"Will you be my girlfriend?"

I'd been half-expecting him to ask me something of the sort, but it still startled me to hear it from his lips. For a long moment I just gaped at him, my eyes wide, my eyebrows raised. He awaited me patiently, though I could tell that he was starting get anxious because I hadn't responded immediately. Then, finally, I asked him, "Are you sure?"

Clearly that wasn't the answer he'd been anticipating. He raised his eyebrows at me and let out a short laugh of surprise. "Am I sure that I wanna be your boyfriend? Yes, Alex, I'm pretty damn sure."

"Well, it's just that…" I bit the inside of my cheek. It was just that I'd never really considered a relationship between Remus and myself. Although, of course, that was mostly because I avoided thinking about such things. I sighed and placed my hands against my hips, staring up into the night sky. I knew Remus was a good guy, and that he would be a great boyfriend, but... "I'm not girlfriend material," I said at last, looking back down at him. "I'm no good for you, Remus."

His eyes bulged and his jaw slackened momentarily in surprise. Once he'd gotten over his shock, it was clear that my words had upset him. His brows furrowed as he frowned deeply. "What d'you mean, no good for me?!" he said heatedly, the color of his cheeks rising. "You're perfect for me!"

I arched an eyebrow high. Me, perfect for him? "You're joking, right?" I said incredulously. His expression quickly became hurt and I hurriedly explained, "What I mean is, you can do so much better than me, Remus. You're a great guy, who deserves himself a really great girl."

"You are a really great girl," he urged. "And you're the only girl that I want to be in a relationship with." There was a ferocity in his voice and in his eyes. "I want to date you, Alex, because I like you for who you are. I don't want some girl who's 'girlfriend material'; I want Alex material!"

I softened. Even when he was all fired up, he found a way to be absolutely adorable.

It was in that moment I realized that I'd always been attracted to Remus, an attraction that ran deeper than the surface of his skin. There was just something about him that I'd always been drawn to. Maybe it was his calm demeanor, or maybe it was the way he never lost faith in people. Hell, it was really just a mix of all the quirks of his personality. I just knew that he brought out the best in me. Around him, I was a better person.

"Are you sure?" I asked again, despite knowing that he wouldn't want me asking that again. "I really wanna make sure you know what you're getting yourself into."

He laughed quietly. "Yes, I know what kind of a mess I'm getting myself into." He smiled teasingly. "Do you?"

I smirked back at him. "Guess there's only one way to find out."

The Three Broomsticks Inn was as popular and rowdy as ever. There were pointy hats and the fluttering of robes every which way. Wizards and witches laughed and chatted away as they clunked their foaming mugs together.

"I don't see them," I said, leaning closer to Remus so that he could hear me over the noise. "Do you?"

"They usually grab one of the tables near the middle…" Like that it made it any easier to find them. I tightened my grip on Remus's arm in fear of losing him as we weaved our way through the crowd. "There they are!" Remus shouted to me, nodding towards a boisterous table. James was the first to notice us approaching. He grinned widely and lifted his glass in the air, accidentally making some of the beer spill over his hand. The rest of the table quickly followed his cue.

"I'd like to make a toast," James shouted, grinning even wider, "to Alex and Remus! For finally getting together!"

"To the new couple!" everybody else cheered, lifting their mugs.

Remus and I both laughed. Even though I thought that they were a bit over the top – they were acting as if we'd just gotten married, for God's sake – it was nice of them to celebrate and support the new-found relationship between Remus and me.

"Thanks, guys!" Remus was glowing. "We appreciate the support!"

"Yeah," I grinned. I threw up our entwined hands, eliciting a surprised burst of laughter from Remus. "We made it!"

Laughter traveled around the table. "You look like a wrestler who just won her match," Sirius joked, grinning wide.

"Well, I certainly did win something," I smiled, nudging Remus. He blushed, which only made my smile wider. Sirius wolf-whistled while James and Peter snickered.

"Sit down, sit down," Lily said, gesturing to two empty chairs between herself and Peter. She was wearing a deep blue sweater that went really well with her skin tone. I could only imagine how much James had been gawking at her before Remus and I had arrived. "About time you two got together, if you ask me."

