Adunatio

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Day Five

Remus sighed pleasurably as wet lips made their way down the column of his throat. It tickled slightly, and it was a wonderful feeling. But not as wonderful as the hands that were stroking his stomach, making him shiver.

"Remus," a voice whispered from his collarbone, and Remus could only moan in reply as he felt a hand shoving into the waistband of his pyjama bottoms roughly and quickly, curling around his erection. He pushed his hips forward and looked up, Sirius' blue eyes staring back at him hotly.

A hand worked down below, and Remus couldn't help but gasp and moan, his eyes not leaving the other ones. Sirius' mouth opened again. "Remus. You okay?"

'More than okay,' Remus thought as Sirius' fingers did something incredibly wonderful to him. He answered with a groan.

Sirius opened his mouth again.

"Remus. Remus."

"REMUS!" Gasping for breath, Remus fought the hand that was on his chest momentarily before realizing that he was in his bed, still attached to Sirius, and that it had been a dream. He suppressed a groan as he looked at his friend's worried face, trying to ignore his throbbing morning erection.

"I think you were having a bad dream," Sirius told him, his left hand still a weight on Remus' chest. "You were groaning like you were in pain or something."

I AM in pain, Remus thought wildly as he pushed the hand off his chest and sat up. He ignored his friend as he swung his legs away from Sirius and pushed his way through the part in the curtains of his four-poster, running his right hand awkwardly through his hair. His erection throbbed pleasantly, but he attempted to ignore it as he dragged Sirius out of the bed and headed to the bathroom.

A red face and dirtied corner later, Remus felt himself calming down a little. It was time to admit to what he had been dreading to face.

He was attracted to Sirius.

He wasn't sure of when it happened, exactly. All he knew now was that he wanted to push his dark-haired friend against the wall of the shower and grind his hips into the other boy's. He wanted to claim those lips with his own.

But boys did not just suddenly admit feelings of lust to other boys. It wasn't natural, it wasn't commonly accepted, and it certainly wasn't safe to assume that feelings were mutual if one wasn't sure. Remus turned around after draining himself, finding Sirius staring at him again.

After a moment, however, Sirius turned his gaze away and resumed rinsing the suds out of his hair, facing away from Remus.

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It was Saturday, and a Hogsmeade weekend, and so Remus found himself walking down the road to the Wizarding village with his friends. The biting winter wind froze his toes through his worn boots, and his hands were almost numb. He kept both hands in his pockets, his left one in deep so that Sirius' hand would be covered, too. Lily kept smiling at him behind Sirius' back, and James kept smirking at Sirius when he thought Remus wasn't looking.

"-said that she likes Sugar Quills, so I thought I'd buy her some. You know, since I thought it might be a nice thing to do. Don't you think so?" Peter was blathering on to Lily about a Ravenclaw friend of hers that he thought quite fetching.

"Personally, I think you should find a way to Meld yourself to her." Lily grinned at Remus' scowl. "What? You and Sirius have never been so close..."

"Can't you shut her up?" Sirius inquired James in a much-too-polite tone. James just sniggered.

"You can try it yourself. I've learned my lesson already."

Lily smiled up at her boyfriend. "And I'll have to keep teaching you if you continue to be cheeky about it."

"In that case," James grinned, "I'll try to be even more cheeky, Professor. Teach away."

When they arrived at Hogsmeade they all split up, Peter wanting to go to Honeydukes, and Lily dragging James to Gladrags to buy some new robes. Sirius wanted to go to Zonko's to replenish his stock of Dungbombs. They all agreed to meet in the Three Broomsticks later on.

"I have exactly two galleons and five sickles. You think that'll be enough for twenty Dungbombs?" Sirius asked as they walked through the doorway to the shop. Remus only shrugged, looking towards the shelf of the all-new Nose-biting Teacups.

"Big seller," a gruff voice said next to him, and Remus turned to see a squat man with a bushy moustache eyeing him. "I expect that'll be the trend now. Those teacups, I mean." He picked up the nearest cup delicately. "The trick is to know how to handle them. They don't hurt you, but they play a nice prank on someone that you want to startle."

Remus was reaching for the teacup that the man was handing him. He noticed that the man had a nametag that said, "Brian" and his shirt was actually embroidered with 'Zonko's Joke Shop' across the chest. Surely, this man wouldn't allow him to actually be hurt by one of these...

The cup flew out of the other man's hand, shattering on the floor nearby, making several browsing students jump.

"Oh, so sorry," Sirius said, a little breathless, a smile on his face not unlike the one that he usually had for McGonagall after a prank had been played at school. "I didn't see you there. Here, I'll pay for it, okay?" He dug into his pockets and placed some coins into the man's hand.

Brian-the-employee walked away, grumbling after glaring at their joined arms, counting the sickles as he went to go ring the 'purchase' up. Remus glared at Sirius.

"You should be more careful," he told the dark-haired boy as he stepped over to the shattered remains of the teacup on the floor, levitating the pieces into the nearby dustbin. "Now you've just lost yourself some money, prat."

