Title: Delicate Treasures

Author: Stardrops

Genre: Romance

Rating: PG 13 (For slash and occasional swearing, precautions only)

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. I don't own anything to do with Harry Potter. I do, however, own the plot. I am very proud. But the rest belongs to our creative genius, J K Rowling.

Chapter Four: Back at Hogwarts Again

James and Lily were holding the doors of the train open with the other prefects. Lily was standing beside James, and while Lily didn't look thrilled, James looked positively delighted.

"Do you think he could be any more obvious?" Remus muttered to Sirius and Peter, though he couldn't help smiling at the look of joy on James's face. "He looks as though he's won a lottery, he's only standing beside the girl!"

Sirius grinned as well. "I think that is likely to be the closest James has ever been to Lily without being slapped or insulted. Maybe with her responsibilities this year, she'll give him a break and they'll finally get together."

Peter looked visibly relieved. "Do you really think so? I don't think I can cope with much more of his Lily whinging. Its positively boring now."

Remus nodded. The three continued on their way to the carriages. James and Lily would be taking the boats back with the first years, so they weren't likely to see him again til the Feast.

Sirius stepped into one and held the door open for Peter to hop through. Peter settled himself opposite Sirius and Remus climbed in to sit next to Peter. Sirius felt a little stab of envy in his stomach, but then he reminded himself that it was only a seat, not a declaration of passion.

As the carriage began to move by the invisible forces that pulled them, Remus and Peter chattered away, but Sirius became quiet as he watched the darkness fall over the castle grounds. Turning the corner, the bright lights in the windows of Hogwarts came into view. Every year Sirius felt a warmth in his insides at the sight of Hogwarts, and this year was no exception.

After exiting the carriage and carrying their luggage into the hall where the house elves would deliver it later, the three Marauders climbed the stairs into the Entrance Hall. Peter was evidently less fit than last year, and was panting by the time they'd reached the top.

"You have to be a bloody cross country runner to be able to cope with these damn stairs!" he gasped.

Remus and Sirius exchanged a look. "Peter, did you do any exercise while you were on holidays? Any at all?" Remus asked.

Peter ignored them, obviously he hadn't. "Something smells really good from the direction of the kitchen," he pointed out. "I'm starved, I hope the Sorting doesn't take too long."

Sirius and Remus shoved him into the Great Hall where they took their usual seats at the Gryffindor table. James and Lily were already there, Lily looking at James with a poisonous expression, but James not seeming the slightest bit abashed by this display of dislike.

"How was the trip?" Sirius asked.

"Oh, great!" James answered.

Lily rolled her eyes from a few seats down. "Oh please, James, the waters were so rocky from the wind that it was horrible!" Her friends joined her then, and she withdrew from the conversation.

James considered this. "I wasn't paying much attention, I can't say I noticed it much."

Sirius snorted. "Looking after the first years so hard a task you didn't notice rocky waters?"

James's expression showed he was not really listening to Sirius. "Yeah. That's exactly right."

Remus tried to hide a grin as Sirius put his head in his hands. Just then, the Sorting began. The Marauders did not talk any more until the food was being served.

Peter was tucking into the chicken and mushroom dish in front of him – but he didn't seem to have food on his mind, which was a strange new thing for Peter. Usually it was the only thing he ever seemed to think about.

It wasn't until James noticed Peter trying to scoop and eat the gravy on his plate with a knife instead of using a spoon or fork like a normal person that anyone actually said anything.

"Peter, what the hell are you doing?"

Peter jumped a mile high. "N-nothing." He resumed to eating his mashed potato, but Remus noticed his eyes flitting to the Hufflepuff table more than normal.

Sirius glanced over at the Hufflepuffs to where there was a girl, Mariah Stewart, sitting with her friends. He grinned. This was going to be fun.

He leaned back casually in his chair. "So, you know Mariah Stewart?"

Peter dropped his fork with a crash. He cleared his throat and picked up his goblet of pumpkin juice, taking a sip and choking spectacularly, spluttering everywhere before saying as casually as possible, "Yeah, I know her."

"What about her?" Remus asked.

Sirius thought quickly. "She's really pretty, isn't she?" James and Remus looked at each other, to Sirius, to Mariah, to Peter – and then in a flash of understanding, they both nodded.

