A/N: Chapter 2! I really like this one to be honest. So enjoy it, and don't forget to REVIEW.
Warnings: Swearing every now and then, and some mentions of sex. The usual really.
Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN HARRY POTTER! And the idea for the masks being attached to their faces till Midnight comes from SiRiUsLyPaDfOoTeD.
Love is Blind So We Wear Masks
Chapter Two: Plans
James, Peter and Sirius watched quietly as Gem and Lily exited the Great Hall to go after Remus. As soon as they were gone James turned and looked at Sirius with a nod.
"You're completely and utterly lovesick, mate, I can tell. You're acting just like I did whenever Lily ignored me."
Sirius raised an eyebrow, rolled his eyes and ran a hand through his longish black hair in an agitated way, then shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He remembered the times when Lily ignored James. He was never like that.
"No way I'm lovesick," He said sarcastically, "I never would have guessed! And by the way, I know how you were whenever Lily ignored you; you just messed up your hair even more and tried to talk to her again!"
James laughed, then shook his finger at him mockingly, "Oh come on don't be like that, I was just stating a fact. And by the way, I had my days when I felt like there was no hope left in the world, or any chance of me and Lily ever getting together. But hey! Now we're together, aren't we?" He waggled his eyebrows and smirked.
"Oh great, now you're stating facts about my oh so wonderful love life. Gee, thanks Prong!" He said with a glare.
He then slammed his head on the table a few times and groaned in irritation, "What the fuck am I going to do?"
Peter and James glanced at each other, both smiling mischievously and looking a lot like Gem and Lily, the same hint of knowing some big secret that no one else knew about on their faces.
James began to talk again, breaking in his acting skills a little bit, "Sirius look, this thing you've had for Remus has been going on for what like, two years right?"
Sirius never looked up and just kept his head on the table, showing no signs of even hearing what James had just said, until he sighed and gave a little nod.
"And – like I said earlier, you should really tell him about how you feel and all, at least by the end of the school year, or sooner, but…you should really try and do something to take your mind off him for now, even if it's just for a little while."
There was a slight pause, the echoing of everyone talking to their friends and shuffling around their things filling up the silence.
Sirius sat up slowly and looked at James questionably, wondering what James meant by the 'do something' part.
"And what do you have in mind for me to do?"
James looked at Peter, who had been quiet the entire time since Remus, Lily, and Gem left. Then signaled for him to talk.
"Well, we really think you should go to the Valentine's Day Masquerade," Peter said, smiling, "To just try and take your mind somewhere else for a night."
Sirius grimaced. He did not want to go to that ball, and now his friends were trying to force him into it, "You guys know I hate Valentine's Day."
"Yeah, that's why you need to go. You need to get over it sometime or later, and it needs to be soon," James said, in a sort of 'matter of fact' kind of tone.
"Annnd," He paused, looking a Peter then at Sirius again, "You need to at least try and meet someone new, and try with all your heart mind and soul, to forget about Remus."
Sirius felt a little jab of pain at the thought.
"I don't know, James...," He really didn't want to forget about Remus, he never did, and he did not want to even think about being with someone else but him. He knew it was far too late to fall in love again. Remus had his heart safely tucked away with him, and he really didn't think he'd get it back any time soon.
"Come on, Padfoot," Peter nudged him, as he came around and sat on the other side of him, "It'll be loads of fun, and even if you don't have fun, you can always just leave."
"Yeah!" James agreed, "At least give it a try, for an hour or so. And if you're not having a good time, then you can leave."
With a sigh, Sirius tiredly rubbed one of his eyes, then rested his head on his hand once more, considering the proposition his friends had made for him. His friends only meant well, and maybe he could just hang around with Gem or someone, since Remus said he wouldn't be there...
"Do you promise I can leave after an hour?"
James grinned, "If you're completely miserable you're free to ditch, we promise. You have my word," he put his hand on his heart, and the other raised in the air.
"And mine," Peter added, nodding in agreement and putting his hand over his heart as well, "Marauder's Oath."
With a final sigh of defeat, Sirius nodded, "Okay, I'll go..."
Even though he'd rather die than watch a bunch of couples dancing around in masks.
"You'll come?" Peter asked excitedly, "Sweet!"
"Yeah, I guess I could give it a try, it couldn't hurt..."
Maybe.
Just a little.
Flashing a large grin, James put an arm around Sirius and squeezed him hard around the shoulders, "That's the spirit mate! You'll have a great time, don't you worry!"
"Yeah, yeah...," he rolled his eyes once more, shrugging James off, "But I have just a tiny problem."
"And what's that?" Peter and James asked at the same time.
"Aren't you supposed to have some fancy costume or whatever? And don't you also have to have a matching mask that goes with it?"
"Yes," James replied, looking thoughtfully up at the ceiling for a moment.
Sirius pointed at himself, "I don't have a costume though, or a mask! It would be pointless to go to a masquerade without a mask or costume, wouldn't it?"
James laughed, slapping Sirius on the back, "Don't worry about that, I'll take care of it."
