Chapter One: Inception

Sirius squinted at the light filtering in through the gap in his maroon bed curtains, lifting his hand to shield his eyes from the offending light he felt an obstruction on his limb's journey. Glancing down, he realized that the unfamiliar warmth next to his body was actually another person. Frowning Sirius searched the recesses of his still hazy mind for information on the owner of the curly blonde hair that was sprawled across his pillow. Hufflepuff, fifth year, skinny build and an overly persistent personality those were the things that immediately came to him as he watched a pair of deep green eyes open and focus on his face.

"Morning love," she whispered before turning to curl into his side.

"Morning," Sirius replied gruffly as he watched her stretch to place a few chaste kisses on his shoulder. "Listen... It's getting kinda late, you should probably get back to your dorm before the common room starts filling up." Slipping his arm from underneath her body, he pushed himself into a sitting position and grabbed his wand from the bedside. Briefly glancing around to the other occupants of the room he summoning the girl's discarded clothes off the floor with a swish of his wand. "Here you go," he said stifling a yawn before grabbing a pair of trousers and slipping out of the bed giving her privacy to redress. When Sirius had reemerged from the bathroom, the skinny girl with blonde curl hair, Charlotte he remembered, was standing by the door of his dorm looking sheepishly at him.

"Well... I really enjoyed last night," she whispered before blushing and smiling up at him purposively, "hopefully if you're free soon we can do it again."

"Yeah, that'd be great," Sirius said quietly while peering yet again at the closed bed curtains of his roommates, turning back to Charlotte he flicked his wand sharply before encircling both of them in a light mist. "This should get us through the common room without anyone seeing you" was all he said before opening the door and ushering her down the stairs. Walking quickly and saying very little Sirius was able to get them both to the group of barrels that would reveal themselves to be the entrance of the Hufflepuff common room. "See you around," was all he said before turning and disappearing back down the nearest corridor.

"So...Who was it last night?" James asked as he took a swing of the Butterbear he'd been nursing for the last few minutes.

"Huh?" Sirius tilted his head up at his friend, finally pulling his eyes from the stairs leading up to the boy's dormitory. "Oh...your talking about my bedmate? You know I never kiss and tell, Jamsie. You'll have to figure that out on your own." Swinging his legs over the side of his friend's armchair he winked over at the group of girls huddled in the corner closest to them. They tittered nervously at him while to trying to pretend that they hadn't been standing that close in hopes for a reaction from the handsome boy.

"Hmm.. Let's see.. I doubt it's a Gryffindor since it took you forever to back from walking her to her dorm. So I guess we're looking at a Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw this time. Have you seen anyone new lingering around recently, Pete?

Peter took a bite of a piece of pie he'd snuck up from dinner before glancing up at the two black-haired boys, "Was it a repeat?" he asked finally looking up at to met Sirius' eyes.

"Nope" Sirius had taken out his wand and was practicing an enchanting charm that enabled the embers of the fire roaring a few feet away from him to spring to life and quickly dip to begin a type of Waltz.

"Well then, my guess is on Clearwater, Abbott, Boot, or that annoying Edgecombe girl that kept hovering over the table during dinner. It made it really hard to eat cause I kept worrying about one of them dropping a potion in our pumpkin juice or something" he said frowning down at Sirius' dancing embers. "Can't you tell them to leave you alone meals?"

"Pffft. It's not like I tell them to join me during meals, mate. But they usually get the picture when I ignore them. Unfortunately your observation's correct, you're starting to get scarily good at figuring them out. It was definitely one of those...But you did make me realize that I haven't had a Gryffindor in a while..."

"That's because there aren't many girls left in our house. Unless your gonna start preying on the third years?" James' nose wrinkled in disgust before looking over at a few quiet ones going over their Charms in the corner. "That's not something I could support, Black."

"Neither could I. But I was thinking more along the lines of something a bit more challenging. Maybe a prefect" Sirius scanned the common room before settling on someone he was sure would rouse James. "Maybe a red headed perfect." He quickly ducked as a flick of James' wand prompted his dancing ember couples to start catapulting themselves towards his head. Laughing loudly, he barely missed the next round of dancers and had to pat the right sleeve of his robes where a waltzing couple had grazed him. "Don't be so touché, I mean, what are the chances of you ever getting anywhere with her anyways?"

James' ears pinked as he narrowed his eyes dangerously towards Sirius, "you act like you could have anyone you wanted."

"Certainly"

"Oh? And how certain is your 'certainly'? Would you care to make a bet?" Sirius' ears tilted towards James in a canine expression of excitement before leaning towards the lanky boy.

"What do you have in mind?" Sirius' mischievous smile was already firmly fitted onto the boys face and James needed no more indication that he had already taken an interest in the proposition.

