Author's Note: Hello everyone! Took me a little longer to update this chapter - but the final two chapters shouldn't take so long again. Sorry also for being so late with replying to your reviews. I lost a bit track of them, I was so convinced I had already sent the replies for that chapter... Many thanks to everyone I didn't already thank personally. Your feedback is very much appreciated! I hope you still remember what happened in the other chapters...

Warning: A bit of vulgar language in this chapter.

And something else I'd like to mention: The girl in this chapter is not a Mary Sue, nothing to worry. She will neither fall in love with Sirius nor with Remus. She's not an OC either, because she's Hestia Jones who's briefly mentioned in Order of the Phoenix ;-)

Chapter 21

You Can't Buy Friendship

Saturday morning before the Hogsmeade trip, a letter from James arrived. Sirius skipped breakfast to read it in peace.

Hi Sirius!

Don't feel too bad, sometimes I miss the old Marauder-Days too. Here, the other students are sometimes a bit boring and they regard you as someone inferior because you don't have the latest Quidditch cloak yet. Yes, I KNOW it's a really good cloak BUT I already spent FORTUNES on the new ball set they said I had to buy. I wish my parents would give me more pocket money. They have enough money but, no, they say that the fees for the Academy are much too high and they don't want to "spoil" me and if I'm unhappy here, I should go back to Hogwarts. It's so unfair! Of course I'm happy here and they know very well that I would never let such a big chance pass. I mean, it's so great that they accepted me here after all the hard tests etc. I would be stupid to give it up! I'd rather do all sorts of jobs to earn the money for the cloak. (And that's really what I'm doing: I'm cutting the grass on the Quidditch pitch, I organise the training schedules, I clean the changing rooms...urgh!) I'm getting there, only ten Galleons left. (And I just don't understand why anyone in their right mind would spend eighteen Galleons for CLOTHES!)

So Evans is going out with a Ravenclaw? Why would anyone be interested in a Ravenclaw? I mean, everyone knows Ravenclaws are utterly boring rule-abiding-spoilsport-nerds. Is she really going out with him or are they just going to Hogsmeade together because they want to study together or something like that? What do you mean, she's given up on me? Do you mean to say that she's ever been interested in me? Don't get the wrong ideas, here are many good-looking girls. They're really sporty and they all like me because I'm not as conceited as some other idiots here.

I didn't know you and Remus were such good friends that you wanted him to become a Marauder. What was so horrible that can't be forgotten after a nice prank? If Remus really is a worthy Marauder, a prank is definitely the right thing to reconcile. Why don't you do something on Easter? Seems the perfect time for a good prank! Turn the Slytherins' cream eggs into rotten eggs, for example. Or make Flobberworms hatch out of them. All the girls are going to scream if they see the ugly worms!

See you hopefully in the summer holidays,

James.

PS: Don't you read too much! Otherwise I won't be able to recognise the bookworm who claims he's my best-friend-Marauder-Sirius!

Sirius grinned slightly. James's letters always cheered him up, no matter how pointless they were. Not in love with Evans, not at all, sure... And so many other girls who were interested in him. Even if they were, he certainly would not be interested in them. Sirius had to admit James's Easter Prank ideas were intriguing. But probably not the right thing to placate Remus. No, if just the Slytherins were the victims of Sirius's prank, Remus would not be happy. If it was something which frightened or degraded people, or was too cruel, Remus would not be happy either.

Okay, what I need is a prank which is funny but does not make fun of anyone. Actually, everyone should be happy. But why should people be happy if you play pranks? Normally, a prank includes laughing at someone; otherwise it wouldn't be a prank, right? This was definitely going to be difficult... Whatever, he had to go to Zonko's. Maybe he would find something suitable there.

