F: Stranger Things Have Happened (R/S, PG)
Stranger Things Have Happened, PG, 750 words. For Day 5, sort of... I was listening to it, right, but I don't know that it has any bearing on what came out, so perhaps my toes are in line to be eaten? Many thanks to deathofletters for the help. ♥ And I am behind now, augh.
Because
(1) His mother has tears in her eyes when Remus comes in for breakfast, and he thinks, Someone's dead, and then he thinks, Maybe it's me, because all the blood has made him morbid for 11, and he wouldn't really mind leaving his body behind in his bed. But he doesn't say anything. It's not so uncommon, his mum crying. He drinks down a cup of milk before she says anything, and she says -- oh, and the whole world opens up -- she says, "You're father's gone to talk to Albus Dumbledore."
(2) When he wakes up, James is sitting beside his bed with a wiggling chocolate frog leg sticking out of his mouth. "Hey," he says around it before sucking it in. Remus stares at him, knowing just how he looks -- drained pale, bandaged -- but James isn't staring back. James tips back in his chair, instead, and pulls another frog out of his bag. "You feeling okay? Sirius wanted to be here," he says, "and Peter, but he said something he shouldn't've and Sirius beat him up and they both got into trouble." He unwraps the frog and holds it out, and that's as complicated as it gets.
(3) McGonagall is that sort of deadly calm that horrifies first years and makes everyone else uneasy, no matter how old they are, unless they are Sirius Black and James Potter, and now, perhaps, maybe Remus Lupin. They all three look at her with most innocent faces until the staring contest becomes too much and Remus says, glancing down at the offending text book in front of them with a bravery he can't possibly possess, "It isn't technically pornography, Professor." Sirius's rough burst of laughter is worth the detention he secures for them all.
(4) The weather is finally warm, if a bit wet, and the Quidditch pitch is wide-open, but Remus can't find them anywhere: not on their brooms, not by the lake, not even worming food out of the house elves in the kitchen. He makes the rounds twice, just in case he managed to miss them, before he gathers up what little homework they have that weekend and goes to the library -- and there they are, all of them, bent over books thicker than should be allowed, perfectly silent.
(5) And one morning Peter turns into a rat.
(6) "Remus," Sirius says, "will you listen to me for five blood seconds? Will you just --" Remus turns the page. He is not in the mood. "-- hell, you're impossible!" And Sirius kisses him, all unpracticed teeth. Remus clutches at his book in frozen, open-eyed terror until Sirius pulls his head away and gives him an odd, too-worn smile. "Well," he says quietly. "Well. That was." He rubs his mouth with one hand until the smile is gone and walks out of the room.
(7) Peter steps on his foot and Sirius has to clamp a hand over Remus's mouth to keep him from giving them away. They're too big for this, have been for years, though it's not such a tight fit without James. James, who is going to murder them all if he finds out they are spying on him with his own cloak. He's talking with his hands, wildly, and Lily is watching him with a raised eyebrow, and then she smiles and nods. They can see her mouth forming the word. "Holy shit," Sirius says loudly, and Remus elbows him in the stomach.
, when Remus forces his dirty window open to see what is that infernal racket (and oh god I have become my father) and is hit in the forehead with a pebble, and Sirius smiles up at him sheepishly with pointed wand and rain-plastered hair and says, "Oi, Lupin, let a bloke in out of the rain?" -
, when he opens the door to the stairwell as far as its creaking hinges allow and Sirius pushes in and shakes his head, flinging water from the strands until it sticks out in a half-dry mess, and asks, as if it hasn't been a month since he last came around, "Is this a good time?" -
, when Sirius leans against his wall and drips on his carpet and says, nervous for this moment like Remus has never seen him before, never, with veiled eyes and an alien half-smile, "Remus, Moony, do you think you might possibly?" -
- Remus doesn't hesitate.
Because
(1) His mother has tears in her eyes when Remus comes in for breakfast, and he thinks, Someone's dead, and then he thinks, Maybe it's me, because all the blood has made him morbid for 11, and he wouldn't really mind leaving his body behind in his bed. But he doesn't say anything. It's not so uncommon, his mum crying. He drinks down a cup of milk before she says anything, and she says -- oh, and the whole world opens up -- she says, "You're father's gone to talk to Albus Dumbledore."
(2) When he wakes up, James is sitting beside his bed with a wiggling chocolate frog leg sticking out of his mouth. "Hey," he says around it before sucking it in. Remus stares at him, knowing just how he looks -- drained pale, bandaged -- but James isn't staring back. James tips back in his chair, instead, and pulls another frog out of his bag. "You feeling okay? Sirius wanted to be here," he says, "and Peter, but he said something he shouldn't've and Sirius beat him up and they both got into trouble." He unwraps the frog and holds it out, and that's as complicated as it gets.
(3) McGonagall is that sort of deadly calm that horrifies first years and makes everyone else uneasy, no matter how old they are, unless they are Sirius Black and James Potter, and now, perhaps, maybe Remus Lupin. They all three look at her with most innocent faces until the staring contest becomes too much and Remus says, glancing down at the offending text book in front of them with a bravery he can't possibly possess, "It isn't technically pornography, Professor." Sirius's rough burst of laughter is worth the detention he secures for them all.
(4) The weather is finally warm, if a bit wet, and the Quidditch pitch is wide-open, but Remus can't find them anywhere: not on their brooms, not by the lake, not even worming food out of the house elves in the kitchen. He makes the rounds twice, just in case he managed to miss them, before he gathers up what little homework they have that weekend and goes to the library -- and there they are, all of them, bent over books thicker than should be allowed, perfectly silent.
(5) And one morning Peter turns into a rat.
(6) "Remus," Sirius says, "will you listen to me for five blood seconds? Will you just --" Remus turns the page. He is not in the mood. "-- hell, you're impossible!" And Sirius kisses him, all unpracticed teeth. Remus clutches at his book in frozen, open-eyed terror until Sirius pulls his head away and gives him an odd, too-worn smile. "Well," he says quietly. "Well. That was." He rubs his mouth with one hand until the smile is gone and walks out of the room.
(7) Peter steps on his foot and Sirius has to clamp a hand over Remus's mouth to keep him from giving them away. They're too big for this, have been for years, though it's not such a tight fit without James. James, who is going to murder them all if he finds out they are spying on him with his own cloak. He's talking with his hands, wildly, and Lily is watching him with a raised eyebrow, and then she smiles and nods. They can see her mouth forming the word. "Holy shit," Sirius says loudly, and Remus elbows him in the stomach.
, when Remus forces his dirty window open to see what is that infernal racket (and oh god I have become my father) and is hit in the forehead with a pebble, and Sirius smiles up at him sheepishly with pointed wand and rain-plastered hair and says, "Oi, Lupin, let a bloke in out of the rain?" -
, when he opens the door to the stairwell as far as its creaking hinges allow and Sirius pushes in and shakes his head, flinging water from the strands until it sticks out in a half-dry mess, and asks, as if it hasn't been a month since he last came around, "Is this a good time?" -
, when Sirius leans against his wall and drips on his carpet and says, nervous for this moment like Remus has never seen him before, never, with veiled eyes and an alien half-smile, "Remus, Moony, do you think you might possibly?" -
- Remus doesn't hesitate.