Pavlov's Dog

Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at http://archiveofourown.org/works/13450494.

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply
Category: M/M
Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Relationship: Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Character: Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, James Potter, Peter Pettigrew, Lily Evans
Potter, Minerva McGonagall
Additional Tags: Marauders' Era, wolfstar, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Prefect Lupin,
Muggle Science, Behavioural conditioning, First Kiss, Pining
Language: English
Collections: Wolfstar and Jily fic I liked
Stats: Published: 2018-01-22 Words: 5,773 Chapters: 1/1

Pavlov's Dog
by scarletmanuka

Summary

Upon being made a prefect, Remus is instructed to reign in his friends' more outrageous
behaviour. James and Peter won't be an issue but Sirius is a completely different story.
Remus finds inspiration from an old experiement done by the Muggle, Pavlov.

Notes

See the end of the work for notes

The corridors of the castle were quiet at this time of the night, students in either dorms or common
rooms, walked only by those who either had reason to be out - either on patrol or with an authorised
task at hand - or those who were sneaking around, trying to avoid the former. For once, Remus
belonged to that illustrious first group. Normally he would be under the invisibility cloak, or
walking with his nose glued to the Marauder’s Map, on the lookout for Filch or his ever present
companion, Mrs Turner. Speaking of, the cat appeared at the end of the hall, meowing loudly
when she saw the teen. The heavily pregnant feline would normally hiss and spit at the other three
Marauders, but not Remus. She seemed somehow to sense the wolf and showed him a wary
respect. Not that that meant she would let him get away with breaking the rules, waddling off to
alert Filch. Before she could raise the alarm tonight, the teen unclipped the pin from his breast and
held it out to her. “Hey, kitty, look - a prefect’s badge. See, I’m allowed out and about.”

Feeling more than a little silly, he continued to wave the badge - made from white gold especially
for him instead of the regular silver - as the cat crept cautiously forward, sniffing at the badge.
After a thorough check, she seemed satisfied and turned and wandered off, her extended stomach
swaying ponderously, leaving him alone. Remus was almost certain that she wasn’t just any
ordinary cat, but for now, she was leaving him be so he spared it no more thought.

When he finally reached the Gryffindor common room, he found it was deserted. It was well after
midnight and everyone else was exhausted after their welcome back feast. Lily Evans, the other
new fifth year prefect had already returned from their meeting, but McGonagall had requested he
stay back for a ‘chat’. Remus had suspected it would be so she could discuss how the full moon
would affect his duties, and she did indeed touch on that, but the real reason she had held him back
was to tell him of her expectations in regards to his friends. Under no circumstances could he show
them special favour, and not only McGonagall but also Dumbledore expected the young werewolf
to reign in his friends, putting a stop to their more notorious pranks. Always wanting to please,
Remus had nodded along and promised that of course he would take his prefect responsibilities
seriously, and he would do all he could to settle the three other boys.

Now that he had had a few moments to think about what this entailed, he began to wonder if he
could actually manage it. James would be, surprisingly, easy he suspected. He’d confessed on the
train on the way here that he had run into Lily over the summer break as their families were
holidaying in the same coastal town. Away from Hogwarts and the expectations that his fellow
students had of his behaviour, James had found that Lily gave him the time of day. She told him
that if he continued to act like a decent human being and not a toddler who had gotten into the lolly
jar, she may just accept an invitation to their first Hogsmeade visit, so Remus was sure that James
would willingly fall into line.

Peter, who hero worshiped James and would follow him into death itself, would do whatever
James did. If their fearless leader behaved, then so would Peter. Remus had hoped that three
months away from James would give the small blonde the chance to spread his wings and discover
that the world did not, in fact revolve around one James Potter. Unfortunately, all it had seemed to
do was make Peter even more eager to please. Since they’d met on Platform 9 and ¾, Peter had
done nothing but agree with every word out of James’ mouth, and laugh overly long at his jokes.

The biggest obstacle he would have would be Sirius. Despite being closer than blood brothers,
Sirius did not depend on James for everything he did. He had always been more than happy to
spend time away from his best friend, doing assignments with Remus in the library, sneaking into
the kitchens with Peter, or simply causing trouble by himself. Even if James calmed right down,
Sirius would continue to be his normal (boisterous, loud, funny, adventurous, cheeky, daring,
troublesome) self, which is exactly what McGonagall wanted to reign in. So just how was Remus
supposed to accomplish that?

