When the Stars Align

Chapter One

Sirius ran a hand through his long jet black locks. It was a nervous habit of his. He shouldn't be nervous really. He was famous throughout the school for being outgoing and unafraid of embarrassment. He could all too easily tell when the girls were flirting with him. And he'd usually flirt back, give them something to tell their friends about, give them hope when there wasn't any. No girl would ever be good enough for him. Because his whole disposition changed when he was with Remus. He couldn't keep his bad boy facade up when he simply saw him, and even less when they were together. Although he might break dress code to wear a black button up shirt under his school uniform instead of a white one, and although his feet were always adorned with his worn combat boots, and although he had used an expertly crafted fake ID during the summer to get a tattoo to match his lip and eyebrow piercing, his weakness was Remus Lupin. Because although he wore the black shirt and combat boots, it was only because Remus had told him that he liked him in black. And although he did have a tattoo, it only depicted a crescent moon with a dog's footprint in the middle. Everything he did was for Remus.

But Remus seemed hardly interested in him. They were good friends, but that was all. Remus was straight, and even more than that, married to his schoolwork. Sirius could never have a relationship with him to the extent that he wanted to.

But it didn't keep him from trying to.

He remembered the first day back at Hogwarts after the summer, when they'd been alone in the Gryffindor common room.

"Can I show you something, Remus?" He asked.

His friend hadn't even turned around, but muttered, "Sure," as he got dressed in his school robes.

Sirius unbuttoned his shirt just enough to reveal the tattoo located on his left breast, "Look, I got a tattoo this summer..." He said, his voice begging for the boy's attention.

Remus turned around and looked at the tattoo, frowning, "That's against school code, Sirius."

Sirius' face fell and he sighed. He shouldn't have expected any other reaction from the rule-abiding Lupin. He cracked a forced smile and chuckled, "Seriously Moony, why do you even hang out with me and the other Marauders if you're so into rules?"

Remus failed to respond, just shaking his head, turning back to his packing, leaving Sirius to dwell on why he hadn't even noticed the tattoo's symbolism...

"Sirius! You okay buddy?" James' voice brought him back out of his remembering. He hadn't even remembered walking down to the Great Hall for breakfast. He'd been in a stupor the whole morning, thinking about what had taken place over the winter holiday. He thought about Remus too, as he had just been doing, but the events of the day following Christmas stuck out more clearly in his mind.

Sirius nodded, looking from James to Peter, then cast a lingering gaze at the boy who had his nose in his /History of Magic/ book, getting ahead on his homework. "I'm just dandy," he said finally, with a cheeky grin.

"You've been acting weird this year, Padfoot, especially since we got back from Holiday..." James accused him, with Peter nodding along obediently.

Sirius hadn't told his friends about what had transpired when he'd gone back home, for the last time possibly.

"Maybe you're the ones that are acting weird and I'm the only normal one," Sirius retorted, scowling.

"No, that's not it, /you're/ the one that's changed. You seem really distracted and you never want to help us when we go to find new places to put on the map," James argued, his face turning red at even the suggestion that he'd changed. Sirius knew how much James liked to play jokes and make trouble and he probably always would. He loved that about himself.

"You don't need to worry about me," Sirius said finally.

"You gon' eat that?" Peter asked, pointing to the food on his plate with his fork, his mouth already full.

Sirius pushed his plate across the table to the chubby boy. "Pete, I think we oughta change your nickname from 'Wormtail' to 'Bottomless Pit'."

Peter scowled at him, but kept shoving food in his mouth nonetheless.

Sirius' eyes shifted to Remus again. He hadn't looked up from his book once. He carried an extreme talent when it came to ignoring them.

"What's going on with you, Moony?" Sirius asked, trying to drag a conversation out of him. The one year where Sirius needed Remus the most, he didn't seem to want to talk to him at all. He always gave short answers and rarely looked at him.

"Nothing," Remus replied and continued reading.

"Did you do anything fun while you were on Holiday?" he asked, gulping back tears.

"Not really."

"Was it nice seeing your family?"

"Sirius, I'm doing homework, leave me alone," he said, not even looking up.

Sirius wondered if he'd done something wrong by Remus. He'd been acting as if he hated him all year. Maybe he did...

"Did I do something wrong?" He asked in a hushed voice so that James and Peter wouldn't hear him from across the table.

Remus sighed and closed his book, raising his voice so that the other boys looked at them. "No, I'd just like to pass my N.E.W.T.s if it's all the same to you."

Remus gathered his belongings and swung his legs off the bench, making a hasty exit.

"Who put a wand up his arse?" James remarked, making Peter laugh with his mouth full.

"I don't know," Sirius said to himself, but loud enough so that his friend could hear.

He watched as Remus slipped out of the entrance to the Great Hall.

"Where do you suppose he goes when he runs off like that? I haven't been able to find him," James asked Sirius.

Sirius hung his head and shrugged, feeling very anti-social all of a sudden. He would have left and wandered around the castle until classes started, but he wanted to prove to James that he wasn't acting strangely. That he hadn't changed as much as they thought he had.

So he stayed and did everything in his power to keep the tears from leaking out of his eyes. He missed the friendship he used to have with Remus. Where did it go?

Where did his best friend go?