It was a nice day, the spring sun was shining warmly and you could already wear your summer cloaks. It was the first time that Sirius wandered down the road alone on a Hogsmeade weekend. It was a strange feeling. Usually, he used to go here together with James and Peter, sometimes accompanied by Chris and Alex or several more people. But never alone. Hogsmeade weekends were the time to have fun together. Sirius took a look around. Before and behind him were groups of chattering friends, couples holding hands, groups of Gryffindors and Slytherins yelling insults at each other, people discussing their homework, Quidditch, Easter parties, where to go in Hogsmeade, the upcoming exams, the rumours of who dated who and so on. It was a nice atmosphere. But only for those who were involved.

"Hey, Black, feeling lonely?" he suddenly heard a sneering voice behind him.

Rolling his eyes, he turned around to see Avery, Nott and Rosier catching up with him.

"Where's your little boyfriend?" Avery teased him.

"Oh dear, you must be really bad in bed if you can't even satisfy such a nerd like Lupin," Rosier said contemptuously.

"Doesn't he like your small cock?" Avery added.

Sirius had had enough of it. All the frustration which had been accumulating during the last weeks released itself. In a quick movement, he had grabbed his wand and sent a hard Stinging Hex at Avery, a Knee-Revering Hex at Rosier and -

The next hex did not reach its goal, however, because Sirius was hauled backwards by a curse Nott had cast upon him. It knocked the breath out of his lungs and he landed painfully on his bottom several metres away. The three Slytherins and a few onlookers laughed at him. Grinding his teeth together, he scrambled on his feet and wiped his dirty and bruised hands on his cloak.

"Here's your wand." A young girl, who was so small that she could have passed for a first year, waved his wand in front of him. "It almost got into my eye."

"Do you want me to say sorry, or what?" Sirius said ill-tempered. "It was not really my fault." He took his wand and pocketed it with a reluctant "thanks" to the girl. Annoyed because the Slytherins, dreading his revenge, had already fled, Sirius stomped away.

For the first time, he paid attention to all the other students who went to Hogwarts alone. It was a bit hard to notice them because, apparently, they did not want to be noticed. They tried to fade in with the other cheerful groups, hiding behind them as if being alone was something to be ashamed of. As if it was their fault that they did not have friends. Sirius spotted the little girl who had given him his wand earlier among those nervous outsiders. Her hands buried in the pockets of her cloak, she stood in front of a shop window and stared hard at the displayed stationery. Touched by a sudden rush of sympathy, Sirius walked towards her.

"Hi."

She turned around to look at him with surprise. "Hello..."

"Are you alone here or are you waiting for your friends?"

Her cheeks reddened somewhat. "Waiting for my friends," she said almost defensively.

"Oh, right. You see, today my friends didn't want to go to Hogsmeade with me," Sirius said, surprising himself with his honesty, "and so I thought we could do something together if you're alone here, too."

"Oh. Well. Actually, my friends only ever want to go to Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop." She pointed at the displays. "But I'm not really interested in it, so I reckon it's okay if I leave."

Sirius smiled encouragingly at her. "That's okay," he said simply. "Is this your first Hogsmeade weekend?" he asked when they were walking down the High Street together.

"Second weekend. I was here the weekend before the Christmas holidays, too."

"Ah, yes, it's very nice here at Christmas time."

"Yes," she replied noncommittally.

She probably was on her own then as well, Sirius thought sympathetically. He did not know what to reply to that, so he quickly changed the topic. "Have you already been to Zonko's?"

"Er, no. Is it the...?"

"Joke shop."

"Yes, of course. No, I haven't been there yet."

"Then you have a serious gap in education. I have to go there anyway. Would you like to come with me? You could help me choose something for a good prank."

"What kind of prank?"

Sirius scratched his ear. How could he explain this? "It's a prank for someone to... to cheer them up."

"For whom?"

"Er... I don't think you know them. Come on now." He pulled her into Zonko's. As always, it was crowded with people but Sirius did not really handle them gently; he simply shoved smaller students out of their way. Finally, the little girl (Sirius still did not know her name) found something which looked interesting: Prima Donna Potion.

