"I'm telling you Padfoot, one day your metabolism is going to stop working and all that food you constantly shovel down your throat is going to go straight to your belly. Years from now Remus and I will be young and fit but you'll be peering over the hill to see your toes."
Remus snorted into his pumpkin juice. A loud roaring laugh erupted from the three best friends as Sirius ruefully put back that fourth helping of bacon and eggs, glancing conspicuously at his stomach between his grumbling. James gave Lupin a sly smirk as he took of his glasses and cleaned them with the sleeve of his robes. As expected, Wormtail was still hooting with delight at James' joke. That was until Sirius shot him a warning look over his glass of Marmalade.
Peter quickly went back to his toast.
With an affectionate nudge in the ribs Remus chuckled at Wormtail, helping himself to another piece of toast. He just bit into it before he started watching a group of first years down the table who were suspiciously passing something beneath the table. They caught Remus looking and the blonde little boy immediately ducked his head, snatching his hand back and innocently putting them both on the table in plain sight.
"Oi, James," Sirius said in a rather hushed voice, "here comes Lily."
With the charming attitude Remus could never dream of having, James slowly lifted his eyes from his food, tossed his untidy hair back with a smile and nodded a greeting to the passing girl.
"Hi, Lily," they all said in unison.
She flickered her eyes between the group and her little entourage of girls and gave a playful scoff as they broke out in a fit of giggles, lingering in the aisle a little to get better looks James and Sirius. As usual, they hardly spared a glance at Remus.
"Hello, boys," she said brightly, her green eyes flashing to each of her faces. His heart gave a little jump as he realized she gave him more than a fleeting look. She tucked a piece of her lovely hair behind her ear and said smoothly as if she did it every day, "Good morning, Remus."
"Yes, good morning, Remus," Arabella added coyly.
He tried to play it cool like Sirius and James. He gave her a shaky smile and moved to lean his elbow on the table. Instead of catching solid wood he caught a plate of eggs and bacon, making it suddenly clatter to the floor.
Embarrassed he stooped over the bench and levitated the ruined food back onto the plate before returning it to the table. The girls were laughing with their hands covering their mouths. As to hide his blushing face, Remus turned his back on them and pretended to be quite interested in the Daily Prophet that was just delivered by his owl, Seth.
The laughing stopped immediately as Sirius gave the girls a hard look, making them walk briskly towards the empty seats further away from them. Lily watched them with a slightly annoyed look before turning back and nodding her goodbyes to the boys. She caught Remus' curious eye when he turned to see if she had gone and gave him an apologetic smile. In a matter of seconds she joined her friends and helped herself to some toast.
"They acted like they've never seen someone have an accident at the breakfast table before, honestly." Sirius gave Remus a light smirk and he instantly felt a little better, glad for his best friend.
"Yes, that was rather smooth of you, Moony," chuckled James affectionately. He stuck a piece of bacon in his mouth and pointed his fork at Arabella. "She's a good looking girl, you know."
"Who, Arabella?" asked Sirius, taking the Prophet from Remus once he finished to eye the Broomstick catalog. "Yeah, killer legs that girl has."
"She smells nice. Like fruity perfume." Wormtail nodded his head in agreement.
"That settles it, then." James set his fork down and stared intently at Remus, wriggling his eyebrows.
"Wait, settles what?" Remus tugged at the collar of his shirt, suddenly uncomfortable.
"You're going to ask Arabella out, of course!" cried Sirius as he folded up the paper and tucked it into his robes, getting up. James followed, flinging his bag over his shoulder and adjusting his glasses, stealing a glance at Lily. Remus tried not to look too.
"I don't know how. And besides, she'll say no." He untangled his gangly legs from the bench and retrieved his things. Lily's smile was still lingering in his mind.
"No? Look at yourself, mate. She won't be able to resist Mr. Prefect! I mean, you're best friends with us so that must mean you're attractive," Sirius said, tossing his head over Remus' shoulder as they left the Great Hall. Wormtail squeaked an encouragement that he didn't hear.
He was too busy stopping himself from shouting out 'But I want to date, Lily!'
So he cleverly covered his train of thought by absently running his hand through his light hair, giving off the appearance of thinking. Suddenly, with a cheeky smile, he told Sirius,
"Maybe I do have a chance. After all, I'm better looking than you. AND I don't smell like wet dog half the time."
With another roar of laughter, Remus sped off down the corridor to the dungeons, forgetting that he was a prefect because Sirius was chasing after him, brandishing a fist in the air.
