Bee-bee-bee-beeeep. Bee-bee-bee-beeeep. The shrilling noise of Sirius's wristwatch beeped loudly in the dark as he lay there silently, staring up at the night sky on the Astronomy Tower balcony. He wished his fellow Marauders were there with him to see the magnificent night sky; namely Remus, since he hardly ever got the chance to, and that night wasn't a full moon.









Sirius glanced down at his watch. Twenty minutes to midnight, he saw. He thought he should maybe be getting back to the Gryffindor boys' dormitory, since it was already late enough. It was starting to get rather breezy and cold for his liking, and he'd been outside for nearly an hour just staring at the stars on his own, since he thought all of the other members of his dorm room were sleeping.









Standing up and sighing softly, Sirius stealthily sneaked back to the Gryffindor common room, used to the tricky way around Hogwarts and not getting caught by Filch or the devilish feline Mrs. Norris. Deep in thought about nothing in particular, Sirius was slightly in shock when he suddenly heard the Fat Lady ask, "What are you up so late for? I was just about to go to sleep."









"Er... Sleepwalking," Sirius replied lamely.









The Fat Lady rolled her eyes. "Oh, of course. As usual... Password?" she sighed impatiently.









"Portkey," Sirius replied, awaiting his admittance to the common room.









"About time. And stay in there," he heard the Fat Lady warn him as he stepped into the room.









"Sirius!" a voice greeted him gladly from inside.









Sirius's head snapped up to look at one of his best Marauder friends, Remus Lupin, seated in a squishy, deep red armchair by the dying fire with a quill and a book (that looked quite similar to a journal) in his hands.









"Moony," Sirius replied, grinning and stepping over to his friend. He sat down in the chair next to him as Remus quickly snapped his journal shut.









"What's that? Writing about who you're snogging next?" Sirius questioned Remus, winking.









"Oh, shut up," Remus blushed, holding on tightly to his journal and hoping Sirius never found out about what he had just written.









"So why are you down here anyway?" Sirius asked, furrowing his brow and enjoying the warmth of the fire.









"Couldn't sleep," Remus replied.









Sirius nodded. "Me either."









"I take it that's why you were out with another girl again tonight?" Remus raised an eyebrow.









"What?" Sirius asked, and then gave his barking laugh. "I wasn't with any girls, my friend."









"Oh, sure," Remus rolled his eyes. "You're about as good as a liar as Peter is."









"No, honestly," Sirius said, his face suddenly falling serious.









Remus stood up, looking down at Sirius hesitantly.









"If you weren't with any girls, then what were you doing?" Remus questioned curiously.









Sirius hesitated as well, thinking about his lame answer. "I was in the Astronomy Tower," he replied shortly.









"Doing what?" Remus rose an eyebrow again. The Astronomy Tower was where most people went to do... well... let's just say they usually didn't come back till very late at night with quite flushed faces and messed up clothing.









"Looking at the sky," Sirius lamely answered.









Remus burst out in laughter, making his way over to the boys' dormitory steps at the same time. "Oh, right," he said. "And I suppose the sky is quite seductive."









Sirius rolled his eyes. "Okay, so it's lame. The sky is beautiful tonight, though, mind you."









Remus stopped with his foot resting on the first step up. "Were you really just looking at the stars?" he asked seriously.









"Yeah," Sirius answered. "That's what I said." He rose from his chair and joined Remus by the stairs.









Remus said nothing and stared at the stairway, seeming to be deep in thought.









"What?" Sirius asked, stepping closer to him and feeling Remus's body warmth, which made the pair of them separately get chills. "Did you want to look at the stars with me?" he jokingly asked, grinning.









Remus smiled back and ignored the sarcastic air of the question. "I'd like that," he replied.









Sirius was slightly shocked, but then realized that what he asked wasn't that silly of a question, and besides, he'd been wishing Remus was with him when he was on the balcony anyway.









"I knew you would. You don't get to see the stars much," Sirius said.









Remus shook his head sadly.









After a few seconds, Sirius commented, "Well... we'd better get our jumpers. It's getting cold out there."









"Alright," Remus agreed, the two of them heading up to the boys' dormitory. "But I don't mind much." Since I'll be with you, he added to himself.









After retrieving their jumpers in the dormitory and making sure not to wake James or Peter, Sirius and Remus were about to leave the dormitory when Remus noticed something.









"Wait," he said, suddenly stopping.









"What?" Sirius asked, furrowing his brow and looking at his lycanthropist friend.









"I just realized... Won't we need the Invisibility Cloak?" Remus asked, slightly worried.









Sirius pondered the matter. "No," he decided. "We should be okay. And besides, it's probably shoved under layers upon layers of James' clothes, shoved in his suitcase." He smirked and Remus grinned, nodding.









"You're right. Okay, let's go," Remus said, the pair of them stepping out of the dormitory and shutting the door behind them.









A little more than halfway to the Astronomy Tower, Remus and Sirius had been doing pretty well with not getting caught until Sirius nearly tripped and fell over Mrs. Norris, her red eyes glowing. She meowed loudly, glaring up at Sirius, and shortly after the sound of a clicking lantern and shuffling footsteps was audible from down the corridor.









