Who: Remus and Sirius Where: Their dormitory When: What: Talking about the dance and Hogsmead Rating: PG (this one is surprisingly clean lol) Thread: Complete! Hogsmeade weekend was coming up, in just a few days in fact, and that meant, of course, something quite important had to be done. And Sirius took it upon himself to perform this very necessary operation. For the good of the whole, you know. All for one, and all that other Dumas-ian philosophy. He had the most scathingly brilliant idea one night as he and Remus sat alone in their dorm, ostensibly studying. Well, Remus might have been studying, but Sirius had his mind on other things. Such as the less than perfect double date they had been on with Em and Hestia (Sirius was still considering strangling that one, for various and sundry reasons).
And then he realized what he must do, Hogsmeade-wise, as he had no clue what to do otherwise. He must take inventory of the secret stash of chocolate, which was safely secreted beneath his bed, beneath a loose floorboard. He rolled off of Remus' bed suddenly, violently, without prior warning, and neatly rolled under his own. Well, not completely, for that wasn't actualy necessary, nor even really very possible, as Sirius, although lean, was no toothpick, after all. But the end result - haha, pun intended - was that his posterior was left to view while his upper half was groping around in the dark beneath the bed, for of course he hadn't had the foresight to bring his wand, when a simple lumos spell would have saved him a lot of trouble.
There was little on Remus' mind at that moment besides the books and parchment strewn across his bed, and that was quite purposeful. He didn't want his thoughts to be further plagued by the failed double date he had attended with Sirius and the Hogsmeade trip was somplace far from his conscious thoughts at the moment. Though, hard as he may try not to think about him, Sirius was always on his mind. Perhaps the fact they were always together didn't help that fact any, but even in their times apart he thought about him. And that, since he knew it had been meant with the best of intentions, only made the thought of the date more unpleasant to think about. Now they sat, studying (more or less Sirius was watching him study) and the line he was writing was suddenly disturbed, turned into a long inky black line by Sirius as he rolled from the bed to the floor. Without a thought to the mangled essay, that was easy enough to fix, he looked down at Sirius - what could he possibly be doing? - and frowned slightly even as his cheeks flared red at the sight that welcomed him. "What are you doing down there?" He asked nonchalantly, clearing his throat and turning back to fix the ugly black mark across his parchment.
"Checking the chocolate supply," was Sirius' response, but from beneath the bed, his head lost to view, his words were muffle to Merlin knows what. He felt about with his fingers, in vain, for the particular knotted board underneath which lay their stash, their bounty, their prized booty, before it dawned on him how much easier it could be, with a little assistance from Remus. "Bring your wand down here," he called to him, and adding for good measure some bum wriggling, as if to attract Remus' attention to the fact that he was speaking to him. As if Remus weren't staring at that pert bum already, no doubt. Not that SIrius knew that, of course.
To anyone else, the response would have been no more than a muffled something-or-other, but Remus caught it with little need to ponder it. "Why are you doing that?" He asked, trying to remain distracted by the paper he was trying - and failing - to write. But Sirius never failed to capture his attention, now was no different as he was told to bring his wand. Remus looked over, swallowing at an uncomfortable knot in his throat, telling himself not to stare as he inevitably was. It was a conflict in his mind on whether to crawl down there with Sirius or simply toss him his wand - which he figured would lead to a miffed Sirius - so he felt caught. The thought of being in such close proximity had its pros and its cons, the pros of which didn't really matter. He sighed, kneeling down off the bed with his wand in hand and muttering lumos. Remus settled on his stomach on the floor, not under the bed himself, but holding the light there for Sirius.
Ah, that was much better, SIrius could actually see what he was searching for, and with a cry of triumph he carefully removed the board and felt inside carefully before drawing a distinct but tragic conclusion. "Damn," he muttered, pulling his hand back, empty. "Bloody all gone it is, we must have killed it all off and forgotten. Oh well, good thing we're going to Hogsmeade, eh?" He turned to Remus, twisting onto his back and scooting out from under the bed. "We can just resupply there, can't we? " Naturally he assumed that they would go together, they always did. Often with Pete and James, of course. And the first visit of the season was always exciting, just because it was first. He scooted out until he could actually see Remus, unaware of the dust bunnies which clung to his raven tresses. "Here, give us a hand, will you," he asked, reaching for Remus for a boost up from the floor.
Remus watched Sirius from his spot on the floor, frowning slightly when it was discovered that their stockpile was gone. He was caught in a slight daze, his mind wandering to places he perhaps shouldn't let it, but it did all the same. Sirius' voice brought him back to the here and now and he nodded, the thought of Hogsmeade coming back to the front of his mind. "Yes, of course, Hogsmeade," he muttered in reply, pushing himself up off the floor. He dusted himself off and looked down at Sirius, tossing his wand onto the table before offering up his hand, pulling Sirius up from the floor.
How nice that hand felt, so warm and soft, so comfortable - for just a moment, Sirius forgot what he was supposed to be doing, before he pulled himself together - and pulled Remus back onto his back, flipping onto his side, leaning his head on his hand, and regarding him. "Right after Hogsmeade comes the dance," he murmured, as much to himself as to Remus, "we need to think of brilliant costumes, my dear sir, something that will make the annals of Hogwarts history, don't you know?" What he didn't want to think about was the question of dates - especially after that disastrous double date, the one that was supposed to be helpful and which had caused him to develop an ulcer. How he knew it was an ulcer, he couldn't say, but he was convinced that is what it was. "Any ideas?" he asked Remus hopefully.
