Remus Lupin was staring out at the lake, feeling weary at the mere sight of the moon, when Lily came charging out the front doors.

'Hello, Lily.' he murmured, pleasantly. Lily sighed.

'Hello, Remus.' she said. Remus examined her carefully, taking time to note that her eyes were skipping and jittering about, clearly going over something in her head. He sniffed, and he smelt the scent of his friend very strongly.

'What did he do?' he asked.

Lily smiled. She had always liked the way Remus always came to the right conclusion, piecing the world together like an infantile jigsaw puzzle. The smile soon faded from her lips, and she collapsed next to Remus on the step.

'Nothing, I suppose.' she muttered. Remus smiled weakly.

'Nothing?'

Lily sighed. 'Oh, well...he wanted to act like that night never happened. Like he never pulled away. I just...' she sighed again. 'I don't know.'

Remus frowned. 'What night?'

Lily stared at him. 'You know. That night.'

Remus shook his head. 'No...'

'The night we kissed.' she said, a little embarrassed at having to spell it out. Remus sucked in a breath.

'You and James kissed?' he asked, shocked. Lily stared at him.

'Well...yeah. I thought he would have told you.'

'He hasn't said a thing.' Remus said softly, mildly indignant at not being told. Then again, he hadn't told James about his "that night".

'Oh.' said Lily softly, quite surprised. She was sure James would have been bragging to half the school...mind you, no one had come up and said anything to her.

She and Remus sat in silence for a while, before a little smile tugged at her lips.

'What?' asked Remus. Lily bit her lip, creasing her forehead, but she was still smiling.

'Um, can I ask you a question?' she asked. Remus cocked his head.

'You already have, but I presume you mean another?'

Lily nodded.

'Sure.' said Remus, eyeing Lily curiously.

'Is it...is it true what they're saying about Sirius? About you?' Lily blurted. Remus's face paled slightly, but his expression didn't change.

'What do you mean?' he asked lightly. 'What have they been saying?'

'Well, the rumour spreading through the hall like a bush fire at the moment is...well, is that you're...he's...well, they're saying Sirius confessed to being in love with you.' she murmured, trying to catch Remus's eye, which kept of drifting off towards the lake. At the end of her sentence, though, he spun his head round to stare at her.

'Pardon?' he asked, almost stiffly.

'They're saying that Sirius confessed to being in love with you.' she said, louder and clearer.

Remus blinked and cleared his throat uncomfortably. 'Amusing.' he said quietly to his feet.

'Is it true?' asked Lily softly.

'I don't know.' Remus said quickly. 'Why would I know? I don't know what goes on in his head, what does it have to do with me?'

Lily laid a hand on his shoulder. 'Nothing. I was just wondering.' she whispered.

Remus sighed. 'I'm sorry.' he muttered. He looked up and saw Lily's questioning eyes...well, questioning him. He sighed. He knew, whether he told her or not, she would piece it together herself.

'We kind of...ah, well, you see...a while back, we ah...'

'Kissed?'

Remus gave a faint smile, and nodded.

'And?'

Remus was baffled. 'And what?' he asked.

'And what happened? Are you...I mean, you're still "together"?'

'Oh no! No, no no no. Nothing like that.' Remus said quickly. Lily frowned.

'Why?' she asked. Remus swallowed again, and looked away.

'It was...just a mistake.' he said slowly.

'Why was it a mistake?' she asked. Remus didn't answer. 'Come, on, Remus. Talk to me.'

'It just was.' he said shortly.

'Why? Were you drunk? Did you decide you liked girls? Were you poisoned?'

Remus shook his head.

'What, then?' she asked. Remus took a deep breath, then exhaled loudly.

'I thought you of all people would know.' he said. Lily frowned.

'Know...?' but he didn't say anything more. 'Know what?'

'I think perhaps I misjudged you.?'

'Why?' cried Lily, indignantly.

'What are some important facts about werewolves?'

Lily fell silent, examining Remus's face, illuminated by the crescent moon sitting lazily behind a cloud in the dark sky above. Then her breath caught.

'They mate for life.' she said softly. Remus nodded. 'But...you haven't...you haven't mated with Sirius-'

'No! No.' said Remus fervently. Lily shook her head.

