Gather 'round all you people
Watch me while you can
Been trawling too long, I've been losing out strong
For the strength of another man
I've been hasty, wasty standing on the backstep
Waiting for the phone to ring
But this semi-acoustic love affair
Is driving me to the brink
I'm just looking for a friend
I'm just looking for a friend
You don't have to be a big wheel, you don't have to be the end
I'm just looking for, looking for a friend
Tuesday 1st January 1977
“Here they come!” Sirius was practically bouncing next to Remus as they watched the horseless carriages approaching the castle gates.
“Thank god.” Remus joked, “Some intelligent conversation.”
“Oh shut up, you love me really.” Sirius kicked him in the shin.
I do, Remus thought, pitifully, I really bloody do. But of course, that was not what Sirius had meant.
James disembarked from the mysteriously drawn carriages like a soldier returning from war. He and Sirius beamed at each other, until Remus thought that the two of them ought to be snogging, not Sirius and Remus. Lily and Peter climbed out of the carriage behind, and Remus hugged her and nodded to him.
“Good Christmas?” Lily asked, “Thanks for the chocolates!”
“Thanks for the gloves,” he replied waving them at her to demonstrate, “Really warm.”
“Yeah, cheers for the gloves, Evans,” James waved his own wool covered hands.
Lily blushed deeply, and mumbled something about not wanting to leave anyone out.
Earlier, Remus and Sirius had walked alone through a castle of empty halls echoing and hushed with the whispers of the portraits and the eerie drifting ghosts. But as they all returned together, it was as if the school was transformed in an instant. The flagstones rattled with the busy chatter of friends reuniting, every arch and column filled with black robed students. Remus felt he was awakening from a strange and quiet dream.
It was incredible how quickly everything settled back to normal - Peter and Desdemona started a fight almost immediately, Lily hexed James halfway through dinner, Mary had tales of her newest boyfriend, which Marlene was rolling her eyes at. Sirius had eyes only for James, of course, but Remus was keenly aware of the looks he was getting from other quarters - all of the unanswered Christmas cards would be coming home to roost.
“So, what did you two get up to?” James asked, mouth full of roast beef, “You didn’t give much away when we spoke…”
Sirius and Remus looked at each other only for the tiniest moment, long enough for Remus to note the spark of panic in Sirius and grin at James,
“Spent most of it trying to keep Padfoot out of trouble, obviously.”
James and Peter laughed, and that was all anyone needed. Sirius settled back, shoulders lowering, and Remus watched him from underneath his eyelashes. This wasn’t going to work. It was all too impossible.
The night before, just before he drifted to sleep, Remus had made a decision. He had to talk to Sirius. The irony was not lost on him, that after days and days of nothing but talking, the solution seemed to be more talking. But this time he would make Sirius listen.