Just a few drops and all your conversations will turn into ballads, duets or choirs. Wears off after one hour at the latest – depending on the dose.

"This could be fun," Sirius said thoughtfully. "I'll just have to mix it into the daily pumpkin juice."

"You want to make the whole school sing?" the girl said, giggling at the idea.

Sirius grinned, too. "Yes, that's the plan." If everyone sings, no one is exposed and being laughed at. He took all twelve vials of Prima Donna Potion and fought his way through the masses of Hogwarts students towards the cash desk.

"Do you have more of these?" Sirius asked the shop man.

"I'll check in the stock."

In the meantime, Sirius advised the girl what to buy. She did not know much about joke items but Sirius was an expert. She was very excited about all the pranks she could pull with the joke items and spent all her money here.

A few moments later, the shop man returned with seven more vials. "Attacking the whole school?" he whispered conspiratorially. He knew Sirius very well. After all, Sirius had been a patron of Zonko's for six years.

Grinning, Sirius nodded and paid twenty-five Galleons and four Sickles (the four Sickles being the ones which Remus had placed on his bedside locker today again). It was quite expensive but it would be worth the experience of hearing the whole school sing and hopefully seeing a real smile on Remus's lips instead of these wrong smiles he used nowadays.

Equipped with huge boxes from Zonko's, Sirius and Hestia (Sirius had meanwhile found out the girl's name) decided to go to Honeydukes next. There would certainly be delicious Easter sweets. On his way, he saw Remus and Peter sitting on a bench in the sun and eating a butterbeer cream egg each. Sirius slowed down.

"You go ahead," he quietly told Hestia. "I'll follow in a minute, okay?"

She threw a knowing glance in Remus's direction. "You know, I don't mind you being gay," she stated.

Sirius refrained from snapping at her that she had no say at all in the matter whether he was gay or not, and walked behind a tall Hufflepuff so Remus and Peter did not notice him immediately.

"Mmm, this is definitely the best Easter egg I've ever eaten," Remus enthused over the sweet, his mouth full of chocolate-butterbeer cream.

"M-hmm," Peter agreed, licking cream from his fingers. "Honeydukes is famous for them. They're the best. Let's see if I have enough money left to buy some more." He rummaged the pockets of his cloak and found several Knuts, which he counted excitedly. "I'm afraid it's only enough for one egg. We could share," he offered Remus.

Remus quickly shook his head. "Nonsense. You already bought me one."

"Well, maybe I'll leave you a little bit of the rest of it if you insist you don't want so much," Peter said, grinning.

Remus chuckled. "I guess that would be alright. I'm going to wait here, okay?"

Peter nodded and hurried into the shop. Sirius watched him with a very bad conscience. It was his fault that Remus did not have the money to buy himself sweets. Sirius could buy up the whole stock of Zonko's but Remus could not even afford one Easter egg. And Peter did not have much either - but he shared the little bit he had with Remus nonetheless. Sirius felt as if it was his fault that he came from a rich family. As if that alone made him decadent and vain.

He followed Peter into Honeydukes and bought as many butterbeer cream eggs, licorice wands, chocolate frogs, sugar quills and Fizzing Whizbees as he could carry. In the end, he paid almost fifteen Galleons. Younger students, who were frantically counting their pocket money, eyed him enviously when he left the shop with his arms full of the best sweets Honeydukes could offer.

Sirius caught up with Peter right outside Honeydukes. "Hey, Peter!" he called him back.

"Hello, Sirius," Peter said, smiling at him. "Merlin's Beard, did you buy the whole Honeydukes?!" he said with a glance on the huge amount of sweets.

"That's for you," Sirius said, smiling broadly and shoving the sweets into Peter's arms. The slightly smaller boy could hardly carry everything.

"For - for me?!" he gasped, nonplussed. "Why?"

"'Cause you're a great friend. It's your Easter present."

"Since when do we give each other presents for Easter?"