'Then I don't understand-'

'Sirius has a different girl every week,' Remus began, in a harsh kind of voice, 'Or a boy.' he added, almost bitterly. 'They flitter in and out of his life like butterflies. He could look someone straight in the eyes and make them believe no one else in the world mattered more to him than they, merely to get in their pants. If I am his crush this week, James will be his next week. Amelia the week after, and Aaron from down the road after that. If I lied and told myself he cared for me I'd be trapped for life. Werewolves mate for life, and I can't be eternally bound to him.'

Lily stared at Remus, sure this was the most she had ever heard him speak. 'You...you love him?' she asked. Remus laughed.

'In a way. Which makes me feel pathetic. Should I join the groups of gaggling girls who follow him round, stand downwind from his scent, and try to Accio his pillowcase?'

Lily put her hand on Remus's shoulder, comfortingly. 'It's ok.' she murmured.

'No, it's not.' said Remus. 'But it will be. Because he will dance with some magnificent female, coax her into a drunken splendor, seduce her into bed, convince her it was her idea that they wouldn't work out, and send her on her way the next morning, only to move onto the next one.'

'Well, that's not what I heard.' said Lily. 'I heard he's rejecting every female, telling her he's holding out for a "real man". He's telling them he loves you, Remus.'

Remus stood up. 'See? I can't do this. I can't have him trampling around, convincing everyone, including me, that he loves me, and then running me into the ground next week!'

'I'm not going to do that, Remus.' said a low voice behind them. Remus spun around, and stared into the swirling grey eyes of Sirius Black.

'Si-Sirius...' Remus stuttered, suddenly shy. Lily cleared her throat.

'I think I might go inside now.' she said, gracefully slipping back through the doors.

'So.' said Sirius, stepping forward. 'So.' He looked almost angry. 'You ignore me and avoid talking to me and show no intention whatsoever of discussing what...what we are, and yet you go behind my back and talk to her about...about me!'

Remus winced. 'Siri, I-'

'Don't Siri me! I'm pissed off with you, Remus Lupin, I'm bloody pissed off!'

Remus sighed. 'What do you want me to say?' he asked with a tired look. Sirius clenched his teeth.

'You're standing there,' he began, his voice trembling with rage, 'After just having talked to her about me-'

'You know there's nothing between us anymore!' Remus burst out.

'And how would I know that?' Sirius seethed.

'Because I'm gay, Sirius! I'm not bisexual, I'm certainly not straight, I don't just hump anything that will stay still long enough! I'm gay! And I thought that you of all people would get that after...after what happened! But obviously it meant so little to you that it completely slipped your mind!'

'You dare talk to me about forgetting it happened! You dare talk to me after avoiding the subject for weeks! After avoiding me for weeks!'

Remus sighed, and looked away angrily. 'I didn't want you to pressure you into feeling something you didn't. I didn't want to make you feel like you had to lie.'

Sirius gaped. 'Do I look like someone who could be pressured into something? Have I ever let anyone force me to do what I didn't want to do?' he said, staring at Remus. 'And you...talking to me about lying! Tell me...does James know about you and Lily? Does James know? Huh? Tell me, Remus, when were you going to tell him? When were you going to tell James?'

'Tell me what?' asked a familiar voice, stepping into the light. 'Lily told me to leave you guys alone, but I figured that just meant you didn't want her to hear.' said James, stepping towards the seething young men. 'Tell me what?' he repeated, looking at Remus. Then he looked at Sirius, and back at Remus, and something clicked in his head. 'Tell me what?' he asked, softly this time. Remus swallowed.

'Tell you...that...Lily...said she really likes you.' said Remus slowly. Then he nodded. 'Yeah. And that she wishes she could tell you.'

James chuckled. 'Bullshit.' he said, conversationally. 'Tell me what?'

But Sirius and Remus stayed silent.

'Look,' began James, 'If you don't tell me, I'll be forced to curse your pants off. Literally.'

But Sirius and Remus still remained silent. James sighed.

'All right, then.' he said, and raised his wand.

'No!' shouted Remus, holding up his hand, imagining himself standing in a freezing corridor half naked with an equally pantless Sirius with a raging hard on trying to explain the situation to McGonagall. 'We-' Sirius shot him a warning glance, 'I mean, I will tell you. But...but you have to promise not to get mad, ok?'

'Sure.' said James. 'I won't get mad. Why would I?'

A few moments later the students in the Hogwarts hall were startled by the loudest scream of rage they had ever heard, followed by a lot of shouting, and soon after James Potter stormed through the doors, looked around angrily, cursed loudly and stormed back out again.