AN- It's slow in coming. Blame it on the weather because anytime I wanted to type something, either someone was on the keyboard already or there was a lovely thunderstorm. Disclaimer- DO I have to do this every time? They aren't mine.
Life continued as the summer passed. James had sent his letter to Lily in mid-July, receiving an answer of 'Good. We'll talk at Hogwarts. Leave him be until then'. So James had done just that. He ignored the constant playing of 'It Don't Mean a Thing' and all the sappiest of Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole. He tried to ignore the fact that his best friend was quieter now, more thoughtful when he thought no one was looking. But it was utterly impossible to ignore the way his face lit up every time a letter from Remus arrived. James was happy he'd fallen in love, but at the same time sad and even a bit jealous. He missed the old Sirius sometimes, and he knew that his friendship and letters never brought him as much joy as Remus's did.
Before anyone knew it, September 1st had rolled around and Sirius had gone all bouncy again. This time, James didn't even bother to ask why. Though he did consider tying a brick to Sirius's head in hopes that the added weight would discourage his incessant bouncing. In the end, he decided that Sirius would just bounce the brick right off.
The Potter family lived just outside of muggle London, so they simply caught an ordinary bus to get to King's Cross. The Knight Bus was always too crowded by folks who lived farther away, so it wasn't worth the effort. Mr. Potter charmed the boy's things to appear as 'perfectly normal' to any muggles in order to avoid suspicion. He had dressed in a muggle suit in order to avoid suspicion. James had donned a pair of jeans and a red t- short featuring a lion. Sirius had on jeans as well, but with a tight- fitted blue shirt and a fedora. The Swing influence was definitely evident.
They got to King's Cross without a hitch and slipped nonchalantly through the barrier between platforms nine and ten. The familiar red train was sitting idly in the station, puffing up a cloud of red-tinted steam every few minutes. Even muggle inventions could have some magical embellishments. Fifteen minutes to eleven, James and Sirius arrived in the last compartment of the train to find Remus next to the window with his nose in a book. He looked up as they entered. He too was dressed in muggle fashion, though like Sirius, he looked a bit out of his generation in a pair of black pants, a buttoned-up red shirt and a newsboy hat, slightly tilted over his left eye. James glanced at the book at Remus smiled. Evidently he had finished his other book because this one was called 'The Return of the King'. The peace was swiftly broken as Sirius launched himself onto Remus for a hug. James swore the boy knew nothing about being subtle with his feelings.
The fedora went flying. James picked it up and sat it on his own head, wondering when Sirius would miss its presence. They chatted for a bit, Sirius having seated himself next to Remus and James across from him. He was so fixated on Remus that he was completely oblivious to James smiling like a madman and wearing his hat. At two till eleven, Peter came rushing in to the compartment, quite winded.
"Was afraid I'd miss it!" was all he got out as he collapsed next to James.
Remus stood up then as the train began to move. "I've got to go up front for a bit. Lily made me promise that I'd come talk to her about prefect duties...I don't see why. It was all in the letter. But hey. James, I feel sorry for you sometimes, liking that bird. She's a pushing little thing." He chuckled bemusedly to himself as he left. James raised an eyebrow and wondered what all that was about. He wondered if it had anything to do with his failed matchmaking. He halfway hoped it did. A few too many 'glances' had been snuck over the course of thirteen minutes. Well, eight minutes if you subtracted the time it took to actually pry Sirius loose of Remus.
"Oi! That's my hat!" The hat was abruptly removed from James's head and deposited where it 'belonged'
James laughed. He'd figured Sirius would notice as soon as Remus stopped distracting him. "Who's up for a game of Exploding Snap?"
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"Well, that about covers it." Lily stated, five minutes later and two minutes after Remus had arrived.
"If that was all, what in the bloody hell was the point of making me come down here?" Remus was now quite annoyed.
"Ask you a question without other people hanging around. Prefect business isn't worth eavesdropping on." Lily stated simply. Remus glared and tapped his foot irritably. The full moon was next week and his nerves were already shot over Sirius, he didn't need ambiguous answers to a straightforward question. Lily was still smiling.
