A/N: THANK YOU - over 100 reviews. You guys are so awesome. Also, I'm so glad you like The Ghouls - Listen to The Smiths and substitute the lyrics for wizarding terms, and you'll be listening to them too ;) And for such a milestone, I think it's only fitting that I present you with a chapter like this one.

Chapter Seventeen: The Kiss

I was swimming. Which was very odd because I'd never actually learned how. I could see the tentacles of the giant squid nearby and huge knots of rushes and reeds surrounded the dark floor of the Great Lake. I was doing the breaststroke underwater and when I looked down, I noticed that I was fully dressed in my school shirt and skirt and robes, which seemed impractical attire for a leisurely swim. And then – I realized that I didn't even have the bubblehead charm or one of those muggle aqualung things – in fact I didn't have anything to help me breathe. I was swimming about twenty feet below the surface with no way to breathe and I couldn't swim. I felt abrupt, sharp pains gouge through my lungs and I fought and struggled to doggy paddle up to the surface because even though I'd been doing the breaststroke just a moment ago, I'd suddenly forgotten how. I let out a soundless, watery scream and my clothes felt heavier than lead on my body; I couldn't push myself up. A grindylow had my ankle and I kicked at it uselessly trying to loosen its grip. I didn't remember the charm to repel them – we'd had an awful teacher during the year we studied dark creatures - a preening old lady who spent more time on her hair than on lesson plans, and I couldn't remember her even mentioning the spell to get rid of them. They weren't like hinkypunks – you couldn't just ignore them – you actually had to fight them, but I didn't know how! As I gasped for breath and felt water start to enter my lungs, Professor Prewett swam sadly beside me, shaking his head when I shouted pathetically for his help. He swam efficiently towards another struggling figure that I recognized as Remus, and then Sirius was in front of me, shouting frantically but incomprehensibly, in the form of furious bubbles. As the grindylow began pulling me under to meet my watery grave, I reached for his hand and missed.

I sat up straight in my bed, shaking and gasping hard for breath. Godric, what a horrid dream to have – the mixture of champagne and firewhisky from Slughorn's party must have really got to me. Drowning dreams – they were simply awful!

Still breathing heavily, I wrapped my arms around myself, feeling cold and scared. I needed a hug. I slipped out of my bed and through the hangings so I could tiptoe to Lily's bed – but once I got there, I saw that it was utterly covered from one inch to the other in stuffed toys. What a loser! Why did she need eleven of the things? Sighing in irritation and still wishing I could shake the feeling of not being able to breathe, I tried the less preferable Dorcas' bed. I slipped under her covers and tried to snuggle against her, but she rolled and smacked me across the face with her arm. I clutched my nose in pain as she moaned blearily.

"Kate?" she mumbled, still half asleep. "What in Merlin's foot are you doing in my bed?"

"I had a bad dream," I replied, moving my hands away from my nose and hugging her.

"Kate! I'm trying to sleep – go hug Lily."

"There's no room in her bed. She's having a torrid love affair with Mr Bear and Roy the Panda," I whimpered.

She sighed in exasperation. "Go to Sirius then – I'm not hugging you. Oh, I was having the loveliest dream about James. Urgh – I'm going to kill you!"

"You are a very cruel girl, Dorcas," I sniffed and she pushed me brusquely out of her bed.

I stood outside her hangings, running my hands up and down my goose-pimpled arms trying to gather my wits. It was just a bad dream – I bet if I went back to sleep, I would be able to dream about Professor Prewett snogging me instead of going to save Remus instead. How rude of the dream version of him – hadn't he heard of chivalry before? Urgh, I couldn't breathe! I still felt like I had swallowed a gallon of icy seawater and panicked pains were stabbing at my chest. I bit my lip and decided I might as well take Dorcas' advice. Sirius and I had made up now and he did give such great hugs.

I left my wand behind and hurried down the staircase into the Common Room that was dark except for a red glow emitting from the low-burning fireplaces. There were two Seventh Years talking by the fire and Marlene McKinnon was one of them. Generally, she'd never seemed like the swottiest of Prefects, but she did seem to find my presence in the Common Room worthy of interest at that very moment. She sat up straight and looked at me in confusion.

"Where are you going?"