Sirius just bit his lip and nodded, seeming distracted. He led the way through the crowd towards the Dungbombs.

When they were leaving after twelve purchased Dungbombs were secured away in Sirius' pocket, Remus glanced one more time at the intriguing teacups. He skimmed the sign underneath the display.

All-new Nose-biting Teacups! Make your friends laugh! Be the entertaining host at dinner parties! Looks and acts like a real teacup until the innocent bystander picks it up and holds it incorrectly. Snaps at the nose with rubber teeth, so as to not actually harm your guests. Made with porcelain, the outside of the elegant cup is engraved with pure silver markings along the rim and the handle.

Pure silver markings.

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Remus found himself suddenly outside, wanting to say some sort of apology to Sirius for snapping, but the other boy was looking at the ground rather forlornly.

They had actually not spoken to each other since the night before. After Remus had woken up with both his morning erection and his realization of his attraction to his friend, he had refrained from speaking more than one syllable at a time.

Unfortunately, Sirius chose that next moment to comment on the lack of communication between them. "You mad at me about something, Moony?"

Remus winced at the sad tone in Sirius' voice. He forced himself to smile and look over at his friend. "No, I'm not mad. Why would I be?"

"I don't know. Ever since yesterday, in the showers..."

"Let's not talk about that," Remus said a little harshly, and then immediately felt bad at the look on Sirius' face. "Look, I'm just a little embarrassed, okay? You may not be, but I don't fancy letting everyone know about my private activities." He sighed. "It's just humiliating. I'll get over it. It's nothing you did." Except for when you whispered my name the other morning as you wanked off in front of me, starting me down this impossible path of thinking that you and I could possibly...

"Good," Sirius grinned, interrupting Remus' frantic thoughts. "You up for going to Honeydukes, now?"

Feeling himself starting to relax, Remus nodded. He walked beside Sirius, his right hand in his pocket, feeling the two knuts nestled in there between his fingers. His mouth watered at the thought of a Sugar Quill.

When they got to Honeydukes, they looked around for Peter, but he wasn't there any longer. Sirius went immediately over to the liquorice wands, staring longingly at the display of sweets. "Damn, I spent all of my money at Zonko's. You think they'll let me return one of the Dungbombs?"

The liquorice wands were two knuts each, and Remus was really hoping to get some Sugar Quills, which were three for only one knut, but he found himself pulling the coins out of his pocket at the same time his mouth opened, spilling the words, "I can buy you one."

It was worth losing the chance for a Sugar Quill. Sirius' face lit up, and he grinned at Remus happily, his eyes sparkling. Remus fought down the urge to smile, himself, as he forked over the money.

"I'll make it up to you," Sirius said as he took the two coins, using them to pay for his liquorice wand. He winked at Remus.

The only thought that Remus had as he followed Sirius out the door was that Sirius had already more than made up for it.

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The common room was unusually quiet for a Saturday night, and Remus' hand ached as he set his quill down, rubbing his eyes tiredly with his right hand. He was about twelve inches into his essay for Potions, and he had already run out of things to say. He noticed, looking over what he had already written, that his writing had steadily increased in size the further down the parchment it was.

What else can I say about the bloody Melding potion? Remus elbowed Sirius in the side, who let out a snort and sat up from where he had been resting his head on his folded arm.

"I thought you were going to help me," Remus pointed out. Sirius had agreed to look things up and read aloud what could be included in the essay, while Remus did the writing. The essay had been halfway written before Remus had realized that Sirius had dozed off.

Sirius yawned widely. "Sorry, mate. Just a bit knackered..."

The table at which they were sitting was crowded. James was across from Sirius, working on Astronomy homework, while Peter was sitting across from Remus, his quill scratching steadily as he jotted down the differences between Lethifolds and Demiguises.

"Maybe you two should go and get some sleep," James said, his forehead furrowed as he finished the last chart that he had been sketching with a flourish. He looked up and smiled. "Go on, I'll look over your essay, Remus. I'll add a few things to it so you'll have something to add when you're ready to finish."

"Thanks, mate," Remus murmured, unsuccessfully trying to stifle a yawn. He stood, dragging Sirius up with him. "Come on, let's go to bed."

Slowly, Remus led the way to the dormitory. The sconces on the wall made the bed curtains glow orange, and Remus barely made it out of his jumper before he was pushed to the bed from behind. Stumbling, he looked behind him to see Sirius, staring at him sleepily.

"I don't need to undress," Sirius told him, his eyes half shut. "I just need to lie down."

So Remus kept his trousers on, falling into the bed. He had barely had time to push the curtains out of the way. Lying on top of the covers, he closed his eyes and sighed.

With the curtain still open on Sirius' side, Remus felt himself drifting off to sleep. He wasn't sure if he was still awake when he heard Sirius whisper goodnight, and he was sure that he was already asleep and dreaming when he felt the other boy's lips on his forehead.