The mighty will fall with or without love, but with love they will have the strength to climb higher.

~Unknown

Chapter Three: Tall Tales and a Fear of Horses

Following the evening that the king had appointed Remus as James' manservant, neither of the two boys knew how to act around one another. Remus would show up every morning with James' breakfast, he would lay out a fresh set of clothes and help him get his armor on when he had to go to training. He would do the prince's laundry, bring him lunch, clean his armor, shine his shoes, make his bed, ready his bath, grind his blade, everything that he was expected to do as the princes manservant, he did. And he did so without complaining. He also did it without speaking if he could help it. When he was forced to speak, he did so only in short, polite statements and using a tone that implied that he'd much rather be gouging out his own eyeballs. Or at least that's what he was going for.

Remus had made a big deal out of James being a prat only the day before he was named his manservant. He had publically challenged him and was then thrown into a cell for it. Now he was working directly under him. He wasn't sure if he was embarrassed about the turn of events, or simply angry. James had apologized, but that hadn't really changed Remus's opinion of him. He still didn't want to be Prince James' servant. He didn't want to have to spend almost every waking moment he had in the prince's company. He did not like the Prince, and he did not want to have to pretend he did.

James hadn't been acting as though he noticed Remus being short with him, but the other servants throughout the castle had noticed, and they were returning the favor by being short with Remus. He had to work out how to do almost everything on his own. Lily was the only one who helped him, but she was so busy serving Lady Bellatrix that she didn't often have time to show him round the castle.

James was having different problems. He also didn't know how to act around Remus but this was because he didn't know why his father thought that a suitable reward for saving James' life was to become a servant. He felt like he should be indebted to Remus, not telling him to polish his armor. It was all very backward for him, juggling what he felt he should do and what was expected of him. Remus was a commoner, and James was royal. Being a servant to a royal might very well be a reward for someone like Remus. James just had a feeling that Remus didn't feel that way.

He was right. And Remus could tell that James felt awkward around him. That was the only solace he got out of this job, knowing that he made James uncomfortable.

"I'm just saying," Lily sighed, as her and Remus walked to the kitchens with Bella and James' used dishes. "You should be a bit more grateful. Do you know how many people want to have your job? Would kill to have your job?" It had been three weeks since Remus had saved James' life and been forced into the job. And Lily was still trying to show him that this new job was a good thing, something he should be happy about.

"I know that it's a desirable job for a lot of people," Remus sighed, quite tired of repeating the same conversation all the time. He and Lily had become rather close over the last few weeks. She hadn't only shown him as much of the castle as she had time for, but she'd also invited him over for dinner a few times and showed him around town after both of them were relieved of their duties for the night. He was glad that he had given her a chance, because the more they talked, the more he liked her. Lily was carefree, charming and friendly, always willing to lend a hand or time that she didn't have. "I just wish that I didn't have it. I would much rather be helping Dumbledore with medicines or, heck, I'd even prefer to be the stable boy."

"You don't mean that." Lily said with a grin. "Because even if you don't like the Prince, you know the job isn't all that bad. Plus, you don't like horses."

"Not all that bad, eh?" He mocked, ignoring her comment about the horses. "We have to be on call at all hours of the day and we have to be ready to do whatever they want us to do. I had to go hunting with James and some knights the other day and do you know what they made me do?"

"Well, yes. You've told me."

"They made me carry all the game back to the castle." He said, shaking his head. "That was about six rabbits, four pheasants and a deer. Not one of them offered to help me!"

"So you've said." Lily sighed. They had reached the kitchens and she bumped the door open with her hip and both of them hurried inside. "You should still be proud of yourself."

"Why?" Remus scoffed.

"Because you got the job a day after moving here. That's fairly impressive."

"I got the job because I saved the prats life." Remus said. "And if he looks at the armor I've shinned with that stupid 'you-could-have-done-better' look on his face one more time, I'm going to start regretting that I did that." Lily laughed and dropped Bella's dishes into the large basin. Remus did the same with James'.

