Chapter 4
"So, let me see if I have this straight…"
Sirius watched as his best friend paced their dorm room with his hands behind his back. ~He looks remarkably like Mr. Potter right now,~ he thought with a inward snort.
"You've known for the past month why Remus disappears, AND YOU HAVEN'T TOLD US?!"
Sirius could feel himself shrinking under James' heated glare. "Well, you see…" he started with a stutter. "It was complicated, and well…well…I was suffering through one of my more severe episodes of sheer stupidity…and well…you know me," he finally ended with a shrug and a whimper.
"So, what exactly is it?" James asked as he rolled his eyes.
"Okay, let's see…um…I dunno exactly how to say this…er…" Sirius began pacing himself as he reached back to scratch the nape of his neck. It had been agreed that he would be the one to break the news to the two other boys since he had been the reason they weren't talking to Remus in the first place. Of course Remus being Remus had argued that it was his business and he should be the one to tell them, but Sirius being Sirius and the stubborn jackass that he was talked the other boy into letting him do it.
~Yeah, NOT one of your more brilliant ideas, Black,~ he snorted as he kept pacing.
"Sirius…"
He could tell by the tone of James' voice that the other boy was in no mood for his excuses. He also knew his friend came from one of the more modern wizarding households. The Potters were by no means perfect, but they were set in their beliefs, one of them being the equal treatment of all citizens of the wizarding world, dark creatures included. He just knew that James was going give him an ear full when he confessed that the reason he'd distanced himself and the rest of the group from Remus was because of the fact that Remus was a werewolf.
~Well, might as well get it over with, Sirius old boy. No use in dragging it out,~ he thought with a sigh.
"Alright…but do try not to get TOO too mad at me…"
"Oh, this MUST be bad," James muttered as he sat down in front of him.
Sirius found no reason to buff out the truth, and agreed wholeheartedly, "Yeah, it is. Er…Okay…well…heehee…I don't know where to start…haha…er…."
"I have an idea, how about the BEGINNING?" James asked sarcastically. "How did you figure it out?"
"Well, it was all Peter's doing actually…" Sirius saw Peter shrink at the sound of his name. "When he gave that suggestion last month about trying to find a pattern in Remus' disappearances…Well, I actually found one…it…ah…erm…Well, there's really no other way to say this at all, is there?"
"JUST SPIT IT OUT, SIRIUS!" James exclaimed as he jumped up from his seat and started pacing again.
"Okay, just…just…don't hurt me…Ummm…well…After thinking about it for a minute, I linked Remus' disappearances to the lunar cycle…"
Sirius waited for understanding to dawn on his friend. He watched as James' blue eyes grew wide as he finally figured it out. "Is that why you told us to stop talking to him?" James' eyes narrowed dangerously.
~Uh-ho, I know that look,~ Sirius winced. "I thought I was protecting you and Peter…I wasn't exactly thinking…I got scared!"
Silently James strode over to where Sirius stood, and before anyone knew what was happening his fist made contact with Sirius' jaw, sending the other boy sprawling on the floor beneath him.
"What was THAT for?" Sirius demanded before he could stop himself. ~Sure, look even MORE like a stupid git, why don't you?~ he thought to himself crossly.
"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that," James glared at him. "I can't believe you DID that! You stupid, thickheaded, moronic, blind, pathetic fraction of a wizard!"
"That's a bit harsh, don't you think?" Sirius whimpered as he slowly lifted himself off the floor and walked over to sit on his trunk. "By God, Jim, have you been working out? Cuz that HURT!"
"It was supposed to, you twit," James glared angrily as he went back to pacing.
"Okay, can we STOP with the bloody insults already? I was STUPID, I get the point. Don't you think I feel horrible as it is?! Don't you think that I realize what I could have done?!" Sirius rubbed his sore jaw as he eyed his oldest friend. "You have nothing to say to me that I haven't already thought to myself. But I'm here trying to make things right between all of us, doesn't that count for SOMETHING?" he sighed.
James stopped pacing and stood in front of him, staring down at him with strong set blue eyes. "You truly are a piece of work, you know that, Black?" James' eyes softened as he started rocking back and forth on his heals. "So, where is he now?"
"Ummm…I actually don't know…"
"What?"
"Er…well, I uh…I kinda told him to ah…take a um…walk around the school while I told you this…I don't know where he is now though…I don't even know if he took my advice…"
"You really are…"
"An idiot, yeah, I know," Sirius muttered sarcastically as he rolled his eyes.
