Snape was struggling to free himself from James' spell, and his face was going purple as all the blood rushed to his face. Lily Evans then came marching up to James.
"Potter!" she exclaimed, "Let him go!"
"If I do, will you go out with me, Evans?" James smirked at her, running his hand through his puff of hair, looking her up and down. He always was a little brash.
Lily scowled at him, and as James was distracted, Snape managed to pick up his wand, and he disarmed James, but Sirius immediately stupefied him. Sirius looked at me, grinning, and I shook my head. It wasn't fair, two against one, even against Snivellus. Sirius' face fell, and he lowered his wand, and Snape brushed himself down, still red in the face, even though he was no longer upside down.
"I don't need your help," he spat at Lily, "Mudblood." It was Lily's turn to go red.
"Right," she stuttered, "Okay. See you later," she turned on her heel and stamped away.
"See you later, Evans!" called James. Lily didn't turn around, but waved her hand behind her in a rude sign that muggles use.
Snape had stood there, frozen, and as out attention turned back to him, he sneered at us and stormed off. Sirius looked to me, as if to ask if he should chase after Snivellus. I shook my head again. He nodded and smiled. I grinned and cocked my head, and he raised his eyebrow. We always could communicate like this. And I knew exactly what he was saying; we'd just been discussing James' crush on Lily. Peter just gawped at us.
It then became time for lessons. We all scampered off to potions, and I noticed Lily trailing forlornly behind us.
Professor Slughorn stood at the front of the class next to a cauldron full of potion.
"Class," he said, "Today I am going to be teaching you about Amortentia, which is a love potion that can cause strong infatuation. I don't usually teach this to classes so young as yourselves, but as you are a particularly skilled class..." He smiled at Lily, who grimaced. That wasn't like her.
I paired with James, while Peter went with Sirius, and we all set about making the Amortentia. It was quite complex, but me and James both quite enjoyed potions, so we were among the few groups who managed to complete the potion successfully, as well as Lily and her partner doing quite well.
"Excellent first tries," Slughorn said when we all had brought our concoctions up to the front of the class at the end of the lesson. He tested each potion by smelling them, as presumably he knew what they ought to smell like for him.
"Everyone come and look at these ones, and congratulations to the successful teams." I went to look at Lily's potion, and I didn't notice as James came up behind me as I smelt it. Suddenly he asked, "What do you smell?" and I was so startled, I blurted out, "Chocolate, dog fur and ink," and it took us both a moment to realise what I'd said, and then James smirked.
"Hey Moony," he said, "Are you mooning after Padfoot?" then he sauntered away, cackling as though he'd just made the wittiest joke ever. When I caught my reflection in the knife on the worktop, I was white as a sheet.
Later, when I got back to the common room, James and Sirius were there waiting for me, grinning and laughing at the expression on my face. I was a fool to think that Prongs would keep quiet.
"Hey, Moony," Sirius walked over and put his hand on my shoulder. "What you been doing? Making any potions? Howling at the moon in anguish?" James was bent double in silent laughter. It wasn't that funny. But I just decided to go along with it.
"Actually I've been bathing in rose petals. Can't you tell?" Sirius sniggered and clapped me on the back before going to sit by the fire. James fetched Peter from the dormitory, and together they went off to the library.I went and sat in the armchair next to Sirius, and frowned silently into the fire. I tried to bite my fingernails, but they were already bitten down, so instead I gripped the armrests, my jaw clenched.
Suddenly, something brushed against the back of my hand, and I jumped and pulled my hand back. I looked up just in time to see Sirius' hand pull away from me, and his gaze drop to his lap. Had he just... No. Of course he didn't.
"Moony," he looked up at me inquisitively, "Is it true? James said that the Amortentia... Do you...?" I smiled meekly at him and nodded, and then to my surprise his face broke out in a grin.
"Do you want to know what I could smell?" I nodding, smiling properly now. "I smelt the ink that you always have all over your hands, and the chocolate that you're always munching on, and I could smell night, if night has a smell." I couldn't tell if he meant what I thought he did, but as I was mulling it over, he got up and came over, crouching in front of me. My hands were clasped together on my lap, and he gently took hold of them, smiling mischievously. I had trouble keeping my breathing steady as I leaned forward and gently kissed him.
I smiled all through dinner, exchanging furtive glances with Padfoot as I ate speedily. We'd agreed that if there was time before we had to go back to the dormitory, that we would meet in the room of requirement. James, as usual, was talking very loudly, and he didn't notice that anything was different, and Peter looked suspicious, but he never speaks so I didn't worry about it. When I was finished, I told everyone that I was going to the library to do some research. As I was leaving I noticed James winking at Sirius, and whisper loudly, "Maybe he's looking up some love potions to slip you, Padfoot," and I grinned because he was so wrong, but kind of right at the same time.
I waited in the room of requirement for fifteen minutes before Sirius appeared, but I had my book so the time slipped by easily enough.
"Hey," I greeted him, and he smiled broadly. "What took you so long?" I asked. He paused for a second before replying.
"Peter was following me around, so I had to try to get him away. I told him to go and find James, which should take a while because he slipped off in his invisibility cloak." He grinned and we sat down together, and he leant in towards me, so I put my arms around him and as his face came close to mine, I shut my eyes.
