Remus looked at Lisa whose mouth had dropped open in shock. Their actions had really been innocent enough, they were just two friends trying to keep warm. But because they both felt incredibly guilty over the thoughts they had been having of each other they knew the scene to be what it looked like. Remus noticed that he still had his arm around her and quickly pulled himself away. They each stood there unsure of what they should do. Lisa looked at Remus who in turn looked at the ground. She shook her head and took off through the entranceway.
She raced up the stairs to Gryffindor tower. She reached the portrait, gave the password and stumbled inside. She looked around the common room, Sirius was no where to be found. She turned and headed towards the boys dormitory stairs ignoring the strange looks she was getting from her fellow students. When she reached the top she knocked on the door of the sixth years. She heard some mumbling inside before the door finally opened. It was James.
"Is Sirius in there?" She asked him.
James closed the door slightly and motioned behind it, a moment later Sirius appeared. He had a sour look on his face that she had never seen before. He usually looked happy to see her.
"Sirius, I..." She wanted to say that she was sorry, that things weren't what they looked like. But she didn't even know if she believed that. Her eyes fell to the floor and she hung her head. What could she say to him?
She made herself look up at him again. She couldn't read the expression on his face, it wasn't the usual look of caring that was saved just for her. She looked into his eyes not knowing what she should do. Suddenly his eyes peered over her shoulder and his look became hard. She turned around to see Remus standing behind her. Sirius scowled and closed the door.
Lisa kicked the wall beside the door in frustration. Remus came up to her and put his hand on her shoulder to comfort her. His touch was gentle and soft.
"Don't worry, I'll talk to him," he told her. "He just needs to cool off and then he'll be able to understand."
She looked at him with eyes filled with relief and gratitude. She touched the hand that was on his shoulder.
"Go ahead, I'll get your stuff from the library."
He smiled at her and went through the door behind her. Wow, she thought, he has such a nice smile. She slapped her forehead in frustration. That was the last thing she should be thinking about at a time like this. After she went down and collected their things from the library she locked herself in her dorm room. Lily immediately noticed that something was wrong.
Lisa launched into the story of how Sirius had found her and Remus so close together. She told her how she tried to go talk to Sirius but didn't know what to say.
"But the problem is," she said as she finished. "I think I have feelings for Remus."
Her and Lily talked late into the night. Trying to sort out feelings. The next morning they both rose early. Lisa waited in the common room for the boys to come down. She expected Sirius to come over to her and tell her that he was sorry for overeating and everything would just go back to normal. Instead when Sirius and James came downstairs Sirius rushed out of the portrait hole without so much as a glance towards her. James looked at her and tried to give her an apologetic smile. There was no doubt in her mind that he would be on Sirius' side. Remus came over to her a minuet later.
As she handed him his book bag he told her, "I tried to talk to him. He's stubborn and refuses to think what he saw wasn't what he thinks it was."
"So what do we do?" She asked him.
"Well, according to James, Sirius thinks we've been dating behind his back since summer. So it might take quite a while for him to cool off enough to be reasoned with."
"Wonderful." She sighed. "Um...Remus, maybe it would be best if we didn't hang out so much. Just until we can explain things to Sirius."
"Perhaps you're right."
Was it just her imagination or did he look the saddest she's ever seen him look?
"Nothing outside of classes then?" he asked her.
"Yeah..." She threw her arms around him in a last hug and left the common room.
When Remus entered the Great Hall for breakfast he saw Lily and Lisa sitting towards the end of the table, quietly talking and eating their breakfast. James, Peter and Sirius were sitting a few bench lengths away. Remus sat somewhere in the middle by himself. Its not like you're not used to being alone anyway, he told himself.
Lisa saw Remus walk into the hall. She saw him sit by himself. She felt extremely bad for him. This had to be all her fault. Perhaps she was so wrapped up in how she was feeling about Remus that she didn't know when things were getting to close. Now Remus was suffering because of it.
Soon a week went by. Nothing had changed for the better between the group of friends. Lisa and Remus were continuing to ignore each other while Sirius continued to ignore them. No matter how hard they tried to talk to him he wouldn't let them explain anything.
Lisa was sitting alone in the library one night trying to work through a set of Arithmacy problems. She had her brows knit in a frown when a shadow appeared on her book. She looked up to see Remus standing in front of her.
"I'm sick of this," he said. "If Sirius is going to be mad at me because he thinks you and I..." He trailed off. He tugged her book out of her hands and pulled her up off the chair. He pulled her close to him, ran his fingers through her hair and pulled her lips to his. She pulled away from him after a second, completely shocked. She stared at him.
"There," he told her. "Now he has a reason to be mad."
He was about to leave when she grabbed his arm, threw her arms around his neck and pulled him into a kiss.
"Remus, I think Sirius has every right to be mad. For a long time I've been thinking about what we just did. I've been trying to deny the fact that I have feelings for you but it wouldn't go away."
He ran his fingers through her hair. "I've been thinking and feeling the same way."
He kissed her again and she rested her head on his shoulder.
"This is horrible. If I were Sirius I would never forgive us."
"Sirius is a good person, he'll forgive us eventually. The full moon is coming soon, so I won't be around for a while. Maybe you can try to talk to him?"
"I will. Don't tear yourself up though."
"If I could help it I wouldn't.
She squeezed him tightly around his torso. "I'm sorry."
He kissed her forehead.
"Its strange how right this feels, isn't it?" He asked her.
"Yes, it is."
