Saturday, February 16 (Sixth Year)

Moony

I wake with a start about an hour after dawn, and for a moment I don't realize what woke me. I sit up groggily, looking around, my heart pounding. Everyone's sound asleep in bed, not bothered to wake early on a Saturday, even with the Hogsmeade trip in a few hours. When I glance over to the window, I notice an owl barely managing to keep itself standing on the ledge outside the glass, a letter in its beak. It looks rather irritated, ruffling its feathers at me. I realize what woke me: it ran straight into the window.

With half a grin, I move over to the window, sliding it open and letting in a chill blast of wintry air. The owl hops into the dormitory, glaring at me admonishingly, as if I should know better than to leave all the windows closed when there are owls about trying to get their deliveries done. I try to look apologetic rather than laugh, note the name on the letter it's carrying, and point it to a sleeping Robert Long. The owl glides over, drops its letter on Robert's head, and then soars back to the window ledge; there it pauses to give me one last disapproving look, ruffling its feathers at me, before soaring out of sight.

I grin and look at Robert, who hasn't stirred despite the letter dropped on his head.

Sirius mumbles something in his sleep, rolling over in bed, and his blankets drop to the floor. I smile, amused, and glance over to James, expecting him to have been woken by the activity in the dormitory; he, though, is fast asleep, and I hardly blame him. He spent all of Thursday and Friday with Lily, talking to her in the common room into the early hours of the morning, and he has to be exhausted, though pleased. Lily loved his gift; apparently she found it while rummaging through her bag in the library, and the Snitch caused quite a stir flitting through the aisles, Transfigured into the shape of a heart. She wasn't even the least upset at being told to leave the library. The stuffed stag James gave her once she found him delighted her. I was there to watch that part. I have a feeling James is contemplating telling her that he, Sirius, and Peter are Animagi, which makes me more than a little nervous, but I trust Lily.

As Sirius gives another grumble and shivers a bit, I realize that the window I've left open is creating a chill draft. I close it quickly and then walk over to Sirius' bed, bending to recover his blankets from the floor and drape them over his sleeping form.

He swats at my hands lazily but with surprising force as I draw the covers up over his chest, and I start, muttering an "Ow!" even though it doesn't really hurt. Sirius' eyes flutter open, and he stares at me for a second, looking quite confused.

Then he sits up, looking around sleepily and rubbing his head. He yawns, lifting his arms over his head, and asks, "What're you doing? Not planning mischief on me, are you?"

I laugh at his drowsy inquiry and drawling tone, but shake my head. "You kicked your covers off."

He regards me suspiciously for a second, his gray eyes dull and sleepy and his hair in disarray. Then he shrugs and murmurs with a touch of playful sarcasm, "Oh, how sweet." Through another yawn he asks, "Wha—at time is it?"

I shrug and reply, "Early," as I sit down on the edge of his bed, narrowly missing sitting on his legs.

He's waking up now. With a grumpy frown, he says, "I ought to go eat so I can get to the Hospital Wing on time."

At this, I smile mischievously, drawing my lower lip in between my teeth. Madam Pomfrey came through in the end. It took some effort to keep Sirius from finding out that I got him off of his detention, but I managed it, saving the surprise for this morning. So it gives me great pleasure to tease, "What, and miss the Hogsmeade trip?"

He gives me a glare that's a little hot, and I can tell he doesn't realize that I have something up my sleeve—he thinks I'm being mean. "I asked Madam Pomfrey to take today off your punishment, and she agreed," I explain. I meant to draw it out more, but I'm no match for that hurt look on his face.

He doesn't say anything for a moment, but then a smile creeps over his features, and he says, "Did you really?"

I nod, grinning. "I offered to just take your place for today, but she said no."

Now he looks stunned. "Rems, you didn't," he murmurs, and after a moment he laughs a little. I find myself flushing. "Of course she said no." At the look on my face, he adds, "Better this way—I mean, I wouldn't want to go to Hogsmeade without you, y'know. What point would there be in getting to go if you weren't coming, too?"

I can't help my smile. He just laughs and looks around the room at our sleeping yearmates for a moment, noting that we're the only ones awake. He nods to James and comments, "He must be exhausted. Usually we would have woken him up by now."

