Once in a Blue Moon (COMPLETE)

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Paint Your Pictures
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The first two weeks of school seemed to fly past in the blink of an eye. The four friends were inseparable and had soon fallen into a regular routine.

Remus was always the first to wake each morning, and was far too chipper for the rest of the boys. He and Sirius reached a compromise, whereby Remus wouldn’t wake him up before seven o’clock in the morning and he promised not to sleep away the whole of every Saturday and Sunday morning.

They regularly visited with Hagrid, and occasionally Firenze stopped by to say hello. Things at the centaur camp were still rather precarious and Firenze was still no nearer to regaining the position of chief. Remus worried about his friend, but he didn’t dwell on the problems too much, there was far too much happening at the school needing his attention.

In classes Remus found that he always had a place beside Sirius in the lessons that they shared. Passing notes and whispering in class landed them with more than one detention, but Remus didn’t mind at all. When Professor McGonagall set them to cleaning the school trophy cabinets, he actually arrived at the detention with a smile on his face and hummed cheerfully and tunelessly the whole evening.

“Detention again?” Romulus asked as he appeared in the doorway of the McGonagall’s classroom.

Remus looked up from where he was cleaning the cages of the mice and shrugged sheepishly.

“How many is that? A dozen?”

“Four,” Remus replied cheerfully. “I still have a way to go before I catch up with you.”

“The way you’re going, you’ll have had more detentions by Christmas than I had in five years.”

“I don’t mind.”

“Detentions are supposed to be punishments for doing things wrong. You’re acting like they’re some sort of essential part of being at school.”

“Are you just here to complain about my behaviour?” Remus asked with a frown of annoyance.

“No, I wanted to see how you were doing. I just didn’t expect you to be in detention again so soon.”

“Well, I’m doing great,” Remus replied, moving from one cage to the next.

“Full moon’s in a couple of nights.”

“I hadn’t forgotten.”

“You’ve not had any trouble from any of the other kids about – what is it your friends call it? Your furry little problem?”

“Nothing I can’t handle,” Remus assured him. “There have been a few comments and a lot of stares, but most people have just left me alone. Probably helps that the staff is keeping an eye on me so closely; they daren’t do anything in front of them.”

“That’s a relief.”

“Not really, means I can’t pull any pranks because of the close watch.”

“I repeat, that’s a relief.”

Remus chuckled and hopped up onto one of the desks.

“I keep expecting to find you beaten up by Slytherins or something,” Romulus admitted.

“The only Slytherin that’s said anything to me is Rita Skeeter, and she wanted to do an interview for the school newsletter.”

“You didn’t agree to one, did you?”

“Didn’t have much choice. At least this way I know what she’s writing.”

Romulus didn’t reply, merely smiled back at him.

“What?” Remus asked. He was starting to feel uncomfortable under his brother’s gaze.

“Just thinking.”

“About what?”

“About you.” Romulus smiled. “I can’t remember the last time I saw you so happy.”

Remus looked down at where his feet were swinging close to the floor. “Would you think I’m really selfish if I said I was happy?” he asked quietly.

“Why would I think that?”

“Because I’ve got what I always wanted, to go to Hogwarts, but you…you’re…” His voice tailed off as gestured vaguely towards his brother.

“You’re not selfish,” Romulus told him sternly. “I made my choice, and I don’t regret it at all.”

“But…”

“No,” Romulus halted his protests again. “I made my choice,” he repeated. “And now I get to see you here at school, doing what you’ve wanted to for so long… how could I ever regret that?”

Remus continued to look down at his feet until Sirius popped his head round the door. “You done in here?” he called.

“Yeah, all the little rodents are nice and clean. Just waiting for McGonagall to come and check I’ve done a good job.”

“You might be in for a long wait,” Sirius warned him as he slipped into the room and straddled a seat. “James and Peter just transfigured the two suits of armour flanking the staircase down to the dungeons into crocodiles. McGonagall’s gone to fix them and find the culprits. They’re going to be in detention until after the OWLs at this rate.”

Remus laughed loudly.

“Are you lot having a contest to see who can get the most detentions or something?” Romulus asked despairingly.

“No,” Sirius smirked. “We’re having a bet to see which of us can pull the most pranks without getting caught.”

“None of you are doing that well at it,” Romulus pointed out.

