The rest of the week in Cornwall passed in complete bliss, as far as Remus and Sirius were concerned. They spent long hot days on the beach and hillsides, wandering through quaint little villages, exploring caves and getting tipsy in pub gardens. They dined exclusively on pasties, fish and chips and ice cream, and at night - oh, the nights were best of all.
During the day, if the others were around, they would toss a ball back and forth across the sand, or Remus would consent to paddle in the sea a little - jeans rolled up and long sleeved shirt still firmly on. If it was just the two of them, then he might roll the sleeves up to his elbows, exposing old scars, and Sirius would become Padfoot and chase sticks or his own tail. And they often got to be alone, because everyone else seemed to want to keep sneaking off.
Lily and James were the worst - when they weren’t bickering they were snogging; gratuitously, and at length.
“You’re supposed to be prefects!” Mary yelled at them, after the third night, finding them practically horizontal in front of the campfire.
“Oh, as if I haven’t caught you a hundred times on my rounds!” Lily laughed, getting up and straightening her clothes nonetheless. “ And you , Black, so you can stop leering.”
“What?” Sirius blinked, innocently.
He was carrying back the bowl of washing up from the shower block. Remus had been pretty amazed by that - Sirius had volunteered to do the dishes every night so far (“I quite like doing it, the muggle way,” he had confided, secretively, “Mother used to make us do the house elf’s work as a punishment sometimes, but I just found it relaxing, to be honest.”)
“Don’t draw me into your sordid escapades,” Sirius was saying, prudishly, setting down the tub. “I’ve been a perfect gentleman all holiday.”
“I’m not convinced you haven’t been sneaking off with some muggle girl in the village.” Marlene said. She was lying stretched out on a towel in her underwear, sunbathing. Her body was very long and very pale.
“How dare you,” Sirius flicked her with the damp tea towel, making her yelp and crease up, “I’ve been tucked up in bed early every night, haven’t I, Moony?”
Remus choked on the crackers he’d been nibbling on, and had to be slapped on the back by James a few times before he recovered. You’ll pay for that later, Black, he glared at Sirius, eyes watering.
Once James had calmed down about the ‘Lily Evans Event’ (as Sirius was calling it, behind his back) enough to think straight, he’d been surprised that Sirius and Remus were now sharing a tent, and suspicious, for all the wrong reasons.
“You’re not going to start fighting again, you two? You know you only wind each other up in close proximity...”
“Right you are, Prong,” Sirius said, brightly, “You bunk in with Moony and I’ll share with Evans.”
That put an end to that line of questioning, but not to James’s sudden overprotectiveness of Remus. It was nice - certainly nothing to whinge about - but a bit uncomfortable. Remus had never had any kind of big brother figure - unless you counted Ste or Craig, who had taught him to steal and drink and throw a proper punch - but James now seemed determined to do his clumsy, kind-hearted best. Midway through the week, Remus was a little surprised that no one had so much as mentioned the confession he had made on the first night. Not that he wanted anyone to make a fuss, or say anything sly or backhanded, but… still . Nothing at all? He brought it up with Sirius in a quiet moment, and he’d laughed,
“Well if Prongs gave everyone else that bloody speech I’m not surprised.”
“Speech?”
“Yeah he pulled me aside and told me if I started treating you any differently he’d thump me. Probably didn’t say that to the girls - maybe Lily did them.” Sirius stretched out, doggishly, lying on his front.