"Alright," Lily said, grabbing two rolls out of a basket on the counter and handing one to Remus. "I'll stop trying to get you to like your job. Let's talk about something else."

"I can complain all day, we don't need to change the subject." Remus grinned, taking a large bite out of his roll. "The food though." He said, not bothering to swallow first. "The food might make up for everything."

"It might." Lily agreed. When they were out of the kitchen she turned to Remus and sighed. "Well, I've got to be off. I've got three dresses to fix up and new shoes to buy."

"For you or Bella?"

"Like I can afford new shoes." Lily said, rolling her eyes. "Bella. And she needs a new saddle or something because whenever she comes back from riding, she has a tear in her dress. Which is why I have three to mend."

"I'd talk to whoever is in charge of that then."

"I'll get around to it eventually." Lily said. "But between all of the things I have to do and listening to you complain, I just don't have any time." She was smirking.

"Oh very funny." Remus said, crossing his arms over his chest. "I can do it for you if you'd like. James is training some new knights and he doesn't need me for part of the afternoon. I'll do it then."

"You don't have to." Lily said, shaking her head. "I'll find time later."

"I know that, but I'll do it anyway." She looked down at the floor and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

"That would be lovely. Thank you, Remus."

"What are friends for?" He asked. And they both went their separate ways.

oOoOo

"I'm not calling you a liar," Amos said, looking as though he was indeed calling someone a liar. "I'm just saying that I don't believe that he exists." The knights were gathered on the training grounds getting ready to start training the new recruits. Arden Weasley had brought up, yet again, Lancelot, a mysterious and almost mythical man who everyone knew about but no one had actually met. James thought the idea of such a man was impossible, but the stories were entertaining and he was fun to talk about every now and then. Lately however, Arden had been brining Lancelot up quite a bit more than usual and that was because there had been a lot of new stories circulating around the mysterious man.

"Just because you've never met him." Arden muttered. "You can't ever just have faith in something, can you?"

"Why are you so hung up on this man?" Frank asked.

"Yeah, Ardy." Fabian Prewett laughed. "If I didn't know you any better, I'd say you might fancy the bloke." They here standing around the front gate that blocked the training grounds off from the castle grounds. Fabian was sitting atop the fence an apple in hand and a look of mischief on his face. Ever since Molly Prewett had married Arden's brother Arthur, Fabian and Gideon, Molly's elder twin brothers, had taken it upon themselves to treat Arden like family. Which consisted of them relentlessly teasing him.

"It's a good thing you know me better then." Arden said, glaring at him. He thought about giving the older, much larger knight a shove, but then gripped the hilt of his sword instead. "And how can none of you believe in this man? So many people are talking about him, and so many have seen him. What makes him so implausible?"

"Let's see, shall we?" James asked, leaning back on the fence and crossing his arms. "I've had a family of farmers come up and report to me that Lancelot visited them and they told me that he was eight feet tall, rode a white horse faster than lightening, and had a sword made of pure gold." The knights all laughed. "I've had another family tell me that he's actually a woman. Some man in the tavern the other night told me that he heard Lancelot was part dragon. Can you see why I'm a bit skeptical?"

"People are stupid. Especially people in taverns, I can attest to that first hand." Arden said, waving his words away and causing a few laughs. "Besides, that guy from the tavern, Wallace, he thinks everyone is part dragon so he doesn't count."

"We've upset him now." Amos cooed, reaching out to pinch one of Arden's cheeks. "Poor wittle boy."

"Shove off." Arden said. "Or I'll embarrass you in front of the recruits again." Amos scowled.

"I don't know if all the stories are true," Frank said, everyone turned to listen to him. "Actually, I know that not all the stories are true, but there is someone out there helping people. You remember that woman we found at the gates the other day. She said a man had saved her life from bandits and then gave her a ride to the city walls. And that's not the only report we've had of people being saved by a mysterious man wearing a crest with only an 'L' on it."

"Yes," James said, "But this 'mystery man' isn't necessarily Arden's Lancelot."

"Of course they are the same person." Arden snapped. "Besides, that woman said that it was Lancelot who had saved her."

