Chapter 3: Just you and me.

"Next round on me?" Peter stood up a little too eagerly, and staggered slightly against the table.

"Whoa there Worms, take it easy" laughed James. "I'd forgotten how the butterbeer gets to ya". Peter looked a little embarrassed.

"Nah, don't mind him Wormtail. I'm in for another round!" Sirius grinned and leaned back on the padded bench.

The three boys had gone to The Three Broomsticks right after shopping, which had taken all of ten minutes, and been there since. They were meeting the others there anyway, and Sirius had reasoned that it would be better for them to come early and hold a table. Besides, after bearing with the guys' insinuating remarks all afternoon, he needed a butterbeer or three to keep up his strength. The clock was nearing half past six. That meant Remus and Lily ought to have shown up nearly half an hour ago.

Sirius twisted his empty mug in his hands.

"Do you reckon Rosmerta'll let me have a firewhiskey?"

*

Meanwhile, Remus and Lily were making their way towards the pub. It was December 15th already, and the entire village was merrily lit and decorated for Christmas. Honeydukes had enchanted chocolate figures dancing in the windows, and outside Flourish & Blotts Christmas cards were bobbing up and down suggesting cozy messages for people to send to their loved ones.

"Lily?" said Remus, waving away a particularly eager card urging him to "send your best to grandma this holiday! With Flourish and Blotts' special holiday greetings!".

"What?"

Remus wrinkled his eyebrows. "You won't mention any of the stuff we talked about to…you know. I mean, it's between the two of us right?"

Lily smiled sweetly up at him. "Ofcourse! You know you can trust me..We're just meeting the guys for a butterbeer, that's all! My lips are sealed.." And then she took him by the arm and led him in through the doors of The Three Broomsticks.

*

James, Sirius and Peter were sitting in a corner by the windows, and Lily quickly made her way over while dragging Remus by the arm.

"Wotcher guys!"

"Hey love" James purred, and pulled her onto his lap, "Wondered where you'd gotten off to". He leaned in and whispered in her ear "I think Sirius might be getting a little tipsy, but I figured it couldn't really harm our case..". Lily giggled at her boyfriend and half-heartedly hit his shoulder.

"I knew I shouldn't have left you in charge here!" she playfully accused him, but was cut off by James' lips meeting hers.

"You guys! There OTHER PEOPLE HERE you know!" Sirus rolled his eyes at the lovey-dovey couple that used to be his best friend and arch enemy.

"Oh well…"

Then he suddenly noticed Remus. "Hey! What are you doing standing over there Moony? Come on, sit down, I won't bite…" He smirked. "Or maybe I'm not the one who should be worried?"

"Padfoot! Shut it, there's other people here..!" Remus whispered, and slid down next to Sirius.

In his hurry to quiet down his friend he didn't really notice how close they were until he'd sat down. His and Sirius' knees were touching, and their hands were right next to each other on the table. Of course, they were best friends and used to being close.. But somehow, now, it was different.

Sirius pushed his hair out of his eyes. He could feel the firewhiskey comfortably clouding his mind a little. He wasn't drunk...just not entirely, point-blank sober.

Then he felt Remus' knee touching his under the table. …Was that on purpose?

He noticed Remus' hand on the table too, right next to his own. He imagined what it would be like if he just moved his hand a couple of inches, and put it over the wolfs. Remus always had the softest skin. And pale. Almost girlish, come to think of it. He was quite slender too, not skinny, but not muscular like Sirius either. The dog had grown to tower over him in the past year or so.

"Sirius?"

"What?"

"Are you okay? You're kind of staring at my hand."

"Oh, right. Sorry. I mean, not sorry, I wasn't staring. I mean.. I was just thinking. I guess. Haha. Nothing special."

Was Sirius blushing? No, thought Remus, since when did Sirius Black get embarrassed?

He smiled at his friend. Sirius smiled back.

"Oh!" exclaimed James suddenly, with a dramatically surprised look on his face. "I forgot! I was supposed to...get that stuff for...a paper I'm writing! With Wormtail, right?"

Peter blinked, a little confused. "Right, yeah.."

Lily sighed. When was she going to learn that if you wanted something done right, you had to do it yourself! And certainly not leave it up to The Worst Actor Ever - formerly known as her boyfriend.

"You know, I was just going to remind you of it. We'd better go right now before the shops close!" she said, and started collecting her stuff. James quickly drained the rest of his butterbeer, and Peter put on his jacket.

"Right. We'll be back later, why don't you two just wait here? Shouldn't be more than an hour or something.. Remus, you could show Sirius that stuff we bought?" Lily casually added with a smile for Remus and Sirius. "Bye!"

And with that, the three youths disappeared out into the streets.

*

"So…" Remus said awkwardly. Why was this feeling so weird? He was alone with Sirius all the time! He looked over at his friend, and their eyes met. Did Sirius' eyes have a strange gleam to them?

Sirius bit his lip. So. He was suddenly alone with Remus. Who was looking cuter by the minute… Maybe this was the time he'd been waiting for? He smirked at his own thoughts. This was known territory. He had yet to try it with a werewolf though…

His lips curled in a half-smile. "Well then Moons. I guess it's just you and me."

-

Authors notes:

Sorry about dragging it out like this! I originally intended this to be a one-chapter thing, but Remus and Sirus apparently needed more time…

Anyway, I'm in the middle of my exams now, so the next chapter'll probably take a little longer! Hope you like the story so far, reviews (good and bad) are always welcome!

L