Adunatio

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Day Seven

Remus woke in a sweat. It's Monday. Classes. Detention. He tried to remember why he was so distraught.

And then it came to him. It's the last day I'll be attached to Sirius.

Hearing a muffled groan next to him, Remus bit his lip, thinking about the upcoming day. Wauldin HAD said that the potion would last about a week, so there was no pinpointing the time when they would be separated. Would it hurt? Would Sirius' hand rip the skin of Remus' wrist off? Would it be the opposite, with Sirius' skin coming off? The essay that had been assigned had clued Remus in to the fact that when human skin was Melded together with that particular potion, the magic tendrils that raced just beneath the surface of every witch or wizards' skin dissolved it after around seven days, because skin wasn't meant to be Melded. He had not found out how it would finally unMeld, however. Briefly, he wondered what happened if Muggles were attached together with the potion. If there were no magic traces to dissolve it...

Another groan sounded, and Remus was brought back to reality even as his mind swam fuzzily from lack of sleep. It had been late when he had finally drifted off, because he was too busy thinking of why Sirius had not wanted to...well, cuddle. Not that Remus NEEDED cuddling or anything. But after what had transpired between them in the common room...it was unclear about why a wall of tension had settled between them as soon as they had laid down in Remus' bed.

But now, with the memories of the previous evening searing his brain and the quiet moans breaking the silence, Remus felt quite confident. No matter that they had not slept with arms around each other. He opened his eyes to find Sirius in the same position that he had been in on other mornings-facing him and staring at him while puffs of breaths escaped his mouth.

"Want a hand with that?" Remus asked quietly, and then bit his lip as he realized what he had said. Sirius apparently stopped what he was doing, because a grin spread over his face a second before quiet laughter escaped from his lips.

"I can't believe you just said that," Sirius gasped in between chuckles. "The look on your face right now is priceless!" He shook his head, still laughing. "'Want a hand,' he says!"

Remus tried not to cringe as he heard either Peter or James let out a sleepy snort, and he tried not to look at Sirius as he waited for a sign that they were not being overheard. After a moment, not another sound came from the other beds.

"Well, do you?" He whispered it quickly, not waiting for the answer. He gathered his courage and snaked his left hand down between their bodies to find that Sirius had unbuttoned the flap of his boxer shorts. So THAT'S why it was so wet that one morning... His hand came in contact with Sirius' erection.

As their eyes became adjusted to the greyness of the early morning, and James and Peter slept on, Remus proceeded to do exactly what he had been wanting to do for the past few mornings.

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Although he didn't want to move from the embrace that Sirius now had him in, Remus knew that the others were probably about to wake up, if they weren't already. Especially Peter, who had always been an early riser. Now that they needed a shower, Remus didn't relish the thought of having to restrain himself from touching Sirius as they cleaned up next to one of the other two boys.

"Let's go and get a shower before the others wake," Sirius whispered in his ear, and Remus vaguely wondered if he had spoken his own thoughts aloud. He nodded, forcing himself to sit up and pull his pyjama bottoms back up. He watched as Sirius tucked himself back into his boxer shorts, and they both scooted off Remus' side of the bed, making their way quietly towards the toilet.

The water had just been turned on, and Remus had just allowed a tiny smile to spread across his face while watching Sirius stare at him hotly, when he heard the sounds of bare feet on the tiles outside of their shower.

"We'll have another go later on," Sirius leaned in close and whispered into his ear. Nodding, wanting to strangle whoever it was in the next shower over, he quickly washed up and rinsed off, trying to ignore the other boy. It would not do to get excited when he wouldn't be able to relieve himself until later. Sirius, it seemed, appeared to have the same thoughts, for as soon as Remus was finished, he turned around to find Sirius facing away from him.

But nothing stopped Remus from admiring Sirius' backside as they stepped out of the shower to get ready for the day.

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Remus felt the change in the air as soon as they stepped into the Great Hall. Over near the Hufflepuff table, there were three boys staring at him and Sirius. At the nearest end of the Gryffindor table, a girl was whispering to one of her friends, and they both turned to look at him also. Eyes seemed to follow them as they made their way over to where James sat by himself, surrounded by empty seats.