"Yeah, she's gorgeous." James stole a look at Peter, who was tracing his fork in his gravy, trying not to look too interested in the conversation.

"D'you reckon she'd be interested in me?" Sirius could see Peter getting tense around the shoulders.

Remus tried to hide a grin as he answered, "I don't know, Sirius, why don't you ask and find out?"

James tapped a finger to his chin thoughtfully. "You know, I think I heard that she was interested in someone else."

Peter's back straightened and he looked straight at James. "Who?" he blurted without thinking. James raised an eyebrow at Peter, and he immediately flushed. "Not that I care or anything."

Remus shook his head. He was starting to feel slightly sorry for Peter; the boy looked like he'd explode if Sirius did go ahead and ask her out. "I heard someone was interested in her, but not that she was interested in them."

Sirius turned to Peter. "What do you reckon, should I ask her out?"

Peter squeaked out something inaudible. Sirius pretended to take this for assent. "Right, then, I'll just go now, shall I?" He started to get up from his chair.

Peter lurched forward and grabbed Sirius's sleeve. "No!"

The other three Marauders roared with laughter. "I don't believe this!" James exclaimed gleefully. "Peter's got a crush on Mariah Stewart!"

Peter looked remarkably like a tomato now, without the green top. "I do not," he hissed.

"Then why can't I ask her out?" Sirius teased.

Peter considered this. "Okay, maybe a little one."

This delighted James. "So! Are you going to ask her out?"

Peter was silent.

"Oh, come on! You can't just tell us that and then sit there without telling her!"

Peter turned to James with a withering glance. "One: I didn't tell you, you tricked me. Two: I don't have to tell her anything."

Remus smiled but gave James a look that said, 'leave him alone for a bit.' Peter was obviously totally embarrassed about this, and much fun as it was to pay him out, Remus didn't want to witness another fight between Sirius and Peter. Since Sirius and James were best friends, Remus always got stuck with Peter when they split up in fights, and Peter was a fantastic whiner when it came to bitching about people who'd pissed him off.

The meal was finished, and the four Marauders were heading up to their dormitories, carrying their timetables and complaining loudly about the classes they had for the next day.

"I don't believe this. Since when did teachers ever have Care of Magical Creatures next to Muggle Studies?" Peter moaned.

"Hey, I'm more worried about the fact that we no longer get our half hour break between Divination and DADA on Tuesdays – wasn't that always a given?" James asked. The timetables had been revised over the holidays to allow for new programs and classes that would be taking place.

Sirius shrugged and opened the door to their dormitory. All four boys collapsed onto someone's bed – not really caring whose. Remus and Sirius sat on Sirius's while James shared his with Peter.

"Guys – can I ask you for some advice?" James asked.

Remus and Sirius glanced at each other quickly. They knew what was coming. "Yes, James, of course you can," Sirius said, a little too sweetly. James did not pick up on the sarcasm unfortunately, and continued.

"How can I get Lily to notice me?"

'Yep,' Remus thought. 'Knew it.'

Sirius cocked his head. "You know what? I think I remember having this conversation one or two times before."

"Add a few zeros and you're on the mark, Siri," added Remus.

James pretended to get out of his bed and pummel him, but instead looking imploringly around. "Come on, you've got to have some good advice, all the other advice you've given me for the last few years has been totally crap."

"Hey!" Sirius exclaimed, slightly offended.

"Well, I'm not yet with her, am I?" James pointed out.

"That's true," Sirius acknowledged.

Remus thought for a moment. "It's not really a matter of getting her to notice you, James, she's already done that. It's more a matter of getting her to like you."

Peter hid his giggle behind a cough.

James nodded eagerly. "Right. So? What do I do?"

Remus and Sirius looked at each other helplessly. This was the kinda stuff girls talked about; they weren't exactly experts in the business.

"Maybe if you stopped being such a pompous little show-off whenever she's around?" Sirius suggested.

"Try to be normal, and don't act like you're superior to everyone else around you?" Remus offered.

"Been there, done that," James said. "I've tried all that!"

"Well, obviously not hard enough if she still wont give you the time of day. Hey, speaking of which, aren't you two supposed to share a common room?"

