Lupines

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Two hands slid around Remus and hugged him around the chest while he was doing his Defense essay. "Hello Sirius," Remus said without looking up, quill scratching continuously against the parchment.

"I'm bored, Moony. Let's go do something," Sirius replied, propping his chin up on his lover's shoulder as he looked at the essay Remus was writing.

"Do your essay, Padfoot. Honestly, doing your homework the night before it's due when you have over a week to do it..." Remus started, but Sirius slid around him and kissed him, effectively shutting him up and stopping the scratching of his quill at the same time.

"All done," Sirius said when he finally pulled away. Mischief sparked in his eyes as he grinned, face still only a few inches from Remus's. Remus raised an elegant golden brown eyebrow.

"Really, now. Sirius Black actually got up off his lazy arse and finished his essay before I had to nag him? Is the world ending?" Remus quipped, but Sirius's grin just grew wider.

"Really, Moony! I actually did it, because I knew if there was nothing to nag about, you wouldn't nag, and we could do other things," Sirius replied cheekily. He pressed his face into Remus's soft brown hair and inhaled, smiling happily as he caught the scent that was uniquely Remus.

"Ah. Of course. What other things did you have in mind, Padfoot?" Remus asked, keeping his calm exterior and setting his quill to parchment again, though Sirius was really thoroughly distracting. He had a feeling he knew what 'other things' Sirius was talking about...

"Let's go for a walk around the lake. There's this spot I want to show you," Sirius suggested, completely surprising Remus. Sirius lifted his head from Remus's hair and smirked at the expression on Remus's face. "Don't look so surprised, Moony. What did you think I meant?"

"Well, usually when you suggest we do 'other things,' you mean you want me to stop whatever homework I'm doing so we can go upstairs and shag," Remus replied dryly.

"Good idea!" Sirius exclaimed, his cheeky grin back in place. "We could always do that."

But Remus shook his head slowly, chuckling. "I believe you promised me a walk, my dear Padfoot. Just let me put the finishing touches on this essay and we can go, okay?"

"But I want to go now!" Sirius whined, seating himself on Remus's lap and putting his arms around his lover. Remus sighed and shook his head, smiling slightly.

"Whatever am I going to do with you, Padfoot?" Remus asked, casting his eyes up towards the ceiling as if in a mute plea for assistance.

"You could try coming with me," Sirius said, planting a kiss on Remus's forehead and pulling back just far enough to see Remus's face. Remus smiled softly and hugged Sirius towards him for a moment.

"Fine, but you're going to have to get off me now, you know. And if I do badly on this essay, I'm blaming you," Remus said, removing his arms. Sirius slid off his lap and stood up, holding out a hand to help Remus do the same. Remus took it and Sirius hauled him up, though he didn't drop his hand. They stood like that for a moment, reveling in the simple touch of hand to hand, before making their way out of the empty common room and out of Hogwarts altogether, seeing no one, not even Filch, even though it was the middle of the night.

They walked hand-in-hand down to the lake until they reached the shore, at which point they stopped, and Remus turned to Sirius.

"Where is this spot you wanted to show me?" Remus asked, smiling up at Sirius, who was just a few inches taller than him. At first, Sirius didn't say anything, just pulled him into an embrace, holding the smaller boy against him. He buried his face into his lover's hair for the second time that night and smiled.

"Love you, Remus," Sirius murmured from amongst the soft brown strands.

"I love you too, Sirius," Remus replied softly, winding his arms around the other boy and leaning his head against his lover's shoulder. He closed his eyes, and they stood there like that, bathed in the soft moonlight cast from the waxing gibbous moon. The full moon would be in slightly less than a week, but while in the presence of his mate, Remus felt nothing but calm and a radiating happiness from the wolf.

Finally, Sirius pulled away, but entwined his fingers with Remus's. "Come on. It's not far," he said, tugging on Remus's hand, and Remus let himself be pulled. Despite the incident with Snape and the Whomping Willow last year, Remus trusted Sirius completely, and would follow wherever he led.

They walked along in silence, comfortable with the other's simple presence. They walked past the lake and closer to the Forbidden Forest, but Remus wasn't afraid. They'd be in the Forest plenty of times, both with their animal forms and their human. They walked under the dark boughs of the trees at the edge of the Forest and further towards the center. Once Remus thought he saw a Bowtruckle, hidden amongst the leaves of one of the bigger trees, but the two Gryffindors just walked past. Finally they came to a tall clump of bushes, and Sirius stopped. He got out his wand, muttered something, and the bushes moved aside just enough for Sirius and Remus to slip through. Once both boys were inside, the bushes slid back to cover the entrance. Sirius put his wand away and moved behind Remus, his hands coming up to cover Remus's eyes.

"Sirius...?" Remus asked, wondering just what exactly Sirius was doing.

"Shh, Remus. It's a surprise, and I don't want you to see until we get there. It'll be just a minute, okay?" Sirius replied, and slowly moved forward. Remus moved forward too, letting himself be guided by Sirius, until suddenly Sirius stopped and removed his hands. Remus blinked and his eyes widened. He turned around slowly, surveying the clearing that Sirius had brought him to.

It was well lit, despite being in the middle of a dark forest in the middle of the night, because of the myriad candles that were floating around the edges of the clearing. The grass was a deep, vibrant shade of green, slightly springy under Remus's feet. There were a couple of boulders on one side, and directly across from the boulders was a small pool, surrounded by a bunch of flat rocks and bunches of colorful flowers. Remus walked closer to the pool, and as soon as he got close enough, saw that the flowers were lupines.