"Let him sleep," I say, grinning. Teasingly, I add, "He has a big date today."

Sirius pouts at me and asks, "What, and I don't? Couldn't let me get my beauty sleep?" For a second, I'm confused; the Hufflepuff, Angie, flashes across my mind. Then Sirius gives me a playful shove and, in a 'duh' tone of voice, says, "You, Remus." A second's pause and then, a trace uncertainly, "Right?"

Relief and understanding—as well as an intense feeling of my own stupidity—wash over me. Of course. I hate that I keep jumping to moronic conclusions. This is new to me. Through an idiotic grin, I reply, "Right. I just hadn't thought about it that way."

He rolls his eyes at me. "Will you stop that? You keep worrying me." I laugh at him, but he reaches out and pulls me close for a short kiss, and when he releases me I feel heady and surprised. He glances me up and down, noting my pajamas, and says, "Let's get dressed and go walk. We can come wake James up for a late breakfast so he has a chance to sleep in."

I nod and get up from his bed, going to my trunk to dress in my Hogwarts robes. Sirius wears ordinary wizard robes for the trip, a dark gray that matches his eyes with black trim along the cuffs, neck, and bottom. My Hogwarts robes are the nicest ones I have, but that's fine with me. I grab a comb as I watch Sirius drag his fingers through his hair, working out the tangles. I can tell he went to bed with it still damp from his shower. I comb through my hair quickly, not really expecting too much from it, and then turn to look at Sirius expectantly.

He grins at me and strides over, standing in front of me and reaching up to run his fingers through my hair. It tickles my scalp, and I laugh, half-heartedly attempting to pull his hands away; he doesn't let me, tilting his head as he finger combs my hair to his liking. After a second he nods smartly and says, "There, now stop worrying."

I ease toward a mirror, but he grabs my arm, laughing. "No, I said to stop worrying. Come on, let's go!"

I get the suspicion that either he was just messing with my hair to make me feel like he was fixing it, or worse, he completely ruined it and just doesn't want me to see before someone else gets to notice and have a good laugh. I let him drag me down the stairs to the common room, though, self-consciously trying to reach for my hair with my free hand to run my fingers through it—but Sirius grabs that hand, too, and drags me behind him into the common room, where we find Lily yawning and curling up on a couch. She looks up at the sound of stampeding feet coming down the stairs, along with several other Gryffindors lazing about the common room, and grins when she sees us.

I push Sirius toward her—not that he needs the goading—and as we reach the sofa, he lets go of me and slides over its back to take up the cushion next to Lily. I walk around to the sofa arm, sitting myself on it and putting one leg behind Sirius, between his back and that of the sofa, and letting my other leg dangle off the edge. I put my arms over Sirius' shoulders to steady myself, and he looks up at me, mouth twitching into a grin.

"G'morning," Lily says, thinly veiling the yawn in her voice. "Where's James?" Her face glows at the mention of James' name. She's really taken with him now, and I'm glad. It took the two of them long enough.

"Still sleeping," Sirius answers.

"He'll look a fright if we get him up now," I add with a mischievous smirk. Lily gives me a sideways grin, her eyes sparkling. "We were going to go for a walk and then come back to wake him for a late breakfast."

She blinks and says, "Well, I'll go with you. I need to wake up."

As she stands up, I give a mock groan and complain, "But I was just getting comfortable!" Sirius laughs and reaches up a hand, planting it in the center of my chest and pushing me backward. I go tumbling off the sofa arm, hitting the ground with a rather uncomfortable thud; when I look up, murmuring an "Ow...", Sirius is staring at me over the arm of the chair and grinning evilly.

I roll my eyes and take his hand when he offers it, and he pulls me to my feet. "Nice hair, by the way," Lily comments, looking at me, and I flush and ruffle my hand through my hair in an attempt to restore it from whatever damage Sirius has wreaked.

Padfoot sends Lily a dry look and says, "Brilliant, you had to say something." But he's teasing, and she laughs, grinning at me.

* * *

We've just managed to stop Lily's curious questions about what James has planned for her today (apparently her stoic patience has reached its limit, which is a bit of relief, since it shows she's still just a teenaged girl) when we run into Snape passing near the Great Hall.

