Tuesday, September 13, 1977
"Have you finished Brave New World?" Remus and Lily strolled down the corridor, heading for the staircase to the Dungeons. They liked to start their patrols on the lowest floor of Hogwarts and work their way up. That way, they ended their route close to the Gryffindor common room.
"No, I haven't been reading much lately," Lily said, frowning and heaving a sigh of regret. "I've been a bit distracted, I suppose. But I'm going to finish it and get it back to you soon, I swear."
"There's no rush, I just wanted to ask your opinion on the ending." Remus glanced sideways at her and raised his eyebrows. "Why are you so distracted? Is it James-related?"
Lily shot him a reproachful look. "Maybe." She peered behind a statue, lighting her wand to illuminate the dark alcove that sometimes hid students who wished to elude prefects. Finding only a spider in the cramped space, she returned her wand to her pocket and continued down the corridor. "Do you remember much of the conversation we had late Saturday night?"
Remus's eyes widened. "I fell asleep on you, didn't I? Merlin, I'm sorry. You must've been furious at me."
"No, it's all right. I was rambling a bit, so I don't blame you for falling asleep. I've been thinking
about it ever since, and I've decided I'm never going to bring it up again because I feel like a complete idiot and can't stand to relive the embarrassment." She shook her head and brushed a piece of hair out of her face. "So if James still likes me and doesn't think I'm a drunken fool for throwing myself at him, he'll have to make the next move because I don't want to risk looking stupid all over again."
"Are you really worried he won't like you anymore?" Remus laughed, then put a hand on her shoulder when he noticed the harried look on her face. "I'm sorry, I don't mean to laugh. It's just, well, you've met James, right? If years of rejection didn't deter him, it seems unlikely that one drunken flirtation would drive him away. I think if you just talk to him about it-"
"I'd rather die," she interrupted, quickening her pace as they turned a corner.
"But-" Remus began.
"Thanks for your input, Remus. You're a good friend, and I appreciate your concern, but I've already made up my mind about this."
The stubborn set of her mouth and the defiance glinting in her eyes told him the discussion was over, so he shrugged before opening the door to a broom cupboard to check for unauthorized occupants.
"All right," he said, closing the door and continuing on their route. "If you're quite sure."
"I'm quite sure," she said, a slight obstinate tone still lingering in her voice. "Have you done the Transfiguration essay yet?"
Remus chuckled, resigning himself to an entire patrol spent avoiding the topic of James, even though he knew this was precisely the topic Lily spent most of her time thinking about.
"I started it last night but didn't get past the first paragraph. Have you done it?"
As she began a detailed explanation of her struggles to complete one particular section of the essay, Remus studied the expression on her face, sure he detected a hint of that longing, faraway look she adopted whenever her mind was on James. Yet here she was describing complex Transfiguration theory in a fruitless attempt to distract herself, and Remus had no choice but to play along, because that was the sort of friend he was. Merlin, these two are going to drive me mad, he thought, smiling to himself as they climbed the stairs to the Ground Floor.
Thursday, September 15, 1977
"Here's the book you need," Lily said, returning from the library with an armful of books and handing the top one to Mary.
"Thanks." Mary looked up from her essay to take the book, then watched Lily set down the rest of the stack on the table before sitting down in front of James's armchair with her shoulder just barely brushing his leg. A smile lit James's face as he glanced down and saw where she had chosen to sit, but he did not comment on it. Instead, he reached out and selected one of the books from Lily's pile.
"Cheers, Evans," he said, opening the book and running his finger down the table of contents to find the chapter he needed. "Are you going to work on Charms first? We can share this book if you like." He set the book on his knee and turned it so they could both see it, and Lily inched closer and leaned her arm against the back of the chair to prop herself up. Neither of them spoke for a minute as their eyes traveled over the page, sneaking occasional looks at each other before returning to the book.
"Are you all set if I turn the page?" Lily asked, glancing up at James with a smile that had nothing to do with the paragraph about the Homonculus Charm she had just read.
James nodded, and Lily reached up to turn the page, brushing her hand against his as she did so. Their eyes met for a moment before they both returned to the book, and Lily left her hand on the edge of the page even though the book was heavy enough to stay open on its own.
Although Lily and James appeared oblivious to everyone else in the room, this exchange did not go unnoticed by the rest of the group. Mary touched Sirius's shoulder and shot him a meaningful look, and he rolled his eyes as he watched Lily's hand hover just above James's leg.
