Chapter Five

"How would you feel about helping me out with something?" Remus asked—no, demanded of Sirius, the next day after lunch. Both seventh year's had a free period, and James and Lily were in the headmaster's office talking to Dumbledore, and Peter was had his remedial potions class with Slughorn, so Remus and Sirius were the only two people in the otherwise deserted Gryffindor common room.

"Depends," Sirius said slowly, looking at Remus with a calculating gaze. "What, exactly, did you have in mind? Pranking is my specialty, so if that's what you want, then I'm your guy."

"Why would I want to prank someone?" Remus said, looking appalled at the very thought.

"Who doesn't like pranking people?" Sirius asked. "It's quite an enjoyable pastime."

"Yeah, for people who don't mind spending practically all of their time outside of class in detention."

"Ah…yes, my other favorite thing to do other than annoy Slytherins," Sirius said, his eyes faraway as he thought of something that would probably give Remus a heart attack if he actually had to witness it.

"Back to my point," Remus said hurriedly, shivering at the very thought of what Sirius could be imagining right now. "I can't believe I'm actually saying this, but I need your help, Sirius."

"That hurts, Moony," Sirius said tragically, placing one hand over his heart. "But what do you need help with? It must be something big, if you're actually asking for help to begin with."

Remus sighed almost sadly at this. "I thought I could handle it before, but I was obviously wrong. I need your help convincing James that the best way for him to get Lily to like him is for him to act normally around her."

Sirius narrowed his eyes. "Would helping you with this plan of yours be considered endorsing that plot for Prongs to stop pranking…anyone?"

"Maybe…," Remus said slowly. "But if you helped James with this, I'm sure he'd be eternally grateful."

"Hmm…Eternal gratitude or the instant satisfaction of destroying everyone else's peace…," Sirius said in mock thoughtfulness, as if he were weighing the pros and cons of each. "I'm gonna have to go with disturbing the peace on that one." He concluded swiftly.

Remus groaned. "Come on, Sirius. I really need your help on this one. You're the only person James will listen to half of the time. I don't think I can do this without you."

"True," Sirius said with a nod. "But what am I going to do with 'eternal gratitude?' It's not something that I can think about for hours on end, again and again, and always get some kind of amusement out of it. What am I going to do with eternal gratitude when I'm…" He shuddered visibly here, "Old and artificially not gray? Absolutely nothing, that's what," He sighed now. "I'm afraid you're going to have to offer me further incentive for help on this one.

"Well…," Remus said slowly, almost forcing the word out and looking as if doing so was causing him great deals of pain. "If you help James get Lily to like him, then maybe, one day, after they're married and they have a kid, they'll choose you to be the godfather, because you were so instrumental in getting them together…"

Sirius' eyes seemed to light up as Remus spoke. "You're a genius, Moony!" He exclaimed. "Now it won't matter if James stops pranking people with me…," He laughed evilly. "I'll poison his kid's mind in retaliation. Oh, Moony, I always knew there was a reason people thought you were smart."

Ignoring that last comment, Remus shook his head sadly as Sirius turned his thoughts to his best friend's future offspring. How Sirius could believe Lily would ever trust him with her future children was beyond Remus…. But that didn't matter in the present moment; Sirius had agreed to help Remus with his plan. Now the real ordeal was about to being…but how to get James to realize what he was unwilling to see for himself?

"Ah, my dear Prongs…," Sirius said in an elegant-sounding voice, sidling up to his friend later that evening in the Great Hall at dinnertime. The effect was ruined however, by the manner in which Sirius plopped down beside James on the bench. "How, do tell, are you enjoying this delicious-looking meal on this fine September night?"

James turned to glance at his friend, soup spoon half-way to his mouth. "Why would you make a Polyjuice potion in order to appear to be Padfoot, Moony?"

"Why ever would you think I would do such a thing in order to appear to be someone I, quite frankly, am not?" Sirius questioned.

"Because, quite frankly, you're acting more like Moony than like yourself, Pad," James replied, still holding his spoon in midair.

"Are you trying to imply something about me?" Sirius demanded.

"Like what?"

"Like…that only Remus can act civilized?" Sirius offered, at a loss for anything else to say.

"Gee, you think?" James said, finally putting his spoon full of considerably cooler soup in his mouth.

"You wound me, Prongsie," Sirius said dramatically, putting one hand over his heart. Then, removing it swiftly he said, in his normal tone of voice. "But you're right…that whole civilized-thing really isn't for me."

"I'll say," Remus muttered from where he had been sitting across from James throughout the entire conversation. When he spoke, James turned to face his other friend with narrowed eyes.

"'Fess up, Moony," James commanded. "What were you trying to get Padfoot to do for you?"

"Why on earth would I have Sirius do anything for me?" Remus asked, feigning innocence from behind his book. "I actually want to succeed in life."

"Hmm…," Sirius said thoughtfully. "The world would appear to be against me today. I knew I shouldn't have gotten out of bed this morning."

Slowly, Remus lowered his book, gave Sirius a concerned look, and then turned to face James. "OK, that, I had nothing to do with."

"So you admit that Sirius' previous actions were meant to undermine me in some way, shape, or form?" James questioned. "Curious…very curious…."

"Did you spend all of your free time visiting Mr. Ollivander again this summer?" Peter asked from his place on James' other side, where he had been sitting silently observing his friend's throughout their entire conversation.

"OK, it was once, I was seven, and he had candy," James defended himself. "How was I supposed to know that everyone else in the world is scared of him because he acts weird sometimes?"

Now it was James' turn to receive a concerned look from Remus. "You must not have been a very sharp person when you were seven," He paused and tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Although, I must admit, I don't exactly envy your tact in some things nowadays."

"This is about Lily again, isn't it?" James asked as he looked around to make sure that she and/or none of her close friends were in the immediate area.

"What do you think?" Remus shot back.

"Oh, Moony, Moony, Moony…," James said, shaking his head and speaking as if talking to a young child. "I told you that I have a plan. You really should have some confidence in me. Then you wouldn't have to worry and fret about me so often; it would do you a world of good."

"Look," Remus said, his eyes focused on a point just beyond James' shoulder, "All I want is to get you to read just a bit more. The world of Literature is a lovely place…if you choose to visit it."

"What?" James said, looking thoroughly confused. "What are you talking about? I was talking about Li—"

"Lily!" Remus exclaimed loudly cutting off James' last few words. "How lovely to see you. How's your day going?"

James jerked around in his seat to see Lily standing just a few feet away, looking as if she had been about to walk over, but now was feeling indecisive about it.

"I'm…fine," She said hesitantly, surprised at Remus' un-Remus-like outburst.

"What can we do for you today?" Remus continued, a too-bright smile on his face.

"Er…actually, I came to talk to Sirius…" She said slowly. "Would you mind if I borrowed him for a moment?"

"Sirius?" James repeated, an extremely confused expression upon his face again.

Lily nodded. "Yeah, Sirius. You know, Sirius Black, your best friend. He's sitting right next to you…."

James couldn't say anything, just turned to look at Sirius who looked completely flabbergasted as to why Lily would want to speak to him.

"Erm…sure?" Sirius offered, slowly standing up.

"Great." Lily said, her face blank. She turned, "Come with me."

As the two walked away, James turned back to Remus.

"Moony," He began, looking completely lost. "Did I miss something?"

"I think we all missed something…"

a/n-I am so incredibly sorry for the insanely long delay!! my internet hasn't worked for more than two weeks and my dad didn't want to do anything about it and my technology-impaired mom was fed up about that so she finally did something today. long story short, you finally got an update! i hope you enjoyed the chapter!