Over the next few weeks we snuck around, meeting when we could. Peter grew more and more suspicious, but he's not the type to snitch on his friends, so I trusted him. Sirius was a bit more paranoid, and I caught him threatening Peter a few times. James was oblivious, but he never was very observant.
The real trouble came along when one day, we were lying on Sirius' bed together while everyone was at lunch, when James came into the room. He froze, and Sirius sat bolt upright, pale as a ghost. I could feel myself blushing, but not as much as James, who had gone as red as a cherry. I was embarrassed, but Sirius was flat out panicking, breathing quickly, looking slightly sick. He got off the bed as James shot him a look of death, and he marched up to Sirius and smacked him squarely across the face before storming out of the room, and before I could ask what was going on, Sirius had darted after him.
I was so stunned that I just sat there, until James' furious voice pierced my daze, and I jumped up and ran out to see what was happening.
"How could you! How dare you!" James growled as he struggled, and Sirius held onto both his wrists tightly to stop James from hitting him. Sirius looked like he was going to throw up, and he was shaking, but neither of them had noticed me.
"What's happened?" I asked, and both of their gazes snapped to me, both of them looking slightly concerned, although James quickly went back to anger. He turned back to Sirius, who'd loosened his grip, and slapped him again.
"So you didn't tell him about us then? Who else are you secretly snogging? Peter? Lily? Snivellus?" Realisation dawned on me as Sirius put his head in his hands, as though he was trying to steady himself. James was dating Sirius, or something like that, and they'd never said. Sirius had been lying to us both.
"I'm sorry!" He choked, and sunk to the floor dejectedly. James cleared all expression from his face, then fled the common room, leaving me alone with Sirius. Where usually I am the soft one, I felt nothing, and I didn't break down. I walked over to the fire, and ignored Sirius' calls, staring blankly into the fire.
"Remus," he croaked as he came and sat next to me. I turned to look at him, feeling empty.
"Why did you do it?" I asked in a monotone.
"I... had been "dating" James for, um, a month or so before you... Um, and I did like him, but I was starting to think that it wasn't quite right, and I knew that I liked you... It was all just a mess, I wanted to break it off with James, but then I thought that maybe he'd say something, and if he found out he'd think that I chose you over him..." he had the decency to look ashamed. I waited for a moment, but when he didn't say anything else, I went up to the dormitory and fell straight to sleep.
The next day I decided not to bring it up, but when I went down to breakfast, nobody was there. Nobody had been in the dormitory either, and despite myself, I wondered where they all were.
I found out soon enough, when Professor McGonagall came and took me out of my first lesson. Upon arriving at her office, I saw that Peter, James and Sirius were already there, all standing as far away from each other as possible. It was only when McGonagall sat us all down in a row that I noticed that all three of them looked severely bruised.
"Lupin, I have already had a short talk with these three, and brought you here as it appears that you were somehow involved in the cause of the incident that happened in the early hours of this morning."Confused, I looked across at everyone. Sirius was looking sheepish, while James and Peter both looked seriously peeved.
"I'm sorry, Professor," I stammered, "I'm not quite sure what you mean."
"Very well. Whatever the meaning behind all this trouble, it's none of my business. But I believe you, Lupin, ought to be informed of what has happened, and all of you shall find out what your punishments are.
"First of all, this morning at four o'clock, Professor Dumbledore came to inform me that Argus Filch had caught three of my students out of bed, down by the forbidden forest, duelling," all three of them looked down in shame. "After I woke Madame Pomfrey to heal all their more serious wounds," I was shocked at that part, "I brought them all here to have a talk with them. I tried to find out what exactly has gone on here, and they told me a little, so I sent them to bed, although I suspect that none of them went. They have not been allowed breakfast, and they have sat in silence until they decided they won't argue and interrupt anymore," They were all bright red by then. I suddenly noticed that my face was screwed up, so I relaxed it, and looked back at McGonagall. "They finally told me that you played some part. Now, to the punishments,"
As James sighed, Sirius looked like he was about to argue, but as is eyes caught mine, I glared at him, and he kept quiet.
"Now first, James Potter," James bravely looked up. "Out of bed after hours, inside the forbidden forest, starting a duel out of class, causing harm to Sirius Black. I'd say that you deserve two months of daily detentions, and you shall no longer be on the quidditch team." James was sensible, and stopped himself from talking back, although I could tell he was desperate not to get kicked off the quidditch team.
"Secondly, Sirius Black," the expression on McGonagall's face was quite grave. "You too were out of bed after hours, again inside the forbidden, and you took part in a duel outside of class," there was a pause. "You attacked Pettigrew unprovoked. You caused two fellow students considerable harm. You disrespected Argus Filch," I was shocked at the extent of Sirius' wrongdoing. "You too will receive two months' detention, and your wand will be confiscated. You shall only be doing written work in lessons," Sirius protested, but a stern look from the professor shut him up.
"Peter Pettigrew, you were out of bed, in the forest and caused Sirius some injuries, although that appears to have been self-defense. You shall get two months of detention." Peter seemed quite happy with getting off so lightly.
"Now, Mr Lupin, I don't know what your part was in this incident, and I suspect you may be innocent, but to avoid any more happenings like this one in the future, none of you will be allowed to Hogsmeade. Now, if you'll all kindly get back to lessons..." She stood up, and so did we, and we all filed out of the room. Exchanging silent looks, we all went separate ways, even though we all had the same lesson.