"You can say that again," laughed Sirius. "Honestly, I can't believe nothing's happened up until now. Took you two long enough."

"Yeah," agreed James, fixing his glasses. "You two have been ogling at each other for, what, the past couple of months?"

"Oh, alright, alright," I said in surrender, lifting up my hands. "So we're taking things a little slow."

"A little slow?" Sirius said incredulously. "Even a troll would've been able to figure out what one plus one equals before you two made it official."

James and Peter snickered as Lily rolled her eyes (though I could see that smile tugging on her lips). Marlene, who was sidled up so close to him that she might as well been sitting on his lap, giggled very girlishly.

"It probably would've taken you longer to figure out the answer to that, though, huh?" I teased, making him pout and the others laugh. "Now, somebody pass me a butterbeer, please. I'm so thirsty." I thanked Peter as he handed me a foaming mug.

"Sure you don't need any firewhiskey with that?" grinned Sirius, his eyes twinkling. "We are celebrating, after all; it won't hurt to have a drink or two, don't you think?"

I actually considered the idea (despite the fact it was only the afternoon), but Remus interjected. "Absolutely not," he huffed, frowning in disapproval. "It's way too early in the day for that."

"Aw, c'mon," Sirius whined. "It's never too early to have a drink and have some fun!" I was starting to get the feeling that he just wanted to see me drunk.

"Oh, stop it," Lily snapped. "Remus is right; it's too early to be drinking."

"Thank you, Lily," Remus replied appreciatively, probably grateful that there was at least one other sane person at the table.

"Let the girl speak for herself, won't you?" Sirius huffed, gesturing towards me. "I think Alex is old enough to make her own decisions. Right, Alex?" He turned towards me, obviously expecting me to agree.

"That's right," I agreed, nodding. Remus and Lily both frowned; clearly they didn't think I was mature enough to make the right decisions. "But I think I'll pass on the whiskey, thanks. Oh, just drop it," I added when Sirius opened his mouth to argue. He sighed and slumped back in his chair.

"Fine, fine." He brightened up an instant later, as if he'd suddenly remembered something. There was certain sparkle in his eyes that could only mean trouble. "But we'll still have some later tonight…we have much to talk about with you, y'know." He turned towards James, who also had the same devilish look in his eyes. I raised my eyebrows. Remus frowned, obviously not liking the sound of things.

"If you have something you want to talk about, you can just tell us here."

"Oh, no." James shook his head. "This conversation can only take place between us"—he pointed at himself, Sirius, and Peter—"and Piers. Nobody else. Don't worry," he added, "Just a little best friends to girlfriend chat. Completely harmless."

So the boys were gonna put me to the test? That was definitely going to be interesting. "I'll be fine," I assured Remus, who still didn't appear to like the idea. "Don't be such a worrywart."

"Yeah," James agreed. "We'll take good care of your girl!"

Remus sighed in resignation. "Fine, fine. Just try not to get so drunk that you can't see straight."

"I can't promise anything," I grinned. Remus gave me a look while James and Sirius snickered.

"That makes me worry even more."

"Aw, lighten up, Moony!" Sirius grinned. "You trust us, don't you?"

"I don't think you want to hear the answer to that." The corner of Remus's lips twitched. I giggled.

The rest of the boys feigned hurt. James sniffed, rubbing away a nonexistent tear. "All these years, I've thought we were friends…!"

"I can't believe you used us like that," Sirius said, wrapping an arm around James, who pretended to sob onto Sirius's shoulder. "You broke our hearts!"

Something about this reminded me of a soap opera (of course, Sirius and James being the overdramatic women in the cast). I started to laugh. Even Lily seemed amused, giggling quietly behind her hand. I swore James's eyes lit up when he saw her laugh.

As Remus replied in his own soap opera-y way, I leaned in towards Lily and said to her, "Do you ever consider giving James a chance?" I didn't really know what had made me say it. It had just been that look in James's eyes. Although it was well-known to everyone in the school that James had a major crush on Lily (I was sure that even all the teachers were aware of it), very few knew just how serious he really was about her. I, among the rest of the boys, knew that he really, really liked her.

