Questionable Taste in Friends

Remus Lupin groaned in quiet dismay.

It would appear that taking the time to search out and borrow a copy of Hogwarts: A History from the library had cost him.

To celebrate the very first day of October, and the first day with a brisk chill in the air, several of the Gryffindor sixth and seventh years had snuck into the kitchens and nicked a few baskets of apples. After regaling the entire Common Room with tales of their cunning and dangerous expedition they had shared the spoils with all.

Except that Remus had apparently arrived too late to have a share in said spoils. All that was left were a few puny little apples with marks and mushy spots.

He sighed. After spending half the day in the library - alone - it would have been nice to be able to join in with the fun and joking of his fellow Gryffindors, try to blend in, make friends. If only he wasn't so-

"Oy, Lupin! Lupin! Over 'ere mate!"

Remus turned to find the source of the call. It took a moment, but he eventually thought to look up and into the face of Sirius Black, large smile and shiny chin from holding his juicy apple in his teeth as he waved in an attempt to grab Remus' attention.

Remus liked the boy he'd first met on the train riding up to Hogwarts. Sirius was far more confident than Remus thought he himself could ever be. Despite Sirius' obviously wealthy upbringing, he'd offered a chocolate frog - one of Remus' favorites - to a tired looking boy dressed in secondhand robes. He'd then introduced Remus to a few other students on the train and started a lively conversation about his favorite team's chances at the next Quidditch finals.

Since then, because Remus didn't want to ruin his chances of forming a real friendship, he'd felt it polite not to ignore the times when Sirius lapsed into a brooding silence and how often he deftly skirted around talk of his family, only letting a few sly, bitter comments past his barriers when they were least expected.

Now, Sirius stood at the top of the stairs leading up into the boys dormitory and leaned over the railing, rather farther than was probably wise considering he was not holding on to anything for support. He attempted to say something around the apple in his mouth, but ended up biting into it and causing it to fall. He reflexively reached out to grab it. He was successful in this attempt, however he was also successful in losing his balance over the railing. A long arm snaked out and grabbed him by the back of the collar and yanked him back to relative safety, causing him to gasp out a choked, "Erk!" of surprise. He rubbed his throat and straightened his collar with one hand while elbowing James Potter in the ribs with the other.

Leaning over the railing again, he yelled, "Come on, Remus, hurry up mate, we haven't got all day!"

Remus sprinted up the stairs and arrived in time to see Sirius holding up the apple towards James and Peter Pettigrew as he would a trophy and declaring himself King of the Common Room for his miraculous save. "See that?" He said loudly so as to be easily heard by the group of second-year girls in a huddle near the fire with their books open on their laps. "Amazing save, that was. I'm destined to be Seeker at this rate!" He puffed his chest out.

Remus was rather more amazed at the sheer size and breadth of the other boy's ego. Amused as well. He tried to hide the laugh that threatened to erupt from his throat over Sirius' antics.

James did not bother to take similar pains to conceal his hilarity. "Won't do you much good if you fall off your broom, mate. Tough to hold onto a snitch when you're unconscious." He continued laughing and gave Sirius' shoulder a good-natured shove. "Besides, I think I'll make a far better Seeker than you, seeing as how I managed to catch both you and, by association, it."

With that, James grabbed the apple from Sirius' hand, took a large bite, and continued on up to their dormitory with a rather pronounced swagger in his step, tossing the apple into the air and catching it again as he went.

Sirius only laughed. "Wanker!" He called out after James.

Peter grinned and slung an arm over Sirius' shoulder as they turned to follow their friend. "He's got a point though, you've got to admit…"

"I admit nothing. A Black never admits defeat, even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary-" He stopped and turned around to look at Remus, still standing in the same spot at the top of the stairs. "Well? You coming or not? You've got to keep up, man! In the time you've stood there gawking we could've invented and executed nearly a score of brilliant pranks! Can't let chances like these slip away now can we?"

"Indeed, we dare not," exclaimed Peter. "We mustn't fall behind. Wouldn't want our reputations to suffer."

Remus grinned and fixed him with a feigned look of exasperation as he walked to catch up with the other two. "We're first-years, we haven't got reputations yet."

"Speak for yourself," bragged Sirius. "Besides, all the more reason to get on with it then. Lots of work to do. Besides, we saved you some apples."

Remus looked slightly taken aback at the thoughtful gesture. "Well, er… thanks."

"No problem." Sirius flung his arm around Remus' shoulder, much as Peter had done to him minutes ago. "Although if you continue to spend this much time in the library you're going to miss out on more than just fruit. We'll have to break you of that nasty habit,"

"Why that's very… considerate of you." There was no hiding the sarcasm in his tone.

"You're welcome. That's what mates are for. We've got your back, right Pete?"

"Yup. We've got to stick together if we want to get anything done around here."

"Come ON you wankers!" James voice rang out from up the stairs. "I could've baked a bloody pie it's taking you so long!"

Sirius cocked his head to one side, causing his shaggy hair to fall into Remus face. "Aww, listen to that. Our ickle Jamie's gone all domestic on us. How sweet. Mustn't keep the poor dear waiting." He gave both Peter and Remus a push ahead of him on the stairs and yelled out, "Coming dearest! And I'm bringing guests up for tea!"

Remus shook his head and didn't even bother to try and hide his smile. This "having friends" thing was rather nice, if extremely odd. He supposed that's because he had the best of the lot.