Sirius Black didn't know when this nonsense with Remus had started.

One moment everything was as usual and the next he would get a hot twisting sensation in his lower belly whenever Remus shot him a knowing look and said something along the lines of "I hope you're not going to misbehave." This line was usually prefaced before James and Sirius had concocted something or the other to do: a new spell they wanted to try out on Snivelly, relabelling Moaning Myrtle's toilet so that unsuspecting first year boys wandered in, or simply hiding under James' cloak and tripping Filch in the middle of the night.

The funny thing about Remus was that he'd always have this tone of mock seriousness when it came to the pranks. Remus was mostly serious anyway-sometimes even comically so. He'd warn them of 'grave consequences' or ask them whether they still thought this was a good idea, or go about ways to attract attention to the shiny golden prefect badge on his chest as if it was some sort of sentient object he had sworn his loyalty to. But when it came time to the actual pranking, Sirius found out very quickly that Remus joined in eagerly and often times it was him they had to drag back before they got found out.

So there was something about the way Remus was saying this line ("I hope you're not going to misbehave") that implied that Remus himself was definitely planning on misbehaving. And that, to be frank, excited Sirius a little. To know that even the most responsible and straight-laced among his friends had a bit of a mischievous streak. Or was it because he was the most responsible?

"Oh, Moony," Sirius would reply (after his stomach had relaxed a little), "I wouldn't worry about me misbehaving. I would worry about you. Merlin knows you've got a bit of reputation to maintain, being such a perfect prefect."

Sirius would say this loudly, of course, to the Gryffindor common room so that everyone would hear and glance over at Remus, embarrassing him, and wonder if he was as innocent as they thought.

For the rest of the day, Sirius couldn't get that stupid phrase out of his head. In Transfiguration, when they'd been practicing vanishing spells on dinner plates, Sirius had absently flicked his wand in the direction of his trousers and nearly made them disappear, much to amusement of James who was sniggering beside him.

He must have flashed half the class when his trousers vanished for half a second because the next thing he knew there was a slow wolf-whistle coming from behind him. Sirius whipped around, wand at the ready to jinx whichever Slytherin it had been and was surprised to find Remus standing right behind him, smirking into his dinner plate as if he hadn't any clue that Sirius had just lost his trousers.

"Did you like my knickers, Moony?" Sirius muttered under his breath, watching Remus' ears turn pink.

"Careful," said Remus in a low voice as he flicked his wrist and successfully vanished the plate in front of him. "Or I might try this spell out on your trousers."

Oh, I wouldn't mind, Sirius thought for a second before smirking smugly and turning around. He'd no idea where the thought had come from but it wasn't as if he was embarrassed by his boxers. In fact, they were his favourite: midnight blue with small animated figures on broomsticks who were engaged in a very intense game of Quidditch. If you managed to slap down the snitch (which was a tiny golden speck whizzing about), the score displayed on the waistband of his boxers would reset and the game began all over again. Totally useless, but very entertaining.

After Transfiguration, the four of them raced down the sloping greenish-yellow hill of the grounds towards the lake. It was early October and the air was getting chillier. Yet, most of the students had forced themselves outside in hopes of enjoying the last bits of sunshine and relatively warm weather before they'd all be shut indoors for the winter.

"I know Evans has been particularly frosty towards me this week, but just you wait." James said, lazily plucking up dying blades of grass and flicking them into the wind. "It's all part of their game to appear more mysterious."

"Or perhaps it's because Evans knows what a complete nitwit you are, James?" Sirius offered helpfully, making sure to stay an arms length away as he said this to avoid getting slapped.

But James didn't seem bothered by this remark. Instead, he lay his head down on the grass, closed his eyes and smiled. "Oh, they may act that way now. I've learned a thing or two over the summer about how to charm even the most difficult of women."

Sirius seriously doubted this but was pleased to see that Peter was sitting bolt upright and looking expectantly at James, waiting desperately for him to elaborate. Sirius caught Remus' eye and they both bit their tongues from laughing.

"Well, go on then, James." Remus egged on, sneaking another conspiratorial look at Sirius. "Tell us what you've learned."

Peter nodded his head vigorously though James still had his eyes closed and missed this eagerness entirely.