"But no one has actually seen him." Amos said. "I mean his face. Everyone says that he wears a helmet at all times. How would she know who he was?"

"Because he told her who he was." Arden said dryly. "Honestly."

"But no one's ever seen him." Amos repeated. "Why do you think that is?"

"Maybe he's horribly disfigured." James suggested. "You know, he's afraid that people would rather die than be rescued by him." Fabian laughed loudly, at the look on Arden's face, or James' comment, the prince wasn't sure.

"Or maybe," Remus said, walking up at just that moment with James' sword and shield. "He doesn't need all the glory you lot do to do a good deed. Maybe he doesn't need people to know who he is or what he looks like."

"And here comes Remus, bringing cheer to our day." Amos muttered. "Hey there, mate." Remus nodded curtly at Amos.

"I like his theory better than James." Arden picked up his own shield from the ground and straightened his belt.

"Thanks for bringing these down." James said politely. "I don't know how I forgot them."

"It's my job to do as you ask." Remus said dryly. "Will that be all?"

"Yes. You may go now."

As Remus walked away, James heard his knights whispering to themselves, but he ignored them. He knew that he let Remus get away with many things that he shouldn't. He knew that when Remus spoke out like that people expected him to tell him off for it. But he didn't. James wanted Remus to like him. He wanted to make amends for whatever slights he had caused Remus, and become friends with him. It had taken him a while to work out why he wanted this to happen though. All of James' current friends thought the world of him, and he liked it that way.

At first he thought it was because Remus was close with Bella's servant girl, Lily. And James may or may not have, but definitely has, taken a slight fancy to her. But he dismissed this quickly. He didn't need any help getting closer to Lily.

Then he thought that it was because Remus wasn't from Camelot and that was sort of interesting. James had met people from other kingdoms of course, but he can't honestly call any of them close friends. But that wasn't it either.

No, it was something else entirely and when James first had the thought, he was surprised to find that he wasn't all that surprised. He wanted to be friends with Remus, because if he was, then he would know that Remus was his friend because he wanted to be. Remus would like him for who he was, not for what he was or what his title was. And that idea was very appealing to James. He had always had everything handed to him, people weren't allowed to treat him with anything but respect and kindness, but Remus didn't listen to that rule for some reason and James was actually grateful for that.

"Do you think he was right?" Frank asked, stepping away from the group. "The mystery rider, or Lancelot, do you think he's not showing his face because he doesn't want the credit? Because he just wants to help people?"

"I don't know, Frank." James said. "I think we should just be glad that the people have someone out there to help them."

"Isn't that our job though?" Amos asked.

"Yeah, he's sort of making us look like gits." Fabian agreed.

"It's not a hard thing to accomplish." James shrugged, shoving Fabian's shoulder. "And you're more than welcome to take a few watch shifts every now and then if you think you're up to it."

"The watch shifts are for the recruits." Fabian said, nodding his head towards the men who had lined up on the field.

"And maybe that's the reason Lancelot decided that he needed to step in and help." James said. "From now on, I want at least one seasoned Knight going with the recruits for every shift."

"I'll make the assignments." Frank said.

"Good. Now let's start training them." James said, walking towards the field.

oOoOo

Remus was still grinding his teeth when he finally made it to the stables, which just happened to be on the opposite side of the castle when one is coming from the training grounds.

Who goes to a training session, that they are running, and forgets to bring anything useful? Who forgets to bring their sword, at the very least, when they are going to be sparing with a dozen or so new recruits? An idiot, Remus thought, that's who. And then, when Remus finally managed to gather James' things and get back down to the field, him and his knights are ignoring the recruits (not that James could have done much more than talk to them without any of his gear.) No, instead of doing their jobs, they are making fun of a man who has been helping the people of their city quite a lot. It infuriated him.

