Sam

It's been three weeks since Kaelin and I became animagi. Tomorrow night will be our first full moon. Kaelin and I are excited, but Kaelin seems nervous as well. Even though she won't admit it, she's scared to see Remus in so much pain. Remus is convinced he is going to hurt us, and nothing we say can change his mind.

It's chilly out, but that didn't stop the boys from dragging us outside. Christmas is only a month away, and Hogwarts is getting in the spirit. It's lightly snowing outside, but not enough to stick to the ground just yet. Kaelin and I sit underneath a big oak tree trying not to freeze while the boys are on the dock by the lake doing who knows what.

Kaelin talks a mile a minute about something or another, but I'm not listening. I can hardly tear my eyes away from Sirius. He looks over at me holding my gaze for a few seconds. He's laughing. His smile is amazing. I find myself smiling too. When he turns away, I want to run over to him just to see his smile once more.

"Sam!" Kaelin yells drawing the attention of just about everyone at Hogwarts. "Sam!" she whispers more quietly. I glance around, but the few people who are outside are no longer paying attention to us.

"Yes Kaelin?" I ask afraid of what she wants. It's never good when you don't pay attention to Kaelin. She gets upset and reprimands you for days.

"You weren't listening to me!" she says frowning. Lowering her voice considerably she adds, "You were too busy staring at Padfoot!"

"Wha-I was not!" I reply. Great, she noticed. I hadn't meant to fall for him, I really didn't. It just sort of happened. I remember the night I realized it myself clearly. It wasn't a sort of our eyes met and I just knew sort of thing. It was a bit of a shock really. I just realized I thought of him differently then I had before. It took a few days before I actually realized what this meant.

"Yes you were. Just admit it Sam. You like him," she says. I hesitate. I'd been meaning to tell her ever since I'd figured it out myself, but I just kept pushing it away. Now was my chance.

"Alright fine. I've fallen for my best friend," I say quietly. "And I don't know what to do."

Kaelin's eyes widen. "Ask him out!" she cries.

"NO!" I say much louder than I had intended. Thankfully, no one noticed. "No way Kaelin."

"Why not?" she asks. Does she really not understand? I glare at her and she shuts her mouth quickly. "What about the Christmas Ball next week? You could ask him to that."

"No. He'd just laugh at me," I say stubbornly. Kaelin sighs.

"No he won't Sammi," she says. I don't answer. He probably would. He probably already had a date knowing Sirius.

"Well, I'm glad you've finally admitted to liking him, and I really think you should ask him," she says getting up. "I've got to go study for DADA. Wanna come?"

I shake my head. "No. I've got to talk to someone," I say. An idea was quickly forming in my head. Kaelin nods as she heads up towards the castle.

I smile as I head over to the boys ready to set forth with my plan. "Hey guys," I say when I reach them. They're laughing over something, but shut up when they see me. They look extremely guilty, and I suppose it has something to do with the fact that Peter was now pulling himself out of the frozen lake, but I didn't have time to worry about that.

"Hey Sam," Sirius says giving me his lopsided grin. I feel the blood rush to my cheeks, but ignore it focusing on what I came over here for.

"Did Kaelin tell you about the Christmas Ball next weekend?" I ask casually. They shake their heads. "She's really excited about it."

"You think Lily would go with me?" James interrupts. Leave it to James to turn every conversation to Lily Evans.

"I don't know, but I wouldn't chance it. She actually doesn't hate you right now," I say. It's true. One could almost call them friends. James nods looking slightly disappointed, but not like he's going to ask her. He's really grown up a lot this year. I hope Lily notices.

"I came over here to tell Moony something," I say. I see a flicker of sadness in Sirius' eyes, but it's gone before I can be sure. Ignoring it, I look at Remus. He's waiting for me to tell him.

"I really think you should ask Kaelin to the ball. It would make her so happy, and I know you want to," I say. He looks stunned, but I continue. "Moony, you can't wait forever. Haven't you noticed how that Slytherin guy in our year looks at her? Do you really want to lose her to some Slytherin?"