"Is that hurting your neck?" James asked as he noticed the odd angle Lily was holding her head in order to see the book. "You can come sit up here if you like." He gestured at the spacious armchair and scooted over. "Next to me, I mean. There's enough room for both of us, and it's comfier than the floor. Unless, you know, you don't want to, which is okay." He ran a hand through his hair and avoided her eye, staring down at the book.
The smile on her face widened as she eyed the narrow space next to him. "Yeah, all right," she said, standing up and settling herself onto the chair, blushing as their shoulders and knees touched. When he turned the page again, his hand grazed her leg before settling back on the corner of the book, resting mere millimeters from her hand. Neither of them appeared to be breathing or absorbing any of the information on the page.
"You know, if you sat on his lap it might be even easier to see," Mary remarked, glancing at Sirius and smirking before arranging her face into a neutral expression and watching to see how Lily would react to her goading.
"Actually, if you both take your clothes off you'll probably be able to concentrate better," Sirius added. "More blood flow to your brain, you know? But if you're going to do that, you should probably go up to the dormitory just so it's not a distraction to anyone else."
"Sod both of you," Lily said primly, glaring at the two of them before returning her gaze to the Charms book. James did not lift his eyes from the page but shot Sirius and Mary a rude hand gesture, although the slight flush of his cheeks and the smile that tugged up the corner of his lips suggested he did not hate the idea.
Sirius shrugged. "Just trying to help you get your homework done."
"Thank Merlin for your groundbreaking study strategies," Remus said, looking up from his own homework and widening his eyes in an expression of mock earnestness. "All this time I've been studying with my clothes on. Imagine how many more Outstandings I would've gotten if I just took my trousers off." He rolled his eyes and returned to his essay.
Sirius grinned. "I mean, I wasn't going to point that out, Moony, but you're not wrong. At least
now you know, while there's still time to turn it around for your NEWTs."
Fifteen minutes later James and Lily reached the end of the chapter and looked up at each other.
"I suppose we'll have to relocate to write the essay," Lily said, a hint of regret in her tone.
"I suppose we will," James said, waiting a moment longer than necessary before extricating himself from the chair and offering Lily a hand up.
The two of them spread the book, parchment, quills and ink on the floor in front of the fireplace and sprawled out on their stomachs. They managed to remain far enough apart that their bodies were not touching, but close enough that James's quill brushed Lily's face or her foot bumped his leg as she adjusted her position.
"Are you all right?" James asked, frowning as he noticed Lily rubbing a red mark on her elbow.
"I'm fine, it's just hurting my arms a bit to lay like this." She scanned the common room for an empty table they could move to, but they were all occupied. "I suppose we could move to the library, but that's kind of a long walk."
James hesitated, then lowered his voice. "We could go work on my bed. If you put a book under your parchment it works really well. I mean-" he blushed and glanced down, "obviously not like what Sirius suggested. We'll, er, we'll be-"
"Fully clothed?" Lily finished, grinning. "I kind of figured." Her eyes darted to Sirius and Mary, but both seemed occupied for the moment. "Maybe if we get up and leave without saying anything they won't notice?"
James nodded, then the two of them gathered up their materials and slipped off toward the staircase to the dormitory.
"How long do you think we have before they're huddled outside the door spying on us?" Lily asked as they climbed the stairs.
"Probably ten minutes at most," James said, chuckling. "We'll have to work fast." As soon as the words were out of his mouth his eyes widened and he held up a hand. "I meant to finish the essay. Not, you know…"
The panicked, uncomfortable expression on his face was adorable, and she touched his shoulder and gave him a reassuring smile, trying to convince herself that the other implication did not appeal to her at all. "I know. It's all right."
They had reached the seventh year boys' dormitory, and James opened the door and gestured for
Lily to step through. She did so, looking around with interest at the room she had imagined many times before. Like James's bedroom at home, it was almost exactly as she had pictured it. Several posters of motorbikes and Muggle rock bands lined the wall near what must have been Sirius's bed, and she identified Remus's bed by the pile of books and half-eaten chocolate bar on his bedside table. Lily spotted a rumpled pair of pajamas shoved under another bed, and although from this angle she couldn't quite tell if they were patterned with teddy bears or nifflers, she guessed they could only belong to Peter.
"So this is your bed," she said, crossing the room and lounging back against the duvet as she took in the various Quidditch banners that decorated the wall.