"Well, what IS it then?" he growled. "It had better be bloody well important." Lily just rolled her eyes. She's grown accustomed to Remus's mood swings, especially when he was being pulled away from something he really wanted to do. And right now, that something involved the object of his affections and therefore he was twice as irritable.
"How are things between you and Sirius?"
"Fine. Friendly. I told you that this was my business." Impatience was obviously increasing.
"Have you considered telling him?"
"Considered and discarded because I couldn't bear to be away from him forever. Those few weeks after the willow were enough to drive me insane. Nearly did. And right now YOU are keeping me from seeing him and talking to him, so hurry it up."
"You enjoy you're stay at the Potter house?"
"Yes, of course...HOLD IT! How did you know about that?"
Lily smirked. "James. He wrote me a total of two letters this summer. Mentioned you'd been there."
Remus was now staring at Lily, nigh on horror struck. "And...?"
"Well, he noticed a large amount of love in the air, and was asking advice."
"And what did you tell him?"
Lily took a step back. Remus was a little scary when he was this peeved. Werewolves were evidently obsessive. She wondered if any of the books in the library knew that little bit of trivia.
"To leave it be. And that we'd talk when we got to Hogwarts."
Remus sighed in defeat. If she hadn't backed off now, nothing would make her. And he knew from experience that James was just as bad. Still, he had one last warning to give as he turned to leave.
"Mess up my life and you die."
Lily breathed a sigh of relief as he left. That had certainly been intense. Note to self- don't do that again.
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Meanwhile, James was having nearly as difficult of a time with Sirius. Peter had gone to find some girl from Hufflepuff he'd had his eye on, leaving Sirius to James, who was going crazy watching the former pace the tiny compartment.
"Sirius, SIT. He's going to be back in just a few minutes. It's fine. Trust me."
Sirius just glared and continued pacing.
"Look, have you considered TELLING him? Because you're driving yourself, and me, absolutely barmy! Enough is enough."
Glare of death cut short by the opening of the door and entrance of an annoyed Remus.
"Moony! You're back!" Sirius was quite back to normal now and seemed to be debating on whether or not to give Remus another hug. Remus sat down, therefore making the decision for him. Sirius quickly sat down next to him and gave James a meaningful look.
"Prongs," Remus stated, breaking the silence, "I know that you plan to marry that bird one day, but don't be surprised if I kill her first. That was the most pointless meeting of my life."
"So that's why you're annoyed." Sirius stated. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a chocolate frog. "Here, it'll help." Remus smiled and took it. He was a strong believer that chocolate was the cure to anything. Sirius had figured this out and began stocking his pockets so that Remus was never upset about anything for long.
Peter reentered with an expression of extreme happiness to find Remus eating a bit of chocolate, Sirius grinning, and James shaking his head in bemusement. He joined James in the head shaking.
"I just got a date!" He stated happily. "For the first Hogsmeade weekend."
"Oo!" Sirius perked up. "Who's the lucky girl?"
"Like I'd tell you." James laughed.
"He's got a point, we'd just torture her."
The compartment fell into silence after a few more minutes and Sirius soon decided that he'd had enough of it. Therefore he pulled out the record player and popped in a Nat King Cole album. 'Orange Colored Sky' was soon blaring out, making Remus laugh as the background singers spelled it out, literally.
This is it, This is it, I-T, it!
"Padfoot, that's completely ridiculous."
"And very amusing." James added, actually liking it because he hadn't heard it often. More upbeat stuff was not in Sirius's style when Remus wasn't around.
And Peter became an innocent bystander in yet another war of music.
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The train arrived at Hogsmeade with no casualties expect for Peter, who had run from the room when 'It Don't Mean a Thing' was played for about the fifth time. He ventured back when he heard James's Beatles playing. Evidently he found that safer that the Swing and Jazz. How he'd survive the year was a question that still needed to be answered.
