Disclaimer: The characters aren't mine, but hopefully Rowling will let me keep them after I've tainted them with this story.

Minerva's Note: The first two paragraphs are a writing prompt for the Spring Challenge from BlackLupin. We were allowed to change the punctuation to suit our writing style. (For example, I added a few commas and made it two paragraphs instead of one.) However, we could not add or remove any words. Other than that, we were free to do whatever we wished for the plot. I hope everyone likes the story that I came up with!

This is a short fic that I've already finished for the challenge, so you can expect updates every few days. The next chapter will be Sirius' perspective.

The Lust Charm

Chapter One

Remus' Point of View

Remus sat on the window ledge and watched the first sunbeams breaking the horizon. It was the first day of spring. Remus loved spring. The days were getting longer and longer, which meant nights were shorter and shorter. The same was true for winter, of course, but it was cold and transformations were more painful. The sun crept higher up over the hills, and Remus smiled; soon he could spend days under the tree by the lake and study outside. The wolf in him hated being stuck indoors all winter.

The dorm was silent except for Peter's soft snores, and Remus was sure he was probably the only person in the school watching the sunrise. Well, Dumbledore might be, but he didn't really count. He sighed contently and watched the sun chasing the shadows away beyond the Forbidden Forest. Then, the silence was shattered by Sirius screaming at the top of his lungs.

"ARGH!"

Remus cringed at the peace-ruining outburst, but said nothing.

He didn't need to speak because James vocalised his sentiments for him. "What the Snitch?!" His body shot bolt upright in his four-poster, reaching for the eyeglasses and wand on his bedside table. "Did the Hufflepuffs get in here? Are they finally seeking revenge for that prank?"

Sirius snorted derisively. "As if a Hufflepuff could figure out how to get into another House." Remus marveled at how normal Sirius sounded for someone that was tangled so thoroughly in his bed curtains that he nearly resembled an upside-down mummy.

"Oh." James blinked blearily behind his lenses, the absence of his typical devious focus clearly showing that he was not meant to be awake this early. "Then, what were you imitating a banshee for?"

"I got up to take a piss, but the blanket was around my waist and holding onto me tighter than my ex-girlfriend that kept refusing to be dumped." Sirius had managed to get one leg and one arm free. They were sticking out into the air, looking rather ridiculous considering that the remainder of Sirius' body remained encompassed in scarlet velvet material.

Remus managed not to grin at the unflattering manner in which Sirius referred to his previous love interest. No, not love interest; snog interest.

Sirius was continuing his explanation, "I tumbled over trying to get out of the bedclothes, and fell into the hangings." His second arm escaped, ergo he was able to release his torso, which was bare because he never slept in a shirt. He seemed to be having trouble liberating his second leg.

"Ah." James nodded. "Well, I'll leave you to it, then." He removed his glasses, lay back down, and turned away from Sirius, obviously not planning on offering Sirius assistance after he rudely awakened him for no reason.

Remus glanced at Peter's bed, which looked undisturbed and still had snores coming from it. Peter wasn't that hard of a sleeper….unless he'd gotten drunk the night before. The werewolf sighed. He'd known his friends had talked about pulling out a bottle of firewhiskey after he'd gone to sleep, but he'd hoped that they hadn't actually done it. Not that one shared bottle would be enough to affect James and Sirius much, but Peter didn't hold alcohol well.

They'd waited until Remus went to bed not because they didn't want to include him, but because they knew he wouldn't want any. Remus experienced enough of losing command of his actions every full moon, and chose to not inebriate himself whilst in human form. Self-control was very important to him. He had too many secrets that he could not afford to expose. There was his lycanthropy, his tendency to weep girlishly at the deaths of characters in novels, and his attraction to a certain male friend that was currently looking deliciously sweaty as he struggled to extricate his shroud.

Remus had loved Sirius since…forever. Well, maybe that was an exaggeration, but if felt like forever. Remus' affection for his reckless, obnoxious roommate had turned from friendly to romantic as early as second year when Sirius had gotten detention for flying so high he'd reached where the oxygen got thinner. Remus had asked him why he'd done it, and naïve, twelve year-old Sirius said he'd been trying to get close enough to the moon to curse it out of the sky so it wouldn't hurt Remus anymore. Well, the werewolf had fallen right then and there, and hadn't stopped falling since.

I hope I hit the bottom soon. Even if the landing hurts, this falling is rather exhausting.

