Hey what's up hello!

4 years later and we're backkkk. The last time I published a chapter I was studying abroad in London and feeling all of those Harry Potter vibes. Now that I have a bit of extra quarantine time, I've picked this project back up.

I wrote a lot of chapters over the years that need to be edited and brought up to code, so there's plenty more in the pipeline. I realize that all of the different character stories are a bit hard to follow, so from here on out I'll be adding character titles at the top of each chapter. It's crazy to think I started writing this story 10 years ago when I was but a youth. It's been a fun way to relax and play around with the HP universe.

Stay healthy and stay safe everyone!

Sirius.

And that was only the beginning.

Each day, Sirius began to notice something new and wonderful about Remus. He was slowly coming to realize that deep down he had known how he had felt about his friend all along.

He started becoming more overprotective of the werewolf than usual – carrying Remus's heavy books to and from the library, passing him squares of Honeyduke's chocolate during History of Magic, raining terror on anyone who would dare criticize his friend's rather shabby way of dressing.

Following a Full Moon Week, the Marauders could usually be found lounging in a deserted corridor in the left wing of the castle. The group knew that Moony preferred quiet and seclusion whilst recovering from his werewolf romp through the Shrieking Shack. They did their best to accommodate him, frequenting empty classrooms and ghostly hallways whenever possible.

This particular Saturday they were discussing an on-going project they had undertaken – creating a secret map of the Hogwarts Castle. It was a bit chilly out, and the castle's stone walls had an unfortunate habit of clinging to the cold. The boys had opted to wear their muggle clothes, as the house elves had taken all of their robes for washing after a particularly nasty stink bomb accident that had occurred in their dormitory the day before.

James and Peter were looking over their current map progress, laying a slew of crumpled parchment rolls across the stone floor. Out of the corner of his eye, Sirius noticed Remus was shivering in his thin grey knit sweater. His outfit looked like it was a hand-me-down – it was worn and a bit too long for the werewolf. The corridor was a bit drafty – too chilly for Remus's recovering body to handle. Without thinking, Sirius quickly removed his much-loved leather jacket, placing it around the shorter Marauder's thin shoulders.

Remus froze in shock, a pink blush creeping across his sharp features. He looked up at Sirius, his eyes wide. A lightening bolt of desire shot through Sirius as his eyes wandered across the smaller man's ragged features and down to Remus's lips. It would be so easy to lean forward…to press his lips against Remus' as he had in The Dream. And really, how could he truly know how he felt about his friend until he tested it out a bit? A quick peck wouldn't hurt anyone, right? He could easily laugh it off as a joke.

Remus's lips looked so soft and delicious and inviting. Sirius could hardly resist. I bet he tastes like chocolate.

Sirius had been lost in his cloudy thoughts, but one look at Remus's confused expression quickly snapped him back to reality.

"You looked cold." Sirius said dumbly, avoiding eye contact with his amber-eyed friend.

"Yeah…thanks." Remus stuttered out, clearly embarrassed.

Sirius immediately felt bad, had he exposed himself? Had he made Remus uncomfortable? Straight men didn't go around sharing jackets, did they?

Upon realizing the potential enormity of the gesture, Sirius decided he could only ease the strange tension he had created by quickly removing himself from the situation.

"Well, I'm off for a quick break in the loo." He turned on his heel and awkwardly walked away from the group, James and Peter peering up curiously from their parchment plans.

"Oi! Grab me a cauldron cake from the kitchen on your way back!" James called out behind him, completely unaware of the jacket situation.

Sirius nodded curtly and continued to haul-ass out of the corridor, but not before he heard Remus squeak out, "I l-look really badass now, don't I?" His voice cracked a bit towards the end. He had been trying to sound sarcastic, but Sirius sensed that Remus was genuinely wondering about his appearance.

Without even thinking, Sirius whipped around his head to see the lanky teenager standing uncomfortably in the middle of the hall, shifting from foot to foot. Remus swept his tawny hair out of his bright amber eyes. The leather jacket was much too large for his thin frame, but it dwarfed him in a way that made him look stylish and rock-star-sexy (at least in Sirius' mind). The jacket contrasted nicely with Remus's clean, worn blue jeans and beaten-up trainers.