The feast passed as it usually did, the food was excellent and James and Sirius were given their first detention of the year for making a pie explode in the middle of the table. Remus noted the fact that they had beaten last year record by 3 minutes and 41 seconds. James whooped when he told him this, Sirius just smiled. Detention was tomorrow night, Sirius with Filch and James with Pomfrey.
All in all, it was looking like a pretty normal year. Well, that is until Lily grabbed hold of James's arm that night in the Common Room and dragged him off into a corner to talk. Usually James was the one doing the dragging and Lily the one who was rather annoyed. This time, she'd pulled him from a game of chess with Sirius that he was actually going to win. Two more moves and it would have been his. But no, Miss Lily Evans could not give him that satisfaction. She wanted to talk to him. Right now.
He sighed as she sat him down in a chair in the corner and sat across from him.
"So what do you propose we do about those two? They're driving ME crazy."
Lily smirked, "You already are crazy. Now, you know for absolute certain that Sirius likes him?"
"Yes, but what about Remus?"
"Does he ever! I drug that out of him last term. Now he's threatened to kill me if our matchmaking messes up his life."
"So THAT'S what he was so peeved about earlier!" James said, realization dawning on him. "You know a pissy Remus is not fun to deal with."
"I know, and his anger was directed at me this time. Very not fun. Sorry about that."
James shrugged. "It's alright I suppose; Sirius has mastered the art of cheering him up. It may sound stupid, but chocolate really does work wonders in his case.
Lily laughed. "It works wonders for most girls too." James was elated that she was actually TALKING to him. It was a dream come true. Then the moment was shattered as she reminded him of what they were talking about. "So we still have to find a way to make them tell each other how they feel."
"Well," James stated, "I think maybe it would be easier to work with Sirius on that part. He doesn't flip out as badly."
Lily smiled again, James was really enjoying this who 'smiling' thing. "Very good point. So, shall you talk to him, or shall I?"
"Me, he's more liable to listen. I'll talk to him the next time Remus is...indisposed."
"Next week then. I think we can live that long at least." With that, Lily got up and went to her dormitory. Life returned to normal, including the fact that James had lost his chess game.
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James and Sirius had soon retired to the dorm after Sirius had beaten James in their rematch. Remus was already in there, his curtains drawn. Back to the Swing music. Sirius smiled to himself before walking over. He knocked on the bedpost and the curtain was drawn back to reveal Remus sitting there, listening to Benny Goodman. Sirius smiled. Just like old times. He sat down next to Remus and pulled the curtain to preserve the sanity of his other roommates.
The song playing wasn't one that he recognized. It must be one off of a new album. The lyrics seemed less...random.
"What song is this?" He asked, leaning up against the headboard.
"Goodnight, My Love. By Benny Goodman."
"You don't play it often."
"It's a bit sappy."
"I like sappy."
"I know."
"Why are you playing it now?"
"I'm in a sappy mood." Remus smiled. "I can change it if you like."
"No! I like it." Sirius said, blushing. "That reminds me..." He suddenly pulled the fedora off his head and a quill from Remus's bag. "I'll replace it later.." He muttered a quick spell and it turned into a red feather. He stuck it into the brim of the fedora and handed the combination to Remus, who blushed nearly as red as the feather.
"Happy Un-Birthday because I missed yours over the summer and wasn't allowed to do the magic to make a red feather. I, uh...hope you like it?" Sirius was looking down at his hands, which had gone clammy from nerves.
"It's wonderful, perfect even." Remus said, looking at the gift in his hands. "Thank you so much." He set the hat aside and pulled Sirius into a quick hug before pulling away, both of the now blushing fiercely.
"I had, uh, best be getting to sleep." Sirius said quickly after a few moments of awkward silence. "Goodnight, Moony. Sweet dreams."
Remus smiled up at him. "You too Padfoot." He sighed as the curtain closed and leaned back on the pillows. 'I can only wish they were of me.'
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Sirius climbed into bed, far happier than he had been in a while. So happy in fact that he couldn't help the tune that escaped in a hum.
"It don't mean a thing, if it ain't got that swing..."
He sighed and wished in the back of his mind that this really DID mean something.
