(A/N: Sorry about the delay! I've been a little bust lately with school and all.

And as a side note, incase you were confused or something, time in the story has elapsed since the last chapter. :P )

It was almost time for breakfast and Remus could barely get out of bed. He was so tired, he barely slept at all last night due to a snogging session he and Sirius had that lasted well into the early hours of the morning. He struggled to put on his clothes, as James, Peter and Sirius were already clothed and waiting for him. He had no idea how Sirius had the energy to be ready on time

"Come on Moony! We're not going to have enough time to eat if you keep going at this rate." James said irritably.

'Why was he in such a bad mood? At least he got to sleep last night.' Remus thought as he apologized and threw on his shirt.

"Hey, don't get your knickers in a twist Prongs, Moony's just tired." Sirius defended him.

Remus gave him a soft smile, as if to say thanks.

James sighed. "You're right. Sorry Remus."

"It's okay." He said. 'He must be stressed out about Lily.'

Once he had finished dressing, they started towards the Great Hall.

Breakfast went as usual, except for when Headmaster Dumbledore stood in front of the head table. He cleared his throat and the chatter in the hall fell silent.

"Good morning everyone. I just have a quick announcement to make. As many of you are aware, it is February and St. Valentine's Day is just around the corner. I feel we should do something different this year to celebrate the festivities, so I am proud to announce that we will be holding a Valentine's Day Ball." The hall was at once filled with excited voices.

Dumbledore cleared his throat loader. "Quiet down please!"

The noise died away again as the students looked up at him.

"The ball will take place here, in the Great Hall, in the evening, and will include music, dancing, and good fun. There will be a feast before the ball begins. Please remember that you must wear formal attire, and bring a date, because it is a Valentine's Ball after all." He smiled brightly at them. "Have a wonderful day!"

'Well this should be fun.' Thought Remus as he heard James groan.

"Lily will never go with me!" He said, exasperated.

Sirius looked sympathetically at him.

"Look mate, all you have to do is tell her how much you like her, and tell her why you like her. Girls like that."

Remus thought that was a good idea. But not only girls would like that, he knew he would really like to hear why Sirius liked him.

"Do you really think it will work?" James asked, almost desperate at this point.

"Maybe. It's worth a shot," Sirius told him.

"Yeah, maybe…" James said as he glanced at Lily while they stood up to leave for their classes.

The morning seemed to zoom by as everybody was in good spirits, gossiping and talking about the upcoming ball. Well, actually, it was the girls who were mostly talking about it; the boys were finding it hard to be excited while nervously deciding how to ask someone to go. Remus, however, was very excited. It was a chance to dance and have fun with Sirius, to go on a formal date. Not to mention, Sirius could finally show him off as his boyfriend to the whole school, so that obsessive girls could stop chasing him.

Alice had been continuously stalking Sirius, always managing to show up when Remus wanted to be alone with him. She was getting under his skin, and it was becoming harder to be polite. And Sirius wasn't helping matters much. He was always so friendly to her, maybe sometimes a little too friendly, which worried Remus. He never asked if Sirius was gay or bisexual, but he had a feeling he was the latter. Not that it was a bad thing; he was just worried that a girl might come along who would interest Sirius more than him? Somehow he never thought about another bloke taking Sirius from him, it was just the girls that bothered him. And what if it was Alice who stole his boyfriend? Sometimes Remus thought that he was being way too jealous, that he should have more faith in Sirius, but sometimes it was hard to control what he felt. Especially when Sirius obviously didn't want their relationship to be known. He had never actually told Remus that, but it was clear when he never told anyone about their relationship, not even James, who was his best friend, or when he never showed him any physical affection in public, except for when nobody could see or when nobody was paying attention. Something that also bothered Remus was the fact that Sirius had not said those three words to him yet. Of course it may have been too soon for the L-word for they had only been dating for 3 weeks now, but Remus was already in love with him. In fact, he had even said, "I love you" to him one night while they were alone. Sirius had been quiet for a moment before grinning and saying, "How could you not love me?" At the time, Remus didn't think much of it, but it had been on his mind lately.

'I don't know, maybe I'm thinking about it too much. Maybe I should just forget about it, and stop worring so much.'

Remus was walking to his next class, Arithmacy, which the other Marauders did not have. He was almost there when he heard someone call his name.

"Remus! Hey Remus!"

'Oh no, please not her…' he thought as he pretended not to hear her and continued walking. However, Alice caught up to him and he was forced to stop.

"Hi Remus."

"Hello Alice."

Alice was a Gryffindor, in the same year, and was friends with Lily. She was very pretty, and most of the blokes fancied her. It was easy to see why. Not only was she good looking, but also she was popular, funny, and smart.

"Sorry for bothering you, but I was wondering, since you are Sirius' mate and all, if he had a girlfriend?"

Remus wanted to tell her that he had a boyfriend and it happens to be him, but he knew Sirius would be unhappy with him if he told anyone.

"No, he does not have a girlfriend. But he does fancy someone."

Her face instantly brightened.

"Oh! Do you know who he fancies?" She asked.

'Yeah, me.'

"No, he won't tell." He lied. "Look, I'm going to be late for class, so I ought to be going."

"Oh, yes, sorry," She said. "Thanks Remus."

"You're welcome," he said as he started towards his class, glancing over his shoulder, watching her nearly skip down the corridor with glee. He suddenly had an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach.

(A/N: How do you like it so far? What would you do if you were in Remus' shoes? )