Their eyes locked.

In that moment, Sirius was hopelessly in love with Remus. The werewolf looked shy, innocent and devastatingly handsome all at the same time. Sirius admired the way the shallow afternoon light bounced off of his angular features. His face was covered in some expression that Sirius did not recognize.

"Always, Rem." Sirius grinned, recovering from his moment of awe. "I'll get some extra chocolate to go with that cauldron cake."

"Extra dark or no dice." Remus grinned, his wonderful smile sparkling in the quiet afternoon corridor.

"I wouldn't even dream of giving you anything less."

And with that, Sirius turned on his heel and walked in the direction of the restroom near the kitchens. He ducked his head, furiously blushing.

The awkward encounters only got worse from there.

Sirius's gaze lingered too long when the Marauder's got changed out of their robes before bed. His touch lasted past appropriate when he clapped Remus on the back for a job well done in Defense Against the Dark Arts class. He laughed too long at Remus's dry humor. He went out of his way to spend more time in Remus's presence, soaking up his bright energy.

Sirius felt like he was constantly making mistakes, outing himself and revealing his feelings to Remus. Simple, everyday things they had always done together suddenly became more meaningful. He craved Remus's attention, his touch.

One rainy Saturday morning after a particularly hard quidditch practice, the two shared another intense moment. Sirius had promised Remus that the two of them could study for the upcoming History of Magic exam together that day, as Remus had missed a week of class recovering from his moon injuries.

Sirius was running very late and rushed haphazardly out of the shower, hair sopping wet and shaggy. He pulled on a pair of pants and hastily buttoned up a shirt as he searched for his History notes in the pile beneath his bed. He frantically tossed his notes around, wishing he had established a more useful system of organization for himself at the beginning of the term. Defense Against the Dark Arts notes and broken quills spun around him as he struggled to pull on his left sock.

"All right there, Siri?"

Sirius turned around quickly, slipping on his notes and landing on the ground with a soft Thump!

He feared that Remus would be grumpy with his lateness, and was surprised to see the werewolf lounging casually on his bed, flipping through a copy of the Daily Prophet. Remus quickly dropped the newspaper to give his friend a hand.

"What's all the chaos about, it's a bloody Saturday for Merlin's sake!" Remus laughed, reaching down to re-button Sirius's ill-managed shirt.

Sirius grinned. "I wanted to give you a run for your money as 'world's most punctual git.'"

"Oh, well, you've definitely missed your shot there. You're already a half hour late." Remus's long fingers danced up Sirius's shirt, shifting buttons in and out of the thin fabric. After a moment, he undid a middle button, grazing the cool skin of Sirius' stomach. The raven-haired boy shivered at the touch, his mind wandering to situations where Remus might quickly unbutton his shirt without bothering to put it right. Feeling the tremor, Remus looked up at his friend and his grin faltered.

Sirius felt the overwhelming need to have Remus pressed against him, a tangle of angles and feather-light kisses. He took a shaky breath, inhaling the soft but lovely scent of Remus – the dormitory soap, pine, freshly mown grass, parchment and old books -

"You really should learn to dress yourself properly, Black." The werewolf said softly, looking up at Sirius through his light eyelashes. Sirius's heart started beating ridiculously fast. Their faces were only inches apart. Remus's lips called to Sirius' like a siren song.

Remus blinked in the soft morning light, looking up at his friend with his face crinkled into an expression that Sirius chose to interpret as longing. Remus dropped his grip on Sirius' shirt and took a hasty step back, diverting his attention to the landscape outside. "I trust you can handle the rest yourself."

Sirius opened his mouth to say something (he wasn't sure what), but was abruptly cut off by James throwing open the dormitory's door with a dramatic bang.

"I think Lily's starting to fall for me!" He proclaimed triumphantly, Peter scurrying in on his coattails.

Sirius and Remus stared at him blankly, looking somewhat uncomfortable and guilty.

"Umm…how's that mate?" Sirius scrambled to re-button his shirt.