"Just today. I'm in the mood for Easter presents today. I'm just glad we're friends, you know? So I decided I should give you a nice Easter present."

Peter looked at him as if he was crazy. "Er..." He helplessly stared at the many sweets in his arms. "Actually, I've just spent all my money on sweets, so I can't buy you a present as well."

"You don't have to buy me anything," Sirius said quickly. "It's okay, really. Erm... You will share the sweets with Remus, won't you?"

"Yes, of course. Sirius..." Peter sighed deeply. "Why don't you simply give him the sweets if you want to give him an Easter present?"

"He wouldn't take them if he knew they're from me."

"Yes... You're probably right there. So how am I supposed to explain to him where I suddenly got so many sweets from?"

"Say your parents sent you something for Easter. That's the idea - I'm going to go to the post office and send the sweets to you. Then you don't have to carry them with you all the time."

Peter looked still doubtful. "The postage is going to cost very much for all these things."

"Don't worry about that," Sirius said sadly. "I have enough money." But I don't have enough friends. And you cannot buy friendship. Forcing a smile on his face, Sirius relieved Peter of the sweets and murmured, "See you later."

Then he remembered Hestia was still in Honeydukes waiting for him. He hurried back into the shop and made a mess by dropping half of the sweets and all of the Prima Donna Potion - which got trampled by the masses of students. Hestia spotted him on the floor and helped him collect the mush which had once been cream eggs and vials with potion.

"Oh dear, no one can eat them anymore," Sirius complained.

"If you're going to throw it away, I'll take them," Hestia said. "I already spent all my money in Zonko's. I'd say mashed Easter eggs are better than no eggs at all."

"Nonsense," Sirius protested. "Besides, you would probably start singing an aria if you ate this mush." He took two Galleons from his purse and shoved them in her little hand. "Here, buy yourself something nice from it."

She blushed deeply. "Don't be crazy. You can't just give me two Galleons. You hardly know me."

Sirius groaned inwardly. Why did all people make such a fuss about getting money from someone else? Why didn't they see that it did not make them inferior if they accepted help? "Just take it, okay, Hestia? I have more than enough money and I swear to you: I'm going to throw all my money into the lake if people don't bloody take it."

"Alright, alright," she muttered and coughed awkwardly. "Thanks."

"You're welcome." Sirius tried to save what could be saved from the Prima Donna Potion. You cannot buy friendship. Sweets were certainly not what Hestia needed. He would have asked her to assist him with the prank (after all, he would have needed someone to stand guard when he mixed it into the pumpkin juice) but there was only half a vial left. He sighed in frustration.

"This is never going to be enough for the whole school," he said.

"Hm. But it's still enough for one person. You could mix it in Filch's tea," Hestia suggested, giggling at her own idea.

Sirius slowly shook his head. "No. It would be wrong to make everyone laugh at him. He would feel really bad…"

Hestia gave him a surprised look. "But Filch is…"

"An idiot, I know. But still… Hey, I got it!" Sirius said excitedly. "I can drink the stuff!"

Hestia gaped. "Erm… Let me get this right. You want to play a prank on yourself?"

Sirius beamed widely. "That's exactly the point."

The shop man of Honeydukes was overjoyed when Sirius again bought a huge amount of sweets. Together with Hestia, he went to the Post, hired four big owls and sent an enormous parcel of sweets to Peter for Easter.

"Right. Now what?" Sirius said undecidedly. "Shall we… I don't know, go to the Three Broomsticks for a butterbeer maybe?"

Hestia shrugged awkwardly. "We could go back to Hogwarts. I still have some homework to do. And I don't have any money left anyway."

"I'm going to invite you. Come on." Sirius seized her arm and pulled her with him.

When they entered the Three Broomsticks, they almost ran into Lily and the Ravenclaw bloke who accompanied her. Lily looked from Sirius to Hestia and she narrowed her eyes dangerously.

"Black," she said in a quiet, yet very angry voice, "this is definitely going too far. You will not go out with such young girls. I will report this to Professor McGonagall if you don't leave her alone right now."