James gaped at her for a moment, and she realized it must be strange for him to see her in his dormitory, sitting on his bed and admiring his Ballycastle Bats poster when he must have fantasized about her in this exact spot countless times. The thought made her cheeks flush, and she occupied herself with arranging her parchment on top of a book in front of her, hoping he wouldn't notice her flustered appearance.
"Yup, this is it," he said after snapping himself out of his stupor and joining her on the bed. "More comfortable than the floor, right?" He placed a book underneath his own parchment and set the bottle of ink on a third, smaller book, performing a spell to ensure it wouldn't spill with the slightest shifting of the mattress's soft surface, then opened the Charms book and placed it in front of them so they could both consult it as needed.
"Much better," she agreed, stretching out on the bed mere inches from James and picking up her quill. "Guess we'd better get to work before they come to spy on all the snogging we're supposedly doing." Her voice caught on the word 'snogging' as an image sprang to her mind: the two of them wrapped in a feverish embrace, their hands fumbling with buttons and their wild movements knocking over the ink and books in their haste to satisfy their all-consuming desire.
The sound of James's quill scratching against the parchment as he wrote his first sentence jarred her from her thoughts, and she bent her head over the parchment and forced her mind to concentrate on Charms as she tried to forget how easy it would be to make her daydream a reality.
"Are you starting with the theory or the practical uses of the spell?" she asked in an attempt to distract herself.
For a moment James looked at her and did not reply, a dreamy smile on his face. Then he seemed to snap out of it and looked back down at his parchment. "Oh, er, the theory, I suppose. That's usually what I start with. But I don't think it matters, as long as you cover all the relevant information."
Something in his voice made her wonder if he had been imagining the same sort of scene, but she dismissed this thought as wishful thinking and instead set to work on her essay. They worked in silence, the only sounds the scratch of quills on parchment and the soft creak of the bed as one of them shifted position. Lily sneaked occasional looks at James, and although she couldn't quite be sure, she thought she had seen him do the same. After finishing a paragraph James took a break from writing and rested his hand on the duvet, grazing Lily's fingers and only pulling away when she turned to look at him. It took her a full minute of staring at her parchment and taking deep breaths before her pounding heart returned to a normal speed. Get yourself together, for Merlin's sake.
"What happened to Prongs and Evans?" Sirius asked, looking up from his textbook and noticing the empty stretch of floor in front of the fireplace. "Think they finally gave in and went off to a broom cupboard?"
"They went up to the dormitory, I think," Remus said, not lifting his eyes from his book. "About ten minutes ago."
"What?" Sirius hopped out of his seat and gaped at Remus. "And you didn't think to point that out to us?"
"I figured you'd want to go spy on them," Remus said, sighing and setting down his book. "Which is why you're standing up, I assume?"
"Course I want to go spy on them." Sirius rolled his eyes and gestured for the rest of the group to join him. "We're all going. Come on."
He set off for the staircase without waiting for a response. Mary and Peter stood and hurried after them, and after a moment Remus joined them, a resigned expression on his face.
"They're going to hear us outside the door in about a second," Remus muttered as they made their way up the stairs.
"No they won't, not if we keep our mouths shut," Sirius shot back. "Macdonald, Wormtail, are you going to keep your mouths shut?"
"I am," Peter said, grinning.
"I think we're just going to see them awkwardly flirting and pretending to study, but I'll be quiet in case there's any chance of snogging," Mary said.
"And obviously I'm going to keep quiet, so the only one who would give us away is you, Moony."
They had almost reached the door, so Sirius put his finger to his lips and slowed his pace. The door was ajar, and the four of them crowded around and attempted to peek through the crack to see what was happening. As they watched, James turned a page in the book and read for a few seconds, then bent over his parchment and began scribbling.
The four of them remained clustered around the door, observing the study session even though James and Lily showed no signs of tearing each others' clothes off or even holding hands. Sirius began to lose interest and his attention drifted instead to the view in front of him. Mary had bent down to get a better look, which put her rear end directly in Sirius's line of vision, and he reached out and slapped it without pausing to consider the consequences or even realizing he was going to do it.
Mary squealed, then clapped a hand over her mouth and turned around to glare at him. Sirius grinned and shrugged, then gestured for her to face the dormitory again.
"This is a waste of time," Remus whispered, taking a step back and turning to leave.
"No, wait, something's happening," Sirius insisted, pointing at the motion occurring inside the room. There was a flurry of silent jostling as the four of them adjusted their positions to allow for the best view.
