Disclaimer: No one mentioned in previous disclaimers is mine. McGonagall isn't mine, either. Remus isn't mine, but that doesn't mean you can have him. Same goes for Sirius.

November 19

The Gryffindors had Transfiguration with the Ravenclaws first class. Molly usually sat with some of the Gryffindor girls, or with Randi, but today she opted to sit with James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter. Today, Professor McGonagall explained, they would be studying the Transfiguration of household objects into animals.

"We will begin," McGonagall's clear, sharp voice rang through the classroom, "By transfiguring our quills into salamanders. Now, it is very important that your quill becomes a salamander; if, at the end of the lesson, I find that your quill is a newt, you will lose marks."

At this, James, Peter, and Sirius snickered. Remus shook his head, smiling at them.

Molly smiled. Everything was going according to plan so far.

The students set their quills before them, and, under McGonagall's guidance, waved their wands and uttered the incantation that, if done correctly, would turn their quills into salamanders. Molly's first spell didn't work, and she tried again. This time, however, her wand placement was a bit off and the incantation went straight at James, who promptly turned into a very large orange salamander. The classroom went into an uproar.

Professor McGonagall raised her voice to be heard over the confusion and chatter, calling for quiet. When everyone was finally settled down, she spoke. "I would like to congratulate Miss Radcliffe on an excellent Transfiguration spell." She looked Molly in the eye. "I would also like to point out, however, that she should be more careful at exactly what she is pointing her wand."

Molly went scarlet. She lowered her gaze.

"Miss Radcliffe," McGonagall continued, "I would like you to help me… er… escort… Mr. Potter to the infirmary."

Molly obligingly slid her hands under the glasses-clad salamander's front legs, while Professor McGonagall held him under his back legs and tail. On the count of three they lifted him and put him onto the stretcher McGonagall had prepared. Molly rested her hand on the side of the stretcher and walked with it as McGonagall guided it out of the classroom with her wand. She stopped at the door and turned to the class. "Class is not dismissed. Anyone who leaves the room while I am absent will have detention."

The class groaned collectively.

Molly grinned to herself as she "escorted" James down the hall to the infirmary, careful not to let McGonagall see her face.

-----

Professor McGonagall returned to the classroom within a few minutes and the class was resumed. When it was over, Sirius, Peter, and Remus made their way to the infirmary to check on James.

James was up and about, and more importantly, human, but he was still quite orange. Sirius burst out laughing. Peter and Remus soon started laughing as well.

"You look," Sirius gasped, "—like a Jack-o-lantern!" He sputtered and started laughing again.

"Shut up."

Sirius giggled. Eventually he was able to control his laughter, but that was probably due mostly to the fact that the orange was fading from James's face, and not any self-control on Sirius's part.

James, who had started laughing a little himself eventually, straightened his face and his shirt. "Remus," he asked, "can I borrow your transfiguration notes?"

Peter looked up. "How come you don't ask to borrow my notes?"

Sirius pitched in, "Or mine?"

"Because I know you two didn't take any."

Sirius grinned. "Can't argue with that."

Peter grinned, too. "I guess not."

James looked to Remus. "May I borrow your notes, please, Remus?"

"Sure." Remus went into his bag and pulled out his class notes. "Here."

"Thanks, Moony." James pocketed the notes. "I'll give them back as soon as I copy it—them."

James looked around, his gaze resting on Sirius briefly. Then he said, "Well, let's get going. Don't want to be late for class, do we?"

"Easy for you to say," grumbled Peter. "You two have Potions with the Slytherins. You get to do interesting things like set Snape's hair on fire. Me and Moony here, we have Herbology. If I wanted to learn how to take care of plants, I would have…" Peter trailed off. "…Well, I wouldn't be going to the top magical school in the country, anyway."

Remus smiled. Peter complained too much. Herbology was an important part of their education; without Herbology they wouldn't be able to do well in Potions, which was one of the most important classes to pass. Ah, well, Wormtail could complain if it made him feel better.

-----

The Gryffindors had a half-hour break between Transfiguration and Potions. James wandered back to the common room. Molly was already there, sitting on the couch.

"I got it," James said to her, sitting down.

"Good."

James showed Molly the paper. "Can you copy it?"

Molly examined Remus's handwriting. "Yes."

"Did you get something from Sirius?"

Molly produced a scrap of paper. "I have this note he gave me."

"Great. This is going to work perfectly." James grinned.

Molly smiled, pulled two cards out of her pocket, and set to writing. She carefully copied Remus's looping script on one card and Sirius's quick but somehow elegant scrawl on the other.