She stopped laughing and faced me, her eyes as wide as orbs. She appeared to have thought she misheard me. "I beg your pardon?"

"You heard me. The guy's head over heels for you, Lils – anybody with eyes can see that – so why not give me a shot? He's a better guy than you give him credit for."

"No." She shook her head. "No, no." I raised my eyebrows; it was almost as if she had to convince herself that 'no' was the right answer. "Immature and arrogant troublemakers aren't my type."

"He's been maturing," I pointed out. She raised an eyebrow dubiously. "He has! Besides, maybe an immature, arrogant troublemaker is exactly what you need." I laughed at the incredulous look she sent me. "Haven't you heard that old saying 'opposites attract'? Maybe you need somebody who knows how to have some fun!" It sounded strange of me to be spouting relationship advice, especially since I hadn't even been aware of the fact that I'd been slowly falling for Remus.

"Are you telling me that I don't know how to have fun?!" she said indignantly, puffing out her chest. Apparently she was missing the entire point of what I'd said, but I had the feeling that she was just doing that on purpose. Before I could accuse her doing so, however, Marlene interrupted me.

"What're you two talking about?" Marlene's eyes were narrowed slightly, almost as if she thought that we'd been talking about her. For once, I was grateful for her intrusion.

"Oh, nothing," I said dismissively. I could still feel Lily's glare penetrating me, so I quickly tried to change the subject. "Say, Blondie, where'd you get that necklace?"

Even though I'd gotten back to calling her Blondie, she either didn't care or didn't notice, because she went off into a very detailed explanation about the necklace that Sirius had gotten her. I'd forgotten about my conversation with Lily by the time Marlene had finished her story (although she'd lost me halfway), but I couldn't say the same for Lily. She kept taking glances in James's direction. Regardless, neither of us brought up the topic of James Potter for the rest of the day.

"…and so Padfoot had to parade around in his drawers until class ended!"

I could barely breathe. My cup of whiskey laid on the floor, long forgotten, as I doubled over in laughter. "Oh my god!" I howled, laughing so hard that I could barely breathe. Tears were beginning to stream down my face. "I wish I'd been there to see it!"

"You can see me in my drawers anytime, love," Sirius assured me. He swayed slightly in place, a lopsided grin on his face. "Not sure how Moony would feel about that, though."

James howled with laughter. "Moony would beat your arse!"

"Uh-huh!" I agreed. I tried to straighten myself up, but only ended up falling back over. I giggled. "My man doesn't take anybody's bullshit!"

"Only yours," Sirius snickered.

"Oh, shuddap, you!" I took the forgotten shot of the whiskey on the floor. "And get me some more whiskey!"

Sirius grabbed the bottle nearest to him and turned it over. Not a single drop of liquid fell out. "You drank the whole thing already." Of course Sirius was just yanking my chain like he always did; there was no way that I could've drank an entire bottle of whiskey by myself. Well, actually...I supposed it was possible; I've lost track of how many shots I'd taken, after all...

"What 'bout the other one?" I slurred, pointing to it.

Peter peered into it. "'S empty too."

"What kinda damn party is this?!" I said indignantly. "Can't be much of a 'best friends to girlfriend' talk if there ain't nothin' to drink!"

"Maybe we'll actually be able to talk now," James said, in a surprisingly serious manner. There was a moment of silence before we all burst out laughing.

"Really, though," Sirius said, sobering up. "We haven't even gotten to talking about your ex-boyfriends yet!"

"Ex-boyfriends?!" I said incredulously. I hiccupped. "Y'all are actin' like a buncha girls!"

"Nuh-uh! If we were curling each other's hair and painting our nails, that'd be a different story!"

James howled with laughter, pounding his fist against the floor. Peter started mumbling about how that idea wasn't half bad.

"Now, spill it, Piers! We wanna know what kinda messes you've been in before our Moony!"

