If In The Beginning

Chapter Two: Sirius

As they walked back to Gryffindor Tower, Sirius felt his heart finally slow to normal. That had been too close, he thought. He´d have to stop staring at Remus so often, or James would figure it out. But...James had said Remus stared at him too. Was it possible that...no. Remus had dated Amoria Wist all of last year. Then again, Amoria had asked out Remus, and he´d broken up with her. And he´d been notoriously shy around her.

Sirius suddenly became aware that Remus was right behind him. As the started up the staircase to the portrait hole, he could actually feel Remus´s breath on the back of his neck. His heart began to thump wildly again.

"Forbidden," Remus said. Sirius´s heart leapt to his throat, until he realized that Remus had just said the password. The portrait hole swung open.

Once they were back in their dormitory, Peter flopped on his bed. "Well, we weren´t caught," he said.

"Of course not," said Sirius, collapsing on his own bed. James and Remus followed suit.

"Lily´ll be pleased," said James. "I almost feel sorry for Snape. It´s his own fault, though. He wasn´t even too clever about doing it, openly gaping at Lily. Lily said that until he began to change back into himself, she thought Cynthia Moore was gay."

Out of the corner of his eye, Sirius stole a glance at Remus. His friend´s face was a stone mask.

"We´d better get to bed," said Peter hurriedly. Peter was the least clever of the group, but one of his rare talents was an uncanny knack for sensing discomfort.

"Good night, all," said James, and turned off the light.

~~*~~

At around two in the morning, Sirius found himself suddenly and inexplicably awake. Moonlight poured through the window. Instinctively, he looked over at Remus´s bed. It was empty. As he sat up further, he saw that Remus was sitting on the window seat, gazing at the half-moon. Quietly, he got out of bed and walked over to him.

"Remus," he said softly, "hadn´t you better get some sleep?"

Remus turned. "Oh, hello Sirius," he said, smiling faintly.

Sirius sat down next to him. "Come on mate," he said, "back to bed." Mate. Now there was an interesting word.

"I´m all right, Sirius, honestly," said Remus, looking into Sirius´s pale blue eyes. Their eyes rested like that for a few seconds, liquid blue and deep hazel. Then Remus turned his head towards the window.

"Is it waxing or waning?" Sirius asked.

"Waxing." Remus was quiet for a minute. "I can never sleep right on nights when the moon is waxing."

Everything was getting too solemn and emotional, Sirius thought. Even the red dye adventure had been less high-spirited than usual. Time to lighten things up a bit.

"Remus," he said, "you are getting into that bed and sleeping if I have to carry you there." Ooh, that didn´t turn out quite the way he intended it...or did it? What did Muggles call that sort of thing again? Freudian slips.

Luckily for him, Remus had not noticed. "That is, if you can lift me," he said, a mischievous grin flashing across his face.

Sirius felt more at ease. "Ought to be easy," he said, "you´re so skinny."

"Not that skinny, thank you very much," said Remus with mock indignition.

"How much do you weigh, one hundred and thirty pounds? Easy."

"I bet you five Sickles you can´t," said Remus.

"Well, say goodbye to those Sickles, then," said Sirius. Then, with a courage he didn´t know he possessed, he said, "Come on, put your arms around my neck."

Remus´s slender, warm arms encircled his neck. Sirius was surprised at their softness. The downy hairs tickled his neck, and he felt a strong longing deep inside of him to pull Remus closer and kiss him, discovering if his mouth was as soft and warm as his arms. Instead, he slid his arm under Remus´s knees and lifted him.

Carrying Remus was a little harder than he had anticipated, but still doable. "You owe me five Sickles, Moony," he said, as he gently lay Remus down on the bed.

Remus leaned closer to him. "The deal was you had to carry me to the bed and I would sleep. You don´t get any money" he raised and lowered his eyebrows "if I don´t stay in bed and sleep!" With that, he leapt out of bed and sprinted across the room.

Sirius felt the nervousness he had had leave him. Once again high-spirited, he playfully lunged at Remus and chased him around the table.

"Come back here, you git, I need that money," he cried.

"Too bad, Padfoot, old chap," said Remus, his mouth open and wide and his eyes dancing merrily.

"You´ll have to run faster than that."

Sirius lunged again. This time he managed to pin Remus up against the wall. "You," he said, his forehead touching Remus´s, "are going to bed. Now."

"I surrender," whispered Remus in a solemn tone, but his eyes were still full of mirth.

Sirius released him and Remus walked over to the bed and lay down. "I´ll give you the money in the morning," he said, yawning. "That is, if I stay in bed...."

Before he could get out of bed again, Sirius pounced on him and pinned him to the mattress. "Sorry, I win."

Remus looked up at him and Sirius felt his heart pounding so loud he was sure Remus could hear it too. The only noise in the room was their breath, still heavy and labored from the exertion. Remus leaned up, his lips only inches away from Sirius´s. "All right," he whispered. "You win." They gazed at each other for a second. Then, at the same time, they began to lean forward and.....

"Can´t a fellow get some SLEEP around here?"

It was Peter. Sirius jumped off of Remus in a hurry. "Sorry Wormtail, Moony and I were just having a debate here over a bet."

"You can settle it in the morning," yawned Peter. He rolled over and began to snore within minutes.

Sirius returned to his bed. Remus had closed the curtains around his. What was he thinking, Sirius wondered. Before he had time to ponder it, he fell into a deep sleep and dreamed about Remus and his soft skin all night.