James grinned as he headed towards the door. "Well let's go find him, shall we?" he asked with a light chuckle. He turned towards Sirius and that's when he remembered that Peter was in the room as well. Now that he took a good look at the plump boy he could see that he'd gone pale and he was visibly shaking. "Peter, are you alright?"
The look that Peter gave him would have been withering, but from Peter it looked almost humorous. "Am I alright?" the boy responded with a shaky voice. "We've been living in a room with a werewolf for almost the past two years, and you can stand there and ask me if I'm alright?" Sirius and James exchanged glances before turning back to their little friend. "There's a WEREWOLF sleeping no more than two feet away from all of us, and you can ask me if I'm alright?!"
"Peter," James began calmly, "Remus is our friend, he would never hurt us…"
"He's just been hiding, waiting for the perfect time to pounce on us! I'm writing my mum about this…my dad will know what to do…I'm going to DUMBLEDORE!"
Peter scrambled off his bed, moving like lightning towards the door, but Sirius grabbed him and shoved him against the wall before James could do anything to stop him. "Listen, you little prat," Sirius snarled. His face was mere millimeters away from Peter's. "Dumbledore knows, and you are not going to tell your mum or your dad. Remus is Remus…you going to turn your back on him when he's the main reason why you haven't failed out of this school?"
"But…but…but…he's a WEREWOLF!" Peter blurted out as he started visibly sweating under Sirius' heated glare.
"Yeah, and you're an fucking ass…I don't care if you personally don't like him, but if you tell anybody, and I mean ANYBODY about this, nothing will stop me from turning you into a mouse and handing you over to the Potions Master…and you know what Professor McManus does to mice, don't you?" Sirius waited for Peter to nod his head before continuing. "Remus is our friend, he's been there for us non-stop for the past two years, and the least we can do is to be there for him…I'm a right?"
"Y-yes…" Peter stuttered.
"Sirius," James stepped in at that moment before Sirius could scare the poor boy anymore. "Let's go find Remus, shall we? All of us need to sit down and have a talk." Sirius nodded, giving Peter one last withering glare, before moving towards the door.
The three boys walked down the stone staircase silently and made their way into the common room to find it empty other than two people sitting by the window. Sirius watched in mild amusement as James started fussing with his hair subconsciously.
"So, how did it go?" Lily asked as she looked up at the three approaching boys.
Sirius gave a sideways glance at James before answering, "Fairly well, I think." He couldn't help but snicker when he saw his old friend blush when Lily grinned at him.
"So…all of you are alright about this?" Remus' soft voice had a sobering effect on all four of them.
"Of course…I just wish you'd told us from the beginning," James frowned.
"Would you have been this calm if I had, and you hadn't known me all that well?" Remus asked gently.
James gave a half hearted shrug. "I guess we'll never know, will we?"
"Did it really go as well as you're making it out?" Lily whispered to Sirius as she gently led them away from the other three. James and Remus were deep in conversation now, and Peter was fidgeting nervously, slightly away from all of them.
"James took it well…actually he got more angry at me, and I think I'll have a bruise to prove it in a couple of hours," Sirius muttered as he rubbed his jaw again. "Peter, on the other hand…well, let's just say that he started to loose his mind…not that there's much to loose anyway…"
Lily sighed as she watched James embrace Remus in a brotherly hug before grinning at him. She saw the hurt look in Remus' eye when Peter did the same, but pulled away quite more abruptly than James had. "Why am I not surprised about Peter?" she muttered to herself, forgetting that Sirius was next to her.
"What d'you mean?"
"Oh..well…" she stuttered, not wanting to insult Sirius' friend. "He just…I don't know…he just…rubs me wrong…I can't explain it…I just don't get a very good feeling around him."
"Yes, well…he's not exactly a Gryffindor is he? I still haven't figured out why the hat sorted him into this house…"
"Yes…I was starting to wonder the same thing…but I have a feeling that he'll surprise us in the end…" Lily's voice broke off into a sigh.
Sirius turned to look at her. "Listen, Lily…I know that we haven't been the best of friends, but…"
"I know…I suppose that it's worth a try, isn't it? A friendship, I mean…"
Sirius flashed her his most charming grin before winking, "Absolutely."
"Will you do me a favor though?"
"Anything."
