A/N: Speed-written as I am in Japan and must get to Japanese class, but absolutely HAD to finish this before I left. Aaaaaagh, must run! Might edit later! enjoy!
It was amazing, really, how what had once been a fabulous foursome had morphed, seemingly effortlessly, into an entirely compatible group of six.
Sirius would never have thought it possible; he, James, Remus, and Peter were always The Four. Nothing could separate them, but on that rare occasion that an addition to their group was tested out, bonds always became strained.
When Peter dated that Hufflepuff girl, for example. Unlike The Marauders' previous flings, this one hadn't been content with staying on the outskirts of the group. She had cunningly, and very sweetly, infiltrated into the core, and although she had been a perfectly nice girl, she wasn't a Fifth Marauder. Peter had soon after had done with her.
There were a few strings of likely girl-candidates for all of them during the time after that, but experience had taught them. An unspoken pact existed that significant others did not, under any circumstances, become inside members of the group.
And then there was Lily.
It was no mystery that the girl had a fiery temper, but it was her ice-cold determination that finally got her where she wanted…and where she wanted was IN. With the Marauders, to be specific. An official, accepted member of their group. Of course, Sirius, Peter, even Remus, had objected. Quite loudly, one might add. But James had won out, as he was wont to do.
It was another unspoken agreement that James was the head of the group. He didn't exercise his veto power very often, and so on most occasions the fact faded until it was just there, in the back of their heads, lurking like the Giant Squid. But in Lily's case, the Squid didn't just rise to the surface of the lake; it sprouted legs and entered a triathlon. It won the biking portion, too.
And so, quite to everyone's dismay, Four became Five. Even more surprising was the way it…well, the way it felt as if they had never been any other way. When Lily was off in the Library or something, and it was just the four of them again, it should have felt like things were settling back to how they should be.
Instead, she left a gaping hole, one that niggled and festered at each of their minds in a different, but equally unpleasant, way.
And so it became The Fabulous Five, and everyone agreed that they couldn't conceive of a time when it had been any different.
And yet, when Amy first attempted the very same feat as Lily had so resoundly succeeded at, they were still dubious. They had already admitted one girlfriend to the party, and she hardly counted. She wasn't Just A Girlfriend, after all. She was, although they teased him relentlessly about it, James' rising sun, his setting moon, and everything he planned his life by.
It took them several months to realize, that, in fact, Amy wasn't Just A Girlfriend, either.
She was Remus' everything. Perhaps not his moon; that portion of this life was full enough already. But she was his sun, banishing the dark corners of his life. She was perfection, especially for Remus.
Sirius had always been protective of his mates; Remus in particular, in effect because he necessitated the most protecting. Yet even he admitted that Amy was ideal. She wasn't just like Remus; if anything, she was more like Sirius himself, although rather less beautiful.
Of course, she was quite pretty, in that unique sort of way that gets you photographed by Hippie-run art studios instead of Vouge Magazine. She and Remus looked well together, her blond hair and mischievous eyes complementing as opposed to distracting from him.
But it was her personality that was the ticket, and it was what got her to the fabled Sixth position in the Marauders. She wasn't as subtle about it as Lily; she forced her way in, mostly by appealing to the group's delight in pranks. Amy had a wicked sense of humor and timing, and augmented their plans without taking control, which would only have upset the balance.
She was perfect for the group, as they began to realize when she spent almost as much time hanging out with Remus, Sirius, Peter, James, and Lily as she did with just Remus. She and Sirius got along the best of the bunch, with Remus as the notable exception.
Truthfully, the three of them together made a sort of trifecta; perfection within the perfection that was the Marauders. Nights often found them sprawled near the fire in the common room, with Remus and Amy gently draped over one another, Sirius leaning against whoever's side was available.
Just like tonight. Sirius had his back pressed against Amy, who sat comfortably in Remus' lap. They were, for the moment, content to just sit in silence and listen to the crackle of the fire. It was the middle of exam week, and now that Potions was done with, they had wordlessly agreed to take a break. James, Peter, and Lily all had exams early tomorrow, and their absence (to the Library, of course) could be felt like a palpable thing; an itchy little bug bite right in the crook of your knee.
Still, the moment was comfortable, and both Remus and Sirius looked up in distress (Sirius from his sudden position laying in Remus' lap) as Amy rose and graced them with a lopsided smile. Remus glanced at the pocket watch she had given him for Christmas two years ago as a joke (they all knew Remus was destined to be a stodgy old professor one day) and smiled in understanding. I was understood that Amy, despite her boisterousness, and perhaps because of it, had a delightful bedside manner. Two days a week, come Hell or high water, she went down to volunteer in Madame Pompfrey's little hospital wing.
In addition, she always made sure to volunteer the day after a full moon, and had a ready supply of hot cocoa and other delicacies on hand. Her acceptance of Remus' furry little problem, and active (although secret from Remus) effort to become an Animagus like the rest of them, was the cherry on top of the reasons Sirius adored her, not just as a friend, but as Remus' girlfriend.
And so, it was entirely Idiotic, Inexplicable, and in all other ways Inconceivable that, when Amy walked out through the frame, waving a cheeky goodbye, and Remus and Sirius were left alone in the common room with only the fire for company, that Sirius chose to upset the balance and run a gentle, questing finger along Remus' cheekbone.
It was even more Incomprehensible that Remus' eyes were molten and dark, and that he bent at an odd angle, mouth slightly open and breath almost too sweet, to press a kiss to the lips of the boy lying in his lap.
It was Unbelievable, really, that, Sirius would kiss back, slowly at first, and then whimpering, moving his jaw in perfect rhythm to the press of Remus' lips.
Entirely Implausible that Remus would whimper back, then let a rumbling growl occupy the back of his throat as he hoisted Sirius into a sitting position ,biting at his lower lip at the same time.
And then they split, and their eyes met, warm light brown on cool shining grey, and Sirius ducked his head to suck on the spot where Remus' neck met his shoulder, and all at once everything made the most perfect kind of sense.
And when Remus' hands pressed against Sirius' back, and Sirius' hands threaded through Remus' hair, cupping the back of his head and bringing him deeper into the kiss, Amy was forgotten. Perfection, The Six Marauders, were forgotten. It was foodhardy, throwing away such love, devotion, friendship, Utopia.
But then, Utopia always falls; it is the imperfect worlds that struggle, and fail, and succeed, but ultimately, it is the imperfect worlds that survive.
And, if Remus and Sirius are anything, it is most certainly not perfection.
Review? Possibly? I think it might be utter crap, and will most likely take it down soon, actually. :P