The Marauders: Year Five #Wattys2017

Petunia's Rhinoceros

Petunia's Rhinoceros

Remus pinched the bridge of his nose and drew a couple deep, steadying breaths, his eyes closed.

"Rey?"

He looked up. Peter was looking down at him with concern.

"Are you alright?"

Remus nodded. "I'm alright."

"Sure?"

Remus nodded again. "Could - could you help me out with my tie, though, Pete?"

"Yeah, of course," Peter nodded and he took Remus's tie from the end of the bed. "Here - pop your collar up." Remus reached up with shaking hands and pushed the collar of his shirt up. Peter strung the tie 'round Remus's neck and carefully started folding it over itself, tying it the way James taught him to do it. Once it was done, Peter folded the collar down and patted Rey's shoulder, "There you are." He smiled.

"Thanks, Pete," Remus said.

Peter nodded again. He grabbed his own tie from his bed and strung it about his neck, his head tilted down to watch as he tied it about himself. "Are you feeling alright, really, though? I'm betting Sirius would understand if --"

"No," Remus said quickly. "No. I'll be alright. I need to do this. It's our anniversary and - and Sirius went to all that trouble with the inviting me and all... and..." He paused, feeling a bit queasy. "Oh no."

"What?"

"Cologne." Remus covered his nose with his shirt sleeve. "Somebody's cologne is -- oh Merlin, it's turning my stomach." He squeezed his eyes shut tight.

"I don't smell anything," Peter said, sniffing the air.

Remus groaned.

"Wait. I think I might now..."

"Yeah it's getting stronger," Remus muttered. "Oh Merlin, please don't let it be --"

The door opened and Sirius stepped into the dormitory. He was wearing jeans, and a hot pink coloured t-shirt he'd magicked to read IF LOST, PLEASE RETURN TO REMUS LUPIN in big black letters on his chest. His leather jacket was layered over that, collar popped, and on his head, he wore a top hat, tilted to an angle. He wore his big boots and had safety pins holding shut a rip at his knee, and, to Remus's horror, he absolutely reeked of cologne.

Peter looked 'round at Remus.

"Moony! Do you like my shirt? I made it myself," Sirius announced, holding his arms out for him to see.

Remus nodded. He had his sleeve over his nose still as he stared at Sirius. It took all his strength to lower it. "That shirt is amazing, Padfoot." The cologne assaulted him.

Sirius grinned.

Remus was trying to breathe only through his mouth.

Peter cleared his throat, "That's a, uh, interesting scent you have there, Pads."

Sirius grinned, "I got it last year - in Hogsmeade."

Peter sad, "Funny, I've never smelled it before."

"I've never worn it before. Just broke it out for the special occasion." Sirius grinned and slid onto the bed beside Remus, putting his arm around him. "Special cologne for my special date night with my special Moony."

Remus was turning a special shade of puce.

Peter felt bad for him.

Sirius leaned closer and kissed Remus's cheek. He'd applied the stuff to the space behind his ears and when he leaned in, Remus got a really good draft of it and it was so strong that he could nearly taste the horrible scent in his mouth. He felt dizzy and had to grit his teeth to keep from reacting with a gag. The last thing he needed to be doing was gagging when Sirius kissed him! He gave Sirius a tremulous smile, still trying not to breathe through his nose at all, which is entirely harder to do than it sounds.