Did everyone know? Was it something about the way they walked? Was it obvious in the look of his hair, or the way Sirius' robes were swishing? Had James stamped it across his forehead in bright pink letters as a prank?

Remus looked uneasily over to where more pupils were staring at them very noticeably. Dread rose in the pit of his stomach, and his appetite flew from him as he glanced down at the piles of bacon and kippers on plates in the middle of the table.

"Bloody hell, does everyone know?" He sat, not expecting an answer. But James just let out a small 'hmph', causing Remus to look up at him with raised eyebrows.

"What?" The Head Boy was chewing a mouthful of eggs, and he spoke around them. "I only told Lily and Peter."

Remus groaned, putting his head down onto his right arm. He didn't know if Lily or Peter would have told anyone about them, but the whole school seemed to know. He felt a hand on his left arm.

"Hey, remember what I said last night?" Sirius asked him in soothing tones. "The whole lot of them can go bugger off if they don't like the fact that we're together now."

"But how do they know?" Remus asked. He really didn't think that Lily would ever say anything, but he wondered about Peter, only because of the fact that their blond-haired friend was willing to cheat on his N.E.W.T.S. Did he say something to someone after James had told him?

"I told Peter not to tell anyone," James said then, "and he would never betray my trust. Nor will he ever betray yours, when you choose to tell him yourselves officially."

"And speak of the devil-" Sirius broke off as Remus looked up to see Peter grinning at them, taking the seat next to James.

He leaned across the table, his eyes twinkling. "I'm sure you would have told me this morning, but James said it last night. I'm happy for you two." He straightened up and grabbed several pieces of bacon. "As long as you two aren't carrying on while I'm in the room..."

Remus felt himself flush. Of course it wouldn't have been Peter that told! But he couldn't help but frown at the thought that the only one who knew besides Peter and James was Lily. Would she have said something to one of her friends, maybe Gwynne, and they, in turn, told someone else, spreading the news until it had circulated around Hogwarts?

And then, his suspicions were entirely wiped blank as he felt rather than saw someone standing directly behind him. He turned his head to see Snape sneering at him, with Evan Rosier and Theo Avery flanking him.

"I hope you didn't have time to defile the bathtub last night, you filthy fairies. I warned everyone I could about your relations with one another." Snape was curling his lip, his dark eyes blazing as he stared down his over-large nose at them. "It's no longer your little love secret."

Inwardly cringing as he remembered the fact that Snape would have told the whole school about their 'love fest,' Remus really hoped that Sirius wouldn't cause a scene. But just as he turned to tell the other boy to ignore the Slytherin, Sirius stood up and did something completely unexpected. He put his left arm around the slightly shorter Snape and hugged him tightly.

"Severus, love! So smashing to see your handsome face this fine morning! I noticed you didn't shave today...it's a sexy look for you. I could just eat you up! Again, I mean." Sirius was almost shouting as he grinned, pulling slightly away from his startled arch-nemesis, and then planting a sloppy kiss on the grimacing mouth. "Last night in the bathtub was so wonderful, wasn't it? Who knew that you had such a talented mouth? I don't think I've ever seen Remus lose control like that, and I KNOW I've never heard him scream so loudly before." Remus was sure that his eyes would be popping out of his head at any moment, as well as Rosier's and Avery's.

A cackling sound came from behind Remus, and he turned away from the disturbing scene to find James and Peter doubled over in laughter, clutching each other for support.

"Snape, you never said that you were in on it!" Rosier exclaimed with disgust, backing away, Avery moving with him.

"What in Merlin's name is going on here?" Professor McGonagall had arrived, frowning in turn at Sirius, who was still grinning, and Snape, who was sputtering, his face red with anger and embarrassment. Remus hid a smile behind his hand as their Head of House turned to him. "Well, Mr. Lupin? Would you care to explain why Mr. Black and Mr. Snape are disrupting a perfectly good breakfast?"

