The Marauders: Year Five #Wattys2017

The Doe

The Doe

Sirius clung extra tight to Remus that night. So much so that Remus actually woke up hot at one point and lay in the bed fanning himself with his hand as Sirius lay wrapped around him so tight it was hard to tell where Sirius's limbs ended and Remus's began. He was extra clingy in the morning, too, following Remus like a dog (oh the irony), refusing to let Rey out of his sight for even a moment, and grappling onto his hand every chance he got so their fingers stayed twined about as they took the stairs down to breakfast and when Remus tried to sit at the bench opposite him, Sirius wouldn't let go long enough to let him go so they ended up side-by-side at the Gryffindor table. It was just lucky Remus was left handed or else he might not've been able to eat.

They were sitting eating (Remus was particularly glad that he didn't have to fight with Sirius to get him to eat for the first morning in over a week) when the bench across from them was suddenly occupied by James and a surprised-looking Peter.

James pulled his plate over before himself and grabbed at a couple pieces of french toast and started buttering them as though there was nothing odd about the fact that he'd taken that particular seat at all. He looked at Remus, "Pass the bacon?"

Remus reached for the plate of bacon and handed it to him. "Here you are?" he said, the end of the sentence curling up into a question mark as James dumped a bunch of bacon onto his plate and handed it off to Peter. Sirius was staring at James, but James was very carefully keeping his eyes on his breakfast as he assembled the plate. By this time, Frank Longbottom and Ali Prewitt were both looking Sirius's direction as well, and Lily Evans, who was on the other side of Ali, was glancing between them as though she were watching a tennis match. James took up the syrup and poured it over his toast, plopping it back down on the table and clearing his throat, "Breakfast looks good today, huh, mates?" he looked from Peter to Remus... and finally to Sirius. "You already have some of the french toast, Padfoot?"

There was a long, tense silence as James's words - a metaphorical olive branch - hung between them over the table.

Under the table, Remus squeezed Sirius's fingers.

"Yeah, I had some of the french toast," Sirius drawled slowly. He paused, then, "It was good."

"It smells good," James said and he lifted his fork and started to dig in.

Peter gave Remus a look as James and Sirius both started eating, looking down at their plates. Remus shrugged to tell Peter he didn't know what was going on, and Peter glanced back and forth between Sirius and James with a confused look to his face.

Remus glanced down the able to Lily, who was flushed with pride, and he raised an eyebrow. She grinned at him. I did that, she mouthed happily.

Remus turned back around.

"Oi, Prongs can you pass the salt?" Sirius asked casually.

"Absolutely Padfoot, here you are," James reached for the salt and handed it to Sirius, who took it and shook it over his eggs. He offered the shaker to Remus, who shook his head, and Sirius plopped it down on the table.

"So the second Patronus class is today," James said. "Who do you reckon will be next to cast one?" he asked, looking at Sirius.

"My galleons are on this one," Sirius thumbed at Remus.

Remus flushed, "I didn't even go to the first class."

"My money's on Evans," James announced, and his eyes met hers. He reached up and ran his hand through his hair, shagging it up with his fingers as he did, making sure she was noticing how bloody messy it was, his mouth twitching up as he did it.