Gwen was seated on Remus lap in a backroom of the Shrieking Shack, her mind was whirling as she felt Remus place soft kisses on her neck. She couldn't believe her luck, just this summer he had in a drunken game of truth or dare stated matter of factly that he liked Gwen. It had only taken those words for James, Sirius, and Peter to go to work. It had taken been nearly a week since the game and Gwen had almost lost all hope that Remus had meant what he said.

One night however she had felt Sirius or maybe it was James grab her and push her into a small room in the back of the house the Potters were renting. Gwen had heard Lily protesting outside while James was trying to explain his rationale. Gwen saw Remus sitting down on the bed, his eyes were gazing down and he was trying his hardest not to make eye contact with Gwen. Gwen sighed, she had always hoped to be swept off her feet. She had had visions of a knight in shining armour storming up to her parents house and dragging her away to a life of parties and alcohol. A Gatsby lifestyle was what Lily and Charlotte had called it, but she realized with Remus that she was going to have to do the work if she wanted it.

As she took a seat next to Remus on the bed they sat in silence for what seemed like hours, the small analog clock on the bedside table had only skipped forward five minutes. Gwen liked Remus, she had probably always liked Remus, well at least since her third year when she joined the Quidditch team with Charlotte. Remus was the shy one out of the group; both Sirius and James were attention seekers, Peter followed them around, but Remus - Remus was their best friend but he could stand on his own. If Sirius and James were in detention or busy chasing after a girl Remus could entertain himself. Yet, he was also the most unwilling to ask anyone out. In their fourth year they had all ended up staying over Christmas, and while James was chasing after Lily, Peter was jumping between Gwen and Charlotte trying to get one of them to date him. Remus had quietly sat by and watched the entire thing with enjoyment.

"Remus" Gwen said staring down at the piece of carpet he was staring at. "I like you" she said firmly. Remus head jerked up and he stared at Gwen for a minute or two.

"I like you too, but I don't think we should date" Remus replied back firmly. To anyone else his answer would have seemed final, but Gwen McGonagall had grown up in a house with firm no's and had somehow still gotten her emotionless parents and brother to give her what she wanted. Remus Lupin was not going to be the first person to not fall under her power.

"Why not?" Gwen said lying back on the bed, she watched Remus stare at her legs - she was grateful she had worn the skirt today, her flimsy top was pulled up a bit showing off her stomach, and her breasts were barely hidden behind a not so appropriate bikini top. The outfit had been more to get her mother and father's goat.

Her father, Faxon, would yell at her about showing her body off to men. Her mother would then turn to her father and yell at him for sexualizing his daughter's body. All the while Varick would sit in the living room sighing as he watched Gwen disappear out the house.

If the outfit didn't work, then Gwen would deliberately get caught trying to escape out of the house. That would cause her mother to yell at her for not spending time with her family, which would then cause her father to yell at her mother about all the reasons why someone wouldn't want to be in a room with her, her mother.

Gwen hated the second option, her mother wasn't a bad mother. She was a little too strict, she did have difficulty remembering that during school holidays she was not Professor McGonagall she was Mum, and she wasn't exactly thrilled with Gwen's obsession with muggle romances between princess and princes. But, Gwen would never wish for another mother - except for maybe when her mother was giving her detention.

"Well, because" Remus paused for a moment his eyes were clearly on her hip bone, Gwen smirked as she watched his eyes trace up. He was trying his hardest to stay polite. This was why she liked him so much, Remus tried to act like a proper polite young man and suppress his male hormones. Every now and then they came out, like now.

"Remus" Gwen said pushing herself up and staring at him in the face "I'm not asking you to marry me. I'm asking you to go out with me, like you know study together, go to Hogsmeade together, maybe we could kiss a bit, maybe a little more. I promise Remus" Gwen said dramatically clutching her heart "I won't..." but she hadn't been able to finish her soliloquy, Remus' mouth was on top of hers kissing her softly, sweetly, his hands were on top of hers.

"Okay" he whispered as he had pulled away "You win Gwendolyn, but I'm telling you don't expect me to marry you." Gwen had laughed off the last comment, she didn't give his seriousness or his firmness any more thought.

