Disclaimer: Me: Yah, so this is my story.
JK Rowling: But they are my character and my world, you know!
Me: Fine. But I take some credit! It's my pairing because you smashed it down!

Meeting Eyes in the Dark

By: JuliaKerns5 for HermioneGranger47393

Remus and Sirius talked in the middle of the night.

It wasn't unusual for Remus or Sirius to slip into the other's bed every once in a night when nerves were high on each other's account. They would leave their bed and rip open the hangings, prodding the other until they were awake yet somewhat groggy and slip in, talking about whatever bothered them, wandering from needing a new quill to N.E.W.T.'s in Remus' case and ranging in-between his a bad case of fleas to another angry letter from home in Sirius' case.

Tonight, it was Remus who woke up in the middle of the night, his pajamas sticking to his arms and his hands drenched in icy sweat, recovering from a nightmare involving him in a 'furry form' attacking Sirius during his transformation.

There was a certain sting in his mind that told Remus that this was definitely one of those times when he needed to slip into Sirius' bed and talk about it – but there was another throb in his brain telling him to not wake Sirius up this time, which was something Remus had never experienced before.

So, still shaking, Remus tried to restlessly sleep again.

In the morning, Remus had realized that he was in love with Sirius Black.

Walking into the Great Hall – feeling oddly squirmy when he Sirius – he sat down on Peter's right side and the farthest away from Sirius because he didn't need to be tormented by him today, not now.

He ladled porridge into his bowl right away and was having a peaceful breakfast until James' spoon dropped onto the floor with a clatter and he bent under to pick it up. He emerged again, the spoon in hand, but looking as though he'd love to laugh but trying to restrain himself.

"Remus…" He said slowly, cleaning his spoon with his napkin fixedly. "You're wearing two different color shoes."

Remus, blushing rather deeply, ducked under the table to check along with Sirius and Peter who did the same.

Sure enough, a formal brown shoe highly polished was on his right foot, and his black Hogwarts shoe was on his left foot, clearly in major disorder.

Peter, James, and Sirius were all laughing by the time Remus reappeared from under the table, cursing under his breath.

But then again, he had been rather distracted this morning – trying to sort out what had overtook him during the night – and seeing if it was just pudding from last night's dinner playing with him. And, of course, a lot of denial was rather distracting him when he dressed.

Remus left half of his porridge to be cleaned up and left the Great Hall as quickly as possible to change – since he did, after all, have Transfiguration in twenty minutes and he was not going to class in two different colored shoes.

He made sure that his mind were no where near Sirius or his love affairs while he changed again, making sure to put both brown shoes at the very bottom of his trunk – not to mix them up again another morning, because he had the very unnerving feeling that he was going to get distracted a lot the following mornings to come.

And how right he was.

A week after that very breakfast, Remus Lupin, more in love than anybody he assumed was in the Great Hall, lay in his bed twiddling with a loose thread on his pajama top. He couldn't tell whether he was pulling it out of just slowly pulling away the beginning of the fabric on his top. It was too dark to see anything and Remus wasn't going to change that.

He jumped when he saw part of his canopy hangings moving – as though they were being poked – and ripped them gently open to the dark and shadowed figure of Sirius waiting expectantly by his bed.

A ray of light from one of the windows flickered over Sirius' face – which was looking rather confused and slightly worried.

"D'you want to come in or are you just checking on everybody's bed?" Remus whispered, still holding the hangings open for Sirius. He could tell that Sirius was scoffing above him, but he slipped in nevertheless.

As he climbed into Remus' bed, Sirius' shoulder bumped into Remus' for a fraction of a second. Remus shivered at the contact but couldn't help but notice that Sirius was extremely warm and Remus so frankly wasn't even under the warm cotton blanket of four-poster.

Remus shivered again out of cold, and Sirius sensed it. He scooted closer. But not close enough, Remus thought bitterly, rubbing shoulders for warmth.

"So what brought you here this night, Padfoot?" Remus whispered.

"I'm worried about you." He stated bluntly, as though this was obvious.

"You're what?"

But there was a sleepy grunt coming from the bed next to them, and Remus, pressing a finger to his lips, peered through his curtains. Whoever it was, was still asleep.

More quietly, he repeated his question.

"You're what?"

"I'm worried about you," Sirius repeated patiently. "You never come over to my bed anymore. Aren't you worried about anything anymore, Moony?" He asked hopelessly.

Remus flinched. Of course he was still worrying about things, he just didn't want to share them with Sirius. Or anybody else, for that matter.

Guiltily, he shook his head. "Not at the moment."

Sirius looked at him with a disbelieving face, waiting for a true answer. Remus – flushing, and therefore glad for the darkness – felt that when Sirius did this he could see right through him. Trying to look as innocent as possible, Remus shook his head again at the dark figure he assumed was Sirius.

"I can't see you." He said annoyingly, opening the hangings half a foot to get his wand from his bedside table. Sirius laid a hand on his arm to stop him.

"Don't. I like it like this."

Remus turned over again, trying to resist the temptation to curl up next to Sirius and fall asleep, without a care in the world.

"Something bothering you, Rem?" Sirius asked curiously. "You usually talk so much more when we visit each other at night. Quabbling on about whatever things you quabble about – school, books, transformations, school, some more school–"

"Oh, come on." Remus snapped reproachfully.

"– the state of your quills, the amount of parchment you have left, if you'll get caught as a werewolf this month, your grades on the potion we had to brew up in Potions the other day–"

Remus hit Sirius' shoulder with a scarred hand, and Sirius stopped, looking over playfully.

"You're no fun."

"Yeah, well, I'll deal with the reputation 'boring'." Remus muttered absentmindedly.

It was Sirius' turn to slap his shoulder.

