A/N:Thank you so much, for those who reviewed, favorited and followed! It means the world to me! Really!


I

The following week everything went back to normal. More or less. After a day of enormous headaches Remus was up and well on his feet. Needless to say he didn't remember much of what happened Saturday. He also swore to himself not to drink again. Ever. Other than that Remus was completely okay.

Meanwhile, Sirius was far from happy. Having spent Sunday looking after his very hung-over friend, he was facing mixed feelings, which left him in between being glad and disappointed that a particular werewolf chose to fall asleep at a certain time. 'Could've, might've, but didn't' around in his head again and again.

This whole thing did do some good though. For one, Remus seemed to be, at least temporarily, back to his usual head boy self. Oh and Sirius had come to realize something- sulking, worrying, and dramatizing got you nowhere.

Good for you, Padfoot.

II

"Oh yeah, that reminds me, Peter told me you wanted to talk?" Lupin looked up at Lily from the D.A.D.A essay they've been working on together. The library was even quieter than usually, they were the only people left here, as the others were off to watch a match of Quidditch between Hufflepuff and Slytherin.

"Yeah." She looked uneasy, "So about what happened with Amanda…"

"Oh, about that." Remus said and his cheeks turned slightly pink.

"Um… Remus, are you okay?" Lily asked hesitantly as if she felt it was not her place to wonder.

"I'm fine, Lily, no matter what you heard, you shouldn't take it to heart." The werewolf tried to catch her green eyes with his serious golden ones.

"It's just… you… I've heard something from the girls and just so you know, they're spreading it around." Evans looked seriously uncomfortable now. She was looking everywhere but at him.

"I'm not gay, Lily," Remus laughed as he finally understood the reason she looked so awkward.

"Oh." Her eyes shot to his, "But still, it wouldn't matter. To me, that is. We're friends, whatever happens."

He froze. The words seemed familiar. They touched something inside him and he suddenly felt very warm.

"Thank you." He smiled and Lily stared at him in awe. It was rare to see that kind of sincere smile on his lips. "I'm not though,"

"Oh, well then, they are a bunch of rumor spreading - "

"It's okay, I don't really care about what they have to say." He interrupted her and his eyes were shining gently.

Lily Evans couldn't help it. She honestly couldn't. Her heart sped up and she felt heat spread through her cheeks. Now before you hurry into false conclusions, it was not like she had a crush on the boy. It's just… after summer he came back, having grown a couple of inches and his hair was now longer and bleached by the sun, giving it those little blonde streaks. And his melted-gold eyes looked even more solemn, if it was possible. And sometimes he had this calm, protective aura around him, which just made you feel so warm and safe. It wasn't as though he was the most handsome lad around (however he was good looking, no one could argue), it was just something special.

But, Merlin, of course she wasn't the only one, who had noticed! If Remus were to look into it just a bit more, he would see longing stares of girls (and not only) and carefully placed flirty smiles. But, of course, Lupin, being Lupin, he was almost unreachable, therefore, when Amanda dared to openly ask him out and (Oh dear!) he agreed, there were a lot of surprised and disappointed students around.

When they broke up, a day later, Lily seemed to be the only one to find it strange. Girls were fussing about how 'they knew it', 'and that is why'. Saying, what he had said, he gave them a justification, doesn't matter if false, of why he wasn't interested.

If that went on, Remus would be titled as 'gay' for the rest of this school year and she didn't like the idea of her friend, being a victim of labels.

"Moony!" The comfortable silence was interrupted by, in Lily's opinion, the second most obnoxious voice in Hogwarts' history. "Moony, why are you studying at a time like this?!"

A terribly exited Sirius Black rushed in, with outside clothes, fresh sparkles of rain in his hair and a big grin on his face.

"Padfoot?" Remus smiled.

Suddenly, Sirius stopped and took in the atmosphere. He glanced quickly between Evans and his friend. Lily swore she saw the corners of Sirius' mouth tilt downwards slightly.

"Pads?"

"Oh, uhm… Hufflepuff won! They won!" He returned to grinning madly in just an instant. He suddenly grabbed his werewolf friend by the hand and dragged him out, the latter stumbling behind.

As Lily noticed Sirius look before leaving, she reckoned, that must have been the nastiest glare anyone had given her in her life. She sat there with wide eyes. To Sirius' misfortune (or maybe fortune) Evans did not fall under the category of dense people. A suspicion was born.

III

On their way to the common room, Sirius had to fight himself not to dramatize everything once again.

"What were you and Evans talking about?" he asked as calmly as he managed.

"Well, apparently, I'm now known as a shirt lifter among girls." Remus shrugged.

Sirius glanced sideways at his mate. His heart gave out a painful thump.

"You don't really seem to be- "

"I'm not. I don't consider it to be a tragedy. I've been called things that are actually offensive; some school-girl rumors about my sexuality are far from the end of the world, Sirius." Remus turned to look at Sirius' and he saw amused glints flash in the werewolf's eyes, "Besides, I brought it upon myself, now, haven't I?"

Sirius found himself smiling softly.

IV

Sirius watched Remus sleep on the couch by the fire, in a pile of books. And felt creepy doing so.

V

Lily watched the boys cuddled up cozily, both sleeping soundly, from around the corner. She saw the way Sirius' arms managed to twine around Remus' torso, even though his lower half was on the ground, making his body shift in a very uncomfortable looking way. She saw how Sirius rubbed his nose deeper into the head boy's chest with a deep sigh from time to time. And how Sirius hands clung to the boy's robe so tightly, his knuckles turned white. She also saw the book lying next to Remus' head, which gave her inkling that the guy had fallen asleep studying and knew not of the Sirius' presence next to him.

"Evans, it's not very nice to spy on people, but you knew that already, didn't you?" A whisper in her ear made her jump and almost let out a shriek, but a hand on her mouth stopped it.

"Potter?" She murmured shaking his hand off, "What are you-?"

"No, what are you doing here?" James interrupted and a shiver ran down Lily's spine. His tone was cold and that was highly unusual, when he was talking to her.

"I was just-" She started and for the very first time from coming to Hogwarts she wished James' eyes would just soften already, like they always did, when they were on her.

"Just… It has got nothing to do with you, leave it." He stepped back and put his hands in his pockets, then motioned with his head towards the girl dormitory.

"Wha-…What do you mean it has nothing to do with me?! He… he is my friend!" She whisper-yelled, the weird tension between her and Potter and the feeling of being left out of something getting to her.

"Is he? And how about Sirius?" James eyes were void of any emotion, "I said, leave it."

"What is this? You don't trust me?" She said accusingly.

"I'm in love with you, Evans, I thought I was clear about that. But this time it's not my place to trust or not to trust." Potter's gaze darted towards the sleeping boys, "And he is not your friend, therefore leave it."

"I- "

James didn't even listen. He turned around and walked away after sparing one last look at his friends.

Lily felt surreal. This was simply all too weird.

" 'Evans', huh?"

VI

Peter was dreaming of Christmas. Christmas dinner to be exact. Not one clue of James sneaking back into the room, murmuring all kinds of curse words, some of which not even Potter himself knew the meaning of.