"Er...no, Professor." Remus fought to keep a straight face as he looked up at her with what he hoped was a good puppy-dog expression. "They were just discussing homework."

She stared at him, her lips pursed in thought. "Indeed. Please have a seat, Mr. Black. And please go back to your own table, Mr. Snape. I don't want to see any more 'discussions of homework' taking place during mealtimes between the two of you. Do you both understand?" Snape nodded, scowling as he turned away, and Sirius beamed at her, receiving another suspecting look as he sat down.

"That, mate, is the best thing I've ever seen happen since that time in Fourth Year when you hexed that dirty pair of underpants that we nicked from the Slytherin dormitory to flap around Snivellus' head during dinner," Peter said cheerfully, pounding a still-laughing James on the back. "And this one wasn't even planned, so I say it takes the top spot as the BEST prank ever." He raised his glass. "Cheers!"

Sirius shrugged, a smirk settled on his lips, as he raised his own glass. He stood up briefly and bowed, taking a seat again before McGonagall could rush back up and scold him. Remus just rolled his eyes. Trust the 'attention-seeker' to bask in the glory of causing havoc.

"Sorry I had to involve you, Moony," Sirius winked at him then. "I think I would off myself if old Snivelly ever laid a hand on you."

Remus found himself chuckling. "So would I, come to think of it."

The rest of breakfast passed uneventfully, and Remus even ate with his left hand, now that it didn't bother him to see Sirius' hand coming towards his mouth. Sirius grinned over at him a few times, and Remus fought to keep the blushing in his cheeks down, as he knew that he must have been showing some sort of reaction to Sirius' affections, because James and Peter kept glancing at each other and smiling at him and Sirius. When they got up to leave and head over to their first lesson, which was Charms on Monday mornings, Remus turned around to see Snape shooting daggers at the back of Sirius' head with his cold, dark eyes. If looks could kill...

Normally, Remus didn't approve of how Sirius had always treated Snape. James acted the same way, but he had let up a bit since he had started softening Lily up to him during the end of their Sixth Year, and by the start of the Seventh, Sirius was almost alone in being the one to torment the Slytherin. Remus always just watched with apprehension and a bit of disappointment usually, but the scene at breakfast was well deserved, he thought.

And with his mind occupied by the events at breakfast, he didn't register at first, as they passed through the door to the Charms classroom, the feeling of pressure on his wrist lessen. He looked down at the same time as Sirius, and they both opened their mouths in shock and glanced back up to stare at each other as Sirius raised his right hand, independent from Remus' left.

It looked as though the Melding potion had worn off.

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His mind wandered for the rest of the morning, missing the important points of every lesson. He was sure that Sirius wasn't exactly concentrating either, because the dark-haired boy sat, holding a quill in his right hand and twirling it with his fingers, staring vacantly off in any direction other than the Professor of the lesson they were in. James caught Remus looking distracted once, and shrugged and smiled as if to say, 'It had to happen sometime, mate.'

Wildly, in a fit of panic, Remus wondered if he could manage to whip up another Melding potion. He was halfway out the door of their third lesson, History of Magic, when he was halted by the sounds of his name being called after him. He stopped and turned around, frowning.

"Where are you off to in such a hurry?" Sirius caught up to him, his dark hair falling messily onto his forehead and his blue eyes crinkling at the corners. Remus stared at him silently, wishing that he could just start the week over. How could Sirius really be so beautiful?

He realized that the other boy was waiting for an answer from him, so he searched his mind for something to say. The truth was not so horrible, so he blurted out, "I'm making my way down to the dungeons to see if I could make another Melding potion."

Sirius' gaze flitted over his face, and Remus knew that it was a stupid idea before the words even finished leaving his mouth. But Sirius just grinned and said, "This time, we'll have to control how we get Melded. Perhaps if we did our fingertips, my left to your right hand? That way, we would still have use of both of our hands, and I could still look at your dimple all day."

Letting out a small laugh, Remus shook his head. "You and your fascination with my dimple. Is it really so interesting?"

