The Great Hall is jam packed with its usual mixture of uncontrolled voices ringing throughout the tables and the scent of the freshly made breakfast. I try to fixate my senses only on my Potions book as I repeatedly stab the waffles on my plate.

"Hey", James sits next to me, flipping his book open as well, regardless of his lack of intention to study. "You okay, there?"

I raise my eyebrows, my eyes still glued to the pages. "Yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

"Well, you're massacring your breakfast that you haven't taken a bite of, your book has been open to one page for the last few minutes, and your eyes keep travelling to the entrance", James answers without skipping a beat, motioning his head to the other end of the hall. Sirius was stationed at the door, flirting with a couple of fifth years.

"Shut up, James", I mutter.

"Huh, someone's cranky", he utters, reaching over to my full plate, and helping himself to a mouthful of waffles.

"Well I was up all night. Sirius wanted me to help him out with his homework", I say to him frankly.

James smirks as he swallows my breakfast. "It's your fault you can't resist those puppy dog eyes", he insists mockingly.

I smile, amused. "Don't make me regret telling you about this, Prongs"

"Yeah, okay", he says, distraction taking over his voice. "Hold that thought, Remus", he adds, ruffling his hair as a group of giggling Ravenclaw girls passes. He winks at them, sending the girls into a fit of squeals as they hurry away. Their smiles growing wider as they pass a waving Sirius on the way out.

I snicker, rolling my eyes at James. "How you two can live with torturing those poor girls is beyond me, actually", I say, closing my textbook and shoving it in my heavy bag.

"Got a problem with that, Moony?" he says, in his voice that never failed to contain his cockiness.

I was about to laugh, dismissing his mock-threat, but my eyes suddenly travel back to Sirius. His smile unmistakably bigger, I could see that even from across the hall, as he continued to entertain the girls with eager, bright eyes that could not peel away from Sirius, had reddened cheeks that blushed harder with Padfoot's every word and gesture.

"Actually, yes I do have a problem with that", I murmur before I could stop myself.

James, who has already taken the liberty to finish the rest of the waffles, looks up from his plate, and looks at the direction of of my stare.

He turns to me in an instant, after he sees what I was still looking at. "Oh, Remus. That's nothing to worry about. I reckon he's just bored, you know how he is. I quite doubt he has any significant interest in those girls", he assures.

"It looks like he's interested enough to me", I say miserably.

James rolls his eyes, exasperated. "You're a nutter, you know that? You do realize whenever he flirts around, it's with people he doesn't give a damn about"

I sigh, glancing back at Sirius once more. He's laughing, running his calloused fingers through his dark, shaggy hair, and the two girls are giggling along, hanging onto his every move.

"Yeah, I reckon you're right", I say, unconvinced with my own words.

"You really shouldn't doubt me, Remus", James states confidently. "The minute he feels like actually talking to someone that actually matters, he'll ditch any amount of starstruck girls"

Before I could retort, I get caught by something in my peripheral vision. As if he heard what James had just said, Sirius turns his heel, and starts to strut down towards me and James, leaving the two fifth years attempting to disguise their disappointment.

I look at James, who was looking more smug than usual. "Oh, Remus Lupin, you may be in love with him, but I know him better", he says, beaming at me.

Grinning, I give in to his claim. "Well, I can't argue with that"

Sirius reaches the table, sitting across me. Up close, I can see his gorgeous gray eyes, shining as it catches the light's reflection, creating tiny specks of colors.

"What're you two so happy about, eh?" He says, swiping the leftover maple syrup from the plate in front of James.

"Nothing, we just-", I cut myself off, getting dazed at the sight of him slowly sucking the syrup off his fingers.

Bloody hell, it's like he's doing it on purpose. I swear, that arse is never not gorgeous. Bugger, this is absolute torture, I wish he knew that. Damn, the way he-

"Moony? You there?", Sirius says carefully with a confused look on his face as James kicks my foot from under the table.

I snap back to what's happening, trying to abandon my thoughts.

"You look a bit off. You okay there, mate?", Sirius asks, raising his eyebrows.

"Uh, yeah...I j-just...I was, you know-", I tried to sputter out anything that made tangible sense, but nothing came.

"He's just really sleep deprived. He was up all night, remember?", James chimes in, keeping me from rambling on any further.

"Oh, right. Sorry about that, Remus"

"It's alright, anything for you-", I start but James kicks me again. " -Guys", I hastily add, "Anything for you guys"

Sirius just grins and claps his hands as he stands up."Well, I'm guessing that means you're up to tutoring me later at lunch?"

I look up at Sirius, trying to ignore James discreetly nudging me with his elbow. "Yeah, of course", I say in a heartbeat.

"Great, well I'll you see you at Potions. I forgot that I promised to wake Peter up"

James and I laugh as he walks away in big, proud strides.

"Well, looks likes someone has a lunch date", James teases, pinching my cheek.

I swat his hand away, trying to stop myself from smiling. "Shut up, we have to get to Potions"