"Moony," Sirius urged, giving him another shove. "Moony."

"I said no," Remus responded.

"It's our seventh year! We have to. We absolutely have to," Sirius said. "Don't you want to look back on Hogwarts one day when you're old, saggy, and sipping cocoa in front of our magnificent and roaring fireplace and think, 'Goodness. What an exciting time I had when I was a lad!' and then lean over and kiss me as a thanks for forcing you to come outside?"

"I'm perfectly fine with being outside," Remus corrected him; "it's the take-off-your-clothes-and-jump-in-the-lake-with-me bit that I'm against." Remus surveyed the water again, scrunching his nose. He had gone swimming a few times with everyone else in daylight, but even then they'd run the risk of a detention. While he wasn't exactly Head Boy, he still valued the opinions of his professors.

Sirius let out a dramatic sigh. "Well then reverse the order! Get in the lake, and then take your clothes off if you're so horribly shy. Which I know you aren't, by the by." A small wave ebbed against them in response. The water was calm enough that night, but they were already ankle-deep as it was and Remus found the entire thing to be rather foreboding.

"Sirius. I have been caught stuffing dungbombs into toilets, sneaking in the corridors at night, and once, even planting mandrakes in the Slytherin showers. That was all well and good, but I will not be caught in my briefs in the middle of the night, surrounded by underwater creatures."

"Who says you'll even be wearing your briefs?" Sirius said smugly, adding an eyebrow wiggle for emphasis. Remus let out an exasperated noise. "What? The giant squid loves me, anyway. Come on, Moony. Moooooony. Mooners. I promise we won't get caught. And if we do, which we won't, then you can just say it was all my fault. I'm a terrible influence! Ruining your innocence and bookish celibacy."

"You can't use the word 'celibacy' when—"

"Does it really matter? Just jump in with me. Or I'll just have to be naked and glistening with water all by my lonesome," Sirius grinned. Without any further hesitation, he loosened his Gryffindor tie and laid it on the grass. Remus watched with crossed arms and a scar-torn eyebrow raised.

"You're a nutter," Remus declared as Sirius undid the last button on his shirt and sent it flying to it's tie companion. Remus pretended not to notice the beautifully familiar dip of Sirius' back. "Completely mad!" he added for emphasis and to clarify that he was most certainly not enjoying this. "When McGonagall has to dredge you out, she'll ask me to explain, you know. What do I tell her, then?"

Sirius had already done away with his belt, now moving to unzip his fly. "You'll tell her that my affections are, alas, directed towards someone else. Someone who I would very much love to jump in lakes with. I'm sure she'll be crushed –our love never could have worked out– so have tissues on hand," Sirius said before dropping his trousers. Remus tried his best not to gape.

Sirius waded into the water, pale body lit by the crescent moon. The only thing he had on still was his Gryffindor-red boxers. Typical. When he got in deep enough, he dipped below the surface and wet his slick black hair. "You're going to catch a cold!" Remus called out, staying firmly planted on the shore. After all, he'd be the one getting sneezed on when this all went downhill.

"Live a little, Moony!" Sirius cried, doing what looked like the most graceless backstroke of all time. Remus looked around, making sure nobody was there watching. If he was going to hop in the lake, which he was most certainly not considering, then he'd have to be sure nobody saw his scars. The last thing he needed were even more rumours floating around the school about him. Severus' accusing looks were bad enough.

"I'd prefer to live right over here Padfoot, thank you very much," Remus insisted. Sirius began to swim his way, the signature mischievous look on his face. "Sirius… What are you doing?" he asked cautiously, taking a step back. When Sirius' only response was to keep smiling, Remus knew he'd made a fatal error. He was so busy staring at Sirius' current state of disrobe that he hadn't seen where the animagus' wand had gone. This all dawned on him as a jet of water shot out of the lake and all over the front of his newly ironed button-down shirt. "Sirius!" he sputtered as another stream soaked his hair. "That's it. I'm getting you for this!"