"Just don't ever say anything sexually vulgar to me in public again."
Sirius couldn't help but grin at the memory of their first meeting at the Gryffindor table. "Oh, but you looked so damn sexy when you blushed…"
***
Year Five, 1979
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Gryffindor Tower, Boy's Dormitory
"No, no, absolutely not," Remus said as he continued to try to ignore his three friends.
Well, it was more like ignore two of them, really. James and Sirius were the only ones bent on harassing him that night, it seemed. Peter was just sitting on his trunk with a mild expression on his face. That one never really got involved in anything. The only thing that Peter ever really DID was hero-worship James and Sirius. Well, more James than Sirius. It seemed like Peter was more afraid of Sirius than in awe of him.
~Can't blame the poor bloke though,~ he thought with an inward smile.
"Why not?!" Sirius demanded.
"Yeah, why not?" James asked in a huff.
"Because I don't feel like it, that's why," he sighed.
He saw Sirius roll his eyes, and James throw up his hands in exasperation. "Oh, like THAT'S an acceptable excuse!" Sirius stopped pacing for a moment and made his way to stand right in front of Remus.
Remus, in response, casually looked up at him with nothing but a calm, cool, collected expression on his face. "Can I help you with something?" he asked mildly.
"GOD…! You are SO annoying!"
Remus sighed and stood up to stretch his back. "Why are you so intent on making me go, anyway?" he asked seriously.
"Well, my friend," James began as he slung his arm around Remus' shoulders, "you have, what they call, a permanent stick shoved up your ass when it comes to social issues…oh, you prank and tease with the best of us, but yet you still shy away from any SERIOUS social interaction…"
"Yeah, especially with the female population…minus Lily of course…but she's not exactly a normal GIRL, is she?" Sirius said with a grin that he knew would annoy the hell out of James.
"Now why do you have to bring Lily into all of this?" James demanded as his face flushed with color.
"Because you don't seem to be doing your job…moping about all the time. 'Oh, Lily is so pretty,' 'Lily is SO beautiful!' 'Lily is the light of my life!' 'I love you, Lily Evans!' 'Will you marry me, Lily of my heart?'" Sirius teased in an unbelievably bad falsetto voice. His grin grew when he saw that James' slight pink blush had intensified into a bright muggle fire engine red. "Aw…little Jimmy Wimmy is blushing…how cute. Maybe I'll just take a picture of you now and send it on over to Lily-kins?"
"I hate you," James muttered as he looked away.
Sirius laughed heartedly and turned to see Peter giggling and Remus…well, he didn't look very happy at all, did he? "Hey, Moony, what's wrong now?" he demanded as he made his way over to stand in front of his friend.
"You know, I really don't like that nickname…You do realize that to moon someone is to expose your ass in public? It makes me sound like I'm some ass baring exhibitionist."
"And we all know your love of striping down to the only clothing that nature intended for you…SKIN!" Sirius grinned wickedly.
"I hate you, Padfoot…"
"See! You call me by my given nickname!"
"Well, 'Padfoot' doesn't conjure up an image of a bare ass…"
"I think you've got a mighty fine ass, if you ask me…" Sirius teased.
"I truly do hate you, Padfoot," Remus muttered again as he turned away in hopes to hide the grin that he'd so desperately fought from growing on his face.
"You know, that seems like that popular phrase of the day, doesn't it?" Sirius asked mock innocence. His grin disappeared as he suddenly grew serious again. "All kidding aside, Moony, why don't you want to go to the Halloween Ball?"
Remus sighed as he sat down on his trunk again. He leaned forward and rested his head in his hands as he whispered, "What girl would want to go with me?"
"BY GOD! Don't tell me you suffer from a lack of self confidence as well!" James said as he jumped up from his seat on his own trunk. "Listen, Moony, there are plenty of girls out there that would kill to go to the Ball with you…"
"But I'm a monster, James…"
"Listen, you're my friend, Remus," Sirius said as he stepped up in front of him and stood next to James, "and I'm saying this to you in the spirit of true brotherhood: if you EVER, and I mean EVER call yourself a monster again, I will…I will…Well, I don't know what I'll do to you just yet, but I assure you it won't be pleasant."
Remus looked at Sirius the way that only he could; a look made up of an annoying combination of sarcasm, disbelief, and smugness. "I'm a monster, I'm a monster, I'm a monster," he said mockingly. He leaned back with a satisfied smirk when Sirius huffed and started stomping back and forth across the room.