They became quiet almost immediately, for they both had heard soft footsteps disappearing into the bathroom. A creak of a door followed.

"I better return to my own bed," Sirius whispered so quietly Remus had to lean in to hear him. "I don't think it'll be pleasant if James or Peter run in on us in the same bed," He grinned innocently. "Might lead to awkward questions."

Again, Remus blushed and leaned his head further into his pillow.

Sirius got up silently and ducked under the gold and burgundy hangings.

The door creaked open all of a sudden again, and Sirius, obviously afraid of getting caught in the dead of night, turned around, and leaped onto Remus' bed.

The mattress creaked loudly, and Remus let out a groan as Sirius landed directly on him.

The footsteps faded away and a mattress on their left creaked as well to announce that whoever had gotten up was back in bed. Sirius couldn't suppress a snicker.

"That was hilarious!" He whispered between laughs.

"No it wasn't, Sirius, now please get off me!" Remus hissed quietly, being squished under Sirius' bulk but becoming rather warm at the same time.

"You're no fun." He repeated from earlier.

"Oh, shut up."

Sirius looked down with an amused grin – but the smile wiped from his face the moment he realized that their faces were little less than two inches apart.

Remus sucked in a breath and felt his stomach lurching in anxiety and panic.

Just like in the sappy romance novels his mother often read, Remus had hoped that both of them would just close their eyes and lean forward, but far from that, Sirius had jumped off Remus and landed on the side of him instead, obviously at a loss for words and rather embarrassed.

Both of them blushed, looking away, before looking back but still avoiding each other's eyes.

"D'you think it'd be safe to go back to my own bed, Moony?" Sirius whispered into the darkness. "I wish I would know."

"I wish I could see you." Remus said irritably.

He could feel Sirius leaning over with his face and his forehead became instantly hot.

"I do, too." Sirius whispered back in a rather husky voice.

Remus felt a pang in his head as he realized that their eyes had met in the dark, even though there was no light to prove it. He shivered, and Sirius scooted over even more, sliding a hand around his waist, making Remus almost jump out of the bed.

Their eyes met again and Remus felt dizziness going in and out of brain.

"God, Remus, you're like an ice block!" Sirius exclaimed, snuggling up more to him.

"I – I didn't notice." Remus stuttered uncomfortably.

They were silent for some time.

"I see what you mean now," Sirius declared suddenly. "I wish I would know where your eyes are."

Remus' head jerked toward Sirius', and his breath caught in his throat.

"It's pointless to look for someone's eyes in the dark, Sirius." Remus murmured softly in a logical voice.

"It's not pointless to me. It's very pointful."

"Pointful, isn't a word, Padfoot." Remus said wearily.

"Then I just made it one." Sirius said stubbornly.

Remus sighed, but decided not to say anything.

It was around ten minutes later when Sirius spoke up again and said something to Remus.

"I still can't fall asleep, Remus. Can you?" He asked gently, and Remus looked up.

"No, I guess I can't either, or else I wouldn't be answering you."

"Shut up, you–"

"Ask a stupid question and get a stupid answer." Remus said quickly. He had been just about to fall asleep – the feel of Sirius' arm around his waist was so calming and soothing to Remus.

"You know too many big words, Moony."

"Excuse me? Which big word did I just use in the previous sentence?" Remus asked defensively.

"You didn't. But you always in general use big words."

"That was random."

"Moony, Moony, I am random… When will you learn?" Sirius said, trying to sound wise.

Remus sighed, readjusting slightly. Sirius' hand twitched slightly on Remus' waist.

"But really–" Sirius continued, making Remus sigh again. "Are you actually tired?"

"Well, I–"

"I'm not." Sirius cut across from him.

"Then maybe you'll be more comfortable in your own bed."

Sirius raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you trying to get me to leave, Moony?"

"Of course not, Padfoot. It's just that I want to fall asleep, and with you quabbling over me like some sort of talkative vulture, it's rather hard–"

"You see me as a talkative vulture?" Sirius asked, smiling.

"No – I'm just trying to talk sense into you."

"Well, you've been doing a bad job of it, calling me a talkative vulture, you demented prune."

"I don–" Remus stopped himself. "A demented prune, Sirius?"

Sirius sniggered, turning to face him.

"I think I can see you," He said quietly. "Your eyes are right here–" He pointed at the space where Remus' eyeballs were. "– and your nose is probably right here–" He drew a finger and touched Remus' nose. "– and your mouth–" He splayed two fingers over Remus' mouth, and Remus shivered. "is right here." Sirius concluded, withdrawing his hand and looking intently at Remus.

"I guess you don't need light, Padfoot."

"Sirius Black never needs light." He chuckled.

Remus, not really caring about what he was doing, and only focusing on one particular, probably consequential and unwise and very un-Remusish move, leaned in and captured Sirius' lips with his own gently.

Sirius gasped slightly, opening his mouth as he did, Remus taking advantage of this and slipping his tongue into his mouth.

Sirius was probably still being stunned at this move of Remus, but realized soon enough what he should be doing and placed both hands on his waist as Remus tangled his hands in his hair.

"Maybe I really should get back to my own bed," Sirius panted onto Remus' mouth. "This is an even worse situation to get caught in."

"I don't care." Remus mumbled, pulling Sirius closer.

"I don't think I do, either."

Fin.

AN: So, what did you think? Yah, it's crap, right? Well, the beginning is nice to me, but the end and middle became rather… crappy. R&R, I don't mind flames if their kind with their criticism.

This is for my great friend V, or HermioneGranger47393! She's great and encouraging, so she needs a fanfic 'cos she's sick with the flu right now. :( R&R

But, I was bored, so writing is the only option because the weather is all rainy and dreary so I can't swim or bicycle around.

I love you guys! 3 3 3

JULIA :D ;O :P