-----

The day was finally over. Despite Remus's thoughts on the importance of Herbology, today's lesson had been a huge bore. He flopped down onto his bed tiredly. A card fluttered down from the canopy of the bed and landed on Remus's chest.

-----

Sirius and James laughed as they climbed the stairs to the sixth-year boys' dormitories. Today's Potions lesson had ended with Severus Snape's potion mysteriously disappearing for the second time. He had had to work double-fast to finish his second attempt at the potion in time. Unfortunately, just as he finished stirring in the last ingredient, the potion had evaporated completely. He had glared murderously back at James and Sirius, but they were chatting amongst themselves, acting totally innocent.

Sirius yawned dramatically and pulled off his robe. He set it down over his trunk and something fell out of its pocket. Sirius picked the card up, meaning to put it back in the pocket, but he didn't recognize it. It had his name written on it in looping script. The handwriting looked familiar, so he flipped the card open.

-----

Dear Sirius,

I need to talk to you. Meet me in the hallway outside GryffindorTower tomorrow at noon.

Thanks,

Remus

-----

Dear Remus,

The time has come to make myself known to you.

Meet me in the hallway outside GryffindorTower

tomorrow at noon.

Love,

Your Secret Admirer.

-----

Remus blinked. This person wanted to meet him? What on earth for? Wasn't the point of being a secret admirer to keep it a secret? Besides, he certainly couldn't reciprocate this person's feelings… after all, there was Sirius. Remus sighed. He supposed he would go anyway. His curiosity overwhelmed his sensibility this time.

-----

Sirius blinked. Remus wanted to talk to him? About what? He couldn't know, could he? No, of course not. Sirius's acting had been flawless… hadn't it? Oh, well, he'd go meet Remus and see what he wanted. It would be a bad idea to stand him up. Sirius realized that the term he'd thought of not showing up as was usually related to dating, and laughed softly at himself. What a moron.

-----

Remus sighed and closed his eyes. Tomorrow was Saturday.

-----

November 20

Sirius went down to breakfast rather nervously. Fortunately, there was pudding, which helped Sirius take his mind of things for a while. Remus didn't come down for breakfast, but James, Peter, and strangely enough, Arthur Weasley trickled in and sat around him. Arthur, he suspected, was looking for Molly. Molly seemed to be absent. Sirius wondered briefly where she was, then went back to the task at hand: pudding. James was talking to him about a really devious plan that would certainly send them to detention for the next month and a half if they were caught. When breakfast was over he dragged Sirius and Peter off to work on the plan.

-----

James tacked a paper to the frame of the Fat Lady's portrait. It was a very special paper—When Remus looked at it, it gave him a set of directions in Sirius's handwriting. When Sirius looked at it, it gave the same set of directions in Remus's handwriting. When James or Molly looked at it, it told them where Remus and Sirius were. When anyone else looked at it, it colorfully insulted his mother. James couldn't resist adding that bit in.

James put a Permanent Sticking Charm on the paper, grinning to himself. He slipped off to the library to meet Molly and Remus. He passed Sirius in the hall and waved. James looked back at Sirius briefly as he approached the portrait hole, and smiled deviously.

-----

Molly had asked Remus for help with her DADA homework. She offered him a chocolate frog in payment, which he gratefully accepted. Remus had been reading ahead in his book (DADA was somewhat of an obsession with him—it wasn't his favorite subject but Remus was a dark creature and he got a sick sort of satisfaction from throwing himself into Defense Against the Dark Arts) and had discovered that ironically enough his favorite sweet was a treatment for Dementor attacks. Of course, chocolate did have properties that increased one's endorphin level—probably why Remus liked it so much. As a werewolf his endorphin level was unusually low at any time other than the full moon.

Remus left the library, chocolate frog in hand, and met James at the door. Molly and James accompanied him to the Gryffindor portrait, and he was secretly grateful—he was rather nervous about the whole thing despite himself. Of course, they couldn't have known about the note, but they didn't say anything about how Remus wasn't going in the direction of his own common room.

When they arrived at the portrait, the Fat Lady was looking annoyedly at the piece of paper tacked to her frame. She glared at James as the trio approached, but he didn't seem to notice. Instead, he glanced at the note.

"What's this?"

The paper said, Remus Lupin is outside Gryffindor Tower. Sirius Black is in the Room of Necessity, but James knew when Remus looked at it it would say something else.

Remus looked at the paper. "It's from…" he trailed off. He tried to remove the note but it wouldn't come off, so he got out a quill and wrote down the directions quickly. "I… I have to go, guys. I'll see you later."

James grinned. "Sure, Remus. We'll see you later." He nudged Molly and she whispered the password to the Fat Lady. The portrait swung away, and Molly stepped inside, followed by James.