“I’m winning,” Remus gloated.

“I find that even more worrying.”

“He has an unfair advantage,” Sirius pointed out, referring to Moony’s Map, which Remus had used on numerous occasions to give the teachers the slip after executing various pranks.

Remus merely smirked and patted the pocket of his robes where the map was safely hidden. “Best birthday present ever!” Romulus rolled his eyes and shook his head, but declined to comment further.

-o-xXx-o-

It had been surprisingly easy to persuade Professor McGonagall to let Sirius go with Remus to Hogsmeade on the night of the full moon. Sirius suspected that Professor Dumbledore had said something to her before he and Remus had had the chance to.

They arrived at the Hog’s Head where Aberforth had met them and escorted them to Remus’s house.

“And no leaving before morning,” he warned as he deposited them at the door.

“They won’t,” Romulus promised. “Remus, basement.”

“On my way,” Remus replied, as he obediently made his way to the stairs.

“Letting students out at night,” Aberforth mumbled as he shot a look at Sirius. “My brother’s lost his ruddy mind if you ask me.”

“Professor Dumbledore knows I’m here as well,” Romulus pointed out. “He also knows that if he didn’t give his permission, Sirius would no doubt sneak out anyway. This way he maintains some control over the situation.”

“Still say he should be in the castle and not down here with you two,” Aberforth argued as he turned to leave.

Sirius didn’t care if Aberforth thought he shouldn’t be there. Dumbledore had given his permission and that was all that mattered to him. He hurried down the stairs to join Remus.

“You’ve cleaned up in here a bit,” he commented as he looked around the room.

“Dumbledore got some of the school house elves to give it a coat of paint in the summer,” Remus replied as he sat down and waited for the sun to set.

“It’s a bit white,” Sirius said as he looked at the plain walls. “Should have painted a forest scene or something to brighten the place up a bit.”

Remus laughed and pointed to the wall on Sirius’s side of the room. “Feel free to have a go if you like.”

“You’ve got paint down here?”

“There’s some upstairs in the attic from when we moved in.”

“What colour?”

“Any you like, it’s magical paint and changes to whatever you want it to with a spell.”

“I’ll go get it later,” Sirius said. “It’ll help to pass the time.”

“You should get it now if you’re going to,” Romulus advised from half way down the stairs.

“But Remus will be changing any minute.”

“My point exactly. Moony was a lot calmer when you were down here with him. Go and get the paint now, in case he thinks you’ve deserted him again.”

“What do you mean?” Sirius asked, his gaze going from Romulus to Remus and back again.

“It’s nothing,” Remus assured him, delivering a warning glare to Romulus, who proceeded to ignore it.

“Last month was bad,” Romulus told him. “The first month back here instead of running around in the forest, and only a ghost for company. Moony missed you, and I don’t think any of us knew how much of a bond you’d forged until then.”

Sirius turned to Remus with a glare of his own. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because you were already worrying,” Remus replied with a shrug. “It’s not like you could come up here for the full moon or anything.”

“I might have been able to, if you’d asked.”

“You know your parents would never have let you.”

“That’s not the point. You should have told me.”

Romulus came down into the basement completely and stepped between the two boys. “How about you go and get the paint Sirius? You can both discuss the rest in the morning.”

Sirius nodded and hurried up the stairs towards the attic.

The ghost of the witch in the attic greeted him with a snarl, but Sirius ignored her as he hurriedly hunted for the paint. He levitated as many cans as he could, grabbed a few brushes and ran back down the stairs. He knew he’d taken a little too long as he reached the ground floor and heard the sound of the werewolf howling; the transformation was completed once more.

“So, what are you planning on painting?” Romulus asked after Moony, content that Sirius was staying for the night, had apparently settled down to watch the proceedings.

“A forest scene, I guess,” Sirius replied as he read the instructions on the paint can. “I’m better when I’m copying stuff though, so it’ll probably not be very good.”

“There are some books upstairs in the study with forest pictures and animals and stuff.”

“You think it’d be okay to leave him for a minute to get them?” Sirius asked.

“He seems calm for the moment.”

“I’ll leave my outdoor robes down here, he should understand that, right?”

Romulus shrugged. Sirius pulled off his outer robes; he didn’t want to get paint on them anyway, and placed them near to where Moony was laying. The wolf sat up and snarled slightly but settled back down a moment later. Sirius edged back towards the stairs, repeating over and over that he’d only be gone for a minute.