Read and Review! I live for feedback, as always! Major apologies for the delay, it was going to be up LAST night, but we had lovely weather and then dad was paranoid about the computers. Blegh.
Life continued as the summer passed. James had sent his letter to Lily in mid-July, receiving an answer of 'Good. We'll talk at Hogwarts. Leave him be until then'. So James had done just that. He ignored the constant playing of 'It Don't Mean a Thing' and all the sappiest of Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole. He tried to ignore the fact that his best friend was quieter now, more thoughtful when he thought no one was looking. But it was utterly impossible to ignore the way his face lit up every time a letter from Remus arrived. James was happy he'd fallen in love, but at the same time sad and even a bit jealous. He missed the old Sirius sometimes, and he knew that his friendship and letters never brought him as much joy as Remus's did.
Before anyone knew it, September 1st had rolled around and Sirius had gone all bouncy again. This time, James didn't even bother to ask why. Though he did consider tying a brick to Sirius's head in hopes that the added weight would discourage his incessant bouncing. In the end, he decided that Sirius would just bounce the brick right off.
The Potter family lived just outside of muggle London, so they simply caught an ordinary bus to get to King's Cross. The Knight Bus was always too crowded by folks who lived farther away, so it wasn't worth the effort. Mr. Potter charmed the boy's things to appear as 'perfectly normal' to any muggles in order to avoid suspicion. He had dressed in a muggle suit in order to avoid suspicion. James had donned a pair of jeans and a red t- short featuring a lion. Sirius had on jeans as well, but with a tight- fitted blue shirt and a fedora. The Swing influence was definitely evident.
They got to King's Cross without a hitch and slipped nonchalantly through the barrier between platforms nine and ten. The familiar red train was sitting idly in the station, puffing up a cloud of red-tinted steam every few minutes. Even muggle inventions could have some magical embellishments. Fifteen minutes to eleven, James and Sirius arrived in the last compartment of the train to find Remus next to the window with his nose in a book. He looked up as they entered. He too was dressed in muggle fashion, though like Sirius, he looked a bit out of his generation in a pair of black pants, a buttoned-up red shirt and a newsboy hat, slightly tilted over his left eye. James glanced at the book at Remus smiled. Evidently he had finished his other book because this one was called 'The Return of the King'. The peace was swiftly broken as Sirius launched himself onto Remus for a hug. James swore the boy knew nothing about being subtle with his feelings.
The fedora went flying. James picked it up and sat it on his own head, wondering when Sirius would miss its presence. They chatted for a bit, Sirius having seated himself next to Remus and James across from him. He was so fixated on Remus that he was completely oblivious to James smiling like a madman and wearing his hat. At two till eleven, Peter came rushing in to the compartment, quite winded.
"Was afraid I'd miss it!" was all he got out as he collapsed next to James.
Remus stood up then as the train began to move. "I've got to go up front for a bit. Lily made me promise that I'd come talk to her about prefect duties...I don't see why. It was all in the letter. But hey. James, I feel sorry for you sometimes, liking that bird. She's a pushing little thing." He chuckled bemusedly to himself as he left. James raised an eyebrow and wondered what all that was about. He wondered if it had anything to do with his failed matchmaking. He halfway hoped it did. A few too many 'glances' had been snuck over the course of thirteen minutes. Well, eight minutes if you subtracted the time it took to actually pry Sirius loose of Remus.
"Oi! That's my hat!" The hat was abruptly removed from James's head and deposited where it 'belonged'
James laughed. He'd figured Sirius would notice as soon as Remus stopped distracting him. "Who's up for a game of Exploding Snap?"
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"Well, that about covers it." Lily stated, five minutes later and two minutes after Remus had arrived.
"If that was all, what in the bloody hell was the point of making me come down here?" Remus was now quite annoyed.
"Ask you a question without other people hanging around. Prefect business isn't worth eavesdropping on." Lily stated simply. Remus glared and tapped his foot irritably. The full moon was next week and his nerves were already shot over Sirius, he didn't need ambiguous answers to a straightforward question. Lily was still smiling.
