Marauders at Summercamp (au)

Chapter 16

——Remus Perspective——

The boy didn't move. He was watching Remus's every move. Picking up a book, flipping a few pages, shifting to a more comfortable position. All of it was being watched. And it was impossible to focus because of it.

"...Could you stop that?" He groaned.

"Stop what?" Remus intook a breath so sharply the air began to burn the back of his throat.

"You say that as if you don't understand that the entire time I have been in this library you have been bothering me,"

"Oh?" Remus was moments away from finishing this conversation with his fist. Madam Pince didn't like fights in her library, but there is only so much Remus could do about that. Before his fist managed to come into contact with a face, however, it met a hand. And suddenly with a very fake, very dramatic bow, a certain James Potter and Peter Pettigrew appeared.

The boy stared at them for a moment, then got up and left. Remus was pretty sure he overheard a, "whatever, losers" whispered under someone's breath but so long as that someone was no longer acting like an idiot and interrupting his reading, Remus honestly couldn't care less. He did wonder why his friends' presence scared the very obnoxious guy off, but he left his thoughts behind as vocalized a quick thanks and went back to reading at last.

Reading at last turned into reading at last while his friends whined about their homework and begged Remus whenever they needed help. But they were always talking. At this point, he was starting to get pretty good at blocking them out. Except for Sirius- he could make himself a nuisance like no other if he wanted to be. But anyways, Remus was finally at the last few pages of his (very intriguing) novel when he got interrupted again. Luckily not by the... person... disturbing him earlier, but by Sirius.

"Remus- could you please please please please help me with my essay?" He asked, batting his eyelashes in the most exaggerated way. And despite knowing the fact that he was probably going to get talked into doing half of the essay, Remus agreed. For his friend, he told himself.

Sirius didn't know how to write essays. That much was very, very clear. In fact, it got to the point that James and Peter went to supper without waiting for the two of them. Peter- the guy who wouldn't go two steps without all of his friends. At last, after what probably seemed like hours, they took a break to eat. It was dark as they made their way from library to meal hall, but at least they managed to catch the last moments of supper. They had just enough time to fill up a plate before stragglers were kicked out.

They walked back to the common room- since there was no way to eat in the library, it would let them talk and eat without the concern of being kicked out of anywhere- most buildings closed down for the nights to prevent the children (let's face it, 11-17 are still impressionable children) from doing who knows what. Both of them found places around the flickering campfire, letting the night breeze cool them off after the warm summer day. Remus scribbled notes as Sirius watched the pen move along the page, both of them scooping up bites of breaded deliciousness and salad, ravioli and meatballs. It was calm. Quiet.

——Sirius Perspective——

Sirius had nearly fallen asleep onto Remus's shoulder when his essay was returned to him. Well, returned was the wrong word. A stack of heavily marked pages was shoved in his face, his friend cracking his knuckles as soon as the paper was out of his hand. Was Remus nervous? Sirius didn't know any reason for him to be. After all, they were doing something he had seen so many muggleborns doing on the camp campus, double checking each other's work. And they were friends- that takes most of the weirdness out of anything. If he was nervous, Sirius didn't know what to say. So he just read the comments in the margins of his essay and kept his eyes on his paper.

"Hey, I'll fix these. Thanks," He said when he was done, turning to the boy practically leaning up against his side. He didn't remember them getting so close, but he didn't actually mind too much. After all, the last time he had gotten to be this close to someone was during the fall with his brother- they liked to have deep conversations when they were hiding from their parents, and Sirius felt that, despite what transpired to cause them, they were some of his favorite times.

He was zoning out, and only figured that out when he heard Remus respond to his comment. Sirius pulled out more parchment from his bag and his quill and began to write. Normally, he'd write his essays hunched over on his bunk; he'd scribble down his best ideas and hope that it would be enough. But honestly? He really didn't want to move, because that would mean he'd lose out on his proximity to Remus. To another person.

He only realized that Remus was also still awake when he heard a rustling by his side. His friend was rustling through a backpack of his own; when Sirius looked up again he found that his friend now had a pile of books on his lap. Sirius turned back to his essay- but he tried to hide a smile. Not only did he get to not be alone while going through the nightmare of a task of editing an essay, but he also got the chance to know that his friend didn't mind how clingy he was being and had actively decided to stay with him. Maybe that was a little ridiculous, putting so much value on so little. But Sirius couldn't bring himself to care. It's not like Walburga was here to say anything about it- neither was Orion. 

Author's Note: For the record, I love editing (yes, essays and all). But this was the first time I've ever streamed my writing over discord and it was kinda funny how a friend and I were just sitting in a vc but talking in a messaging chat instead. I never know what to put in these, so I'll leave that here.