"Well!" James clearly had not noticed the air of obvious discomfort that was lingering in the Marauder's dormitory. He never had been great at reading a room. "Today she asked me to pass her the toast! Do you know what that means!?"

Sirius and Remus stared at him, dumbfounded.

"She finally trusts me to handle her food again! After Sirius and I added potions to the oatmeal to turn everyone's ears purple first year, everyone's been wary of sharing platters with me. Lily's showing she trusts me!" He gazed around at them in awe.

The room was silent, and then Sirius burst out laughing at the sheer ridiculousness of the James' announcement. His heart was still beating much too fast, and his face was red and flushed from being so close to Remus in such an…intimate way. He laughed until tears started forming in the corners of his eyes. Before long, they were all giggling heartily, the tension between Remus and Sirius melting quickly. Even James joined in when he realized the absurdity of his statement.

Most recently, Sirius had taken to catching glimpses of Remus coming out of the dormitory bathroom after a long shower. He felt horribly guilty about it – but not quite guilty enough to stop peeping. And besides, it was nothing he hadn't seen before, right? The two had shared the same space for years-Sirius had seen Remus changing in and out of his robes on more occasions than he could count! But now seeing Remus half clothed and glistening felt…different. Forbidden. Intrusive. Arousing?

However, Sirius need not feel too guilty, as Remus did not make it a habit of exposing himself in front of the other Marauders. It was rare that he saw anything more than a length of the werewolf's pale stomach, or the shine of his bare collarbone. He was a modest guy, only ever stripping down to his underwear when completely necessary. For instance, his monthly transformation at the Shrieking Shack was no black tie affair – any clothing he wore would be torn apart in the wolf's frenzy to worship the full moon. When Madame Pomfrey set his bones or treated his wounds, his modesty vanished in order to get rid of the hurt as quickly as possible. All the same, Moony valued his privacy. Sirius suspected that this was due to the long silvery scars that crisscrossed his body, marks the wolf had made on his fragile body during those horrid full-moon nights.

Remus always exited the bathroom wearing a light pair of flannel pants, towel slung over his sinewy shoulder, the only time he could be spotted with no shirt in sight. The distance between his bed and the bathroom was about five paces, so he was never without clothes for long. Sirius peered over the top of his Quidditch magazine to admire how he moved so elegantly, long limbs gracefully weaving around James' piles of dirty laundry.

Remus was thin and muscular. The wolf part of Rem kept him slight and toned, and Sirius felt something flicker in the pit of his stomach as he noticed the way Remus's muscles stretched as he walked. He suddenly felt a pressing need to leap across the floor, to press Remus into his soft Hogwarts bed and to kiss him hard. He let his mind wander a bit – he wondered what it would be like to make Remus moan. What would a Remi moan even sound like? Would it be wolf-like and feral? Or innocent and sweet? Would he beg Sirius for more, or would he takeover until Sirius was the one keening for more attention?

Sirius continued to secretly watch as Remus slipped on a dark grey t-shirt with something printed across the front. Sirius quickly realized that it was one of his muggle band shirts.

"Hey! Where'd ya nick that from, Rem?" Sirius laughed playfully, suddenly uncomfortably aware of how sexy Remus looked wearing his clothes.

Remus looked up, blushing as if he'd been caught committing a heinous crime.

"All my stuff's dirty!" He smiled, waving at James' pile of strewn laundry. "James took all of my shirts when he ran out of his own, the git!"

"Or…you're definitely trying to cultivate a more 'badass' image. First the leather jacket, now the Guns 'N Roses deal." He smirked. "Keep it…it looks good on you."

Remus bounded across the room and jumped onto Sirius's bed ceremoniously. He stood tall and began to pose as if he were some sort of tragically handsome model. Remus carefully balanced himself on the end of the bed, pouting as he looked over his shoulder at Sirius.

"You like what you see?" He sneered, attempting to seem aloof. "I just got back from a worldwide tour and I'm looking for some arm candy." Remus wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, adjusting his pose as if he was a body builder, flexing his arm muscles.

