Still don't own Harry Potter.

Detention

"So who is he?"

"Remus."

Lily stared at me in shock for a moment, processing the fact that I was seriously crushing on my best friend and fellow Marauder.

"Does James know?" she asked me first. I hesitated, "Well he knows I'm gay but not that I like Remus, although I don't really care if you want to tell him later." I lifted my eyebrows suggestively and she blushed.

"Well maybe… But Remus?" she questioned, her voice incredulous, "I mean, you're both so different."

I put my head in my hands, "I know! I just can't help it. He's so sweet and amazing. Probably the kindest person I've ever met. Not to mention the smartest, funniest, wisest, most handsome…" I trailed off blushing furiously.

She shook her head, a smile at her lips, "you really like him don't you." It wasn't a question.

It was most definitely a statement.

A true one at that.

I looked at her helplessly, "Yeah, I do. But I don't know if he's gay and I think he might like someone else anyways… I just… I don't know what to do."

My voice was small now, vulnerable and I could feel Lily's pity swell. Normally I would never accept such an emotion from someone else but right now it just felt good to be heard. She put her arms around me and whispered soothingly, "It's OK Sirius. You don't know any of that for sure. What you need is more information."

I pulled away from her comforting embrace enough to look at her eyes, which were already sparkling with a plan.

"And how do you propose I do that?" I asked her, "Divination?"

She rolled her eyes at me before continuing with her thought, "I meant just try to glean some information from him on his possible crush. Maybe it was a one day or one week kind of deal. Maybe it's you." She smirked.

I snorted, my doubt rather obvious. If he had liked me than surely he would have said something or reacted in someway other than unconscious cuddling when we were in bed together. I mean not everyone gets the opportunity to share a bed with sexy beast Sirius Black. It's really a privilege.

Sometimes my arrogance astounds even myself.

"Just try and get him to open up about it, OK?" she asked me. "You might get something valuable out of it."

I nodded my agreement. Despite my scepticism, her advice was by far more logical and helpful than the moping strategy I had been about to adopt.

"Thanks Lily," I told her with a genuine smile, "Maybe James' lyrics about your 'kind heart and gentle nature' weren't so far off after all."

She stiffened and blushed at my words, her eyes downcast as she attempted to ask casually, "he wrote lyrics about that?"

I twisted my coming smirk into something that more closely resembled a smile and left the redhead to mull it over. We were both lost in thought about our love interests and how best to approach them. Even with all of my problems swirling around my mind, I sincerely hoped that she would go and talk to James and give the lovesick boy a chance for once. The two really were perfect for each other. I just hoped she would be able to see it soon.

Lily's POV

Sirius' words had left me a lot to think about, even though I was the one who was supposed to be giving him advice. I sat in silence, alone with my thoughts as students began to drift out of the Great Hall after their lunch.

Perhaps James wasn't such a prick after all. He'd certainly changed since last year. The bespectacled boy hadn't really stopped his pranks but they seemed far less harmful to people emotionally and physically than before. The tricks he played nowadays truly seemed more out of good fun than any desire to hurt someone, not even their number one enemy Severus Snape.

All thoughts of my old best friend vanished as the object of my musings, James Potter, appeared before me, cocking his head quizzically at my place on the floor.

"Lily?" he asked uncertainly, the smooth quality of his voice making my insides melt just a little. "Are you OK?"

His hazel eyes were so full of genuine concern and… love that I couldn't look at them for too long without shaking. Instead, I gestured for him to sit beside me. Those eyes widened for a moment at my suggestion but obliged without question.

I took a deep breath- his presence was slightly intoxicating- before answering him, "I'm fine. Sirius was just telling me that he's gay and has a crush on Remus."

James was staring at me now, obviously astounded by my insider knowledge. Finally he responded with more than a little admiration in his voice, "wow. I'm surprised you could get that much out of Sirius, I sure as hell couldn't. Shouldn't really be that shocked though; Sirius has been ogling Remus forever."

I laughed, startled at how easy it was to do so around him. He smiled at me and I smiled back, our faces nearer than they'd ever been before without me trying to hex the life out of him. Eventually, he cleared his throat and leaned away. Already, I missed the closeness.

"Could you just keep an eye on the two of them," I asked. "Make sure Sirius doesn't do something stupid."

This time James laughed and I felt my stomach flip. "Yeah, sure. No guarantees though. Pads can be pretty thick at times," He said grinning. Then the brunette stood up and offered me his hand, which I took after only the smallest of hesitations.

His hand was warm.

Sirius POV

The four of us were being addressed by Filch, our heads hung in mock shame. The detention the crusty caretaker was giving us wasn't really that bad but we all pretended to flinch at the sentence. The entire procedure was almost routine now; we'd repeated it so many times.

"You're lucky I don't string your thumbs up from the ceilings, little troublemakers. Instead," he said with a nasty smile, "You'll be polishing for the next couple of hours."

We all groaned, right on cue.

"Oh be quiet," he snapped, "Potter, Pettigrew. You're to polish all of the suites of armour in the entranceway. I'll be accompanying you two. Black, Lupin you head over to the trophy room and shine up all them awards. Mrs. Norris is watching though so don't get any funny ideas." With that, the grimy man limped in the opposite direction with a dejected looking James and Peter in tow. Just before they rounded the corner though, Prongs shot me a meaningful gaze from myself to Remus.