"Oh, bloody hell, he's closed the curtains," Mary muttered.
Sirius put a finger to his lips. "Shh, we might still be able to hear something. Or if I wait a minute, maybe I can manage to open the curtain a bit without them noticing."
"Evans," James hissed, touching her hand and pointing to his parchment. He had scrawled I think they're listening outside the door. As she read the note, a grin spread across her face, and she picked up her quill and wrote underneath it, Want to mess with them a bit? He scanned the words and nodded, then mouthed, "Follow my lead" before reaching out to close the curtains around the bed. Lily frowned and shot him a questioning look as he began to shift around on the bed, causing the mattress to emit little squeaking sounds.
"We're pretending to snog, obviously," he said, leaning in close to whisper in her ear. "Just move around, maybe shake the curtains a bit."
Lily followed his instructions, bouncing on the bed several times and pulling on the curtains to make them swing back and forth. James continued to roll around, then put his mouth to his arm and made a squelching, sucking sound.
"What are you doing?" Lily asked, pressing her hands against her mouth to stifle her laughter.
"Making snogging sounds," James replied, rolling his eyes before placing his mouth back on his arm and making the strange sound once again.
Lily shook her head, still suppressing laughter."That doesn't sound like snogging."
"Well how would you do it then?" James snapped.
Lily hesitated, then made loud smacking sounds with her lips. James stared at her for a moment before bursting into laughter. He pressed his face against a pillow to muffle the sound while Lily continued to smack her lips together.
"That's even worse," he said after removing his face from the pillow. "It sounds like you're, I dunno, pulling a cork from a bottle or something. But it definitely does not sound like snogging."
"Well maybe we should just roll around a bit more," Lily said, but before they could act on this suggestion they noticed the curtains opening several inches. They both froze and stared at each other, unsure how to proceed, until Lily reached out and tugged the curtains back together. She returned to bouncing on the bed, and James followed her lead, managing several successful bounces before he overestimated his aim and bounced himself off the bed. In a moment he was in a heap on the floor, roaring with laughter, while Lily hung her head off the side of the bed, and, finding him uninjured, burst into laughter herself.
"Ooh, it sounds like they're snogging," Peter whispered.
"They're definitely moving around on the bed," Remus agreed. "But that could mean anything. Maybe they're just, I dunno, adjusting position, or turning the page in the book?"
"Rubbish," Mary said, shaking her head. "Why would they close the curtains if they weren't planning to snog?"
"Those sound like snogging sounds," Sirius said as he pressed his ear closer to the opening and frowned."But not very good snogging sounds."
"Ugh, you're right." Mary crept closer to the door. "They must both be awful at snogging."
"Hang on, I'll open the curtain so we can see," Sirius said, pulling out his wand and pointing it at the curtains before whispering an incantation.
The curtains slid open to reveal James and Lily, looking at the gap in the curtains with panicked expressions on their faces.
"Fuck, they noticed," Sirius said, grimacing.
The four of them watched as Lily snapped the curtains shut, then looked around at each other and shrugged. They continued to listen with rapt attention as the suspicious snogging noises resumed.
"It doesn't seem like they're messing with us," Peter said.
"No, I think James would've ruined it and started laughing by now," Remus agreed.
Sirius opened his mouth to speak, but he broke off as a loud thump and the sound of laughter cut through the air.
"I'm going in," Mary said, stepping through the door and hurrying over to James's bed with Sirius close behind her.
"What're you two doing?" Sirius asked, his eyes widening as he took in the sight of James rolling around on the floor with Lily peering at him over the side of the bed.
"You're both supposed to be on the bed to snog," Mary added. "Or you could both be on the floor, but it doesn't work if you're in two separate places."
"We got you good!" James gasped, sitting up and taking several deep breaths to get himself under control.
"Did the fake snogging sounds fool you?" Lily asked, swinging herself around to sit on the edge of the bed.
"No!" Mary said, giggling. "But the bed squeaking and curtain rustling was pretty believable."
"I thought it was all believable," Peter said, joining the rest of them and grinning at James.
Remus crossed the room and leaned against James's bedpost. "I can't believe we fell for that."
"Serves you right for spying on us," James said, getting to his feet and clapping Remus on the back. "It was so obvious you were out there. We heard Mary sort of shriek."
Mary giggled and shoved Sirius's shoulder. "Black slapped my arse. Why did you do that, by the way?"