"Bugger!" Sirius spit out a few swear words in frustration. Then, he turned, still partially upside-down, to give Remus a pleading look. "Will you help me? I'm losing circulation in my foot."

Remus mentally shook himself from his decidedly more-than-friendly thoughts and took out the wand that he conveniently had in the pocket of his robes since he'd showered and dressed for the day an hour ago. He waved it purposefully and the fabric unraveled itself from Sirius so quickly that the pureblood fell to the floor in a heap.

"Thanks," said Sirius grumpily, getting to his feet.

"You're welcome." Remus smiled and pocketed his wand again.

Sirius rolled his eyes at Remus' intentionally out-of-place politeness, and walked over to the ledge his friend was perched on. "Slide over."

'Not until you put on a shirt!' Remus wanted to shout. Instead, he moved as close to the window as he could to make room for Sirius. In spite of this, there was still minimal space, and Sirius and Remus were pressed together side by side; shoulder to shoulder and hip to hip. Remus needed to remind himself repeatedly to breathe normally.

"I was wondering if you were going to help me, or if you were going to keep sitting here staring at me," remarked Sirius conversationally.

"I wasn't staring." Please, tell me that I wasn't staring! Remus silently begged any deities that might be listening.

"Were so." Sirius grinned and added, "You were imagining doing dirty things to me while I was bound and helpless like that, weren't you?"

The Prefect mentally cursed the fact that Sirius had an inherent need to flirt with everyone. Well, if he was honest with himself, Remus admitted that Sirius hadn't flirted with anyone aside from his fellow Marauders for the past six months, and Remus the most often. Remus surmised that this must be because Sirius was tired of farce relationships that consisted of no emotional attachment, which suited Remus perfectly because it meant that he didn't spend hours trying to lose himself in library books in an attempt to distract himself from the despair and jealousy that he felt. As a result of steering clear of giggly girls, Sirius - being a very sexual creature - had to make lewd suggestions to someone, right?

Right, Remus concluded. That left the only people that Sirius presumed wouldn't take his provocations as more than a joke: his friends. Remus could understand that. What he couldn't comprehend was why Sirius singled him out the most. Perhaps it was because James tended to smack Sirius for making advances, and Peter started gagging disturbingly on his own tongue? Whatever the reasons, Remus was sure that if Sirius ever discovered that Remus wished his flirtation was genuine that he wouldn't ever speak to Remus again.

Remus couldn't allow that to happen, so he denied Sirius' lascivious accusation. "No, I was imagining you as a pirate."

"A pirate? Is that a kink of yours?" asked Sirius interestedly

Dismissing Sirius' bizarre curiosity, Remus truthfully explained, "Not really, it's just that you said 'argh!' I can imagine you as a pirate captain shouting orders at sailors as foul-mouthed as you, wearing an impractically large hat, causing chaos in villages, and hording treasure not out of material greed, but because you like how shiny it is."

"Is the mention of shininess an insult about my intelligence?" Sirius bestowed Remus with a glare of mock indignation.

Remus smirked. "It could be."

The animagus huffed, "Fine, I'll let ye get away with it, ye landlubber, as long as ye don't insult my booty." Sirius licked the tip of his index finger, placed it on the side of his arse, and made a sizzling sound to signify how 'hot' it was.

"The last thing I want to talk about is your booty, Sirius," the werewolf deadpanned.

Sirius scowled at him playfully. "Don't make me force you to walk my plank, Moony." It was Sirius' turn to smirk when Remus emitted a strange-sounding cough at the comment. "Are you interested in finding out if my wood has the sea's wet, salty taste?" When Remus made no response except for his eyes growing larger Sirius leaned closer to Remus' face. "If you're good, I'll let you be first mate. Sometimes, I'll let you do the steering and decide what happens to my booty."

Remus wanted to run away before he began blushing, but he was trapped between Sirius and the window. He turned away from Sirius in favour of gazing at the sun that had now completely risen. "I thought you had to use the loo." He was proud that his voice was calm even if he was fogging up the glass with his unsteady breath.

"Right." Before Remus realised what happened, the warmth beside him was gone and Sirius had crossed the dormitory to close the bathroom door behind him with an agitated snap.

Remus sighed. What had he done to offend Sirius? There was no sense in talking to him now, for either Sirius would get over whatever it was, or would call Remus out on it later. There was naught for Remus to do at the moment save head to breakfast.