note: just a short little extra. will update maybe, sporadically. It ends when they end, canon-compliant.
If Only She Would Shut Up About Severus
Sirius, James, and Peter have a secret. Even from Remus. They said it was a good secret, and they would tell him as soon as it wasn't a theoretical secret, but actual.
Whatever that could mean. They said the same thing fourth year, and third year too.
Remus cared more last year, but this year, they have OWLs, they notice girls, and girls notice them.
Sirius is acting very oddly before he comes back one night with a story of losing his virginity to a seventh-year Ravenclaw. "I'm telling you, Prongs, Wormtail, Moony - Ravenclaw girls know exactly what they're doing, and exactly what they want. Hufflepuffs are lovely girlfriends, I suppose, but if you actually want to get the Quaffle in, go Ravenclaw."
James laughs. "So much for house pride, Padfoot." That's part of the secret - they've all got these Marauder nicknames. Remus didn't get to choose his - he's been called "Moony" for years. Everyone loyally claimed it was because he had a crush on some 'Puff his second year (she was a sixth year, and he did have a crush for six months).
"Well, as glad as I am that you've gotten rid of your pesky virginity, I think I better go find Evans before she comes up here and finds out what a pig you are." They all laugh, even James, louder than everyone. He's at that point where he knows his crush is stupid and never ever going to happen, but he's blaming her for it. He's being ruder than normal to her, and Remus is the only one who ever sticks up for her.
He's also the only one who stops mocking and fighting with Snape. Lily calls him "Severus" and talks about him. Quite a good bit, really. He can't help but wonder if the others would put up with a girl talking about Snape in exchange for snogging. Maybe James, but definitely not Sirius. And he's actually forgetting Peter, Peter is gay but closeted, not even the other Marauders know that Peter prefers blokes. Not Snape, though. If he wasn't snogging Lily every week, he'd still think Snape was her boyfriend. Everyone in Gryffindor and Slytherin Houses thinks that's the only reason the two would hang out. Well, now Remus knows that Snape was the one who showed Lily that she was a witch, the one who told her about Hogwarts, the one who saw her glee upon buying a wand. They're not as close now as they used to be, and it rather bothers her. At first they were each others' only friends, and oh my, did Snape - Severus - get a lot of trouble in Slytherin for having a Muggleborn friend. No one thinks Snape - Severus - has any courage, but if that were really true, he would have cut off Lily immediately, but it's only now that she's starting to feel that he's, well, being Slytherin about it.
"We all thought you were together, for years," Remus says bluntly. "D'you think that's the issue?"
She frowns. "He's a half-blood, I did think he was Slytherin enough not to - I mean he's never even tried as much as holding my hands since we started second year."
Second year, Remus thinks fondly, was when Lily's breasts became quite evident. "So you don't think he's interested in you this way?" he asks, running his hand through her thick red hair.
She huffs. "If he is, he's got a strange way of showing it."
Well, that's true, but Snape is nothing but strange. "But he's Slytherin, not Gryffindor. How many blokes have asked you for a kiss anyway?" he says with a chuckle to take the edge off his words, he doesn't want her to notice how much he dislikes Snape.
"Does 'oi, give us a kiss then' count?"
Remus' jaw drops. "Who said that?"
"Some drunken toerags late at night once, yelling at me and Petunia. Severus was with us and cast Incarcerous on them," she giggles.
"How gallant of him," Remus says with the straightest, blankest face ever, as he would when telling a joke to the Marauders.
And just like James, Lily cracks up. "Remus!" she barely gets out, smacking him lightly on the shoulder.
He grins finally, then pulls her behind a suit of armour. He always likes to make her laugh before starting to kiss her. He doesn't have any basis for comparison, but it worked the first time, right? He can put up with Snape - Severus - stories, he supposes, because now it's her hair and her smell and her lips and teeth and tongue, his calloused hands on her soft skin and hair, so lovely. He knows this is just hormones, this is only going to last until she says it ends, probably when Severus pulls his head from his bum and asks her out proper, but in the meantime...
In the meantime, they kiss.
"Remus," she says softly.
"Lily," he returns, breathless, and attacks her collarbone.
"Oh God, oh!" she gasps when he starts using his teeth. "Oh God, Remus, I - ahhhhhh," she moans, forgetting her words.
He moves to her ear, kissing a line up to it. "Did you want something, love?" he asks.
"Uh, I was going to say, well, we need to finish up our rounds, but um..." He's pulled back enough to look her in the eyes, chin in his hands. She's blushing like fire, making her freckles stand out. Merlin but she's beautiful like that. "I kind of like that. A lot."
"You mean when I do this?" He goes back to her collarbone. He's probably going to leave marks. Good thing they wear robes to classes.