Kisses in the Common Room

It was winter at Hogwarts, and the castle and its grounds were gently covered in a thick blanket of snow. Icicles hung on trees and frost lingered in the air, making students' noses red with the cold and freezing their limbs to the bone. Snowball fights and snowmen were a somewhat regular occurrence over the castle; the snowmen had been charmed to throw snowballs at passing students and converse with professors. Mistletoe hung sneakily in corridors and Christmas Trees stood tall and proud in the Great Hall. It so well seemed that everyone was high in festive spirit and full of wintry joy.

All except Remus Lupin.

He sat alone in his dormitory, whilst his fellow friends James Potter, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew were in the grounds, enjoying the snow, like everyone else in the school. Even Dumbledore was feeling the festive joy, by hanging Christmas decorations outside, his purple robes blanketed, knee high, in a layer of snow.

Even Severus Snape was living off the yuletide happiness - he was thinking of ways to get back at James and Sirius for their latest prank, but he was walking outside happily, with his books and head of irritatingly greasy hair.

Yes, the entire school was having fun without Remus Lupin.

He had insisted that he had studying to do and he had gone to the library. But this trip was in vain when he realized he couldn't concentrate under the suffocating silence. Eventually, with great annoyance, Remus had slammed his Transfiguration textbook sharply, ignored the mutterings of Madam Pince on his way out, and made his way to Gryffindor tower, where he now sat; his textbook lay, unopened, on the floor next to his four-poster.

Annoyed, Remus stood and went to stand in front of his trunk - when he pulled back the lid, he was pleased to find that the Marauder's Map was untouched and ready.

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good," he said, his wand pressed against the parchment. Hogwarts and its inhabitants faded on to the page quickly. He looked for the names of his 3 best friends eagerly.

They were walking to the lake, James leading arrogantly, with Sirius close behind. Peter, however, lagged slightly - it was well known that Peter was the least liked of all four of them. People often called him a weedy little rat, which was ironic, really.

But only they knew that.

"Mischief managed," said Remus, and he pushed the map back inside his trunk. Checking his pocket for his wand, he took a slow walk to the lake, thinking along the way.

The full moon was over 2 weeks away, so he had no excuse, really, to feel the way he did. He put it down to hormones, but even he couldn't deny he had been acting strangely. He knew his friends knew, but he figured they'd let him talk to them when he was ready.

But would he ever be ready?

How could you tell your best friend, who just so happens to be a guy, that you're in love with him?

When he reached the lake, he saw his friends, playing in the snow near their favourite tree. He smiled. He often grew paranoid, scared that they would desert him. They knew he was a werewolf, and they still stuck by him. It often amazed Remus that they still hadn't ran away screaming. Telling a certain Sirius Black that he was gay and wanted to snog him senseless was not a good way to thank them.

"Moony!" He knew the voice of Sirius. He smiled and gave a small wave, as his 3 friends bounded up to him, faces pink and snow twinkling in their hair. James' glasses were dropped with moisture. He and Lily had started going out at last, and it really showed, because he was nearly always happy.

Peter was still as small and plump as ever - 7 years at Hogwarts didn't do anything to thin him at all. In all the years at school, Peter was considered an outsider in the quad, and his awe over James and Sirius was really quite annoying. It had occurred to Remus, though, that Peter seemed to be hanging around less with James, Sirius and Remus, and he disappeared without warning. It was suspicious, to say the least.

Remus' heart skipped a beat when he looked at Sirius. He really was gorgeous. If only he didn't waste his time on easy girls and mindless shags in broom closets.

Remus was perfectly certain that Padfoot was straight - his reputation amongst the females of not only Gryffindor but of Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw supported that theory. He even boasted of Slytherin females lining up for him, occasionally. Sirius Black's reputation and love of the female body made it 100%, absolutely, completely and utterly certain that he was straight. Right?

Remus was fairly sure that sometimes, when he risked glances at Sirius during class, he caught him glancing back. Plus, certain things the animagus did sometimes questioned his sexuality. For example, after some particularly gruelling Quidditch sessions, Sirius would smirk knowingly when Remus scanned his half-naked body. And then Sirius would wink saucily and shrug a shirt on over his head, carrying on like nothing had happened. Then Remus would blush and try, unsuccessfully, to concentrate on his book or his homework.

And other things he did, like the constant need for bodily contact with the werewolf, told Remus that there was something strange about his friend. He would hug him at every opportunity, and pay him rather desperate, corny compliments. This thrilled Remus terribly, of course. But it didn't shake away the questions that Remus had.

Sirius, breaking him out of his reverie, hugged him as he approached. Remus, embarrassed, kept his hands firmly by his side. This was also a regular occurrence; Sirius would hug Remus whenever he could and Remus always blushed and felt horribly flustered afterwards.

"Hello, Padfoot," Remus said, as Sirius pulled away from him. He greeted Prongs and Wormtail and then helped them awkwardly as they finished their snowman.

