number six: what love?
"You love her, don't you?" Sirius asked from where he was seated on his bed, watching Remus as he watched James, Lily, and Severus.
"It was only a dance. It meant nothing." Remus left his post at the window and walked over to his bed. "I'm only twelve. I can't know what love is…" he trailed off. He looked down at his hands and felt his wand, wanting more than ever to be able to do some sort of grand magic scheme and get the girl.
Sirius shrugged. "James seems to know what love is. He loves Lily. Severus, too. Severus loves Lily, too."
The other boy shook his head but said nothing more. Nothing more needed to be said. Three students of the ages of eleven and twelve were all in love with the same girl and she couldn't care less about any of them. The reality hit hard.
number seven: what meeting?
It wasn't until around the middle of their fifth year of Hogwarts that Remus finally decided to ask Lily out on a date. James had asked her at least once a week, every week since they had started attending the school so he felt like he had no chance when he asked but he decided to anyways. With a quick reminder to himself not to make too much of a fool of himself, Remus gulped down another cup of pumpkin juice and walked down to Lily and a few of her friends at the end of the Gryffindor table.
He tapped her on the back of her shoulder, causing her to turn to face him. "Can we talk?" he asked her quietly. She gave him a slight nod and motioned to her friends that she would be back soon.
Remus cautiously took her hand and walked her out of the Great Hall to a hallway with only students who were rushing to get to breakfast on time. It was quiet but as he passed his friend James Potter, he saw a scowl across his face.
Once they were in the hallway, Remus let go of Lily's hand. "I've liked you since we were first years," he admitted, trying to avoid her eyes. "And there's a Hogsmeade weekend coming up soon. I was wondering if you'd like to go with me? On a date?" He reached behind his head with his hand and scratched at his hair.
Cautiously, the boy looked up and in to the girl's eyes. She was smiling. "I'd love to. Meet me in the common room before breakfast and we'll make a day out of it."
"Sure," Remus answered. After he nodded, the girl had skipped out of his view back in to the Great Hall.
number eight: what fight?
James was fuming. After he had seen Remus take Lily out of the Great Hall with the determined yet nervous look on his face, he could only assume what was going on and the small frown on Sirius's face showed him that his guess was nothing short of accurate.
After classes had ended for the day and quidditch practice had been cancelled because of rain, the boy went back to his dorm room, determined to get back at that Lupin kid for all he was worth. They had been the best of friends alongside with Peter and Sirius. And besides, you didn't even have to be friends with James to know that he was absolutely in love with Lily Evans. Even the Hufflepuffs, who stayed out of the business of Gryffindors as much as possible, knew. It was the least secretive secret out there.
And so, Remus was going to pay.
James had not been surprised to see that Remus was already back to the dorm when he reached it. Remus was always in the dorm or on the grounds and since it was raining, the grounds were not somewhere where he would be voluntarily.
"You asked my girl out," James said, getting straight to the point.
Remus shrugged his shoulders. "She kept saying no to you. She said yes to me on the first try. Besides, you knew that I am in love with her too. Just like you know that Severus loves her." Remus picked up his potions book from the side of his bed and put it in his lap with a pile of parchment and his quill and ink so that he could begin homework. Before he even had the chance to open his book, however, James had his wand out and was lifting the ink up above Remus' head by way of wingardium leviosa.
Another spell removed the bottle's cap and a third tipped the bottle over on top of Remus' head.
Lupin looked at the other boy with pure shock written across his face. "What was that for, Potter?" He took his wand out of his pocket and cleaned his hair off before it had the chance to get on to his robes. Once clean, he closed his book with a loud slam and lept up on his bed.
"This isn't about me asking out the girl that you like and you know it," he said, walking closer and closer to James and he spoke. "This is about her agreeing to go out with me while she's turned you down over two hundred times." He walked out of the room and as he passed James, he made sure to slam their shoulders together. "I'm going to the library while you cool down."
number nine: what date?
He had picked her up in the Gryffindor common room and they had gone to breakfast in the Great Hall together. They had walked the distance to Hogsmeade together, trying their best to ignore the fact that James was following them the entire way. And after a quick round to all of the shops, they had ended up in The Three Broomsticks, both with a bottle of Butterbeer in their hands, talking away.
Remus confessed his love of Lily to her and she returned it, stating that since their Valentines Dance date in their first year, she had been waiting for him to ask her out again, repeating that she had no feelings for James and being careful to say that none of her feelings for Severus were in any way romantic.
As the time came near for them to head back to Hogwarts, Remus took Lily's hand and lead her out of The Three Broomsticks, a huge grin on his face and James stalking the two of them out, nearly in tears, with Sirius next to him, trying to comfort him.
Remus looked back once with a concerned face and was urged onwards by Sirius.
When they arrived at the castle, still hand in hand, Remus opened the doors for Lily with his wand. And when they got to the portrait leading in to the common room, he helped her in. It all lead up to when they got to the staircase leading to the girls dormitories, where Remus let go of her hand and leaned inward, placing a kiss on her lips and agreeing that they should go out on another date soon. Another kiss and she left to her dorm, just as James had walked in with Sirius right behind.
number ten: what engagement?
Remus bent down on one knee. He and Lily had been out of high school for four years now and they had been dating for just less than seven. They had graduated together, both gotten jobs at the ministry, and had been living together for two years, so what he was doing was no surprise to anyone, much less to James and Sirius who he still kept in constant contact with, despite the falling out they had had in their fifth year when Remus and Lily had started dating.
He dug in to his pocket and held the ring out to the girl in front of him. "Lily Evans, I love you. I always have, since the Valentine's Dance in our first year at Hogwarts, when we only went together to go against James." They both laughed. "Will you marry me?"
The proposal was simple but then again, so were they. Lily agreed eagerly to marry Remus (there was something about the name Lily Lupin that she loved for some reason, she claimed, before saying "I love you" and kissing him).
Because that was what it was – love.