A crescent moon was hanging high above the castle walls. The whomping willow was thrashing about, having only recently been entered by Remus Lupin. He had come to think, but had ended up falling asleep on the floor upon which he had sat. He gave a twitch from whatever memories were coming threw his mind. From the darkness Severus Snape, dressed in black, came to Remus and sat beside him. He did not speak, nor did he wake him, instead he drew the boy towards his shoulder and let him lie on him. Severus muttered something under his breath, and began to stroke the boy's hair.

Remus was on the Quidditch field, and it was nearing dark. He was standing in the middle of the field, without a broomstick. Remus gazed at the night sky, and took in a deep breath. The air smelt like fresh cut grass.

"Lupin!" came a slimy voice from behind him. He turned to see Severus Snape approaching him, book in hand.

"What do you want, Snape?" Remus rolled his eyes.

"You're in my spot."

"I'm what?"

"I come here and study the stars from that exact spot," Severus muttered.

"How very intellectual of you," Remus laughed.

"Shut it!" Severus quickly said. "Where's your side kicks off to?"

"Studying," Lupin said shortly, gazing at Severus' cold eyes.

"Right? Those two actually picking up a book and then reading it? Not likely, Lupin. Now go bugger off somewhere else."

"Don't think so."

"Why not?"

"Cause, I want to chat with someone," Remus said smugly. He was overwhelmed with a desire to touch the other boy, be near him, kiss him.

"Go chat with someone who cares."

"You'd care, if you listened," Remus whispered.

"I do listen, but you don't seem to get it," Severus said moving closer.

"Get what?"

"Get that when I fall for you, there can't be anyone else around." Severus brushed Remus' hair gently.

Remus stood silent for a moment, and then smiled, "when I fall for you, no one else is around."

Severus pulled away. "You really don't get me."

"Not yet. But I want to."

"You're just full of fruitless lines tonight, Remus."

Remus shivered as Severus said his name, "I try."

"I should go."

"What exactly do you think is going to happen here?" Remus asked, before Severus could leave.

Severus stared at him for a moment, and then leaned in close. "Nothing more then what you and I want to happen." Severus whispered into his ear.

"What do you want?" Remus asked closing his eyes.

"That's a question for another day," Severus said as he dropped his book, and pulled Remus into a kiss.

Remus' eyes fluttered open, and he quickly realized he was not alone, and in fact leaning on someone.

Severus felt the warm body shifting awake and he moved his hand away from the boys face.

"Severus?" Remus asked.

"You were asleep," Severus said. "And twitching."

"I was dreaming," Remus explained.

"About someone torturing you?"

"Not exactly," Remus said grimly. "It was a more romanticized version of that day on the Quidditch field."

"Ah…and did it go just as well in that version?"

"Better," Remus laughed. "It ended in a kiss, not an ass stomping."

"You deserved it."

"I know, but so did you."

"You didn't touch me."

Remus gave him a sly look, "I wanted to."

"I'm very sure you did." Severus shook his head.

"So, now what?" Remus asked.

"I ought to get back to Slytherin."

"You celebrating another wondrous defeat?" Remus said with a smile.

"Those are our favorite kinds of celebration, as you should know."

"Blame James, not me," Remus shrugged.

"I always blame Potter. He's a git."

"Just as you are," Remus said jokingly.

"No more then yourself." Severus looked at him, and then smiled.

"Insults are fun," Remus said with a laugh.

"Seems so," Severus nodded. "Well, let's go then."

"Right, James and Sirius will probably come looking for me soon."

"And we wouldn't want that," Severus said not looking at him. He took the lead and went out of the whomping willow.

Lupin sighed for a moment and then followed after.

The common room was finally dieing down after the Quidditch celebration that had just taken place. The music was still playing, and everyone was so exhausted they did not take notice of Remus coming in through the Gryffindor portrait hole.

Remus found Peter Pettigrew in a corner by himself, "Wormtail, where's James?"

Peter shrugged, "He went to get Sirius."

"Hmm," Remus said. "Where'd Sirius go?"

"To the garden."

"Okay…"

"Where've you been?"

"Out," Remus shrugged.

"With who?"

"No one," Remus said absentmindedly.

"Yes you were!" Peter whined. "I know it, and you don't have to hide things from me like the other two do!"

"I wasn't with anyone," Remus said again.

Peter eyed him suspiciously, but Remus noticed the portrait opening again, and James stepped in looking more then a little disgruntled.

"Prongs," Remus said. "Are you okay?"

"Don't want to talk," James said shortly as he headed to his dormitory in a huff.

Remus blinked, and then followed after him, leaving Peter by himself again.

As he entered the room, he found James tearing through his trunk.

"What's wrong, mate?" Remus asked.

"Sirius is wrong. He's fucking wrong!" James screamed.

"What happened?"

"I'm his best mate! And he…and he…" James started to sputter.

"What did he do?"

"He kissed her!" James yelled. "He bloody kissed MY girl!"

"Lily? Sirius kissed Lily?" Remus asked shocked.

"He knows how I feel about her! He knows…I love her damnit!"

"How…Why?" Remus asked at a loss for words.

"How should I bloody know!" James screamed.

"Maybe…are you sure they kissed?" Remus asked.

"Bloody positive. I walked in on them necking in the middle of the garden!" James said. Then James started to curse fluently and Remus let him at it.

Finally when James had stopped cursing Remus said, "what exactly are you looking for in your trunk?"

"I'm looking to get even!" James hissed.

"Erm…James, why don't you think about..."

"James?" came a quiet voice from the doorway.

Both boys looked up to see Sirius Black, staring at James.

"Get the hell out of my sight!" James spat at him.

"I need to talk to you!" Sirius said quickly.

"Well, I don't need to talk to you." James' voice was icy.

Sirius came closer, and realized Remus was in the room too, he nodded hello.

"Sirius, what happened?" Remus asked.

"Not now," Sirius said. "I need to explain it to James."

"Goddamn you! Leave me alone!" James said shaking with anger. "I don't want to hear your excuses, or explanations. I just want you out of my fucking life!" James snapped, and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

"Shit," Sirius said, running his hand through his hair.

"You kissed Lily?" Remus asked still bewildered. Why would he do that?

"Erm, yeah I did," Sirius said, still a little distracted by James' angry display. "He's really upset, isn't he?"

"Yeah he is," Remus nodded.

"I screwed this up," Sirius said.

"I can see that."

"Shut it."

"Why'd you kiss her?"

"Because I wanted to."

"Did she…erm, kiss you back?" Lupin asked curiously.

"Yeah, actually," Sirius said, and off Lupin's look said, "surprised me too."

"Are you dating her?"

"I think so," Sirius nodded.

"Wow," Remus said. "How long have you liked her?"

"Since I met her."

"Wow. That long...But you didn't say anything…"

"James already wanted her, I couldn't tell him," Sirius said. "God, he must want to kill me."

"Yeah, I'd better keep an eye on him, make sure he doesn't do anything more stupid then usual," Remus said.

"I can't believe this!" Sirius muttered. "I mean, I kissed Lily!"

Remus nodded.

"And now James hates me! This couldn't get much more twisted." Sirius sighed. "Well, I guess Snape could suddenly tell me he loves me or something."

Remus breathed in suddenly and began to choke.

"You alright?" Sirius asked.

"Yeah," Remus said. "Why are you brining him up? What has Severus to do with this?"

Sirius stared at him blank faced.

I just said his name, didn't I? Remus gulped. Ah, shit.

"Did you just…call Snape by his first name?"