"You're dreaming," I said to her mystically and ignored her frown as I bounded up the boys' staircases two at a time. I turned the corner and entered the Sixth Year Boys' dormitory quickly and silently.

Once I'd closed the door with the softest of clicks, I could hear Peter's snores all the way from the window, but I wouldn't need to go that far – Sirius' bed was the one closest to the door. Holding my breath, I blindly felt my way over to his four-poster and I almost tripped over what I assumed were someone's trousers because what sounded like a belt buckle clinked noisily. I paused to make sure I hadn't woken any of the other boys up, but no one seemed to stir – only Peter gave another piggish grunt. It was absurdly dark even though the moon was only a few days away from being full – the moonlight in the dormitory was still quite dull and hardly illuminated anything. I could only just make out Peter's face because he was closest to the window, and he was out cold – his mouth open and dribbling disgustingly. Thankfully, none of the boys seemed to have drawn the hangings around their beds so I was able to hurry across the room and straight to Sirius' bed without having to struggle through any curtains. I couldn't see him, but I got on his bed quietly and lay down beside him, curled into a ball, listening to his slightly ragged breathing. And then, because I was still out of breath and my chest was tight with coldness, I wrapped my arms around his neck without another thought. He was just sprawled on top of his blankets, with one leg hanging off the opposite side, so it was really the opposite of sexual – just comforting, and I sighed and rested my head on his chest. After a few moments, I felt his arms move unconsciously around me.

One of his hands lightly ran over my hair and his arms squeezed suddenly around me in a tight embrace – it was exactly what I'd needed and any worries over drowning were now gone; I felt safe. I exhaled contentedly and raised my head to press a few light kisses to his neck. He sighed, and I sat up a little so I could peck his mouth. His lips were soft and gentle in response, and when I kissed his cheek, I noticed that he had more stubble than he'd had a few hours ago at the party. Perhaps boys' facial hair grew quickly overnight – who knew? I stroked the side of his face, feeling much more calm, when he started to groan and his arms released me. He half sat up and in the process, shifted my head off his chest.

"Wha–"

And then Sirius moved and fumbled for something on his bedside table and muttered, "Lumos."

And it wasn't Sirius at all – it was Remus!

"AGH!" he shouted and I tried to jolt up and out of the bed, but my foot got tangled in the sheets and I somehow ended up tripping over his leg and fell right over his body and rolled headfirst off the other side. I landed with a painful thump and suddenly Peter's snores had stopped and two more sleepy mutters of 'Lumos' lit up the room. Oh, Godric, let the floor open up and swallow me whole.

"What the hell is going on?" I heard Sirius' drowsy voice say from somewhere behind me, but my stare was still fixed in horror on Remus' bright red face – bathed in wand light, and I could honestly say that I'd never seen him more shocked. He was touching his mouth like he'd been stung and he looked lost for words. To be fair, I felt kind of the same way.

I snapped my neck around and saw James propping himself up on his elbows, ruffling his hair and gawking down at me in confusion and to the right of him, sitting up shirtless in Remus' bed, was my boyfriend looking completely out of sorts.

"Oh – it's just Kate. No surprises," James said with a huff, falling back against his pillows and yawning. Sirius however, kicked his legs off the bed and raised an eyebrow at me, and then at Remus. I couldn't see Remus' expression because I was defiantly stopping myself from turning back around to face him, but if the flush of my own cheeks was any indication – he was bound to be a million times worse.

"What were you doing?" Remus muttered from behind me, but I continued to stare at Sirius. I couldn't talk – I couldn't look at Remus. Oh my Merlin – I had just cuddled and KISSED Remus Lupin.

"Um…"

Sirius had come to perch on James' bed in front of me as I kept my back stubbornly to Remus. My recently forgiven boyfriend looked down at me with a bemused smile and quirked an eyebrow questioningly. He didn't look angry – just curious.

"I had a bad dream," I murmured.

There were a few beats of unbearably painful silence before anyone spoke again.

"So, you thought you'd come and snuggle with Remus and it would be all better?"

Sirius broke into laughter now and I was surprised to hear Remus do the same.

