' eyes remained wide open as Sirius slowly corrected his mistake, and he felt, simply, frozen in shock. He knew he had wanted this - why else would he have come out with Sirius every night for the better part of a month? - but now that it was finally presented to him, he found himself unable to react. He had never kissed anyone before, let alone another boy, his best friend, his confidante... how is this supposed to work?

As though reading Remus' mind, Sirius reached over with his free hand and rested it at the back of Remus' head. Very slowly, and with the utmost consideration for the other boy, Sirius gently pulled Remus' head closer to his own, his lips now pressing more insistently on Remus'. Finding that his shock was wearing off and his rational thought floating away at a dizzying speed, Remus released a deep breath and slowly shut his eyelids.

Remus moved his lips awkwardly against Sirius', trying to mimic one of James and Lily's kisses - the thought "they kiss so publicly it makes me sick" danced across his mind briefly - and soon discovered that mere friction was all that a kiss needed, not precise, calculated movements. Sirius could feel Remus' lips relax under his own and took the opportunity to pull away. Remus remained still for a moment, his eyes closed and his blushing lips wet and pursed in contentment. Slowly, he opened his eyes, and Sirius beamed at him, looking very pleased with himself.

Then, without warning, Sirius jumped up, not releasing Remus' hand, and threw the Invisibility Cloak aside. "Arise, fair sun," he shouted into the still night air, head thrown back and arms spread wide, "and kill the envious moon!" Remus let go of Sirius' hand, now standing, and grabbed the Invisibility Cloak. He shushed Sirius wildly, but from the look on the other boy's face, there was nothing either of them could do to prevent Sirius' outburst. "For she, in her weak and silvery orb, dare not compete with the joy that rays of sunlight doth bring!" Sirius broke into a run towards the castle; Remus hesitated, a small smile tugging at his otherwise scandalized features, and then followed Sirius. "She lights the earth not, her feeble moonshine slinks eerily across surfaces which inspire such rapture by day and such melancholy by night!" They stopped at the foot of the great stone steps. Sirius grabbed Remus' free hand and grinned. "So harness your infinite powers, O sun," he whispered, only a little breathless from the run, "and slay thine wicked enemy."