Prompt 21
Title: A Captured Moment
Author: telwyndubois
Word Count: ~ 830
Prompt: 21 for dogdaysofsummer
Rating: PG for naughty thoughts
Summary: “Well, you can go back and forth in time with that, right?” Sirius continues, and Remus is finding it difficult to pay attention, seeing as Sirius is so close and his grey eyes are so very, very, expressive. And lovely. “But why can’t we just stop?”
Set in the same 'verse as #5, #18, #19, and #20.
My other prompt entries are here: Five, Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen, Seventeen, Eighteen, Nineteen, Twenty
“Moony, why can’t we stop time?” Sirius whispers into his ear, and Remus wrenches his gaze away from the night sky in order to look at him as they lay on their backs, their hands wrapped up in one another, legs overlapping on the damp grass.
“What do you mean?” Remus whispers back, aware that James and Lily are on his right, while Peter and Marlene (they claim to just be friends, though he thinks Peter’s got a thing for her) are on Sirius’ right. Granted, they’re probably too wrapped up in themselves to even care about what Sirius and Remus are doing. Not that anybody in this yard really cares that they’re a pair of poofters, anyway.
“Well, you know about Time-Turners, right?”
Remus nods, his face inches away from Sirius’. It was a long and grueling day at work for all of them, and so they met at James’ and Lily’s house for a pleasant dinner before wandering out to the yard, slightly tipsy, to collapse under the stars. He loves nights like these, nights of good food, and drink, and the same best friends he’s had since he was eleven.
“Well, you can go back and forth in time with that, right?” Sirius continues, and Remus is finding it difficult to pay attention, seeing as Sirius is so close and his grey eyes are so very, very, expressive. And lovely. “But why can’t we just stop?”
“Dunno.” It’s not something Remus has ever considered before, to be perfectly honest. What with this war, and the way his career is going, and the disappearances that are happening all the time…he’s not sure he’d want to live in this moment forever and ever. Who wants to live with imminent death?
“It’s…like a wizarding law, or somethin’,” Sirius says, looking perfectly earnest, his black hair invisible in the darkness, but for a few strands that fall across his face.
Remus wants to kiss him. So, he does, his lips brushing slightly against Sirius’ chapped ones, their breath as interwoven as their bodies.
But even as Remus draws back, Sirius continues doggedly, his breath slightly ragged at first (Remus feels smug about his effect on Padfoot). “Like, magic can’t really change life and death, right? You can’t create a person out of magic - inanimate objects that have been Transfigured into animals don’t live very long, and they crumble into dust. And we can’t bring the dead back - it’s always just some sick semblance of life.”
“Right.” He’s not quite sure why Sirius is bringing up magical theory right now, when its midnight and he can hear James and Lily giggling off to one side, while a loud smack! in the night is clearly Marlene hitting Peter upside the head to prove a point or two. They’re only a handful of months out of school, and here, in this moment, it feels like nothing has changed, like this could be one of those nights they snuck out of Gryffindor tower and down to the lake for a quick dip. But it’s not; everything is changing (at the rate that Sirius, Lily, and James are hurtling through Auror training, Remus steels himself for news of their deaths every other day).
Is this what Sirius means by wanting to stop? Wanting to stop before something goes wrong, before they lose someone?
(Tomorrow, they will wake up to find that Gideon and Fabian Prewett are dead.)
“So everything has to keep going. We have only a limited control over going backwards or forwards, but no choice at all about staying right here?” Those last words come out in a rush, like Sirius has been waiting forever to say them.
Remus sucks in a deep breath, then turns to settle back and stare up at the sky. Pity he dropped Astronomy last year, he muses; he hasn’t the faintest idea what half these constellations are. “Is that a problem?”
Sirius blinks, pausing to think. Remus can hear crickets somewhere…. Finally, he says, “Guess not. But, I dunno…” he trails off, until all Remus can hear is his harsh breathing, the rise and fall of it rather rhythmic and soothing.
“What?” Remus says after awhile, staring up at the stars but thinking only of Sirius, realizing that he’s all Remus could ever want in the world.
“It would be nice, wouldn’t it?” Sirius says.
“Hmm?” Remus squeezes his hand, wondering if he should let Sirius know the depth and strength of his feelings.
“To stop time.”
And something in the way Sirius says that makes Remus’ throat catch, making him suddenly aware that he doesn’t need to tell Sirius because that’s what Sirius is trying to tell him. So he smiles, though Sirius probably can’t see it, saying softly, “Oh. Yes.” This moment can’t last forever, but he damn well wishes it could. “Yes,” he breathes out, “it would be fantastic.”
A/n: That’s what I’ve always taken away from the song, at any rate. Liked it? Hated it? Drop me a line?
(Btw, I apologize for the lateness of this entry - I'm currently on a vacation, so it's hard to stay in touch...)