When he got to the stables, he paused for a moment in the doorway to take a deep breath. He had only been here a couple of times because, even though he was James' servant, it wasn't his job to do anything with the horses. The stable boy was set with the tasks of cleaning, watering, and feeding the horses. It was even his job to bring the horses out to the Prince upon Remus's request. And Remus was very grateful for this because he was dreadful with animals. He had only had to ride a horse twice in his lifetime and he had fallen off once, and he claimed to have fallen off the second time as well, though in all honesty, he jumped from the horse willingly. It was just something about them that made him feel uneasy.

"Hullo!" Remus called, walking along the right side of the stables as to stay as far away from the stalls as he could. The large animals inspected him as he walked past their stalls. Huffing out air, stomping their hooves on the ground, twitching their ears. Remus took another deep breath and then called out again, "Anyone here?"

"One minutes!" Someone called from within one of the stalls. Remus stayed where he was, a safe distance away from the opened stall. "Just a moment please."

"Of course." Remus called back. He leant up against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest. He tried to appear completely at ease, even though there was no real reason for him to be putting on a show. There was no one around to see him, apart from the horses. His mother had told him once that pretending you weren't afraid was the first step to making it the truth. She believed that if you pretended long enough, then you might start to believe the lie. Remus wasn't afraid of course. The horses were just large and intimidating. But he wasn't afraid. Just… uncomfortable.

Soon enough, a blond haired boy with dull blue eyes and a round face walked out of one of the horses stalls and grabbed a hand towel off a shelf. "Hullo." He said, looking down at his feet as he spoke. He seemed more nervous than Remus was, though he doubted that it was because of the horses. "What can I do for you?"

"My name is Remus and I'm here on behalf of Lily, Lady Bellatrix's servant."

"Yes, I know Lily. She's very kind." He said quickly, still talking to his left shoe.

"Yes," Remus said, tilting his head curiously. "She is. Anyway, she wants you or someone down here to take a look at Lady Bellatrix's saddle. Lily thinks there might be something lodged into the saddle causing Lady Bellatrix's dresses to tear while she rides."

"I can pull out her saddle right now if you'd like." The man said, peering up at Remus briefly.

"Oh," Remus said, a bit taken back. He hadn't really been expecting to help with this, just inform someone of the problem. "Sure. That would be great."

"One minute then. I'll just go and get it." He walked down the stable and then turned right. He returned a moment later, clumsily carrying a large leather saddle. "I don't know what could be causing her dresses to tear." He said, setting it down on a wooden beam a few feet away from Remus. "It's the highest quality saddle you can get in Camelot. Or anywhere else for that matter. Old man Kettleburn makes them all himself. Oh, and my name is Peter. Peter Pettigrew."

"It's nice to meet you Peter. And I think I've met him." Remus said, thinking back to an interaction he had with a man in the market who was missing half his fingers on both hands. "Isn't he the man that tries to sell weasels and rabbits as household pets?"

"He's sort of eccentric." Peter shrugged, now wringing his fingers. "But he's a good man. And doubly good at making saddles. He gets the leather from a farmer on the outskirts of the city."

"Well, let's just have a look at it anyway." Remus said.

"Yeah, alright." Peter said. He ducked down so his face was closer to the saddle and started looking at it inch by inch. After a few moments of silence, he stood back up and pointed to a spot on the saddle. "I don't know how it happened, but there's some stone lodged into the leather right here." Remus looked at the spot he was pointing at and nodded.

"That would do it." He said. "Thanks for your help."

"Wait!" He shouted, just as Remus had turned to walk away. Remus turned back around, startled at the outburst. "Sorry." His voice was meek again, "But I don't think I've seen you around here before. Are you new?"

"I've been here for about three weeks, so yeah, I'm new." He said. "And I try not to come down here much."

"Why?" Peter asked. "All the servants try and come down here as much as they can. They don't have to do anything here."

"How did you know I was a servant?" Remus asked, eyeing the man wearily.

"I-I just assumed." Peter stuttered. "I mean, everyone's been talking about you, and you said three weeks. That makes you the Princes' servant, no?"

"Unfortunately. What have people been saying?"

"Oh, n-nothing."