Remus spent most of the night mulling over his dilemma, hardly sleeping at all and stumbling
down to breakfast looking pale and wan. He was so out of it that Sirius actually ducked back up to
the dorms to check the moon chart they kept stashed there, clearly worried that the full had snuck
up on them with no one realising. He looked even more concerned when he returned, having
confirmed there was another two weeks until the next full moon and so something else had caused
Remus to look like death warmed up. He placed a palm to the pale boy’s forehead, feeling for a
temperature. “Are you okay, Moony?” he asked quietly.

“Yeah, ‘course,” Remus assured him. “Just didn’t sleep well. I guess it takes some getting used to
sleeping in the same room with James’ snoring again.”

“Oi!” James protested. “I do not snore!”

“Yeah, mate, you do,” Sirius told him. “Sound like a bloody fog horn every night.”

Turning large eyes to Peter, James asked, “Wormy, please tell me he’s a lying git.”
The smaller boy turned bright red but couldn’t lie outright. “Sorry, but yeah, you snore, Prongs.”

James sniffed. “I don’t believe you. This is all some conspiracy that you’ve cooked up amongst
yourselves and I don’t have to sit here and listen to it.” Then he winked and shuffled down the
bench to speak to Lily who had just taken a seat.

“Maybe you should drop by and see Madam Pomfrey?” Sirius suggested.

“Honestly, Pads, I’m fine. Stop fretting.”

The dark haired wizard refused to be placated and fussed over Remus for the remainder of their
morning meal, and all the way to Transfiguration. If he wasn’t struggling enough with trying to
figure out a way to surreptitiously calm Sirius’ wild side, Remus would have found it quite sweet.
It was probably a good thing he was so distracted because the last thing he needed on top of all his
other burdens was a resurgence in intensity of his years long crush on his dorm mate. He’d been
hopelessly in love with Sirius since mid-way through their first year at Hogwarts, and it was only
at the end of his third year that he’d finally managed to wrangle some sort of control over his
hormone driven feelings. Not that this helped a lot, but it reduced the number of times James or
Peter found him gazing longingly at the dark haired boy, and enabled him to be in the same room
whilst Sirius got changed without turning beet red and start bumbling around like an idiot. His best
friend starting to act so concerned about him, like he actually cared more than was normal would
do nothing but destroy his hard fought control.

Of course, it didn't help that the sexy prat was stupidly tactile. Remus had never met anyone who
needed constant physical contact the way Sirius did. When they all sat in the common room he
would be either pressed right up against one of them, squishing into the same single seat armchair,
or draping himself over their laps. At night he would happily snuggle in bed with whoever was the
least likely to kick him out and claim back their own space. When they walked through the halls he
would sling an arm around shoulders, or even link arms with his friends. When the three boys had
successfully managed their Animagi transformations in the weeks leading up to the end of their
fourth year, it came as absolutely no surprise to anyone that Sirius took the form of a dog. He
shared so many canine attributes (friendly, loyal, protective, slobbering) that Remus was surprised
that it had taken so much work to coax the dog out of him.

If anyone else in the school acted the way he did towards other boys, they would have been teased
and taunted by the more bigoted bullies mercilessly. In fact, way back in first year several
Slytherins had in fact made some such remark, but Sirius had just fixed them with his most
arrogant glare (something that the Black’s forced their children to master before they were out of
nappies) and then hexed them so that pansies sprouted from their ears. Since then no one passed
comment about his affections. This parley extended to whomever was the object of his touch, but
as soon as the recipient left Sirius’ presence, they were fair game. Peter had spent an entire Potions
class with Sirius draped over his back, lamenting the fact he would miss the next Quidditch game
due to detention, and nobody said a word. As soon as Peter left the classroom by himself, several
Slytherins had jumped him, calling him homophobic slurs and giving him a black eye.

