Chapter one: Awkward Quiets.

It was awkward. No, worse than that – it was quiet. Sirius Black did not do quiet.

"So..." he huffed, frantically searching his brain for something to say. Anything.

"Yeah" came the whisper of a reply. Sirius scowled inwardly. He couldn't believe James had gotten a detention without him. He felt almost betrayed. Stupid Evans and her stupid Veela-like influence on his stupid prat of a best friend. Well, it wasn't really James's fault, but he could have at least told Sirius what was going on. Stupid Snivellus, too, actually. If Snape hadn't called James's precious Lily flower a mudblood then he wouldn't have felt the need to sneak into the Slytherin dorm to revenge her honour. Then he wouldn't have needed to coerce Peter into transfiguring into Wormtail to help him get in. Then he wouldn't have been caught and wouldn't have left Sirius alone with only Remus bloody Lupin for company.

Sirius sighed, both inwardly and outwardly and Remus glanced over from where he had been studying the red hangings on Peter's bed. That wasn't really fair, he knew, but he was bored damnit! Remus was a bloody werewolf! Who the hell would have thought he'd be this dull? Sirius smiled when the two made eye contact and Remus weakly returned the gesture before letting out a small sigh himself and looking down to pick at his non-existent fingernails.

Sirius supposed that, had he actually been friends with the other boy, things wouldn't be so awkward or so damn quite now. Unfortunately there was little he could do about that now.

It wasn't that he wasn't friends with Remus. But more that they just weren't friends. They'd never really hung out just the two of them before, James or Peter were always around. The whole dynamics of the Marauders centred around James and it wasn't until now that he realized just how much time he spent with the messy-haired boy.

"Um, so – you done that essay for Charms yet?" asked Remus suddenly, startling Sirius out of his thoughts with the abrupt question.

"Er...no" replied Sirius plainly. Remus blinked, nodding and licking his lips a little.

"Oh... well, I have, so... i-if you need any help, or... anything..." he offered, trailing off. Sirius nodded, forcing a smile. Well. That hadn't lasted long.

Sirius and James had met just over a week into first year. The boy had already been friends with Peter ('friends' being a flexible term), and the two had been interested in 'The Black that had been sorted into Gryffindor' the same way one is interested in a train-wreak. Sirius, on the other hand, had been lonely, depressed, and seriously (no pun intended) considering refusing to be a Gryffindor and just tagging along with the rest of the Slytherins.

Sirius became aware of a thumping noise, and looked up to see Remus drumming his fingers on his knee. When he noticed Sirius staring at him, he flushed and muttered a short apology, shifting to sit on his hands instead. More quiet.

It hadn't been until second year that Remus came along. And that was really only because he was some-what, sort-of friends with Evans and James had been planning on getting info on her from the boy. Obviously, this hadn't worked. But by the time James realized how useless befriending Remus had been the boy was well on his way to becoming a Marauder in James's books so he hadn't minded as much.

Sirius heard Remus sigh and scowled again, his time outwardly. It wasn't his fault the atmosphere was so awkward. They'd all three of them been brought in by James at one time or another, and it was never this awkward with Peter. It was all Remus's fault then! ...Though, it wasn't exactly awkward between Peter and Remus either...

Sirius sighed for a third time, only this sigh was accompanied by words. "What's it like being a werewolf then?" he asked, swinging his arms around and clapping his hands once. Remus looked over at him so fast Sirius could have sworn he heard something click.

"Pardon?" the other boy hissed, looking alarmed.

"What? I became an animagus for you. The least you could do was share some dirty secrets" he replied, shrugging. Remus almost smiled at that. Maybe.

"And what makes you think I've even got any 'dirty secrets'?" he asked, frowning slightly. Sirius rolled his eyes, scoffing as if he thought it was obvious. Which he did. And it was.

"Oh, come on! You're a werewolf yet you don't so much as bat an eyelash whenever he get extra homework cos me and Jamesie upset the professor! If that's not a whatchmecallit-"

"An oxymoron?"

"-yeah, that, then what is!" exclaimed Sirius, barely missing hitting said oxymoron as he waved his arms around to help convey his point.

"So me being an oxymoron means I must have dirty secrets... because...?" repeated Remus, not following in any sense of the word as Sirius jumped up from the floor and started pacing.

"I don't know! You just must have! Once a month you turn into a huge, great, slobbering mo-" Sirius cut himself off, only just realizing what he had been about to say. He saw Remus's eyes flash and cringed. "Sorry. I didn't mean..." he tried, shifting his weight from one foot to another and watch Remus from the corner of one eye as the other boy looked away and went back to studying hangings.

"It's fine"

And back came the quiet.