Remus greatly adored Christmastime. In a few days, half the school be travelling home for the holidays. Remus was usually the only one left out of the four; even Sirius, although reluctantly, went home to spend Christmas with Regulus, Orion and Walburga Black. Remus knew that Sirius wanted to invite his friends to stay, but he realized quickly that inviting 3 Gryffindors into an almost purely Slytherin house would be a bad idea. Needless to say, Sirius quickly banished that idea.

"Let's go to Hagrid's," said James suddenly, tugging on Remus' arm slightly. The werewolf smiled - he really liked Hagrid and he wasn't quite ready to trek back up to Gryffindor tower just yet.

But then, as they walked away from the lake edge, James spotted Severus 'Snivellus' Snape walking the same route.

James and Sirius, always baring a deep hatred for Snape, quickly whipped their wands out and followed closely behind Snape, no doubt planning their next hex or jinx to use against him. Remus, as ever, watched on with no emotion; he just watched, and didn't attempt to stop them from cursing the greasy-haired Slytherin. Peter stood next to him, looking like he had just met his life-long idol and was grinning in awe furiously. It almost looked like it threatened to split his face in half.

James and Sirius eventually decided on simply levitating Snape and charming his hair to turn pink when he reached the ground again. Making their way to Hagrid's, Remus felt very cosy and warm, walking alongside Sirius, their fingertips brushing against each other occasionally.

But, Remus was certain that this was just purely coincidental.

The group reached Hagrid's hut and Remus smiled in pleasant joy as they knocked on the door. It was going to be a very nice day indeed.

"That was great, Prongs!" Sirius exclaimed, as they pushed open the Fat Lady portrait. "Snivellus' face! Made my year!"

He erupted into low guffaws, clutching his sides as he laughed. Soon, the four of them were sporting aching jaws and breathlessness as they calmed from their insane hysteria.

After coming from Hagrid's hut, they had seen Snape yet again, but he had a full head of luscious, pink locks which clashed very violently with his unusually pale complexion. Even Remus had to stifle his laughter when they saw him.

No doubt James would get a scalding from Lily Evans, when she next saw him, but James had decided it was worth it. Despite being her boyfriend, any attention from Lily Evans was a huge achievement to James Potter.

It was safe to say, Remus very much enjoyed his day and regretted ever setting foot in the library at all. Now his Christmas would be even better. He would actually enjoy it this year.

Besides, spending a few hours in the snow with Sirius was enough for Remus to handle just perfectly.

"I'm going to bed," announced Sirius, rather suddenly, eyes glistening with something that Remus couldn't quite recognize. Sirius glanced towards Remus as he rose out of his seat in front of the fire, and winked subtly. This action went unnoticed by anyone else, which was just fine, as Remus was blushing furiously.

The remaining 3 bid their goodnights. Remus rose also; it was out of habit, really, and, without thinking, he leaned over and hugged Sirius tightly.

When he heard a slight cough behind him, most likely the grinning James, (it was good to be wary when a grinning James was looking at you with a mad glint in his eyes, just as he was now), that he realized exactly what he was doing and where. He pulled out of the embrace - he managed to hide his disappointment - and he blushed even more.

That was when James looked above the two of them, his grin growing even bigger. Everyone mimicked his movements, and eyes widened when they saw what was hanging there.

A sprig of mistletoe, which Remus was sure had not been there before, was above him, its white berries mocking the two people who stood awkwardly beneath it.

Remus looked at Sirius.

"Well, we could, y'know. I-if you w-wanted to." He stuttered, his blush now shockingly evident. Remus had wanted his for ages; to finally get the chance to snog Padfoot unashamedly. Now was his chance.

Sirius nodded encouragingly, winked, and leaned forward, so their noses touched gently. With a quick burst of bravery, Remus closed the gap between them, by pressing his lips against the animagus in front of him.

It started slow at first; Remus' eyes fluttered close, and he began to relax into the sensations that coursed through his veins and made his fingers tingle with joy. He gasped when Sirius' tongue stroked along his bottom lip, begging for entrance.

Hesitantly, Remus allowed Sirius' tongue to mingle with his own. This was, after all, Remus' first real kiss - of course he'd been kissed by girls, but they hadn't been the least bit satisfactory.

After a few minutes, Sirius pulled away - rather grudgingly, I may add - and stared pointedly at Remus, who looked flushed and thoroughly snogged, where Sirius' fingers had wound their way into Remus' hair seductively. He almost had to stifle a moan of pleasure when he did so. Little things like that made Remus want Sirius even more, right there and then.

"Wow," was all Remus could say, after several moments of silence. James and Peter had cleared off somewhere, and it was just them two in the middle of the Common Room.

"Wow," Sirius repeated.

It felt strange, to say the least, to know you had just kissed your best friend, who just so happened to be a guy, and who Remus just so happened to be in love with. Strange, but it was a nice kind of strange. And Remus smiled broadly; it was threatening to break his jaw bone with pure delight.

"Never knew you had it in you, Remus." Sirius whispered, against his ear, which he was now nibbling on gently. And, as Remus snaked his hands around Sirius' waist and pulled him closer, he grinned happily and whispered, with full certainty:

"I love you, Padfoot." This made Sirius chuckle against Remus' ear, sending vibrations through his body.

"I love you too, Moony."

And then they kissed once again.