Sirius huffed, then slouched in his seat and crossed his arms. He was hoping that that excuse would've been enough to get him out of the whole thing. But of course, James would take care of the whole thing like he always did. Even though Sirius had no idea what-so-ever on how James would be able to get him a costume here at Hogwarts, in two days...he knew, somehow, that he'd be able to get it done.
"Alright so the ball starts at about 7 o 'clock on Saturday night. You'll have everything you'll need by then, Sirius. So we'll get dressed, meet up with Lily and Gem in the common room, and head down to the Great Hall where the whole thing's being held."
Sirius frowned, disappointed that Remus wouldn't be coming, "So Remus isn't coming, for sure?"
James and Peter looked at each other, with the same mischievous grins they had on earlier, then turned to Sirius
"No," they said, "I don't think he'll be there at all."
"So, are you guys ever going to tell me about this 'fool proof plan' of yours? Or am I just going to have to wait until the actual ball itself?" Remus asked the two girls who sat by him, grinning like Cheshire cats who knew the deepest darkest secrets of the universe, "You've only told me you're going to get Sirius to fall in love with me, but you haven't quite mentioned anything about how that's going to happen."
"Patience is a virtue, Remmie!" Gem smiled, childishly tapping him on the nose.
Sighing deeply, Remus closed his eyes, "Come on, you've been going on and on about telling me to trust you guys and all that, and I do. So tell me!"
Rolling her eyes, Gem got into a comfortable position on her chair, and looked at Remus.
"Okay!" she said, clapping her hands together, "The main part of this whole shindig is that you have to go to the Masquerade on Valentine's Day. Or else there is no plan, and no way of ever having this plan work. It all revolves around the Masquerade."
"Wait, hold on," Remus said, holding up his hands in a motion to stop, remembering something, "I thought Sirius wasn't even going to the ball anyways, right? I mean, if that's the whole point of the plan then how is it going to work if he's not there?"
"Don't worry about that," Lily smiled, gently patting his knee, "It's taken care of, and he'll be coming. Just worry about you, alright?"
Remus sighed and nodded, frowning, "Okay...but, I'm not a very good dancer or anything..."
Which was a total lie, because his parents made him take dance classes every summer until 5th year, and he was very good at it. Lily knew this, because he had talked about it before, many times in fact. And he had said how much he liked it.
She glared at him, "Remuuus, no lying. I know you know how to dance!"
Gem rolled her eyes again, and flicked a stray lock of black hair out of her line of vision.
"Remus, do you want Sirius or not? 'Cause if you don't, we can just drop the whole thing and forget all about it."
Both girls made moves to get up and leave. But as they stood up, Remus stopped them. He wanted Sirius more than anything, and if they knew a way to make it so he could, then he'd do anything they asked.
"No, wait!" He pleaded desperately, "Of – of course I want him, I love him...But I – I just don't know what to do, and it's frustrating...please, stay and help me? I've never wanted anything so badly in my life."
Gem and Lily smiled at each other once more, and turned around to sit by him again.
"Alright," they both said, "but you have to do what we say, okay?"
Remus swallowed thickly, wondering what the worst possible thing they'd make him do was, but he nodded, a bit nervously as a sign he accepted what they were proposing, "Okay, whatever will help me get Sirius."
A few moments after he said that, Gem jumped into his lap – causing him to yelp in pain – her hugging him tightly and squealing, "Squee! I knew you'd come around, Rem!"
Remus smiled grimly, "I could never say no to you guys," he muttered.
The statement very true, because it always seemed like whenever they asked something of him, he did it. He was actually the one who brought James the news that Lily wanted to go out with him, because she was too nervous to tell it to his face. He was also the one who helped Gem sneak down into Hogsmede one night even though he's a prefect, because her brother was at the Three Broomsticks with some of his friends and they wanted to hang out.
"Okay, back onto the subject of plans, before Remus starts to get pushy about that again," Lily said, sitting down by him and tucking her leg under her so the other one hung off the couch, "Do you think you could get a costume by Saturday night?"
Frowning, Remus shook his head, "I don't think so...I don't even know where to go and get one."
Gem suddenly conjured a quill, a bottle of ink, and a piece of parchment. She licked the tip of the fine quill, and began to write once she dipped it into some ink.
"Okaay. Coossstuumme," she said slowly as she spelled out the word, then crossed the 't' rather dramatically once she was done.
"But where will I -"
"Tomorrow's Friday, so we can go down to Hogsmeade after classes, and then we'll go to Madame Malkins' tailor shop and get you a proper costume and mask there," Lily said, looking at Gem's list as she wrote down a few more things, "so what are your measurements?"
"But I don't even think I have enough money -"
"I'll take care of it! Don' choo worry 'bout that, love," Gem said in a weird accent, waving him off about the matter.
"Gem really, you don't have to do that, it would cost way too much -"
"Shushy!" Gem glared, sticking her quill into his mouth, causing him to splutter and cough out a few bits of feather, "It's my money, I can do what I want with it. And if I want to buy you a costume for the ball, Mr. Cinderella, I sure as hell will!...now, what did you say your measurements were?"
