X: Reparo

Over the next few days Sirius saw Myra in a different light. If this girl was good enough for Lupin, who had never seemed interested in a girl before, he knew she must be special. He marvelled that he had never noticed the way sunlight caught her long dark blonde hair and made it shine. He was surprised he had never noticed her smile or her bright blue eyes. While before she had always been "Lily's friend", she was now taking on her own identity before his eyes and he liked what he saw.

He sat with her during potions, leaving Lupin sitting by himself and a little disgruntled. He was pleased when she looked at him with a surprised smile.

"Hi," Sirius smiled.

"Hello," she replied cautiously, not quite sure what had prompted this new seating plan.

"Remus tells me you're quite the potion's master, so I thought I could maybe snag a few tips."

"Er... sure. I can try," she said, glancing quickly behind her at Lupin who suddenly appeared deeply interested in the grain of wood on the table that he kept staring at. Remus glanced up just as Myra turned her attention back to Sirius.

"I thought you were always quite good at potions," she said, eyeing him suspiciously.

"There's always room for improvement," Sirius replied cheerfully as he started measuring out the ingredients for the Sleeping Draught potion.

Myra shrugged as she continued to measure her own ingredients, every once in a while glancing over at the handsome boy beside her. She noticed he let his dark hair fall in his eyes only to run his fingers through it again and so the cycle repeated. She didn't realize she was staring until he shifted his attention towards her, causing her to knock over her vile of 'Essence of Wormwood' in a weak attempt to disguise her obvious attraction to him.

The rest of the class naturally turned to stare when her vial hit the floor with a loud crash, causing her to turn an even deeper shade of red if that was possible, as she was blushing quite deeply to begin with.

"Reparo," Sirius said, a smile playing at his lips as he fetched her vial from the floor.

The potions professor, Professor Wickle, had hurried over with a new vial of 'Essence of Wormwood' when he heard the crash and was now helping Myra to clean up the spilled substance.

"Everything alright?" he asked, genuinely concerned. "It's not like you to be sloppy, Myra."

"I..uh..yeah..I'm fine," Myra managed to sputter.

"It was actually my fault," Sirius offered. "I knocked it over while reaching for the peppermint extract."

"Well, be more careful Sirius!" Professor Wickle scolded as he hurried to help another student on the other side of the room.

"You didn't have to do that," Myra said in a low voice.

Sirius shrugged. "I'm used to being in trouble. You could call it a natural gift."

Myra couldn't help but smile at the truth in that.

They finished the rest of the potion relatively error free and carried their finished potions to the front of the room in small glass vials.

"How'd you make out there, mate?" Sirius asked Remus as they passed one another.

"Er..." Remus looked down at his potion which had turned a peculiar shade of brown instead of the faint purple it was meant to be.

"You must have added too much wormwood," Myra supplied helpfully.

"That must have been it," Lupin agreed quietly.

The truth was, he wasn't paying that much attention to concocting his potion. His attention was focused on another lab bench, the one with his former lab partner. He was struggling to come to grips with the situation. One voice in his head reminded him that he took the initiative and asked Sirius to go out with Myra. The other voice, which was winning right now, told him that if Sirius was a real friend he wouldn't be so outwardly flirtatious and friendly with Myra in front of him. He wasn't a jealous person by nature, but right now he was struggling not to be cross with Sirius.

"Are you going to be in the library tonight?" Myra asked him on their way up the stairs out of the dungeons.

"No, I've...er...got some stuff to do," Remus lied.

"Oh, ok," Myra said, visibly disappointed. "I'll see you later then."

She turned a corner and she was gone.

"Coming to the Quittich game tonight, right?" Sirius asked Remus as he watched Myra walk away.

"Of course," Remus replied, glancing over at Sirius who seemed a little over cheerful.

"Good, it will be Slytherin versus Gryffindor. James is a little worried."

"He's always worried before a game though," Remus replied. James was the Gryffindor

chaser and the Marauders never missed a game.

