Disclaimer: My last attempt to wrest control of the Harry Potter franchise ended miserably. So, no, I still don't own 'em.

Chapter Six: A Peacetime Proposal

Slowly, nervously, Remus moved forward, following Sirius as the raven-haired boy swept through the kitchen. The elves parted before them like the red sea, their heads bobbing low in bows and curtsies so deep that their noses all but touched the floor. They were all wearing matching tea towels, wrapped like togas around their bodies, with the Hogwarts insignia upon them. All of them watched the two boys like they were looking upon kings of the highest stature.

"These are the kitchens?" asked Remus breathlessly.

Sirius laughed. "Well, who did you think was making all of the food? Dumbledore?"

To this Remus could only shake his head silently.

A trio of the little elves scurried up to them suddenly, catching Remus off-guard. The leader of the three, a minuscule creature with ears that were particularly vast, stared up at Sirius with reverence. "How may we be of service, sir?" he squeaked.

Sirius snapped his fingers, as though struck with a sudden and brilliant thought. "Ah, yes. One butterbeer for me, Zonky." He looked up at Remus. "What's your pleasure, Lupin?"

Taken aback, Remus stuttered for a moment. "Uh, butterbeer for me as well, thanks."

As if moving of their own accord, two bottles of butterbeer came bobbing along the surface of the sea of house elves, passed from one to another like they were surfing the crowd. Sirius plucked his up from the long bony hands of the nearest elf and popped the cap with a flourish—Remus tentatively accepted his, burning under the wide stares.

Sirius took a deep swig of the drink and wiped his mouth on his sleeve. After a moment he seemed to become aware of Remus's bemusement, because Remus was simply standing there, unopened bottle in his hand, and eying Sirius warily.

"Doesn't quite have the same kick as a good shot of Firewhiskey," Sirius said, tapping the bottle. "It's good stuff, though, en't it?"

But Remus couldn't bring himself to care about the butterbeer. The fact that Sirius Black—who should, for all intents and purposes, hate the very core of him—had saved him from Filch and a very-likely expulsion had rattled his senses. What had he done to earn his good graces? He couldn't get his head around it.

"Why did you save me?" he asked softly.

The self-satisfied expression on Sirius's face seemed to falter. He glanced around irritably at their elfish audience and snapped, "Well, clear off, then." Without another word the elves scurried away, back to their duties, not appearing the least bit affronted by Sirius's harsh tone or change in demeanor.

"I'll be perfectly honest with you, Lupin," he said, turning to the lycanthrope. "I didn't expect you to show up for the duel."

Remus blinked. "You didn't?"

"No. As a matter of fact, I thought you'd cop out and sic Filch on us." He shrugged and ran a hand through his lush black hair. "Turns out you did let it slip after all, but instead of telling a professor you let just about every student in the school in on it. Now here's my thought process," he continued loudly before Remus could insist he had nothing to do with the information leak. "If you had gone and fetched a teacher, that would seal it. War. I've no sympathy for blokes like that. If you had just shown up ready to fight, you would have earned my respect. But bringing a live audience? Well, I don't really know what to make of it."

"I didn't bring a live audience," Remus said, bristling. "Peter Pettigrew did—he confessed!"

"Did Peter organize that little escort of yours as well?"

Remus felt his face heat up. On some level, he had been guilty of bringing onlookers—if not, then what had Marlene, Dorcas and the others been doing there? "How did you know about that?" he asked.

"We saw you before you went into the room," said Sirius.

"How? There was no one else in the halls—we were sure of it."

At this point, Sirius looked a little bit uncomfortable. "Never mind that. We have our ways. But what were they doing with you?"

Remus bit his lip and sighed. "…Moral support," he said weakly.

For a few long moments Sirius simply stared at him, as if he had never seen anything like him in all his life. He laughed and tossed his hair, and Remus couldn't help but see a little of what all the swooning legions of fangirls saw in him—he was rather a good-looking boy. There was nothing wrong with admitting something like that. Right?

