Thanks for the reviews and alerts for this story. Hope you enjoy this second chapter. Cheers! :-)

WARNING: Slash - eventually. Maybe next chapter...if I get enough reviews...


Chapter Two

'Oh God, why did I open my big mouth?' Sirius thought angrily, falling back onto the bed, throwing an arm across his hot, red face so he couldn't see the sprig of mistletoe mocking him from the ceiling. 'I'm going to kill him.'

It started innocently enough just over a week ago. It was supposed to be just a joke.

James and Sirius had been mucking around with some mistletoe that James had nicked from the Great Hall, hoping to use it to encourage Lily Evans, his recently acquired girlfriend, to snog him senseless. They'd had a few drinks, talking about who they wouldn't mind getting underneath the mistletoe, when Sirius said how wonderful it would be if mistletoe could get them laid instead of just a kiss.

'We could put a spell on it so it locked you and Lily in a cupboard that would only open after you'd shagged,' he laughed, waving his glass of Firewhiskey then complaining as it sloshed over the top of the cup.

James had thought it was brilliant scheme and enthused over the idea in the way that quite tipsy people do, then they'd both promptly forgotten about it when they passed out.

Or so Sirius had thought until James strode triumphantly into their room a couple of nights later.

'I did it,' he bragged, holding the mistletoe over his head like a trophy.

'Did what?' Remus murmured, not looking up from his book, quite used to James' bold statements and finding his work of fiction much more interesting.

'Created the ultimate mistletoe,' he replied, throwing himself down on the bed next to Moony and shoving the greenery under his nose.

'It's charmed,' he explained as Remus closed his book with a sigh and took the offered leaves. 'I put it up, utter a few magic words and bam! Sex!'

Sirius grinned and swung his legs over the edge of the bed, accidentally kicking a reclining Peter, who yelped and sat up, rubbing his head.

'You did it by yourself?' he asked, reaching over and grabbing the normal looking mistletoe off Remus. 'Why didn't you tell me? It'll really work? You have to have sex to release the spell?'

Peter snatched it off Sirius and examined it, searching for whatever it was that guaranteed sex.

James smirked and pulled the plant off Peter. 'Working backwards, the answers to your questions are yes, you have to have sex; yes, it will work. I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to stuff it up like you did our self erasing quills and, finally, I'm the only one with a girlfriend, or boyfriend,' he said, glancing at Remus with a smile. 'So, I'm the most likely to get any use out of this therefore I did it myself to try and expedite the process. To get laid as soon as possible,' he translated for a confused looking Peter.

'How will mistletoe get you laid?' Remus asked, still puzzled. 'What have you done to it?'

James grinned and explained the idea Sirius had, watching as the brown haired boys face turned pink.

Sirius lay back down on his bed, avoiding Remus' gaze as the boy frowned over at him.

'This is a really bad idea,' Remus said, putting his prefect face on. 'What if whoever you're locked in a cupboard with doesn't want to have sex with you? You'd be stuck there for days or they'd be forced to shag you.'

'Then I utter the other magic words which will release the spell,' James told him then he stood up. 'Or I'll put a expiry on the charm. Come on, Moony. I'd never force anyone to do anything they didn't really want to do.'

His eyes slid suggestively over to an oblivious Sirius then back to Remus who, having gotten the thinly veiled hint, glared furiously at the boy and reopened his book.


James wasn't stupid. He'd noticed the distance between two of his friends lately. It had just happened to coincide with Sirius' revelation to him that he thought he might be bisexual and it didn't take a genius to work out exactly who had sparked Pads sudden interest in members of the same sex. Sirius wasn't the most subtle man on earth, his eyes often following Remus unnecessarily, and his declaration had come only a few months after other boy admitted to all three of his friends what he himself had known for some time. He was gay.

'Don't fancy girls at all,' he said, just before the summer holidays, then bit his lip as he waited for their reactions which, after a pregnant pause, were supportive.

It had been more of a shock to James that Remus was gay than it had been when Pads told him he fancied blokes as well as women. He'd had to get himself pretty pissed first then garbled his confession at one in the morning on Halloween to a half asleep and equally as ratted James. To be honest, he'd always suspected Sirius might swing both ways so it hadn't been a big surprise when the nervous boy blurted it out

'Don't worry 'bout it, Paz,' he'd slurred, patting his friend's head in what he thought was a comforting way but really came close to giving the boy concussion. 'I shtill love ya - even if ya do wanna shag boys. Hey! You 'n Moony shud shag. He likes boysh ya know.'

