A/N: This is the one with all the corrections smoothed out. My next new updates will just be replacing chapters with corrected ones as soon as I get them back from my beta, but don't worry, I'm still continuing writing the next few chapters. Shout out to my beta, Michy Drarry Shipper for fixing up my writing, dominating the reviews, and for the ongoing support ;)

By the time Maggie and I are by the lake, in the midst of catching up with each other's holidays, my thoughts are still lingering in the Entrance Hall. What happened over an hour ago is still plaguing my mind in a series of multiple replays. The undeniable look of dismay that took over Remus' face can't be carved out of my memory. Not even as Maggie plants her mouth against mine, murmuring into the kiss that we should head back to the castle.

I nod, barely hearing her, and just wrap an arm around her slender shoulders. She grins at me, and whispers that she's glad to be back. Smiling warmly at her, I kiss her forehead. I say "I'm glad you're back too," and I don't why I feel guilty saying it.

"Let's head back," she repeats, looking at me with her crystal blue eyes. "I promised I would have you back by dinner."

"Yeah, let's go," I say confidently, taking my arm off her and slipping my hand into hers as if I'm ready take off. Instead, my feet feel stuck on the snowy ground and my hand is restless as I stare out at the frosted over lake.

As much as I love being with Maggie, I can't help but continue to dwell on the loss of something I almost got in my grasp once more. Things were going so well with Remus, and making me feel even guiltier, he tried to hide it. To conceal his disappointment beneath the fake smiles and overcompensating politeness he thinks he has mastered. I'm scared of facing Remus and I can't fathom why I'm so terrified. Why am I nervous about leaving him for an hour? Surely he'd understand, right?

But I sigh heavily, watching my breath take form in fog, knowing deep down that the look on his face was about so much more than me spending time with Maggie. It's the fact that every time we're close to being okay, something fractures it. Something interrupts. Something gets in the way. And that something is always me.

Probably taking notice of my shaking hand in hers and my absent stare at the horizon, Maggie asks, "What's wrong?"

I shake my head and lie. "Nothing. Just...a bit tired." Of not knowing what to do.

She nods, kindly ignoring that my excuse is too obvious, and leads me back to the castle.

Taking my wrist, she drags me to the entrance of the Great Hall, where the majority of the students are preparing for dinner, just in time for me to see Remus bent over a book alone at the Gryffindor table.

Maggie turns to me, taking off my beanie then handing it back. I turn it over in my hands, the sight of it making me feel worse. "That was a nice walk, Siri. Especially by the Lake. I think it just looks so much more gorgeous in this weather. I really do love winter at Hogwarts, don't you?" she rambles on, fixing her hair.

"Yeah..." I lie, pocketing the damn beanie.

"Well, anyway, almost dinner. I should go and find my friends," she continues.

"Yeah, okay," I reply, taking her hand. I tug her closer and kiss her rosy cheeks. "See you tomorrow?"

"Of course" she says, beaming at me. Giving my hand a final squeeze before letting go, she walks off to reunite with her waving friends at the Ravenclaw table.

I make a move towards my own house, but I feel like my feet have gotten ten times heavier. I am definitely still not ready to be alone with Remus again.

He's still poring over the hardbound, chin resting on his propped up hand. But I know he's not reading. I can tell by the way his eyes aren't moving frantically across the pages and how his other hand is perched on the edge of the table, tapping away. He's thinking, and I find myself desperately hoping it isn't about what happened at the Entrance Hall. Or what happened in the Shack. Or what happened in the Common...

Shit, we really do need to figure this out.

"Is there any good reason you're just standing there like an idiot instead of sitting with him?"

I spin frantically to face the owner of the familiar voice.

"Oh, Prongs, thank Merlin!" I exclaim, throwing my arms around him.

"Such a drama queen, Sirius," he complains, but he hugs me back anyway. I've always thought we would outgrow how touchy we are by now, but it's nice to know I was wrong.

We break apart, grinning, as he ruffles my hair. Another attempt to get my hair as messy as his.

"Okay, seriously though. Two weeks apart and you two are still acting like intolerably polite strangers," he chides.

"I don't know, Prongs. It's just been really...hard, okay?"

James rolls his eyes. "You two are driving me mad. I need my best friends back, you prat."

I rub my eyes tiredly. "Look, James..."

"So you snogged once. So what?" he exclaims and I punch his shoulder.

"Say that louder, why don't you?" I hiss through gritted teeth. I look around to see if anyone heard. "And that's bloody easy for you to say! What would you do if I snogged you right now?" I challenge.

James shrugs. "Wanna find out?" he says, winking at me.

I shake my head. "Useless. You are so useless."

He smirks and slings his arm around my shoulders as we start walking towards the table. "I missed ya too, Pads."

We get to Remus, who looks up as we sit across from him. He smiles broadly at the sight of James. "Hey, welcome back! Where's Peter?"

"Still unpacking I think. His mom gave him a million more handmade sweaters and scarves for Christmas and made him bring them. Poor bloke is still up there right now trying to - Brilliant! Oh, finally..." he cuts himself off as plates of steaming food appear before us.

I laugh at his one-track mindedness as I start to pile mash potatoes on my plate. From the corner of my eye, I see Remus chuckling too as he puts away his book. I smile, but it falters as I remember that we're back to him only being happy when he has something or someone to distract him from me.

"So let me get this straight," James says slowly as he underlines instructions on my book unnecessarily. "Things were going great until Margaret arrived."

I nod, scooping up the porcupine quills and dropping them into the cauldron in front of us.

"And he looked disappointed at her arrival," he adds, handing me a pot of crushed Shrivelfigs.