Sirius was laughing so hard he could hardly breathe. Remus rocked back and forth on his heels before bouncing into another pose. He stretched one of his arms into the sky as if he were about to touch the sacred hand of God. "You know they used me as inspiration for the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel?" He looked broodingly up at the Gryffindor Tower ceiling.

"Oh, but of course! How could Leonardo Da Vinci not have been enthralled by your ethereal beauty?"

"I am the patron saint of Guns and Roses. Bow down to my glorious personification of a guitar riff." Remus pretended to strum a guitar, jumping up and down on Sirius' bed as he did so. As he hit the final note of his faux-solo, he burst out laughing. His beautiful, peeling laughter reverberated throughout the room as he bounced two more times on the bed before throwing himself down at Sirius's side.

The two cackled side-by-side – Sirius wrapped under the covers and Remus on top. It was the kind of laughter that fills your soul with warmth and keeps you giggling long after you should have calmed down and gone to bed. Sirius was going red in the face with mirth and Remus laid beside him, tears streaming down his lovely scar-ridden face.

Sirius turned his head so he could look at Remus as he died of laughter. He felt happiness bubble up and swell within him. Remus's amber eyes sparkled as he stared back at Sirius, his Guns and Roses shirt wrinkled against his beautifully sinewy body. The werewolf's tawny hair spread out around his head like a bright halo. Sirius's eyes wandered the other boy's face, causing on Remus's wonderfully sharp and pointed nose. It was the most handsome noses Sirius had ever seen – spattered with adorable freckles and light scarring from a bad transformation night.

They were best friends. Eternal comrades. Soul Mates. Remus knew Sirius inside out – he knew the animagus' hopes, his fears, and his secrets. Well, he knew most of Sirius's secrets at least. Sirius loved the intimacy between them – there were times like this when words didn't even need to be exchanged. They could enjoy each other's company and read the other's emotions as easily as browsing a first year's charms textbook.

Remus leaned his head against Sirius's shoulder, his laughter ebbing. Sirius took a few shallow gasps.

"You'd make a great model, you know." He said, staring up at his bed hangings stoically. This sent Remus into another fit of giggles.

"You know werewolves are very in this season." Remus's head bounced on Sirius's shoulder as he chuckled. The contact was pleasant, and made Sirius feel quite warm inside.

"Yes, fur coats are always in style, aren't they?"

Remus rolled over to look at Sirius, playfully shoving him.

"I swear - if I wake up after a transformation to you wearing a Moony fur coat, I will kill you."

"Moony," Sirius grinned, "if you think that I would be able to tame the wolf for long enough to even steal a hair off of your pelt, you should be declared criminally insane."

"True." Remus nodded. The wolf was infamously hard to control or touch.

Sirius turned to his friend. He couldn't believe how gorgeous and sexy Remus was.

Yup, definitely gay for Remus. Sirius thought as he admired the way his friend's hair fell into his eyes. Would definitely hit that.

The floorboards creaked as James walked in from the common room.

"Hey Prongs!" Remus called out across the room as their spiky-haired friend came into view. "Stop wearing my damn clothes, or at least get them bloody washed!"

James shrugged and tossed his arithmancy book on the floor. "I figure everything in this room is shared property of the grand and generous Order of the Marauders. What's mine is yours and so on."

Remus smiled. "Then why don't I ever get to borrow your socks?"

"Merlin's Beard, Rem. The Prongs smell would bother Moony's nose even if those socks had been washed a dozen times!" Sirius reached behind him and threw his pillow at James. Potter deftly dogged the projectile, leaving it to spin onto Remus's bed.

"Smell? Never! That is the powerfully sexy musk of the greatest Quidditch player to ever grace this tower! Moony, you would be lucky – nay! – blessed to wear such powerfully scented socks on your werewolf feet. We wouldn't be able to keep the girls off of you."

Sirius's stomach dropped at the thought of seeing Remus with a girl.

"Well maybe we should keep you away from those socks, then." Sirius said quickly. "It's probably very hard to study when you're covered in girls."