He was too drunk to be aware that Sirius' face turned red but a few days later, he'd noticed Sirius was making an effort to not be alone with the werewolf.

He watched them closely, starting to see the clues. The way Remus nearly bolted out of the room when Sirius was dressing, the way they avoided physical contact with each other when they'd been so affectionate until now, the way Sirius would follow James or Peter to do whatever they were up to rather than stay alone with Remus in their room.


Remus had admitted his crush reluctantly after James came right out and asked if he fancied their friend.

'Prongs, you can't say anything to him,' he'd begged, his blue eyes pleading. 'It's nothing. Just a bit of a crush or something. It'll go away.'

James hadn't said a word, not even when he'd sat down with Sirius and asked him if Remus was the bloke he'd told him he'd been having dreams about.

'Course not,' he'd lied, his face turning red.

James had pushed him though, and he'd finally admitted that Remus had been the one in his dreams.

'I'd never do anything,' he insisted. 'I don't even know if they mean anything. They're probably like those dreams about winning money or dying - you know, they mean something completely different to what they're actually about. You won't say anything to Moony, will you?'

James had agreed he'd keep his mouth shut, but formulated a scheme that would hopefully lead to the pups admitting their attraction to each other themselves. The scheme that had led to the current situation, and to the rapidly developing duel plans for the assassination of purveyor of said scheme.


"James bloody Potter,' Remus muttered, glaring at the boy's bed in lieu of being able to glare at the boy himself.

He'd set them up beautifully. They had arranged to spend the few days before Christmas at James' house so their parents wouldn't be expecting them until the evening on Christmas Eve.

'Prat,' he thought, recalling James' insistence yesterday that they come to his place for a few days. 'No wonder he wouldn't take no for an answer. What the hell does he expect will happen here?'

As much as he was attracted to Sirius, he knew his friend was straight and respected that. Even if Pads had been interested in men, Remus wasn't sure he'd ever do anything about his emerging feelings, not wanting to ruin what had been until recently, a friendship that meant everything to him.

He frowned, sinking down onto the foot of his bed. Sirius had taken the news Remus was gay in his stride, treating him exactly the same as he always had, except now he pointed out tasty boys instead of girls that he thought would suit his friend. They still wrestled together, they still talked, Pads still slung an arm over his shoulders when he was trying to convince him to ignore a bit of rule breaking. Everything had been normal: until a few weeks ago, when Sirius had started to withdraw. Now, he wouldn't stay in a room alone with Remus and all the affection and physical contact they'd previously enjoyed was gone.

He sighed, chancing a glance over at Sirius, who was lying on his bed with an arm over his face. His stomach squirmed as his eyes dropped to the boys slightly exposed stomach. The trail of dark hair leading down into his jeans drew his eye lower and he was startled to realise that Sirius was a little hard, the front of his jeans revealing a more distinctive bulge than usual. Remus felt his face flushing and quickly looked away, but not before he felt a corresponding reaction in his own jeans.

'Shit,' he thought, wriggling a little as his pants tightened uncomfortably. 'Why would he be hard?'

A possible reason struck him and he frowned. There was no way Sirius could be attracted to boys.

Was there?

As he thought, he stared at James' bed and after a minute, realised that he was looking right at an envelope poking out from under the boys pillow. He quickly stood up and moved across the room to snatch it out from under the cushion, his actions making Sirius look over at him.

'What is it?' he asked, sitting up when he saw Remus tearing open the envelope that had his and Sirius' names on it.

Remus frowned as he read it aloud.

Sorry guys, but you need to talk about whatever it is that's bothering you both. I've hidden some food and drinks in a box under my bed. I charmed the mistletoe so don't bother trying to pull it down. Only the magic words will break the spell and neither of you know them, although you're welcome to try. There's an expiration on the charm - Christmas Eve - but hopefully, you'll have worked out how to get out of there by then. Sorry, but it had to be done.

James

Remus looked up at Sirius, who looked every bit as pissed off as he felt.

'Fucking Potter,' Pads muttered then threw himself back down on his bed.