Note: Thank you to sophinisba and thedoingofit for the beta, and to forest_rose for the Britpick.

Part 3

Inside the kitchens, Remus sat huddled at a table by the hearth, moodily picking at a plate of biscuits. He knew it was only a matter of time before one of his friends discovered him there; kitchen raids were a night-time ritual for the Marauders, and scarcely an evening passed without at least one attempt to forage for food. He only hoped that it would be Peter or James who found him, and not Sirius.

It wasn't that he was angry at Sirius – far from it. Sirius had done nothing wrong (for a change). Remus was angry at himself. He was absolutely terrified that he would do something foolish enough to reveal his feelings to Sirius, just as he had nearly done earlier in the week when he lost some of his natural reserve that evening they had been working on the map.

Ever since then, Remus had avoided being alone with Sirius. He didn't want to risk giving Sirius an opportunity to notice that anything had changed, and so far Sirius hadn't – although, from the hurt and confused looks he had been sending in Remus' direction over the past few days, his attempts at avoidance had not gone unnoticed. Remus wondered which would be worse – having Sirius find out that he fancied him, or avoiding him like this for the rest of the year. Either way, it seemed that Remus risked causing irreparable harm to their friendship. Remus sighed heavily, feeling more miserable than ever.

Suddenly the door opened and in swept Dumbledore. Remus was on his feet in an instant, his words tripping over each other as he tried to explain.

"Professor, I'm so sorry, I just-"

But Dumbledore held up a hand, smiling serenely. "It is no trouble at all, Remus. I have often felt that the prefects should include the kitchens in their rounds. Please return to your biscuits. Although," he said, peering shrewdly at Remus through his half-moon spectacles, "I have always thought that chocolate is best for raising one's spirits." He turned to one of the house-elves clamouring for his attention. "Topsy, do you have any more of that splendid chocolate cake? Yes? And perhaps a bit of coffee? Wonderful."

Dumbledore settled himself across from Remus as two generous slices of chocolate cake and two steaming mugs of coffee appeared on the table before them. "Ah, excellent," he said, trying a bit of the cake. "You have outdone yourself once again, Topsy."

The house-elf blushed and stammered her thanks. Dumbledore took a sip of coffee before turning his attention back to Remus.

"I am reading a most charming book," he said. "You may be familiar with it. It's called Mary Poppins."

"Yes, I've read it," Remus said, smiling in spite of himself. "There's also a film of it, sir."

"Indeed? How fascinating."

Remus nodded; his mouth was full of chocolate cake and he found himself agreeing wholeheartedly with the headmaster. The cake was much more satisfying than the biscuits, and the coffee was excellent, though Remus had never considered himself much of a coffee drinker. It was certainly better than his mother's coffee, but of course she used her favourite Muggle brand, and Remus supposed that, like sweets, coffee in the wizarding world was simply better.

"I do enjoy it when Muggles write about magic," Dumbledore said, chuckling a little. "It is very amusing. More coffee, Remus?" he asked as Topsy approached and re-filled their mugs.

Several moments passed in companionable silence, other than the occasional chuckle from Dumbledore as he presumably remembered some entertaining episode in Mary Poppins. At last he set aside his fork and spoke again.

"I usually find," he said, his eyes twinkling merrily, "that sometimes the biggest dilemma may be solved with a bit of spontaneity."

Remus glanced up, perplexed. "Sir?"

"I might spend countless hours worrying, weighing all my possible options, before deciding to do something completely outrageous to solve the problem once and for all," Dumbledore mused thoughtfully. "I realised this as a very young man when I purchased my first set of dress robes. Ought I to buy the sedate grey, or the practical brown? I opted instead for the bright blue with the silver trim. A bold choice, I daresay."

Remus smiled. Then he hid a yawn. His eyes suddenly felt heavy, and his mind a bit muddled. The anxiety of the week had clearly worn him out, and he must be more tired than he had realised.