Remus jumped into the lake, completely disregarding his previous protests. The cool water rushed around him and for a second under the surface, all was quiet. Now it was time for some sweet revenge. Remus wrestled the other man down into the water, firing spells from his own wand as they fought and bent the water to their whim. The two sent charm after charm at each other, a ribbon of water catching Sirius' chin while one hit Remus right in the stomach. They dodged each other's blows as best as they could. Towards the end it looked almost like a water dance, the splashes from their fight rippling out to the edge of the lake.

"Aguamenti!" Remus finally shouted, sending a massive wave from the tip of his wand that washed them both to shallow water. When the wave crashed, Sirius was panting and Remus couldn't help but think he resembled a drowned dog. The water was about up to their knees here, allowing them to regain their footing. "There. I win," Remus rasped, slipping his wand back into his soaked pocket.

"Ah, but my dear Remus, that's where you're wrong," Sirius laughed as he tossed his own wand back to shore. "You see, my goal was to get you in the lake, and look at you now." Sirius spread his arms apart as if to lay the scene before him. "It was inevitable!" he cried before Remus could respond. "You know you can't resist my charms. And water fights. In a white shirt and everything! It's like you've never opened a gentleman's magazine before."

Remus looked down to discover that, indeed, he was just as drenched as his misguided lover. He tried to think of a clever response, but the water lodged in his ears must've seeped into his brain. "Fuck you," he said weakly.

Sirius slinked back into the water. "Plenty of times for that later, "he teased; "now you take off those pesky clothes of yours before you catch a cold. All that soppy fabric can't be good for your pores. See, I think that's your problem, Moony. Always wearing too much clothing."

Remus Lupin was of the mentality that once someone had spoiled their diet with a cookie, or ruined their school clothes with lake water, they might as well go all the way. The cotton felt ponderous and heavy on his skin, saturated with Merlin-knows-what was in the lake. With a bizarre sense of determination, he peeled off the dripping wet shirt and shimmied out of his trousers. He abandoned them next to Sirius' clothes and swam out into the water. After all, Remus helped make that map, he was the reason his friends had become animagi, wasn't he a rip-roaring Marauder deep down? Very deep, he supposed.

"You're ruined me. Entirely," Remus announced as he swam to meet the other Gryffindor. "Are you happy now?"

"Overjoyed," Sirius said, wrapping an arm around Remus' waist. "Feel that mud in between your toes? That's the sensation offreedom." While Remus wasn't sure that was true, there was most certainly some sort of wiggling below his feet. But he was already neck-deep now, and tried his best not to think about it. "Are you happy now?"

"I'm cold, clammy, and I'm pretty sure it's passed midnight," Remus complained, resting an elbow on Sirius' shoulder. "But yes." He wasn't even lying, and Remus decided he must be going mad.

Significantly pleased with his dirty work, Sirius pulled Remus in for a kiss. Even in light of recent events, Remus wrapped his arms around him in return. Sirius let out a content sigh, running a finger along a scar that went down Remus' back. "You should really listen to me more often," he murmured against the other boy's lips.

"Now you know that's utter bollocks," Remus said, pushing away for a moment. "You're the one always getting me into trouble."

"When I have gotten you into trouble that you didn't have fun doing?"

"I could write you a list, or you could keep snogging me."

Sirius went with the latter. He sucked lightly on Remus' lower lip, greedily lapping at his mouth and begging for entrance. Remus shuddered softly and moved his own tongue out in sync with Sirius', keeping warm in the chilled water with molten kisses. As usual, Sirius' obscenely talented tongue worked its magic, turning Remus' disquiet into a blurry haze. The werewolf tangled his fingers into Sirius' wet locks, running a thumb along the edge of his ear.

Whenever they touched, even before their eventual Grand Get Together, Remus' world went out of focus. Like someone had jumped in his brain and entirely erased his sense of common decency, and coherency, and "Oh, Merlin…"

"The name's Sirius, actually."

All Remus could respond with was an eyeroll. That, and a sensory onslaught of his own. He ran his fingernails down Sirius' back, making him shiver with delight. Remus grazed his teeth over the nape of Sirius' neck, giving him a playful bite before pressing a collar of kisses around his throat. Every noise Sirius made was music to Remus' ears, a symphony nobody other than the lycanthrope had ever heard before. He conducted every sweet note himself, the melody reaching its languid fingers across the water.