I nod.

"And Margaret said it was fine if you stayed with Remus."

I nod.

"And when he brushed off her offer, you let him."

I nod.

"Even when you said you wanted to talk to him."

And this time, I have to interrupt. "Look, he insisted that-"

"Also not forgetting that you've spent a great deal of time with Margaret while you've barely talked to Moony."

"Come on, Prongs, it was diffe-"

"And when he gave her your beanie, you just-"

I slam the container of peppermint sprigs on the table miserably, glaring at him. "Okay, I get it, I'm a bloody fucking arse... Now, unless you have something helpful to say, will you please help me with this? It's your grade too."

"Just go talk to him," he whines, fiddling with the different vials scattered on the table.

"That's hardly helpful."

James sighs. "Fine, I'll go get more Shrivelfigs."

I roll my eyes, about to argue that handing me ingredients and underlining instructions as if I couldn't read them myself didn't count as helping. But by the time I look up, he's already heading for the supply closet.

"Git," I mutter under my breath as I start crushing the Sopophorous beans with the blade of my knife.

When Slughorn finally dismisses us, my eyes travel to Remus across the room. My mouth twitches into a half smile as I see that he is arguing with Peter about the barely-satisfactory marks they received fortheir potion.

"We really shouldn't have left them to be partners," James echoes my thoughts as he packs up his things. "They're rubbish at potions."

I snort. "As if you do anything to help me."

"Aw, lighten up, you mutt," he says with a smirk as he takes his glasses off. The steam from all the brewing has fogged them up. He cleans them off on his sleeve as he nudges me with an elbow. "It's not like you needed help anyway. You're the best at this. Well, next to them, I mean," he adds, gesturing to the table next to Remus and Peter's.

Lily and Snape start fixing up their things, completely ignoring each other's existence once more now that the assigned task is done. Even a blind person could trace the outline of what seems to be an invisible wall keeping a consistent distance between them.

Alice ditched potions, probably skipping classes again with Frank to do who-knows-what. That left a very mad Lily without any available partner except for Snape. The two who used to be inseparable had now surprised everyone by enduring the class together without an outburst.

At the back of my mind, I pray that Remus and I won't end up as bad that.

James puts his glasses back on and declares dramatically, "Well, now if you excuse me, I'm gonna go save my lovely Lilypad from Snivellus."

I snicker. "Good luck with that, you lost cause."

"Yeah, and good luck with that," he puts emphasis on the last word, looking pointedly at Remus.

I frown at him. "Yeah, yeah, I'll try."

"Very good, Sirius," he says like he's congratulating a five year old for coloring inside the lines before marching to Lily. I decide not to tell him that his glasses are crooked.

Taking a deep breath, I walk over to Remus who is now standing by the doorway with Peter.

"Hey guys," I say calmly, but grasping my bag's strap tighter.

"Oh, hey Padfoot," Peter greets looking up from his notes, probably still trying to pinpoint where they went wrong with the potion.

"Hi," Remus mutters, giving a tight smile that I return.

"So..." I start, searching for something worth saying, but I settle for, "Dinner?"

"What about James?" Remus asks.

"Oh, he's still trying to hit on Evans as usual," I reply, trying to look him straight in the eye with my feigned nonchalance.

"Okay," he responds in monotone. "Well, you guys go ahead, yeah? I'm gonna go to the library."

Peter raises his eyebrows. "But we have to get to din-"

"I'm not hungry," Remus says tersely.

"Are you sure?" I ask just for the sake of it, but I know he's lying. I know he feels uneasy going anywhere with me if James isn't there to be our effective buffer.

"Yeah...I, uh...I'm not really up to it. And I have Arithmancy research to do."

"But during free period a while ago, Maggie was talking about how relieved she was that Professor Vector hasn't given you guys homework for a while," I blurt out, in a desperate attempt to get him to stay, even if it meant I had to mention Maggie. A decision I regret immediately at the sight of irritation spreading across his face.

"Yeah, well Maggie-" I can't help but flinch at the bitter tone in his voice and the strange edge in it as he stresses my nickname for her "- doesn't need extra research work because Maggie has never missed a single class because Maggie doesn't have to take days off on most full moons because Maggie is perfectly human and normal and at the top of the class," he finishes, eyes narrowed and fists clenched.

Peter looks at him with his jaw dropped and like me, his eyes wide in shock of his sudden outburst.

"Look, Remus," I say cautiously, trying to avoid any words that might trigger more from him. "I'm sorry, that was very inconsiderate of me-"

He waves my apology off, his expression softening and his body relaxing. "No, no, don't. It's just...I'm sorry. I'm in a mood and...I don't know. I'll just see you guys at the dorm later, yeah?"

And before I can even say goodbye, he's already stalking off.

"That was strange...even for Moony," Peter says, crossing his arms.

"Yeah," I say absentmindedly, watching him ascend the marble staircase with haste.

"And that's even more strange," I hear Peter add, more surprise in his voice.

I turn around to see what he means and raise my eyebrows at the scene across the classroom.

Snape is gone, but Lily's still there sitting on the table, facing James. They're laughing about something as Lily shoves James playfully. She then points to his face and I can't hear them from here, but it looks like she's saying, "Your glasses are crooked." I must be right because as soon as she tells him, he blushes slightly and reaches up to fix it. But as if the situation wasn't peculiar enough, Lily beats him to it, straightening his glasses and pushing them further up his nose. James lets out a flustered, "Thanks", rubbing the back of his neck.

I blink in disbelief, thinking that my, "Good luck" definitely worked a lot more than his.