Chapter Text
October 2023 Prompts
Prompt: Erised
He'd taken to wandering the halls of the castle late at night.
Having been given the Prefect's badge, he no longer had to worry about getting caught out of bed after hours- he could just make an excuse about Rounds and be on his way. (Though he still couldn't help himself from looking carefully around corners for Filch and his cat- old habits died hard).
The nighttime wanderings helped on the evenings preceding a Full, and he also welcomed the time away from his friends- specifically Sirius.
But he wasn't going to think about that.
Sirius, who had been walking around the dorm talking loudly of his latest conquests. Sirius, who enjoyed sleeping in only underwear. Sirius, who was just too damn beautiful for his own good.
But he wasn't going to think about that.
He mindlessly took turns and staircases, passageways and secret corridors, fighting against his own brain to stop thinking about Sirius Black.
He was so distracted that he found himself in a room he'd never been in before- a rare occurrence as his sixth year hit the halfway mark and he and the rest of his friends had made it their mission to explore and map every inch of the castle.
The room was small and seemingly empty, the ceiling slightly arched with stone pillars throughout. All that stood in the room was a mirror.
It was large and ornate with gold framing the entire thing; letters carved along the top.
He walked closer, trying curiously to read the engraving in the dark light, but after making out the first word (erised), he realized it was in a language he'd never heard of and focused on the actual glass instead.
He almost leapt back in surprise, taking in the view of his reflection.
He wasn't alone.
Stupidly, he whipped around, looking behind himself.
Nothing.
He gazed in the mirror again.
There he was. Exactly as he was now, pale and tired-looking, scarred and skinny. But behind him, Sirius stood there.
He watched, hypnotized, as mirror-Sirius wrapped his arms lovingly around mirror-Remus from behind, leaning in to kiss his cheek, staring adoringly into his eyes through the mirror.
He brushed his hand over the cheek that mirror-Sirius had kissed. It felt normal, but...
Mirror-Sirius still met his gaze, smiling at him, the care and adoration clear in his features.
Remus's heart lurched.
It felt so real.
He wanted to stand there, take in the sight for the rest of his life. Watch mirror-Sirius look at him like he was the only person on the planet. Drink in the image of mirror-Sirius feeling the same way about him that he had for such a long time. Allow mirror-Sirius's genuinely accepting and passionate expression to wash over him.
But it wasn't real.
So he turned quickly and ran from the room, choking back tears.
-
Prompt: Patronus
It was an anomaly, for Sirius to have real difficulty with a spell.
It wasn't that he worked hard in school, but it had always come easy to him, especially the practical bits. It drove Peter crazy.
That is, until sixth year, when they began Patronuses.
He knew it was a hard spell, but so were so many others that came to him easily. Why this one, then?
James reassured him, told him it was because he had been down ever since being thrown out over the summer.
Peter barely hid his self-serving glee and suggested they practice together, since he couldn't get it either.
But Sirius wanted to kick himself. Was he stupid? Was it the dark essence of his family deep within him that stopped him from producing a spell of such light and purity?
Maybe it was because he'd been so damn distracted lately.
Later that day, Remus pulled him on to a couch in the Common Room, guiding Sirius's head on his lap and carding lightly through his hair.
Sirius sighed and closed his eyes contentedly, trying to ignore the way his stomach swooped.
"You've been upset, Padfoot," Remus murmured to him, causing goosebumps to erupt on the back of his neck. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, Moons," He lied, keeping his eyes closed to get away from Remus's quizzical stare, only too aware of how his mind and heartbeat reacted to being so close to Remus- more feelings that he'd been keeping to himself as of late.
But Remus just traced the planes of his face with feather-light fingers and said, "You'll get the spell, Pads. I believe in you."
And Sirius sighed again, fighting against himself to reach up and kiss Remus's stupid, perfect mouth for saying such wonderful things.
Later, in the safety of an empty classroom, Sirius stood alone, Remus's voice echoing in his head, repeating I believe in you.
He whispered, "Expecto Patronum," and was only a little surprised to see a silvery wolf erupt from the end of his wand.
-
Prompt: Dark Mark
It was not an abnormal sight.
At least, not nowadays.
He'd seen it three times in the past month, but every time he saw it, he couldn't stop himself from gasping for breath, from panicking just a little.
Because every time he saw it, he knew what it meant:
Death. Destruction. Loss.
The Dark Mark was everywhere, it seemed.
And every day he walked home to the flat he and his best friend shared, he always held his breath, praying to an entity he didn't even believe in that he wouldn't see that horrible skull above their own building.
After everything they'd lost, he didn't think he'd survive it.
But one night, it was too close.
He saw something in the sky.
He heard bangs.
He heard yells.
He ran.
He sprinted.
The door banged open to reveal a shocked Remus Lupin turning away from the window, where he had been looking out- looking out at the fireworks.