Sirius reached over with his left hand and touched it, which made Remus smile even more broadly. "It's a part of you. Therefore, it's handsome and rugged and breathtaking. Just like the rest of you."

Remus raised his eyebrows, knowing perfectly well that he didn't have Quidditch muscles or loads of chest hair or anything that constituted as being 'rugged.' He told Sirius this, but the other boy just waved his words of modesty away.

"You're beautiful, Moony," Sirius said, his eyes flashing. "Your body is fit, your face is mesmerizing, and your eyes are so..." He trailed off, seeming to fish around for an appropriate term.

"Brown?" Remus supplied, amused.

Sirius shook his head and barked out a laugh, and then, in the middle of the corridor, he pulled Remus in close with strong arms wrapped securely around his neck. Remus could see over his shoulder, and he noticed with trepidation that several pupils were watching them, including Peter and James.

"Er..." He started to say something, not knowing how to tell Sirius that they were being looked at.

"Let them stare," Sirius whispered, kissing his neck and then his mouth very quickly, and then pulling back, grinning at the surrounding crowd and bowing dramatically. "Hope you lot enjoyed the show! But now it's time for both of us to get to our next lesson, so I trust you don't think I'm too rude in telling you to sod off and leave us in peace."

And with that, he took Remus by the arm and steered him away. Remus, instead of feeling dread at what their peers were whispering to each other as they left, felt elated. Sirius wasn't ashamed.

It was enough to make Remus soar on a cloud for the rest of the day.

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At dinner, Remus noticed some people smiling at them, and others frowning, but most just stared. He found that he didn't really care so much, anymore. Sirius was WITH him, and it didn't matter one jot what everyone else thought.

Halfway through the meal, he was listening to James' animated retelling of the moves of the Seeker of the Pride of Portree in the previous weekend's game against the Wimbourne Wasps. The Head Boy was leaning over, miming a cupping move with his left hand, when Lily and Gwynne sauntered up.

"Hi, Remus. Hi, Sirius," Lily smiled at them both, her eyes twinkling. Remus took a quick glance at Gwynne to see her staring at Sirius, the corners of her mouth twitching.

"So, Remus, I'm glad you decided to come to your senses about Black, here." Remus stared at her, shocked. How did SHE know about it?

"Whoever said Remus had any sense?" Peter muttered, grinning into his pudding.

Sirius mock-growled at him, and then turned to Gwynne. Remus picked up his goblet and took a drink as she smiled.

"What do you know about it, anyway?" Sirius asked her. She shrugged, examining her fingernails.

"Daniel told me about you last year," she said. Remus swallowed, looking over at Sirius, who was staring at her. She continued. "And I should have known, anyway, after that Hogsmeade weekend."

"What about it?"

She gave a pointed look in Remus' direction, and then turned her attention back to Sirius. "I wanted it to be the perfect date, but the only thing you talked about was Remus, here."

Hiding his pleased smile behind his goblet, remembering that it was their Fifth Year that Sirius and Gwynne had gone to Hogsmeade, Remus glanced back over at Sirius to see him sitting still, red-faced.

She leaned over and whispered just as Remus took another sip of his drink. He barely heard what she said to Sirius. "Daniel told me all the juicy details. So you like to bottom? You love having a big cock up your arse?"

Choking, Remus' eyes watered as he sputtered, setting down his drink. Gwynne just winked at him and strolled away, Lily following her with another grin in their direction.

Sirius was shaking his head. "Women," he muttered, his cheeks pink. "Who needs them?"

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It was after dinner, and Remus was struggling in one corner of the common room to edit his Potions essay one more time, for Wauldin had always been a stickler for grammar, and Remus had been distracted the last time he had tried to finish the damnable assignment.

Remus found, though, that he still couldn't concentrate. He looked up to see Sirius sitting with Peter across the room, chewing some Drooble's Blowing Gum and grinning in his direction. Remus smiled half-heartedly and waved, wondering at the fact that he wasn't put off by the fact that Sirius was only done with his homework because Remus had finished it the night before, not knowing if their skin would be separated by Monday's lessons. He gained another blinding smile from Sirius, making a warm feeling start up in his cheeks and flow down into his body, and he turned his attention back to his essay.

