TITLE: Correspondence

AUTHOR: Els-chan

PAIRING: RL/SB

RATING: PG -13

FEEDBACK: [email protected]

DISCLAIMER: I�m not JKR, and I�m making no profit off of this.

NOTES: Part of 'Howling At The Moon: The Remus J. Lupin Fuh-Q-Fest' at http://www.geocities.com/howling_at_the_moon_fqf
Challenge #20: Remus receives letters from an anonymous sender.

SPOILERS: just some stuff about Sirius�s relations (names and who he�s related to)�nothing really major.

ARCHIVING: �Howling At The Moon: The Remus J. Lupin Fuh-Q-Fest�. After the fest is over, just ask.

BETA: Domo arigato, Wakka! I�ll make a fangirl out of you yet, you big hunk o� man-meat, you!

A/N: I�m very ashamed of myself. It turned all fluffy and cheesy on me at the end.

Remus stared in disbelief at the letter in his hand. It had just been brought by an unfamiliar owl, which had flown in through Remus�s open bedroom window, unceremoniously dropped the letter on his head, and then flown out, not even waiting for a treat. Once Remus had opened the letter, his delicate nostrils had been assaulted by rather potent cologne. He�d had to leave the room to allow it to air out for a few minutes before returning to see just what all this nonsense was about. Now that he�d actually read the letter, however, he was even more confused than before. It was unsigned, and no one he knew would ever bother to write such tripe, especially not to him. To make things worse, the delivery owl was long gone so there was no way to send any kind of response. Remus shook his head before taking the letter and shoving it in the back of his desk drawer. He�d worry about it later.

Remus found the next letter lying on his desk when he returned to his room following dinner. The owl that delivered it was missing, and he assumed that it had just left after unloading itself of its burden as it had the last time. He shook his head as he read through the perfumed parchment. "Lotus blossom"? Maybe this was another one of James�s stupid jokes. He made a mental note to write a letter to James the next day before storing the letter with its brother at the back of his desk drawer.

To say that Remus was getting a little weirded out was an understatement. The latest piece of correspondence arrived with the same strange owl as the first, which had flown right into his face, bit him on the nose, dropped the letter, and then flew off again. �Really,� Remus thought to himself, �you�d think they could find a better owl to deliver their little love letters.� After reading through the letter, though, the owl was the last thing on his mind. This was just getting more and more distressing, and the usual lack of a signature wasn�t helping to soothe his frazzled nerves any, especially after having been assured by both James and Peter that neither of them, nor Sirius, would ever pull a prank of this nature on him. After reading through the letter a second time, he stuffed it in the back of his drawer with the others and decided it was time to talk to Sirius himself.

"So, wait, let me get this straight," a highly amused Sirius Black was saying. "Someone has been sending you love letters? And this is a bad thing?"

Remus scowled across the Lupins� kitchen table at his best friend. He was starting to regret inviting Sirius to tea to discuss his mail problem. "Yes! You�ve read the letters! You can�t honestly say you don�t find them a little�well, strange!"

Sirius sighed and shook his head, a tiny smile still on his lips. "Oh, Moony, you�re so cute when you�re flustered," he chuckled. Remus glared at him, and Sirius put on his most innocent expression. "What? It was meant to be a compliment, I swear!"

Remus rolled his eyes. "I should have known better than to think you might actually take this seriously," he muttered, letting his gaze drop to the tabletop, his head resting in his hands.

Sirius�s expression turned serious. "I�m sorry, Moony. I didn�t mean to make it sound like I didn�t care or something. It�s just that I don�t really understand what you�re all upset about. I mean, shouldn�t something like this make you happy?"

Remus looked up at him. "Maybe, if it wasn�t so creepy." He snatched a letter up from the table and held it up for Sirius to see. "Look at this! They won�t even sign their name, so I have no idea where this is coming from! Hell, this could be from some pervert, for all I know! Or worse, it could be from�from�I don�t know, your cousin�s fiancee or something!"

"It isn�t from Malfoy," Sirius reassured him gently. "It�s probably just someone who�s afraid you�ll reject them." He paused. "Hey, it could be from that Lila girl, y�know, the one in Hufflepuff? She was making eyes at you all year."

Remus shook his head. "No, I don�t think it�s her. For one thing, she�s going out with some Ravenclaw, and for another, well�" he trailed off.

Sirius blinked. "�Well� what?"

Remus sighed. "I already told her that I�m really not into girls, if you know what I mean."

"Ah," Sirius replied, nodding sagely. Remus just rolled his eyes.

"Right. So, as you can see, it�s almost definitely not her," he stated then looked back down at the table. There was a long silence.