"Well, what IS it then?" he growled. "It had better be bloody well important." Lily just rolled her eyes. She's grown accustomed to Remus's mood swings, especially when he was being pulled away from something he really wanted to do. And right now, that something involved the object of his affections and therefore he was twice as irritable.
"How are things between you and Sirius?"
"Fine. Friendly. I told you that this was my business." Impatience was obviously increasing.
"Have you considered telling him?"
"Considered and discarded because I couldn't bear to be away from him forever. Those few weeks after the willow were enough to drive me insane. Nearly did. And right now YOU are keeping me from seeing him and talking to him, so hurry it up."
"You enjoy you're stay at the Potter house?"
"Yes, of course...HOLD IT! How did you know about that?"
Lily smirked. "James. He wrote me a total of two letters this summer. Mentioned you'd been there."
Remus was now staring at Lily, nigh on horror struck. "And...?"
"Well, he noticed a large amount of love in the air, and was asking advice."
"And what did you tell him?"
Lily took a step back. Remus was a little scary when he was this peeved. Werewolves were evidently obsessive. She wondered if any of the books in the library knew that little bit of trivia.
"To leave it be. And that we'd talk when we got to Hogwarts."
Remus sighed in defeat. If she hadn't backed off now, nothing would make her. And he knew from experience that James was just as bad. Still, he had one last warning to give as he turned to leave.
"Mess up my life and you die."
Lily breathed a sigh of relief as he left. That had certainly been intense. Note to self- don't do that again.
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Meanwhile, James was having nearly as difficult of a time with Sirius. Peter had gone to find some girl from Hufflepuff he'd had his eye on, leaving Sirius to James, who was going crazy watching the former pace the tiny compartment.
"Sirius, SIT. He's going to be back in just a few minutes. It's fine. Trust me."
Sirius just glared and continued pacing.
"Look, have you considered TELLING him? Because you're driving yourself, and me, absolutely barmy! Enough is enough."
Glare of death cut short by the opening of the door and entrance of an annoyed Remus.
"Moony! You're back!" Sirius was quite back to normal now and seemed to be debating on whether or not to give Remus another hug. Remus sat down, therefore making the decision for him. Sirius quickly sat down next to him and gave James a meaningful look.
"Prongs," Remus stated, breaking the silence, "I know that you plan to marry that bird one day, but don't be surprised if I kill her first. That was the most pointless meeting of my life."
"So that's why you're annoyed." Sirius stated. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a chocolate frog. "Here, it'll help." Remus smiled and took it. He was a strong believer that chocolate was the cure to anything. Sirius had figured this out and began stocking his pockets so that Remus was never upset about anything for long.
Peter reentered with an expression of extreme happiness to find Remus eating a bit of chocolate, Sirius grinning, and James shaking his head in bemusement. He joined James in the head shaking.
"I just got a date!" He stated happily. "For the first Hogsmeade weekend."
"Oo!" Sirius perked up. "Who's the lucky girl?"
"Like I'd tell you." James laughed.
"He's got a point, we'd just torture her."
The compartment fell into silence after a few more minutes and Sirius soon decided that he'd had enough of it. Therefore he pulled out the record player and popped in a Nat King Cole album. 'Orange Colored Sky' was soon blaring out, making Remus laugh as the background singers spelled it out, literally.
This is it, This is it, I-T, it!
"Padfoot, that's completely ridiculous."
"And very amusing." James added, actually liking it because he hadn't heard it often. More upbeat stuff was not in Sirius's style when Remus wasn't around.
And Peter became an innocent bystander in yet another war of music.
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The train arrived at Hogsmeade with no casualties expect for Peter, who had run from the room when 'It Don't Mean a Thing' was played for about the fifth time. He ventured back when he heard James's Beatles playing. Evidently he found that safer that the Swing and Jazz. How he'd survive the year was a question that still needed to be answered.
The feast passed as it usually did, the food was excellent and James and Sirius were given their first detention of the year for making a pie explode in the middle of the table. Remus noted the fact that they had beaten last year record by 3 minutes and 41 seconds. James whooped when he told him this, Sirius just smiled. Detention was tomorrow night, Sirius with Filch and James with Pomfrey.