I rolled my eyes and pursed my lips. "Fine! I don't know why it matters at all, though!" I sat up and shook my head, blearily blinking my eyes. At least I could still see straight, even though everything was fuzzy. Remus never mentioned anything about that, though! Hah!

"I've only had one boyfriend before," I slurred. "And that was…two years ago?" My brows scrunched in thought. "It didn't last long, either. We were always gettin' into trouble. He treated me fine, but…" I shrugged, making vague hand gestures. "One day we just didn't feel the thrill no more. And that was that."

"You just didn't feel the thrill?" repeated James. "The hell's that s'pposed to mean?"

"Oh, you know, the kinda high we would get by doin' stuff that we wasn't s'pposed to be doin'. We just didn't have it anymore."

"You're not ever gonna do that to Moony, are you?" Peter asked me. Peter had been much more talkative once he'd started drinking, even wrapping his arm around me at one point. James and Sirius groaned. Apparently they'd been planning on asking a variation of the question in a less blunt manner.

"Of course not!" I said, appalled he would even ask. "Remus is different! It ain't 'bout the gettin' the adrenaline pumpin' or any of that shit with him. With him, it's about…it's about," I grinned stupidly, "makin' each other happy."

"Awwwww," cooed Sirius, giggling. "So you can be sentimental, Piers!"

"Don't have ta sound so surprised," I muttered indignantly. "I am human, you know!"

"Damn, no need to get so riled up!"

"I'll show you riled up, you little–!"

I moved towards Sirius, who shrieked like a little girl and covered his face with his hands. Before I could make it across the floor to him, though, I landed flat on my face. Everyone burst into laughter.

"Oi!" Peter said excitedly. He brandished a bottle of something, his pudgy cheeks a vivid shade of red. "I found some more booze!"

And the rest of the night passed by in a blur.

By Monday it seemed that the whole school knew about Remus and me. Apparently it was a big deal that one of the Marauders was now off the market. Some girls, after seeing Remus and I walk down the halls with our hands held together, burst out sobbing and ran in the other direction. Of course, James and Sirius didn't make it any easier by wolf-whistling at us every time Remus and I so much as smiled at each other. It also didn't help that I had a hangover for half of the day, which gave off the wrong impression to some people.

So I was happy to get out of the castle and go to Quidditch practice later in the evening. I could finally get away from all the stares and whispers. Remus assured me that it wouldn't last much longer, but I could barely it take it anymore. I'd nearly lost it with this group of Fourth Year girls who were discussing, rather loudly, about how Remus could've done far better than me.

I'd been so excited to get away from all the rumors, however, that I'd forgotten that my team consisted of Slytherins. When I walked into the locker room, they all began to smirk and snicker.

It was Gudgeon who spoke first. "We're all dying to know, Piers," he smirked, "Did you really disgrace the Slytherin name by getting together with a Gryffindor?"

"She's already betrayed the Slytherin name with her blood," laughed Rosier. I glared at him and was about to retort when Lucinda snapped,

"Stow it, the lot of you. And you better not bother Piers about her personal life during practice, or I'll have your head."

"Aw, sticking up for your friend, are you, Talkalot?" purred Gudgeon. Lucinda rolled her eyes.

"I just don't want any distractions during practice, you twit. I've had it up to here with you lot always fooling around during practice. Today, I'm gonna make you practice so hard you'll wish you'd been Sorted into Hufflepuff." With that, she lifted her broom and started towards the fields. Gudgeon sighed and stood up, apparently resigned, and started after her. The rest of us followed suit and marched out into the wet fields.

"Now, I need you all to gather around and listen," Lucinda said briskly, stopping in the middle of the field and facing us. "I know we're not having our next match until May, but this is going to be my last chance at the Quidditch cup. With our loss from Gryffindor"–some grimaces went about the team–"and our rather pathetic win over Ravenclaw (lucky you got good eyes, Black), I know our shot at the Quidditch cup is slim. But there's still a chance, and if we practice our ruddy arses off, we may actually be able to win that cup." Her eyes were filled with a fierce determination and her voice full of passion. "And we will win that cup, because we are one hell of a team, and because we are one hell of a House. You mess with the house of the snake, and you–?"