"I suppose we ought to leave the house elves to finish their work," Dumbledore said, standing. Remus followed, but wobbled unexpectedly on his feet. The room seemed to tilt oddly, and Remus had to hold on to the back of his chair to steady himself.

"Professor," he said, feeling somewhat shaky and rather suspicious as the room straightened itself out, "was there something in the coffee?"

"Just a touch of firewhiskey," Dumbledore replied. His eyes, Remus noticed, were twinkling more than ever. "Hardly worth mentioning, I thought. It is one of Topsy's specialities. She really is a marvel of an elf." And with a wink and a smile he was gone.

*********************

This, Sirius thought as he wandered back to the dormitory, is a catastrophe of epic proportions. Stupid Evans and her stupid perceptiveness. How had she figured it out before he did? Who else knew? Did Prongs know? Did Moony know? And most of all, what was he supposed to do now?

Still lost in thought, Sirius trudged through the common room and up the stairs. Reality returned with a jolt when he pushed open the door to the dormitory and was immediately tackled to the floor by James.

"Success!" James crowed, right in Sirius' ear. "Victory!"

"What are you going on about?" Sirius said, unsuccessfully trying to wriggle away.

James dangled a sheet of parchment close to Sirius' face. "Guess who finished the poem for Evans?"

Sirius snatched it from James and sat up, skimming the parchment. "Not bad," he said, handing it back. "For poetry, I suppose. Not as soppy as I expected."

James looked smug as he folded the parchment and tucked it in the pocket of his robes. "I think I have a knack for writing poetry," he said. He jumped to his feet and offered Sirius a hand, pulling him up beside him. "I don't see what all the fuss is about. It wasn't that hard to write after all."

Sirius thought of his and Peter's decimated supply of parchment and resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "Right…"

"Now I just need to find Evans," James said, heading to the door. "You haven't seen her, have you?"

The memory of his conversation with Lily came rushing back and Sirius suddenly sat heavily on the nearest bed, feeling utterly terrified once more.

"Padfoot?" James said uncertainly. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah," Sirius muttered, staring hard at the ground and feeling distinctly uncomfortable as he considered the direction in which their conversation may turn. He heard the rustle of James' robes as he shuffled closer, and a moment later the mattress dipped as he sat down beside him.

"Did something happen with Regulus?"

"No," Sirius replied, finally looking up. "I haven't spoken to him in weeks."

"Snivellus?"

Sirius shook his head. "No, it's…." He trailed off with a shrug.

James bumped Sirius' shoulder with his own. "Yeah?" he prompted.

Sirius wavered for a long moment, trying to decide if he actually wanted to have this conversation with James. "It's Moony," he said at last, miserably.

"Moony?" James echoed in surprise. "You two argue or something?"

"No, I didn't even talk to him. I mean, I'm talking to him, I just-" Sirius shook his head as if to clear it and turned to face James. "Prongs, I- well, I- that is, I think-"

"Is this about you fancying Moony?" James interrupted, blunt as ever.

Sirius' jaw dropped. "Does everyone already know?" he cried.

"I don't think Wormtail knows," James replied. "But you can never tell with him, the cagey bastard. I only figured it out for myself a few months ago."

"How?"

James rolled his eyes. "Do you think I'm thick or something?" he demanded.

"Yeah, sometimes. Ow!" Sirius rubbed his shoulder where James punched him.

"You're my brother, Pads. I notice things."

Sirius cast him a sidelong glance. "And do you mind?" he asked after a brief hesitation.

"I thought it was a bit weird at first," James admitted, studying his shoes. "More than a bit, actually. But I've had some time to get used to the idea. And… like I said, you're my brother. I don't care."

Sirius smiled, silent and grateful. Neither boy spoke for a long moment.

"What are you going to do now?" James asked eventually. "Are you going to talk to Moony about it?"

"Maybe. Eventually. I think." Sirius shrugged. "I don't know. Probably."

"It's great that you have such a brilliant plan," James said, a teasing grin on his face. "It must have taken you a really long time to work it out."