One hand ambled its way back up to Sirius' chest, toned from hours of Quidditch practice that Remus was secretly very grateful for. Usually all that the sport had entailed for him was sitting next to Lily in the cold watching their respective love interests be hit over the head repeatedly with different sized balls, but Remus had a quiet appreciation for it now. That and the way it firmed up his calves and his thighs and…

"What was that spell?" Sirius interrupted, face flushed. It took Remus a few seconds to grasp what Sirius had just said out loud.

"What?" Remus's brain attempted to go back into its filing system and trying to figure out what the hell he was going on about.

"The one you used earlier, the—"

"Oh, that one was—"

"Never mind!" Sirius said with a triumphant grin. "Now I remember. Accio wand! Aguamenti!"

The wave took Remus by surprise, and before he could gather his wits he was tumbling back to the shore. Water rushed up all around them before finally tossing the pair down at the shore.

"And here I was thinking you wanted to swim," Remus lamented as he reached up to feel where the land had met his shoulder.

"I did! Impulse left, though. Wanted you somewhere I could press you down on," Sirius explained as if it were the most simple and innocent notion. Remus wondered if that was perfect way to describe him: a series of impulses. "Sorry. Your shoulder hurt?"

"I'll live."

"Aw, c'mon Moony, I'll make it all better," Padfoot grinned lasciviously.

Remus could hardly resist the offer. Not when Sirius' fingers had their own brand of magic.

The pressure made him arch into Sirius' touch as it massaged away all the tension he'd built up. Remus was a worrier, he couldn't help it. It left his back in knots and his fingernails short. He melted at the thought of putting down that burden, even just for a second. The pads of Sirius' fingers rubbed in small circles and moved to every area of his back. Along his spine, down his sides, massaging away the back aches Remus wasn't even aware he had. I'm an old man already, he concluded.

"Is that good?" Sirius asked, already knowing the answer.

"Mm, yes," was all Remus could get out while suppressing a moan. He was already defeated, but he'd be damned if he showed it. When Sirius wrapped it up, he laid Remus back in the grass and climbed on top of him. Remus had almost forgotten that they were both conveniently and practically naked minus their briefs. "This was all part of your plan, wasn't it?"

"Moony!" Sirius mock-gasped, feigning shock as he curled out on Remus' chest, intertwining their legs. "How dare you accuse me of something so devious." Confirming Remus's suspicion, Sirius heartily resumed their previous snogging session.

Their mouths reconnected, Sirius' impossibly soft lips stole any reply Remus would have thought up. Remus could feel a familiar hardness pressing up against his own, Sirius' hips slowly rocking against his. All it took was imagining Sirius' cock, hard and warm beneath the thin cloth to start a fire in the pit of Remus' stomach. A moan finally escaped Remus, his lover's body shuddering against him in response. Sirius pressed a few more kisses on Remus' lips before pulling back again, frustrating the man below him to no end.

"You are so fucking beautiful," Sirius breathed, his eyes drinking in all of Remus' scar-torn body. No I'm not, Remus wanted to yell. He wanted to make Sirius see that he was a complete madman for even thinking that, but mentioning it would only start an argument. Sirius stopped him before he could do anything of the sort and brought those damned fingers back into play, running one across the hollow of Remus' throat. Remus nearly whimpered.

The finger travelled down his chest, making lazy laps around Remus' left nipple. Sirius could feel his heartbeat below his skin as it perked up under his touch. Sirius leaned over him, playfully flicking his tongue on the sensitized skin. Remus groaned, perversely glad that Sirius had learned all of his weak spots. Sirius' finger moved down even further, tracing a scar's path down to his hipbone.

"Sirius," Remus rasped, spreading his legs and allowing Sirius to kneel between them. The animagus met his eyes, that eternal grin of his staying on his face as he slowly removed the last piece of clothing Remus had on. Remus had about a second to worry about being seen before Sirius turned his attention to his erection.