"I'll see you there, then," Sirius waved and turned down the corridor towards Transfiguration.

Lupin nodded and ran a hand through his loose hair which was getting quite unruly. Time for a haircut, he thought to himself. He'd have to stop by and ask Lily if she would mind charming his hair again to stop the growth. She was so brilliant at charms that he had asked her last year if there was a charm to stop hair growth. It wasn't that his family was particularly poor, but he didn't like to bother his mother with silly expenses like hair cuts when Lily could just as easily charm his hair.

He was glad James had grown up in the past year and asked Lily out. They were so good for each other. James had taken cues from Lily on humbleness and his arrogance had faded considerably. On the other hand, she had learned to loosen up a bit and not strive for perfection when it was clearly unattainable.

Remus found his foul mood sifting away as he walked through the castle doors and down towards the lake. He kicked at the fallen leaves enjoyably and smiled at a fifth year Gryffindor he recognized who was nervously talking to a fourth year Hufflepuff, no doubt asking her to the Winter Formal.

He stopped in his tracks when he recognized a certain couple snuggling up against a tree. Missing class again Prongs? He thought to himself. He didn't mean to intrude on their private moment but couldn't help but gaze at Lily and James fondly through the sandy hair that kept falling into his eyes.

Lily was running her hands through James' hair as he sat with his head on her shoulder. He was reading to her from Quittich Weekly and pointing out the various strategies excitedly, every once in a while looking up into her emerald eyes to make sure she was paying attention. She smiled with the patience of someone who wasn't particularly interested in Quittich but more interested in the person reading to her. She smiled down at him and nodded every once in a while. She glanced up and noticed Remus standing against a tree across the lawn. She smiled over at him and he returned the smile before dusting the fallen leaves off his robe and walking back towards the castle, musing on the good fortune of his friends and wondering about his own fortune.

Myra stifled a yawn as she packed up her Potions books. It was eleven and she really had been meaning to go to bed early tonight. Still, it wouldn't hurt to check if that book on invisibility potions was back in the library. She crept around the library stacks, trying to locate the Potions section she was looking for. She suddenly giggled. Someone had fallen asleep in the Potions stacks. Their knees were curled up and they looked so peaceful nodding off. Still, Myra didn't envy the neck cramp they would have in the morning if she didn't wake them up. She tiptoed beside them and knelt down.

She at once realized who the dozing Potions student was.

"Remus?" she whispered, prodding him softly with her wand.

"Wha?" he looked up at her confused. His light brown hair fell into his eyes and he tucked it behind his ears in a tired movement.

"It's eleven. You fell asleep," Myra told him gently.

Comprehension crept onto his face and he flushed, embarrassed that she was the one that had found him. Myra stood up and reached her hand out towards him. He took it gratefully and stood up. He smoothed out his robes and then grabbed his books which had fallen behind him.

"I thought you had stuff to do tonight," Myra said suddenly as they walked towards the corridor.

Remus glanced over at Myra and saw the hurt in her eyes that she was trying to conceal in her voice.

"I did," he replied quickly.

"You're lying," she accused softly.

"Look, Myra..." He drifted off, struggling to find the words to tell her the truth. He decided to leave out the bit about how seeing her with Sirius made him insanely jealous and gave him urges to cause his best friend bodily harm and substituted it with, "I suppose I just thought you'd rather spend time with Sirius."

"Sirius?" Myra raised her eyebrows. An amused smile came onto her lips, making Remus feel quite foolish.

"Well, you two were getting along well today in potions," he pointed out.

"I also get along well with Lily but you don't see me running off with her and ignoring you. You're my friend Remus and I like spending time with you. You make homework bearable."

Remus rubbed a hand on the back of his neck. "I'm sorry I jumped to conclusions. I don't know what I was thinking."

"You weren't," Myra said shortly and shot him a grin.

Remus smiled back, glad to have their comfortable companionship intact. It seemed to be the best he could hope for and that was all right for the time being.