Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters, events and/or places that are recognized as being written and created by J.K. Rowling. J.K. Rowling owns all the characters and places from the Harry Potter books including the ones used in this story
A/N: I updated! Lol! I'm going to throw myself a mini parade! Anyways, sorry times a million for the long wait. Things are starting to become less busy, so there should be plenty of time for me to write, write, write. I want to thank EVERYONE who reviewed! Or just read...either way, you all make me happy. A special thanks to: zippyfox, HealerAriel, SlashyKitty, M.Mabeuf, fennecfox, Elayna Fournier, Little-kei, Tanya J. Potter, Cilverblood, kathaania, Jessa L'Rynn, and Captain Oz
Enjoy the story!
It took the combined efforts of a slightly intoxicated Peter Pettigrew and a slightly over-aggravated Remus Lupin to explain to their dim witted companions that yes there is no more butterbeer; no Sirius can not braid Remus' hair; and yes Lily likes James only because he is tolerant of the nonexistent relationship between his two best mates.
"You're not dating, right?"
"For the last time Wormtail," Remus hissed at Peter, who was sitting squashed next to him on the large bright green couch. Sirius was lounged on his armchair, and James took up a patterned pace around the area. "Whose side are you on?"
"There's only one solution! One!" James's voice was blazing. No one could be sure whose eyes in the room were wider, or when their eyes stopped blinking as James made his way to the window, dramatically pushed it open and swung his legs out.
"Hey! Don't do that," Peter shouted in his greatest high pitched voice, pulling at the back of James's shirt.
"Yeah," Sirius spoke up. "I'm going to have to be the one to scrape your pancreas off the sidewalk and I'm not down with that." Sirius held his hand up in the air, examining his dirty fingernails with intense concentration.
"Look at him," James whined, as Peter helped him out of the window. "Look how effeminate he's acting."
"You know, if any one was the lady of the relationship…" Peter began.
"Please don't finish that," Remus said, pinching the bridge of his nose. It's the sad truth that Remus's quiet, bookish, polite nature would no doubt make him the Pretty Woman to Sirius's Macho Macho Man. Remus isn't very good at that whole big bad wolf thing.
"Moony," James coughed. "Explain this to me, one more time."
Remus sighed and shared a brief dark look with Sirius, who, unlike Remus, was lounged, relaxed and enjoying every second of this. "Prongs," Remus began. "You and Lily have been Owling for a month now?"
"Yes."
"And in every letter-"
"She mentions that you and Sirius are a couple. I under...stan…ok, I'll be honest, it might be that the butterbeer has unfogged my brain, but…"
"That's backwards, but continue," Remus said.
"I remember her writing about that. I remember…notdeyningit…"
"What was that?" Sirius asked, suddenly interested.
"Padfoot! It got Lily to keep talking to me!"
"But, why?" Peter asked, turning his attention to Remus. "Why does Lily care so much?"
"Why does she think that?" James corrected.
Sirius barked out a giggle, if that's possible. "I usually can't keep my hands off the fur ball," he said, winking at Remus. Whether he was joking, teasing or being blindingly honest, the other three didn't know or want to deal with that at the moment.
"Lily thinks that Sirius and I are…and she sees that James is still our friend, and therefore, in her eyes, James is the epitome of compassion and acceptance."
"Oh," Peter nodded. "That would make sense."
"Yes," Remus agreed passionately. "Prongs went from being annoyingly proud and haughty to sweet and charming."
James stared at the two, his eyebrows knitted together. Sirius hiccupped loudly, and then pointed his finger wildly at James. "You're screwed, mate," he laughed. James turned his questioning stare to him. "Once Evans knows the truth. She'll be embarrassed and pissed…at you!"
"Know she won't!" Sirius sunk lower into his chair, holding his vibrating stomach. "Shit. Shit. Wormtail! Stop!"
"I thought you were hyperventilating!" Peter shouted. His hands were placed awkwardly on James's cheeks.
James pulled away. "New rule," he commanded. Remus got up and disappeared into the kitchen. "No one touch no one."
"Oh god," Remus moaned from the kitchen. He was on all fours in front of Sirius's pantry digging through boxes of biscuits and cereal for any substance that can be used for tea. "I leave the room and grammar and coherency follows."
"Are you whispering secrets to my food?" Sirius asked, joining Remus on the floor. "Because you should know that Cocoa Pops and I keep nothing from each other."