Potions was brutal that day. Peter and James stood at one side of the table while Remus and James stood at the other. Their cauldrons were bubbling in front of them and the air held a burning scent that curled painfully into Remus' sensitive nose. James had retreated into a thoughtful silence as he read over the instructions, nodding occasionally to Sirius who kept talking through his work. At one point, when Remus decided to sneak a look at Lily, he saw Slughorn open his mouth to say something to Sirius but he just shut it and shook his head. Getting Padfoot to stop talking was indeed a hopeless cause.
"Was I supposed to add the Pomegranate juice before or after the salamander blood?" asked Wormtail, his forehead glistening with sweat as he worked tirelessly to get his potion to turn the correct the color. Right now his Strengthening Solution was a bright orange when it was supposed to be yellow.
"After," said Remus shortly, stirring his potion clockwise a few times before changing directions. James glanced at Peter's chopped roots and slid them towards his own cutting board where he fixed them to be evenly cut. He tipped the roots over into Peter's cauldron for him before returning to his own work.
"Done." Sirius sat in his chair and leaned back, kicking both his feet up on the table after turning off the cauldron's fire. James stood on his toes to get a better look.
"You can't be done. I'm not even finished yet." Remus looked back and forth between their potions and he was a little bit behind. How Sirius ever got anything done considering how much he talks was beyond Moony.
"You're not the only smart one around, you know," Padfoot said boastfully.
"Oh please," came an oily voice from behind them. Remus and Sirius turned around and their eyes narrowed in an annoyed way. Wormtail gave a squeak of exasperation, making James look up, the very sight of Snivellus frustrating him. "Black has more brawn than brains, everyone knows that. He beats people up to get what he wants. There's nothing intelligent about him."
Remus gave a snort and grabbed Sirius' shoulder, forcing him to turn around. From experience he knew that Severus went away when you didn't encourage him.
But James was ready for retaliation.
"If I were you," said Prongs carelessly, dropping his roots into his cauldron, "I'd trade some of those cheeky brains of yours for a bit more strength. It's not normal for a second year to be able to physically bully a fifth year."
"For the record, Potter," he said the name like something you scrape off the underside of your shoe, "that second year was as big Sirius." His hooked nose turned up at the sight of Remus glaring at him.
"So you admit he kicked your ass?" Sirius gave a sly smile.
"No, I didn't say that – he didn't lay a grubby hand on me!" Snivellus was squirming now, his eyes darting to his Slytherin gang lingering several tables over, their dark eyes looming at them menacingly.
"Not what I heard," chimed Wormtail in a sing song voice, his crooked teeth flashing in a knowing smile.
"Yeah, now that you mention it, Peter, I did hear something too." Remus shut his cauldron fire off and pushed his finished potion aside, leaning against the countertop. "That you squealed like a girl when he raised his fist to squash that abnormally large nose of yours back into your face."
The Gryffindor side of the classroom rang out in laughter. James let out a hoot as Sirius gave a hearty guffaw, punching Remus playfully in the arm.
Snivellus was seething now, his sallow face twisted in angry. He glared at Remus from between the long curtains of his greasy hair. Moony gave a shrug and crossed his arms in front of his chest, looking rather tall now that he gained some of that Gryffindor courage against that pest Severus.
"That's enough, boys. Back to your own table." said Slughorn warningly. With hunched shoulders he shuffled back to his Slytherin crew, bent their heads together and began to whisper, throwing furtive looks at Remus who merely gave a lopsided grin in return. But he grew a little uneasy as he watched what they were doing with their hands. They were flailing them, pointing to places on the table and mimicking actions.
They were making a plan.
Sirius gave Remus a quick jab in the stomach. His attention swiveled back to his best friend and they both broke out in chuckles, packing up their stuff. Peter was hurriedly adding the last touches to his potion as Slughorn swayed behind him, looking over his shoulder.
Remus noticed James wasn't there anymore. His eyes scanned the room until he caught the glint of his glasses in the dim light of the dungeons. He was sitting on one of the tables, talking animatedly with a group of girls. It didn't take long for Remus to spot Lily's red hair amongst the cluster. She didn't look like she was paying much attention to him for she was shifting her weight foot to foot, glancing at Slughorn for the okay to leave.
He gave a soft smile when he saw that. But it quickly faded as she caught his eye, a disappointed look on her face. His heart dropped into his stomach as he tried to grapple for a reason why she would look at him like that. What did he do wrong? Was she mad at him?
Then it came to him as he witnessed her attention linger on the hunched form of Severus, her green irises dimming with what he could tell was sadness.
Remus immediately wished he could take his comment back.