Sirius blinked. "Whoa, Evans, don't freak out, I'm not –"

"I can't stop you from seducing fifth- or sixth-years – if they're stupid enough to fall for you – but I will not tolerate this! Just because you want to get back at Remus! What you're doing is criminal! There's a law which forbids –"

"We're not going out or anything," Hestia suddenly spoke up. Everyone turned their attention to her. "Besides, you know Sirius is gay, don't you?" she said unperturbedly.

Lily huffed indignantly. "That hasn't stopped him from going out with girls before."

"Maybe he didn't know then that he was gay," Hestia argued.

Lily angrily pressed her lips together. "I would be more careful if I were you," she told Hestia.

"Evans is just so pissed off because she misses James so much," Sirius told Hestia and gave Lily a withering look.

Lily glared back at him with equal repugnance. Actually, she looked ready to take her wand out and duel Sirius. "I don't know where you and Potter get all your arrogant and delusional ideas from," she spat. "You're just too big-headed to even consider the possibility that not every girl in the universe falls for you just because you're good Quidditch players and you can do all sorts of nasty hexes."

"And you have to go out with a Ravenclaw just because you can't bring yourself to admit you'd ever be attracted to someone like James," Sirius shot back.

Hestia, Lily and the Ravenclaw boy all spoke at the same time.

"I'm not attracted to James Potter!" Lily said indignantly.

"What has this got to do with being a Ravenclaw?" her friend (or boyfriend?) asked angrily.

"Hey, I'm from Ravenclaw too!" Hestia informed Sirius.

"Sorry," Sirius told Hestia. Then he turned to Lily again and smirked at her. "James wrote me in his last letter to say hello and wish you a Happy Easter."

"Fine!" Lily blushed slightly and seemed to get even angrier. "I'm not interested, you can tell him that! And besides, André and I aren't going out!"

André looked a little disappointed. He probably had been hoping for that. "Let's go," he told Lily quietly. "There's no sense in arguing with him."

"You're right." Without sparing Sirius another glance, she and André left the Three Broomsticks. You should thank me for that, James, Sirius thought. I just saved the love of your life from going out with someone else.

"What's wrong with her?" Hestia asked Sirius once they had sat down at a table and ordered two butterbeers. "Is she jealous?"

"What of?" Sirius asked nonplussed.

"Well, that you're spending your Hogsmeade weekend with me and not with her."

Sirius coughed uneasily. "Er, listen, Hestia. I'm sorry and you're really nice but –"

"Yes, yes, I know you're gay and we're not going out or anything," she interrupted him, rolling her eyes at him. "But maybe Lily thinks so. You see, she didn't get so angry when I studied with Remus once. She never accused him of seducing a young girl."

"Yeah, but that's because Remus would never do that."

"And you would?"

"No. But Lily thinks I would."

"Oh. She doesn't like you very much, does she?"

"Now, that's a big understatement. She hates me," Sirius explained soberly.

"Why?"

"Oh, no idea. I guess there are many reasons. Most of them have got to do with me being a big idiot sometimes."

"I don't think you are. I think you can be quite nice sometimes."

Pondering this statement for a while, Sirius thoughtfully watched her fiddling with her mug of butterbeer. "I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not. I'm not nice, not at all."

Hestia probably thought it was meant as a joke and chuckled softly.

For a while, they were drinking their butterbeer in silence. Sirius could not help but remember all the times he had been here together with James and Peter and later with Remus and Peter.

You know, I can be nice sometimes.

Sometimes… I would never think something like that of you.

What, that I'm sometimes nice? So you think I'm always an idiot?

You know what I mean. I would never consider the time I spend with you as wasted time.

Sirius sighed inwardly. Do you still think so, Remus? he wondered sadly, or do you regard all the time we spent together as wasted time now?

"Is there something wrong?" Hestia asked slightly worried because Sirius had not spoken for minutes and he just kept staring gloomily at his mug of butterbeer.

