Chapter 2

After that night, Remus and Severus became colleagues. Not friends, but not enemies either. The type of people who would acknowledge the existence of the other and greet each other in turn in passing. James and Sirius obviously started to make fun of Remus and his new "bestie", as Peter would call him. They said he was becoming friends with the enemy. Of course, it was all in jest. The four of them had always joked on each other, and when the subject of the joking became Snivellus, how were James and Sirius to resist.

One thing was for sure, it was useless to try protesting the jokes in defense of Severus. He seemed to be the only Marauder who didn't hate Snape. For him, he was just like any other boy, he might even go so far as to say Severus was sweet. On his own certain way. That, of course, was something Remus would and should probably keep to himself but if he let his mind wander a little more, Remus would say he was also intriguing, always so careful with his words. Smart, clearly. Mysterious. Loads of mystery.

Remus caught himself thinking about Severus at dinnertime, when the others started to eat, leaving the werewolf to think. That night they had had the longest conversation since they met. He was honestly surprised about how well they got along and began to think that maybe it was worth a shot to become friends with Severus Snape.

A friend. A new friend perhaps, but that was all. Sometimes Remus had to take care of how he saw boys around him. He couldn't lie to himself anymore; of course he was into boys too. Romantically. Or maybe only specific boys. His admiration for Sirius physique (and his brilliant mind) was undeniable anymore. Unfortunately, Remus thought they were too close for something to happen. Therefore, his admiration for boys was required to be turned into something platonic… for now.

For one moment, he let his mind wonder about Severus and his chances – already thinking about taking chances, Moony? – with the Slytherin. Probably scarce, he sighed, biting into a juicy green apple. It was no secret anymore who got Severus' attention. Severus' friendship with Lily would probably be something more if it was in the black haired boy's hands, but it was more than obvious that Lily was in total control. In thinking about boys, Remus often came to the opinion that "he's probably straight" and with Severus it wasn't any different. Oh, well, maybe it was worth a shot? After all, his curiosity about kissing boys was only growing stronger inside of him. Yeah, it was worth it.

The Marauders gathered their things together, putting their mail into their bags and packages over their shoulders, and walked out of the Great Hall. The rest of the day kept Remus busy; he went to his classes with his friends, had lunch with them and even spent some time hanging around in the Common Room, shooting the breeze. In the afternoon, the Marauders went to their History of Magic class. Sirius and James exchanged notes under the table, Peter almost fell asleep and Remus, the only one o the four who bothered paying attention to class. He noticed one other student paying attention to the lecture and his light brown eyes wandered about the boy's features.

Snape was sitting a couple seats in front of him, looking up straight at Professor Binns. He was clearly bored out his mind; nevertheless, he paid attention to the class. Remus decided he liked Severus hair. So black, straight, to his shoulders and a nice cut. It would be nice if he washed it daily but either way, he just liked it. Why in the earth was he thinking about Severus' hair in the first place? He shook his head to clear his thoughts and looked back at the professor.

When the class was over, the students made their way to the corridor. On Severus' way out, a sudden interruption by James led to all of the books tumbling to the floor. James and Sirius left Severus there, staring at the pile of books and pages, all the while laughing at him. Severus cursed under his breath and leaned to gather his books. He considered casting a real curse at James' back when someone else approached and knelt to the floor to help him.

"You wanna watch out, James is in a very good humor today," Remus said with a small smile on his face.

"Potter is begging for it, Lupin. I swear…"

"You can call me Remus. If you want."

There was a moment of silence when they both stood up, looking at each other. It was hard to read the emotions and thoughts on Severus' face but Remus could tell that Severus himself was very good at reading people and he seemed to be reading Remus' thoughts right now, making the other boy look away for an instant, a bit uncomfortable.

"Sure," said Severus.

"I was wondering…" Remus moved one foot behind the other, a bit too shy to finish his sentence on the first try. He looked at the ground a moment before moving his eyes back to Severus'. "…if you'd like to get together. For studying," he quickly added.

Severus arched his eyebrows in surprise. That he didn't see that coming.

"Um…okay," he said a bit confused. "Sure." He said right after it, more sure of himself.

Remus smiled widely and nodded.

"Agreed. But hey, the library, it's quite full these days, wanna study in somewhere else?"

"Like, where?" Severus said casually.

"I don't know…maybe outside? Sometimes I sit under a tree and it's really quite peaceful to study there."

"Are you sure about this? I mean, what would your friends say?" he scoffed, looking in other direction.

"It's none of their business."

They locked eyes for a moment, a special moment. Both trying to figure the other one out.

"See you at the front door after classes?" Remus finally asked, before he could start blushing.

"Deal. Bye."

"Bye…Severus," Remus whispered under his breath.