He stops in his tracks when he sees us, his eyes passing from Lily to Sirius to me in quick succession, looking quite surprised and displeased to have run into us.

Lily is first to speak, and I can tell that she's attempting a friendly tone, though it's nothing like the one she uses with us Marauders. "Good morning, Severus," she says. "Are you going on the Hogsmeade trip?"

He mutters something noncommittal under his breath, his eyes narrowing when he looks at Sirius and me. I can tell that he doesn't want to start a fight in front of Lily—and I realize that he doesn't think Lily knows that I'm a werewolf, or he'd have loosed some venomous comment about it by now that only we four can hear.

He starts to brush past us, but Lily says, "Severus—you should go to Hogsmeade. It's a holiday, you know... you should have some fun."

He turns back, actually giving her something akin to a glare, and drawls in a forced tone, "I don't celebrate fool's holidays. But you go have fun with Potter, now, and watch your back around those two." He glances pointedly to Sirius and me, his cheeks tinged faintly red. And with that, he turns on his heel in a whirl of black Hogwarts' robes, stomping off down the corridor.

Lily glances at the two of us, her face open and surprised. "He's being rather moodier than usual, isn't he?"

I exchange a glance with Sirius, who replies, "If you ask me, he's being too polite. I don't like it."

She furrows her brow at Sirius and says, "Too polite? He's never been that rude to me, not if you four haven't already started something." Her expression grows suspicious. "You haven't, have you?"

"No," I reply instantly. "It's not as if I can afford to."

She nods slowly, pulling on a strand of her auburn hair. "I suppose he's angry after that stunt you pulled, Sirius."

"I think he would have shown a bit more bite if you hadn't been here," I tell her. "I have to hand it to him, he's keeping his promise. I don't think he knows that you know about me."

"Well, that and he's got his crush on her," Sirius adds, darkly amused.

Lily's eyes widen for a second, and then she frowns thoughtfully. "I suppose I've suspected as much..." She sighs, tapping her fingertips against her lower lip. "I feel awful for him. I wish he'd find a nice Slytherin girl to like, preferably one who likes him in return."

Sirius barely conceals his snort, and I know exactly what he's thinking: A nice Slytherin girl? Moreover, one to like Snape? What are the chances of that? Privately, I agree, but I don't say anything—and, wisely, neither does Sirius.

After a moment of standing in silence, I nudge Sirius and murmur quietly to the both of them, "We'd better wake James. He'll want breakfast, and probably a shower."

Before we can start moving, though, a harassed-looking girl stumbles out of the Great Hall, muttering to herself. I recognize her as Jenn, a Hufflepuff in the year above Angie, also on the Quidditch team; when she sees me, she blushes faintly, stiffens her resolve, and walks straight up to me. I watch her, slightly confused, as she stops right in front of me and asks, "Would you go to Hogsmeade with me?"

I hear Sirius snicker, but Lily elbows him in the ribs rather roughly, which shuts him up. I gape at the girl for a second before shutting my mouth and replying, "Er... Sorry, Jenn, but... I'm already going with someone."

She rolls her eyes and starts muttering phrases under her breath that sound suspiciously like she's coming up with ways to maim Peter Pettigrew. I close my mouth tight to keep from laughing and catch her arm as she whirls around to march back toward the Great Hall, asking, "Did Peter put you up to this?"

She turns back to me, scowling, and says, "Yes. 'But he doesn't have anyone to go with! He's helping his friends go with dates, and he needs someone to go with, too!' I'll kill the little prat..."

This is very unusual—and amusing—behavior coming from a Hufflepuff, so I guess that Peter must have pestered her for a record amount of time... and that's saying something, knowing Peter. I grin a little and say, "I'm sorry. He didn't know—he didn't mean it."

She only looks dimly calmed by my words, but she rolls her eyes once more and gives a resigned nod. "Alright, I won't strangle your friend. Now, would you let me go?" She glances down, and I notice that I'm still holding onto her arm. I let go hastily, and she raises an eyebrow at the three of us before going back into the Great Hall.

"Now how did she get into Hufflepuff?" Sirius asks quietly, sniggering under his breath.