"I am... No... Well... Have you - have you ever been in love?"

"Oh. It's about your... boyfriend, isn't it? You're not together anymore, are you?"

"I asked you if you've ever been in love," Sirius said defiantly.

"Okay. Uh, yes. I've been in love with someone."

"Who?"

"My neighbour. He's a muggle. It wouldn't work anyway. We went to muggle school together but then I left for Hogwarts. Besides, he already has a girlfriend."

"I'm sorry."

"Yes. Thanks."

There was an awkward pause.

"So… how come you and Remus split up?" Hestia asked cautiously.

Sirius winced. "Can we please talk about something else?"

"Okay. I thought you wanted to talk about it but it's okay if you don't want to, of course... Uh… what is your favourite subject at school?"

"Transfiguration, I guess."

"That's my favourite subject too," Hestia said delightedly.

"Really?" Sirius tried to smile and sound interested.

"Yes, it's really interesting. It's hard work but it's fascinating how you can transform things and all."

"Yes."

There was another awkward pause until Hestia decided to continue with their small talk. "So, what are your hobbies?"

Sirius shrugged undecidedly. "Quidditch. Playing pranks and experimenting with new spells. Swimming in the lake and annoying the Giant Squid." He shrugged again. "That's about it. What are your hobbies?"

"I like reading a lot."

"Oh, I almost forgot that. Reading is one of my hobbies too."

"Really?" Hestia smiled widely. "That's funny, it seems we really have the same interests. Do you know the Muggle Trilogy?"

"Ah, no, I don't think so."

"You have to read that. It's hilarious. A wizard gets into trouble with the Ministry because he accidentally smuggled something illegal and then he tries to hide among muggles and pretends to be one of them. Of course everything goes wrong because he has no idea how to behave as a muggle."

"Sounds cool," Sirius commented.

"Yes, it's very good. And have you read Attack at Tara?"

"No, I don't know that either."

"It's very exciting. It's from the same author who wrote The Cry of the Augurey. You certainly know that, don't you?"

"Uh, actually… I think I've heard of that but I've never read it."

"Don't worry, it's not as good as everyone says. You should rather read Attack at Tara, it's definitely my favourite book. What's your favourite book?"

"Hairy Snout, Human Heart."

"Oh, really?" She gave him a surprised look. "I always thought only girls read that book."

"Well, I'm gay, so I'm not supposed to be manly, right?" Sirius snapped. Both of them blushed in embarrassment.

"I didn't mean it like that," Hestia quickly defended herself and gave him a slightly apologetic glance. "I think it's nice if boys read romance novels too. I just thought Hairy Snout was a bit… well, the ending was quite predictable, wasn't it?"

"What was predictable about it?" Sirius said, still a little bit cross with her for insulting his favourite book.

"Well, it was so obvious she would come back and apologise to him, wasn't it?"

Sirius frowned very hard. "I don't think it was. You know, that book was not just some soppy romance novel someone invented to make lots of girls – or boys – teary-eyed. It's an autobiography and all of it really happened to that guy. There are really enough people who wouldn't want to be with someone just because they're a werewolf. It's not self-evident that she would come back to him."

"Hm, yes, maybe you're right. I never thought about it like that."

They spent the afternoon in the Three Broomsticks, drinking more butterbeer and discussing books. Well, Sirius could not contribute much to the discussion because he had not read many books yet, but he listened intently to Hestia and tried to memorise all the names of the books so he could look for them in the school library and maybe read some of them.

All in all, the day had not been as bad as Sirius had expected. Unfortunately, the school library did not have the books Hestia had mentioned. Madam Pince explained to him that they did not have books which were for entertainment only. And of course she told him in a not-so-friendly tone to finally bring Hairy Snout, Human Heart back – which Sirius did not do, of course. No, this evening he read the last chapter again, for the seemingly twentieth time.