"Peter," Remus said sharply. He felt slightly bad for taking advantage of the man's clear discomfort, especially when he wasn't known for being confident around people himself, but he was curious to know what people had been saying. They didn't suspect anything, did they? He had only used magic a couple of times, and aside from saving James' life, he had only used it in his room. They couldn't know. "What have they been saying?"

"Nothing bad." He said quickly. "Only how you're not like other servants. You don't talk to them much and you don't treat the Prince how you're supposed to."

"I talk to them plenty! They're the ones that don't want to talk to me!"

"Well that's only because they're worried that you're going to get them into trouble." He didn't know why this surprised him so much. He had been expecting as much. But hearing someone say it, that people who worked in the castle were avoiding him, it stung.

"Why would they get into trouble for talking to me?"

"They're afraid that you're going to get into trouble." Peter said, reverting back to looking at his shoes. "And that they'll get into trouble for not… fixing you."

"Fixing me? There's nothing to fix."

"I didn't say there was." Peter said quickly. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to tell you."

Remus took a deep breath. "I know." He said calmly. "I know, I'm sorry I yelled at you."

"It's alright. Most people do." Remus didn't know how to respond to that, but it made him feel worse for having lost his temper.

"Lily hasn't said anything." Remus sighed, leaning back up against the wall. "Why wouldn't she say anything?"

"She too nice." Peter said. "She probably didn't want to hurt your feelings."

"Probably." Remus agreed. "Well, I should get going. I've got to go find someone who sells burlap hunting bags and run about a million other errands for the Prince. It was nice meeting you, Peter."

"Sir Malfoy gets his burlap bags from Madam Malkin. She makes clothes too, mostly dress clothes up in the castle, but she makes burlap bags. Her husband hunts a lot. That's probably why. Her sister, Edna, sells them at her cart in the market."

"Do you know everyone in the city?" Remus laughed.

"Well, I know a lot of people. This is the only stable in the city, everyone comes here at one point or another. Mostly the nobles, but other people come here too."

"I guess that's a way to make friends." Remus shrugged.

"They're not my friends." Peter corrected him quickly. "I just know them all. I listen."

Remus was now a bit uncomfortable and it had nothing to do with the horses. "Well," He said, scratching the back of his head with his hand. "I'm new here. I don't have many friends, just Lily so-"

"You don't need to do that." Peter interrupted. "You don't need to be my friend. Thank you for talking to me. It was nice to meet you, Remus." He stuck out his hand and looked him in the eyes, something he hadn't done the entire time they had talked.

"It was nice to meet you too, Peter. I'll see you around."

"But hopefully not." Remus looked taken aback and Peter seemed to realize that he had said something that sounded offensive and brought his hand to his forehead. "Because of the horses. I meant because you don't like horses and I work in the stables. You don't want to come down here much."

"Right." Remus smiled. "You're pretty perceptive. I never told you I didn't like horses."

"You don't hide it very well." Peter smiled back wearily.

"See you round."

"See you."

oOoOo

James had sent the recruits home and his knights had all left to take baths, eat, or in Arden's case, head to the tavern. James was still on the training field however and he was wishing that he would have thought to ask one of them to stay behind and train with him a bit longer. He always felt a bit silly waving his sword around at nothing but the air.

James had been trained since birth, to believe that it was his job as prince, to achieve a certain standard of excellence. It was because of this that he held himself more accountable than any of his knights. He worked hard to make sure that he was always able to best his knights, that there was a reason that he was in charge of training them all. If he was to keep his title as the best knight in Camelot, that meant that he had to train longer than all the others. The final test that the recruits had to pass before the king could swear them in was standing their ground against James for a full minute. It was a test that James took very seriously. He didn't go easy on them. In order to have only the best men, he had to be a worthy opponent.

So, he was still on the field, practicing his foot work, when Remus walked out and stood off to the edge. James didn't notice him for a while, but when he did, he jumped a bit. He hadn't heard him walk up behind him. He masked his surprise as best he could, but judging by the smirk on Remus's face, not well enough.

"How long have you been standing there?" James asked, sheathing his sword and walking up to him.