"Beats me, but we'd better go get James," I say, checking my watch. Lily, looking highly amused, nods her agreement, and we set off for Gryffindor Tower.

* * *

Padfoot

Remus and I walk with James and Lily until we reach Hogsmeade, but just past the entrance, we say our goodbyes for the moment and split up. James and Lily head toward the Shrieking Shack. Remus and I trudge through the melting, dirty snow toward the center of town, but I'm not quite certain where we're headed, exactly. I cast a sidelong glance at Remus, but he doesn't look like he has any more of a destination in mind than I do.

With a groan and a roll of his eyes once we reach the busiest part of town, Remus admits with a grin, "I feel like Peter. I've already got to use the bathroom... Where's Wormtail, anyway?"

I shrug, my mouth twitching into a grin. "He's probably with the girl James and I set him up with, trying to convince her not to end the date early..." At Remus' plainly not amused glance, I hold up my hands and say innocently, "Joking, joking! But really, he's probably with Angie."

Remus nods. He glances around at the shops for a moment, eyeing the Valentine's Day decorations in the windows.

I point out a tea shop, grimacing at the garish decorations, and tell Moony, "They'll have to have bathrooms, the number of nervous couples frequenting the place..." Remus rolls his eyes at my teasing comment, but he nods and we make our way through the entrance.

The place smells of perfume, tea, and chocolate, the mix of scents just a tad too strong for my liking. It's festooned with pink, red, and white in various shapes, most commonly hearts, and there are a handful of chubby cherubs bearing bows and arrows scattered about. At the small, circular tables (draped in pink and white checkered tablecloths), there are couples making love-eyes at each other, and I barely contain a groan at one pair of fifth years snogging rather noisily in a corner of the room.

I exchange a glance with Remus, who looks highly amused at my reaction to the tea shop, and tell him with resignation, "I'll find a place to sit until you're done."

"Don't let it get to you, Padfoot," he tells me with mock seriousness in his voice, as if I'm about to go into a bloody battle. Then he smiles, winking, and goes to ask Madam Merriweather where her loo is. I shake my head to myself as I watch her grinning toothily at him, probably encouraging him to come to her tea shop anytime he wants to have a nice date with a pretty girl. At any rate, he looks highly amused as he skirts his way around the main crowd of the tea shop toward a doorway that must lead to the bathrooms.

I sit at the nearest empty table to wait; unfortunately, it isn't near the door. All of those tables are taken, likely by uncertain couples in case someone makes a fool of himself and needs to make a run for it. I glance around, decide I'd rather not watch so many people enjoying themselves kissing each other rather overenthusiastically, and wait for Moony to return.

I hear the door to the shop open, and I drop my head to my arms on the table top—another couple. Brilliant. Simply smashing. I'm shaking my head to myself when I feel a tap on my shoulder, and I look up, quite expecting Moony to have returned.

Wrong. A fifth year Ravenclaw stands over me, looking faintly nervous, and she asks, "Mind if I sit?" I open my mouth to reply, but she slides into the seat across from me before I can say anything, and my face falls into a dry expression. I prop my elbow on the table, resting my chin in my palm.

"Need anything?" I ask her idly, my eyes moving toward the doorway Moony left through. I'd really like to get out of here and go to Zonko's or something.

She takes me by surprise, leaning in quick as lightning and planting a quick kiss on my lips. Then she blushes furiously, leaning back in her seat, her eyes traveling up to the ceiling above us. I follow her gaze suspiciously, still slightly stunned by her quick move, and find a sprig of mistletoe hanging above the table. "Oh, of course," I groan, rolling my eyes.

"Er..." She watches me nervously, and I can tell she's expecting something. Oh, bloody hell...

Moony emerges from the back of the shop, and I let out a highly relieved breath of air—finally, now we can get out of here. But what about this Ravenclaw? Sara, I recall. I watch her for a moment as Remus approaches, and when he reaches the table, he looks between the two of us and asks, "Am I missing something?"

I close my eyes, half-amused and half-exasperated, as I point up at the mistletoe above the table. Obviously Remus sees it, because I can hear the amusement in his voice when he comments, "Isn't mistletoe supposed to be a Christmas tradition?"