"Well, it's not really about what you say, is it? It's how you say it. Take Snivellus, for example. I'd spent half my existence wondering how that slimy, snivelling little toad managed to get in the good graces of Evans and then it occurred to me: of course, Snivellus can't have said anything remotely charming to her. But he's always crying about something, isn't he? And just like, she's always defending him and fussing about."

Peter looked as though he'd had a moment of enlightenment and was turning beet red. He would do anything to make sure James continued to reveal his best kept secrets of wooing women but was too embarrassed to say so. He looked over at Remus and Sirius for support but both of them were oddly smiling about something and looking at random points in the distance.

"Interesting observation, Prongs." Sirius said. "May I also add that in my numerous experiences with girls, it's also wise to show your vulnerabilities early. Get out there and just cry buckets of tears. Talk about a tragic back story that will captivate them. They'll want to snog you immediately. Isn't that right, James?"

James opened one eye and peered suspiciously in Sirius' direction. When he noticed that Peter was practically drooling over him, he closed his eyes again and suppressed a smile.

"Quite right, Padfoot. Take Peter here, for example. If he were to go over to Margot Tinfoote and just cry about something-anything-she would be besotted with him instantly."

"Oh, come off it," said Peter, looking slightly annoyed. "Now you're just spouting rubbish."

"See that's what I thought too," Sirius continued, trying his best to keep a straight face. "I thought girls only fancied Quidditch players and muscles but they're creatures of emotion, aren't they? Say, if any one of those girls knew about Moony and his monthly angst, they'd all want to shag him, wouldn't they?"

Here, Sirius reached out towards Remus and squeezed him affectionately around the nape of his neck. It took an enormous about of self-control for Remus not to burst into laughter but somehow he held his composure by concentrating intently on the solemn occasion of when he'd nearly lost his eye messing about the Whomping Willow in his second year.

Peter looked shocked for a moment and then sent a calculating look over at a group of fifth-year girls who were laughing in the distance.

"Well, don't just sit there and stew, Wormtail," Sirius said encouragingly. "Go up to one of them and try snivelling about something. I heard it worked pretty well for our large-nosed friend in Slytherin."

"Maybe later. Not with all of you lot watching."

"You shouldn't have told him so much rubbish." Remus told him later in the common room.

Sirius and James had just gotten back from a particularly terrible Quidditch practice and neither of them were in the mood to do anything productive afterwards. James had set off to bed early, saying he was too tired to bother with anything, leaving Sirius and Remus alone in front of the fireplace. Peter was uncharacteristically nowhere to be see, though they both had an idea of where he might be.

As he was saying this, Sirius noted that Remus didn't look altogether apologetic. He looked as he usually did-with his head bent down at an extreme angle into his Transfiguration textbook, except that this time Sirius was sure that there was a small smirk on his face.

"Do you think that's why our fourth musketeer has suddenly vanished?"

Remus said nothing, but pretended to keep reading.

"You really are the worst prefect, Moony. You pretend as though you've had nothing to do with any of this but you're the one that egged James on, remember?"

"Oh, I wasn't really egging James on. I just wanted to know some of those secrets myself."

"You're full of doxy shit." Sirius said, laughing and leaning back into the chair. He noted that Remus didn't bother to correct him on this. "And who would you use your charms on, anyway? Anyone you fancy?"

The thought of Remus fancying someone was not so foreign to Sirius. He wasn't like James, who was open about who he wanted to snog; but that was more to mark his territory more than anything else. Remus on the other hand wasn't the type to kiss and tell.

Remus looked up from his book just then and shot Sirius what some might call a 'smouldering' look.

"You, obviously."

Sirius knew it was a joke but that familiar knotting sensation was back in his stomach again for the fourth time that week. For the first time, Sirius was slow to banter back. He didn't know why (he was known for his quick wit, after all) but instead of saying something back he just settled for a smirk and sunk deeper into the couch.

The gesture seemed to have surprised Remus too, for his ears turned slightly pink again in the firelight and he cleared his throat and turned back to his book. But unlike earlier in the conversation, his eyes no longer scanned the page as he was deep in thought. And so each boy sat in silence for the rest of the evening, silently and secretly pondering on the other.

Author's Note: Hello, everyone! ^.^ This the first fanfic I've ever written and would really appreciate your thoughts on it! Thanks so much to everyone who's already reviewed/faved/followed it so far! It means so much to me that you enjoyed reading this as much as I loved writing it :)