Since he had come to terms with his feelings for his charming best friend, Remus had been sure to
keep a personal bubble around himself at all times. He would give all of his friends a hug at the
start and end of term, and if someone required comforting in between he would gladly offer one
then, but otherwise, he refrained from rough housing, wrestling, and random cuddle sessions. He
had been doing it for so long now that they all just passed it off as ‘a Moony thing’. They quickly
forgot the young boy, fresh off the Hogwarts’ Express who was more than happy to hug and
cuddle his new friends, having never had that before in his life. No one questioned when it
changed and for that he was grateful. If they ever found out he was in love with one of them, he
knew they would see it as the ultimate betrayal. Keeping his distance allowed himself to keep his
heart safe - he would never have to face the possibility of getting his hopes up after being the
object of Sirius’ affections for one evening. Intellectually he knew the other boy meant nothing by
his rather harmless touching, but emotionally he would find himself getting his hopes up and
reading too much into it.

It was during Transfiguration that Remus had his idea. They were attempting to transfigure a small
metal bell into a bird that would make the same sound, able to be sent off as a call for help in
emergencies. The sound of the bells ringing combined with the chaotic thoughts of Sirius and his
touches and his canine like qualities and Remus found himself freezing as the idea blossomed in
his mind, bright and colourful and absolutely perfect. Best of all, Sirius - being from a pureblood
family - would have absolutely no knowledge of the experiment and would be unlikely to catch on.

As soon as lunch came, Remus skipped the Great Hall and went straight to the Library, heading
directly for the Muggle texts. He flipped through the scientific tomes until he found the one he
wanted, hurrying to sign it out. Alone in the dorm as his friends ate their lunch, he flipped through
the book until he found the section titles Pavlov’s Dogs . He skimmed the article, refreshing
himself with the idea behind Classical Conditioning. In the original experiment, Pavlov noticed
that the dogs in his lab would salivate as soon as the lab assistant who fed them would enter the
room, even when he didn't have food. Noticing the change in behaviour, he introduced a small bell
as his own neutral stimulus. He rang the bell everytime he fed the dogs, which caused them to
salivate in expectation of dinner. Even when he didn’t have food but rang the bell, they would still
salivate, thus creating a conditioned response.

Remus was sure that he could use this theory to help settle Sirius’ behaviour. A brief concern
about the ethics of the situation flitted through his mind but he quickly dismissed it. He wasn’t
going to change his best friend’s entire personality, he just wanted to make him rethink his more
outlandish pranks, not stop them altogether. And so Remus began to outline a plan.

He started the very next day. As expected, James was on his very best behaviour in order to woo
Lily and so he wasn’t even discussing any pranking opportunities. They had gathered in the
common room that night to do their homework, and Sirius was lounged on the floor in front of the
couch, moaning about how boring their first few days back had been. “People are going to forget
that we even exist if we don’t continue our legacy!” he announced dramatically, getting to his feet
and starting to pace. “Besides charming the moving staircases to freeze in the middle of the floors
and turning the pumpkin soup purple, we’ve done nothing!” He glared at his friends. “In fact, those
were both me - you lot haven’t done a thing!”

“Sorry, mate, but I have a date to aspire to,” James told him.

“We’ve been a bit snowed under with homework,” Peter said, clearly hoping no one would mention
that that had never stopped them in the past.

“I think I’m going to go and hunt down Snivellus, maybe practise my leg locker curse,” Sirius
mused.

“Pads?” Remus asked, hoping he sounded casual. “Before you go, can you have a look at my
potions essay and make sure I’ve covered everything?”

Unable to deny Remus help with his worst subject, Sirius nodded and crossed over, holding out his
hand for the essay. Instead of handing it over, Remus took hold of his hand and pulled him down
onto the armchair with him so he could hold the parchment in his lap and they could both read it at
the same time. Sirius made a small yelp of surprise at the move, then automatically snuggled
closer, wriggling deeper into the armchair. He read over the essay and made a few suggestions for
changes, correcting two completely incorrect statements and crossing out a redundant paragraph.
Once he’d finished, Remus beamed at him and threw an arm around his shoulder, hugging him one
handedly and they stayed that way as they talked about the first Hogsmeade weekend.

“Weren’t you going out to hex Snape?” James asked absently when he looked up from his
Transfiguration homework ten minutes later and found Sirius still squished next to their resident
werewolf.

