The days were starting to grow warmer, just barely, but it was difficult to pay much attention to the weather outside when N.E.W.T.s were looming in the not so distant future. Peter's grades were improving with Remus' help though, and Remus rather fancied the idea of what their lives would be like once school was out - a home by the sea with his dashing, Auror-in-training boyfriend (when he was overly relaxed, that word changed to husband in his head, and he had to remind himself not to be too foolish.) His own prospects didn't look quite so bright, but he was trying not to think about that.
He met Peter in the dorm after History of Magic and flopped down on Peter's bed, smiling at him, and when Peter reached for his bag (they'd been spending most of their afternoons in the library), Remus held up a hand. "Maybe we could go down to the lake, yeah? Skiving off studying one day won't kill us."
Peter gasped in mock astonishment and clutched at his chest. "My prefect boyfriend advocating the idea of skiving off? All right, you're obviously not Remus Lupin. Who are you?" He grinned and kissed Remus happily.
Remus grinned, humming happily into the kiss. "I, Remus John Lupin, am age eighteen, a Gryffindor and werewolf extraordinaire, and, I gather, a fantastic shag. Go on, ask me anything and I'll prove I am who I say," he teased.
"Mmm, I've heard that about you, that you're a fantastic shag." Peter wrapped his arms around Remus and pulled him closer. "Maybe I ought to make you prove that." He kissed him again.
Remus laughed and let Peter pull him close, fingers stroking down Peter's sides. "We could skip the lake and draw the curtains," he suggested.
Peter nuzzled Remus' cheek and hummed. "Tempting, but I would like to get out of the castle for a while." He squeezed Remus lightly. "But it's something to keep in mind for later."
"Peter Preston Pettigrew," Remus murmured (he'd taken to using Peter's full name a lot), "you really are the most dreadful tease."
Peter grinned and kissed Remus again, then pulled away. "Come on, then," he said, giving Remus as flirtatious a look as he could manage. "Anyway, you know you like it."
"Mmm, I do," Remus agreed, pushing off the bed and onto his feet, then offering a hand to pull Peter up. "You always leave me wanting more."
"My cunning plan to keep you around," Peter said, letting Remus pull him to his feet. "Hang on, let me get a fresh pack of fags." He fished around in his trunk until he found it, then grinned at Remus.
Remus watched him, then tugged him forward for another kiss before they set off into the castle, where they couldn't be so openly affectionate. "Stringing me along with sex and cigarettes. Evil genius."
"Of course, you'll be on your guard now," Peter observed. "I'll have to be even more cunning and devious." He waggled his eyebrows and followed Remus out.
"You do that. Of course, now I know your secrets. I could expose you," Remus teased, heading through the common room for the portrait hole. "The entire school would know the whole sordid affair."
Peter laughed. "But you'd be implicating yourself, Prefect Lupin," he pointed out. "The whole school would see how easily the prefects can be bought." He climbed out through the portrait hole behind Remus, enjoying the view.
"Bought?" Remus asked, amused. "Well, perhaps, but I could easily convince them I was only trying to gain foothold in the enemy camp." Remus was starting to wonder how long they could go on like this and who would break pretense first.
"The enemy camp?" Peter repeated in astonishment. "Merlin, Lupin, who exactly do you think is the enemy? Bit paranoid, aren't you?" He poked Remus gently in the back.
Remus laughed and turned around, walking backwards to look a Peter, then dropped his voice. "Anyone that can get me to agree to a shag in public is clearly up to something," he teased. First had been the beach, and then a broom closet, and then the astronomy tower after curfew.... Peter had clearly done things to his brain. Melted it, perhaps.
Peter blinked rapidly, striving for an innocent expression. "Oh, but you're the prefect," he said lightly. "I'm just doing what you want. You must be abusing your power." His lips quivered with the effort it took not to laugh. The broom closet had been particularly adventurous.
Remus grinned, and gave Peter an amused look. "Maybe I ought to turn in my badge."
Peter glanced around and, seeing no one, stepped a little closer. "Oh, but maybe I like it when you abuse your power," he murmured, and gave Remus a heated look.
Remus slowed his pace a bit to get them closer still. "That puts the blame back on you then, doesn't it?" The expression on his face was self-satisfied.
"Trapped by my own argument," Peter sighed. Then he glanced at Remus slyly. "But perhaps you've tricked me into thinking I like it, by rewarding me when I give in to what you want..."
"Oh, no. You like it. There's no trickery involved there." Remus grinned and turned back around to watch where he was going, surprised at how far they'd gotten. They were nearing the doors out to the grounds, and Remus wished they could get away with snuggling in front of the lake like they had in front of the ocean.
Peter grinned. "I suppose I must concede the point," he said, not really minding. "So tell me, Prefect Lupin, where are we heading now? Somewhere you can have your wicked way with me?"
"Told you. Lake." They started out onto the grounds and Remus breathed in the crisp spring air. Once they were out of the clusters of people, Remus gave Peter a sideways glance. "Love you," he murmured. "Tried to have my wicked way with you earlier and got turned down," he added, feigning dejection.
"Turned down? Never!" Peter smirked a little at him. "Just postponed." He lengthened his stride a little to keep up with Remus, thinking back to the day they'd first kissed, out here in a semi-private spot by the lake. As they walked, he tried counting back to see how long they'd been together. It was before Halloween...nearly eight months? Was it possible they'd been together for eight months? He glanced over at Remus, a warm smile on his face.
"Mmm, right." Remus grinned and then they walked for a bit, Remus' mind wandering for a moment. This would all be over in a couple of months, and Remus was a little sad that they'd be closing this chapter, but he truthfully couldn't wait to open the next.