"So you," Sirius said through his chuckles, "brought a group of girls to back you in a wizard's duel?"

"That's right," Remus snapped. He quickly reevaluated his opinion on Sirius, and decided that he wasn't so handsome after all. "And those girls are my friends."

Sirius waved his hands placatingly, still laughing. "I'm not saying they're not," he said. "It just…it sounded almost like you brought a—a cheering squad to a duel." His voice broke and a fresh wave of laughter swept over him.

Quite frankly, Remus had never felt so confused about another person in his entire life. On the one hand, Sirius was obnoxious. Self-absorbed. Vain. Rude. Childish. On the other hand, he had saved Remus from the doom of expulsion, and was making an obvious attempt at reconciling. He's not very good at it, though, thought Remus irritably, watching Sirius laugh at him.

"Are you quite through?" he snapped. "Because I would very much like to get back to the common room and forget about this whole episode."

"Oh, no." Sirius reached out and grabbed him by the arm, shaking off the last few chuckles in his system. "You can't go back."

Remus wrested his arm away. "Why not?"

"Well, you'd be caught. Simple as that. By the looks of it, just about everyone's being caught, so that in itself wouldn't be so bad--but it won't be long before people start pointing fingers, and you can bet a good majority of those fingers will be pointed squarely at you."

"It wasn't me who suggested this blasted duel in the first place!"

"True enough. But James and I have gotten into and out of so much mischief these past five years, I imagine we'll be immune to the accusations. Filch would be itching to have us thrown out, but McGonagall's got too much need of James as a Seeker--and I'm operating under the theory that's she's secretly enamored with me."

He stroked an imaginary goatee in a narcissistic manner, and Remus could help but giggle. Sirius smirked triumphantly, but Remus clapped his hands over his mouth, feeling betrayed by his own laughter. Fixing a frown squarely on his face, he coughed, and said, a bit uncertainly, "You're out of your mind."

"Come on, Lupin. You know as well as I that this whole thing was just the horrific result of a misunderstanding. Don't you think it would be so much easier if we could be, well, comrades? Compatriots? Sympathizers?...Uh...amigos..."

"Friends?" asked Remus, raising an eyebrow. Sirius shrugged sheepishly in response.

"Yeah." He cleared his throat. "That."

Remus studied him, eyes wide with confusion. He spoke slowly, as if trying to draw every ounce of absurdity from the thought. "You're telling me...that you, Sirius Black...want to be friends with me...Remus Lupin?"

"That's--that's what I'm telling you, yes."

"Well, if you wanted to be friends, why did you suggest the duel in the first place?"

"Like I said. I didn't expect you to show up. But you did--and that surprised me. After all that chaos, Lupin, I've decided you just might be worth liking, after all. I mean, that was a riot of epic proportions. I don't think there've been that many students out of bed at one time past curfew in this school in...well, ever, actually!" He paused to consider it, and smiled. "Besides that, don't you think it would be in the best interests of everybody if we came to an understanding? Put this whole silly war to rest?"

"I...I suppose," replied Remus reasonably. He knew that Marlene would probably have a conniption to hear him talking like this with the enemy, but at the moment he found it very tempting to just put Marlene out of his mind. Now that the initial hostility had died down, he found that being here with Sirius wasn't so bad. After all, the dark-haired boy was being quite civil. Charming, even. And if they could bury the hatchet, so to speak, perhaps the whole insane series of events this past week would fade from the minds of the Hogwarts students in time. Everyone would forget about it, and would go back to thinking that Remus was just a normal, ordinary person...

"Lupin?" Remus's head snapped up to see that Sirius was looking a bit amused and a bit curious. "So what do you say?"

Remus bit his lip. The temptation of being normal for once was too great to resist. He struck out his hand almost instantly. "Alright," he said. "Friends."