Remus blushed, then growled in defeat as he told her his measurements, irritated that Lily and Gem were being so mysterious, that Gem shoved her quill into his mouth, and that he had been cut off so many times in the middle of a sentence in just a few short minutes.
"Okay," he sighed, after Gem and Lily wrote down a few more things, most likely details about how they wanted the costume to look, "but nothing too expensive."
Gem and Lily rolled their eyes.
"Okay, so on Saturday night, we'll get ready, and go down to the Great Hall together where the dance is being held at about 7 o 'clock. Once we step inside, our masks will be magically attached to our faces until Midnight.
"You'll go find Sirius, and ask him to dance with you, very politely and mysterious-like. If you do that right, then it should do the trick and he'll be sucked right in. Then, throughout the night, you have to be romantic, sexy, blah blah blah, all that stuff we mentioned earlier," Lily said.
Then the rest was picked up by Gem, "And you have to flirt with him, but nothing cheesy or too over the top. And if all else goes well, by Midnight, he'll be head over heels in love with you. You'll reveal yourself, and you'll get your happy ending!"
Remus reddened somewhat at the mention of his 'other side', but nodded.
"What if he recognizes me, though? And what if he doesn't recognize me at first, falls 'in love' with me, then when I remove my mask he doesn't want me anymore?" He asked sadly.
"Remus..." Gem frowned.
"Rem, he is going to fall in love with you. And he will want you when you take off your mask and sees it's you. The whole point of this Masquerade really, is to show that love is blind. That's why everyone will wear a mask."
Remus released a shaky breath and nodded slowly, "Okay..."
"And, he's not going to recognize you, I've thought ahead and got everything worked out, you'll see." Gem winked, smiling at him sincerely.
"Do you trust us on this one, Remus?" Lily asked, holding his hand in a friendly way, and squeezing it.
Remus smiled back at the two of them, "Yes...I trust you."
The next day Lily, Gem and James met up at Madame Malkins' shop after lessons, with Remus' and Sirius' sizes and measurements.
The 3 had gotten there early, and told Peter to go and keep the two 'love birds' busy while they sorted everything out. And that they'd meet them at the Three Broomsticks once they were done.
Remus knew where they were, but Gem and Lily said that it was best he didn't come, because they were keeping it a secret that he would be going to the masquerade tomorrow.
"Are you sure she'll be able to get the costumes ready by tomorrow night?" James asked Lily and Gem, as Madame Malkins took the information they gave her to the back of the shop to copy it down.
The two of them nodded, "Oh yeah," Gem said, Lily adding in, "No problem at all."
"She's really good, and really fast, she'll have them to us a few hours before it's time to get ready," Gem grinned, "or maybe even earlier, she's amazing."
James rubbed the back of his neck, and sighed, "Alight, but what if this doesn't work? You know, getting them together?" He frowned, "What if something goes wrong?"
Lily glanced at Gem, who was frowning as well, then looked back at her boyfriend. She could clearly see how worried he was about his two best friends. In all honesty, she was a little worried too. Gem was the one who had first came up with the idea of getting them together, when she found out how both of them liked each other. And after much persuasion, she finally got all of them to help with the plans.
Lily knew Gem was very smart, and knew what she was doing...most of the time anyways, but trusted her enough to know that at least they had a good chance of making it all work out. Because she, and everyone else wanted Remus and Sirius to be together maybe as much as they wanted to be together.
"Don't worry, love," she smiled, kissing him on the cheek, "It'll be fine."
James smiled, and pecked her on the lips, "Alright, I trust you. Both of you," he looked at Gem, and kissed the back of her hand.
"Oh, James," Gem batted her eyelashes and pretended to blush, "You flatterer, you!"
Laughing, all three of them hugged, Madame Malkins coming out a moment later with the bill, "Okay, I'll have them done by tomorrow morning, and I'll owl them to you." She smiled as Gem and James paid her.
"Thanks so much," they said, Gem and Lily adding in, "You're a life saver!"
Madame Malkins laughed and winked, "I do it all the time."
The three waved goodbye, and said thanks again, then walked out to meet Sirius, Remus and Peter at the Three Broomsticks.
"Hey! Where were you guys?" Sirius smiled widely, apparently happy because he was sitting by Remus very closely, "We ordered up some butter beer and fire whiskey!"
They took seats by their three other friends, and grabbed bottles of the two drinks, "We were just looking around at some stuff," Gem said, winking at them, "last minute Masquerade items."
Sirius rolled his eyes, completely uninterested as the rest of them began to talk about what tomorrow night might be like.
The six of them left late that night, laughing, and joking around with each other, like they always did ever since they were kids.
Sirius and Remus pushed each other, and played around, until Remus ended up chasing Sirius all the way up to the castle, laughing the whole way.
Lily and Gem ran after them, alongside James and Peter and watched the two 'pups' tackle one another, and start to play fight, ending with Sirius straddling Remus and shouting in victory.
"So, do you guys think this'll work?" Peter asked, looking at Sirius and Remus then back at his other friends.
The three of them smiled, then James looked over at Peter, putting an arm around Lily and Gem, who were on both sides of him, "Yeah...I think it's going to work."
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