Sirius shrugged. "It was there and I wanted to, so I did."
"For fuck's sake, Black, you don't just slap an arse because it's there."
"You normally don't mind a bit of arse slapping," Sirius retorted.
"Well, yes, but not if we're trying to be quiet." Mary rolled her eyes. "Are you two going to stay up here, or will you come back down to the common room with us?"
"They're obviously going to stay and actually snog, after all the fake snogging got them in the mood," Sirius said.
"Sod you, Padfoot," James said, sitting down next to Lily on the bed.
"We do still need to finish the essay," Lily said. "And sharing the book is easiest and comfiest on the bed. I think we'll stay." She glanced sideways at James, blushing. "I mean, if that's okay, obviously."
"Might as well stay until it's done." He waved at the others. "See you lot in a bit."
"And don't just pretend to leave and stay out there to spy," Lily added. "There'll be nothing to see, and it's distracting."
"All right, let's go," Remus said, starting for the door, and after a moment the other three joined him and left the room, waving and shooting Lily and James knowing grins.
"They're ridiculous," James said as he settled back onto the bed and spread out his parchment once again.
"So bloody ridiculous," Lily agreed. "Why are they so obsessed with seeing us snog?"
James shrugged. "No idea. That was fun, though. We should try to mess with them every chance we get. It serves them right for trying to spy."
"Next time we should convince them we're shagging," Lily said, blushing as she met James's gaze.
"I dunno, I'm not sure I could go more than a minute without laughing," James admitted, trying not to dwell on the idea of the two of them shagging, pretend or otherwise.
Lily grinned and fiddled with the corner of her parchment. "You're right. We'd have to make some pretty hilarious sounds."
James noticed she could not quite meet his eye, and he wondered if the conversation was making her mind go as haywire as his. In an effort to distract himself he looked down at his essay and frowned.
"Damn, I suppose I'll have to do something about the notes we wrote at the bottom of this."
Lily followed his gaze. "Hmm. Can you just use a Severing Charm and cut that bit off? You should be able to fit the rest of the essay in the space that's left. We don't have much left to do, right?"
James followed her suggestion and then returned to working on the essay. Despite his best efforts, he could not resist the urge to sneak sidelong glances at her, and once he caught her doing the same. Even after they finished the essay and returned to the common room, he could not shake the flustered, feverish feeling. He couldn't be sure, but if the lingering flush on Lily's cheeks was any indication, she was feeling the same way.
Tuesday, September 20, 1977
"I can't think in here. It's too quiet." Sirius tipped back in his chair and frowned down at his Potions book.
"Go back to the common room, then," Remus said, sifting through the books spread out in front of him. "I couldn't think in there because it was too loud, but go ahead if you don't mind the sound of that first year playing that tiny instrument - what did you call it? A ukiluki?" He selected a book and opened it, scanning the index to find the correct page.
Sirius laughed and almost tipped over in his chair. "It's called a ukulele, but I think I like ukiluki better. I kind of liked listening to it, to be honest. I bet I could learn to play a few songs. How hard could it be? Why don't you confiscate it so I can have a go?"
Remus looked up from his book and rolled his eyes. "I'm not confiscating some poor kid's whatever-the-hell just because you want to try playing it."
"But it's not just because I want to try playing it," Sirius argued. "It's driving you mad. It's literally driven you out of the common room, and I know you don't take that lightly because eating chocolate is not allowed in the library."
"But how would you playing it drive me any less mad?" Remus pointed out. "At least that first year knows what he's doing."
"I told you, I think I could pick it up pretty quick." He lowered his voice when he noticed Madam Pince glowering at him from behind her desk. "Anyway, I don't want to go back to the common room. It's boring doing homework alone. Who will I annoy when my brain needs a break from thinking?"
"When is your brain not taking a break from thinking?" Mary asked. She glanced up from her essay and frowned. "Do I need to explain the theory behind the counterspell for the Transfiguration essay?"
"Rather bold to insult my brain and then immediately ask for homework help," Sirius said, raising his eyebrows. "I think I'm too hurt to answer your question just now."
She tossed a bit of crumpled up parchment at his head. "I wasn't necessarily asking you," she said. "I was asking the table in general. Remus or Peter could also chime in, or James and Lily if they weren't taking bloody forever to find the books they need."
"They have been gone rather a long time," Peter said, craning his neck to catch a glimpse of them among the aisles of books. "Think they're up to anything?"