"No! I was coming to hug Sirius, to maybe get some reassurance and kind kiss, and then I was going to go back to my room and get some sleep!" I said huffily. James turned on to his side and propped his head up on his arm looking suddenly wide-awake and very interested. Peter's snores had started back up, but the boys ignored him – all eyes were fixed resolutely on my agonizingly heated face.

"So…you just snogged Remus?" James asked with a smirk.

Oh, someone avada me – please!

Sirius barked another laugh and I could hear the smile in Remus' voice as he answered.

"Yeah, she did."

I whirled around to look at him and was shocked that he wasn't red anymore and was actually laughing conspiratorially with his mates and looking utterly unruffled.

"I didn't snog him!" I snapped. It had just been a little peck – barely a kiss at all. I felt an uncomfortable flutter run through my stomach and I grimaced at Sirius, who was now howling with laughter.

"Oh my Godric, Kate! You didn't just snog him? So, do you mean to say, you just stole Moony's virginity?"

He, James and Remus burst into hilarity again and it was so obnoxious, it even covered up Peter's loud snores. As soon as I got out of there, I was genuinely going straight to the tallest tower and throwing myself off. HOW was Remus so at ease? Normally he would have self-combusted at the mention of sex!

"No…" I spat, glaring at my boyfriend and trying to sound nonchalant. "I haven't stolen anyone's virginity."

James and Remus stopped laughing for a moment and they both shifted their gaze to Sirius who had also stopped his barking and was now biting his lip grimly.

He rolled his eyes and rudely stuck two fingers up at me. Taking his lack of retort as confirmation, James burst into renewed mirth, clutching his ribs with one hand and smacking Sirius' back with the other.

"Are you telling me Padfoot – with all the time you two have spent up here alone – you haven't even gone the full monty?"

I smirked at that, as Sirius punched his laughing friend.

"Oh you can talk! What's the furthest you've got – Mr Do-you-think-she'd-like-it-if-I-nibbled-her-lips-a-bit?"

James fell silent at that, but still bit back a grin, his eyes shining.

"Anyway," Remus cut in. "Shouldn't we be more focused on Cuddles over here? I mean it's three in the morning, Kate – I was having a very pleasant dream."

James and Sirius chortled again and I narrowed my eyes at Remus as his mouth twitched wildly. GAH – I had just kissed that mouth. AGH.

"Why have you two switched beds anyway?" I asked stiffly, averting my eyes from Remus' nauseatingly calm expression.

Sirius shrugged. "I was drunk and fell asleep in Moony's."

"And so, I took Padfoot's. If I'd known the kind of skullduggery I'd be forced into – I would've made more of an effort to wake him up. I feel a bit used," Remus grinned.

"Shut up Remus!" I snapped, hauling myself up from the floor as the idiots roared like hyenas again. "I'm going back to bed!" I added, stomping to the door.

"Where are you going Cuddles? Remus is right there!"

I shrieked as they fell about laughing again, making annoying kissing noises, and I slammed their dormitory door as loudly as I could. When it was closed, I leaned against it and took a deep breath, putting my icy fingers against my hot cheeks. Merlin, I had never been so embarrassed in my life! And Remus – how dare he pick that moment to stop blushing like a prude? I was never going to forgive him for this.

"So…you snogged Remus last night?" Lily asked for the thousandth time on our way down to breakfast. I felt another annoying flush on my cheeks and I nodded dourly as she and Dorcas exchanged a look.

"But you and Sirius are back together…" Dorcas said as we headed down the staircases. I wished they would stop talking; I was humiliated enough without having to rehash the whole horrible event multiple times.

"Affirmative," I nodded.

My beastly, insensitive friends burst into laughter – again for the seven hundredth time – and I hissed in annoyance, stomping several yards ahead to get away from their shrieking.

"And what was the name they called you?" Lily said as they easily caught up and we passed through the doors into the Great Hall.

"Cuddles," I replied through gritted teeth and they burst into loud laughter again.

"Something funny?" Archie had just grabbed Lily's wrist and we slowed so she could talk to him. Her eyes darted to me questioningly and I sighed heavily.

"Well, I suppose everyone will find out soon enough," I said and then practically ran across the room to get to The Gryffindor table while the girls excitedly told Archie what they were giggling about. I groaned when I realized that I'd run from one group of laughing people to another: Sirius and James burst into identical grins and Remus chuckled to himself as I sat down.

