Remus hunkered down in the library to do his transfiguration essay. He didn't normally run away from social events completely, but it was too hard to stay in that room, knowing Lily and Dorcas knew. He trusted them both, obviously, and he wasn't nearly as furious with himself as he thought he'd be for telling them. But it changed things. It made it real.

"Moony!" A familiar voice rang through the library, prompting an irritated shhh from Madam Pince.

"Sirius?" Remus asked, standing up.

"Why are you over here? You said you were on top of everything!" Sirius said, annoyed.

"Full moon's next week, so it's good to work ahead," Remus explained.

"Yeah, yeah, I've got it marked on my calendar. You know, this is just a classic Remus Lupin excuse not to socialize."

Remus's heart fluttered slightly as he imagined Sirius's messy scrawl, Moony's Furry Little Problem, on his calendar. Stupid to read into that. Probably just a metaphor, anyways, and of course Sirius was at every full moon, because they were friends- great friends, sure, but that was all. "Not an excuse, Sirius, I'm just trying to be responsible."

"Yeah, well, it's driving me crazy," said Sirius, sweeping his hair up into a bun, and Remus hated man buns except right now it was the most attractive thing in the universe. "It's no fun without you, Moony. Whoever will I dance with?"

"You seem to have plenty of people to dance with."

"Jealous?"

"You wish." Remus laughed inside his head. To any outsider this would seem like flirting, but it was just the way Sirius was, and always had been. He'd learned not to read anything into Sirius's tone, his chuckles, his inquisitive hums.

Except now Sirius had fallen silent. He was kneeling on the carpeted floor next to Sirius's chair, arms folded casually on the table so that the two were at about eye level. "C'mon, Moony," he breathed. "Come dance with me." Remus could smell the butterbeer on his breath, felt backflips in his stomach, wondered why Sirius had to be such a shameless flirt.

"Why on earth would you want that?" he asked, fighting to keep his voice even. "I don't even know how to dance."

"I'll teach you," said Sirius, "It's fun."

"Public humiliation does not sound fun," said Remus, still reeling.

Sirius's eyes darkened at the seemingly innocuous comment; Remus, of course, noticed- he noticed everything Sirius's eyes did- but he decided to leave it be, not understanding why Sirius would be angry.

Sirius bent over Remus's shoulder, reading the essay. "'Animagi rarely suffer symptoms associated with transformations-' that's not true, you prat, remember that massive headache I had last week?'" he said lightly.

"You had a cold, Sirius," Remus said with a grin.

"Oh, sure, right after I transformed- anyways, why are you worked up about this essay? You'll ace it, just interview me and Peter and James."

"Yeah, yeah, McGonagall would love that," Remus said.

"She would, she'd be proud of us," said Sirius, eyes widening. "You know, sometimes I think she knows. She told me I looked like a wet dog when I came in late that other day-"

"Yeah, because you had just showered-"

"And she told James that the ball was a 'staggering' idea, I mean, who drops words like that casually-"

"Middle-aged English women?" Remus suggested, fighting a giggle. "You're being paranoid, Sirius."

"No, no, I'm really not," he said seriously. "I just think we should invite her to the next full moon."

This was too much; Remus succumbed to the laughter building up in his chest. "Eh, not so great for Peter," he choked out.

Sirius was grinning. "That's true, that's true. An apt metaphor, isn't it? She is like a cat eyeing a mouse, asking him all those questions in transfiguration-"

"Well, he chose NEWT-level Transfiguration," Remus said fairly. "He had to expect that he would actually need to do work."

Sirius nodded his concession, then snatched away Remus's parchment, folding it neatly in his bag.

"Hey!" said Remus, standing up. Madam Pince instantly shushed him, and he felt a wave of guilt.

"Come and get it!" Sirius cackled, running out of the room like a mischievous five year old, and equal parts exasperated and amused, Remus chased him back to the great hall.