"You know what he meant, Moony…you are NOT a monster," James said as he swallowed down his laughter.
"Oh, every textbook and Ministry record out there will beg to differ on that point, dear Mr. Potter," Remus sighed; his light hearted mood once again ended by the ever present issue of his nature.
"Yeh?" Sirius stormed back over to them. "Well who in BLOODY hell cares?!"
Remus had just about enough. As much as he loved his friends, the truth was, their naiveté could be down right annoying sometimes. "I CARE, Sirius. I care…you may not care about the fact that I'm a werewolf, but 99% of the population out there does." Remus stood up and started pacing. When he looked over at the two other boys, both of them were opening their mouths to voice some sort of protest. "And don't!…Don't try to argue with me on that issue, because I've seen it. I've lived with it, for the past three years I've breathed it…"
"Remus, your Uncle doesn't know shit…all right? Whatever he says to you isn't true," James said calmly as he walked over to stand in front of him again. "It's not true, and he'll burn in hell for saying it too."
Remus shrugged James' hands off his shoulders. Sirius walked over and helped to corner him. "How can you believe the things he tells you, Moony?"
Remus raised his eyes to meet Sirius' piercing gaze and saw true pain in those blue eyes. He smiled sadly, "You get told something over and over again enough times, it becomes impossible for you not to believe."
"But we tell you the complete opposite all the time, Moony. Why don't you believe us?" Sirius demanded gently.
"The bad things are always the easiest to believe…"
"Yeah, and you're never one to take the easy road," James said with a slight smile. The smile soon grew into a full fledged grin as he said, "So, you're going to the dance next week, and you are going with a date…"
Remus threw up his hands in exasperation. "Oh, Jesus Christ of Latter Day's Saints…"
"Not exactly a 'yes,' but I'll take it," James said with a lopsided grin.
"Good enough for me too," Sirius beamed.
"Alright then, TO DINNER!"
"TO DINNER!"
***
"Well, I was wondering if you haven't already been asked…um…no, no, no, THAT'S not going to work. Okay, ummm…er…Lily, well…the thing is…I kinda like you…GOD, I'm such an idiot."
Not many things could scare Remus Lupin, but for some reason the mere thought of asking a girl to the Halloween Ball seemed like the most frightening thing in the world. How James and Sirius could do it so easily was beyond his understanding.
"Okay," he repeated to himself as he took in a deep breath, "Lily…I was thinking…If you haven't got a date already, well, I was wondering if you'd give me the pleasure of being your date…Alright, that sounds good," he muttered again as he continued pacing. He nervously ran his hands through his hair before taking in another calming breath, rotating his shoulders in a light stretch, and jumping up and down to get rid of some nervous energy. "Okay, I'm going to do this…yes I am…Come on, Remus, you're a man, face this like one."
With one more deep breath he grabbed the simple white lily he'd found in a flower shop earlier that day in Hogsmead. He'd seen some of the other boys buying bouquets of beautiful roses to give to their dates, well, their date hopefuls, but he'd looked over and seen the lilies right off. This one had caught his eye; it was, for lack of a better word, perfect, and it didn't need a bouquet surrounding it to make it beautiful. For that reason, he'd asked the witch behind the counter in the shop just to tie a simple white ribbon around the stem.
"Well, here goes," he mumbled quietly to himself as he started off towards the stairs leading to the girls' dorm.
"So, Lily, have you found a date yet?"
His sensitive hearing picked up the conversation even before the girls had opened the door. It was Lily and Arabella Figg. "Yes, actually," Lily said brightly. Remus felt his heart drop at the words. "James just asked me this morning before we went into Hogsmead."
He blinked a few times in shock. ~Should have known this would happen,~ he thought bitterly. ~Of course James would ask her. He's liked her for a while now…and what are the chances of her ever choosing me over the Gryffindor Quiditch captain? Mr. James Potter?~ he thought sadly.
The sound of the heavy wooden door opening shook him out of his trance, and he quickly just dropped the flower at the base of the stair case before hurrying off to the boy's dorm. He never got a chance to hear the conversation that took place after his frantic escape from what he viewed as humiliation.
"Hey, Lily! Someone left you a flower." Arabella called out as she bent to pick up the white lily.
"Really? Who's it from?" Lily's voice carried down from their room.
