Arcturus and Romulus

Quick A/N: I know some of it may seem a bit bunched up, but it's following people's speech patterns when they retell a story.

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         “Well, everything is in place.” Sirius thought as he pulled the wrapped object from the bottom of his trunk, placing under a set of robes.  He looked over at the sleeping form of Remus. “This is going to be Moony’s best birthday ever.” Running his hands through his hair, he headed to the dorm’s bathroom to start his daily ritual of hair care. When he emerged from his ritual, his fellow dorm mates were awake. Sirius grinned.

         “Happy Birthday, Moony!” he nearly shouted, giving a laugh that sounded very bark-like. Moony gave Sirius a grateful smile.

         “Thanks, Padfoot.” he replied, pulling a sweater over his head. Already having dressed, Sirius headed down to breakfast with James.

         “So what do you have planned for Moony today?” James asked as they sat down at the Gryffindor table. Sirius took a moment to pour himself a large glass of Pumpkin juice and take a swig.

         “Give him the best birthday of his life. After all, you only turn of age once.” James opened his mouth to answer but thought not to as the person in question came into the Great Hall. Remus took his normal seat across from Sirius, while Peter took his across from James. The boys quieted down and three of the Marauders ate while James spent the meal making eyes at Lily, who came in right behind Remus and Peter.

         Morning classes, unusually, went by without an incident from the four young pranksters. The teachers seemed to be uneasy, as they by far had gotten used to the nearly daily interruptions from the four comrades. Lunchtime came, and finally Remus couldn’t stand it.

         “Why haven’t the two of you caused trouble?” he asked Sirius and James. The two addressed glanced at each other and shrugged, as if to say ‘who us? Cause trouble? Who would think of that?’ Remus gave them both a weary glance. “I know the two of you have to have something planned. What is it?”

         “Moony, you can relax. Nothing is going to happen today. You have our promise.” Sirius said with a dog-like grin. Remus gave them one more weary look before going back to eating his lunch. Afternoon classes went by just like the morning ones, and at dinner, Sirius made an announcement to his friends.

         “I have put something together that I want to show you tonight.” Sirius said, his eyes twinkling in a way very much like the Headmaster’s. To no amount of pestering, Sirius wouldn’t divulge what it was to his friends. After dinner, they headed back to Gryffindor Tower. Sirius dragged the other three up to their dorm.

         “You guys first.” He said, looking at James and Peter. “I want to give mine last.” James and Peter went and retrieved their presents they had hidden for Remus. Sirius watched as Remus smiled at each gift and thanked the giver. Once the paper was vanished out of sight, the three turned towards Sirius. Sirius excused himself and after getting something out of his trunk, went into the bathroom. He emerged a few minutes later, wearing old-fashioned Muggle clothing.

         “Prepare ye, gentle lads, for I have a tragic story of two star-crossed lovers and their journey.” He started with a dramatic flair.

         “Riiight. And where did you learn this one?” James broke in. Sirius glared at him.

         “Can I continue, Prongs?” James motioned for him to continue. Sirius cleared his throat and continued.

         “One day in the village, there was a feud between two families. A feud that had gone on since the dawn of time, really. Now, the villagers were long used to the feud, but were sick of all the dueling that went on in the town. It kept ruining all their cocoa stands. Which upset the villagers, as they loved their chocolate more than anything. So finally the ruler declared that if one more chocolate bar was ruined by a duel between these two families, that the perpetrator would be vanished. So for a while, there was some peace in the village. Now, it so happens that on the day that our story starts, the one family, the Lunes, was having a party to celebrate their only child’s coming of age. All their family and friends were invited to come to the party, and most definitely not on the list was their rival family, the Lumas. But the only child of the Lumas family had heard about the party and decided that he wanted to crash it. So he gathered up his friend and went to the party polyjuiced.”

         “They used polyjuice potion?” Peter asked.

         “Of course they did. How else would they get in to the party?”

         “Invisibility cloak?”

         “If they wore an invisibility cloak, they wouldn’t be able to party.” James responded. Peter looked defeated, and decided that he was going to go start his Potions essay. Sirius sighed and continued.

         “The party was groovy, and Arcturus, the Luma’s only son, got his groove on. But the whole party changed for him when he saw the Lune’s only child, Romulus. Romulus was such a groovelicious dancer that Arcturus couldn’t help but stare at him the rest of the night. Now, Arcturus’ staring didn’t go unnoticed. Romulus’ cousin noticed him staring at his cousin. Now, Romulus’ cousin recognized Arcturus when the ‘juice started to wear off, and he kept his eye on Arcturus and his friend as they left the party. Now, Arcturus couldn’t get Romulus off his mind, so after drinking more ‘juice, he was wandering around the Lune’s gardens after the party ended. While wandering, he came across a balcony. And on this balcony sat Romulus, looking up at the half full moon. In his haste to hide, Arcturus broke a twig or something, because Romulus must have heard him and called out to see who was there. Arcturus came out into the moonlight after checking that no one else was there. They talked from where they were, before Romulus had to go to bed. The next day, Arcturus couldn’t get Romulus off his mind, but he also knew he couldn’t talk about him, as he was a Lunas.”

         “Right sorry mate, but I must go meet Lily for our date.” James said.
Sirius nodded and waited for James to leave.

         “Do you want me to continue?” he asked Remus.

         “Of course, Padfoot. This is a lovely gift.” Remus smiled at his friend. Sirius grinned back and continued.

         “At the market, Arcturus met up with Romulus’ maid, and received a message from his new passion. He told the maid that he’ll arrange everything and to have Romulus meet him at nine that night at the arranged place. At nine, Romulus showed up and they went into the building where they found a the perfect room for what they needed and they got to know each other properly. And they planned to run away together, which was successful and they lived happily ever since.” Sirius finished, sitting next to Remus on his bed. “Did you like it?” Sirius asked.

         “I did.” Remus answered. “Though one wonders where you found that story. It’s not everyday that a wizard retells a classic Muggle play, if only the beginning of it.” Sirius grinned.

         “So how does it end?”

         “Well, a big plot is made so they can run away, which goes out the window when Romeo is banished for fighting and killing Tybalt, who had killed Mercutio, and then a new plan is made, which goes awry when Romeo doesn’t get the message about it, and he takes a poison at a sleeping Juliet’s side. She wakes up and seeing Romeo dead, kills herself.”

         “Really? I found it in one of your books and I thought that you would enjoy hearing it instead of reading it. But I only got so far in it.” Sirius flicked his head to get the hair out of his eyes and watched Remus.

         “I realized that.”

         “Did you love it, though?” Sirius asked as he moved closer to Remus.

         “Padfoot, what is wrong with you today? Yes, I loved it.” Sirius gave a small smile and closed the gap between his and Remus’ and placed his lips gently on a surprised Remus’. Just as quickly, Sirius drew back and searched his friend’s eyes.

         “Sirius..?”

         “Remus?”

         “What was that?”

         “Your real birthday present.”

         “Oh. Well….er…”

         “Would you want another one?” Sirius quietly asked before Remus thrust his head forward and pressed his lips against Sirius. Sirius grinned and returned the pressure. They parted for a second before they both leaned into each other, and gave in to the amazing gift of a first kiss. After what seemed to be weeks, they pulled apart.

         “I think Arcturus and Romulus had it better.” Remus whispered with a smile.