Competitions/Challenges:

A Variety of Prompts: OTP - The day they met.

The Hunger Games Trilogy Challenge/Competition - An Important Character that doesn't get much screen time. (Remus never got enough)

Harry Potter Chapter Competition - The Chamber of Secrets - The Whomping Willow. Prompt: Something unexpected.

The Wood Wand Challenge - Cypress - Remus Lupin

Disney Character - Bambi's mother. A character whose death saddened you (basically everyone in this fic)

The Tumblr Competition. Prompt - picture of a Carousel

The Fanficer's Monopoly - Beautiful


Remus looked at the woman standing in front of his booth. "That's two pounds each," he said, reaching his hand out for the money. The customer handed over a five-pound note, and Remus handed back a pound, before waving them through. He let out a sigh. The queue was finally empty.

He hated how boring this job was.

He glanced at the carousel behind him and nodded his head, causing the guy controlling it to start it up. He entertained himself for a minute by listening to the music and watching the beautiful horses move up and down, before he glanced around, looking at the entertainment surrounding him.

Sometimes he got lucky, as he was situated right on the South Bank, he could watch all the shows that were set up, or listen to anyone playing music. But this week was rubbish. It was a man pretending his head was a dog in a cage. He was in a box with silver around it, and his head was poking through a hole in the top, which led to a dog carrier.

The man was pretending to sleep, before waking and barking at people passing.

It was a poor attempt, probably the poorest he had seen in a long time. He preferred to watch the moving statues, although these days the silver ones freaked him out. Silver statues should never move. He just didn't understand. Anyone taking a walk down South Bank, past the London Eye, did not want to see this man pretending to be a dog.

When the carousel came to a stop, and all the children and adults alike clambered off, he glanced at the queue that had formed again, and let out an inaudible sigh. He really needed a new job.

"Just the two of us," the first customer said, and Remus took her money, passing her some change, and told her to go through. He quickly served the rest of the customers, until a familiar redhead appeared.

"That's two-pound - Oh, hey Lily, just jump on," he said, and she grinned, walking past the barrier, and got onto one of the horses.

Suddenly a child appeared in front of him.

"I want a go," she announced. Remus stared at her for a moment.

"Do you have two pounds?"

She nodded, putting the change on the counter.

"Go up ahead, you able to get on the horse?"

She nodded, and hopped up the steps, looking at the horses. "They all have names?" she exclaimed in delight. She walked around. "James, this one has your name," she said.

"Cool, are you picking that horse?" James asked, from somewhere Remus couldn't see from his booth.

"No, I found one called Stuart," she said, eagerly.

"Okay, are you going with Stuart then?" came the reply.

"No, I prefer this one. Her name is Cathy, she's beautiful" she responded. Remus let out a snort of laughter.

...oOo...

When the carousel stopped, Remus lifted his head from the counter, and noticed the queue had built up again. He quickly served the customers, the little girl at the end of the queue.

"Another turn?" He asked, and she nodded eagerly.

"Are any of the horses named after you?" The girl asked.

Remus shook his head. "Nope."

"Do you get to pick the names?"

"No, they were put on the horses long before I started working here," Remus explained.

"Oh. Do you work here all the time?"

Remus blinked a few times. The kid was quite nosy.

"Sometimes."

"What's your name?"

"I... are you having another go?" he asked.

"That depends. My cousin said I could if I find out your name."

Remus grinned in amusement. "Well, who am I to stop you having another go. Go tell your cousin that my name is Remus."

She danced away, returning quickly with the money.

He resisted the urge to take a look for her cousin. Was it this James guy that she had shouted to before? Maybe his cousin was a girl? He shuddered at the thought.

...oOo...

"Back for another turn?"

"Well, that depends," she said, looking quite serious. "My cousin... he wants to know if you are single, and would like me to be very..." she looked in the direction where he guessed the cousin was standing.

"Very clear," came a shout.

"Yes, very clear that my cousin is a boy."

"How old is your cousin?"

"Sirius, how old are you?"

"Twenty," came the reply.

"He's twenty," she repeated to Remus.

Remus smiled. " Tell him that I might be single, and you should tell him that getting his kid cousin to find out information on me isn't the best way to chat me up. He should come and talk to me himself."

"Okay," she danced off, returning with her change, and putting it on the counter, before having another turn on the carousel.