"Morning Cuddles! Sleep well?" James asked.

I said nothing and poured myself a cup of tea.

"Get out of the wrong side of the bed Cuddles? Or did you just miss Remus when you woke up?" Sirius laughed. I threw him a death glare but he ignored me as he and James fell about, chortling repulsively.

"Ah, give it a rest," Remus said, though he was still smiling too.

"Emmeline will never have him now – you've tainted his innocence," James sighed as I snatched the plate of bacon from next to him.

"I wonder who'll break it to her?" Sirius said shaking his head in mock regret.

"You've ruined them before they even got started," James added sadly, and then even Remus couldn't contain his laughter.

"Oh shut up Remus – that was the best kiss of your life!" I snapped.

"Well, you would know better than me. I was unconscious for half of it," Remus replied lightly and the two other berks snickered and slapped his back appreciatively.

"Oh shut up!" Peter said loudly from beside me, making his presence at the table known. The rest of the Marauders surprisingly obeyed and looked at their plates with unconvincing solemnity.

I felt a burst of affection for Peter and threw my arms around him, squeezing him tightly. "Peter! You are my new best friend – thank you so much for sticking up for me – I will never again call your girlfriend Fringy."

When I released him, I saw Sirius shaking his head imperceptibly and James and Remus were watching Peter rather tensely. When I turned back to face the smallest Marauder, I saw that his face was purple with what looked suspiciously like anger.

"She dumped me," he said through a clenched jaw.

Oh, bollocks.

"Peter! That's awful, I'm so sorry – how can I help my bestest mate in the world?"

"Help?" he spat. "You were supposed to apologize to Sarah and when you didn't, Jenny dropped me."

My mouth fell open. Oh Merlin and Morgana – I had completely forgotten about my promise. I was terrible! Suddenly, I realized that he was only telling everyone to shut up because he was depressed and didn't want to hear people laughing when he was in the dumps.

"Peter I…"

"Just shut up, Kate. Shut. Up."

"Wormtail," Remus said warningly. "Relax."

"Yeah, it's not Kate's fault – you said Jenny was angry that you didn't get an invite to Sluggy's party," James added.

"I am so sorry Peter. Would it help if I went and apologized now?" I said, looking down the table for Fringy and McDanger.

"Don't bother, Kate – Pete, you're better off without her," Sirius said, dismissively.

"Maybe I can set you up on dates too!" I suggested and the boys exchanged looks as Peter considered my offer.

"Or you could always cuddle with him?" Sirius suggested, waggling his eyebrows, and even Peter joined in with the laughter as I threw my spoon at him.

A few hours later, I was reading WME in the Common Room by myself because the girls were doing homework and I wasn't in the mood to start mine. Peter was brooding, Remus was taking a nap, and James and Sirius were getting ready for Quidditch practice, so thankfully I didn't have to deal with much more ribbing.

"Hey gorgeous," Sirius said as he plopped on to the sofa beside me wearing his Quidditch things. James was talking to Rolanda and Krish nearby, so I assumed they were all on their way down to the pitch.

"Captain Kill-joy at it again?" I asked watching James as he gestured wildly at his two teammates. They didn't look impressed with his raised voice.

"Yeah he had Liz and Spindle go down and start practicing passing an hour early. You'd think we didn't even win our first match."

"So how's Peter?" I asked shifting so I fit under the crook of his arm. He played with a piece of my hair and chuckled.

"Being a moody git. We've left Remus to deal with his wrath. Poor bloke can't even gloat about Emmeline because Pete's being such a downer."

"Hang on!" I asked pulling on Sirius' collar. "What happened with Emmeline?"

Sirius quirked an eyebrow in surprise. "No one told you? They got off after Slughorn's party. Took him long enough."

"WHAT?"

Sirius stuck a finger in his ear and grimaced. "Your voice - I've never told you how beautiful it sounds when you're flipping out."

I laughed and shoved him. "How could he keep this from me?"

"Maybe he very rationally assumed it was none of your business," Sirius chuckled and then broke into a wave of new laughter, struggling to speak through his chortles. "Or maybe he thought you'd be jealous since you snogged him yesterday."

I rolled my eyes as he continued to laugh. "Where is he?"