"About five minutes." Remus replied. "I came down to ask if you needed anything."

"I'm alright at the moment." James said. "Do you know when my dinner will be ready?"

"In half an hour, sir. But if you're hungry now, I can go and fetch you something from the kitchens."

"That won't be necessary." James said. "I can wait."

"Will that be all?"

"That will be all." James nodded. Remus turned to walk away when James had an idea. "Actually," He said with a grin. Remus turned back around slowly and pressed his lips together. "Could you help me with something?"

"That is my job. What do you need help with?"

"I'm sure that you'll agree that I looked slightly foolish out there all by myself. Do you think you could spar with me?"

"Wait… what?" Remus asked, dropping his usual clipped and polite voice he used to talk to James with. "You want me to pick up a sword and-and what? I don't know how to use a sword!" James laughed.

"I'll teach you the basics. Besides, I don't need you to know what you're doing. I just need something to aim for."

"Oh happy days." Remus said sarcastically. "I'm actually rather fond of keeping all my appendages thank you."

"I wouldn't hurt you." James laughed. "I'd be aiming for your sword, not your arms."

"I've helped Dumbledore treat some injuries that the knights get while training-"

"I've never given any of my knights an injury that they needed to see Dumbledore for." James said, holding his right hand up. "I promise."

"So I'll be the first person you maim during training?"

"I'm not going to maim you, Remus. We train with dulled blades. Now come on. Grab that sword there."

Remus still looked a bit weary, but he did as he was told. When both of them had reached the middle of the training field, James turned to face Remus. "Alright, first things first. You're going to want to hold the sword with your- no no no, not like that. Loosen your grip a bit."

"If I loosen my grip, I'll drop it."

"If you hold it that tightly, you're going to restrict your range of motion."

"I've never done this before, I don't currently have a range of motion." James shook his head and sighed.

"Alright, look. We'll start with something easier. I never let my knights hold their swords with two hands because they need to be able to hold a shield while they fight as well as their sword, but we're just going to spar, so grip right here with your right hand, and hold the bottom there with your left. Does that feel any better?"

"A bit." Remus allowed. "But I still don't have any clue what I'm supposed to do. And I feel like a prat."

"You're not a prat. Now spread your feet out a bit, you'll fall over if you keep them that close."

"I have the feeling that I'm going to end up on the ground regardless of how my feet are."

"If you lower your center of gravity and brace yourself, it makes it more difficult for you to be knocked over."

"I know that." Remus said quickly. "I just don't think it's going to matter."

"I'm not going to hit you that hard!"

"Alright, what do I do now?"

"Now you block."

"Right." Remus nodded. "Okay, I'm ready."

"Are you sure?" James was starting to think having Remus out here was less helpful that having no one out here.

"Just get on with it." He sighed. James pulled out his sword and got into his stance. Then, quite slowly, he swung his sword up and hit Remus's with it. Remus squeezed his eyes shut when he heard the resulting clash.

"You can't close your eyes!" James shouted. "I could kill you if you do that!"

"I thought you said that you weren't going to hit me very hard!" Remus cried.

"I'm not- I was just making a point. Keep your eyes open."

"Fine." Remus muttered. "First the stupid horses, now this."

"What?" James laughed.

"Nothing." Remus said loudly. "Let's get this over with, yes?"

"Okay, why don't you actually try to do something this time then?"

"Of course." Remus replied. This time when James swung his sword around, Remus swung his sword forward to meet his. James grinned and swung his sword around the other way, moving a bit faster this time. Remus pulled his foot back and moved to prevent the metal from hitting his arm. "This isn't even fair." He said, as James continued to swing his sword around. "You have armor on, if I hit you, you won't get your arm chopped off."

"And I've already told you the blades are dulled. Do you know how hard I would have to hit you with this sword to chop of your arm?" James said, to which Remus rolled his eyes. " And besides, you're not even swinging at me."

"And there's that too! You have very little chance of getting injured. But I'm not wearing any armor and I haven't ruled out the possibility of injuring myself."

