Chapter 13 – Madam Puddifoot's

Remus ate his bacon, careful not to look at Sirius.

Sirius had been in a terrible mood since Wednesday, and Remus had no intention of reawakening his wrath. Sirius was buttering a piece of toast with an irritated expression. He looked at the bread as if it'd insulted him in a most hurting manner.

James cleared his throat "Sirius, you're mashing your toast" Sirius looked angrily at James, then he looked down on his crushed toast and sighed, before he took another piece.

Remus could feel a hand from behind ruffle his hair. He looked up and saw Amy "'Morning" she said merrily and sat beside him.

Sirius got to his feet, if he'd been sitting on a chair instead of a bench, the chair would probably have tipped. He announced that he was full and walked out of the hall.

"Hey! Padfoot, wait up!" James shouted. He got to his feet and grabbed a second piece of toast in one motion. "See you in Hogsmeade" He merrily said, shot Remus one of his especially smug looks and ran after Sirius. Peter followed.

At least James and Peter had stopped the humming around Thursday. Now they'd exchanged it with knowing, smug, looks once in a while, Remus thought with an inwards sigh.

"What's with him?" Amy asked, turning her eyes. She'd become almost used to Sirius by now. There were hardly any traces left of the broken down Amy Remus had comforted a week ago.

"Oh, he's just impatient. That's Sirius, you know. He can't sit still for more than a couple of minutes" Remus said with a little laugh "What do you want to do first when we get to Hogsmeade?"

"I don't know" Amy replied, as she begun to butter her toast "Maybe we could visit Madam Puddifoot's" she suggested.

Remus nearly spat out the gulp of tea he'd just taken. Madam Puddifoot's was the most horrible shop in all of Hogsmeade. It was all tacky and frilly and fluffy, Remus thought with a shudder, or at least that was what the legend told. Remus had never been to Madam Puddifoot's, it was a place for couples and Remus had never had a girlfriend.

Suddenly he couldn't help but imagining him and his friends going there. An image of Sirius dressed in a pink, frilly dress asking him to "pass the sugar, please" in a snobbish voice burn itself on his retina.

Remus turned back to reality "Madam Puddifoot's?" he asked in a sceptic voice.

"Yeah…" Amy said, staring at her hands "Only if you want to, of course" she added, staring worriedly at Remus.

That was one of the things Remus was really terrible at. Saying no. He just couldn't. He didn't know why, maybe it was because he was so thrilled when someone liked him, that he didn't want to disappoint them.

Before Remus had really considered that it would only add fuel to James' and Peter's immature "Remus has a girlfriend" fire, he'd said: "No, it's fine. Let's go to Madam Puddifoot's" and smiled reassuringly at Amy.

It was the first time Remus visited Hogsmeade without his friends. Remus quickly corrected himself. It was the first time he'd visited Hogsmeade, without James, Sirius or Peter. Amy was his friend.

Amy was wearing a broad scarf in maroon and golden stripes and a light brown trenchcoat. If Remus had been even the slightest interested in her other than friendwise, he would've noticed that she looked amazing. A rather large part of the guys they walked past turned and stared at her and Remus got a lot of undeserved envious looks, which he did notice. Remus shuddered lightly, not quite sure whether it was from the cold looks or the weather.

It was still autumn, but the leaves from the trees lay all scattered on the ground and a cool wind blew. It was clear that December was approaching fast.

Remus regretted agreeing on this from the moment they entered Madam Puddifoot's. It was worse, far worse, than he could've imagined.

A light tinkle announced their arrival. There were bows and laces everywhere. It was so pink and fluffy that Remus thought he was going to die. Amy however seemed to feel quite at home as she sat down on a wooden stool with carved cherubs and hearts on. Remus sat down on the opposite site of the small table. The tablecloth was just as ghastly; it had a terrible pink colour Remus didn't even know the name of. It was embroidered and had tassels at the end.

Amy ordered a cup of something Remus couldn't pronounce, but was pretty sure was some kind of tea. Remus ordered a cup of black coffee. Usually he would've preferred hot chocolate, but he feared, that he was going to be sick if he made contact with anything sweet at the moment.

When they got their drinks in flowerporcelain-cups Remus almost wanted to cry.

"It's cosy, right?" Amy said in a happy voice that made Remus gulp his coffee instead of spitting it out in disbelief.

"Yeah… it's… nice" Remus said, trying his best to sound as if he'd never been to a greater place.

"It's mostly for couples, but I thought you wouldn't mind" Amy said smiling.

Remus looked around at the other tables. They were indeed all occupied by couples, holding hands, staring at each other or kissing.

"No, I don't mind. It's actually my first visit here," Remus confessed.

"It is?" Amy asked, this time she was the one about to spit out her tea.

"Yeah" Remus said.

"Then you must have a cake" Amy exclaimed.

"What? No, Amy, I'm fine" Remus said, he didn't think he could bear seeing one of the cakes in here. He couldn't even imagine what they'd look like, the thought alone sent shivers down his spine.

Amy looked at him as if he'd just declined adopting a puppy they've found, left alone in the wood.

"Allright, one cake" Remus said resignedly.

"Yai" Amy cheered and went to find the waitress.

It was actually quite nice to be alone with Amy without Sirius interrupting with evil glares. Remus thought. The past few days even the slightest contact he'd made was covered by Sirius, staring at them and James and Peter's immature giggles.

Amy returned with something Remus wasn't sure was a cake at all.

The so-called cake was pink and so buried in berries, marzipan, whipped cream and ribbons that it was impossible to decide what it really was. Remus gaped at it in horror.

"There you go" Amy said and placed the cake in front of him.

"How am I going to eat that?" Remus terrified asked.

"I'll help you then" Amy said merrily. She seemed to be having the time of her life.

She cut a tiny piece with her fork and reached it towards Remus' mouth. Suddenly Remus realised what she intended to do. "No, Amy" He said embarrassed, looking around the other people in the shop.

She looked at him with that special look once more. It was official; Remus was a pushover, he thought as he obediently opened his mouth, wishing that no one he knew would pass the shopwindow in that second.

His wish wasn't granted. In that second Sirius passed the shop. He was with a girl, who looked adoringly at him in a manner that annoyed Remus. The couple had almost passed the shop when Remus noticed them and in the same second the girl noticed Remus and Amy. She pulled the sleeve of Sirius' coat and made a move with her head towards Remus as she giggled.

Sirius however, did not seem to find it even remotely funny. He turned a funny shade of greyish green and Remus began to fear for the shop-window's life. Sirius had never been that obsessed with his ex-girlfriends before, Remus thought. Instead of tearing the shop to pieces, Sirius walked away with rapid steps. A second or so went by before the girl noticed that she'd been left behind. She quickly went after him with an angry shout.

In that moment the door to the shop opened and Remus was able to make out their "conversation"

"I just didn't know that one of my best friends was dating my ex" Sirius angrily yelled at her.

"Are you freakin' blind?" She shouted back.

Then the door closed, making it impossible to make out what they were yelling.

Remus wanted to run after Sirius and explain the whole situation to him, but then he realized; Sirius snogged whoever he wanted, why shouldn't Remus be allowed to enjoy a day in Hogsmeade with a friend, just because that friend happened to be Sirius' ex?

Oh Remus...

I've been looking forward to this chapter ever since I started writing this story :3

Please review, it means a lot to me ^^