Sirius just shrugged. “I’m too comfy to move now.” And he didn't move again for the whole night.

oOoOo

The experiment seemed to be working but of course, Remus knew that once did not a success
make. Luckily, being a menace to society wasn’t an everyday occurrence for Sirius, only every
second day. It was in fact two days later that he looked mournfully up at the ceiling above the
Slytherin table while they were at lunch, his lips moving as he worked through an idea.

“I know that look,” James said. “What’ve you got planned?”

Sirius contrived to look innocent. “Moi? Why, nothing at all, my dear Prongs.”

Peter snorted. “Yeah, sure. You’ve got that crazy glint in your eye that means you’re most
definitely planning something.”

“Alright, fine - you got me,” the long haired wizard admitted, giving in way too easily in his
enthusiasm to share his idea. “I was just thinking that it would be such a pity if it started to rain
over the end table.” He waggled his eyebrows as he looked at the swirling clouds that had gathered
over the enchanted ceiling.

Remus sighed, knowing that this would definitely count as something that Dumbledore and
McGonagall would disapprove of. As confirmation of this, James looked more than a little
enthusiastic. “That’s brilliant , Pads!” There was a delicate cough from down the table and all four
boys looked over to see Lily Evans giving James a pointed look. The bespectacled boy sighed and
dropped his head. “Er, sorry, but you’ll have to do it without me,” he told them sheepishly.

“Honestly, you’re not even dating and she has you whipped!” Sirius exclaimed.

James shrugged but didn't look too upset over it.

“What about you, Moony?” His friend had turned his biggest puppy dog eyes upon him.

“Oh, no, I think I’ll sit this one out,” he said in what he hoped was a regretful tone, rubbing at his
neck. “I think I must have slept wrong because my neck is really killing me.” He winced, trying to
make it look like he was in pain.

Sirius was immediately at his side. “Here, give me a look.” Then his strong hands were on Remus’
neck and his fingers were kneading at the muscles there. “Hmmm, you’ve got quite a few knotts
here, Moony.”

Remus tried to reply but all that came out of his mouth was a stream of unintelligible noises.
Nothing had ever felt so amazing in his life. Sirius shifted, straddling the bench to one side and
urging his friend to turn around. Remus did and found himself leaning back against Sirius’ chest
while his hands continued their ministrations to not only his neck but his shoulders as well. He felt
like his muscles were melting, all the tension that he didn't even know he was carrying just seeping
away. He made yet another small noise of pleasure and this one seemed to jolt him back to reality.
“Easy now, Moony,” Sirius teased. “I’d like you to buy me a drink before you enjoy my fingers too
much.”

He blushed a deep red, and hoped that no one noticed. It hadn’t even been a sound of desire - the
way Sirius was making him weak at the knees had nothing to do with his sexual longing for him
but all to do with the wandless magic his fingers were weaving. Luckily, his friend didn’t stop and
continued to massage his neck and shoulders up until the bell for their afternoon classes began.

oOoOo

The rest of the week passed without major incident. Sirius pulled a handful of relatively harmless
pranks that weren’t too disruptive to classes but didn’t go any further. They spent Saturday
lounging by the lake, throwing bread rolls to the giant squid and watching as the large tentacles
broke the surface of the water to retrieve the treats. Dark clouds had gathered over the course of the
day and by the time evening rolled around, the storm hit. The common room was packed as
everyone sheltered there after dinner, so the four friends made their way to their dorm as they were
unable to find seats. James and Peter lay on their stomachs on one of the beds, flipping through a
Quidditch magazine, while Remus sat on his bed, re-reading The Magician’s Nephew . Sirius was
spread out on the floor, perusing a seventh year charms textbook he’d nicked from one of the study
tables downstairs. After ten minutes of silence, Remus grew suspicious and peered over his
friend’s shoulder, looking at the spells he was reading. They appeared to all involve ways to
magically flood a building and the werewolf knew it was time for evasive action.

Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, he patted the space between his knees. “Come here,
Pads. I want to practise my plaiting.”

“Your what now?” Sirius asked, looking at him suspiciously.

Remus rolled his eyes. “It’s nothing nefarious, I promise.”

“What is it exactly then?”

