And What About James?
This idea is 100% from a Tik Tok I saw about Remus and Sirius finding Lily in the library and trying to get her to admit her feelings for James, sometime during 6th year by asking her some leading questions and getting her to monologue . I have no idea who the creator is- but this is for them!
Hhhhhuuuhh," Remus let out a loft sigh in the seat next to Lily, Sirius arched an eyebrow settling into the chair across from him in their unassigned assigned seats in the unofficial but official Gryffindor corner of the library.
"HHHHhuuuhh," Remus sighed again, a bit louder this time, aiming a gentle kick under the table to Sirius' shin. "Bloody hell," Sirius grit his teeth, as Remus' eyes widened attempting a subtle side nod towards Lily who was rapidly scribbling out her potions essay, twelve inches on the theory and limitations of the polyjuice potion.
"What is going on Mooney?" Sirius tried, voice slightly elevated, gesturing with his hands awkwardly, as he was a stiff marionette puppet who was weighing items in both palms, "I still don't get it," Sirius mouthed, bringing an open palm to the side of his face, blocking Lily (who's eyes were downcast) from reading his lips.
"It's just…. I really like this person and I'm not sure if they would like me back." Remus shot Lily a look out of the corner of her eye, attempting to coax a reaction out of her.
The scratching sound of Lily's quill on the parchment stopped, "Wait when did you start liking someone?"
"It doesn't even matter," Remus dramatically flailed his arms back in exasperation before folding them on the shared table and burying his head in his arms, "Ay ouldn't rike meh back en-ee-way,"
"What?" Lily and Sirius shared confused looks, unable to discern what Remus was mumbling. Face covered, Remus rolled his eyes at his friends before turning to face Lily, head still resting on his arms.
"I said… they wouldn't like me back anyway!" Remus shouted before burying his face once more. "Mr. Lupin!" Madam Pince, "Another outburst like that and you are out of here." The librarian returned a book to its shelf, pushing her book cart to the next row.
"Who is this person?" Sirius asked, as though he was personally affronted, "Why wouldn't they like you?" Remus aimed a second, less gentle kick towards Sirius' shin under the table. Honestly, did the man ever listen to a word he said? The ruse was all part of the plan! This time, Sirius responded by sending a kick of his own back at him and Remus was glad his arms could muffle his grunt.
"Sirius is right, Remmy," Lily told him, lightly patting his shoulder, "There are so many reasons why someone would like you."
"Oh yeah?"
"Of course," Lily squeezed his shoulder before retrieving her quill, and reaching towards her inkwell once again.
"Like what?" Remus pressed, propping his face up in his right palm, head turned towards the witch on his left.
"Oh erm," Lily's brow furrowed as she started a new paragraph. Remus noted the spacing of her lines increasing marginally as she attempted to finish up her essay. "Well, you are a very caring friend and you always have a stash of chocolate you're willing to share. You're a prefect and have a very handsome face, easy to talk to."
"Great singing voice," Sirius added earnestly, "You should hear him sing in the shower, Lily. Honestly, I'd be surprised if you couldn't already." Remus winded up for kick number three, Sirius in anticipation tucked his knees up under the chair he was in, "HA!" Sirius mouthed when Remus missed his target completely.
"You're literally describing a friend… which is what they probably think I am anyway and nothing more." Remus kept on fishing, "But speaking of, would either of you care for a piece of chocolate."
"Yes please!" Sirius eagerly reached out his hand, Remus shot him an annoyed glance, "Well you offered it!"
"Sure I'll have some too," Lily laughed, "I'm never going to say no to chocolate."
"Maybe I'm a lost cause," Remus broke off a piece of his Honey Duke's special dark chocolate bar, "Her piece is bigger than mine!" "Oh for Merlin's sake," Remus grumbled before breaking off another square of the candy for Sirius, "Thank you!"
