"Come on Rem, just tell me – I won't laugh," Sirius begged for about the fifteenth time that day.
"I'm not seeing anyone, Sirius," Remus said again, still not meeting Sirius' eyes.
"What was it you were saying earlier about trust and lies, Rem? Tell me the truth."
Remus was torn – he didn't want to say anything about his romantic affairs, but he didn't want to lie, either.
He settled for, "I'm not saying anything, Sirius, and let that be an end to it."
Looking somewhat smug at having this confirmation, Sirius scurried out of the portrait hole and away.
"What's happening now?" James said; a look of excitement filling his face by default, as Sirius had rushed past him.
"Nothing," Remus answered; a faint flush filling his cheeks as he wondered what Sirius had in store.
"Sirius Black?"
The class looked around as Sirius' name was called amidst the register.
Remus frowned. At the back of their potion's classroom, Sirius was bent over a cauldron, looking rather intrigued; his mind far away from the classroom around him.
"Mr Black – I understand your apparent excitement, my boy, but can out of class potions be saved until we are 'out of class'?" Professor Slughorn asked him; no trace of anger in his voice at all. Merely wonder.
"Sorry, Sir," Sirius replied, skimming through a book before shutting it as he looked up and caught Remus' eyes on him.
Remus was somewhat abashed. Never in the history of time, had Sirius apologised for disrupting a lesson. Ever. There was something major going on – there had to be.
As he turned to look back at the front, Remus' eyes met Severus'. They offered one another a small smile, before Severus was nudged back to attention by a fellow Slytherin.
'If only he knew...' Remus thought, glancing back over to where Sirius was checking on his cauldron again.
"Can I have your essays?" Professor Slughorn asked them, flicking his wand as half a dozen essays flew his way. He overlooked the essays that had not come from his own house, and instead fixed his eyes once more, upon Sirius.
"Mr Black, I was under the impression I asked you to leave that until afterwards," he said, still smiling, "What is so important?"
Sirius' smug look faltered, "I just...Can I do this part, and then it can be left to stew, Sir?"
Professor Slughorn nodded, "I can see you pay attention in your classes, Mr Black, knowing the correct place to stop, when asked."
He then went back to his desk to organise work, muttering about missing out on having the entire Black family in his house.
Severus' head suddenly whipped around.
Various people cast him a questioning look.
"Sirius, are you sure that potion is okay?" Remus asked Sirius, knowing that expression upon Severus' face – it was the one he wore when Remus had messed up a potion, as per usual.
"Never you worry, my furry friend, never you worry," Sirius replied, slapping a hand to Remus' shoulder as he sat down beside him.
Severus looked sceptical – he of course knew that there was a mistake in the potion, but seemed in no rush to point that out. The sceptical expression turned to one of disgust as he saw Sirius' arm still upon Remus'.
Seeing this, Remus shuffled a little until Sirius' arm fell down.
This action only made Sirius even happier, and so he went on to scan the class – correctly assuming that Remus' so-called 'partner' was in this room.
Remus groaned, tearing his gaze away from Severus' somewhat mechanical stature, and focusing on the lesson at hand, trying to appear innocent.
"So, are you going to tell me who it is?" James asked Remus as they sat for lunch.
"Not you too..." Remus sighed, shaking his head in exasperation.
"What's this about you having a girlfriend Remus?" Lily said, sitting beside him as she usually did at lunch.
A girlfriend.
Remus worked hard to swallow, as opposed to choking upon his pumpkin juice. As it was, his eyes watered slightly with the force.
They thought he had a girlfriend.
"Whoa," Remus coughed as someone smacked a hand to his back.
"So, tell us then. Who is she?" James prompted once again.
"Where is Sirius?" Remus asked, trying to distract them.
"Seeing to his potion. Now, don't avoid the question. Who is it?" James answered, taking them back to the matter at hand.
Seeing to the potion. Again.
"Forget about it," Remus answered him eventually, before taking a hesitant sip of his drink.
Remus scanned the room, hoping to see a certain person. Lily discretely followed his gaze, unbeknown to Remus, and so – as Severus' eyes met Remus' (and Lily's, by default) he looked away, somewhat surprising to Remus.
"I'm going to the...library," Remus lied easily, standing up and deserting his food. With a quick jerk of his head, he motioned for Severus to join him.
"I'll be back later – got another...Potions...essay to do," Remus confirmed.
"Get help from Sirius, he seems to be serious about that these days," James said with a shrug, relishing in the idea of being left alone with Lily.
Remus merely nodded in agreement, before leaving them discussing the possibility that 'Sirius was always Sirius – serious.'
"Great," Sirius said aloud to the empty classroom, swirling his wand through the potion once more.
He checked the instructions to see if he was absolutely ready. It didn't smell as they'd described – a little too strong, but he put that down to the age of the Boomslang skin, and went on to pouring the content of the cauldron into a goblet.
"Here goes," Sirius said aloud, eyeing the potion with an eager, though nervous vehemence.
Sirius poured the potion into his now open throat.
Simultaneously, Remus was thinking;
'What has Sirius got planned now?'