It had been fireworks. Not Dark Marks and spellfire.
But for a fleeting moment, Sirius had felt it. He'd really felt what it might have been like, to lose Remus.
And suddenly, his fear of losing Remus over possibly unrequited feelings seemed positively trivial.
"I love you," he confessed in a choked voice, pulling Remus into a kiss.
A kiss that was eagerly returned.
-
Prompt: Mandrake
Sirius Black was a horrible singer.
James thought he sounded like a dying banshee. Peter insisted it was more like an injured mandrake. Remus opined that it was definitely like a sick ghoul.
Luckily, Sirius, ever the gentleman, kept his singing volume to a dull roar, and limited it to the shower.
It annoyed his dorm mates a bit, sure, but they learned to laugh at it, to poke fun and grin when they heard his screeching.
He always sang the upbeat classics- Bowie and Queen; Kiss and The Beatles.
Personally, James was glad he preferred that over Broadway or Opera.
But in fifth year, Sirius's tastes suddenly changed.
He began singing melancholy love songs about unrequited feelings and loneliness.
And Remus began listening.
James noticed it.
Sirius sang about loving someone who would never love him back, and Remus paused in his reading, listening closely to the horribly off-pitch crooning.
James started putting the pieces together.
Sirius sang about wishing he could find the perfect person, and Remus tuned in intently, ignoring the way Sirius's voice cracked, even as Peter winced.
James saw the way they looked at each other.
And one day, in sixth year, Sirius's tastes changed again.
Suddenly, he was singing happy songs; songs about loving someone forever; songs about being happily in love.
And James wasn't at all surprised when, after Sirius exited the bathroom, steam from his shower trailing out behind him, he placed a confident and familiar kiss right on Remus's lips.
-
Prompt: Dragon
Sirius's first tattoo was not small. Despite the artist trying to convince him otherwise, he stuck to his guns. She'd asked if he wanted to change the placement from his spine to maybe his bicep? It would be far less painful, she'd said.
Little did she know, thanks to Walburga, he was used to pain.
She'd asked if he wanted to change the subject matter from what he'd chosen to maybe a nice dragon. It'd be far more badass, she'd said.
Little did she know that he'd been dreaming of this exact tattoo for years, now. He'd made the appointment for the day after he turned seventeen.
So she agreed, and he lay forward, allowing the carving pain of the needle to pierce his back, startled by the way it was almost cathartic in nature. He realized wryly that this would not be his last tattoo.
And a few hours later, he snuck back through the passageway to Hogwarts from Hogsmeade, ignoring the small twinges in his back and the crinkling of the plastic that protected the new image on his spine. He grinned with anticipation, eager to find Remus.
"Moony," he said casually as he returned to the Dorm, causing his boyfriend, who was reading alone in the room, to jolt. "Can you help me remove this bandage?"
He'd said the magic words. A hurt Sirius was Remus's weakness, and he shot up in bed, hands fluttering hopelessly, looking for the injury. "What happened, Pads? Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I just can't reach," he responded, fighting back a smile as he removed his shirt and turned around.
Remus pulled at the plastic with a confused noise, his breath hitching when the image revealed itself. "Sirius, what...?"
Sirius grinned to himself, knowing that Remus was viewing the phases of the moon spanning his spine, stretching from the base all the way to his neck. He shivered as he felt a single fingertip graze lightly over the tender skin there. "D'you like it?" he murmured, head swimming a bit as Remus continued to lightly touch him.
"You...why...I..?" Remus whispered from behind him, breath breezing lightly on his neck, making him shiver.
"It's for you," Sirius explained, heart pounding in his chest, terrified about the vulnerability of the statement. "To show you....I love you."
He turned around, allowing Remus's hands to wrap around his waist.
"Y'know, whether the moon is like this," he grabbed Remus's elbow to guide his hand up his spine to where he hoped the iteration of the full moon was, "or like this," he move Remus's hand back down again. "I'm yours."
Remus stared intensely at him, eyes wide and searching. Then, he broke out into a watery grin, tears falling down his cheeks. "You bloody romantic," he whispered, voice breaking just a bit, pulling their lips together into a kiss. "Of course I love you, too."
"Just so you know, the girl at the show said I have to be a bit careful with it for a few weeks. No rough activity on my back, as it--" he cut off with a startled laugh as Remus pushed him face-first on the bed.
-
Prompt: Horcrux
Remus had read about Horcruxes.
He'd studied them in his seventh year, while completing a project for Advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts.
He'd read the description in the book, had shuddered at the paragraph detailing the pain a person would have to endure to split their soul in two.
Remus was used to pain. He was acquainted with it on a monthly basis. But for some reason, he still couldn't begin to fathom the pain of splitting his soul.
Until that day.