It was twenty-two inches long, written in his rather small writing. Despite the occasional inkblot, Remus thought it was quite perfect, and knew that they would possibly receive an 'O' for it. Perhaps even an 'E', though he wouldn't hold his breath. Wauldin never gave 'E's to Gryffindors.

James swished down the stairwell just then, wearing his Quidditch robes and clutching his broom. Remus noticed that there were several others wearing their robes, as well. He watched as James walked over to where Sirius was sitting, leaning down to speak quietly to the other boy.

Noticing the pleading and then angry look that Sirius gave James, Remus saw his...what, boyfriend?...get up and cross the room. He reached Remus and smiled down at him, but Remus could tell that the smile was strained.

"We have practice tonight, and I completely forgot about it. I have to go, according to the captain," he spat the last word, glaring over his shoulder at James, "since I skived off last week, and our match against Slytherin is coming up."

Remus shrugged, unconcerned, wondering why Sirius was acting so angry with this. "Okay. I guess I'll be up here when you're done. Maybe later we can go to the Prefects' bathroom again..." He started to smile, but stopped once he realized that Sirius was frowning.

"You won't be here when I'm finished. You have detention, remember?" Remus sat in shock, wondering how he could have forgotten. He groaned and looked at his watch, swearing when he saw that it was a quarter past seven. Cursing under his breath, he stood and started to throw his things into his bag. A hand on his arm stopped him.

"I'm sorry I can't go with you. I know I told you that I would..." Sirius looked genuinely sad, but Remus waved it off while continuing to put away his things.

"I'm not mad about that, Sirius. I just realized that I have fifteen minutes to get down to the dungeons, and I still have to look over this essay, and there's that Herbology homework that I haven't started yet..." he trailed off as he felt a pair of lips against his cheek. Sirius pulled away and smiled at him.

"Leave your stuff. I'll get it. You don't want to be late for detention," Sirius told him gently. Remus nodded and swallowed the lump in his throat as all of his feelings for the other boy swirled in him. He managed a smile.

"Hey," he said, watching as Sirius chewed once, "you have any more of that gum?"

Sirius smiled sadly at him. "Sorry, this was my last piece. I could see if anyone else has any..."

Remus shook his head. "Don't worry about it. I just wanted something to occupy my mind a little, and maybe distract my nose from the scent of the cleaning paste that I KNOW Wauldin's going to make me use to clean cauldrons or something."

Setting his bag back down, he planted a quick kiss on Sirius' lips, ignoring the stares of the other Housemates, and waved vaguely in James' and Peter's direction as he climbed swiftly out of the portrait hole.

As he started down the corridor, he heard footsteps behind him. He turned to see Sirius rushing towards him. "Did I forget something?"

Sirius shook his head, grinned, and pulled him in close for another kiss. Remus knew that he had to hurry, but the feel of the other boy's mouth on his was making time almost stand still for him. He started to groan and get into it, memories of that morning racing through his head, when he felt a lump of sweetness come in contact with his tongue, and Sirius pulled back from him.

"You can have my piece," Sirius said breathlessly. "I'll wait up for you." And he turned and raced back into the portrait hole, leaving Remus standing in the empty stone corridor with used gum in his mouth. Squishing it between his teeth, Remus could still taste a little of the original flavour of the gum, and a lot of Sirius. A part of him would have once found it revolting to be chewing someone else's used gum, but his mind now said that he'd already tasted much more intimate fluids...

Sighing contently, chewing on his gum, Remus started moving again. Touching his newly free wrist absently, Remus let his mind wander as he made his way down to the dungeons. He tried to assess his feelings, and he realized that he was happy. Undeniably, gloriously happy, and he grinned at the empty corridor as he made his way down it. The torches on the walls seemed to brighten, and by the time that he reached the Potions classroom, Remus' heart was soaring. He knocked on the door and then opened it, beaming at the surly Professor when he entered.