James nodded gloomily. "It's not going to be ready til like, November." He looked back at Remus. "Any more advice?"

Remus shook his head.

Sirius looked thoughtful. "Play hard to get."

James looked at him quizzically, but with interest. "What do you mean?"

"It's really simple. Pretend you don't care about her in that way. Instead of always trying to impress her, just act as though nothing about her really interests you, and she'll go nuts. It always works." Sirius wasn't so sure it would work with Lily, she didn't seem to be all that normal, but it was worth a try.

James looked pensive. "Right. I'll start operation Hard-To-Get first thing tomorrow."

Peter and James started to play chess at that moment, so Remus and Sirius were left to chat quietly for a while.

"How did you come up with that thing for James?" asked Remus. "I didn't know you were that skilled in dealing with the opposite sex."

Sirius grinned. "Well, I don't like to brag but........."

Remus threw a pillow at him.

Sirius pulled out a pack of playing cards. "Exploding Snap?"

"Sure."

The two played game after game. As he played, Sirius found himself examining Remus's every move and noise. In their group, they were all relatively similar people, they all liked having fun and doing risky things, but they had defining personality traits. Peter was a suck-up, James was eternally cheerful and playful, Sirius was the mastermind of all evil plots and always up for even the most daring pranks and activities, and Remus was the sensible one. The studious one who always helped them out – but was very, seriously mischievous on the side.

"Sirius?" He came back to earth when he heard Remus say his name. "Your go."

Shaking himself, he quickly set down his next card and the entire pack exploded, Sirius getting a faceful of smoke and heat.

Remus couldn't stop laughing. He helped Sirius out into the bathroom where he attempted to dab the soot of Sirius's cheeks, but couldn't help chuckling. Sirius waited until his face was almost completely clean and then took the towel to do the rest himself. He ran it under the cold water tap and the started to dab at his face. Remus summoned another and started wiping soot off the back of Sirius's neck. For a moment, Sirius felt fine, but then noticed a sort of cold trickle down his back. He gasped.

"What are you doing?"

Remus stopped swabbing and looked at him. "What do you mean, I'm cleaning you up!" He continued wiping the sides and back of Sirius's neck. Sirius wondered if he was going mad, imagining water running down his back until he felt it again.

"Argh! That is cold!"

Remus looked at him as though worried about his sanity. Sirius muttered an apology and returned. When it happened a third time, though, Sirius didn't hesitate. He whipped around to see Remus squeezing water from the towel as he cleaned, causing a tiny waterfall to cascade beneath Sirius's shirt down his back.

"Ha! I knew there was something going on! You're not as naïve as you pretend to be!" Sirius proclaimed.

Remus flashed him an innocent look. "Who, me?"

Sirius ran his hand under warm water and flicked his fingers at Remus. Remus responded by throwing the wet towel over Sirius's head so he couldn't see, then filling his cupped hands with water and throwing them at Sirius.

Soon a fully fledged water fight was taking place. It wasn't until the floor was practically a swimming pool and their muscles ached from laughing so that they stopped and took it in turns to change their clothes.

Sirius, of course, refused to change first and stood outside, wet and shivering while Remus changed quickly. Sirius used this opportunity to drip some cold water into James's ear in his sleep.

"ARGH!" James yelled. "Holy CRAP that's so freaking cold!"

Sirius grinned. "Just wanted to say goodnight."

James glared. "You'll get yours. Just you wait. I'll get you back."

Sirius bowed. "Looking forward to seeing it, mate."

TBC

A/N: There! Just for you guys, I tried to add something about Remus's character. That, I'm afraid, will have to develop sloooooooooowly throughout the entire story. Please keep reviewing, and thanks to those who have reviewed all me chapters so far, especially to silversunn101 who I think has done a review to every chapter of this story!

Also thanks to:

Affected MangO - Patience, precious, patience. You will get your Sirius/Remus love. Promise. (Don't worry, i'm as desperate to get past all the other crap and into that section as you are to read it!)

Ickle Ronnie - Thank you, thank you very much. lol

SPInSiriusDenial - I adore your name. That is the most cool name ever. Anyway, thank you for your sweet comments, and i'll try speed it up. I think it's dragging a bit.

Lunaris - dont we love him though? its half of what makes James James. I just thought it was the cutest thing. :P