A/N: An update that took less than a year to post. I hope you're all as pleased as I am.
-----
Lily and Remus snapped away from each other as Sirius came into the room
"Remus!" Sirius shouted, shocked at what he had just walked in on. "You. . . You. . . James is going to murder you!"
"No he won't," Lily said pulling Sirius into the room and closing the door. "He won't because you're not going to tell him."
"The hell I'm not," Sirius said. "The betrayal! The deceit! The lies!"
"Sirius, shut up," Remus said.
"Oh, he gets a girlfriend and then he gets all serious!" Sirius said.
"Listen, Sirius, we're friends now right?" Lily asked.
"Just barely," he replied.
"Well, you have to not tell James about this," Lily said. "We are going to tell him. . . We just have to make sure that this relationship isn't going to crash and burn before it even gets anywhere."
"So you're going to see if you actually like being together before you actually tell anyone you are?" Sirius asked.
"Yeah," Lily said. "Lot's of people keep their relationships on the hush-hush."
"You and Veronica did," Remus said.
"Well that was so we could shag each other without you guys knowing about it," Sirius said dismissively. "It's completely different than what's going on here."
"It is not," Lily said. "Our reasons are just different."
"Do you know what James'll do to me if he finds out I know about this?" Sirius asked. "This can either not happen or you can go tell him right now."
"Please, Sirius?" Lily pleaded.
He groaned. "I am going to regret this sooo much."
"No you won't," Lily said hugging him tightly.
"Yes, just stop hugging me. I feel dirty enough as it is. That's just making it worse," Sirius said.
Lily let him go and smiled. Sirius looked to Remus.
"You're going to be in the most trouble. He'll be mad that you waited to tell him if he forgives you at all," Sirius said.
"He will. James may be a dickhead, but he's not gonna toss out a friendship over a girl. Not even me," Lily said. "Trust me."
Sirius got to his feet and walked to the door.
"I'm going to tell them you're crying and Remus is consoling you or something. You two can go back to. . . Celebrating I guess," he said.
He walked out the door and closed it behind himself. He immediately slammed his palm to forehead. James was going to find out eventually. And sure, when they eventually told him what was going on he was going to lose it.
If Remus had decided to fancy any of James' other squeezes there wasn't a doubt in Sirius' mind that James would let it go, encourage Remus even. But no, he had to go and hook up with Evans. To James, Lily was a goddess, forbidden territory, not allowed to be touched or even talked to by anyone other than him.
James had hooked up and dated with plenty of girls in his time at Hogwarts, but he'd drop them all in a second if Lily Evans came knocking on his door. She was his perfect woman.
Sirius dragged himself back into the kitchen where his cousins and their friends had left. His friends remained at the table conversing.
"What are they doing up there?" James asked.
"Oh, the usual - Evans is crying and off on an angry rant about Narcissa and Remus is trying to calm her down," Sirius said.
"One of these days Lily is going to rip Narcissa's face off. Lily is just gonna snap," Veronica said.
"Did you see the way she jumped in the air to attack her? She would've succeeded if Remus hadn't grabbed her," Peter said.
"Can I ask you girls something, and answer honestly," James said. "Do you think Lily has feelings for Remus?"
"Honestly?" Dana asked.
"Oh, yeah. Big time," Veronica said with a chuckle. "Remus is quite the idiot if he can't tell."
"And if he does now, he's a swell guy for not letting it affect their friendship," Dana said.
"Remus wouldn't knowingly spend so much alone time with Lily if he knew she fancied him," James said.
"Why not? Because he's your best friend?" Veronica asked. "And because you like Lily?"
"Well obviously," James said smoothly.
"Mister High-and-Mighty, get off your cloud," Dana said. "The heart wants what the heart wants and if they want each other you can't stop that."
"But, for now, Lily won't even think about making a move on our buddy Remus for your sake," Veronica said.
Not true. Definitely not true anymore, Sirius thought to himself.
"What do you mean for my sake?" James asked.
"Well, I'm sorry if this offends you, but we've be pressuring Lily to ask Remus out since the start of the year," Dana said. "But she's always going on about what good friends you and Remus and how she doesn't want to come between you two."
"Because she would," Veronica said. "But like we said, she won't go for it."
"Why've you been trying to set them up?" James asked.
"Because Remus is better for her than you are. You are a douche bag and Remus is not," Veronica went on.
"Well, what do you think, Sirius' old buddy?" James asked.
"Why do I have to have an opinion?" Sirius asked.
"Because, you're my best mate of course," James said. "Besides, you're too quiet. It's unsettling."
"Well. . . Evans doesn't like you. . . And she does like Remus. . . And we all know he likes her. . . It would just be kind of unfair to stop that from happening," Sirius said.
". . . Are you quite serious? Do you really believe that?" James asked.
"Well if it makes them happy. . . I mean they're your friends, at least Remus is anyway and well. . . If they were making themselves unhappy just to make you happy. . . That's not fair," Sirius said.
"Oh, my gosh, Sirius pulled his head out of his ass and is thinking about other people's feelings," Dana said.
"That is so hot," Veronica said.
"Sirius, you're going soft on me," James said shaking his head. "Remus can't go out with Lily. I like her."
"Well, Remus likes her too," Dana said.
"How about no one goes out with Lily then to avoid fighting?" Sirius said. "That's the only fair thing to do."
James was silent. Veronica got out of her seat and walked over to Sirius, standing him up.
"I want you now," she said pulling him upstairs.
"I don't know, Babe, I just don't feel up to it," Sirius said. "I'm in a rather off state at the moment."
"Well I can fix that, easy," Veronica said. She opened the door to the first room she could and, just like Sirius walked in on Lily and Remus.
This time Lily and Remus weren't making out, just sitting and talking, enjoying one another's company.
"Oh, sorry," Veronica said.
"Yeah, as long as I'm sleeping here no shagging allowed in this room, thanks," Lily said.
"What are you two going on about? Not still upset about Narcissa are you?" she asked.
"No. We were just talking," Remus said.
"Good, oh and you ought to know, that James is a prick and is still very much against the two of you being together," she said.
"Sirius, you told Veronica?" Lily asked.
Veronica smiled and then stepped inside closing the door.
"Sirius hasn't told me anything," Veronica said.
". . . Good going, Lily," Remus said giving her a thumbs up.
"What's going on?" Veronica asked.
Remus and Lily exchanged glances.
"They're going out," Sirius said, as if containing the information inside any longer would make him explode. "And they're not telling James about it."
"Really?" Veronica asked. "Wow, what an extraordinary turn of events, especially some so out of character. When did this happen?"
"Right after we came upstairs," Remus admitted.
"Wow! Not long at all. Well I for one encourage this," Veronica said. "So when do you plan on telling James, eventually?"
"Yeah," Lily said.
"Yeah, I remember Sirius and I kept our relationship a secret. Of course, that was just so we could shag without any of you guys knowing about," Veronica said.
"And now when you have sex everyone knows about," Lily said.
Veronica giggled. "Well, your secret is safe with us."
"Sadly," Sirius said glumly.
"In the meantime, I think Sirius needs a but of, uh, 'cheering up' if you know what I mean," Veronica said.
"Sadly I do," Remus replied.
She pulled Sirius from the room and closed the door behind her.
"Veronica is kind of a tart," Lily said.
"Sadly I agree," Remus said. "But at lest she's only with Sirius. It's not like she gets around."
"True, and I bet your buddy Sirius would've caught something by now if they weren't monogamous," Lily said.
"Again," Remus said, "sadly, I agree."
-------------------
A/N: All those who review get the opportunity to be Remus' secret lover, if they so choose.