They had spent the rest of their summer break hand in hand, stealing away quietly for a kiss or two. Remus was a perfect gentleman, even when Gwen had spoken to Lily about her interactions with the guy she had made out with last year or thought back to Charlotte's comments about Davos, she knew Remus was different.

His kisses were soft, his hands stayed in places that her mother would have been okay with, his hands never strayed from those spots. Yet, Gwen could see it in his eyes, the same hunger that seemed permanently attached to Blacks face. With Remus though it was fleeting, it was a kiss that got too passionate, when he pulled back she would see it in his eyes the internal struggle between diving back in and being a teenage male or remaining the guy your parents wanted you to date.

She was pulled from her memories by his hands, they were on her thighs. Gwen sucked in a breath of air as she tried to pretend she didn't feel or see his hands worrying that the moment she made a comment one hand would be back on his knee and the other one would be back on the small of her back. She thought she could feel him smile into her neck as he continued to plant soft kisses. If she didn't know better she would think he had purposefully put his hand on her thigh, teasing her. Reminding her that he could be proper and perfect, but also away from the eyes of her mother he could be like any other teenage boy. The feeling was fleeting as a moment later a crash had jolted both of them. Peter Pettigrew was lying on the floor in front of Remus feet roaring with laughter as the firecracker in his hand fizzled.

"Forgot these things have a kick to them." Remus eyes lit up as he stood up and helped Peter up, his lip was curled up. He was trying to suppress a smile, trying to be the adult in the room.

"Wormy, we've talked about this before." Remus chuckled his voice was filled with mirth as he grabbed a new firecracker and grabbed Gwen by the hand pulling her outside, Peter followed closely behind. "You have to light it and hold firmly." Remus said handing the firecracker to Gwen and pulling her in front of him, one arm held her hand up, the other lit the long fuse and then went to her side holding her firmly against his chest. Gwen held on tightly to the firecracker.

"Loosen your grip, barely hold it" she heard Remus whisper in her ear, she was about to retort that he had just said to hold it firmly, she released her grip though and all of a sudden the firecracker shot up into the night sky, a huge dragon rose out and swooped back down to earth before disappearing in a crack.

"You just have to practice more." Remus said the smirk remaining on his face as he passed the firecracker to Peter. Peter stared at it contemplating what he was doing wrong as he pointed his up to the sky, lit it, and then flew backwards as the dragon roared upwards. Most of the people in the Shrieking Shack had filed outside to see the fireworks and were laughing at Peter who was lying on the ground now.

Gwen felt pity for him for a slight moment before Mary had come running up to check on him and Peter getting some of his wounded pride back had jumped up and bowed to the crowed.

Gwen couldn't get her mind off where Remus hands remained, they were placed around her hips holding her against him as she felt his chest rumble with laughter. Gwen felt a hand come down firmly on Remus shoulder as she turned she saw Lily nervously bounce from foot to foot "Where's Padfoot?" James said as he stared out across the group of students now mingling in the fields.

"I don't know" Remus replied back, before James could go off in search of Black, a dog patronous ran up to their feet.

Filch is on the prowl

"Well Ladies and Gentleman" James yelled out looking over the crowd of students "It looks like tonight's entertainment is over, I'd recommend taking different ways back to the school, unless you're like Peter and you enjoy a good spanking from Filch."

"James enjoys them so much he typically tries to get caught." Peter called out as he had an arm slung over Mary's shoulder. James smirked and winked to the crowd as they started to disperse.

"Shall we hop into Honeydukes?" James asked Remus. Remus nodded his head and turned to Gwen "Hang out here with Lily, don't go anywhere we know a way back to school that will bypass Filch." Gwen nodded her head as she glanced over at Lily. Lily was standing on her tiptoes staring out into the crowd.

"I'm worried about Char" Lily mused, Gwen felt her stomach tighten. She had forgotten all about Charlotte tonight and had thought that Lily would have been with her.

"Don't worry, I think I saw her with Rose." James replied as he lugged a box of firecrackers back into the Shack.