PLEASE NOTE. THIS STORY IS BEING RE-EDITED.

Title: This Story Has Been Told Before But Not Like This
Rating: T
Pairings: [Main] Remus/Sirius, [side] James/Lily
Warnings: Swearing, possibly a little light making out - I haven't decided yet.
Summary: I hate that phrase – it's so outrageously corny. In love. How can you be in love? It's not like a swimming pool – and you certainly don't choose to be in or out of it. It's not a door , you can't walk through it. It's an abstract noun, for christ's sake!

A/N: PLEASE DO READ THIS, IT'S RATHER IMPORTANT. This story was first published way back in '09. Since then I've had a bit of a rollercoaster ride with my health, and because of that I really fell out of writing. I'm now back, and ready to re-familiarise myself with this story and finish it all up. First, however, I'm going to clean it up. Mostly (and unusually) I still really like a lot of this. Normally I hate old writing, and if I re-edit things go the whole hog and practically write it from scratch. This time, however, I'm just going to clean up some shoddy sentencing here or there, catch as many typos as I can, generally smooth things out (there are a lot of 'I's swinging around D:) and (most importantly) try and get rid of phrases and words that (when I first wrote this) I wasn't aware of being inappropriate (particularly with regards to ableist language). This is to do with the fact that when I first wrote this story, I was unaware of my own privilage with regards to being temporarily able (especially with regards to mental health).

So, before I put up the final chapter, I'm just going to whiz through the ones that are already up. I won't be taking any of them down in the mean time, so unless they have it noted that it's been re-done, it will be the original story. If this is your first time reading, feel free to read as far as you like! If you have this on story alert and have kindly come back, thank you so much! I'd advise re-reading, as it's been a while, but it's up to you if you just want to wait for the last update. The plot won't be changing very much, though there may be some minor tweaks (I will try and remember to point these out).

This should be fairly quick, but I make no promises. I'm still in a lot of pain, and doing a fair bit of physio/osteopathy which I find very tiring. That said, writing does appear to be a bit of a pick-me-up, if difficult. Reviews are incredible, so please do leave one if you have time :)

This is Remus; He is in Love

I hate that phrase – it's so outrageously corny. In love. How can you be in love? It's not like a swimming pool – and you certainly don't choose to be in or out of it. It's not a bloody door, you can't walk through it. It's an abstract noun, for Christ's sake.

I certainly didn't wander along and go 'oh – look a great big barrel of love, I'll go be in it, shall I?' What twit came up with that? And if it was Sirius, then I'll have to kill him. Mind you, I think the term 'in love' has been around even longer than Sirius – though I suppose I could just kill him anyway. I wonder if anyone would miss him? I know I certainly wouldn't miss him. Except I would, which is the whole Merlin-damned point.

The point is that it's a moronic saying, and I hate it.

I also rather hate Sirius at the moment - more than usual, I mean. Would you like to know why? Either way, I'm going to tell you. That bastard - that bastard - smiled at me. He smiled. And poof went my resolve and my self-restraint – they waved buh-bye and fucked off somewhere nice, leaving me on my lonesome while my heart did that stupid little flippy thingy that you should only ever get in trashy romance novels. So thanks, Padfoot, thanks very much. You've ruined my day.

It had been such a good day, too. My breakfast was good, double DADA was good and break was truly excellent. And then he smiled and BANG. Fuck my life. The first person who says I'm 'in love' gets killed in inventive and excruciating ways.

Sirius, you are so dead.

XxXxX

That was three months ago, and my life is no better.

In other news, I have never truly appreciated what a boon homework is. Oh, I've done it, and often I've enjoyed it. But I've never recognised its' potential until now. Potential, I hear you ask? Why, I have not had to glance at Sirius once in the last hour. Well, okay, not more than say... fifteen times? Bless you McGonagall, bless you. I truly apologise for that thing in the Transfiguration classroom that hasn't actually happened yet.

This does not mean, however, I haven't noticed him staring me. It's rather turning me on, which has lead to a neatly arranged book in my lap. Imbecile has no idea of the havoc he causes.

"Padfoot. Staring. Stop it." I wouldn't say I'm being terse, per se. Just a little blunt.

"Uh – Moony, did I do something?" His voice is all husky, and a traitorous shiver just made its' way down my back. Bastard. And traitorous, traitorous, traitorous spine, stop doing that!

"No." Well, he did. But he doesn't know that, and I can hardly tell him because then our entire friendship would be all mucked up. And I must. Not. Look. Because he'll be so concerned and I'll be all 'oh, okay, I forgive you because you're Sirius – never mind.' But no, this time I must hang on, and not let him worm his way back into my affections, like he has every other time he did something stupid.

"Your words say no but your voice says yes~" sang Sirius, as he shifted closer and dropped his head onto my shoulder. "Can't you tell me what? So I can fix it?"

Look, I know it's irrational. It's not actually Sirius' fault, beyond the fact that he's an amazing person with a wicked sense of humour (sometimes too much so) and God given good looks (et cetera, et cetera). And I know that actually, right now, I'm being immature and taking it out on one of my best friends. And that's not okay - but then, neither am I.

And I can hear the hope in his voice, damn it! He's teasing me, sure, but he wants to make this better. He wants to help. The anger is sliding away to leave guilt and more than a touch of shame...

"No." And with a snap of my book, and my bag thrown artfully, yet conveniently, in front of my person, I shoot off towards our dorm and a long – cold – shower.

XxXxX

I didn't try and drown myself in the shower. And I didn't cry, either, which I feel is rather a coup pour moi. Might have shaken a bit, but it's not like anybody was there to witness it.

Admittedly, it wasn't the quickest shower in the world (the plumbing is ancient, all right, and I slightly lost my shampoo), but I was still on my own when I finally emerged. In fact, I was able to get (mostly) dressed before the door banged open.

Now, I'll give you a clue as to who just exploded into the boys dormitory as if she had a right to be here (not one I'm going to question, certainly). She's fairly tall, very pretty, quite scary, and she has red hair. That's right! The one and only Lily Evans. Sitting on my bed. I knew her dating James would be a bad idea (not really, but 'blame James' only comes second to 'blame Sirius').

I don't want to think about (all) the (eight) awkward conversations Lily and I've had so far. Mostly about sticking up for myself.

Interestingly enough, Sirius has become something of a running theme. Who wants to bet he's going to rear his pretty head again?

A/N: Quick note: in this chapter, Remus refers to both Merlin and the Christian God (I know it wasn't specified and when someone just refers to 'God' in general you can be referring to any almighty deity from several religions, but this was the Christian God). This is because - as I have it - Remus is half-blooded. In my mind, Remus's mother is the muggle, and his father the wizard (also in my head, his mother is Irish, don't ask me why~). This means he was raised with references to both, and so continues to reference both.

Also, please review! When I first started this, I had fifteen-review-for-an-update rule, and I'm thinking of employing it again. That said, I will update as quick as I can, but reminders and little bouts of sunshine in review form are so so so welcome!