swim || remus lupin

sunflower vol 6

"Why are you doing this?" Sirius asked from his spot on the couch.

At the moment, the rest of our friends were outside, making snow sculptures in light of the blizzard that blew in overnight. Sirius, however, was being dramatic and nursing a gash on his leg that he had obtained from his sword fight with Peter. And I was cleaning up some of the mess from the party.

"I don't think it's fair to make the house elves do all of it," I said, tossing an empty cup into the trash bag I was holding. "They already made the eight of us breakfast and tea."

"They like doing it," Sirius shrugged. "Honest, they wouldn't want freedom if you forced a bloody hat down their throat. Besides, why would you voluntarily clean?"

"Not all of us grew up royal like you, Mr. Black," I laughed with a gracious bow. Sirius rolled his eyes.

"I was hardly a prince, I'll tell you that," he scoffed.

"Whatever you say, your highness."

"Actually," he said, swinging his legs to the floor so he was sitting up. "I've been meaning to talk to you."

"About what?" I asked, now on the other side of the living room rehanging a crooked painting.

"Remus said that he told you about me being gay," he stated simply. The painting fell.

"Oh," I fumbled. "Um, yeah, he did."

"It's okay," Sirius laughed and stood to help me with the picture. "I told him he should. I wanted to apologize, actually."

We hoisted the large decoration back into its place on the wall and took a step back.

"Apologize?" I queried, wiping my hands on my jeans. "What for? You can't control your sexuality."

"No," he answered. "I suppose not. But I was questioning it when I asked you out, and it wasn't fair to you."

"Sirius-" I tried, but he cut me off.

"Will you let me apologize, woman? Gosh you try to be a nice person," he exhaled sarcastically.

I laughed and let him continue.

"I did like you," he said. "Or at least, I thought I did. Anyways I meant all of the things that I said, they were just, sort of off."

He was looking at his shoes, running his hands through his hair. He seemed evaporated of all the confidence and poise that was Sirius Black.

"Anyways, Moony called me out on it early on, remember that night of the prank?" He looked up to catch my response and I nodded. "Yeah," he continued. "I was just pissed off because I think I knew he was right, but I wasn't ready to believe it."

"Aw, Sirius."

"Oh, now you want to get all mushy?" We both laughed, some of his awkwardness merging back into lighthearted assertion.