That night, the seventh year boys' dormitory was unusually quiet. Only Peter, whom noboday had told what was going on, was talking, but soon gave up when he noticed that his friends were all in terrible moods and did not feel like chatting. Eventually, he got tired of it.
'What's going on here? You're all acting as if you lost a sock or you're getting expelled or something.' Leave it to Peter to compare socks to getting kicked out of school.
'Nothing is wrong,' said Remus through clenched teeth. He had his nose buried in a book, as usual, but he wasn't really paying attention.
'Yes, there is,' said Sirius and James in unison.
'Okay then, James, you first. What's on your mind?' said Peter, playing the psychologist.
'What's on my mind is the fact that two people can be absolute best mates since first year, but still don't have the respect to tell each other things like who they want to snog and who they fancy,' said James with a snarl. Sirius, sitting on his own bed, recoiled as if James had slapped him in the face.
'It never bothered you before,' he said quietly, hurt evident in his voice.
'Yeah, well before was different!' James' voice raised.
'How?' Peter was quite concerned. 'Did Sirius and Lily—'
'No!' barked Sirius. 'Never. I'd never do that to you.' Though this was addressed to James, Sirius was looking at Remus across the dormitory. His stare was sad; pleading. Remus didn't even look up from his book.
'Well, what happened? Padfoot?' Peter's eyes were huge and bewildered. He had stood up and placed himself in the middle of the room, looking from one side to the other. His head was moving so fast; it would have been quite comical in different circumstances.
'Nothing happened except our two wonderful bets mates decided to have a little snogfest in Remus' bed last night!' James exclaimed, angry and confused. Peter gasped.
'What? I-Is this true?' Once again, he looked at Sirius.
'Yes,' Sirius said defiantly, 'do you have a problem with that?'
'Well, n-no I guess,' Peter stuttered, 'not i-if you really like M-Moony. It shouldn't be a-a problem.'
'The question is though, does he really like Remus? Because I'm not going to let him use Moony for sex or whatever just because he feels like it!' James had gotten up and advanced to Sirius' bed, breathing hard.
Remus had finally raised his head to reveal eyes full of tears. 'So, do you?' he whispered.
Sirius looked taken aback but still as determined as ever.
'I-yeah, I do. I've been wanting to do what I did last night all year. I didn't do it because of some stupid potions, you have to believe me!' Sirius pleaded loudly.
'I would've said yes eventually, you know. It would have been pretty funny. But now I'm not so sure.'
'Sorry, what?' said James, bemused. Both Peter and James were standing there, utterly bewildered.
'Sorry James, can't tell you!' Sirius said brightly before turning to Remus once again. He opened his mouth to speak but Peter cut him off.
'I think you should tell him before he hurts you.' Sirius looked at James, who was turning an alarming colour of red.
'Ah, we were gonna, no, sorry, I was gonna slip love potions to the Slytherin Quidditch team so they'd be in love with random people and professors all over Hogwarts,' Sirius said hurriedly. Peter gave a nervous laugh but stopped when he saw James' face.
'And why couldn't you tell me?' James' voice had gone an octave higher than normal in his anger.
'Because,' Sirius said exasperatedly, 'you're Head Boy! And Pete, as much as I love you, you would have told James eventually, I know it.' He smiled patiently. Suddenly, James started laughing hysterically. Peter looked at him, clearly alarmed, and Remus and Sirius both had the same cautious look on their faces. When James finally stopped laughing, he looked a Sirius and smiled genuinely.
'Well, all's well that ends well, right? I think I'll allow Sirius to snog Remus, and for Remus to reciprocate. I also think that Pete here should get a degree in Magical Psychology or something,' he said, bossily as ever. The angry version of himself had not suited him at all. 'And as Head Boy, I must tell you that under no circumstances can I allow you to proceed with your silly little practical joke,' he said in his most pompous manner. 'However, as your best mate, I've got to tell you to go for it, I can't wait to see your little brother mooning over McGonagall, Pads!' He chuckled as he returned to his bed and put on his pyjamas.
'Bossy little thing,' Peter said to no one in particular, following suit.
'I'm going to bed. Coming, Moony?' Sirius winked in Remus's direction. But Remus wasn't there.
'Bloody hell! Where'd he go?' Sirius exclaimed as he rushed out the dorm and down the stairs.