Sirius grinned a wide, spectacular grin and seized Remus's hand in his own, shaking it enthusiastically. "Friends."

& & &

It was quiet.

The floor beneath him was cold and hard, and had a flinty quality to it. Eyes closed, Sirius flipped through his memories of floors, and realized that it was the floor of the Hogwarts Kitchens. Perhaps Jim and I smuggled some Firewhiskey in here last night and got smashed, he mused pleasantly. But he didn't feel hung over. He felt around, eyes still shut to the world, and felt a soft quilt draped over himself--the elves had put it there, no doubt. He continued to feel along until his fingers met cloth, with a body underneath it--that would be James.

But it wasn't James. When Sirius opened his eyes, he found himself nearly nose-to-nose with a sleeping Remus J. Lupin.

Sirius sat up sharp, clutching his chest, mind racing. Oh no, oh God, oh Merlin, what'd I do? Surely I didn't--I couldn't...those thoughts were just thoughts, they didn't mean anything, just idle wanderings of the mind...Jim wouldn't let me, would he? Bah, he'd probably be taking pictures! Damn it to hell, that is the LAST time I drink!

But after a moment, he took in his surroundings and his mind quieted. There was a mostly-intact cake on a plate sitting on the floor a few feet away, and a few empty bottles of butterbeer scattered about. The memories of the night before flitted before his eyes like a shoal of colorful fish, and he heaved a loud, heavy sigh of relief. That's right--last night was the botched duel. And Lupin and I wound up in the Kitchens to hide. He dipped a finger in the nearby chocolate cake and licked it off thoughtfully. And we had a snack...we must have dozed off...

He looked down at Remus's sleeping form. The boy was curled on his side, one arm cushioning his head from the floor, the other holding on loosely to the edge of the quilt, which had slipped off of him at some point during the night. He was breathing lightly, and with each outward breath the bits of hair that had fallen across his face fluttered a bit. After so many girlish, painted faces, Sirius found the sight of Remus's clean, tired one...genuine. But it was odd. It wasn't as though Sirius had never seen a sleeping boy before. Why was he so fascinated?

He shook his head, annoyed. What am I getting myself so worked up about? he wondered, inwardly scoffing. After all, he's...got a...feminine face. It's natural for me to... But he didn't finish that thought. Didn't know how. Slowly he got to his feet and stretched until he felt joints popping pleasantly, then rolled his head on his shoulders. He bent to replace the quilt over Remus, but as he drew it over the slim frame, the smaller boy yawned and rolled over. Sirius felt something in his stomach began to squirm. That must be from one too many butterbeers, he told himself determinedly.

But part of him knew it was not so.

& & &

Remus hadn't known what to expect the next morning, but what he found was the school in a state of lethargy. It was nearly noon when they slipped out of the Kitchen, and yet the only few students they found in the halls were practically asleep standing up. The stately gentlemen and ladies in their portraits were pink-eyed and supping coffee, and Mr. Filch seemed to have forgotten to take off his nightcap, for he walked around the school with it sagging on his head the whole day.

They scurried up to the Gryffindor tower quickly and quietly, stopping every now and again to throw a glance around the corner, but they encountered no professors. They stepped through the portrait hole into the common room, and found a good number of Gryffindors sacked out on the floor or the couch. "They must have been waiting up for us," Sirius whispered, and Remus nodded. He looked among the unconscious faces, and it wasn't long before he spotted Dorcas's. He made for her, but Sirius caught him around the wrist. "What do you think you're doing?" he hissed.

"I'm going to wake up Cassie, of course."

"You can't do that."

"Why not? She'll be worried."

"She'll wake everyone else up, and they'll see us coming in together."

Remus frowned. "What sorts of friends wouldn't want to be seen with each other?"

"Oh, come on, Lupin. After all of the rumors, what'll everyone think if we come in together at this hour in the day, without having been seen all night?"