"Upstairs - go easy on him Katie," Sirius smiled as he stood up. "I'll see you later."

I waved as he joined an impatient James and once the two of them left the Common Room, I hurried up the boys' staircase to badger my slippery friend for details. Once I got up there, I knocked politely and waited, hoping Peter wouldn't throw me out. Thankfully, Remus opened the door putting a finger to his lips before pulling the door shut and sighing wearily.

"Peter finally tired himself out complaining. Come to the kitchens with me, will you? I'm starving."

I nodded and we headed out of the Common Room, with me feeling impatient, and Remus humming a Roaring Horntails song. He actually sounded strangely in tune compared to when we sang our awful songs together - I suppose my terrible tone-deaf warbling put him off.

Despite my impatience, I didn't immediately ambush him. It would probably be better to wait until we were sitting down and I had his full attention.

"Didn't you eat enough at breakfast?" I asked as we turned the corner towards the main staircase.

He shrugged. "Yeah, but I always get extra hungry around this time of the...um, when I'm getting ill."

"Aren't you over that yet?"

"Not until after tomorrow night. I think I'll take the day off tomorrow and go to the Hospital Wing. I think the worst will be over by then," he said surely. I held back laughter as we made our way downstairs and past Peeves, who was so busy snickering to himself that he didn't see two students ripe and ready for torture.

"That is really a bizarre gift to have - knowing when you're getting sick. I noticed that we have a test in Transfiguration tomorrow that you'll miss. Very convenient, Remus," I said elbowing him.

He laughed a bit bitterly. "Trust me, it's a curse. I'd do anything to be at that Transfiguration test tomorrow." He sighed and gestured down the small hallway leading to the Kitchens and I rolled my eyes.

"Why are all my friends such swots?"

"Because if all of your friends were like Sirius and James, you would have happily spent the last six years doing nothing but playing Snap."

"Sounds brilliant," I smirked, watching as he tickled the pear on the picture of the bowl of fruit that covered the entrance to the Kitchens.

The door swung open and several happy House Elves greeted us. One of them was the cousin of my House Elf, Clary, so he happily pushed the others aside and offered to bring us tea, biscuits and a large bacon sandwich for Remus. After thanking the little guy, we sat down at the little table in the corner nook and I watched Remus as he stretched and yawned. He was being entirely infuriating keeping this from me. Surely he knew how much the suspense was killing me? When he'd finished yawning for the millionth time, he folded his arms on the table and rested his chin on them and gave me a small, completely ignorant, smile.

"REMUS!" I yelled and he jumped.

"What?"

"Aren't we going to talk about this?" I demanded in fury and his brows pulled together.

"Talk about what?"

I shrieked-sighed and glared at him. He looked like he wanted to laugh but since Remus is kind, and doesn't usually mean to annoy me, he held back the urge.

"Last night?" I prompted, widening my eyes at him in the most obvious way possible.

He still looked lost.

"Er…The Ghouls? Didn't we already exhaust that topic for over an hour after breakfast?"

I hissed and he looked amused, cocking his head to the left slightly, studying me in puzzlement as he settled against his arms.

"No Remus! The kiss? Does that ring any bells in your painfully oblivious mind?" I snapped.

The response was bizarre.

He sat up straight, opened his mouth, shut it again and then ran his hand through his hair. He leaned back slightly and then just opened and shut his gob over and over again. BLAGH! I was going to murder him for keeping me in the dark this long.

"Miss and Sir – Bumpy has your food," said the squeaky voice of Clary's cousin. I almost corrected him because I could have sworn my House Elf had said her cousin was called Blobby, but I suppose he probably knew his own name.

"Thanks Bumpy," I said distractedly as he placed the tea, biscuits and sandwich between Remus and I on the table. Meanwhile, Remus was still opening and closing his mouth like an idiot, so I turned to Bumpy to make casual conversation while I waited for my friend to return to normal.

"So how's it going? Clary told me to say hello if I saw you."

Bumpy beamed. "That is kind of you Miss – if you please, tell Clary that she is owing me three butterbeer corks."

Was that some mad kind of House Elf currency?

"Have you two been gambling again?" I said, elbowing the little guy. He gave me a funny look and bowed.

"No Miss, Bumpy is collecting butterbeer corks. He has the biggest collection in Hogwarts. Enjoy your food!"