"Madam Merriweather puts it up around Valentine's Day, too, because it's romantic," Sara replies quietly, nervous. "Sirius...?"

I look at Remus, pleading for help, but he just grins teasingly at me. He plucks a berry from the sprig of mistletoe and says, "Well, that's four more kisses before this mistletoe loses its magic." Finally he has mercy on me and turns to the Ravenclaw girl, telling her, "Sorry, Sara, but Sirius is taken at the moment. Otherwise I'm sure he'd be much more polite about all this."

Sara blushes vividly and murmurs a faint apology under her breath. "I just thought... sitting here alone... er..." And with that, she gives a hasty wave and leaves the shop.

Remus bites his lip to contain a grin, and I just give him a falsely sour look as he slides into the seat Sara has just left. "Let's see... that brings your tally up to four this week. And it's Valentine's—Siri, I think you might be losing your touch!"

I give him a sarcastic grin and tease, "You must be rubbing off on me." He takes it in good humor, and I can't help but give a genuine smile. Where Remus might have been worried by the girls inviting me to do something for Valentine's this week, he has instead been highly amused.

Remus plays with the mistletoe berry between his fingers, rolling it around thoughtfully. I watch him with a grin pulling at the corners of my mouth. He's adorable, really, and I don't see why he's ever had trouble with girls. I suppose it's that he's never been really interested in them. Maybe they catch that vibe and decide to leave him alone.

I glance up at the mistletoe, then back at Remus, who meets my eyes curiously at the expression on my face. I lean forward across the table, catching his lips for a quick kiss; his eyes follow mine as I pull back, and he gives me a curious look before glancing around the tea shop and blushing faintly. I bite back a grin and stand up, plucking another berry from the sprig of mistletoe. "C'mon, Moony, let's get out of here."

He nods, standing to follow me to the door. He's still looking around a bit, but I nudge him and say, "They're too busy snogging to notice anything else, Rems." He gives a short laugh, but we both stop at the knowing look on Madam Merriweather's face when we pass her. I watch her apprehensively.

"What?" she asks. "I'm not saying anything. Go on, have fun, you two." She winks, and as Remus and I turn and slowly move toward the door, I distinctly hear her murmur to herself, "Such a cute couple..."

Even I blush at that.

* * *

If James, Lily, Remus, Peter, and Angie's faces are anything to judge by, my cheeks are flushed red after our snowball fight, and I look a complete—but satisfied—mess. My robes are damp and splotched with snow as we trudge back toward Hogwarts, but I'm not cold. I'm laughing breathlessly with everyone else after the furious snowball war we've just finished.

It's getting on toward evening, so we decided to head back to the school, though our progress is slow and marked by sudden snowballs hitting someone and restarting brief wars. James has his arm around Lily's shoulders, now, and they both look as flushed and excited as the rest of us. I can tell that Angie has found Peter to be a nicer date than she expected, though I have the feeling that she's still content just with the one date as a favor to James and me. Peter looks ecstatic, his blond hair matted on one side by snow.

I grin over at Remus as I catch my breath, continuing to trudge toward Hogwarts in the muddy tracks of students who have gone before us. He grins back, laughing, and flicks a small snowball at me with his wand. It catches me in the chest before I can get my own wand out, and I just give him a wry smile and tell him, "You know I'll get you back when you aren't expecting it."

"You'll try," Remus replies teasingly. His eyes glint in the slowly fading sunlight as he waves his wand at me, daring me.

Well, I know I can't surprise him now, of course, so I just walk a bit faster to catch up with him, slinging an arm around his shoulder. "Just you wait, my loony moony friend."

The six of us reach the stairs leading up to Hogwarts and make our way into the entrance hall, where we begin to split off. Peter and Angie head to the Great Hall for dinner, waving at us as they enter the crowded hall; James and Lily head up to Gryffindor Tower for the last bit of James' Valentine's Day surprise for Lily, which requires that he retrieve his broom. I exchange a glance with Remus and suggest, "The kitchens? I'd rather nick some food than eat in the Great Hall."