"Hard to study books, at least." James wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. He pointed at the Sirius and Remus, tangled in the comforter of Sirius' bed. "And what are you two doing, canoodling? Having a nice snog-fest up there in Padfoot's little love nest?"

"Oh no, you've caught us." Remus deadpanned. "We were having outrageously sexy times in the middle of a school dormitory with the door unlocked."

The mention of such things sent a delicious shiver up Sirius' spine. He let his mind wander…it would be so, so incredibly hot to be close to Remus in such a physically intimate way. In his dormitory bed. With the door unlocked.

Great. Now I'm gay AND an exhibitionist.

"You would make a cute couple." James said sarcastically, pretending to appraise them. "Pads has that reckless debonair air to him, and you've got the sexy professor thing going for you. An interesting combination that would definitely attract the ladies' attentions."

Remus was at a lost for words. He managed to squeak out "…sexy professor?"

But James' wheels were already spinning too fast to acknowledge Moony's mild discomfort. "Imagine…the ultimate prank to finish off this year! We pretend you're a couple…the birds'll think it's absolutely swoon-worthy! No one would see such a farce coming! All you have to do is neck a bit. Just fake necking, of course! And everyone will be shocked and enraptured by your taboo romance. Girls love what they can't have. And then we'll do some big reveal and-"

"Let's stop that right there, mate. I think Moony's about to faint." Peter stepped out of the bathroom, appraising the scene with his beady brown eyes. "But I'll definitely add it to the idea board. Do you think it would work if it was me instead of Moony?"

Sirius crinkled his nose in disgust.

"Wormtail…no offense mate but I would never in a billion years snog you!" He said indignantly.

Peter looked a bit hurt. "But you'd snog Remus!?"

The question seemed to hang in the air. Sirius shifted uncomfortably, scooting to sit against the bed's headboard. He could feel his face getting hot and flushed. He hoped none of the other boys noticed in the dim lamplight. He opened his mouth to reply, even though he had absolutely no idea what to say.

"No one's snogging anyone, Pete." Remus interjected before Sirius could speak. "We are all perfectly capable of getting dates without stooping to Marauder-incest. Probably."

"Marauder-cest." James amended, clearly still thinking out possible snog-prank details. "Ok, write that one down Wormtail. We can still workshop it."

"Right." Peter bustled away to add the note to their ever-growing compendium of prank ideas.

"Think of it this way Sirius," James spread his arms out as if he was a circus ringmaster performing for all to see. "Maybe if one of you snogs me in the Common Room it'll make Lily jealous."

The whole room filled with laughter as the boys contemplated the possibility of something that wild actually working. Lily would never fall for something like that. Correction, Lily would never fall for James, period.

"I will admit, Prongs, the way your hair sticks up after Quidditch practice always gets me going." Sirius teased.

James stumbled around the room as if he had been struck by Cupid's arrow. "Ah yes, Sirius! And the way you sing horribly in the shower simply makes my heart melt. Oh, how I want you! I long for your kiss each night as I watch you polish your broomstick in the locker room!" James pretended to swoon and faint onto his bed, his bravado stealing laughter from Sirius and Pete, leaving Remus oddly quiet.

"On that note, I think I'll turn in for the night." Remus slipped off of Sirius's bed and made way towards his own. Sirius watched him go, already missing there werewolf being in such close proximity. Touching proximity.

Remus's bed was neatly made, his tidy bit of the room contrasted wildly with the rest of the messy "décor." As Remus pulled down his covers and slipped amongst the sheets, Sirius wondered what it would be like to share a bed with Remus for the night. Nothing dirty (although it was hard to keep his mind from wandering in that direction), just sharing space. Would they touch? Hold hands? Spoon?

Who would be the bigger spoon? They were both pretty similar in terms of height. Would they fit together like cutlery, or would it be an awkward tangle of limbs, interlocked and warm?

Remus's amber eyes caught Sirius' darker ones. "Goodnight, Pads." Something flashed behind his eyes. He closed the hangings around his bed and settled in for the night.

"Goodnight Moony." Sirius said quietly, staring at the closed curtain with a mixture of interest and hopeless devotion.