"Get tossed in the lake!" roared my teammates, lifting their brooms and whooping. I grinned despite myself. Lucinda always knew how to get my teammates all riled up. Even I, who barely had an inch of pride in my House, felt more determined to win than ever before.

We practiced well into the dark of the night, stopping only after Gudgeon and Crouch crashed into one another (it was so dark that they couldn't even see where they were going). We dragged ourselves back to the Common Room, exhausted and rather irritable. Even Peeves was no match for us – the moment he started to taunt us, Rosier shot a hex so powerful that Peeves was blasted off toward the other side of the castle.

Before we turned into the dungeons, however, I heard a shout of my name. I turned to see Stebbins on the other side of the corridor, waving towards me. I sighed. I wasn't really in the mood to chat with him.

"Hey," I shouted, "I'm a little tired right now, is it alright if we talk tomorrow?"

I was surprised to hear him yell an indignant "No!" Feeling even more annoyed, I split apart from the rest of my team to head towards him.

"Already cheating on your boyfriend, Piers?" Rosier drawled. There was a wicked grin on his sickly pale features. "Can't say I'm surprised." The rest of the team paused in their descent down the stairs to watch our argument unfold.

"Just because I'm talking to a person of the opposite gender doesn't mean I'm cheating," I said irritably, rolling my eyes at him. "Really, that's just ridiculous. I'm sure every girl that's talked to you before has had absolutely no intentions of sleeping with you." Lucinda laughed and Rosier turned to glare at her. "I mean...c'mon, dude. You look like the Bloody Baron, just without the blood."

"It's not like a need a girl," he snorted. "I don't need some bitch pestering me all day."

"You're really only saying that 'cause you haven't gotten laid before."

"You sound like you have a lot of expertise in the field," he countered.

"Everything alright over here?" Stebbins sidled over, glancing between Rosier and me.

"Come to collect your whore, Stebbins?" sneered Rosier. "I hope she doesn't overprice you; I can only imagine how hopeless she is in bed..."

"You son of a–"

Stebbins had beat me to it, however, by whipping out his wand and pointing it at Rosier's throat. Rosier narrowed his eyes into little slits.

"You don't want to threaten me," he hissed, "if you know what's good for you."

"And if you know what's good for you," countered Stebbins, "you move on down to your dorm and never call Alex that word again."

"Make me," Rosier hissed, drawing out his own wand and pointing it at Stebbins's face. There was a brief moment of silence in which the two just stared each other down.

"That's enough," Lucinda snapped. "You two are bloody pathetic. I"ll Stupefy the both of you myself if you don't knock it off."

They slowly lowered their wands, though their eyes were still glued to one another. "C'mon, Rosier," Gudgeon called out. "We've still got homework to do. Hex him another day."

"You should consider yourself lucky," Rosier hissed, before he grudgingly turned and walked toward the rest of my teammates. I heard him mutter to Regulus, "At least she's not dating your brother; would've made him an even bigger blood traitor..."

"You shouldn't have done that," I groaned to Stebbins as soon as the others were out of earshot. "Now he's gonna wanna get back at you."

"I'm not afraid of him," Stebbins snorted, stowing his wand away in his pocket. "Let him come."

I sighed. "You better get back to your Common Room."

"Not yet," he argued. "You and I still need to talk. I've been waiting to get a chance with you all day."

"What's up, then?" I asked impatiently.

"Oh, nothing really," he said, rolling his eyes. I raised my eyebrows at him in surprise. It was rare seeing Stebbins be sarcastic, let alone annoyed or angry. "I was just wondering when you were going to tell me that you started dating Lupin."

"Oh." I blinked at him. "I'm sorry, I guess I've just been so caught up with everything that I forgot to tell you." I frowned slightly. "I don't know why you're so upset, though."

He looked exasperated. "I'm upset because I had to find out from rumors instead of directly from you. I thought we were at least close enough for you to tell me that you were dating some other bloke."

"He's not a bloke," I said, not letting that comment slide. "And I said I forgot, didn't I? It's been a long day, I guess I just didn't really even consider…I'm sorry, okay?"