"If up to anything means reaching for the same book and bumping hands then smiling those awkward, shy smiles at each other before going back to not looking each other in the eye, then yes. Otherwise don't count on it." She shook her head in irritation. "I don't understand those two, I really don't."
"Maybe they just need a bit more nudging in the right direction," Sirius mused. "What if we did the thing where we snogged right in front of them, but take it up a notch?"
"What, here?" Mary asked.
Sirius shrugged. "Yeah, why not? We could wait for them to come back, and then you could get a bit handsy." He glanced sideways at her and smirked.
"No." Remus crossed his arms and fixed them both with a stubborn glare.
"You don't like my idea, Moony?" Sirius leaned back in his chair again and folded his arms behind his head.
"No, I don't bloody like it," Remus snapped. "I'm not going to sit here while you two grope each other-"
"Technically it's just one-sided groping," Sirius cut in. "Macdonald is the only groper. I'm just the gropee."
"Gropee is not a word," Remus said.
"I'm pretty sure I've used that word before," Peter said, eager for an opportunity to take a break from his homework. "As in, 'It was just a friendly hug, not a gropey hug.'"
"No, that's gropey with a y," Sirius explained. "I meant gropee with an e, as in the person being groped, not the person doing the groping."
"Oh, right." Peter considered this for a moment. "Well, I dunno if I've ever actually said that form of the word, but it sounds like a real word to me."
"You're both idiots, and neither of those are real words," Remus said with a sigh.
"Well, real or not, it's a brilliant plan, and I think we should go for it," Sirius said.
"Does the groper have a say in the matter?" Mary asked, grinning. "Or does the gropee get to make all the decisions?"
Remus snapped his book shut and glared at them. "It doesn't matter whether or not you get a say, because we're not doing this. And nobody is allowed to use any form of the word 'grope' for the rest of the night. Now don't bother me, and maybe I'll look the other way when you confiscate that first year's baby guitar and tell him the Head Boy authorized you to take it."
"You're no fun, Moony, you know that?" Sirius slouched down in his chair and stuck his tongue out at Remus before returning to his Potions homework.
"Why're you all pouty?" James asked, returning to the table with an armful of books and taking a seat.
"He probably missed you," Lily said as she sat down next to him and set down her own stack of books. "I know you two don't like spending more than five minutes apart."
"Are you having a go at us, Evans?" James asked, an offended note in his voice. "How dare you! Our friendship is pure and heartwarming."
Remus snorted with laughter. "Pure? You should've heard what he was just talking about."
"I just said our friendship is pure. I know Padfoot has a filthy, depraved mind."
Sirius glanced at him and grinned. "Yeah, so does Prongs. It's why we get along so well."
James opened one of the books and began flipping through the pages to find a specific chapter. "Oh, Evans, this is exactly what we need for the Defense homework, isn't it?"
She leaned over to peer at the page and the ends of her hair brushed against James's arm. Their eyes met for a fraction of a second before they both looked away, blushing as they studied the page in front of them.
"You're right, this is the exact information we need," she said, reaching out to tap the page and grazing his thumb with her finger. The blush on her cheeks deepened.
"Want to share the book again?" James asked, reaching into his bag and pulling out parchment, quill, and ink.
Lily nodded and took out her own materials, then shifted closer to James so their arms were almost touching. They fell silent as they read, then the only sound was the scratching of quills against parchment as they began the essays. Sirius stood up on the pretense of picking up a dropped quill and noted that their legs rested even closer together than their arms. It was somehow more intimate than watching them actually touch, and Sirius tore his gaze away, feeling as if he had witnessed something he shouldn't have. Bloody hell, they need to just fucking date already.
After another frustrating fifteen minutes, Sirius shoved his things into his bag and stood. "Macdonald, want to come back to the common room with me? I'll help you finish Transfiguration, and then you can help me confiscate a ukulele from a first year."
"Is that code for groping?" Peter asked, looking up from his book and smirking.
"Wormtail, you've reached your quota for use of that word for the rest of the night," Remus said, his voice rising in frustration. "I swear I'll hex the next person that says 'grope.'"
"Mr. Lupin," said a shrill, stern voice from behind them. Remus turned to see Madam Pince scowling at him over her glasses. "May I remind you that you are in a library? Keep your voice down, please."
As Remus stammered an apology, Sirius grinned and waved at him. "Bye, Moony," he said, slinging an arm around Mary's shoulders and heading for the door.