Disclaimer: I do not own these characters or the setting. The plot is all mine, though. Enjoy!
"Truth or dare," said James. He and three other boys were sitting on the floor in the seventh-years' portion of Gryffindor Tower. The other three groaned in unison, one of them banging his head on the wall behind him.
"James," said Sirius impatiently, rubbing his head vigorously with his left palm, "How many times do we have to tell you? 'Truth or Dare' is a game for third-years. We're seventeen."
"Yeah," piped up Peter from Sirius's other side.
James huffed and crossed his arms.
"Well, what do you propose, Mr. I'm-Too-Mature-For-You?"
"I propose that we do something else," said Sirius stubbornly. "Back me up, Remus."
Remus turned his eyes away from the waxing moon outside the window. He shrugged and said, "Knowing Prongs, whatever we do that keeps him away from harassing Lily is fine in my book."
It was Sirius's turn to huff. And so he huffed.
"Fine. Anything but 'Spin the bottle,'" he muttered.
"Ha!" said James triumphantly. "Hey, Sirius, truth or dare?"
Sirius rolled his eyes. "Uh, truth."
"Really?" said James. "That's no fun. The point of this game is to have fun."
"Well, you'd better think of a question, Potter, because it's three in the morning and I have no intention of moving."
James smirked. "Okay, now you're asking for it. Who was your first kiss?"
"Mary Macdonald," said Sirius in exasperation. "You already knew that. If this game is just going to be about birds, then –"
"It won't be," said James reassuringly. "I promise."
Remus and Peter shared an amused look in the dark.
Sirius ignored him and turned to Peter.
"Okay, Pete, truth or dare?"
Peter's eyes twitched nervously, much like his animagus form did when he got especially spooked.
"Dare," he said eventually. Peter had no idea what lengths Sirius would reach to humiliate anyone – even his friends – when he was in a bad mood. Acting stupid was far better than spilling out his entire soul to Sirius Black and James Potter. Remus, of course, was probably a safe confident, but even so, Peter had no wish to tell anyone that he still sucked his thumb. Magical truth or dare could be quite dangerous.
Sirius grinned mischievously, his usual Marauder-ish sense of humor returning back from wherever it had been hiding only seconds previously. "Go up to the girls' dormitories and steal…I dunno, what do girls wear, again? Bras? Yeah. Go and steal a bra, Pete."
Peter gaped at him in horror. "But, Padfoot, it's impossible for guys to get into the girls' rooms. I'll be caught in the Common Room!"
"That's the point, Wormtail," James chimed in, also wearing a rather wicked smile on his face.
Peter looked desperately at Remus. The latter cringed in sympathy, saying, "Sorry, Wormtail. Those two are really awful. I can go down to the Common Room with you, if you want." Remus shot a sly glance at Sirius as he spoke, who, for some reason, blushed and ducked his head.
Peter nodded his head emphatically at Remus's offer. "Yes, please!"
Remus chuckled and pushed himself up from the floor. "Let's go, then."
As soon as the door shut behind them, James turned to Sirius with a frown.
"I thought you were going to tell him!" he said furiously.
Sirius feigned innocence. "Tell who what, exactly?"
James sighed and poked his friend's shoulder, his anger abating.
"You know what I'm talking about…weren't you going to tell Remus that you love –"
Sirius flushed scarlet. "I do not love him," he snapped.
"No?" said James. "My bad. I must have imagined our entire conversation in History of Magic yesterday."
"Well, I don't. I don't l-love him. It's just a fancy, is all." Sirius fidgeted with his pajama sleeve, refusing to meet James's eyes.
"This 'fancy' has gotten you into quite a fix, though. You're so grouchy that it's a wonder anyone can talk to you at all," James pointed out.
"Hey, you'd be grouchy, too if you had to miss dinner for a week while serving detentions with Filch," said Sirius, stung by his best friend's bluntness.
"Listen, mate, I'm trying to do you a favor," said James, not unkindly. "The sooner you tell Remus, the better. It's tearing you up, and everyone can tell, even if they don't know what 'it' is."
Sirius cocked his head to the side while he listened to James. Two voices were arguing in his head.
"The boy has a point," the first voice said.
"No!" said the second. "I can't tell him!"
"Why not?" the first voice asked reasonably.
"Because."
"Because why?"
"Just because."
"Sirius," said the first voice, "there must be a reason behind this madness."
"He doesn't fancy me! That's why I can't tell him. He'll laugh and brush it off and find some bird to live happily ever after with…"
"Padfoot?" James's stern voice broke into Sirius's reverie. "You there, mate? I've been talking for at least five minutes and you haven't said a word."
"What?" said Sirius blankly. "Yeah, I'm here. Continue."
James eyed him beadily. "I said, 'if you don't tell Remus how you feel, then I'll do it for you.'"
The voices in Sirius's head immediately started arguing again, but this time he ignored them.
"Why?" he said. "I mean, they're my feelings. And it's none of your business, either. So there."
"Then how come you've been telling me absolutely everything about him for an entire year?" James didn't wait for an answer and pressed on. "Moony deserves to know."
Sirius opened his mouth to retaliate just as the door swung open; Remus and Peter rushed in and collapsed in a fit of laughter. A white bra was visible amidst the giggles. Sirius closed his mouth at once and pressed his lips into a firm line.
And then Remus asked the inevitable question:
"Moony deserves to know what?" His tone was friendly, but Sirius could sense a deeper emotion underneath the lightheartedness.
James, noticing that Sirius was unlikely to speak anytime soon, said, "You deserve to know that, er –" Sirius shot him a warning glance – "well…somebody fancies you."
Sirius's face went deathly pale. Remus, however, did not see Sirius's facial expression. In fact, he didn't see anything. He had closed his eyes upon hearing the word, "fancies." James had not been expecting that.
"Moony?" James said tentatively. "Moony, are you okay?"
Remus's face was as blank as a slate when he opened his eyes.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just. Why didn't you tell me?"
"It's kind of complicated," said Sirius hastily.
Remus raised his eyebrows expectantly as Peter donated an awkward giggle to the conversation.
"I don't see why it should be so complicated," said Remus slowly, "Because unless one of you has suddenly developed a crush on me, I do deserve to know."
"It's nothing like that," said James convincingly. "The complicated part is that this girl told Sirius that she fancies you, but Sirius didn't know what to do because she told him not to tell anyone. So, uh, Sirius told me because he panicked – you know how he is with girls – and then I didn't know what to do either, so. Yeah."
Peter cleared his throat. "Neither of you are making sense," he said hesitantly. The room got very, very quiet.
"Here's the deal, Moony," said Sirius finally, "I could tell that this girl likes you a lot, but she knows that you don't like her back. And it would, well, sort of hurt her if we told you because she was so scared."
Remus stared at him. Sirius rarely acted this sensitive, and yet – and yet he clearly wasn't lying. For the first time since they'd been friends, Remus wasn't sure what to make of his behavior.
"All right," he said evenly. "Oh, and we've got Potions first thing tomorrow morning, so I suggest we all get some sleep."
The others yawned in agreement, each muttering completely different things under their breaths: worries about an unfinished essay due the next day, a new tactic to win Lily's heart, the upcoming full moon, and…
… a heartache that bordered on nausea.
A/N: Well, there's the first chapter. I hope you liked it – I'll try to update soon! Oh, and could you please give me some feedback? Constructive criticism is much appreciated.