"Sirius..." Remus breathed, and turned around to face his lover, who was standing in the center of the small clearing, smiling sheepishly. Sirius walked closer and stopped just in front of Remus, gazing into those amazing gold-flecked eyes.

"What do you think?" Sirius asked softly.

"It's...it's beautiful, Sirius. So beautiful. I didn't know that lupines would grow here," Remus said, looked at the lupines.

Sirius looked at the lupines too. "It's probably because of the Forest being magical and all. Northern Scotland may not exactly have the climate for lupines, but maybe the Forest just had them grow here anyway."

"It's beautiful...how did you find it?" Remus asked. Sirius sat down on one of the flat rocks at the edge of the pool, pulling Remus down with him so that he was sitting on his lap, arms around his neck, Sirius's own arms around Remus's waist.

"It was during those couple of weeks last year when you and James and Peter weren't speaking to me. I'd go run as Padfoot a lot, often into the Forest, and one time I just stumbled into this clearing. At first I thought it was just another clearing, a bit prettier than most, until I saw the lupines. Seeing those lupines made me feel as if I were closer to you, so until you let me be with you again, I came here every day," Sirius said quietly, his arms tightening around Remus's waist as if they never wanted to let go.

Remus's eyes widened, and he tightened his own arms around Sirius's neck, holding himself closer. He kissed Sirius gently, then pulled back. He moved his arms to Sirius's waist and laid his head on Sirius's shoulder, nuzzling into Sirius's neck.

"I'm sorry for abandoning you for so long," Remus began, but Sirius shook his head.

"I deserved it, for being such a stupid idiot as to send Snape down the tunnel. But I didn't bring you here to talk about that."

"What did you bring me here for, then? A snog?" Remus asked, smiling slightly.

"Not quite," Sirius said, chuckling. "I won't deny that a snog sounds good right about now, but I really brought you here to ask you something. I figured this would be the best place to ask it."

"What is it?" Remus prodded as Sirius fell silent. Sirius shifted around a bit before he continued.

"Well," he began. "We're nearing the end of seventh year and all, and I was just thinking a bit. James and his family were awful nice and all to take me in after I ran, but I don't want to impose on them any longer than I have to. So that's why I was thinking of buying a flat in London or something, after graduation. So I was just wondering...would you like to move in with me?" Sirius said the last bit in a rush, as if afraid that Remus would reject his offer.

"Oh, Sirius...of course I'll move in with you," Remus replied, filled near to bursting with happiness. It was a dream come true...to go live with Sirius, just be with Sirius, in every sense of the word...

"You--you will?" Sirius sounded as if he couldn't believe his ears. Remus couldn't help but laugh a bit at the incredulity in his lover's voice.

"Did you think I wouldn't? I love you, Sirius, and I'd love to move in with you," Remus said, pressing a gentle kiss to Sirius's cheek.

"There's a difference between loving me and living with me," Sirius mumbled, looking down and flushing a bit. Remus tucked a finger under Sirius's chin and lifted it until Sirius was looking straight into his eyes.

"I'd love to live with you, Sirius. I love you and I never want to leave you," Remus said firmly. Then he got a mischievous glint in his eyes and said playfully, "Besides, I live with you already, don't I? If you don't call living in the same dorm for seven years living together, I don't know what is."

"Yeah, but there was always James and Peter...we couldn't always ignore them, and their presence meant we couldn't do a lot of things. We won't have the same problem once we graduate..." Sirius said uncertainly.

Remus laughed. "Yet another reason to get a flat together as soon as possible! You sure we can't go right now?"

Sirius began to laugh too, hesitantly at first, but gaining confidence until both boys were laughing so hard they couldn't sit up anymore. So they lay together near the bed of lupines, arms around each other, laughing into each other's shoulder. Finally the laughter died down, and Sirius pulled back just enough to gaze searchingly into Remus's face. He must have found whatever he was looking for, because his face relaxed, and he pulled Remus closer.

"What are we going to do about the full moons?" Remus asked into Sirius's shoulder. There was silence, and at first Remus thought that Sirius hadn't heard him, so he was just about to repeat his question when Sirius replied.

"...There's lots of things we could do, really. We could put a bunch of silencing charms around the flat and transform there, though we'd have to try to keep from chewing the furniture." We. That was another thing that Remus loved about Sirius; he always included himself whenever they talked about the full moons. After only two years of having Padfoot and the rest with him and ten years before that of being alone, Remus still shivered delightedly whenever he was reminded that he wasn't alone anymore. Sirius, who thought his shiver came from cold, held Remus closer, and Remus sighed happily, burrowing into Sirius's warm body. Then Sirius continued. "Or we could Apparate back to Hogsmeade and the Shack, though we would probably have to get Dumbledore's permission. But there's also plenty of abandoned cabins in the mountains or something that we could use if Moony wanted a change of scenery. What do you think, Remus?" Yet another thing to love about his mate. Sirius loved Moony as well, not just Remus. Remus smiled.

"We don't have to decide right now," Remus replied, looking up at Sirius. "We're not graduating for a couple months yet, and we could always do several of those. I think Moony would appreciate the change of scenery every once in a while."

"You're right, we don't have to decide yet. Right now...I'd love to just stay here all night with you..." Sirius murmured sleepily into Remus's hair.

"Then we will," Remus said, snuggling up to Sirius. He grabbed his wand and conjured a pillow, which they leaned against the rocks at the side of the pool. They lay back, and the last thing Remus smelt before sleep took him was the vague fragrance of the lupines.