"I don't know."
"Then how do you know it's for me?"
Arabella rolled her eyes before calling back up, "Well, if you came down here to see for yourself, you'd realize why I know it's for you."
Without another word Lily put away the things she'd bought in Hogsmead and skipped downstairs. "Why, it's a lily," she said with a smile.
"Really? I hadn't noticed," Arabella said sarcastically.
Lily gave her a sideways glare. "I wonder who it's from."
"Maybe it's from James?"
"No, he already gave me that bouquet of red roses upstairs…he wouldn't give me flowers twice in one day…this is from someone else…I wonder who," Lily mumbled as she studied her namesake.
Arabella shrugged and studied the flower as well. "Well, whoever it was he's quite romantic isn't he?"
"Yes…he is."
Lily was about to run upstairs to put the flower in water when the portrait hole opened, admitting her three other roommates. "Oh! Lily! Just the girl we wanted to see…"
"Well, hello, to you too, Meghan," Lily grinned as she looked at Meghan McDermott. Catherine Bell and Constance Howard were standing on either side of the girl.
"Sorry," Meghan said with a blush.
"So, why did you want to see me?" Lily asked as she sat down on one of the overstuffed armchairs.
Meghan cleared her throat before starting, "Well, okay…you're friends with…"
The second she heard that opening phrase, she knew what this was about. "Sirius Black, yes…I'm friends with him…"
"No…not Sirius…besides he's got a date already…no, no…not him, with…"
"James Potter?" Lily guessed.
"He's going with you…not him either…"
"Peter Pettigrew?" Lily asked, making a face.
"OH! NO! NO! God, Lily, how desperate do you think we ARE?" Catherine cringed. "No, this is about the only one left…" she finished sarcastically.
"Who?" Lily asked confused. Her eyes grew wide as she realized, "REMUS?"
"After a thousand years, she finally get it," Constance said with a smirk.
"What about Remus?" Lily asked, getting a bit protective.
"You can't expect us to believe that with all the time you spend with the boy, you haven't noticed how beautiful he's become," Meghan said with a grin.
"What? No…he's not…" Lily paused as she brought up a mental picture of her friend. ~By, GOD! He HAS grown up, hasn't he?~ she thought when she realized what he looked like now.
Remus had grown a couple of inches, making his current standing at about 5'8", and he was still growing. Lily expected that he'd stand at about 6 feet by the time he was finished growing altogether. ~Funny, I always thought that Sirius would be the tall one,~ she thought with a smirk. He'd also grown into his face quite well.
Before, when he was younger, his entire face basically consisted of eyes and mouth, making him the most adorable little boy. Now that he had a bit more flesh on him, he still held that boyish cuteness, but in a more mature way. He was quite sexy in his own right. Not like Sirius, with his dark hair and piercing blue eyes, but more like a soft, subtle, silent-strength type of sexy.
His hair and overall build added to the appeal as well. He wasn't overly bulky, but he wasn't scrawny either. He was slim and toned with natural muscle. She assumed that the muscle tone carried over from his transformed state. ~Well, I guess lycanthrope has its perks. A very decent body without any of the work.~ His hair was naturally wavy, and fell just below his collarbone with bangs that always seemed to flop into his eyes. He usually dried it out straight and kept it tied back at the nape of his neck. ~You know, a lot of girls would kill for hair like his.~
"I can't believe it! You're friends with one of the sexiest boys in the school, and you're just NOW realizing it!" Constance sighed.
"You really think he's sexy?" Lily asked as she looked at the three girls sitting in front of her.
"Yes! He's not like Sirius, but he's got that, I don't know…brooding sexiness about him."
At the mention of Sirius, Lily couldn't help but feel a bit angry. "So…you're just asking about him because Sirius is not available, is that it?"
She didn't know why, but she felt the overwhelming urge to smack the three girls sitting in front of her, jabbering on about this and that, and about why they thought Remus was so cute and the like. It was clear that Meghan, Constance, and Catherine were all just looking for the 'safety' now; the guy that would be a solid 'yes' no matter what. None of them would have given Remus one thought had Sirius been available.
Even if they did think he was sexy, all they wanted from him was the way he looked. They didn't care about the fact that he was sweet, and funny, and caring, and intense…and…and…well, EVERYTHING. None of them cared about all that, they just cared about finding a date, and that could only lead to a hurt Remus. And a hurt Remus led to a not so happy Lily.
