The Marauders - Order of the Phoenix - Part One

Someone Who Understands You

On his first day of University, Remus Lupin's eyes blinked awake seconds before his alarm was to sound. He lay staring at the ceiling for a moment before reaching beneath his pillow for his wand and cutting off the alarm before it could go off with a flick of his wrist.

Sunshine was pouring in the windows, a light breeze ruffling the curtain, and Remus took a deep breath and smelled breakfast. He smiled, and looked to his left, where Sirius lay asleep, face down in his billowing pillows, his hair in a tangled mess all around the cavity where his face was hidden. Remus smiled, then leaned over, kissed the back of Sirius's ear and murmured, "Love you, Padfoot." 

"Mmmphm," came the murmur from within the depths of down and cotton. 

Remus shook his head, smiling at his sleepy boyfriend -- no, husband, he corrected himself. It was so like Sirius not to wake up, whatever racket he'd made the night before about being up first thing in the morning to see his Moonpie off to school. Well, Remus thought, so much for that plan. 

Carefully, Remus rolled out of bed, now determined not to disturb Sirius from his sleep, and got dressed in the corner of the room by the closet, biting his wand between his teeth as he hopped to pull up his trousers. He tucked in his shirt nicely and pulled on a new tweed vest, carefully wrapping a bow tie about his collar and knotting it just-so in the mirror before donning his brown jacket and happily rubbing the leather elbow pads on each side, proud of the nice suit he'd managed to save galleons for. He looked at himself in the mirror that usually only Sirius used, and he took a deep breath.

Ned would be proud, he thought, staring at himself in the mirror.

He reached up with his fingers and tried at making his hair rest a different way across his forehead, but it just fell back into place the moment he lowered his hands. Then he straightened the bow of his tie and turned, reaching for his briefcase, shiny and new, and he ran his thumb over his name.

Professor R. J. Lupin.

Remus smiled. Not yet, he thought, but someday. 

With that, he glanced once more at Sirius's sleeping form, rolled his eyes, whispered, "Bloody dog..." and snuck out the door into the hallway, carrying his loafers and pulling the door closed with the utmost of silence. He kicked his shoes on as he walked down the hall and into the kitchen.

There at the stove was James, an apron tied around his waist that Remus happened to know actually belonged to Lily (and thank goodness because the filly thing looked most out of place around James's torso). He laughed as James used his wand to flip over a messy looking omelette in the pan, with an exaggerated flourish - which most likely explained the egg's imperfections.

"Mo-ooRRRRNING," James sing-songed, backing up to catch the egg with the pan and nearly missing. He grinned, proud of himself when the egg didn't end up on the floor, then put the pan back on the stove and waved his arm at the table, "Sit, sit, you're the guest of honor this morning."

Remus laughed, "Why thank you, kind sir."

"You're quite welcome, good professor," James replied, bowing in a way that was something he'd clearly seen Sirius do. "Might I interest you in a spot of orange juice, per chance? Freshly squeezed with some of the vast, vast, vast amounts of oranges that Sirius bought home from Costa Rica?"

"We still have those things? Merlin's beard, I thought we were out at last."

"I found another whole case," James shook his head, "And he put some sort of preservation spell on them so we can't say they've spoilt. He'll know better. We're rather stuck with them."

"I'll take some of the juice, if only to assist in the depletion of the orange crop," Remus said. "The world's most likely short on oranges this year because of us."