He obviously knew. Evans must have told him shortly after I'd left. The thought brought a smile to my face and it seemed as though I really was warming up to the girl. I couldn't help but shake my head in disbelief at this thought.

Suddenly, I felt a tug at my arm and focussed my attention on a much more interesting specimen. That of Remus John Lupin.

His pink lips were pouting and I had an impulsive urge to just reach out and capture them with my own. Instead of being so bold though, I contented myself with staring longingly at them until Remus literally began dragging me down the hall.

"Come on Sirius," He pleaded, "What is with you?"

Snapping out of my reverie, I replied, "What? Oh nothing, just thinking."

For the moment, he let it drop and we began to polish the dull metal without any assistance from magic. The two of us continued like this in silence for a long time before it occurred to me that maybe this was the chance Lily was speaking of.

"So," I began slyly, still cleaning. "You seem pretty smitten with someone? Who is that you fancy?" I asked.

He blushed an adorable pink and vigorously scrubbed at a non-existent spot before retorting, "no one."

My bark like laughter echoed around the room, disturbing the watchful cat behind us for a moment until she settled down again. "Doesn't sound like no one if you ask me," I told him more kindly.

Remus, however, just muttered bitterly, "They don't like me. There is no way they'd ever like me."

His sulky face broke into one of surprise as a dirty dishcloth hit it and bounced off. I hadn't even realized I'd thrown it until it was in the air and by then it was too late.

"What was that for?" he asked me, his voice more startled than hurt.

I felt my collar grow hot as I responded, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to it's just… I can't stand it when you talk about yourself as if you don't deserve someone's love."

"But I don't," Remus said in all seriousness, "I'm a monster."

I stood up abruptly, letting the trophy I had been polishing clatter to the floor. "You are not a monster," I hissed at him and stalked away.

It took a few moments before I heard the werewolf come up behind me. He laid a hesitant hand on my shoulder and it took all of my self-control not to sigh or shiver at his touch.

"I'm sorry Pads. I didn't mean to upset you," he told me softly.

Biting my lip and knowing I'd regret this, I turned around and gave him a forceful hug. He let out a muffled cry of surprise but soon lent into my embrace, if only a little timidly.

My chin rested in the crook of his neck and I breathed in his scent slowly, savouring it as my arms pulled him ever closer. His owns hands were positioned lightly on my back and his face buried in my chest. It felt so right just to hold him and I thought to myself that I would be perfectly happy if I spent forever like this.

"You are not a monster," I whispered again and heard him sniffle. We stayed like that for a few more minutes – though it really could have been seconds or hours for all I knew- before we finally broke apart. He looked up at me through half-lidded eyes and my own strayed to his sultry lips, yet still I restrained.

Ever since I'd first known the boy, I had felt a powerful, instinctual desire to protect him from harm. His fragile, scar-ridden body tugged at my hardened heart and I felt all of my defences lower whenever I was near his warm face. There had always been something about Remus, something different between the two of us than any other relationship I'd experienced. It was as if we were two magnets, polar opposites hopelessly pulled together by an inexplicable attraction much stronger than either of us realized.

The tension in the air hung as thick as a curtain, veiling us from the rest of the world. This small escape from reality, to just let myself fantasize for one second about the two of us being a regular couple, is when the word 'love' crept into my mind for the first time

I suppressed the thought though. Remus was a long way from being ready for that, if he ever was.

Instead, the brunette smiled up at me with his lopsided grin and hugged my torso again. Did his hands linger as he pulled away? The little brushes against my chest and hip as he retracted his fingers sent fire and ice racing through my body. I cleared my mind of such thoughts with nothing short of a Herculean effort.

"Thank you," he said simply, though the emotion behind his voice was poorly disguised. And there was something in his eyes as well, something considering, something I couldn't quite place beyond that.

Before I could further wonder about this unidentified gleam of the eye, the sound of Filch's distinctive thumping limp echoed throughout the hall.

Upon hearing his footsteps, the two of us sprung apart from our intimate embrace and resumed polishing. The caretaker entered the room and snarled, "if you want to get out of here before midnight, you're going to have to work faster than that! Hurry up or I'll get the rack," he cackled.

After menacing us with insubstantial threats for a while, he grew bored and wandered off to terrify some unsuspecting First Years instead. The two of us continued to work in silence until our detention was finally over. After meeting up with James and Peter and heading up to our dormitory, we were all exhausted and immediately fell asleep. Still, thoughts of that tender look Remus had given me floated in my minds eye and I resolved to talk to Lily about it later.

That and the whole 'love' problem.

Thanks for all the reviews so far! You guys are amazing! Yeah, this story is shaping up to have a bit of James/Lily back-story behind it so I'm hoping you're enjoying that aspect of it as well. Don't worry though; this is still a Remus/Sirius story first and foremost and there's a lot more of that to come! If you like the story so far than please press that review button and tell me what you think! I love hearing you're opinions so don't be shy and please share them. I'm not picky; one line or whole paragraphs, either is fine and greatly appreciated by me.

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-MesserMessa :)