He grabbed the nearest books he could find that contained forest pictures and hurried back down the stairs once more.

Moony watched quietly as Sirius set to work.

“You’re quite talented,” Romulus commented a few hours later as Sirius put the finishing touches to the outline of a large stag that was standing majestically amidst the still only half sketched out trees.

“Only when I’m copying something,” Sirius replied. “I can’t draw from memory without getting it all wrong.”

“I can’t draw at all, so you’re doing much better than me or Rem ever could.”

“Can I ask you something?” Sirius asked as he stepped back slightly to survey his work.

“Depends what it is.”

“Why do you call Remus, Rem?”

“It’s just a nickname,” Romulus replied with a frown of confusion.

“Yeah, but it’s not really short for Remus, is it?”

“Not really.”

“So, where did it come from?” Sirius pressed on.

“Promise you won’t tease Remus if I tell you,” Romulus said after a moment of quiet thought.

Sirius grinned at Romulus and cast an amused look at Moony. “I promise, now spill.”

“Well, I guess I should admit that I wasn’t always the nicest of older brothers to Remus, I used to tease him a bit.” Sirius raised an eyebrow. “Okay, a lot. And one of the things I used to tease him about was his spelling. He couldn’t spell my name no matter how hard he tried. He constantly gave up after three letters and started calling me Rom. I got annoyed at him shortening my name all the time and chopped his own down to three letters as well.”

“Which is how you got Rem,” Sirius concluded with a chuckle.

“Yeah. By the time Remus had got the hang of his spelling, the shortened names had already stuck. Drove our mother right up the wall with it. Rom kind of grew on me, but she hated the shortened names with a passion. Which just gave us the perfect excuse to keep it up even longer, of course.”

Sirius laughed and shook his head.

“Rem might not really be short for Remus, but it’s my name for him, just like Rom is his name for me.”

“It’s a bond between you,” Sirius commented quietly as he sat down on the stairs beside Romulus.

“No, it’s just a part of one,” Romulus replied. “Now, what are you going to paint next? Or are you going to fill in the stag?”

“I think I’ll take a break now, or maybe do something small here on the stairs.”

Romulus looked doubtfully at where Sirius was pointing. “It’d have to be a very small animal to go there.”

“Could do some mice or something, running up the stairs in different positions.”

“I’ll leave you to it then,” Romulus said as he moved out of his way and down into Moony’s cage. Sirius shifted his position and went back to work.

-o-xXx-o-

“It’s nearly sunrise,” Sirius said as he watched Moony becoming increasingly restless as the dawn approached.

“Already?” Romulus replied. “Damn.”

“What is it?” Sirius asked. “I thought you’d be pleased that the full moon’s nearly over.”

“I am but…”

“But what?” Sirius prompted.

“There was something I wanted to speak to you about without Remus hearing. I didn’t realise that time had slipped away so quickly tonight.”

“There’s still a bit of time,” Sirius pointed out.

“You’re right.” Romulus sighed. “I don’t like to leave it until next month, the longer this goes on the worse it’ll be.”

“The longer what goes on?”

Romulus looked at Moony, pacing in his cage. “I want you to tell Remus that he can’t share your bed any more,” he finally said without looking back at Sirius.

“What? Why?” Sirius frowned slightly as the words sank in. “It’s not doing anyone any harm.”

“It’s doing Remus harm,” Romulus replied quietly. “He’s becoming too dependent on you. Last year was different, he was ill for so long, then he was hiding and scared, and I didn’t have the heart to say anything, not when he needed your comfort so much. But now things are different. He’s safe, but he’s still relying on your presence to get him through the night.”

“I don’t mind.”

“That’s not the point. What are you going to do in a few years time, once you’ve left school? What about when you get a girlfriend and get married?”

Sirius shrugged, he hadn’t really thought that far ahead. Or more accurately, he tried not to because that usually resulted in thinking about the almost kiss he and Remus had shared, and what it would be like to spend the rest of his life with him. He was surprised that Remus had never mentioned the almost kiss, and kept expecting him to bring it up, to ask him why he had done it, or even whether he had imagined it. But so far he hadn’t said a word.

