"A Story"

"Remember when I outed you?"

"You didn't out me, Lily did."

"Only ' cause she was tired of her boyfriend having eyes for his mate."

"We were twelve years old! I wasn't her boyfriend, just a friend. She took pity on me because I melted so many cauldrons, no one else would partner with me."

"I would have."

"It was second year, you and James still terrified me."

"Us?"

"Don't give me that innocent look, Padfoot. When you were twelve years old, you let loose a jarful of doxies in the Slytherin second years'--"

"Okay, okay. So we were horrible boys who offended your delicate sensibilities so badly that you had to pal around with a girl. And being the delicately sensible boy you were, she fell arse over teakettle in love with you," Sirius teased.

"She did not."

"I walked in on--"

"We were just practicing," Remus said quickly. "The library was empty because most of the older kids were at Hogsmeade. Lily asked me if I'd ever kissed anyone, and I said no."

"And turned three shades of red."

"How long were you watching?"

"Not long. That was a guess."

"Well, yes, I did turn colors, I think. I couldn't see my own face, of course, but I was horribly embarrassed when she asked if I wanted to practice with her."

"And you did."

"She asked nicely." And it was something I would have done that you and James hadn't.

"And it was something you would have done that James and I hadn't."

"It was a complete disaster. Don't laugh! It was your fault. You scared us."

"C'mon, one of my best mates was kissing my other best mate's object d'obcession , I had to put a chocolate frog down her robes--"

"I was your best mate in second year?"

"Of course you were."

"So you decided to humiliate me."

"Hey, I just interrupted you. Lily was the egotist who decided that if you were pants at kissing her--"

"'--You must be gay. Kiss Sirius.'"

"I think she was just messing with me," Sirius said.

"Well, she did hate you. All of you. But mostly the guts parts."

"I don't think she expected you to freak out like that. 'I'm not gay, I'm not, and neither is Sirius,'" Sirius imitated in frightened falsetto.

"To which you interrupted, 'Yes I am,' which was news to me. Did you really know or were you just pranking me?"

"Moony, I was twelve. I only knew I wanted to kiss you."

Remus struggled to control the twitching corners of his mouth. Sirius watched in amusement as two spots of color blossomed on Remus' cheeks.

"Then you took off like a shot," Sirius continued. "And I didn't see you for the rest of the day."

"Until you accosted me that evening."

"Did not."

"Did so."

"James, Peter, you, Lily, and I were all playing Exploding Snap in the common room."

"Why was Lily playing with us?"

"Didn't she bet Prongs she'd get all his cards or something?"

"No, I remember now, it was Every Flavor Beans. He'd stolen her friend's and she was trying to win them back."

"So anyway," Sirius said. "We were playing and you were loosing. A lot."

"My mind was hardly on the game. All I could think about was what had happened in the library. Not that Lily would let me forget, the way she was nudging me the whole game, trying to get me to sit closer to you and all that."

"Finally, you had a fit and ran to the dormitory."

"It wasn't a fit. I was just. . . . Well, you and Lily followed."

"We found you sitting on your trunk in the dark. She asked you why you left the game, but you didn't answer. Instead, you looked up and said, 'I'm gay, aren't I?'"

"And you, my sensitive friend, said 'Come back to the game, ponce.'"

"You weren't a ponce, you were a girl. You started crying."

"It's a very upsetting thing to realize at twelve years old! You deserved Lily boxing your ears."

"She was nice about it, though. She said not to cry, that we still loved you and nothing had changed. And she was right." Sirius, crossing behind Remus to put his teacup in the sink, gave Remus' shoulder a squeeze.

"Then what happened?" Harry said.

"Well, a few days later," Sirius sat down at the table again, "Lily pulled me aside during a Charms practical lesson to tell me to hang round after class."

"I had no idea what was going on," Remus said.

"Because you were so sweet and clueless."

Harry leaned forward, listening intently, his glasses slipping down his nose.

"The entire class, Lily pretended she couldn't do the charm, whatever it was," Sirius continued.

" Wingardium Leviosa."

"But you got it in one -- you were always ace in Charms. She asked the two of us to help her, and claimed that it'd be easier if the feather was already in the air."

"She told Sirius to hold the feather, and asked me to guide her arm. I'm not even sure how she did the next part--"

"She sort of pretended to fall, grabbed onto you, spun out of the way, and slung you into me."

"And then she told him to kiss me," Remus said.

"My mum said that?" Harry said.

"She wanted us together," Remus said fondly.

"Why?"

"Because she was brilliant." Sirius smiled.

"So did you kiss him?" Harry asked.

"What do you think?"

Harry looked down at his teacup and chuckled.

Remus leaned across the table to pluck up a biscuit.

"Was that what you wanted to know?"

A/N:

This fic based on a true story by my pal Sean.