He softened. "That's alright," he mumbled. He glanced away and sighed. "It just…it hurts a bit, I guess." He paused, and then added, "Not often I get turned down, y'know."

"Sounds like I hurt your ego more than your feelings."

He laughed softly. "That's not true," he argued, but there wasn't enough power in his voice for me to believe him. I smiled and nudged him gently.

"Don't worry," I assured him. "I'm sure there are plenty of girls that'll fall for your charm."

"I kinda liked the chase, though," he admitted, a tad sheepishly. "It doesn't happen very often, you see. It was fun."

Of course it didn't so happen, I thought shrewdly, since practically every girl swooned over him. But I certainly knew a girl or two who wouldn't fall for him so easily… "If you're looking for a challenge," I grinned, "you should try out Lucinda."

Lucinda would most definitely be a challenge. Hell, she probably wasn't really into the dating zone right now, especially since it was her last few months at school. But I couldn't stop myself from blurting out her name. It would be very interesting to watch Stebbins attempt to woo her. Just the thought of it made me wanna laugh.

He arched an eyebrow. "Talkalot?" he said dubiously. "She seems more like she'd just kick my arse."

"At first, probably," I agreed. "But I have a feeling she might find your persistence a bit of a turn-on after a while…"

His eyebrow only rose higher. "I think she'll just find me annoying."

I shrugged and sighed. "Well, I'm not saying you have to go and bother the girl. Just an option. She is very pretty, don't you think?" I added, pretending it was an afterthought.

"Already trying to hook me up after breaking my heart, huh?" He tried to sound offended, but the smile that was tugging at the corner of his lips said otherwise. "That hurts, love. That hurts." He clenched at his chest dramatically.

"Just trying to heal your heart faster," I joked, winking at him. I sobered. "We're cool, though, right? No harm done?"

He smiled. "Yeah, we're alright." He stared at me a moment, his eyes roving over my face, before he laughed softly.

"What?" I asked, smiling in confusion.

"I was just thinking…" He shook his head. "It wasn't really much of a contest to begin with – between Lupin and me, I mean," he added at my puzzled expression. "He's been crazy about you for so long. Honestly, I'm surprised you never noticed. How oblivious could you be?"

"It couldn't have been that obvious," I argued, feeling a bit defensive.

"Oh, but it was," he grinned. "It's the way he looks at you, Alex…a guy only looks at a girl like that when he's head over heels for her." His grin softened into a genuine smile. "I'm glad you found yourself a guy who really cares about you."

"Thanks," I said softly, touched. "I know I'm a lucky girl."

"You are," he agreed, "but he's also a lucky guy." I raised my eyebrows at him. "Really," he laughed softly. "You're a good person, Alex. A better one than you give yourself credit for, actually." I said nothing. "And I think Remus appreciates that about you. But if he doesn't, don't hesitate to tell me – I'll give him a piece of my mind." He winked at me.

I laughed gently. "Thanks, but I don't think there's anything to worry about."

"Me neither," he admitted, smiling softly. "I wish you guys the best of luck." He extended a hand out towards me, but I pushed aside it and wrapped him in a bear hug. He laughed in surprise and added, "Though I guess he needs it more than you."

I laughed and shoved him away playfully.

"Well, I've kept you long enough," he said, glancing at his silver wristwatch. "I'll see you some other time, then?"

"Yeah," I grinned. "For sure. I'll catch you later!"

"Goodnight," he smiled, waving briefly at me before disappearing around the corner. I smiled softly to myself and shook my head before heading down towards my Common Room. I was too exhausted to change out of my filthy Quidditch robes, so I splayed out in my bed and slept in them. And for the first time that day, I finally had a moment of peace to myself.

Yes, it's official. Alex and Remus are FINALLY a couple. Took them long enough.

So, obviously, this chapter was more about everyone's reactions towards Remus and Alex getting together. The actual development of their relationship will start in the next chapter, and I warn you, there will be plenty of fluff. Be prepared. :)

I also just wanted to take another moment to thank all of my readers and reviewers. Thanks for your support!