The next morning, Sirius could finally play the prank on himself. When everyone else unpacked the parcels with Easter eggs and sweets from their parents (naturally, Sirius had not gotten anything from his parents), he quickly gulped down the vial of Prima Donna Potion. At least it did not taste that bad.

Everyone in the Great Hall stared at him in surprise when he asked Peter in a loud and high-pitched voice to pass him the "bu-hu-hu-hu-huuuuuu – tter!" Sirius could feel the heat rising in his cheeks. He had not expected his voice to sound so… ridiculous. Why did he have to sound like an opera singer? Why couldn't he sound like a rock star?!

"Erm, sorry?" Peter said, trying very hard not to grin too much. "What did you say?"

"Could you pass me-he-he-heheeeee… the bu-hu-hu-hu – tter!" Sirius groaned. The rest of the Great Hall erupted into loud laughter.

"Sorry, I still didn't catch that," Peter said between giggles.

Sirius glared at him. He was sure Peter only pretended not to understand him to make him sing again. "You're doing this on purpoooooooooooooooose! Argh! What, the name of Merlin – Merlin – Merlin – Meeeeeerlin, happened to my-hy-hy-hy-hy voice?! Argh." He had never known he could sing in such a high-pitched voice. "I should stop taaaaaaaaalking!" He quickly clapped his hand over his mouth to make sure he really kept quiet. For a moment, he caught Remus's eye. Remus was sitting a few places to his left and he was grinning widely like most other people, too. Sirius's heart gave a happy squeeze because all this pathetic singing had been worth it to see Remus cheerful once again. But Sirius's happiness did not last long. When he smiled back at Remus, Remus's face suddenly fell and he quickly averted his eyes as if he had done something he should not have done.

"Fuck," Sirius muttered but, naturally, it did not come out of his mouth as a mutter but as a long and loud coloratura. Not surprisingly, that earned him a very annoyed glare from McGonagall and more laughter from everywhere.

One hour later, the Prima Donna Potion had worn off (Sirius had fled from the Great Hall much earlier, though). He concluded that it had not been the best prank he had ever pulled. He had sung himself hoarse and his throat hurt like hell from the unusual use. Now, he was checking the books on Remus's shelf for the ones Hestia had mentioned. Asking Remus if he could borrow one of them would be the perfect excuse to talk to him again. Suddenly, someone coughed behind him. He turned around to see Remus standing in the doorway.

"Are you looking for something?" Remus asked in a neutral tone.

"Actually, yes," Sirius answered in a croaky voice. "I was wondering if…" He coughed a few times to make the hoarseness go away but it got only worse. "…if I could borrow that book of yours," he finished almost in a whisper and tipped his finger against the bookbinding of Attack at Tara.

"Why?" Remus asked in a slightly suspicious voice.

"'Cause I want to read it?" Sirius coughed again a few times. "I heard it's really good."

"Yes, it is." Remus undecidedly looked from Sirius to the book and back. Finally, he pulled the book out of the shelf and handed it to Sirius. "Here you are. And I really hope I don't start singing when I get the book back," he said dryly.

Sirius grinned. "Don't worry, I don't usually hex books." He cleared his throat a few times before he continued. "I did it once and Madam Pince almost killed me and since then I haven't dared to mess with a book again."

"That's good to know," Remus commented, took his set of wizard chess and went back into the common room.

Sirius slowly followed, chose an armchair in a quiet corner and made himself comfortable there. He had problems focussing on the book, though. He could not help watching Remus and Peter playing chess together quite cheerfully and eating Easter sweets. A licorice wand would be nice now… Man, I'm really stupid. Why didn't I think of buying myself at least one box of licorice wands? Sighing inaudibly, he turned his attention back to the book. He had already forgotten what he had read so far, and so he had to start from the first page again. Meanwhile, Remus and Peter had finished their chess game. Peter was now playing a match against Alex, and Remus was talking to Lily about something Ancient Runes related.