Until November 1st, 1981, when he watched the Aurors haul Sirius away, screaming and laughing madly.
Until he actually felt his soul split in two, forcibly wrenched from his very chest, leaving him choking, sobbing, vulnerable and raw.
He understood, now.
-
Prompt: Animagus
The idea had been in Sirius's head for weeks, now.
Besides juggling more difficult classes and making sure Reg was adjusting well to Hogwarts, Remus was all Sirius could think about.
Remus, who had confessed to them at the end of their previous year that he was a werewolf.
James and Sirius had figured it out, late one night as they were revising for their Astronomy final. They'd confronted Remus soon after.
Ever since, Sirius had stressed about it.
He pictured it: Remus, alone, transforming by himself, nobody to be there with him.
Sirius may have been a self-centered thirteen-year-old, but he had enough empathy to realize that that seemed like literal hell. He ached for his friend.
And when they'd returned in September and Remus had dutifully left their room during the second week of school to go away for his transformation, Sirius had almost cried, pulling Remus into a gruff one-armed hug, trying to hide the emotions welling up inside him.
Remus needed him.
So, he'd thought about various solutions. And really, even though he didn't do amazing in school, he was actually quite smart. McGonagall frequently told him that he would be one of the top in the class if he just 'applied himself.'
The idea came to him in a stroke of genius, once night as he was trying to eavesdrop on the girls. They were talking about animals, cooing over some story Evans had heard about a Muggle Zoo putting two different animals in the same enclosure so they weren't lonely.
And he realized.
It took him weeks to bring it up to James and Peter, so terrified that they would turn him down. This wasn't some stupid prank. This was breaking the law, risking their lives, and extremely difficult magic, all at the same time.
But as Remus again left their shared room to transform in December, for the fourth time this year, Sirius stiffly hugged his friend and felt his heart break as he took in Remus's anxiously determined expression. Every time, it looked as if the taller boy was trying to push down his apprehension and terror, just to spare his friends. So as soon as Remus left, Sirius turned to his other friends.
"I'm going to become an Animagus."
-
Prompt: Aguamenti
Sirius stared unashamedly, his entire body frozen.
His eyes followed the tall boy walking slowly across the platform, tan skin almost shining in the smog, pale scars standing out strikingly. Baggy jeans were slung around the boy's waist and a loose t-shirt lay artfully over his slim chest and shoulders. The boy held a still-smoldering cigarette in one hand and pulled his trunk with the other, clunking along in black Converse shoes, grinning softly.
His smile was disarming.
And Sirius just watched him approach, drinking in the beautifully imperfect form of Remus Lupin.
"Aguamenti," James whispered, and before Sirius could defend himself, water dripped down his spine.
"Prongs, that the fuck?!" Sirius yelled angrily, jolting out of the hypnosis he was previously under from staring at his quickly approaching friend.
"Quit staring, it's disgusting," James teased with a smirk, and before Sirius could properly retort, Remus arrived within earshot.
-
Prompt: Wand
He was an overthinker.
He'd never claimed not to be, so when he spent the first few moments of consciousness that morning trying to quell his thundering heart, thinking and rethinking about every move he'd made the previous night, he knew nobody would be surprised.
They'd kissed. He and Sirius had kissed.
More than kissed, really. Their nervously innocent peck had turned quite heated, and both boys had shed most of their clothing. Remus was sure that more would have happened, had they both not had far too many shots of Firewhiskey.
And then, sometime between kisses, they'd fallen asleep in each other's arms. Without talking about what it all meant.
So now Remus was awake, dealing with a dull headache and fighting against the sense of dread that was pooling through his body.
How drunk had Sirius been? Would he regret what they'd done? Would he even remember? Would he bed mad?
He fidgeted a bit, suddenly uncomfortable with the way he was spooning Sirius close to his body, but too scared to move and jostle him awake.
"Morning, Moony."
Too late.
He didn't sound mad.
And then came Sirius's teasing laugh, "Moony, is that a wand in your pocket, or are you happy to see me this morning?"
And before he could find it in himself to be properly mortified by the (untrue) accusation, Sirius had turned around and pulled him into a kiss, stopping his mind and heart from going completely out of control and distracting him completely.
-
Prompt: Butterbeer
It had been happening more and more often, as of late.
They would exchange a glance that was not completely platonic. It would make his stomach swoop and his heartbeat quicken, and his palms sweat.
At first, he had thought it was the butterbeer. The alcohol had created something that wasn't actually there.
But then, there was actual contact. Gentle brushing of Remus's hand on his waist as the taller boy passed behind him in a room or knees pressing against each other when they didn't strictly have to.
He tried to tell himself he was imagining it, that he couldn't get his hopes up. But then it would happen again. And he would feel his resistance crumble.