“It’s a hairstyle. My young cousins taught me how to plait their hair over the summer break and
I’m pretty bad at it so they told me I needed to practise so I’m better when I see them at Easter.”

The dark haired boy’s eyes lit up at the mention of Remus playing with his hair and he happily
positioned himself in between his spread legs. “So is it like braiding?” he asked. “I look rather
dashing with a braid!”

Remus laughed. “Not quite as intricate - I don’t seem to possess enough fingers to braid so I stick to
plaiting which is only three strands.” He was running his fingers through the long, ebony locks,
working out the few tangles that had formed during the day. His friend’s hair was so thick and soft
that Remus found himself getting distracted, so busy enjoying the way it flowed through his fingers
that he didn't even start the plait for five minutes. Sirius didn't seem to mind at all and after a few
moments, Remus noticed he was making a strange sound. “Are you...are you purring ?” he asked
in astonishment.

“What? It feels nice,” Sirius said without a trace of embarrassment. “I love people playing with my
hair but no one ever does,” he added with a pout.

“If no one ever does, how do you know you love it?” James quipped from across the room.

“Andy used to do it when she was allowed at family gatherings,” Sirius explained, his head falling
forward a little onto his knees.
No one knew quite how to respond to this - any mention of his cousin normally led to Sirius
withdrawing into himself as he mourned Andromeda’s exile from the family. Remus continued to
trail his fingers through the silky hair, scratching his nails lightly against Sirius’ scalp and causing
him to make a similar noise to the one that had escaped his own throat the other day at lunch.

“Bloody hell, you two make sounds that should be reserved for a porno,” James complained.

“Fuck off, Prongs,” Sirius said good naturedly. “You should get Pete to do this to you and then
you’ll see how good it feels.”

“I could if you’d like,” Peter offered cheerfully.

“Nah, thanks mate but I think I’m good,” James replied with a small shake of his head.

Remus finally divided the long black hair into three sections and picked them up, beginning to
twist them together into some semblance of a plait. His tongue peeked out of his mouth as he
concentrated, getting to the end and then tutting at the mess. He ran a finger through the plait,
undoing it and then he started again, going slower this time and attempting to make it neater.

Peter excused himself a short time later and nipped off to the kitchens, coming back with a large
platter of cakes and biscuits for them to snack on. James pulled out his hidden stash of Firewhiskey
and the two boys joined them on Remus’ bed, allowing for conversation to flow.

The storm raged outside, lightning flashing periodically and Remus allowed himself a moment to
wish that the castle’s lighting ran on electricity and not magic. He missed the blackouts he’d
experienced as a kid when he’d stayed with his grandparents, always finding them exciting. Sitting
around with a torch or candles, listening to the wind howl outside, and the rain pound down on the
roof had sent his blood racing in his veins.

After one particularly bright flash of lightning, Remus paused in his work and picked up his wand,
waving them at the lights. The room was plunged into semi-darkness almost immediately.

“What was that for?” Peter asked nervously.

“I wanted to just enjoy the storm,” he replied, dropping his wand and restarting the plait for the
fifth time.

“Mmm, good idea,” Sirius agreed, his voice almost slurring he was so relaxed. “Love a good
storm.”

“Oooh, let’s tell ghost stories!” James suggested, pushing his glasses further up his nose.

“Do we have to?” Peter squeaked.

“Does anyone have anything better to do?” James asked.

Remus fought to contain his smile when Sirius replied, “Nope, not a thing.”

oOoOo

There was no way that Remus was always going to be successful. Not only was he only trying to
curb the more disruptive pranks and so didn’t actually attempt to stop the more vanilla ones, but
the idea of pranking and causing mischief was so ingrained in his friend’s psyche that there was no
way Sirius’ behaviour would change overnight. When he did play a more severe prank, Remus
tried his best to ensure that he didn’t do anything to reward that behaviour.
When Sirius transformed into Padfoot and ran through one of the girl’s bathrooms, stealing all of
the bras while the unsuspecting students were showering, Remus was sure to chastise him firmly.
The furry ratbag had scarpered up to the Gryffindor common room, was let in the portrait hole by
Peter and then hid in the dorm while Filch went on the rampage, trying to find the mangy mutt that
was running riot around the grounds. Padfoot dropped the bras onto the ground and sat, staring at
Remus as if in triumph, his thick tail thumping on the ground.