"You're going to be fine, Remus." James said.

"Maybe you should just get one of your Knights to help you."

"You're doing great." James said, hoping to appease him. He actually was rather awful. He was too stiff and he was keeping his feet to close together which was causing him to sway a bit every time their swords collided. "You have a very fast learning curve."

"Thank you." Remus said, still moving like he was in a suit of armor that was slightly too small for him. "But I'd still rather not do this any longer." James sighed and relented. He dropped his sword so that the tip was on the ground and leant on it.

"Fine. That will be all for now." Remus sighed in relief and dropped his sword to the ground. "But I will turn you into a decent swordsman… eventually."

"I highly doubt it."

"I've seen worse." James lied. Well, partially lied. The only people he'd seen who were worse than Remus were all under the age of eight, but he didn't need to add that.

"I doubt that as well." Remus said, seeing right through his lie.

"Well," James ran his free hand through his hair. "I still think I can make you a decent swordsman."

"If you say so." Remus said.

"Come on," James said with a smile. "Let's go and get some dinner now, yeah?"

"Yes of course." Remus shook his head. "You must be starving, sir." He was starting to talk in his fake voice again.

"You don't need to do that." James said, re-sheathing his sword and looking down.

"Do what, sir?"

"You can call me James, first of all." He looked back up at Remus. "And you don't need to talk to me like that."

"I think I'm supposed to, sir."

"I know that you're supposed to. But you don't have to." James said. "I don't want you to."

"You'd prefer that I speak more…"

"Colloquially." James said. "Like you were earlier."

"Alright." Remus said slowly.

"Dinner?"

"Yeah." They turned and walked back towards the castle. "Why do you treat me different than the other servants?"

"Because I'm allowed to." James said, not hesitating at all to think about it.

"Of course." Remus sighed.

"No, I mean," James gripped his hair and huffed. "I mean you let me. I tried to talk to Bella's maid, Lily, a while ago and she just looked at me with wide eyes like I'd sprouted another head or something." Remus laughed. James grinned at that; it was the first time Remus had genuinely laughed and not at James' expense.

"She told me about that. She was surprised that you knew her name."

"I know everyone's name." James said, "And they all have the same reaction when I address them by it."

"I don't want to start a row, but I think that says more about you than it does about them." Then he bit his lip and added, "Though they can be quite judgmental."

James narrowed his eyes. "Did you just say something to make me feel better?"

"What? No." Remus scoffed. "It's just… everyone except Lily avoids me. And when they can't avoid me, they don't talk to me."

"Do you point out all their flaws as well?"

Remus ignored his comment and continued. "None of them approve of how I talk to you or about you and they're all afraid that I'm going to get them into trouble."

"That's ridiculous." James said. Then he laughed. "Imagine what they would do if they heard us now." Remus chuckled a bit as well. "My father is a bit of a traditionalist and so he hired people who understand the traditions. You being one of the blatant exceptions. So yes, it can get a bit stuffy around here sometimes. I suppose that's why I haven't fired you yet."

"Yet?" Remus laughed. "Are you planning on sacking me? Because you could have done that three weeks ago, and you haven't for some reason."

"Well, you are quite a dreadful servant."

"I'm an excellent servant."

"Sub-par at best." James said sternly.

"Oh please, you think you could find another servant who delivers his personal opinion of your politics along with your breakfast every morning?"

"Hopefully not." James grinned. They walked in the most comfortable silence they had experienced since the king had hired Remus, before James remembered something Remus had said back on the training field. "What were you saying about horses earlier?"

Remus ducked his head and groaned. "I wasn't saying anything about horses. I said absolutely nothing about them at all."

"I'll figure it out you know."

"No you won't."

"I'm extremely determined."

"It doesn't matter."

"You hope it doesn't matter."

"I honestly do."

"Remus? Remus, wait up!" Remus stopped walking at the sound of this new voice, and turned around to see Lily rushing towards him. James had also stopped and turned towards Lily. "Oh goodness." She flushed red when she saw that the second figure in the corridor was the Prince. "Your highness, I did not know that it was you."