"Shut it, you," Sirius replied, though he couldn't help grinning as well. "At least I won't write him a poem like some people. You really are a girl, Prongs."

"You're one to talk," James said, smirking as he slid off the bed. "Speaking of which, I'd better go and deliver this poem to Evans. If you want my advice, you'll go and find Moony and tell him right away."

"Right, of course I'd want your advice. You've had such success with Evans," Sirius laughed, ducking away from James' half-hearted shove.

After a few more moments of their usual horseplay and insults, the door slammed shut behind James and the sound of his footsteps racing down the stairs soon faded away. Sirius breathed a sigh of relief. Things had gone extremely well with James, much better than Sirius ever would have expected. Now he just needed to decide what to do about Remus. Should he just tell Remus straightaway, or hint around the topic and try to gauge Moony's reaction? With Remus acting so skittishly around him all week, Sirius wondered if this might be the worst possible time to have such a discussion with him.

Sirius paced up and down the dormitory, deep in thought. Suddenly the sound of footsteps clomping up the stairs caught his attention. Thinking it was James, sulking because Lily had once again turned him down, Sirius flung open the door and poked out his head, a good-natured taunt already on his lips as he peered down the stairs.

"Moony?" he said in surprise.

Half-walking, half-stumbling up the stairs was Remus. He glanced up, blinking owlishly in the light of the torches on the walls. "Oh – hi, Pads," he murmured, half to himself. He swayed for a moment, clinging to the railing to remain upright before continuing his unsteady climb. Sirius hurried to his side and helped him ascend the last few steps.

"What's happened to you?" he demanded. He looked Remus over for any signs of injury as he pulled him into the room and kicked the door shut behind them. "Have you been hexed?"

"No," Remus laughed. And laughed and laughed. Then he wobbled and nearly sank down to his knees. Sirius caught him just in time.

"Moony!" he exclaimed. "You're drunk!"

"No, I'm not," Remus replied. "I'm topsy."

"You've been drinking without me," Sirius said, his tone a mixture of outrage and delight. "And I think you're more than tipsy, mate. You can barely stand up."

"Can too. Walked here, didn't I?" Remus snapped rather peevishly. "And I'm not tipsy. Topsy. I'm topsy because of Tipsy." A small crease formed between Remus' brows as he reconsidered this sentence. "No. I'm tipsy because of Topsy."

"What's Topsy?"

"House-elf. Wears a purple tea cosy."

"Ah. Wait, so a house-elf got you drunk?"

"No, Dumbledore did."

"Dumbledore!"

Remus nodded, but then the room shook along with his head, and he found himself clutching at Sirius' shirt so that he could remain on his feet. Sirius carefully guided Remus to his bed and gently sat him down before sitting beside him. When the room stopped spinning, Remus spoke again.

"He gave me coffee. With firewhiskey mixed in. More firewhiskey than coffee, though, I think. Must be why his eyes are always twinkling."

Sirius snickered. "What happened to the famous werewolf metabolism? I thought you couldn't get drunk."

"That's a myth."

"No wonder you never drink anything stronger than butterbeer."

Remus rolled his eyes. Mid-eye-roll, however, he found his attention drawn to Sirius. To his lips in particular, especially as they were now, smirking and looking very inviting. They made him want to say something. Or do something.

Sirius' lips, however, were now drawn into a thin, worried line as he watched his friend in concern. "All right, Remus?"

Remus did not answer. Spontaneity, he thought, recalling Dumbledore's words. I can be spontaneous, too.

"Moony?" Sirius said, the confusion evident in his voice.

Things suddenly moved very quickly. Still watching Sirius' lips, Remus leaned forward, misjudged the distance entirely, and sent his forehead crashing into Sirius' chin, which in turn sent Sirius flying off the bed with a shout.

Remus peeked over the edge of the bed and glimpsed Sirius sprawled on the floor, tenderly rubbing his chin and staring at Remus with wide, hopeful eyes.

"Sorry," Remus said, and promptly blacked out.

To be continued...