"A bet. You bed someone of our choosing in...in...four months," James glanced over at Peter to ensure the blonde's involvement. Once the pie had completely disappeared down the larger boy's throat his face formed into a sly smile before leaning towards the circle that always formed when the boys were plotting in excitement. "And you get..." James glanced around at the common room once more before his gaze flittered out the window. What could possibly be worthy as the accolade to their wager?"

"How about the loser of the bet has to map the Shrieking Shack?" Peter suggested snapping his chubby fingers ingeniously. It had been last year when the boys had made the suggestion of creating a map of Hogwarts and the surrounding areas including the village of Hogsmead, it had been an excellent way to keep track of the many hidden rooms, corridors, and trap doors they'd found in their years within the castle. "We've almost finished the streets of Hogsmead but we don't have anything on the Shrieking Shack or it's perimeter... I'm sure there must be something exciting there for all the locals to shy away."

James bite his bottom lip and glanced at the table in the middle of the circle once more before looking up to find Lily Evans sitting alone with a pile of books by her feet. This seemed to strengthen his resolve and he nodded firmly saying, "sounds like a plan. I can see how having a whole empty house might come in useful. Anything we can't store in here or potions that can't be brewed in the castle can be brewed there."

Sirius nodded quickly before grinning and whispered, "now... who's the lucky target?" James and Peter looked at each other once again before turning towards the roaring fire racking their brains for someone with a shred of decency to stand up against Sirius' advances.

"Well... Evans really does hate him, I mean-" Peter's words were lost in the whimper that left his throat at the murderous look James shot him. "Nevermind" he mumbled in the base of collar as he avoided the boy's eyes. Sirius was about to comment on the particularly pathetic sound that James had managed to elicit from their occassionally spineless companion when movement from the stairs of the boy's dormitory halted the words that had formed in the boy's mind. A slim figure descended from the stairs with a few books in his arms, he flicked his head slightly to move the long pieces of light brown hair that often fell in his face in the most inopportune times. It took the fifth year all of five seconds to quickly scan the common room before walking over to seat with his fellow prefect, Lily Evans.

Peter silently watched Sirius indulge in his fascination of their fellow year-mate before coming to a silent decision, "so, your absolutely confident that you can bed anyone we choose?" Sirius glanced back to the slightly chubby boy before the first signs of doubt flickered across his aristocrat face.

"Well..."

"What if we pick a Gryffindor, and in exchange you can't refuse our choice." James glanced over to Peter in surprise before frowning as he voiced his concerns.

" I dunno Pete, Sirius really has gone through almost all the Gryffindors, that are of acceptable age that is, I'm not supporting some perverted choice either," James shook his head defiantly almost as if he was thinking about the possibility personally of bedding a younger student. He almost missed the deliberate look Peter shot him before the chubby boy continued with his plan.

"Of course not, that's just wrong. But Sirius what do you say? Our choice of a Gryffindor who's of age. No refusals," Peter grinned slyly maintaining eye contact with the taller boy. Sirius' mischievous look reappeared more ingrained than before and he confidently lounged back into his chair before smirking up at them.

"I'm in. Gimme a name," he threw his arm around his head closing his eyes as if he'd already decided that this bet didn't hold the challenge required to ensure that he stayed awake for the duration of the conversation.

"Remus Lupin" Peter breathed out triumphantly. James' eyes shot up to Peter before finally landing on the quiet, reserved boy who, despite being in their year, was almost a complete mystery to them. While Lupin's polite smile and humble voice couldn't be described as unfriendly, the calculated approach he took to deflecting personal questions and diverting conversations that could help unravel the enigma that he presented had frustrated the group of friends in their first few years of school. There had once been a time when the boys had delighted in following their dorm-mate and springing up on him with the intent of shifting the reserved mask the boy seemed to wear but with discovery of Hogsmead, the lure of discovering the secrets of the castle, and the temptation to dive into mischief their silent dorm-mate had been left up to his own devices. Until now.

Sirius' eyes snapped open before staring over at the pale brown haired prefect who was now flipping through one of the books he'd been carrying to show Evans something he found interesting. James grinned devilishly seizing the opportunity to punish Sirius for teasing him about his crush earlier. "Excellent choice, Pete!" he said laughing loudly as he reached over and clapped Peter on the back. "Sirius, you've experimented before, right? I've never seen Lupin dating a girl and we're in our fifth year now. Do you know if he's a pounce?" James titled his head while staring at Lupin as if he could discern the boy's sexual orientation by viewing him horizontally.

"The only person I've ever seen him spend private time with outside of his study group is Justin Macdonald that sixth year Hufflepuff. Macdonald is definitely a pouf so if they were spending time together..." Peter trailed off. "But is it settled? Remus Lupin in four months. That should give you plenty of time."

Sirius tore his eyes away from Lupin before glancing at his smirking friends one last time. Putting on his best face of lazy confidence he reached out and gripped both Peter's and James' hand saying, "Yeah. It's a deal."