James shrugged and ran a hand through his hair. He opened his mouth to say something, but Remus beat him to it. "Are you alright, Lily?" Lily's eyes flickered from James to Remus and then down to the floor.

"Yes, I'm fine. I just saw you headed in this direction and thought you were headed home. I didn't know- obviously I didn't know you were still working."

"Yes, we're headed to dinner." Remus said.

"Would you care to join us?" James' voice was higher than usual and his proposition came out very quickly, the last words almost sounded jumbled together. He cleared his throat and shook his head. "Otherwise, it will just be Remus and I, and quite honestly I'm getting rather tired of him." Seeing the hard glint that appeared in Lily's eyes, James quickly backtracked, which Remus found hilarious. "I mean that in a- Actually, I don't mean that at all. I know you and Remus are friends and-" Another deep breath. "Would you like to join us for dinner?"

"I think that would be inappropriate." Lily said quietly, her cheeks still a bright red. "If you'll excuse me, sire." She curtsied low and then walked past them, turning left at the next corridor.

As soon as she was out of sight, Remus started laughing. "What in God's name was that about?" He asked, holding his stomach. James punched him in the arm, but that did nothing to curb his laughter.

"It wasn't anything, she's your friend and I was just trying to be friendly." James muttered. Trying not to remember what she looked like in the blue dress a few weeks ago, an image he had been having a difficult time forgetting.

"Friendly? If I didn't know any better I'd think that you fancied her, your highness." Remus chuckled again and the two boys continued walking down the corridor, towards the kitchens.

"What was she going to ask you anyway?" James asked, after Remus had finally stopped laughing about the encounter.

"I don't know." Remus shrugged, not looking too concerned about it. "She was probably going to ask me to walk her home."

"Oh." James furrowed his brow and started chewing on his lip. "I didn't realize that the two of you were so close."

"Yeah." Remus nodded. "She's the first person I met in the city. First person I talked to even. Helped me find Dumbledore and all."

"And then you got a job here." James said, trying to get Remus to keep talking.

He nodded. "Yes, it's nice getting to work with her every day."

"You think you'll marry her?"

Remus nearly choked on his own tongue. "Excuse me?"

"Well, I need to ask." James crossed his arms and tried to look as though he was justified in his snooping. "If you two do get married, both Bella and myself are going to have to find new servants and-"

"I'm not going to marry Lily." Remus interrupted him, looking completely flabbergasted.

"Well, it's just that she-"

"Talked to me?" Remus laughed. "You're sure quick to jump to conclusions." Then he remembered that James hadn't denied fancying Lily when he suggested it earlier. "We're just friends, James. Though," Because he still didn't like James, and just because he wasn't currently acting like a prat didn't mean that he wasn't one. "You should know that she thinks you're something of an arrogant toerag." James looked affronted.

"Are those her words or yours?"

"I paraphrased, but they're close enough." Remus shrugged. "Whenever I complain about you she tells me some god-awful thing you did when you were younger. How big a prat do you have to be to pants the duke of a neighboring kingdom?"

James huffed and ran a hand through his hair. "Nicoli Mulciber is an arse."

"Oh, well then it's fine. You were perfectly in the right to pants the duke of a neighboring kingdom. He's not even a citizen of Camelot, not that that would have made it much better."

"I was also twelve if that makes a difference to you." Remus just laughed. "Does Lily really think that I'm a prat?"

"Well, seeing as you are a prat and she's a rather bright girl," Remus shrugged. "I'd say so."

"I take it back." Remus furrowed his brows, not understanding what James meant. "I want you to go back to not speaking around me." James ran another hand through his hair and huffed.

"It's too late for that, James." Remus said. "You should actually start being nice to me so I don't tell your father that you have a thing for his Ward's maid." James shoved Remus into the wall and denied fancying Lily, causing Remus to laugh yet again.

AN: Hello everyone! I hope you enjoy the latest installment of my story.

Reviews are the best and if you have any questions, feel free to shoot me a pm, or leave them in a review!