But even more unlike Sirius was what happened in the locker room. When Teddy Tonks came up and punched Sirius in the face, Remus was quite sure he was in for another session of trying to convince the headmaster not to suspend him for fighting. But rather than attack the burly Hufflepuff boy... Sirius just stood there and took it. Tonks walked away from punching Sirius Black - an act most of Hogwarts would have considered tantamount to suicide - without a scratch on him.
And then when Sirius stalked off to the hospital wing instead of going to the Gryffindor common room to celebrate... yes, something was definitely wrong here.
"Wow," said James, as Sirius slammed the locker room door behind himself. "What's with him?"
"I don't know," Remus admitted. He wondered if he ought to follow Sirus and ask him if he was okay, but decided against it. Whatever was wrong, Sirius plainly wanted to be alone. So Remus just finished changing, and he, James, and Sirius left the locker room.
Vivian Calibourne was waiting for them outside.
Remus' first reaction was to be happy to see her, but it was quickly replaced by utter panic. Sirius might have left, but James was right there, along with the rest of the Quidditch team! What were they going to think of seeing her come looking for him, this plain girl who wasn't nearly up to their standards of female beauty?
He breathed deeply and tried to calm himself. After all, James didn't know he liked Vivian. As far as James was aware, Remus was just helping this girl with her werewolf essay. There was nothing to worry about here.
"Hi, Vivian," he said.
"Hi, Remus." She was beaming as she bounced up to him. "My friends thought I was crazy for rooting for Gryffindor."
"Well, I'll bet they feel like fools," said James, stepping forward. "You'd be Remus' new friend?"
"Yes," she said. "I'm Vivian Calibourne. You must be James Potter."
"Why, has my fame penetrated even the depths of Ravenclaw?" he grinned. "I thought you people never took your noses out of your books long enough to know what was going on!"
Remus was startled. He'd expected withering scorn, but James was actually being surprisingly nice, for James. Maybe he'd be able to take Vivian to the ball after all.
"Anyway," said Vivian, "Remus, did you owl your parents about that essay?"
"Yes, I did," he replied. "It arrived this morning - it's up in my dormitory. I can go get it, if you like. They were also nice enough to send me my bibliography, so you might want to look at some of the books. There's one in particular that's quite a good history of werewolves..."
"That's great," she said. "Thank you."
"You're welcome," Remus replied.
"Is there anything I can do for you?" Vivian wanted to know. "Tomorrow's Sunday - do you want to go to Hogsmeade, and I'll buy you lunch?"
"We could do that," said Remus, mostly testing to see how James would respond. Surprisingly, he didn't - he just stood there grinning. "I'll bring the essay and we can take a look at it."
"Great," she repeated. "Well, I guess you've got a party to go to right now or something. Congratulations on winning the cup."
"Thanks," said Remus. "See you tomorrow."
"See you," she replied.
Once she'd gone, Remus dared a look at James to see what his friend was thinking. It was hard to tell. There was none of the look of disgust he'd been expecting, but James did still have a big grin plastered across his face. He smiled like an idiot a moment longer, then whistled.
"You think she's pretty?" asked Remus, startled.
James laughed. "Heck, no. I've seen better faces on horses. But did you hear her name?"
"Yes..." said Remus slowly. "Vivian Calibourne. That's what she said."
"Calibourne," said James. "Calibourne. Does that not mean anything to you?"
"My mom and my stepdad are both Muggles," Remus reminded him. "I wasn't exactly raised on Who's Who in the Wizarding World."
"Calibourne," said James. "The Calibournes claim descent from Merlin! Lucius Malfoy's mother is a Calibourne! And they're rich as hell. Planning on marrying for money, are you?"
Remus just knew that he turned bright red - there couldn't be any other reason why his face suddenly heated up like that. "I've only known her a few days," he said. "I don't think I'll be marrying her just yet."
James chuckled.
"But," said Remus, testing the idea out, "I thought I might take her to the ball. You know, if I can't talk Bellatrix out of going with Rudy."
James' grin vanished. "You're kidding, right?"
"Well, no," said Remus. "I like her. She's... she's smart, and... well, what's wrong with it?"