Remus looked after them for a moment, then walked off; following the directions the note had given him. "Those two have been awfully chummy lately," he muttered to himself.

-----

Sirius waited nervously in the room Remus's note had directed him to. He could have sworn the room hadn't been there before, just an empty arch… he shrugged. He was getting increasingly nervous. What if Remus knew? What if he didn't even show... if this was his idea of a joke? Sirius heard a click and looked up quickly.

The door creaked open, and Remus Lupin's small, angular face peeked in. His eyes went wide. "Sirius?!"

Sirius looked up at Remus, confused by his reaction. "What, didn't you think I'd be here?"

Remus just stared.

"Don't stand there with your head in the door like an idiot, Remus, come in."

"Right." Remus hurried inside and closed the door behind him. It clicked rather louder than Remus thought was natural, but maybe it was just because his awareness seemed to be heightened because of the shock he'd just received.

Sirius was still looking at Remus with a puzzled look on his face. "Well, what was it you wanted to tell me?"

Remus blinked. "I wanted to tell you…?"

"You sent me a note." Sirius brandished the note.

Remus looked as puzzled as Sirius now. He took the note, slowly, and read it, also slowly. "I didn't write this… I came here because that secret admirer I seem to have gotten sent me… wait." He rummaged in his pockets and produced the note. He handed it to Sirius, who looked it over.

"I didn't write this," Sirius said in a tone that struck Remus as unusual.

Sirius looked up at Remus, his eyes burning. "Someone's setting us up."

Remus's eyes went wide. It dawned on him. "James—and Molly! They've been acting weird lately, always hanging about, always together, Molly pulling me off to help her with homework she already seems to understand… Turning James into a newt…"

"Salamander," Sirius corrected him.

"Right, a salamander." Remus paused, remembering how James had found out about his feelings for Sirius. "I'm going to kill him."

"Not if I get there first." Sirius went to the door and tried to open it, but it was locked. "Alohomora," he growled, pointing his wand at the door. Nothing happened. "Alohomora!" he practically shouted.

The door stayed firmly closed. Sirius glared at it. Molly must have told James what Sirius had said to her—and now—of course, he should have known this would happen, Molly was just as bad as James, in her own way… damn them. Sirius hit the door with the flat of his hand.

-----

Molly and James were sitting on one of the couches in the common room, congratulating themselves. James had brought down some butterbeer he'd taken back from Hogsmeade the previous weekend, and now he proposed a toast.

"To Remus and Sirius, may they finally get over themselves and tell each other the truth."

Molly grinned. "To Remus and Sirius," she agreed, lifting her bottle and clinking it against James's.

They drank. Molly set her bottle down on the table.

James stretched. "Well, Molly, what should we do while we're waiting?"

Molly shrugged and looked over at him. His eyes behind his glasses were a bright, piercing blue. They danced as he thought of the success of their plot.

James turned to Molly and grinned, then a look of recognition passed over his face and the grin faded, and suddenly he was kissing her.

Molly's eyes fell closed. She leaned into the kiss, not thinking about what she was doing. She'd kissed Sirius a few times, desperately, his hands exploring the curves of her body, but never just one single kiss. It was strange how this kiss was somehow more passionate than any of her kisses with Sirius despite its innocence. Or maybe because of it.

-----

"We're stuck in here, Sirius," Remus said, pulling Sirius away from the door. "No need to dent the door."

Sirius growled in an annoyed way, but backed away, finding a pillow to sit on. The room was rather large, Sirius realized, looking around. He turned to Remus, who was looking a bit disappointed.

"What's eating you, Moony?"

Remus looked up. "Nothing. I just... well, the note, you know. I thought I was going to meet whoever it was that had been writing them."

"Oh, right." Sirius nodded.

"Yeah. And when I came in and saw it was you--" Remus broke off. He'd been about to tell Sirius what he had thought, what he had felt. And even though he wanted to tell him, he was still afraid of what might happen. Of course, rationally he knew that Sirius could never hate him, but things would certainly be awkward between them.

Sirius looked up. "You figured you'd been set up?" He finished for Remus, almost hopefully.

"Yeah." Remus thanked Sirius silently.

Sirius grinned. "The way you looked at me—I couldn't figure out what was going on."

"Damn James. I bet he thought this would be a great joke."

"Yeah." Sirius sighed and stared off into the space between him and the wall. "Well, we might as well make the most of it."

Coming up in the next chapter: How, exactly, are they going to make the most of it? Is a relationship blossoming between James and Molly? Is Arthur Weasley going to punch James in the face?