Disclaimer: I own nothing
Summary: Remus finds Sirius chain-smoking late at night. Minor S/R if you tilt your head and squint.
A/N: This drabble/fic/dragon manure serves absolutely no purpose except to give me something to do at 4:30 in the morning.

Insomniac

The flow of time always seemed to ebb down to a barely there trickle around this period of night. It was too late to be considered the day before and not yet the day after. An in-between hour similar to the moments amid wake and slumber, although after approximately 48 hours without sleep, it was highly possible that the lines separating dreams from reality had gotten a bit blurred in his mind.

It was around this in-between time that Remus happened upon his roommate after ambling blearily out of the bathroom. Blinking to assure himself that he wasn't seeing some sort of midnight apparition, the dark silhouette of a person slowly came into focus against the inky backdrop of the night. Sirius looked like he hadn't moved for ages, perching very still on the ancient window ledge, one knee drawn up to his chin, and the other barefoot leg dangling a few feet above the ground.

"Siri-you alright?" Remus mumbled padding over to the window. He noted that it was open, and could feel a series of goose bumps start to erupt on his arms, due to a frigid breeze that blew in his direction.

The dark outline of Sirius leaned its head back against the stone frame, before slowly tilting in the direction that Remus had spoken. Remus thought It was slightly unnerving to see only the black profile of his friend, as if someone had taken a brush and painted over the handsome, distinguished features of his face, stroke-by-stroke.

"Fine. You?" Came the response from the window. As he spoke, a haze of white smoke escaped his lips and hung in the air between them, before slowly drifting out through the open window and into the night. Had it been anybody else, Remus' first thought would have been that the icy conditions of winter had created the appearance of visible water vapor-but this was Sirius- and Remus knew better.

Rubbing his eyes, and feeling slightly more at ease to hear nothing amiss in the tone of his friends voice, Remus turned around and started to make his way back to the comfort and warmth of his four-poster bed.

"Great. Tired. Now put out the cigarette, Sirius, and get to bed, or I'll report you for trying to poison us all in our sleep tomorrow morning." Remus yawned as he pulled back the covers. Staring at the dark outline of Sirius, Remus couldn't tell if he cracked a smile or not, but he did see a bright orange flicker as Sirius used the dying stub of his used cigarette to light the end of a new one.

"G'night Mooney." Sirius chuckled, before turning his head back in the direction of the open window, Remus' threat clearly going unheeded. Rolling his eyes, Remus made the conscious decision that it was far too late-or early- to lecture Sirius about the danger smoking was to his health, and their dwindling house points should he wind up getting caught. Sliding under the blankets, Remus wound up falling asleep to the familiar smell of cool November air, mixed in with the sweet, scent of tobacco, mentally making a note to approach Sirius about his sleeping issues first thing in the morning.

The next day, used to being the first one up, Remus awoke to the window firmly shut, the sill littered with about a dozen small burns, and the sound of the shower running on full blast. Eyes flicking over the still sleeping forms of James and Peter, they soon came to rest upon Sirius' neat, un-creased bed, which Remus doubted had been used for some time.

End

A/N: R&R purdy plz?