The implication made Remus blush, but he cleared his throat softly and rubbed at his face, as if he could wipe the color in his cheeks away. "Alright...I see your point," he admitted grumpily. Sleeping on a floor next to the boy who had forced his tongue in his mouth had been an awkward experience, and his nerves were strung tight because of it.

They picked their way quietly among the sleeping bodies on the floor to the bottom of the boys' dormitory stairs. Remus followed Sirius silently up the spiraling staircase to the door of the boys' dormitory, aware that this was going to be the first time so far in his stay at Hogwarts that he set foot inside it.

It was dark in the dormitory, as the curtains were drawn, and two boys were asleep in their beds--a round-faced boy closest to the door, and a blond at the furthest end of the room, who Remus recognized as Peter Pettigrew. Sirius sat down bouncily on his own bed and stretched his arms up high over his head. "It's always rough sleeping on floors," he said, but then he noticed that the brunet was still lingering by the door. "That's right, you've never been in here, have you? Well, judging by the fact that no one's slept there, I'd say that one's your bed." He pointed to the four-poster across from his own. "In any case, how'd you manage to swing...like, two weeks, without coming in here once?"

"I...well, I...slept in the girls' dormitory," said Remus as he sat down on the pliant mattress of his own bed. "At least, for the most part. Last night, in the Kitchens, but you know that."

But Sirius didn't seem interested in the last bit. Upon hearing the words "girls' dormitory", he had fixed Remus with a stare of utter wonder. "You've been sleeping in there?"

"Well, yes."

"But...Jim and I have been trying to figure out how to get in there for years! How'd you do it?"

Remus bristled indignantly. "Do you take me for a fool? I'm not going to tell you."

"What? Why n--oh. Yeah. Sorry." Sirius rubbed the back of his neck, conscious of his faux pas. "Right. Well, we weren't going to do anything...like that. Trust me, we don't need to."

"I suppose that, as the infamous Sirius Black, you have enough girls ready to throw themselves willingly at your feet," said Remus, not without bitterness.

"Ouch, Lupin. I thought we were supposed to be on a friendly basis now?"

Remus studied him warily from across the room. After a long moment, he sighed, breathing out as much ill will as he could, and allowed himself to look at Sirius with eyes anew. He gave a small, grudging, smile. "Call me Remus."

At these words, Sirius practically glowed. "Right, mate--I mean, Remus. Hey, could I call you Remmie?"

Remus rolled his eyes, but couldn't suppress a chuckle. "I'd prefer if you didn't." And, despite himself, he yawned extravagantly. Eyes watering sleepily, he mumbled out an exhausted 'pardon me'.

"No need for it, Remmie--I think you have the right idea. If you don't mind, I'll be sacking out for a bit, too." Sirius stretched and fell backwards onto the bedspread, and, without even bothering to get under it, he fell asleep. Remus stared at him, bewildered, wondering how a person could fall asleep so quickly and detachedly in another person's presence, and, further back in his mind, wondering how a person could get his hair to fall so perfectly across his pillow...

But it wasn't long before he, too, was out for the count.

& & &

"...ius. Sirius. Siri!"

"What?" Sirius swatted lightly at the air, attempting to brush off whoever was shaking his shoulder so roughly. "Go 'way."

"Siri, wake up. This is...haha...'sirius'. No, but really."

"Jim...?" Slowly his eyes opened, grey taking in the dark, hazy dormitory, until his vision was filled with a pair of large, bright hazel eyes framed with glasses. Sirius jumped in alarm, and James sat back enough to give him room, rolling his eyes.

"Bloody hell, Jim," Sirius growled, tightening his hold on his pillow as he willed sleep to claim him once again, "what time is it?"

"About three in the afternoon," said James severely, "and I haven't seen you since last night."

"Oh...yeah. Sorry, mate." Hoping that was the end of it, he dropped his head back into the comforts of the pillow, but James dragged it out from under him and whacked him over the head with it.

