Heartbeats

1.

Ba-Dum...Ba-Dum...Ba-Dum.
His eyes still closed Remus listened to the heartbeat.

It was calm.

Almost like Sirius was still asleep.

Almost.

He heard the boy talking to James silently.

Nothing more than a whisper.

Ba-Dum...Ba-Dum.

He knew he had to get up soon.

Surely there would be breakfast in a few minutes.

Ba-Dum...Ba-Dum.

But he just wanted to stay in bed, listening to Padfoot's heartbeat.

Ba-Dum...Ba-Dum.

He really had to get up right now, Remus decided. Slowly he shifted in his bed, accidentally lifting his shirt a bit.

Ba-Bam, Ba-Bam, Ba-Bam, Ba-Bam.

Remus gave Sirius a confused look. The smaller boy suddenly turned away, trying to hide a blush.

What on earth had that been about?

Pushing away the thought, Remus got dressed and they went down to the great hall.
When they sat down at the full gryffindor table, he'd stopped listening to the beat with his wolf-senses. He'd had to.

'Cause he knew just too well that Sirius was right to his left.

It would be so easy to grab his hand.

Or putting his own hand on Padfoot's thigh.

He hardly managed to concentrate on the fried eggs on his plate while this boy was
So. Freakin'. Close. To him!

Stop!

This was going on for months now!

It had to stop right now!

Swallowing his last bite he stood up, took his bag and left the great hall, mumbling something about the library.
Right now, he needed to find out how to fall out of love with his best friend.

He searched for ages and by the time left to their first lesson the only things he'd found were a hate potion and a forgetting charm he did already knew about.
Not really what he had hoped for.

There was no point in hating or forgetting Sirius, not to mention that everyone would notice. He just couldn't stand the longing anymore.

Disappointed he entered the transfiguration classroom.

Late.

Late for the first time in almost five years at Hogwarts.
Professor McGonagall looked surprised.
"Mr. Lupin, nice of you to join us. We're going to talk about that later."

Oh yes, this definitely had to stop.

***
"Mr. Lupin, I've expected better from you."
She paused. Suddenly her expression changed from disappointed into concerned.
"Or is your behavior due to the moon?"

Remus' eyes were pinned to the floor and his face went red in shame. He'd never wished more to just vanish from right where he stood.
This teacher was caring for him.

And because of a stupid crush she thought that he would have real problems.

"How can I get rid of these stupid feelings?"

The words were said before he could even think about it. Minnie tried to hide a small smile.

"Oh, you mean that thing you have for Mr. Black? I'd say..."
"What...How did you know...?"

Remus was shocked. And anyway, why was he talking to a teacher about a crush?

"Well, your staring and blushing makes things kind of obvious."

McGonagall was literally grinning now.
Something none of the marauders could ever have imagined to witness.

"B-But I-I really n-need to get rid of it!"
Remus was stammering madly now.

"As I was about to say: You don't just put your feelings away. And maybe it's better to keep them anyway if there's a chance that they're returned."
The young woman winked. She winked.
Why is a teacher having a conversation about crushes with you and winks?!

"I-I have to go to my next class. I'm pretty sure m-my friends are waiting."
Remus stood up and left, his gaze on his feet.

"Of course",
said Professor McGonagall, smiling to herself knowingly.
While he was walking through the corridor, he realized that he didn't get any punishment for being late.

Scroll on for the second part.