“Bad dog!” Remus scolded, wagging a finger at him.

Padfoot had whined and had crossed to the room, head low and snuffling at his friend’s legs. He
butted his head against his shins and whined again.

“No, naughty dogs don’t get pats,” Remus snapped, looking away so those liquid eyes wouldn’t
make his resolve disappear.

The next time happened the day before the full arrived and Remus was in a tetchy mood. His bones
were already aching in anticipation of the painful transformation that he would undergo the
following evening and he couldn’t concentrate. He’d already snapped at Peter who had asked to
borrow his Charms notes, and he’d made a first year cry when he’d found her trying to access one
of the out of bounds rooms. She’d tried to convince him that she was lost but he told her she’d have
to come up with a better excuse, docked five points from Ravenclaw and sent her scurrying.

So when Sirius declared at lunch that he was planning on charming the barrels at the entrance to
the Hufflepuff common room to squirt soy sauce at anyone trying to access the room, he may have
gone a little overboard. Sirius had gone to throw his arm around Remus’ shoulder affectionately as
he explained his grand plan, and instead of casually shrugging him off like he’d pictured himself
doing in his mind, Remus had jerked back suddenly and snapped, “ Don’t touch me !” before
storming off.

His friend had avoided him for the rest of the day, but even from across the common room that
night, Remus could see the hurt in his eyes. He’d not meant to snap so much at Sirius but the
timing had just been completely wrong. Unable to really explain what had happened, he called it
quits for the day and headed upstairs to bed.

It was several hours later when the door squeaked open and Sirius entered their dorm. He paused as
he passed by the foot of Remus’ bed and whispered, “Moony, are you awake?”

“Yeah,” he replied softly. “Haven’t been able to sleep.”

The bed dipped and suddenly Sirius was lying down next to Remus. Granted, he was on the top of
the blankets, but the young werewolf was suddenly very aware of the close proximity of his
gorgeous friend. “I’m sorry if I upset you,” Sirius murmured, turning onto his side so he was facing
Remus, their noses only inches apart.

“I’m sorry I snapped.”

“What did I do wrong?” He sounded so dejected that Remus couldn’t dare shrug it off by claiming
it was ‘nothing’.

“I’m just really achy right now,” he told him, not entirely a lie. “Anything against my skin irritates
me and I can’t handle people touching me right now.”

“Oh, okay. Sorry if I hurt you.”

“It’s okay, Pads.”

“Is this okay? Me being here like this?”

“Yeah, this is fine.”

In the dim light he saw Sirius smile. “I’m glad. Goodnight then, Moony.” And he closed his eyes
and went to sleep.

oOoOo

Remus found himself hoping more and more that Sirius would come up with absurd prank ideas
just so he could continue his little experiment. Despite his best efforts, his crush on his friend was
only growing in intensity. Everytime he managed to distract Sirius from pulling some crazy plan,
Remus grew bolder and bolder with his affections. It was like he himself was developing a
conditioned response to the dark haired wizard. He craved the contact with Sirius and found
himself touching him more than normal even when he wasn’t concocting a mad scheme.

If Sirius noticed, he didn't seem to mind - in fact, he seemed to be much more cheerful than normal.
He bounced around the place, full of energy and when he turned into Padfoot on the night of the
full moon, he played with Moony like an overexcited puppy.

The only downside was that James was starting to get suspicious about what was going on. He
tried to subtly ask Remus if he was okay, if there was anything wrong, but was too tactful to come
right out and ask what was going on with the complete turn around in his stance on physical touch.
He kept a close eye on Remus and the werewolf tried to be more tactile towards both James and
Peter to ease his suspicions.

The prefects attended a monthly meeting and at the next one, McGonagall pulled him aside yet
again, but this time to congratulate him on whatever he was doing to reign in his friends. Remus
blushed, chuffed at the praise, but also scared she might ask exactly how he had managed it. She
didn't, just gave him one of her rare smiles and told him to keep it up. He hurried back to the dorm,
wondering just how long he would even be able to keep it up. With James asking questions, and his
own feelings for Sirius growing to dangerous levels, something would probably have to give.