Remus nods and we head down the stairs that lead both to the kitchens and to the Hufflepuff common room. We walk down the torch lit corridor in relative silence until we reach the painting of a silver fruit bowl, where we tickle the pear to enter the kitchens, and try to get in and out fairly quickly without being mauled by eager house elves trying to pile us down with food. They know us very well—we're commonly in the kitchens for food, along with James and Peter.

Once we've managed to escape without the elves giving us so much food we can hardly carry it, we head for Gryffindor Tower, passing cheery paintings of food along the way until we reach the ground floor again and head up the marble staircase in the entrance hall. Remus balances a sack of sandwiches on one arm as he uses his free hand to eat an apple, the crunch of the fruit echoing in the sparsely populated corridors we move through on our way to our common room. I busy myself with a muffin from the bag I'm carrying, grinning over at Remus through my food.

When we reach the Fat Lady, we find that her portrait is still decked out in Valentine's Day decorations. She's wearing a frilly pink dress and waving a pink fan with white hearts on it at us. "Hello, boys," she greets us cheerfully, her cheeks rosy. "How was your holiday? Did you both go on nice dates?"

I exchange a glance with Remus, fighting back my laughter by biting into my muffin again. Remus replies, "Yes, lovely ones—rosa eglanteria." I finish off my muffin, grinning to myself, and grab a sandwich from Remus' bag as the Fat Lady beams at us, swinging forward on her hinges to allow us into the common room.

We head directly for the dormitory through the nearly empty common room, each of us now working on a sandwich. I'm nearly full. We'll end up leaving most of the food from the kitchens in our dormitory.

Remus opens the door to our dorm, but then stops, flushing. I give him a curious glance and then look past him—lying on Robert Long's bed, snogging furiously, are Robert and his girlfriend Violet. Hearing the creak of us standing in the doorway, they both jump, pulling apart to look at us.

"Er... Sorry about this," I murmur bemusedly, and I shut the dormitory door, turning to look at Remus. We both burst out laughing, but he attempts half-heartedly to keep quiet, while I just make my way back down to the common room with Remus on my heels.

* * *

I grin as we reach the Room of Requirement, fully expecting Remus to have forgotten about our snowball war by now. As we open the room's door, though, I promptly forget about it, too.

The place is beautiful. It doesn't look like a room; it looks like we've stepped outside, only the snow on the ground is glistening white and new... and much warmer than natural snow. The place is slightly cool, but not uncomfortable. On the contrary, I feel completely at ease the moment the door shuts behind us. It's as if we've stepped into a twilit glade with trees rising around us, fireflies flitting amongst them despite the enchanted snow on the ground. It's something we'd never see in nature, and it's beautiful. I put a hand on Remus' arm, staring around to take it in.

"It's never done this before," he murmurs, and I look back over at him. He looks as amazed as I am. I wasn't expecting this; I was expecting a pile of enchanted snow to appear in a corner. But now the snowball fight seems far away, unimportant.

"This is beautiful," I whisper.

"How...?"

"Who cares?" I cut him off, facing him with a smile on my face. The soft, quiet light of this place lights up his features with an ethereal beauty. I wish he could see himself, because he looks extraordinary. "This is for us." I know it with absolute certainty. I don't know why, I don't know how, but this place is for us.

Remus smiles and wraps his arms around me in a tight hug, resting his cheek on my shoulder. I put one arm around his back and weave the fingers of my opposite hand through his hair. It smells sweet and rich, like the taste of chocolate. I kiss the back of his neck and smile against his skin. "Remus..."

But he stops me from speaking, taking his head from my shoulder and pulling back to look me in the eye. After a brief, eternal moment in which my heart seems to stop beating, he leans forward, moving his arms around my neck and pressing his mouth to mine. I kiss him gently but insistently, and he returns my ardor, leaning his body against mine. Our body heat mingles and rises. If the snow wasn't enchanted, it would surely melt. The soft noise in my throat is muffled against Remus' lips...

Tongue, wet and warm, gentle, teasing, moving, exploring, reaching... hands, holding, pulling, fiery, need... and snow... cloud-soft and cool as we lie in it... lost...

You're mine, you're mine, you're mine, and I'm yours, can we stay—right here—now—always—forever—  

&&&&&

Holy crap that one's long. Sorry x_x