"I'm telling Lily today," James announced as he walked into the common room. Remus and Sirius were gawking at him from the couch, Remus's eyes actually leaving his book. In a large chair sat Peter and a defensive spell book, both also in shock.
"About your snoring habits? I was wondering when you would tell her," Sirius commented.
"No. I'm telling her my big secret," James growled.
"You wouldn't!" Sirius was growling back. Remus chuckled to himself, imagining the two fighting in their animagus forms. In his mind, Sirius would win hands down, unless James attempted to gore him with the antlers.
"Not that one either. The other one. Lily and Me." James whispered.
"I can't hear you!"
"I'm confessing my undying love for her!" James shouted. Sirius had done as he intended. Two first years walking by looked fairly scared by James's comment and left the room.
"Oh. That secret." Sirius grinned, his eyes drifting to read Remus's book over his shoulder.
"You guys are staying here tonight. All night. And when I get back, I'm going to have Lily madly in love with me. I may not even come back at all!" James had on his devilish smirk.
"Alright. Have fun," Remus commented. James left the common room in a triumphant state, thinking he was about to have the best date ever.
"I don't think it's going to work. Do you?" Peter questioned, unsure of him yet again.
"It won't. Evans won't be able to tolerate him for a whole day." Sirius commented, shifting his weight to pull a fake golden snitch out of his pocket. It didn't match up to the fun James's real one provided, but it kept Sirius entertained long enough.
The three sat in a bored silence, Remus with his nose in his book, Peter staring idly out the window. Sirius was throwing the snitch back and forth between his hands, not really having much else to occupy his mind. He caught himself eyeing Remus as the sandy-haired boy read. Sirius didn't realize just how distracted he was until he dropped his toy on the ground. Remus laughed quietly at this, causing Sirius to frown.
"Are you laughing at me, Remus?" Sirius questioned, his face red. Remus blushed too, closing his book.
"Wha? Eh, no. I was laughing at a line in this book." Remus smiled, his eyes jumping from Sirius to his closed book and back.
"Well…read it to us!" Sirius's face revealed his excitement over such a simple task. Remus groaned.
"If you insist." He opened up and flipped through a few pages, finding it again with ease. "It's been said that when a boy says he loves you, he truly means it if and only if there's a sparkle in his eyes."
"That's funny?" Peter asked.
"Hey, Moony, do my eyes sparkle when I say it?" Sirius questioned, causing Lupin to blush.
"I don't know. I've never really noticed." Remus kept his eyes solely on the page.
"Look up," Sirius commanded. Remus did as was told, only slightly clueless to what Sirius was about to say. "I love you." Sirius grinned, saying it as quickly as possible. More passing first years were suddenly terrified. Even Peter pretended to look the other way.
"Nope. No sparkles," Remus answered, laughing.
"Damn." Sirius cursed, inching closer. "Well, love confessions don't really mat…Wait! Idea! Idea!" Like a little wind-up toy, Sirius repeated the phrase over and over until a light whack on the head from a certain good-tempered werewolf knocked some sense into him.
"What's the idea?" Peter was suddenly involved, sitting cross-legged on the floor, parallel to the couch.
"Let's help Prongsie out with his date. Peter, you're going to tell Lily before James gets to her about Moony's findings. Then when James is about to confess, we add a little sparkle to his eyes." Sirius's own eyes were glimmering, a smirk lighting up his face.
"Sirius, James would not appreciate that at all. He would probably kill you." Remus commented, his nose back in his book.
"Aw, but Moony, it would be so fun. It'll prove he loves her once and for all!" Sirius was standing now, performing a small dance of hopping foot to foot. Peter applauded him quietly. Remus was outnumbered yet again.
"I'm not going to help. I am going to sit here and read."
"Moooooony." Sirius whined. "Please help us! We're desperate! You're so brilliant! We can't do this without you!" Sirius was on his knees in front of Remus, hands clasped. The boy was begging.
"Fine. But if James asks, it's all your fault." Dismissively, Remus set his book down. Sirius grinned.
"Anything you say, Moony." Remus didn't trust the smirk on Sirius's face at all. The last time he had seen that smirk had resulted in four detentions and one very angry Snape.
"Alright, then! Moony and I are going to fetch the ladder and you're going to go tell Lily about the idea before James finds her." Sirius said to Peter, who was nodding eagerly in agreement. "So go get her, Wormtail!" Peter dashed off on command on through the portrait, leaving Remus and Sirius in the common room.
"What are we going to do for the next hour while Peter and James both find Lily? You didn't think this all the way through, did you? Their date will last at least a few hours. What are we supposed to do through all that time?" Remus closed his book, ignoring the growing smirk on Sirius's face.
"Remus, where do they keep the ladders here?" Sirius asked, turning towards Remus before joining him on the couch.
"Sirius," Remus sighed, "you don't even know where they keep the la-oh." Remus paused, setting his book down. It was also at that moment in which he discovered Sirius's face inches from his own. "You know, you do have some clever moments. Which broom closet is it?"
"Ninth floor," Sirius leaned in, about to close the gap, but Remus put the book between them instead.
"I think we've scared enough first years." Remus stood up off the couch, leaving the book where his body had just been.
"Let's just hope no one else has a need for a ladder today."