He took the tip into his mouth, relishing in Remus' surprised gasp. Sirius moved the wet heat along the shaft, flattening his tongue and giving him long, fervid strokes. Remus writhed beneath him, tangling his fingers in Sirius' dark hair. It took about every fibre of strength in his body not to jerk up into Sirius' mouth, but the teasing was torture. Two strong hands pinned him to the ground to ensure that no matter what magic Sirius' tongue was working, Remus would only be getting a taste of it.

Remus decided after a night like this, he wasn't entirely above begging. "Padfoot, please."

"Please what?" Sirius responded, his kisses replaced with caressing fingers as he rested to look up at the honey-haired man. Remus let out a quiet breath, steeling himself against the grass.

"Please, Sirius, you know what I need. You always do. You woke me up and dragged me down here in the middle of the night, it's now definitely morning, so for the love of Merlin, fuck me already. You impossible, gorgeous bastard," Remus hissed out. He didn't even bother to look down; he knew Sirius got the message from the chuckle he received afterwards.

Remus let out a sigh of relief when Sirius finally grabbed his wand and cast a lubrication spell. Clearly done with the baiting, Sirius slicked his own member and moved to hover back over Remus. He pressed a quick kiss onto his lips, allowing Remus a moment to adjust before pushing a finger inside him.

"Relax," Sirius whispered as if it were even necessary to say it out loud at this point. Even so, Remus understood. He gave a slight wince when the second finger entered him, but the discomfort was the last thing on his mind. The more pressing matter was the determined look on Sirius' face, his muscles taut and ready for anything. The whole thing looked like something out of a fantasy novel: the eternal Peter Pan, clinging to youth like a drowning man, skin still gleaming, naked and vulnerable before an enthralled audience. Remus loved being the only person in the world in that audience.

Remus moved against Sirius' fingers, driving them deeper. Sirius gently moved them in and out, anticipation swelling in him as he opened his lover up. When he figured that was enough (and couldn't stand his cock not being in Remus a second longer), Sirius slipped them out. Remus let out a quiet whine at the loss, but was more than eager to slip his legs around his lover's waist so that the head of his prick rubbed up against the stretched hole.

Sirius pushed in slowly as he worked passed the tight ring of muscles. His breath hitched, a flash of warmth running rampant over his skin. "Moony," he breathed. Remus responded with his body, pushing back onto Sirius' hard length. Fuck, he'd never wanted him so badly. Or at least that's what he'd say until their next time. His usually organized life had turned into a blurry dream of laughter and lust. When he wasn't with Sirius, which was practically never, he was thinking of him. Slowly, the thoughts had turned to fantasies. Sirius quickly took over the motion, thrusting himself into the other man. His hands gripped Remus' hips hard enough to bruise.

"Yes," Remus gasped as Sirius thrust up against that spot. "Oh, fuck, yes." His prostate throbbed with each pulse, Sirius' own groans becoming louder. Remus dug his nails into Sirius' back just enough to give him leverage to take him in deeper.

Remus knew he was close. His cock twitched with every move Sirius made and he buried his face into the crook of Sirius' neck, muffling his moans against his sensitive throat. The sensation almost pushed the animagus over the edge. "Remus, you feel so… so…" Sirius couldn't even finish his sentence before he came, spilling his seed inside his lover. An orgasm swept over Remus seconds later with Sirius still riding out the aftershock of his own.

The two collapsed in a heap of tangled limbs, holding tight to each other. Sirius pulled his limp cock out and sprawled out on top of him. Remus felt so deliciously open that he didn't even mind the fact that it was rather difficult to breathe with 130 pounds of spent Sirius on his chest. His fingers traced patterns down the expanse of Sirius' back, lazily dipping into circles and loops.

"Is that some kind of Morse code escape message you're writing? Am I crushing you?" Sirius asked with absolutely no intention of moving.

"No, no. I'm fine," Remus murmured and happily stole another kiss.

"Love you," Sirius reminded him, nuzzling up closer and letting some of the weight off of Remus.

"Yeah, yeah," Remus teased, earning him a pinch in the side. "Hey! I love you too."

Remus decided they'd have to go swimming again sometime.