"Who you take to the ball isn't about who you like," said James. "If it was, we wouldn't be trying to go with the Black triplets to begin with."
"They're not that bad," said Remus.
"Eh, they're snobs," James said. "Especially Narse. Bella's almost as bad. The only one I'd say is actually nice is Andy, and she's got her days. But come on, Moony, we're the marauders, for crying out loud. There's not a girl at Hogwarts who doesn't know who we are, and we don't go to balls with the dogs no matter who they're related to! Is that really the final impression you want to leave on the younger kids? Remus Lupin, the dork who went to the ball with an owl-eyed Ravenclaw?"
Of the four marauders, Remus was easily the most easy-going. It took a lot to make him lose his temper... but that very nearly did it. His fists clenched in spite of themselves, and he opened his mouth with every intention of telling James not to be a collosal jerk. But fortunately, he remembered himself before he got it out. No - he could not possibly do that. He could not alienate one of the only true friends he had.
"Moony?" asked James. "You gonna say something?"
Remus forced himself to relax. "No," he said. "Nothing."
James appeared to believe him... or perhaps he was just distracted by what he spied over Remus' shoulder. "Hey, speaking of gorgeous snobs," he said. "Excuse me." He stepped past his friend and, doing what Remus, raised on his mother's favourite Muggle movies, always thought of as his 'John Wayne' walk, sauntered up to Lily Evans.
She was chatting with a friend from Hufflepuff, both of them looking terribly annoyed about something... and both with the black and yellow Hufflepuff ribbons in their hair. Remus had been the only marauder not surprised by Lily choosing to root for the opposite team; she hated the marauders with something bordering on an obsession, and would do such a thing just to annoy them. He sometimes felt a little sorry for James' helpless crush on her.
"Hey, Evans," said James. "Get dressed in the dark this morning?"
She and her Hufflepuff friend looked up, with expressions that couldn't have been more disgusted if James had come up and flashed them.
"Bugger off, Potter," Lily replied.
"Bugger off, Potter?" He stepped between her and the Hufflepuff girl. "Is that all you've got? Bugger off, Potter? Whatever happened to our witty repartee?"
"Witty repartee requires wits on both ends," she replied. "Excuse me."
Once again he blocked her, grabbing at his chest as if he'd just been shot in the heart - or at least, that was probably the intended effect. "Much, much better, Evans! I knew you still had it in you! Here, let me take those out of your hair," he reached for the ribbons. "The colour doesn't suit you."
She slapped his hand. "Touch me, Potter, and I will turn you into a... into a newt!"
About half a second went by before she realized that this was really a rather unfortunate choice of threat - and that was more than enough time for James to burst out laughing. "A newt!" he said. "Hey, everybody, Evans turned me into a newt!"
Lily turned around and stamped off, her face as red as her hair. Her friend hurried along behind her.
"She turned me into a newt!" James shouted, pointing at her retreating back. And then when he was sure he had everybody's attention, he added, "it got better!" and laughed some more.
Remus shook his head. It wasn't any wonder James prefered the Black triplets; they were all he could get. Between how he treated Lily Evans and the way Sirius seemed so infuriated by the Room of Requirement's trying to set him up with Rosalie Cranmer, Remus really wondered if they were going to be able to get dates at all. The only girls still available wouldn't take them.
"'Scuze me, all," said James, still talking to the student body at large. "I have to go nurse my broken heart. A little butterbeer and knowing that we won the Quidditch Cup ought to glue the poor bastard back together! Come on, Moony."
Remus started to follow him, but felt a tap on the shoulder. He looked down to see Peter Pettigrew.
"Hey, Moony," said Peter.
"Yeah, Wormtail?" asked Remus.
"I think your girlfriend's pretty," Peter said, as defensively as if expecting Remus to deny it.
"Oh," said Remus. "Well... thanks," he replied, though he wasn't sure it was a complement. "She... she has nice hands. And when she takes her glasses off, her eyes are..." he realized what he'd been about to say, and flushed again. "Thanks," he repeated.
Peter swallowed. "Um, Moony," he said. "You know how you guys are trying so hard to get dates?"
"Yes?" said Remus.
"Well... I was just gonna go stag like always," said Peter, squirming. "But I... well, Moony, I've got a bit of a problem."