"I'm looking for tea," Remus said, placing all the items he took out back into their home, and wondering why wherever he goes, Sirius somehow ends up there too.
"Ask," Sirius responded. He stood up and reached into a top shelf pulling down a whole array of tea bags. "Don't got leaves I'm afraid."
"Leave the tea," James shouted from the other room. "I'm in distress here."
"Calm down! What the hells wrong with you?" Remus and Sirius heard Peter say.
"Sometimes I love him," Sirius said, fondly. "Like once every three months."
Remus's and Sirius's fingers brushed as they dug through the box of tea bags, searching for one that struck their fancy. Remus was in a Green mood, he thought; or maybe Honey. Sirius's finger does an odd loop around his own. Yeah, Honey, Remus thought. It's sweeter.
"Moony?" James's baritone voice floated into the kitchen. "Something's happened."
Remus looked from the bags of tea in his hands to the wall were James was most definitely behind, with no hurry to go see what could possibly be happening now.
"Go on, Moony," Sirius said, taking the tea from Remus. "I got you," he added, shaking a tea bag in the air and nodding at it. Remus rolled his eyes and left the kitchen.
Sirius is only slightly drunk. He's not as bad as James; who, when drunk, becomes a hopeless basket case unable to form clear thoughts about anything. James has a slight problem with deciphering Lily when he's sober, just think of how hard those little brain wheels are working now? Sirius's brain wheels never stop. And under the slight haze of alcohol, they seem to be working faster.
Lily thinks that Remus and himself are a couple. Even with all those brain cells putting in unnecessary overtime, Sirius still doesn't know what he thinks about that.
The truth is that Sirius has, from day one, always harbored a special feeling for the werewolf. Even before Sirius knew Remus was a werewolf he felt it. A pull. A desire to watch over him. Sirius doesn't feel anything like that for James or Peter, or, his own brother, (before he joined that evil cult of pureblood fanatics). It might be because Remus is small and thin. Or because he has grey hair on his sixteen year old head. Or because he always looks weak; he's either recovering or preparing for a full moon. Sirius can't really put his finger on it. He supposes it could be something else entirely…
Sirius used his wand to instantly boil the pot of water. Making sure his hand was securely wrapped in a towel, he lifted the pot off the fire and poured it gently into the mug sporting Remus's bag of honey tea.
The idea that Sirius was making Remus's tea wasn't really unpleasant to him. It seemed natural almost for Remus to go take care of the children while Sirius used his manly, sweaty, steel-like muscles to bring home the bacon…which he forgot to do. Damn it! Sirius spun around, and grabbed an inked quill, jotting 'bacon' on to a piece of paper that was stuck to his fridge. He knew something was missing from breakfast.
Sirius's brain may be constantly working, but that doesn't mean he isn't subject to ADD.
"Prongs is whimpering in a corner," Peter said, bumbling into the kitchen. "Moony's trying to knock his head through the wall. I'm here for his tea."
Sirius scrunched his eyes shuts and ran his hands through his hair. "None of that makes any sense." As an answer, Peter thrust a letter into Sirius's face. Sirius grabbed Peter's wrist, steadying his shaky hand. "Blah blah Potter. Blah blah I've decided. Blah blah blah coming to Sirius's. Blah blah make sure there's no underpants on the floor. Blah blah blah see you soon. Lily."
"It just came now," Peter said. Sirius dropped Peter's wrist and stomped into his sitting room.
James was sitting like a gentleman on the couch; his hands just twitching to play with his hair. Remus's eyes lit up when he saw Peter come in after Sirius. "Tea," he said, extending his hands like a child for their mother. Peter tiptoed over to him and handed the mug over. "He's ok now," Remus muttered, after swallowing.
"Did you drug him or something?" Peter asked. He starts to wave his hand in front of James, who only smiles in response.
"Moony didn't drug me," James said. "He gave me advice on how to win Lily over in person. Through manners."
"That's just like you, Remus," Sirius leered. "Think of all the humility we could have been witness to!"
Remus frowned. "You just called me Remus," he pointed out.
"Well," Sirius shouted, throwing his hands in the air. "When you make a mistake like this-" he pointed at James.
"Now who's not making sense," Peter interrupted. The glint in Sirius's eyes made him speak again, fast. "Let's make dinner for Lily!"
