Disclaimer: I make no claim to any of the characters in this story. That means they're not mine, I didn't come up with them. Unfortunately. I'd be sleeping on a bed of money if I had.

November 17

Sirius waited at the foot of the stairs to the girls' dormitories, flowers in hand. he was taking Molly out to Hogsmeade. Even though he knew Arthur Weasley had had his eye on Molly for some time. He'd never really liked Weasley all that well, anyhow. So, he waited. And he thought about Remus.

He knew he was an idiot for seeing Molly when he was in love with someone else; it was leading her on. but Remus was an unattainable goal. Even though he'd never shown any real interest in girls, that was no indication of anything, especially of his feelings for Sirius.

Molly finally came down the stairs, looking a bit pink. "Sorry to have kept you waiting."

"Oh, it was no trouble, Molly." Sirius offered her the flowers. He wondered how Remus would react to flowers.

A plan began to form in Sirius's mind. Molly was chatting away about something or other, but Sirius was only paying attention enough to nod at the right points. Sirius was hatching a plan. It was a good plan, too. A very good plan. Sirius smiled inwardly, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

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November 18

Remus sat down at the Gryffindor table, per usual, just in time for the morning owl post. He was startled when a school owl dropped a card into his lap. He picked it up and flipped it open. It read:

Dear Remus,

I've left you a surprise

in your robe pocket.

Love,

Your Secret Admirer.

Remus blinked. He had a secret admirer? He patted his pockets. The left one had a lump in it that hadn't been there before. He reached into his pocket and drew out a small box, which he opened.

It was chocolate. Remus was somewhat of a connoisseur of chocolate, and this was the good stuff. It was an assortment of dark, white, and milk chocolates from the best wizarding sweet shop in London. It must have been very expensive.

Remus looked around to see if anyone was watching him, and noticed Sirius and James making their way to the table, their strides matching perfectly.

Sirius flopped down next to Remus, and James took a seat across from them.

Remus handed the note to Sirius. "Look at this! Isn't it odd? And some very expensive chocolates, too." He showed Sirius the chocolates.

Sirius glanced over the note, then eyed the chocolates. "Wonderful, Moony. Are you going to eat those?"

Remus bared his teeth and held the chocolates protectively away from Sirius.

Sirius muttered something about "ungrateful" and passed the note to James. "What do you make of this?"

"Well, someone obviously fancies our Moony."

"That's what I thought, looking at it, but--"

James finished Sirius's thought. "But who is it?"

"Who's what?" Peter Pettigrew sat down next to James, who handed him the note.

"Moony's got a secret admirer."

"Ooh..." Peter noticed the chocolates. "Are you going to eat those, Moony?"

Remus stuffed a chocolate indignantly into his mouth as a reply.

Just then, breakfast appeared. Remus and the others set to gathering food onto their plates and eating. Remus put his box of chocolates back into his pocket.

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As Sirius ate, a wave of relief swept over him. He'd managed not to give himself away. Of course, Sirius had always been good at bluffing; it was how he got good marks off his tests. That, and copying off James. But when it came to emotion Sirius couldn't fully trust himself. Sirius was usually the type who laid everything out in the open. Sirius was usually the type who went headlong after what he wanted. This time, though, he'd have to be careful. Things could go very wrong if he didn't take this one step at a time.

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Remus put his fork to his mouth automatically. Who could possibly be interested in him? He glanced at Sirius, who was wolfing down his food as if he hadn't eaten in days.

Remus shook his head. He looked down at his own plate and realized it was still almost completely full. Remus let out a sigh and began to eat.

Next chapter: Sirius exploits his girlfriend. We find out what exactly happened to cause this newfound love. Someone bruises their upper arm.