...oOo...

It was an hour before the girl returned. "We had to get food," she explained.

"More questions?" Remus asked.

"Do you fancy boys?"

Remus nodded his head.

"Do you know that redhead girl from before?"

"Why?"

"Because my cousin's friend, James... he fancies her. If I can get him a date with her, he's going to give me ten pounds."

"Tell him to make it twenty, and I'll speak to her," Remus said, amused.

The girl looked confused for a moment, as she tried to remember her questions.

"Do you like boys with black hair?"

Remus thought about it. "Yeah," he replied. "What does your cousin look like?"

"He's got black hair, and girls always want to talk to him, like always. They giggle a lot."

"Does your cousin even know what I look like?"

"Yeah, we come here every week, and he really fancies you. So now he's paying me to find out about you so he can get you interested in him, so you can go on dates and kiss." She let out a giggle.

"Tell them that my shift finishes at five, and Lily, the redhead is meeting me here."

"James," she shouted, rushing away. "He said you have to give me twenty pounds before he'll get you a date, and that his shift ends at five. Do I get extra money for finding out the girl's name?"

Remus considered briefly if this was the same as pimping his friend out - it was only a date, but he was a bit worried he'd be on the end of a slap from her.

The girl returned with the money for the ride, grinning widely. "I get twenty pounds if you go out on a date with my cousin after your shift."

Remus hesitated. Pimping himself out for a date was just as bad.

"Fine," he sighed. He was too curious to refuse.

"Good, James will meet you here. Sirius is going to drop me home first."

She skipped up to the ride, and that was the last he saw of the girl.

...oOo...

Remus' shift finally ended, and he wondered if the guys would turn up. He couldn't deny that he was curious about a guy that would send his cousin to talk to him.

He stood by the wall, looking into the Thames, until someone grabbed his waist, and he jumped.

"Oh, it's you," he said, as he turned and looked into Lily's green eyes.

"Were you expecting someone else?" upon Remus' slight blush, she grinned. "You were? Who?"

"Well, this little girl came to the booth... apparently her cousin has a thing for me. The cousin's friend apparently has a thing for you, and told the little girl if you go on a date with him, he'll give her ten pounds. We managed to get that up to twenty."

"Remus John Lupin, are you trying to pimp me out?" she screeched, and Remus felt a lot of eyes on him. He tried to keep the smile off his face. "I knew you'd see it like that," he replied. "But her cousin was paying her if I agreed to go on a date with him too. It's just one date. I'm just waiting to see if they show up."

"Do you think they will?" Lily asked

"Well, it could have been a joke or something," Remus said, nervously. "She did say her cousin was good-looking, and I'm not exactly that myself."

"I think you're very good-looking," came a voice, and he turned around to see who the girl's cousin was.

"I'm Sirius," the man said, and Remus' eyes widened.

"But... you're gorgeous," he blurted out, before his face went red and his hand quickly covered his mouth.

"So are you," Sirius said, grinning at him. "Now, what do you want to do for our date, anything you like?"

Remus couldn't take his eyes off the dark-haired man in front of him. Surely there was a law against trousers being that tight, and teaming them with that leather jacket... when did he get so lucky?

"Are you my date?" Lily asked the boy standing next to him, wearing glasses and looking quite amused. He smiled at Lily hopefully. "Yeah," he replied. Lily grabbed his hand, leading him away. "Have fun, Remus," she said, smirking at him.

"Is it alright if I hold your hand?" Sirius asked, looking suddenly shy.

Remus grinned. "Of course. So, your cousin said you saw me before?"

"Yeah, I take her here every week. I've been trying for about a month to meet you."

"Well, now we've met..."

"And I'm glad," Sirius said, taking his hand and leading him through the crowds. "This is going to be a perfect date," he declared. "So perfect, that you'll agree to a second."

"I've no doubt about that," Remus replied, still baffled why this man wanted to go out with him.

"So, Dinner and a movie? You can either pick the movie or the restaurant."

"I'll let you surprise me," Remus replied, allowing Sirius to pull him closer as they walked. He allowed Sirius to let go of his hand, and smiled shyly as the hand slid around his waist as they walked.

It was two minutes into it, and was already proving to be a perfect date.


Review please.

The man pretending to be a dog on South Bank scared my own dog once!