"In here!" Sirius whispered to Remus quickly, pulling him by his shirt into the storage cupboard which was about five feet away. It was probably the tiniest storage cupboard in the school, only being a three by four room and jammed with various cleaning supplies whose purposes could've simply been done with magic, although the two wizards easily were aware that they were for Filch and the students who were punished in detention with cleaning things Muggle style, with no magic at all.









Remus was pressed against a wall with Sirius's body shoved up against him since there were tall mops and brooms everywhere behind Sirius, making it impossible for him to move back anymore. Not like he wanted to, of course.









"Anyone here, Mrs. Norris?" Filch, the caretaker of Hogwarts, advanced on Mrs. Norris from outside the closed storage room door. Mrs. Norris meowed in reply and the Marauders' breathing stopped. Sirius could feel practically every inch of Remus's body, and had to straddle him for them to even fit in the tiny closet room.









"Nah... let's check the fourth floor, my sweet," Filch seemed to decide after about a minute.









Sirius breathed a sigh of relief against Remus.









"Eww. Dog breath," Remus said sarcastically, grinning in the pitch blackness.









"Shut up, you homosexual werewolf," Sirius joked, still practically laying on Remus on the wall.









"Oh, I'm homosexual? And I can hardly breathe because you're choosing to push yourself up against me since you're that horny," Remus snorted.









"What?!" Sirius exclaimed, jumping off of Remus. "I just wanted to make sure Filch went away entirely first."









Remus rolled his eyes and straightened his robes. "Uh huh."









It was a good thing it was pitch black, or else the extreme blush on Sirius's face would've been perfectly visible.









"So... to the Astronomy Tower now?" Sirius questioned. Remus only nodded in reply, which was an invisible nod, but Sirius stepped forward and opened the storage closet door anyway.









Peering around, Sirius realized the coast was clear. "Okay, it's safe," he muttered. "Come on."









Remus gradually followed Sirius from the closet storage room and shut the door behind them. Down the corridor and to the right was the Astronomy Tower, and soon Remus and Sirius could enjoy the cool night air with the perfect view of nearly every star visible.









"Wow," Remus said, staring around at the sky as Sirius stood next to him on the cool floor of the balcony, looking up over at his friend. "This is a beautiful view. No wonder you were out here so long."









"Yeah, I know. It's gorgeous, isn't it?" Sirius grinned, still staring at Remus. He then followed his gaze.









"Look, there's Sirius," Remus gestured, looking at his friend and then pointing to the extremely bright-shining star practically in the middle of everything in the sky. "My favorite star."









Sirius smiled, a feeling of warmth passing through his body even though it was about forty degrees outside. "Well Remus, you're my favorite werewolf."









Remus chuckled and shook his head. "Yeah, and I happen to be the only werewolf you know."









"So?" Sirius shrugged. "I'd say the same if you were a star."









"Oh, so you're saying that by me saying Sirius is my favorite star, that it means nothing?" Remus questioned, looking up into his friend's dark eyes.









"What? No," Sirius shook his head. "It means a lot. It means everything. And same with you being my favorite werewolf. You're the only one, get it?"









Remus thought about it, and then shook his head. "Er... no," he grinned.









Sirius smiled and laughed doggishly again. "Well, the point is, you're special."









"And so are you. Look, all those stars, and you're the brightest. It's so obvious," Remus observed, both of the boys' eyes converting back to the mysterious yet beautiful night sky.









"This is my favorite time of night," Sirius remarked, breaking the temporary silence.









"Midnight?"









"Yeah. It's dark, it's cool, slightly breezy, beautiful view of the stars, and being with you - well, on this midnight anyway," Sirius said.









"You're always with me," Remus said.









"You know what I mean."









"I guess I do," Remus nodded, looking over at Sirius.









Several silent moments passed as Remus and Sirius observed the night sky in its beauty and glory, totally caught in the moment with everything. It was nice to spend time with his best friend on a night like this, when he rarely got the chance. It was nice not to get caught and not to worry about anything. And it was nice knowing they meant something special to each other.









"Thanks so much for bringing me out here, Sirius," Remus said, leaning against the balcony edge with Sirius standing in front of him.









"You're welcome. Any time," Sirius replied, grinning.









"Really?"









"Of course."









"Oh, I love you," Remus exclaimed, too happy for any more words.









Sirius chuckled. "I know you do. And I love you too," he said, and before either of them knew it, their lips were pressing against each other's in a soft, passionate, and delicate kiss, savoring every second of their midnight together. Remus's hands found their way to Sirius's waist, and Sirius kept his hands on Remus's neck, totally under the spell of their kiss.









Suddenly, Sirius's watch beeped five times, but not as loudly as the last time. Looking at his watch behind Remus's head, he saw it was exactly midnight.









Smiling, Sirius placed his hand on the back of Remus's neck again. "This is another thing I love about this midnight," he grinned as Remus kissed him back again.