Look at them, James, Sirius thought gloomily. Do you think we can ever make them fall in love with us? Or are they just too… good for us? I guess you can't make people fall in love with you. It just sorta happens. All our knowledge of hexes and useful spells won't help here, will it? I hate that I can't just do something about it. That I can only hope and never be sure… Gee, I can definitely see why to some people it's so tempting to use Love Potions.

Sirius decided to write one more letter to James (he really hoped his many letters did not annoy James or make him look stupid in front of his peers because he got so many letters from another boy) and enclosed ten Galleons in it for James to buy himself the latest Quidditch cloak which he needed to have so people would not look down at him. Sirius hated to think of his best friend cleaning the changing rooms (and maybe his classmates making fun of him because of it) to earn himself the necessary money. Even more, he hated the fact that the only thing he could offer to his friends right now seemed to be money. And once I've run out of money, and my good looks have decreased – who will still be interested in me then?

His gaze wandered back to Remus, who nodded slowly at something Lily explained to him; then to Peter, who tried to convince Alex to play one more chess match against him by raising the stakes to three chocolate bunnies and one box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. They have so much more to offer, he thought sadly.

He spent two more hours like that, curled up in the armchair with the book, which he did not really read. He just watched people and wondered whether they were happy or not. Most seemed to be happy. But were they really happy or were it just facades? Were they hiding their true selves?

"Don't you like it?"

"Huh?" Sirius startled and looked up to see Remus standing in front of him.

Remus gestured towards the book in Sirius's hands. "You haven't gotten really far."

He was very right with that observation: Sirius had not even finished the first chapter yet. "No, no, it's very good," Sirius assured him quickly. "I just can't read all the time. I'm…" …having crazy philosophical thoughts? That would be hard to explain. And he was sure Remus would not want to get involved in such a discussion. No, let's better keep this conversation light. It's good enough that we're talking at all. "…feeling a bit sick." Sirius tapped lightly on his stomach.

"Why's that?"

"I reckon I ate too many Easter eggs and chocolate bunnies."

Remus eyed him with an odd expression and Sirius tried very hard not to squirm under the close examination. "Here." Unexpectedly, Remus dropped a butterbeer cream egg on the armchair next to Sirius, smiled a brief fake-smile and quickly turned to leave.

Thunderstruck, Sirius stared at the little egg with the golden wrapping paper with the Honeydukes logo on it. "W-w-wait!" he spluttered and jumped up from the armchair. Both the book and the Easter egg fell to the floor due to his haste. He caught up with Remus in front of the spiral staircase.

"Thank you, Remus," he said sincerely.

"You're welcome," Remus said quietly.

"Happy Easter!" Sirius grinned broadly at Remus, who, however, seemed a bit alarmed by Sirius's exclamation.

"Er, yes. To you too," he replied awkwardly, and that was the end of the conversation. Remus turned to climb up the staircase and Sirius knew it was a clear indication that he was not supposed to follow him now. He knew it just as well as Remus knew Sirius could not possibly be sick from Easter eggs and chocolate bunnies. It had been a really stupid lie but in the end it had turned out well.

Smiling silently to himself, Sirius walked back to his abandoned armchair, picked up the book and smoothed the pages, which had got crumpled from falling to the floor. Thoughtfully, he toyed a bit with the Easter egg in his hands and contemplated its strange journey from Sirius to Peter to Remus and back to Sirius. All in all, it had been a nice Easter holiday. Not as good as Christmas, of course, but it was better than nothing.

Author's Note: I need 19 more reviews to achieve 400 - so I would be very grateful for your contribution ;-)

There are only two more chapters to come... I've long considered writing a sequel to this story where James returns to Hogwarts, the whole school finds out about Remus being a werewolf, then of course Lily/James romance... But it would get very sad in the end because I'd like to stick to canon a bit more (Peter becomes a Death Eater, Sirius suspects Remus... well, you know the story). Would you be interested in reading the sequel or would you rather want me to write something completely new? Ideas are very welcome!