"Hmm, Lupin, right on time. I see that Black is not with you, so the Melding potion must have worn off already. Pity." He sneered.

But not even the task of cleaning the First and Second Years' cauldrons the Muggle way destroyed Remus' mood. As he worked, he fantasized about Sirius, remembering the dark-haired boy's hands on him, still tasting him on his tongue. The time passed quickly, and Remus looked down in disbelief as he realized that he had just finished the last cauldron.

"It would appear that you're done, Lupin," Wauldin walked up from where he had been sitting at his desk, grading papers. "I just have to inspect these to make sure that you have cleaned them properly, and then you can go." Remus waited, putting away the cleaning supplies as Wauldin strolled around the pile of cauldrons, swiping his finger in some. Finally, he nodded. "Remember," he said as Remus reached the door, "that twenty-inch essay is still due tomorrow. I trust that I'll see it on my desk with both yours and Black's names on it."

Remus nodded, and hurried out of the classroom, anxious to get back up to the Gryffindor tower. He was the only one out, as it was late, but he passed McGonagall, who raised her eyebrows at him. He explained that he was returning from detention, and her lips tightened as she eyed his Prefect badge with a hint of disappointment, but she nodded and let him go. He practically ran up several stairwells, reaching the Fat Lady and almost shouting the password in a haste to see Sirius.

When he was inside, he looked wildly around the room, but it was empty. He glanced at his watch. Only ten-thirty. Where is he? He noticed his bag still lying on the table in the corner, and he walked over to it, finding two separate assignments out in plain view. The Herbology homework was finished, as he noted when he unrolled the first parchment. Setting it back down again, he reached for the second. It was the Potions essay, written over again in Sirius' neater handwriting, spanning what he knew was more than the twenty-two inch length that it had been before. He unrolled the parchment until he got to the bottom, and noticed several sentences at the end that he had not written. As he read, he felt as though he had been drenched in butterbeer, and it had seeped into his very bones, making them warm.

Melding potions, it read, are the greatest potions ever concocted. Hogwarts itself was built using a Melding potion to bind the bricks together, and Obscurus Books has started using the fantastic potion to bind their books, so that they'll still fray as time goes on and they age, but never again will one of their books fall apart from wear and tear. It's such a wonderful potion, and everyone should learn how to make one, for they can come in handy. Especially if it involves Melding human skin together. My experience with being Melded to someone has changed my life for the better. Infinitely so, and I would like to thank Professor Wauldin for allowing me the opportunity to be Melded to the most wonderful, clever, and handsome bloke that I know. Truly, being Melded to the object of your affection for a week is something to be tried by everyone.

Grinning by the end of it, Remus rolled the parchment back up, knowing very well that Wauldin would not appreciate that last paragraph. Tucking it into his bag, happiness coursing through his very veins, he looked up to see Sirius standing at the bottom of the stairs, James' Invisibility Cloak draped over his arm.

"Fancy a bath, Mr. Prefect?" He asked it with a seductive smile, and Remus dropped his bag back onto the table, long strides taking him into Sirius' embrace quickly.

"I can't stop thinking about you," he whispered into the other boy's neck. He kissed the skin that he found there. "I don't care anymore about what others think about us. I don't care about what Snape's going to say to us for the rest of the school term, and I don't care what Wauldin's going to think when he reads what you wrote. I'm just lucky to have you."

Sirius tightened the grip around him. "I'm the lucky one, Remus," he said. "And I'll shout it in the middle of the Great Hall tomorrow if you want me to."

Remus smiled. "No, I don't think you have to do that."

"Good, it'd take away from my eating time." Sirius pulled away and grinned, reaching up with his right hand to run his thumb across Remus' jaw. "How'd you get so good-looking, anyway?"

Remus rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. You don't need flattery to satisfy me."

A gloriously huge grin graced Sirius' lips, and Remus thought that his heart would explode from contentment.

"Now, my dear Padfoot, you mentioned a bath?"

And with that, the pair slipped on the Invisibility Cloak and made their way out of the portrait hole. They were not seen again until morning.

END