Sirius supposed he could have broached the subject himself, but his Gryffindor courage deserted him whenever he tried to bring it up. So instead he had let things carry on much as they had before and if, in the darkest hours of the night, he dreamt of a life where Remus Lupin was entirely his, he forced such thoughts from his mind with the coming of the dawn.

“Remus can’t keep on relying on you like this,” Romulus continued. “It’s not good for him. It might not seem to be doing any harm, but in the long run it will be easier for Remus to end this dependency now.”

“I don’t mind him depending on me. That’s what friends do for each other.”

“I’m not saying not to be friends; I wouldn’t do that to either of you. I can see how close you both are. But Remus has to learn to cope on his own. He has to learn to be able to sleep properly without you being beside him.”

Sirius chewed on his lip, reluctant to say that he found it difficult to sleep without Remus with him, too. He’d had many restless nights during the summer, just like Remus himself had. “I’ll have a word with him,” he reluctantly agreed as he sat down on the stairs, careful not to lean back onto the still damp paint.

-o-xXx-o-

Remus looked around the basement as he pulled on his jeans. Sirius had certainly been busy during the night.

“I’ve not really started the background and the trees and stuff,” Sirius explained. “I was concentrating on the animals. I’ve only done the outlines so far, I’ll start painting them in next month.”

“The stag looks great,” Remus replied. “But what did you paint the Grim for?”

“It’s not the Grim, it’s a dog,” Sirius explained with a roll of his eyes. “It was supposed to be another wolf to keep you company, but it went a bit wrong so I made it into a dog. It’s a bit on the big side though.”

“Well, it’s definitely brightened the place up. I hope you weren’t drawing the rat from life.” He pointed towards the stairs.

“It’s supposed to be a mouse,” Sirius muttered.

“It’s too big for a mouse, it’s got to be a rat.”

“Fine, fine,” Sirius huffed. “It’s a rat and the dog’s the Grim.”

“I’m only teasing,” Remus told him with a laugh. “It really looks great. And the Grim is definitely my favourite.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“I thought the stag came out best,” Sirius commented as they climbed the stairs again.

“It did; it’s perfect. But I still like the dog the best.”

Sirius laughed. “Come on, let’s get out of here. I’ll get your scratches sorted out and we should be back at school just in time for breakfast.”

Remus’s stomach growled at the mention of breakfast and soon the two of them were laughing loudly as they contemplated the amount of food they were looking to gorge themselves on in a short while.

-o-xXx-o-

The two boys arrived back at the school to the news that Rita Skeeter had delivered the latest edition of the school newsletter in the early hours of the morning. Remus and his arrival at Hogwarts took up the entire front page.

“Bloody hell,” Sirius swore as he picked up a copy of the newsletter that had been cast aside by an early student who had eaten at the Gryffindor table.

“What’s she put?” James asked as he passed the pumpkin juice down the table to Remus.

“You’ve not read it yet?” Sirius asked with surprise.

“I skipped ahead to the Quidditch team news. Hufflepuff have a new beater and Ravenclaw have two new chasers and a seeker. Slytherin doesn’t have any changes in their line up, but they’ve been practising like crazy since the first week back; they’re a lot stronger than they were last year.”

Sirius waited for James to wind down his roundup of the Quidditch news before he continued. “She’s not only interviewed Remus – who should know better – but every student who has a problem with him being here, too.”

“Are there many?” Peter asked. “There’s not been any trouble for Remus, has there?”

“Let me see,” Remus asked quietly, gently tugging the newsletter from Sirius’s hands and spreading it flat out on the table. He read it quietly, mumbling occasionally as something caught his eye. “A danger to the other students… depriving more worthy students of a place at the school… fourteen students removed from Hogwarts over the summer…”

“They didn’t all leave because of you,” James pointed out. “Guy left because his father died and his mother couldn’t afford the fees any more.”

“He did?” Remus asked.

James nodded. “He was seeker for Ravenclaw last year. He told me after the last match of the year that he wasn’t coming back this term. He was thrilled that Ravenclaw won the Quidditch Cup before he had to leave.”

“But thirteen others… and it would have been fourteen if Sirius’s mother had had her way.”

“I told you before, my mother has been looking for an excuse to pull me out of Hogwarts ever since I got sorted into Gryffindor.”