"Hey!" Sirius suddenly piped up. "Maybe it�s Snape!"

Remus looked at Sirius in horror. "Don�t even say things like that!" he cried as Sirius fell into a fit of giggles.

"Sorry, sorry," Sirius apologized once he�d calmed himself. "You�re absolutely right, it�s not Snape. Couldn�t be," he reassured Remus. "Besides, if I thought he had designs on you, I�l take care of him personally," he muttered to himself a little too loudly.

"What�s that supposed to mean?" Remus asked suspiciously.

Sirius�s eyes widened slightly in mild panic. "Nothing, Moony. I just�don�t want that greasy git bothering any of my friends," he hurriedly replied. Remus�s eyes narrowed but decided not to pursue it. Reading too much into things would bring him nothing but trouble.

"Right. So anyway, about these letters�" Remus began, but was cut off as the same strange owl swooped in through the kitchen window.

"Archimedes?" Sirius cried in disbelief as the bird dropped the newest letter right in the center of the kitchen table. "What the hell�?" He moved to grab the owl, but it flew away before he could even get close.

Remus looked at the letter, then at Sirius. "You know that owl?" he asked, confused.

"Yeah," Sirius replied, frowning at the open window that the bird had disappeared through. "That was Archimedes, Regulus�s owl."

"Your brother�s�?" Remus looked at Sirius, shocked. "But�then it was your brother sending me all of those letters?"

Sirius looked at him sharply. "Is that what the blasted beast brought?" he asked in a dangerous tone of voice. He quickly snatched up the piece of parchment sitting in the center of the table, opened it, and scanned it quickly. Remus watched as Sirius�s rage grew. Suddenly he threw the letter down, took a few deep breaths, and calmly said, "I�m going to murder the little bastard."

Remus blinked and picked up the parchment. "What? It can�t be any worse than�Oh." Remus swallowed hard as his eyes flew over Regulus�s words. "Oh, God�quite an imagination your brother has, Sirius�Can two people really even do that?" he muttered, his cheeks flushing.

"Yes, with about three feet of rope and a levitating charm," Sirius replied absently, beginning to plot his brother�s demise.

Remus reached the end of the letter and choked. There, for the first time ever, was a signature � Sirius�s signature. "Um, Sirius?"

Sirius�s gaze fell on Remus. "Before you even ask, I swear I had nothing to do with this," he hurriedly reassured the other boy.

Remus nodded. "I kind of already figured that out, Padfoot," he replied. "I was just going to ask what would possess your brother to send me such soppy letters, and then sign your name?" He shook his head. "Really, as if I wouldn�t know it was a joke�as if you�d ever want to do anything like that with me�"

"I wouldn�t mind it," Sirius murmured, so quietly that Remus almost missed it.

"Wait, what?"

Sirius flushed and turned away, refusing to meet Remus�s eyes. "I said, I wouldn�t mind it," he repeated softly.

Remus stared at him, dumbstruck. Did that mean�? Was Sirius saying�? He shook his head to clear it. �Remember, Remus,� he reminded himself, �jumping to conclusions and getting your hopes up will only lead to trouble.� He sighed softly then stood and walked around the table until he was standing right in front of his best friend. "Sirius�"

"Look, Remus, believe me when I said that I really didn�t mean for any of this to happen. I don�t know how Regulus found out or why he would bother to pull such a stupid prank, but I�m really sorry, and�"

"Found out what?" Remus interrupted. "What did Regulus find out?"

Sirius stared at him, bewildered. "That I�m in love with you, of course. Isn�t that what this whole thing is about?"

Remus stared back at him, a feeling of giddiness overtaking him. He felt a goofy smile start to spread across his face. "You�re in love with me?" he asked incredulously.

Sirius blinked, then looked away from Remus. "Well, um, yeah," he replied uncertainly, his cheeks burning.

An uncharacteristic giggle escaped Remus�s lips, startling Sirius. "Padfoot, I love you too!" he laughed, throwing his arms around the other boy, who tentatively returned the embrace. They remained like that for a few long moments before Remus pulled back a little to look Sirius in the eyes. "This isn�t a joke, right? I mean, you are serious?"

Sirius grinned. "Who else would I be?" he replied, then bit his lip nervously. "Hey, Moony?"

"Yes, Padf�mmph!" Remus�s response was cut off as Sirius�s lips descended onto his. Smiling, he happily kissed back.

It took a while for the kiss to break, but since they did need to come up for air Sirius eventually pulled back. "You know what?"

Remus blinked. "What?"

Sirius shook his head, smirking. "I never thought I�d say this, but I think I finally have something to thank my git of a brother for." Remus just laughed.