"Lily?"
"What?"
"Can you?"
"Can I what?"
"Tell us if Remus has a date for the Halloween Ball already," Meghan stated with a sigh.
Lily took a good long look at all three of them again before answering with a firm, "Yes."
"YES?!" three female voices rang out in unison.
"WHO?!" Catherine demanded a moment later.
"Why…er…" Lily's began to wander the room as she thought of a good answer, and her sight landed on Arabella. "Arabella!"
"WHAT?! Bella! You didn't tell me that he asked you!" Meghan huffed.
Arabella looked back and forth between two angry faces, Lily and Meghan's. After brief consideration, she decided that dealing with a mad Meghan, Catherine, and Constance was a lot easier than dealing with an angry Lily. "Well," she began unsteadily, "he just asked me right before you three got in."
"Really?" Meghan asked, suspicion clear in her voice.
"Er…yeah…he even gave me that lily!" Arabella pointed at the flower still clutched in Lily's hands.
"Why would he give YOU the lily?" Constance asked with a smug look on her face.
"Well, if you knew anything about Remus," Lily broke in, "which you obviously don't, you'd know that he has a very twisted sense of humor."
"Let's just drop this, shall we?" Catherine asked with a sigh. "We've still got another five days to find ourselves a suitable date. We'll see you two later!"
Lily watched with a certain sense of satisfaction as Catherine dragged the other two girls out through the portrait hole. As soon as they were gone Arabella turned a glared at her. "What was THAT all about?!"
"What?! I didn't want them asking Remus to go! They weren't up to his standards…and knowing him he'd say 'yes' just to spare their feelings…that is, whoever got to him first…"
"You do realize that now, I'm really going to have to ask him to go, don't you? And there's no way in hell that he can say 'no' to me or else those three will find out that we lied to them about this," Arabella said with a sigh.
"Yes, well…I think the boys got back from Hogsmead a little while ago…let's go up and see if they're there." Lily grabbed her friend's hand and dragged her up to the boys' dorm. "Are you all decent?!" she called as she cracked open the door a little bit.
"Like you'd care!" Sirius' distinct voice rang out.
"Yes, well, I wouldn't so much, but Bella might," Lily said as she walked in with a grin on her face.
"Why hello, Arabella!" Sirius jumped up before grabbing her hand and swooping down in a graceful bow to kiss the top of it. Arabella, in turn, just rolled her eyes and snatched her hand back.
"Where's Remus?" Lily asked.
"I'm over here," came the muffled voice from behind the curtains that were drawn around his bed.
"Remus? Arabella has a question she'd like to ask you," Lily said with a smile.
Remus popped his head out of the curtains and looked up at the two of them. "What is it?"
She wasn't sure, but Lily could swear that his voice sounded different for some reason, as if he was upset about something. It was the same overly calm tone of voice he got every day before the full moon when he fought for control of his emotions.
"Well, okay…Remus…I was wondering, if you weren't…I mean…if you haven't found a…um…" Arabella blushed as she looked down at her feet.
Remus' eyes grew wide when he realized what she was about to ask him, and he couldn't help but feel sorry for her. ~Lord knows I was struggling before…~ he thought. When Bella started twiddling with her hair, and babbling even more, he couldn't help but jump in and save her from the awkwardness.
"Er…Bella?" he began, nervousness making his voice quiver slightly.
Bella looked up with hopeful eyes. "Yes?"
Remus cleared his voice and climbed out of his bed to stand before her. At his full height, he was a good couple of inches taller than her, even with her heeled boots on. "I was wondering if you'd give me the honor of escorting you to the Halloween Ball this Friday evening."
Bella stared at him for a moment. She'd known that he was sweet, but the way he just asked her to the ball was something out of those old muggle fairytales her mother used to read to her when she was a little girl. "Sure." At first she didn't recognize her own voice; it was far off and dreamy, the way Catherine, Meghan, and Connie's voices got when they talked about boys. She hated it.
Remus looked down at her and gave her a warm smile that made her insides feel all tingly and warm. It took her a moment to realize that she was probably blushing. All of a sudden she was quite grateful for Lily having put her in this situation.
"James?" Lily's voice broke into Bella's little reverie.
"What?"
Bella watched as Lily turned towards her date with her hands resting on her hips and a pout on her face. "How come you didn't ask me like that?"
"Oh boy…"
***