All in all, it was looking like a pretty normal year. Well, that is until Lily grabbed hold of James's arm that night in the Common Room and dragged him off into a corner to talk. Usually James was the one doing the dragging and Lily the one who was rather annoyed. This time, she'd pulled him from a game of chess with Sirius that he was actually going to win. Two more moves and it would have been his. But no, Miss Lily Evans could not give him that satisfaction. She wanted to talk to him. Right now.
He sighed as she sat him down in a chair in the corner and sat across from him.
"So what do you propose we do about those two? They're driving ME crazy."
Lily smirked, "You already are crazy. Now, you know for absolute certain that Sirius likes him?"
"Yes, but what about Remus?"
"Does he ever! I drug that out of him last term. Now he's threatened to kill me if our matchmaking messes up his life."
"So THAT'S what he was so peeved about earlier!" James said, realization dawning on him. "You know a pissy Remus is not fun to deal with."
"I know, and his anger was directed at me this time. Very not fun. Sorry about that."
James shrugged. "It's alright I suppose; Sirius has mastered the art of cheering him up. It may sound stupid, but chocolate really does work wonders in his case.
Lily laughed. "It works wonders for most girls too." James was elated that she was actually TALKING to him. It was a dream come true. Then the moment was shattered as she reminded him of what they were talking about. "So we still have to find a way to make them tell each other how they feel."
"Well," James stated, "I think maybe it would be easier to work with Sirius on that part. He doesn't flip out as badly."
Lily smiled again, James was really enjoying this who 'smiling' thing. "Very good point. So, shall you talk to him, or shall I?"
"Me, he's more liable to listen. I'll talk to him the next time Remus is...indisposed."
"Next week then. I think we can live that long at least." With that, Lily got up and went to her dormitory. Life returned to normal, including the fact that James had lost his chess game.
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James and Sirius had soon retired to the dorm after Sirius had beaten James in their rematch. Remus was already in there, his curtains drawn. Back to the Swing music. Sirius smiled to himself before walking over. He knocked on the bedpost and the curtain was drawn back to reveal Remus sitting there, listening to Benny Goodman. Sirius smiled. Just like old times. He sat down next to Remus and pulled the curtain to preserve the sanity of his other roommates.
The song playing wasn't one that he recognized. It must be one off of a new album. The lyrics seemed less...random.
"What song is this?" He asked, leaning up against the headboard.
"Goodnight, My Love. By Benny Goodman."
"You don't play it often."
"It's a bit sappy."
"I like sappy."
"I know."
"Why are you playing it now?"
"I'm in a sappy mood." Remus smiled. "I can change it if you like."
"No! I like it." Sirius said, blushing. "That reminds me..." He suddenly pulled the fedora off his head and a quill from Remus's bag. "I'll replace it later.." He muttered a quick spell and it turned into a red feather. He stuck it into the brim of the fedora and handed the combination to Remus, who blushed nearly as red as the feather.
"Happy Un-Birthday because I missed yours over the summer and wasn't allowed to do the magic to make a red feather. I, uh...hope you like it?" Sirius was looking down at his hands, which had gone clammy from nerves.
"It's wonderful, perfect even." Remus said, looking at the gift in his hands. "Thank you so much." He set the hat aside and pulled Sirius into a quick hug before pulling away, both of the now blushing fiercely.
"I had, uh, best be getting to sleep." Sirius said quickly after a few moments of awkward silence. "Goodnight, Moony. Sweet dreams."
Remus smiled up at him. "You too Padfoot." He sighed as the curtain closed and leaned back on the pillows. 'I can only wish they were of me.'
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Sirius climbed into bed, far happier than he had been in a while. So happy in fact that he couldn't help the tune that escaped in a hum.
"It don't mean a thing, if it ain't got that swing..."
He sighed and wished in the back of his mind that this really DID mean something.
Read and Review! I live for feedback, as always! Major apologies for the delay, it was going to be up LAST night, but we had lovely weather and then dad was paranoid about the computers. Blegh.