And then he ran off.

It was very odd – but no odder than Remus, who still seemed to be mute.

"Hello? Earth to Remus! Are you going to say anything?" I asked, turning back to him impatiently.

His eyebrows were so bunched up; they were almost one straight line.

"W-What about yesterday?" he finally asked, clearing his throat.

"Why are you stuttering? Surely you knew I was going to bring it up," I said, rolling my eyes and flipping my hair over my shoulder.

He shook his head and I sighed.

"Well, sorry to surprise you – but obviously I want to know what you think!"

He swallowed and a hand flew back up to his hair. I think he must have learned this particular habit from James because he wasn't normally so obsessed with grooming himself. After a moment, he pulled his hand away and lowered it to rest carefully on the table. A random piece of hair was still sticking up, but he finally looked less appalled.

"You…you want to talk about the kiss?" he said, his voice finally sounding normal and less strained.

"No actually, Remus. I am quite clearly perfectly content not knowing what you're thinking," I replied sarcastically.

"Er? What?"

I almost threw my cup of tea at him. All this time, I'd thought that Remus was a remarkably intelligent bloke for his age, but apparently he was nearly as dim as his mates.

"What did you think about the kiss?" I asked slowly, emphasizing each word like I was talking to a six-year-old.

His eyes were still wide and his mouth was twitching strangely while he thought. Honestly, at this point I was beginning to think I ought to apologize to Emmeline for making her suffer through this insanity. Imagine her getting Remus to talk about his feelings and getting this response.

"Um…I don't really know," he said, scratching his head. "I was a bit… out of it."

Had he been that drunk? I hadn't seen him until the early hours of the morning during my – ahem – indiscretion in his room. I guess I hadn't noticed him hitting the firewhisky after The Ghouls finished playing.

"Yeah, but surely you remember enough about it to know if you liked it or not?" I prodded.

He looked even more alarmed at these words and I thought that really all hope of a straight answer was lost.

"I, um, I don't know. Do you really…well – you want to know?"

"Of course I want to know! What was it? Did it mean anything?"

Honestly, I was going to have to drag it out of him. I should have just asked Sirius for the details – Remus was ridiculous.

"I don't know," he said, looking at the table with his eyes still frozen in that wide-eyed, strange way. "What do you think?"

Why was he asking me? That was absurd! Obviously I was thrilled they'd kissed – I had worried that it wasn't working out after he'd told me she was bored at the party.

"I think it's great," I said gently, to coax him into admitting the same thing.

"Really?" he asked. His mouth set into a bewildered frown.

"Of course! I reckon it's sort of been coming for a while. But I am a bit surprised by it, I guess. I didn't think it was really on the cards after what happened at the party."

"You…hang on." He wet his lips and his hands tangled in his hair again. "You think that kiss has been coming for a while?"

I chuckled. "Well for a week or so, at least. What are you going to do about it?"

His mouth fell open and he made a weird noise at the back of his throat. I laughed again and kicked his foot lightly under the table. Maybe I'd just forgotten about how uncomfortable talking about kissing made him.

"I…what should I do about it?"

"Well," I shrugged. "You should make a move."

He half stood up and then fell back in his seat and kicked his chair on to its back legs to lean against the wall. He let the back of the chair hit the brick and he stared at me appraisingly. The piece of hair that had been sticking up unfolded and fell back into place as he swallowed and spoke again.

"But…what about Sirius?"

Sirius? What did he have to do with anything? Was Remus still worrying that his mate might be annoyed that he was going out with his ex-girlfriend? Merlin, he was bonkers.

"Sirius won't care! I don't think he remembers Emmeline exists half the time."

Remus let the chair drop back to the floor with a loud thump and his mouth closed, though his eyes were still wide and blinking rapidly. He nodded and took an abrupt bite of his sandwich, chewing slowly as I stared back at him expectantly.

"Yeah, I don't know," he muttered once he'd swallowed. "We'll see how it goes."

And then he busied himself with eating his sandwich, and his tone had a sense of finality to it. It was obvious that the conversation was closed.

Bloody exhausting endeavour to squeeze a simple "We'll see," out of him. Boys – completely barking.

A/N: What can I really say after this chapter? I'd love to hear what you think!