The following week when they were alone in the dorm room, Sirius asked Remus if he would plait
his hair once again. More than happy to play with those luscious locks, he readily agreed and soon
his best friend was sitting once more between his knees, humming in contentment as Remus played
with his hair. They were quiet, neither feeling much like speaking, just enjoying the rare moment
of peace in the dorm. Remus swore he could feel a thrumming tension begin to build between
them, but knew it was probably just his own desires talking and not actually happening.

The quiet was shattered as James and Peter bowled into the room, broomsticks slung over the
shoulders, their cheeks tinged pink with the cold. As he stored his broom, James looked over at the
pair and smirked. “Getting yourself all pretty with your date with McKinnon?” he asked Sirius.

Remus froze, the lock of hair in his hands slipping from his grasp as he physically recoiled
backwards from his friend.

“What are you on about?” Sirius asked James in a lazy voice, but his entire body had stiffened.

“I heard she asked you to go to Hogsmeade with her tomorrow. Did I hear wrong?”

“No, you didn’t,” Sirius confirmed, and Remus shuffled backwards on the bed, trying to break their
contact. “You obviously didn't hear the rest though,” the long haired wizard continued.

“Oh?” James asked with a curiosity that matched Remus’ silent one.
“I turned her down,” Sirius said. “Not interested in her.”

“Cor, why not?” Peter asked, eyes wide. “She’s gorgeous! Have you seen her tits?” He held his
hands out exaggeratedly in front of himself.

“There’s more to life than a pair of tits,” Sirius drawled, and Remus felt himself minutely relax.

“Like what?” Peter asked in an uncharacteristic display of confidence.

“Lots of things, Wormtail. Loyalty and a sense of humour and wit for starters.”

Peter shrugged. “I reckon I’d still take a pair of tits over any of that any day.”

Sirius gave a small shake of his head. “You should also take a damn shower - you reek. You too,
Prongs.”

Feeling like he could return to his task, Remus once more ran his fingers through Sirius’ hair,
moving himself back to the edge of the bed so his knees were pressed tightly around the other teen.

“Yeah, yeah,” James said, looking through the pile of washing in the corner for a change of
clothes. “You’re just jealous because we got some fresh air and exercise today and you’ve stayed
cooped up in this dreary tower.”

“No, I’m honestly telling you that you stink.”

James snorted and pushed Peter towards the door. “Fine, but we’re using the prefect’s bathroom,
Remus. Wormtail here likes it when Myrtle pervs on him. Has the password changed from
Merryweather?”

“How the hell did you know the password?” Remus demanded indignantly.

“You left it written down on your bedside table, you daft bugger,” James told him with a wink.

Remus rolled his eyes but nodded. “Yes, it’s still Merryweather.”

“Awesome, catch you losers later. Come on, Wormy, lets go and see your girlfriend.”

They could hear Peter squawking at James as they left and then silence fell over the room once
more. Remus finished the plait and then sat fiddling with the elastic band for a while, not wanting
to stop from playing with Sirius’ hair.

“Hey, Moony?” Sirius asked after a while.

“Yeah?”

“There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you.”

“Oh?” He swallowed hard, not recognising the odd note to his friend’s voice.

Sirius turned around, sitting up on his knees and leaning in towards Remus. “I have a confession to
make.”

“You do?” he squeaked.

Sirius leaned in even closer, until their noses were almost brushing. “I do,” he confirmed. He
moved in even more until his lips were brushing against the shell of Remus’ ear. “Every time you
 enter the room, Moony,” he whispered, “I start salivating.”

Realisation slammed into Remus that Sirius knew exactly what he'd been doing and he knew he
should be panicking, that his friend would surely start yelling at him any second now. Instead,
Sirius grinned and then leaned forward and licked Remus from chin to temple. “Shall we see what
other conditioned behaviours you can teach this dog?”

His head was ringing, like a small bell was being strunk over and over again, and Remus just
nodded, then leaned forward, and kissed him.

End Notes

I have just a general knowledge of this experiment so I apologise in advance to anyone who
is actaully studying behavioural science who cringed whilst reading this ;-)

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