"I-What if she says no?" he stutters. He looks truly scared.

"She won't," Sirius says before I can say the exact same thing. "Ask her Moony. If you don't I'll have to do it for you!" he warns. Remus' eyes widen.

"But-" he starts.

"No buts, Moony. Ask her. She's in the library. We can come if you want," I say. He nods slightly.

"Right now?" he says. I nod.

"Now," I say.

"But-"

"Moony! Just ask her!" James says. "It's not that hard! I do it all the time!"

"Yeah and look how well that's turned out for you!" Remus says. I laugh.

"Moony just don't act like Prongs and you'll be fine," I assure him.

"I-I can't," he says.

"We warned you," Sirius says pushing Remus up towards the castle. Remus looks frightened and Sirius looks distracted, but all I can think of is Kaelin's face when she finds out what I did.

It takes a lot of coaxing, but finally we convince Remus to go into the library. He's still protesting when he walks over to Kaelin. James has his invisibility cloak, and he slips it over both of us. Sirius can't fit under it with us, so he stays behind the bookshelf.

We get right up to the table where we can hear Kaelin and Remus talking. "Hey Remus!" Kaelin says looking slightly surprised but pleased all the same.

"Hey," Remus looks terrified, and I hope he doesn't back out now. Kaelin continues to work on what ever she's doing.

"We've got a huge test in DADA tomorrow, and I still don't understand this," she whines.

"Need some help?" Remus offers. I look at James. We're both waiting for him to ask her, but it looks like he won't just yet. Sirius is just barely seen behind one of the bookshelves peering over at us.

I motion for James to get a little farther away from the table, so Kaelin and Remus don't hear us. Once we're a safe distance away, I listen again. Remus is helping Kaelin with her work, and he looks much more comfortable then when he first sat down.

I can't help but wish Sirius would ask me to the ball. Thinking about it almost makes me laugh. Sirius would never ask me. "Sam? You okay?" James whispers. I must have dazed off.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I say, then thinking about it for a minute, I whisper, "Hey James?"

"Yeah?" he's looking at me now.

"Can I ask you something?" No going back now. I had to ask him.

"Sure," he says.

I take a deep breath. I'd never dreamed I'd tell James this, but here I was, and now I had no choice. "What do you do if you've fallen for your best friend, but it seems silly that they would ever like you back?" I ask.

"We're talking about Sirius aren't we?" he says knowingly. I hesitate a minute, then nod slowly. He smiles. "Well, it's not silly to think he could like you back because he does. A lot more than he cares to admit." I'm shocked. Sirius likes me? Is James joking?

"Wha-" I start then stop. "What do I do?" I whisper.

He smiles. "Tell him. He won't do it himself, so you have to make the first move," he says. Me!

"Me?" I breathe terrified. "But-"

"Now you sound like Moony. Sam, last night I woke up to the sound of Sirius talking. I got up, and he was mumbling in his sleep. He was talking about you. He really likes you Sam. Maybe even loves you," James says sincerely. I'm shocked. Does he really? Sirius was talking about me in his sleep?

"I-I can't James," I say. He nods.

"You don't have to. Not yet anyways, but I'm sure everything will work out. I've never know Padfoot to keep quiet about a girl for long," he says smirking. I smile.

"Thanks James,"

"No problem," We turn back to Kaelin and Remus.

"Thank you so much Moony. Oh did you want something?" she asks. Remus freezes. Eyes wide, I mentally coax him to ask her.

"Oh, erm, yes actually. I-I was wondering if-would you," he stops. Come on Remus! "He sighs. "Kaelin, would you like to go to the Christmas Ball with me?"

I've never seen Kaelin's face light up the way it does at this moment. She grins happily with her eyes wide. "I'd love to," she says, and I'm mentally cheering inside my head.

Remus grins as they leave the library. Two of my best friends were now happier than I'd ever seen them. I turn to James smiling, and he's grinning as well. Sirius is wathing with a smirk on his face from his hiding spot. Now that Remus and Kaelin were done, I only had one thing to worry about. Sirius Black.