Prongs' Secret
"Don't you ever get tired of looking through other peoples' stuff, Padfoot?" sighed a tired and exasperated Remus Lupin, whilst lounging on one of the large, comfy armchairs by the side of the roaring Gryffindor common fire, a glass of pumpkin juice in one hand, a 5th year charms book in the other.
"Now, why would I ever get tired of doing that, eh Moony?" replied a haughtily good-looking boy of around fifteen, who was draped over another armchair, looking for all the world decidedly bored, but very handsomely so. A couple of giggling girls sat across from him, occasionally glancing his way, determined to catch his eye, as he perused his best friend's – James Potter's – Defence Against the Dark Arts textbook.
"Why are you reading that anyway? I had thought diaries were more your style," so-called Moony replied, eyes narrowed.
His companion grinned, and a mischievous glint appeared in his grey eyes, "Oh c'mon Moony! You're not still going on about that, are you? We've been over this, what, a thousand times? It was there, on your bedside cabinet, open for the entire world to see! It was practically begging me, 'Read me! Read me!'" he exclaimed, mimicking a high, girly voice, "I would need the will of a nun to ignore it, and we all know that -"
"I get it, I get it!" Moony shouted, cutting off his friend, "I've heard this story too many times! And can we just stop talking about this whole ordeal, I still have nightmares!"
"But you brought it up!" huffed the handsome boy, arms flailing, "And I told you I was sorry. Who knew that Mary Macdonald was going to react the way she did when I told her what you had written about her huge -"
"DO NOT FINISH THAT SENTENCE!" boomed a very red-faced Moony, causing all the girls who were watching the exchange to jump, and then carry on with more vigorous whispering.
"Alright, alright, calm down! I've learnt the error of my ways, I can assure you."
"Oh, and reading Prongs' textbook is the way forward is it?" Moony asked sceptically, his own textbook by this point completely ignored.
"Well, it's not as bad as reading his diary, or your diary I should say -" he paused, giving Moony time to send daggers his way. "Are you quite finished? Yes, well there's nothing that juicy in here, just a few amusing quotes from class and stu…." He had turned the page, and upon seeing what was written there had momentarily lost all train of thought.
"I think the word you're looking for there, Padfoot, is stuff," said Moony, unaware of his friend's startling discovery. "No witty remark, Padfoot?" he carried on, still unaware, "You're obviously losing your touch." He looked up, amused, but then saw the awe on his friend's handsome face.
"Padfoot?"
Padfoot seemed to regain his voice enough to loudly exclaim "BLOODY HELL!"
The girls collectively giggled, and even Remus was trying very hard to suppress a grin.
"What? Is there something written in the textbook, Sirius?"
"See for yourself." And with that, he thrust the book into Remus' outstretched callous hands, and watched as the initial shock turned into a look of wise understanding. Remus smiled. Sirius Black was a little bewildered, and frankly, angry at his friend's lack of reaction.
"Well?" he squeaked, sounding decidedly feminine.
"Well what? Didn't you know?"
"Does this look like a face of a man in the know!?" he whispered angrily."Wait, did you know!?"
"If you mean, did you know because James told you, then no, I didn't know. If you mean, did you know because it's all rather obvious on his part, then yes."
Sirius looked confused, but he even managed to pull this off quite handsomely. "What?"
"It's obvious!" he cried, pointing to the open book, whose insides were covered with a small, untidy scrawl bearing the words JP 4 LE.
"How is it obvious? And why hasn't Prongs said anything about it?" Sirius looked a little put out, Remus once again exasperated.
"Well after my whole Mary Macdonald fiasco I'm not surprised!"
"Oh"
"And well there's the inescapable fact that Evans hates him, and you know how proud his is, it would kill him to be knocked back like I was."
Sirius seemed to be contemplating this. "Yeah I guess, but that was entirely my fault."
"Yes, I know."
"Do you think he thinks I'd screw it up for him?"
"He might think that. Maybe he just didn't want everyone to know yet, not that he hasn't been obvious…"
"Here we go again with this 'obvious' business! If it was sooooo obvious, I would have noticed!"
Remus gave him a pointed look, which he swatted away with his hand, as if to shush whatever was coming from his friend's mouth before he had even opened it.
"When? How? Why? She's Snivellus' best friend, for god's sake!"
"She's also kind, popular, attractive, fun to be around, and she even has a rebellious streak! You know this one time…"
"One would think you had a crush on her!"
Remus dismissed this with a flick of his wrist. "Nah, she's not my type."
"Oh right," grinned Sirius as he spotted Mary entering the common room, "We all know what your type is." He laughed, making rude hand gestures over his chest.
"Stop that!" growled Moony, turning a few shades short of tomato red, as he made sure that Mary had not seen, ignoring his friend, who was by this point bent double with mirth.
"Alright, alright I'm sorry!" he said through his laughter, clearly not sorry at all, "Back to Evans. Since when has he liked her? All she seems to do is shout at the poor bloke!"
"I think he's fancied her for a while now, but he really started liking her in October when she put that dungbomb in Filch's office because he had told her off for something, but I don't know what. The rebellious streak probably served to tell James that she was indeed a girl that deserved his undivided attention."
"When did you say this was?"
"October"
Sirius looked scandalized. "I got detention for that!" he shouted, causing the gaggle of girls to jump again. "Filch suspected it was me when he couldn't find the culprit, and I had to mop the corridors down in the dungeons all week. THE MUGGLE WAY! Oooh," he said, practically steaming from the ears, "You wait until I get my hands on that girl! Prefect, my backside! The one time I was actually innocent and I get the blame anyway!"
"Calm down, will you? What do you think James would say if he heard you ranting about the lovely Lily Evans, eh?"
This seemed to calm him down considerably. "What are we going to do, Moony? Do we confront him about it all, or let nature run its course, if you will."
"I think we should sit back and enjoy what is bound to be a very entertaining show, Padfoot. Evans/Potter fights are legendary, so the two coming together to exchange kisses rather than blows should make for a very interesting spectacle. And of course," he said smiling, that Marauder twinkle in his eye, "we'll have front seats."