"You're not a lost cause, Remus, what's not to like?" Lily nibbled on her square, "You're thoughtful and remember the little things, you always keep your word, you're sharp as a wit, and like I said you are very easy on the eyes as well."
Remus felt the blush creeping across his cheekbones, feeling bashful even though he was getting the response he had set out for.
"And what about me?" Sirius huffed, feeling slightly jealous of the compliments that Lily was giving Remus, "Besides my dashing good looks of course," he wiggled his eyebrows, eliciting groans from both Lily and Remus.
"Sirius has his dashing good looks," Lily began her essay once more.
"That doesn't count, I already said that!"
Lily chuckled, "Well besides the good looks, Sirius is very loyal and resolute in his belief for standing up for the right thing. I can't imagine it was easy to divulge from the beliefs of your family," Lily paused looking up kindly, "I think it's a very brave thing you did. I have enough trouble standing up to my own sister with parents that do support me." Her quill scribbled away on the parchment once more. "And anyone could tell how much you care for your friends. Every time Remus is sick, you always make sure that he's eating his meals and is unbothered for extra sleep in the dorms."
"Huh," Sirius relaxed back into his seat, touched. He had enjoyed his burgeoning camaraderie with Evans over the past couple of months into their 6th year as potions partners, her witty banter almost rivaled Mooney's, almost. But their topics always remained lighthearted and superficial- random house happenings, on-goings in the Quidditch world, and their ongoing debate on whether waffles or crepes were the superior breakfast dish (Waffles, obviously, a much better vessel for maple syrup). Her kind words and opinions about him had caught Sirius off-guard. He glanced over at Remus who was starting to look a little guilty.
But only a little.
"And what about Peter?"
"He's probably the hardest to read. But I think he might secretly be the smartest of you lot, if he cared to apply himself."
"What?!" Remus and Sirius whisper-shouted indignantly, both looking around for Madam Pince who was not within eyeshot, and hopefully not within earshot either.
"He was the first one to truly master Occlumency in Defense this year, at least a week before Severus," Her nose scrunched in disdain towards her former friend, "Or maybe that's been his plan all along, have us underestimate him as competition for NEWT rankings. He seems to be able to read the room and always was able to diffuse the tension between me and James last year whenever we started to row." Remus caught Lily's lips upturned as she mentioned Prong's first name.
"And what about James?" Sirius asked, learning forward onto the table once more.
"Well what's not to like about James?" Lily shrugged, "Were lacewig flies implemented to enhance polyjuice in 1784 or 1847 again?"
"1847," Remus answered without missing a beat, "But go on." Lily didn't respond for a moment, furrowing her brow.
"Uh… I dunno. I mean, he's quite fit isn't he? Like from Quidditch, he has very nice...arms."
"Nice arms…?" Sirius repeated slowly, turning his face back to Remus, expression turning gleeful.
"Yeah, nice arms, and nice legs too, quidditch pants are a gift to women everyone," Lily continued absentmindedly, "It makes sense, he's been on the House team since second year and he's proved to be a great leader as Captain of the team. We're going to put up a great showing for the House Cup even though half of our team is second through fourth years."
Kingsley Shacklebolt was the lone 7th year Keeper on the , a chaser, and Sirius, a beater, were the 6th years. Benjy Fenwick was the spry third year seeker that James had been spending extra time coaching and reviewing strategies with over the past year and half. The fruits of those labors were demonstrated in Gryffindor's current second place standing, behind the season Slytherin team, with all players in 5th through 7th years.
"And He's fairly brilliant at transfiguration. He showed me and the other girls how to turn our old notes into these really lovely bouquets for our dorms. And did you know that he started tutoring the first and second years in Transfiguration this year? You probably did know, but I passed him in a classroom on rounds and he was very sweet to them when they were struggling from changing needles to matches." Lily rambled on with no signs of stopping.
"And-"
"And!" Remus mouthed to Sirius, "I TOLD you." Sirius raised his palms in deference to Remus.