The dance was something else he would really rather not think about and part of it was for the very same reason Sirius had. The subject of dates wasn't a friendly subject. James, of course, would try to take Lily, Peter would likely be too nervous to ask anyone, Sirius would go with one of his many admirers or with no one at all, inevitably being surrounded by the young witches who were so taken with him, he imagined, and Remus, well, he would go alone. Or so those were his thoughts. "I haven't thought about it much," he replied absently, reaching a hand out to ruffle the dust from Sirius' hair without really thinking about it. "I'm surprised you and James don't have some insane idea already," he added with a smile.
Sirius wrinkled his nose, dismissing that idea out of hand. "Jamie's got his mind other places these days," he sighed, "if he's thought about the dance, he's probably brainstorming with Evans about it, cause he surely hasn't mentioned it to me. What would you like to do, Rem? You and me can do something, right?" He turned his big puppydog eyes upon Remus, managing to look both soulful and wistful at the same time. "We can do something fun, something people won't forget. Wanna streak?" he suggested hopefully.
Thinking about it, Remus thought that was likely true, James would have either planned something out with Lily or at least be in pursuit of her once they were at the dance. In truth, he would rather keep to himself in their dorm, but he probably wouldn't be able to get away with that one, especially with Sirius using those eyes on him. He laughed, sitting back down on the bed beside Sirius, shaking his head. "Sorry, I still don't think I'll be streaking," he smiled, leaning back against one of the bedposts. "Do you have anything else in mind? I haven't thought about it much."
Sirius hadn't either, not really, but now was certainly the ideal time in which to brainstorm. He assumed a thinking posture, head upon chin, brow furrowed in thought, eyes rolling back and forth as he mulled over various. "Pirates are so overdone," he said, chewing thoughtfully on his lower lip, "and lack real imagination. We could be Greek gods or something, and come in togas?" He looked at Remus hopefully.
Remus thought it over himself, trying to pull up something that was out of the ordinary drawl of things, something that wasn't done so often. So many things were overdone, it was a chore coming up with something that wasn't. "That is an idea," he nodded his agreement, though the thought of togas was a bit questionable.
"Have you asked anyone to go with you?" SIrius tried to sound casual, not sound as jealous as any teenaged girl, so jealous of any potential date that he was turning green. A strange attitude for someone who had actually arranged Remus' last date. Course, see where that had ended up. And if he even suggested that he wanted to go out with Hestia again, Sirius thought he would barf. He didn't meet Remus' glance, and his hands were suddenly busy at picking at his comforter, almost savagely.
As if he was going to ask anyone to go with him, especially after their date the other night. The thought was a complex of his own personal nightmares, the most prominent being those thoughts of Sirius. That he was with someone else, that they weren't together. It tore at his emotions almost violently, but he had some sort of mastery over it by now. "No," he said softly, moving to stretch out beside Sirius on the bed, " have you?"
"No," SIrius said, "Do you think we should?" The thought was anathema to him, and to be rather honest, he was tired of kissing all the girls. Yet somehow they seemed to expect it now, and some went so far as to offer to kiss him in the middle of the hallway, which produced profound blushing on his part And dismay. Why did they seem to want it so badly, when every kiss left him feeling cold, or worse, feeling nothing? He certainly didn't understand the desire of these girls to repeat the experience? He was beginning to think he wasn't capable of feeling, that his family was right to treat him as they did.
The immediate answer of 'bloody hell, no' was hard to hold behind his lips, but he managed to do so, settling on, "Maybe we should just go together," he mused, quickly realizing how that sounded, "as friends. Then we won't be tied down by dates?" It came out as a question as he pieced it all together. He sighed, closing his eyes for a moment. This was starting to be very trying, as if it really wasn't enough so before. Everything in him wanted to pour his heart out to Sirius, to tell him everything in some foolish hope that the feelings would somehow be mutual. It made his heart ache, made him flare with jealousy that he tucked away so it wouldn't show, every time he saw the girls with Sirius. He deserved everything, nothing short of perfection and though he certainly wasn't that, he hoped to see Sirius find just that.
Go together? Sirius' heart quickened at the idea, although he knew Remus didn't mean it in the way he was taking it. But still, he could... sortof.... pretend, couldn't he? That thought alone brought a smile to his lips. "Yes, let's," he said, then quickly added, "the better to prank with," as he favoured Remus with a wink. How he wished he dared tell Remus how he felt, take his chances, see what happened. But he dare not, lest he lose him. Friendship was better than being despised, surely? So he grinned and he bore it, as he agreed to go with Remus to the Halloween dance.
Sirius' agreement took a great weight off of his shoulders and off of his heart in some way. The very same thought was on his mind; even if they weren't going together he could still pretend it was so. "Of course," he nodded, unable to keep the smile from his lips. "We will come up with something good," he winked back, that mischievous part of his brain that rarely kicked in flaring up. He wasn't an avid prankster like the rest, but when he put in his thoughts they came up with some brilliant ideas. The night would be so much better with Sirius there with him.
"That we will!" Sirius cried with alacrity, satisfied that the question had been asked and answered, and all was well with the world. He curled up in a ball, closing his eyes, as he pressed up against Remus contentedly. "Wake me in a little bit, will you, Rem?" he yawned, "go ahead and keep studying." He was at peace with himself, and with Remus, and he wanted to simply lie here and relax and enjoy the moment while he good.
Despite the ache he knew he would be feeling later for it, Remus didn't move away, not a single inch, comforted by feeling Sirius so close. "I might just close my eyes as well," he said quietly, yawning as well. He would hear James and Peter before they entered their room, so he wasn't worried about that. If he could take the chance to simply lay here for awhile, he would take it. "Don't worry, I'll wake you in a little while," he smiled and closed his eyes, settling comfortably next to Sirius. Let the rest of the world go on without them, if just for a little while.
*Made of Steel Our Lady Peace