He reached over and stuck his hand in Peter's pocket, fishing around for the cigarettes for a moment before pulling them out, sticking two in his mouth, lighting them and then handing one to Peter along with the packet.
"Thanks," Peter said, pleased. He stuck the pack back in his pocket, then closed his fingers around Remus'--loosely, so Remus could pull away if he wanted to; but Peter rather thought Remus was perfectly comfortable being together like this.
Remus hesitated for a moment, looking back over his shoulder at the other students in their clusters a ways away. None of them seemed to be paying them any mind, so Remus let his fingers curl around Peter's, grinning a little to himself that they were doing this here.
Peter grinned back at Remus and sucked on his cigarette, watching Remus' face as he did rather lewd things to it. Remus was right, he was a dreadful tease. He enjoyed it.
Remus pursed his lips at Peter, fighting laughter, then maneuvered his fag awkwardly in his left hand. After a moment he snickered and then pushed his middle finger up through their joined hands a few times.
Giggling, Peter tugged at Remus' hand and turned to face him. "Dirty--" he began to say, and then realised there were three Ravenclaw sixth years watching them, with varying expressions of sick fascination and disgust on their faces. Peter froze.
That was strange. "What?" Remus asked, but his mind quickly went to the one thing that would make Peter stop like that and immediately dropped Peter's hand and followed his gaze. Oh, God. Remus looked away immediately. "Shite," he hissed, and promptly gave Peter's sleeve a brief tug and started walking away. "C'mon."
"Piss off," Peter hissed at them, and followed Remus, matching his brisk pace and feeling his shoulders tighten. He half expected a hex; those looks had been decidedly unfriendly.
"Shite," Remus whispered again, as Peter caught up. "That was stupid." He couldn't help the tiny flash of resentment. Why was it James and Lily could hold hands and not have to think about people looking at them like that, but he and Peter did it once and...?! Remus shoved his hand through his hair and sighed to himself.
Peter sighed. "Sorry," he muttered. "It was my fault." He hated it. Why couldn't they just be together without anyone caring? They weren't hurting anyone. He hoped Remus wasn't angry with him.
"No, it's not," Remus answered quickly, trying not to be upset. He was worried, yes, but mostly he just loved Peter so much; it really wasn't fair that he couldn't show it. He drew in a lungful of smoke. "It's fine you know. They're just wankers." He wasn't sure who he was trying to convince, or whether he should be angry at them or angry at himself.
"No more than most people," Peter said. He took a long drag off his cigarette and tilted his head back, blinking at the sky. "We're lucky, really. Padfoot and Prongs didn't care, and my mum was...well, she's getting used to it anyway. Could've been a lot worse if they'd acted like that lot."
"Yeah, you're right. I thought James and Sirius would toss us." He sighed, then looked at a few scattered students and wondered if it was more than those Ravenclaws that noticed. For a moment, he dared to wonder if they really should have dropped each others hands and walked away. "I-- should we-- should we just--?" He stopped, shook his head, and finished weakly. "Nevermind."
Peter glanced sharply at him. "Should we what?" he asked, watching Remus closely. "Remus, what?"
"It's stupid. It's just that if the people that matter don't care, should we just-- I don't know, does it really matter what they think?" Should we just stop worrying about how we look? he thought, but in his heart he knew he couldn't. He didn't want something that was so precious to him under that kind of scrutiny every day. Remus took the last drag off his fag and Vanished it, then held out his hand for Peter to give him the pack so he could have another. "But, I mean, it does, doesn't it?"
Scowling, Peter stuck his cigarette in his mouth and pulled another out for himself, then handed the pack over. He lit the next one off his fag-end and vanished the first. "Isn't their business," he muttered.
"Yeah," Remus agreed half-heartedly as he lit his new fag and then shoved the pack in his own pocket, if for no other reason than to avoid the entire pretense of passing it back and forth when just moments before he freely and easily fetched them from Peter's pocket himself. "I think we ought to go take a nap," he suggested, not even able to make it sound teasing or playful, as he suddenly did feel tired. He thought maybe the Room of Requirement, as now ever bed curtains and silencing charms didn't seem adequate, and he really wanted to snuggle up to Peter right now.
Peter's scowl stayed firmly in place as he smoked his own cigarette furiously. He resolved to mention being 'cheeked' by a few certain Ravenclaws in front of Sirius, and decided something particularly nasty would have to happen to them for having made Remus sound like this. "Maybe you're right," he said, glancing up towards the castle. Merlin, he'd been so bloody stupid to have reached for Remus' hand like that! He hoped Remus wasn't going to end up paying for his own stupidity. "I know where Sirius hid that last bottle of Firewhiskey," he added.
"That..." Remus glanced at Peter, then looked back out over the grounds. "That's not a bad idea." Maybe if they got rat-arse drunk before dinner, they wouldn't feel it if they got hexed on the way down.
Peter sighed and nodded, his frown fading, though a vertical line between his eyebrows didn't go away. "Suppose we ought to warn James and Sirius, in case they get caught in any...erm. Backlash."
Remus glanced at Peter, surprised. "No, no, it'll be fine." He couldn't imagine anyone would do anything to those two. Not only was it illogical, but they fought with Snape enough that no one would think they were an easy target. Right? Unlike Peter and himself, he thought; they were always in the background when it came to their little group. "We'll just... see what happens. Might be nothing."
"Right," Peter said. He didn't really believe that, but for Remus' sake he tried to sound as if he did. "Let's go inside."