Remus and James shared a look and then turned that look to Peter. "Wow, Wormtail," James remarked. "You're smart!"
"Really?" Peter droned. "I thought you'd never notice."
"We'll make something scrumptious for Evans," James continued.
"And then afterwards, when she's been lulled with food, you, Prongs, will tell her the truth."
"And I, Padfoot, will lay newspaper on my furniture so she won't get your blood all over it."
There was a minute argument between the boys about what to make for Lily. In the end, James and Peter went off to make Chicken Parmesan, (or something near to it).
Sirius and Remus flopped side by side on the now empty couch. Remus sighed into his mug. "All gone," he whispered; he reached and placed the mug onto the coffee table in front of him. As Remus sat back, his hands fell to his sides.
Sirius looked down at Remus's hand and decided to stick his own hand on top of Remus' and entwine their fingers. "I'm going to hold your hand," he said.
"Ok," Remus answered. They sat for a moment. Then Remus lifted their joined hands into the air and glared at Sirius. "This," he started. "This is why Lily thinks we're dating."
"That's a possibility," Sirius remarked. Remus sighed and dropped his and Sirius's joined hands back down onto the couch. Sirius needed to feel others, Remus kept reminding himself. Sirius needed to be hugged, and touched because no one ever does unless they are looking for much more than that from him. The most Sirius's mother ever did was rub a smudge of dirt off his face, and that was only because she didn't want the rest of the family to say anything.
"So…" Sirius said, his voice falling into nothing.
"No."
Sirius pushed his back away from the couch to glare straight on at Remus. "You don't even know-"
"Yes, I do," Remus said, not meeting Sirius' eyes. "And, the answer is no."
"But it would be fun." Sirius slammed back against the couch again, and tore his hand out of Remus's.
"I'm not seeing how." Remus locked his eyes, his thoughts, his senses on Sirius; because otherwise he would be panicking about the odd smell of burnt leather wafting in from the kitchen.
Sirius's eyes narrowed in devious pleasure. "We could snog in the corner."
Remus's heart dropped into his stomach, which in turn tried to geyser the organ back up. "You want to snog me in the corner?" he asked, unnerved by the whole situation.
"It's camaraderie, Moony."
"No, it isn't."
Sirius pointed between himself and Remus. "We're like the entertainment."
A large Earth shaking crash exploded from the next room. "Ignore that," James screamed. "Clumsy ole Wormtail."
"That was you're fault." There was another loud crash. "That was me!"
"I'll be kitchenless soon," Sirius grumbled.
Remus closed his eyes, picturing everything but the state of the kitchen. It wasn't his kitchen anyways, why should he care? But, he did; because no perfectly fine kitchen deserved to be destroyed by two total idiots.
"She'll be here soon," Sirius spoke up. "She'll be walking around my house with that look on her face. Smelling the place up with her perfume." Sirius swatted the air in front of him like the smell of perfume was all ready littering the place.
"Making James act like a moron."
"You know," James's voice vibrated into the sitting room. "You two could come help us! Instead of sitting together on the couch like a pair of….never mind."
Remus rolled his eyes. "Not that making James act like a moron is a hard job."
Sirius laughed quietly. "Just think of how he would act if we pretended that we actually are dating after all?"
Remus smiled broadly. "He'd be bald." Remus's smile dropped from his face and he turned to look at Sirius. "You really want to…pretend that…?"
"No," Sirius laughed. "I was playing with you." He poked Remus in the side and then pinched his cheek. "Relax about this, Moony," Sirius whispered. Sirius's voice only ever got that quiet and assuring around Remus; like, even if they were the only two people in the room, what Sirius was telling Remus was for no one to hear but him. "I'm not going to let Evans say anything to you, ok?"
Remus nodded. He felt stupid. But, being a werewolf, he wasn't very fond of being categorized.
James and Peter came back into the room, and Sirius and Remus instinctively pulled away from each other. "Well," James sighed. He sat down, while reaching into his shirt and pulling out a drippy strand of pasta. "We had to use magic."
"The expulsion letters should be delivered soon then?" Remus managed to comment without laughing.
"The Tai should be delivered soon," Peter corrected, as he watched, with eyes half full of bewilderment, half full of adoring amusement, James pull more spaghetti from his trousers.
"You made this?" Lily held a forked piece of pork up in front of her face.