So when they found themselves awake one night, sitting by the large window in their dorm, smoking the cigarettes Remus had brought with him while the others slept peacefully in their beds, his heart leapt when Remus brushed their hands together.
"Sirius..." Remus murmured, his voice thick with smoke and exhaustion and something else he couldn't name.
And Sirius was delighted to find that Remus's lips tasted exactly like he'd imagined- tobacco and chocolate and whiskey and hope.
-
Prompt: Pensieve
He'd asked for it as a favor- a way to clear his mind before starting term.
Or at least, that was what he'd told Dumbledore.
He knew it wasn't healthy. Obsessing over the past only led to pain. Hurt. Mind-numbing depression. His Mind Healer had been clear about that.
But fuck it, the silvery substance had been screaming to him when he'd seen in it Dumbledore's office.
He stared at it, willing himself not to give in, to be smart, to be reasonable, to make the rational choice.
But he had been rational for so damn long. Almost twelve years.
He had nothing left.
So he raised his trembling wand to his head and pulled a silvery strand of memories from his temple, flicking it into the Pensieve as his heart hammered in his throat.
And then he stared, eyes welling with tears, at the image of his sixteen-year old self kissing a sixteen-year old Sirius Black, the happiness and love of the pair almost tangible even through the fog of the old memory.
He lasted approximately 15 seconds. He gazed, swaying with emotion, watching as sixteen-year-old Sirius whispered into sixteen-year-old Remus's ear.
He didn't need a memory to remember the words he'd heard.
I love you, Moony. I'm yours. I'll never leave you.
And then Remus fell to the floor, body heaving with sobs, completely lost in his grief.
-
Prompt: Hex
He rarely got embarrassed. His mother had asked him in the past if he had any shame and in truth he really didn't. Life was too short to care about what others thought. Might was well have fun and make a fool out of yourself.
Except recently, he'd had a very startling realization.
He had feelings.
Feelings for a certain extremely tall werewolf best friend.
Who had just thrown him a smile that made him weak in the knees and taken his breath away.
And suddenly, like he was hexed, he was tripping over his own feet, tumbling down the stairs.
It hurt, to be sure, but his ego was hurt more. Especially when said extremely tall werewolf best friend was the one to race after him and offer him a hand, asking if he was alright.
He almost sank into the floor in embarrassment.
Until Remus said the unthinkable.
"Shall I kiss it better?"
And suddenly he was red for a very different reason.
-
Prompt: Unbreakable Vow
"You absolute arse," Remus whispered into the quiet of their Dorm, staring at Sirius as if he was seeing him for the first time, the betrayal evident in his voice.
"I- Moony, I-" Sirius tried to choke out an apology, but he couldn't find the right words.
"How could you?"
Sirius knew that nothing would help this moment. No words could fix what he'd done. He'd gone too far. There was no coming back from this. "I...I'll never ever do it again, Remus. I wasn't thinking. I was upset, and...I swear. I swear, I'll make a fucking Unbreakable Vow if you just forgive me, I-"
"You think that'll make everything better? What about now? What about what you've already done?" Remus asked, looking distraught.
Sirius paused, then realized what he had to do. There was only one solution.
"I'll go right now, Moons. I'll leave." He sighed, turning his back on Remus, heading for the door.
"Almonds."
Sirius turned back to his boyfriend, fighting back a smile. "Alright. Anything else?"
"....caramel, too," Remus answered, still scowling.
"'Course, Moons. I'll be back soon," Sirius said with a nod and a smile.
"...And if you ever eat the last of my chocolate again, I'll tell James what happened to his picture of that Quidditch player you both like, you know, the one you took and used when you-"
Sirius's eyes widened and he slapped a hand over Remus's mouth, lest James hear him from the other side of the castle. "Alright, Remus, I'll never do it again, Merlin."
-
prompt: 1981
It was a small event- as all things were at the moment. People were terrified to have anyone over, lest they find themselves at the business end of a wand. Dark Marks were just as common in real life nowadays as in nightmares.
But Lily insisted on normalcy, if only for Harry. So Sirius found himself at James and Lily’s tiny, unassuming home, squashed in between Peter and Remus on the sofa.
Lily had the television on, something that never failed to entrance Sirius, and tonight was no different. The program this evening featured an American man named Dick Clark (“Hehe, Dick” “Oh, be mature, Sirius. It’s not like your name is something to be proud of”) who was talking about the new year and all the hope it brought.
But this year didn't feel new or exciting or like something full of possibilities.
People were dying left and right, disappearing and defecting, and Sirius could hardly fight off the feelings of hope and despair.
What would 1981 bring?
So as the clock struck midnight and Remus pulled him in for a kiss, he whispered desperately, "Promise me we'll get through this year together?"
And Remus looked down at him with love and sadness in his eyes, even as war raged outside. "Of course, Padfoot. Always."
They didn't.