“But…”

“But nothing!” Sirius snapped. “You have every right to be here.” He turned to glare around the room when he realised that several students were looking over towards them. “You got a problem?” he snarled at one of the loitering Slytherin students. “Checking to see how many kids he bit last night? Good luck finding any!”

“Sirius, calm down,” Remus whispered as the student hurried towards the doors. “He was just waiting for his friend.” Remus pointed across the room to where the friend in question was going back to the table for his forgotten bag.

“You have every right to be here,” Sirius repeated in a harsh whisper of his own.

“We always knew that not everyone would believe that,” Remus pointed out. “There are always going to be some kids who’ll judge me because of what I am, instead of who I am.”

“You’re taking this a lot better than I would,” Peter commented.

“And a lot better than Sirius is,” James added.

Sirius was no longer listening however; he’d spotted Rita arriving in the Great Hall, with several admirers close at her heels.

“Remus!” she called out cheerily, hurrying to the Gryffindor table. “Have you seen the interview?”

Remus groaned as he turned the page to see how he’d been quoted, or misquoted as it turned out to be. “I didn’t say anything about a full trial at the Ministry,” he pointed out. “And I didn’t try to bite Professor Spion, that’s a load of rubbish.”

“But it makes a much better story like this, don’t you think?” Rita looked at the other students who had trailed after her, and they nodded approvingly.

“I’ve never tried to bite anyone,” Remus insisted. “Now the students who weren’t scared of me already will think I’m dangerous too.”

“But you’re a werewolf,” Rita pointed out, her eyes wide with confusion. “Of course you’re dangerous.”

“Only on the night of the full moon, and I make sure I’m locked away so I can’t bite anyone.”

Rita looked a little dejected but soon gave a bright smile and a shrug. “Details, details,” she commented with a wave of her hand. “The article is hugely popular. Everyone was dying to find out more about you.”

Sirius scowled at Rita and stood up. He towered over her and glared down. Anyone else would have backed up several paces under the force of the Black stare, but Rita was made of sterner stuff than most and stood her ground, her admirers flanking her position.

“Come on,” Remus said as he stood up and grabbed his books and the newsletter. “We’ll be late for class.”

Sirius let himself be pulled away from Rita and they headed outside to the Care of Magical Creatures class near the edge of the forest.

“You shouldn’t let her wind you up,” Remus pointed out.

“You can’t tell me that the rubbish she put in the newsletter didn’t bother you?”

“Of course it bothers me, but it’s just a school newsletter. It’ll be forgotten about in a week or two and people will have something new to talk about. You know that, so why let it bother you so much?”

“You weren’t saying that when you were reading it.”

“Some of the stuff might be true though,” Remus replied after a few moments of quiet. “Siobhan in Ravenclaw told Rita that her best friend had been transferred to Beauxbatons because her parents didn’t want her in the same school as a werewolf.”

“Says Siobhan. Or more to the point, so Rita says that Siobhan says. You don’t know if it’s true.”

“I’m going to ask her.”

“What for?”

“Because I want to know whether it’s true or not.”

“And if it is true?”

Remus shrugged. “I’d just like to know.” He pulled out the newsletter and scanned it again. “I’m going to find out exactly what’s true and what isn’t.”

“You’re going to find out about all of them?” Sirius asked, coming to a halt as Remus’s words sank in.

“Every last one,” Remus stated. “James has already told us about Guy. I’m going to speak to Siobhan before Potions, then work my way down the rest of them.”

“Don’t do this,” Sirius begged.

“Why not?”

“Because you might find out that most of it is true,” Sirius replied. “Wouldn’t you rather not know for sure?”

“And live in some sort of fantasy world where everything is perfect.” Remus laughed and shook his head. “I like to know the truth, no matter how awful it is. I’d rather know the awful, ugly truth than believe a bunch of pretty lies.”

Sirius shook his head, knowing that it would be pointless to continue to argue with Remus. His friend was dead set on finding out how much truth there was in Rita’s article, and he knew that nothing he said would dissuade him from his course. He only hoped that Rita had exaggerated and lied even more than usual. But looking at how the other students edged away from Remus as he arrived at the edge of the forest, he suspected that there was more than the usual single grain of truth in the article.

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A/N: Thanks as always to everyone who has reviewed. It means a lot to me to know that I am not just talking to myself here.