Zzz
"Find Lily. Find Lily. Find Lily." Peter repeated to himself continuously. "Tell her exactly what Remus said, get her to believe it, then let Sirius do the rest. Don't get seen by James. Don't let James know what Remus found out. Wait… what was it that Remus wanted me to tell her? Something about sparkles? Great, I've forgotten." Peter sighed, turning back towards the Gryffindor common room. "I'll just find Remus and get him to tell me again what I'm supposed to know."
There was no Remus in the common room or in the library, and there definitely was no Remus in the Great Hall. There was however a very delicious turkey dinner that caused Peter to cease his searching. He'd find Remus after dinner.
Zzz
"'ello, Alice," Sirius waved to Lily's friend. Alice looked at him, terribly confused. Seeing two boys leaving a broom closet with disheveled hair, untucked shirts and a ladder was not a common experience.
"Hi, Black. Hi, Lupin. Planning to sabotage Lily and James's date? If you are, then you don't have much time left. They left the Three Broomsticks when I did. I think James said something about wanting to take her on a stroll through the grounds." Alice informed. Remus and Sirius exchanged glances, Remus more worried about trouble than about going through with this.
"Thank you, Alice. We best be on our way. The grounds, you say? Any particular spot?" Sirius pried, starting to move with the ladder in his hands.
"I'd try beneath the Astronomy Tower. The cute, little stone courtyard." Alice grinned. "And don't say I said any of this. Say you heard it from Narcissa or something. Just pick someone you don't like." She waved, hurrying off in the opposite direction of the boys. Remus stepped quickly behind Sirius, holding up the other end of the ladder.
"Sirius, we're not really going to go through with this, are we? James would kill us. Lily could never speak to him again or we could fall off the ladder and crush one of them…"
"Remus, relax." Sirius turned his head to stare at Remus for a second. "Everything will go well."
"We left Peter in charge of telling her. Peter! I say he will completely forget at the first distraction. You put way too much faith in him." Remus scowled, moving the ladder slightly so the front half got dangerously close to Sirius's face.
Sirius simply laughed. "Someone's a little jealous of my attention to Peter."
"I am not!" Remus felt his face going red though.
"Moony, I love you. Remember that. "Sirius grinned at him, his eyes sparkling. Remus smiled back with amusement.
"You meant it."
"Of course I did. Now let's get this outside. James and Lily should be as happy as we are."
Remus maneuvered the ladder through the hidden door Sirius had gone through only moments before, the crisp autumn air hitting his face with welcome. He could just barely see Sirius ahead of him in the twilight.
"Sirius, where does that door lead? I don't recognize where we…"
"Shh… we're here." Sirius smirked, setting up the ladder and ascending up it. "Did you bring that torch?"
"Yes, but I don't really think you need it," Remus ascended behind him, his face very close to Sirius's kneecap.
"You'll see, Grasshopper."
"Grasshopper? Sirius…"
"Shh! Lily and James ahoy!" Sirius grinned. Indeed, Lily and James were walking their way, Lily's hair and James's glasses both shining even in the dim light.
"So, have you enjoyed today?" James asked. Remus noted that they were holding hands and Lily was even smiling.
"For the most part. I'm surprised that you haven't talked about your little friends or Quidditch yes. I'm pretty impressed." Both of them laughed, going silent afterwards.
"Lily, I've wanted to tell you this for a very long time. I'm so happy to be with you and I just wanted to let you know that I…"
"Showtime," Sirius whispered. He flicked on the torch, succeeding in blinding everyone in the surrounding area.
"What the…?" James started. "Sirius!"
"What?" Lily questioned, shielding her eyes from the light.
"Go on, James. We're trying to help you sparkle," Sirius grinned. Remus wanted to fall off the ladder and go crawl behind the nearest bush. James was going to personally kill all of them very, very slowly.
James, instead of killing Remus, turned to Lily and whispered something in her ear. Lily nodded, taking off towards an entrance to the castle. "Sirius… Remus… and Peter, wherever he is, what the fuck were you thinking?"
"It's all Remus's fault, really!"
"Fuck you, Sirius." Remus scowled, taking off for the castle as well. But instead of walking, he fell two feet onto the hard ground, kicking the ladder in the process. Sirius lost his balance, his body falling on top of Remus's. James could only laugh.
"I don't want to know. I will leave you two to untangle yourselves while Lily and I go up to the dormitories. I'll leave some blankets outside the door for you." James then followed his girlfriend into the castle.
Remus wanted to say 'please don't make me sleep on the couch' or 'isn't it a little soon, James?' but all that escaped his mouth was "Mph." He lightly shoved Sirius's body off of his, Sirius hitting the ground with a groan. Remus began sitting up, rubbing the spot on his knee where his body made contact with the Earth. Sirius had yet to move.
"Sirius?"
"No one likes me, Remus. No one at all." Sirius said into the grass.
"I do. Now, come on and get up."
"I'm seeing stars, Remus. Is that normal?"
"You just temporarily blinded four people. I'm fairly certain it is." Sirius sat up at this, rubbing his head and attempting to rid his face of dirt.
"Thank you, Moony. Did I hear that James and Lily have the room tonight?" Remus stood up, pulling Sirius with him.
"You did. Which means…"
"Exactly. We should have some time before Peter gets back from dinner."
"Are you sure?"
"I have much faith in Peter."
"Even though he didn't tell Lily."
"We don't know that," Sirius defended.
"Yes, we do. And are we going to put the ladder back?"
Sirius grinned. "Of course. The broom closet is calling us, Remus."
A/N 2: Reviews are wonderful, just like constructive criticism. Flames, however, are awful and will not be accepted.