"And he's just so, so, nice?" Lily continued, oblivious to the exchange the boys were having next to her, "It's like I just feel good being around him, he's just good. Like everything is better or will be ok when I'm around him. And he smells nice. What soap does he use? I have half a mind to ask him for one of his Gryffindor jumpers at the next match, just to stay wrapped up in that scent."
Sirius would later have to pick his jaw up off the table as he stared at this woman incredulously. Who was she and what had she done with Lily "You're an arrogant toe rag James Potter" Evans.
"And it's so obvious how much he loves you all," Lily was full on grinning to her parchment paper, "I caught him sneaking back from the kitchens when he was asking the house elves make sure that Remus' has a minimum of two chocolate cupcakes at his disposal at all times. He told me about your Christmas shenanigans over the past holiday, Sirius. Something about a fully roasted turkey gobbling at anyone who attempted to carve it? And when Peter still had his baby fat, James was the first one who came to his defense. And for my birthday last month he got me a lovely new cauldron- the one with the gold-gilded seams that heats quickly and consistently throughout. It brews in about a third of the time as usual, especially useful since some of our upcoming assignments have usual brew times of literal weeks."
"And he gives the best hugs, like a full embrace, arms totally encircled, none of the one-arm side hug business. I could live in those hugs," Lily hummed, in apparent reminiscence.
"I thought you always found him cocky and annoying," Sirius's voice was tinged with amusement.
Lily snorted, "Oh I still do, believe me. I don't know if it's more or less annoying that he is actually good at everything he's cocky about? Like he is super smart, good at sports, helpful, fit…" She trailed off, looking up at them horrified.
"Oh. my. Merlin." Sirius let out a low whistle, "You have it bad, Evans. So how long have you had a thing for Prongsie then?" His features are turning roguish.
"I-I- What are you on about?" She did not deny anything as she rounded on Remus, sounding more grumpy than actually upset. Remus had the tact to look sheepish.
"Lily, James has been driving me mad for the past year and half. Ever since you and I became prefects together," Remus sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Don't forget to mention to her about me tutoring the first years….do you think she'd come to the match? Maybe it's better if you ask her…" Remus had a surprising spot on James impression, "The man asked me to vacate my couch spot of five years in the common room, so there would be an open seat next to him in the event that you wanted to sit by the fire with us."
Lily blushed, recalling the evenings after her patrols when she'd plop herself down next to James in the common room, easily accepting a butterbeer from him as she re-joined their friends.
"So I had to confirm once in for all if the man's feelings are unrequited or if there could be something more."
"So are you going to make a move or what?" Sirius placed both palms on the table standing up and leaning forward, "there is a Hogsmeades weekend coming up next week, Valentine's day too. How romantic!" Sirius clasped his hands together, bending his elbows to bring his hands to his face, nestling his face against them
"Be a Gryffindor, make the first move!" Remus egged her on.
"And what about you?" Lily's eyes flicked from boy to boy. "This all started because you have a crush on some girl." Reaching for her bag she began rolling up her essay to pack up.
"I never said she, I said they," Remus deflected cryptically, but Lily noticed his eyes dart to the dashingly handsome boy across the table, "And it looks like your chance has arrived," Lily looked up to James strutting down the aisle, raising his arm at his friends about 50 paces away.
"Hey lads," James pulled out the chair next to Sirius, "Alright, Evans?" he asked, rolling up his sleeves to expose his forearms before reaching for his study materials. Lily bit her lip and pried her eyes away from his arms to meet his gaze, "Hi James." James' eyes brightened, as they had been wherever she addressed him by his first name.
"Bad timing Prongs, Evans was just heading out. Alas, she will be greatly missed," Sirius dramatically swooped his arm over his heart, "Unless… was there something you needed from James?"
"Just one thing," Lily spoke softly, taking a deep breath, "Would you like to go to Hogsmeade with me next weekend?"
A/N: Spoiler: He said yes :)