The next two days consisted of the continued hype of the ball. Those who did not yet have a date scrambled to find one at the last minute.

James was estatic and it was all due to Lily saying she'd go with him for sure. Remus and Frank continued to spend all of their free time together. Frank even assumed the role of walking Remus to his classes and carrying his books for him. He even held open doors for him. Remus thought he was acting very much the gentleman, and was surprised at the amount of attention Frank gave him. If he hadn't known any better, he would have thought that Frank fancied him.

Sirius did not appreciate the fact that Remus was almost never without Frank by his side. He hoped that he could catch him alone so that he could talk to him. But that was almost entirely impossible, not only because of Frank, but also because Alice had interpreted going to the ball with him as also being his girlfriend. Therefore, she was constantly around him, more than usually. Sirius was beginning to regret asking her to the ball. However, whenever he saw Remus and Frank laughing together and paying no one else any mind, he pulled Alice over within Remus' peripheral vision. He would then proceed to tell the most stupidest jokes, but Alice laughed at them anyway, so desperate to impress him. He would steal glances at Remus to see if he was jealous, only to find that Remus hadn't even noticed, or that he had left with Frank.

The mauraders still ate meals together, although they now included Frank and Alice. James would usually dominate the conversation, while Peter agreed with him and Sirius and Remus ignored each other. At one point the tension in the air between them was so much so that James leaned over to his best friend and said, "Mate, you two are killing me with giving each other the cold shoulder. What exactly is going on between you guys?"

Sirius tried to act nonchalantly as he replied, "Nothing, Prongs. Absolutely nothing."

James didn't believe him for a second but had decided to drop it anyway.

It was the night before the ball and the excitement in the Gryffindor common room was as strong as ever. James was talking about the next day with Lily, Peter had been pushed into a corner by Mary Anne and was being lectured on how he should dress for tomorrow evening, Remus and Frank were sitting by the fire next to each other and discussing their plan in hushed whispers, and Sirius sat not too far away from them, listening to Alice drone on about her dress while he kept his attention on Remus. Soon, he grew tired of hearing her so he excused himself. He started over to where James was perched but then haulted halfway there, witnessing something that made his heart stop and his blood boil. Frank had just reached out and took Remus' hand in his own. Pissed but at the same time hurt, Sirius decided to change directions and marched up to them. They both looked up at him and Frank let go of Remus' hand. Unsure of what he was going to say, he stood there for a moment looking and feeling rather foolish. The other two boys continued to stare up at him as he fumbled over words in his head. He imagined how stupid he must look just standing there. Finally he managed to say something.

"Can I talk to you alone?" He gestured to Remus.

Remus looked at Frank and back at Sirius.

'Could he be thinking of apologizing?' Remus thought, or rather hoped.

"You've got five minutes", he said.

Sirius nodded and he led him out of the portrait hole and into the deserted corridor.

They stood there for three mintues in silence as Sirius pondered over what he was going to say. He wanted to tell Remus how much he missed him, how it hurt to not be with him, and how he wished he could be taking him to the ball instead of Alice.

Remus sighed. He wished Sirius would just say something. The silence made him unfomfortable.

'I wonder what he's thinking. Could he be ready to say it? Ready to finally say he loves me? Because if he says it, I can call off this whole plan and then we can go to the ball together. Oh please say it, Sirius, please say you love me.'

But Sirius made no attempt to speak. Remus shifted and sighed again.

"You have two more minutes."

He wasn't really counting the minutes, he just wanted to push Sirius to talk, to say something.

Sirius wanted to express his thoughts, to let Remus know how much he needed him, but his pride got the better of him and soon words came tumbling out of his mouth, words that he didn't even mean to say.

"What do you think you're doing holding his hand?"

Remus looked affronted. He raised his eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"Why was he holding your hand?"

In truth, it was only a simple innocent gesture. Frank had only held his hand becasue Remus was upset and worried that the plan wouldn't work, he was trying to console him. However, Remus did not tell this to Sirius. He wanted to hear exactly what Sirius had to say about this, so he egged him on.

"Why does that matter?"

Sirius felt his mouth betraying his mind. He knew he shouldn't be taking it this far, but he couldn't stop his mouth.

"What, are you going to kiss him too? Or have you already done that and are planning on sucking him off like you did to me? Are you going to let him fuck you and take your virginity? I bet you are, you're just a slut."

As soon as the words left his mouth he wanted to grab a hold of them before Remus heard them and shove them back down his throat. But it was too late.

Remus flinched. The words pierced his skin like a sharp snakebite. The poisonous words seeped through his pores and into his bloodstream, reaching his heart and causing it to pump slower. His breathing was constricted. His muscles seemed paralyzed. Tears started to swell in his eyes.

How could Sirius say that? How could his words be so harsh, so cold? Why would he want to hurt Remus like this?

He looked at Sirius and was at lost for words, so he did the next best thing to show him of how he was feeling; he slapped him hard across the face with a force that left a ringing in Sirius' ears.

Remus disappeared into the common room leaving Sirius rubbing his cheek and cursing himself.