"That's not all, Sirius."

"Well, WHAT is so bloody important that you can't let me sleep?" whined Sirius, struggling for his pillow but not putting up much of a fight in his groggy state. True, he had slept a decent number of hours, but that had been on the hard floor, and he felt he owed it to the world to get plenty of 'beauty sleep'.

"That's what." James pointed at the bed across from Sirius's, where Remus Lupin was lying in a state of deep sleep. Frank Longbottom was standing beside the bed with his wand at the ready, pointing it at the sleeping boy, under James's orders to jinx him if he tried to escape. "Seems the little bugger snuck in at some point last night, or we would've seen him."

"Hmm?" Sirius sat up, rubbing his eyes, and blinked at Remus's bed. "Oh, yeah. He came in--I brought him up, 'n fact. Lay off, Frank, he's not gonna attack you."

Frank tucked his wand into the pockets of his robes, looking confused, but James looked absolutely aghast. "Siri! What are you saying?! You're telling me you...and he--?"

"No, no, James," said Sirius hastily, "nothing like that. No, last night when the plug was pulled on our operation, I saw him being cornered by Filch in the hall and I thought, well, what the hell, and I helped him out. He's not a bad guy, this Remus. We hid out in the Kitchens till the riot died down, and we fell asleep. No big deal."

James stared at him. "Sirius," he said. He put his hands on his friend's shoulders. "This guy is in cahoots with every liberally-minded girl in this school! Now, I'm as for women's rights as the next fellow, but some of these chicks are crazy. Full-out man-eaters! And he's not just working with them, but every girl in this school who's ever been scorned in love. That's, like, almost every one! YOU are on a first name basis with the boy who could, and probably will, lead you to your downfall!"

"Exactly. Look--if we keep this fight up, eventually, we're gonna lose. Women, they got strange powers. But if we stop this now, we save face with the ladies, and we keep our dignity! And, really, he's a nice guy. Just got caught up in this misunderstanding along with everybody else. He even wants to be friends! So what's the big deal?"

But James still looked uncertain. "I dunno, mate. This guy's surrounded by girls almost constantly. He most likely even thinks like one. And you know how crafty women are--they'll flutter their eyes at you, and the next time you turn your back, they stab you in it!"

Sirius rolled his eyes, but deep down this observation jarred him. What if Remus was really just pretending to be friendly so that Sirius would drop his guard? He cast his eyes over to the sleeping brunet and found this very hard to believe--but Sirius had dated a lot of crazy girls that looked perfectly sane at a first glance.

"Alright," he said. "We'll keep an eye on him. Don't be obvious about it, though--we don't want him being suspicious of us. But at least give the guy a chance, Jim."

"Fine, fine," said James, sliding off of the bed and standing. "That makes sense. After all, keep your friends close, but your enemies closer, right?" He grinned.

Sirius grinned back, propped up on his elbows. "Right."

He felt sick.

TBC...

---

It is with much hesitance that I present to you the sixth installment of "Even in War".

Suffering from an inexcusable relapse of writer's block, I finally went to my friend, and said: "Okay. Hogwarts is in a panic. It's midnight. Sirius and Remus are alone in the Kitchens. Help me out." And her reply: "Alone...in the Kitchens...at midnight. Sex, Norikio. Sex. Or if you're not into writing smut, they make an early breakfast and hilarity ensues."

But since neither such prospect seemed to fit the story, I decided that I had to dig myself out of my own hole, and this is what I got. Personally, I'm not perfectly happy with this chapter. It seems a little dull to me, not very funny, with too much dialogue and awkwardness. But I'm trying to ease them into the middle ground before getting to the slashy stuff, you know, and I guess you win some, you lose some with these chapters. So please bear with me and I'll try to get to the good stuff, my lovelies! Oh, and please keep reviewing, because it makes my life brighter.

Peace out.