James hesitated. The five Gryffindors were seated around Sirius's table. The food arrived thirty-seven minutes before Lily, (hungry, hungry Peter kept count of the time). James could careless about the state of his friends' empty stomachs; Lily hugged him ands she smelled like fresh soap and cucumbers. Before they could eat, Lily "asked" (i.e.: demanded) a tour of the place. Then there was a brief catching up conversation; Sirius quickly served the food once Lily started to drift off into the topic they were most definitely saving for dessert. "Do you like it?" James ventured.
Lily didn't answer; her mouth was currently occupied by the piece of Sweet and Sour Pork and a satisfied smile stretched the corners of her lips. She nodded at James, with half lidded eyes.
"Yes," James said, clearly aroused by the whole situation. "Yes, I made it."
Sirius, who was sitting in between James and Peter, turned to the latter and pretended to vomit his meal up. Peter almost choked. Remus, who had in no other terms inhaled his food, sat in pleasurable silence, sipping his tea and kicking James under the table every time he looked close to fainting into his plate; and with the way Lily handled a fork, James was having a mighty hard time breathing.
"Moony," Sirius commanded, standing up. "Help me with the plates?" Remus nodded and started collecting the ones on his side of the table. There was no real motive behind Sirius asking Remus to help, other than he knew James would want to stay near Lily and Peter would probably stumble and get plate debris everywhere; Remus had nimble, strong fingers. So he's heard...
Lily's piercing green eyes followed the two boys out of the room. "That's so sweet," she sighed. She turned back to face James. "They're like an old married couple."
"Lily," James began. He straightened up in his chair and looked at Peter, who was slowly backing away from the area with panic written all over his face. Peter didn't like any form of confrontation.
"James," Lily cut in. "I bet Remus and Black are so thankful that they don't have to hide in front of you. That, at least in their home, with their friends, it's ok to show how they really feel towards each-"
"They're not dating, Lily!" James held out a shaky hand to stop Lily from talking. Slowly her eyebrows inched up her forehead. "They're not even gay."
"They're….but…you…"
"I know, I know." James swallowed. The sweet, I Think I Might Like You, Potter version of Lily was fading away, fast. "I don't know where you got that idea from…I'm sure it has everything to do with Sirius, but…I should have corrected you in the beginning. I was just so excited that you were talking to me, and not yelling at me to stop being obnoxiously arrogant…which I know I have trouble with." James stopped to breathe; Lily's face was the picture of blankness. "I just really like you, and…I would have said anything to keep you talking to me…" James's voice trailed off.
Lily fell back against her chair and she folded her arms against her chest. "Hmm," she said. "So, you pretty much lied to me?"
"Well…"
"And led me to believe….I mean, I even told them that I didn't care."
"Sirius wasn't listening anyway," Peter squeaked out. He earned a thankful head nod from James.
Lily rolled her eyes. She stared at James for a long time. He matched her stare, but his palms were leaking with sweat. "So…"
"Would you like some dessert?" James asked, before thinking. There wasn't any.
Lily shrugged. She flipped her wrist over to check her watch. "I have to be getting home actually."
"What?"
"Yes, yes. I…my father doesn't want me out late."
"But…" James didn't know what to do. He looked at Peter, sitting on the sofa shrugging and shaking his head.
Lily stood up and stared at James. "But, what?" she spat at him. It was clear that she was pissed…at him.
James started laughing hysterically. "I got you," he said, pointing at a stunned Lily. Peter sprang up from the couch.
"What does that mean, Potter?" Lily's eyes were narrowed into two deadly slits.
Peter walked briskly into the kitchen, making sure everything James was now spewing at Lily was forefront in his head.
Sirius was washing dishes, and Remus drying. Remus was suggesting (as he put it) to Sirius that he should start studying for the N.E.W.T.s now. Sirius was humming loudly and dancing in place; ignoring everything Remus was saying. They both stopped what they were doing and turned to look at Peter who had entered the room.
Peter looked, once again, torn between amusement and worry. Before he could say anything, James came sliding into the kitchen, pointing wildly at Sirius and Remus. "Go in there, right now, and snog each other senseless, in front of Lily, while I comment on how great you two are together," James hissed at them. Remus and Sirius stared at him, stunned.
"That whole telling Lily the truth thing…" Peter said. "Didn't work out very well."