Hello...I'm lazy, that's all.

Christmas was drawing nearer every day. It would be Remus' last Christmas as a Hogwarts student. He never spent his Christmases at school though. At home, they would always have a Christmas feast with their relatives - not a huge one, but with the closest members of his family, and he enjoyed it a lot. Though it was only November, he found himself already longing for it.

Remus had just sent off a letter to his parents, and was standing by the window with his scarf tightly wrapped around him, looking out through it. The situation at the Ministry hadn't changed for the better. His parents didn't tell him much, but he read the papers and he knew that they were concerned that his dad might lose his job. And it was all Black's fault.

Remus tried to not be mad at Sirius for it; it was his dad that was the head of the department, not him. Besides, there were plenty of other reasons to dislike Sirius. Like the fact that he whistled when Remus passed him in the Great Hall, causing all of his Slytherin friends to laugh. Or that he tapped Remus' arse in a crowded corridor so no one would notice. And it wasn't as if he could go and tell Professor McGonagall about it - just thinking about it made Remus shut his eyes in embarrassment.

The Quidditch match, Slytherin vs. Gryffindor, was getting closer as well. It was the last game of the season and the atmosphere between the two houses was even more tense than usual. Everywhere Remus went, there was talk about the upcoming game, especially amongst the girls, because Slytherin's team was made up of only guys - tall, muscular and handsome guys, among whom were James Potter and Sirius Black. Those two in particular had attracted a lot of the whispers and attention - like in the library the other day.

Remus had been sitting at his usual desk, frowning while reading a rather complex book on transfiguration spells. The whispered conversation from the two Ravenclaw girls in front of him had been easily ignored in favour of reading, until his ears picked up on a familiar name...

"Did you see Black after Slytherin's practice today?" whispered one of the girls excitedly to the other.

Her friend had giggled and covered her mouth, looking around to see if anyone was listening, and not noticing Remus was sat behind them. "I did. How can his hair stay like that in spite of the wind?"

"Magic?" whispered the other girl, and then, with a triumphant grin, "he gave me a smile when he passed our table."

"He did? You're so lucky." The comment had made Remus roll his eyes. He would do anything to get away from those creepy smiles that Sirius sent him.

"I think he likes me."

"Isn't he dating that Slytherin girl in Sixth Year?" Remus finally looked up from his book and listened carefully. It was the girl he'd find Sirius snogging with in the corridor a couple of weeks ago.

"No...I think it's over between them... I might have a chance now."

This is so stupid. How can they even want him, when they know what an arse he is? If he were just a little bit braver, Remus would have gladly walk up to the girls and ask them if they were sane. But he couldn't help but feel a bit relived to know that Sirius was single. At least he hadn't cheated on anyone when he had kissed Remus then...

"I dream about going on a date with him. Or even just getting a kiss from him."

"Yeah, I've heard he's pretty dreamy to kiss," her friend agreed. "Henrietta, you know, from our house? She said that he's the best kisser ever."

For the first time in Remus' life, he had done something that other people would be jealous of (even if it would be mostly girls who were jealous - it was nothing to be proud of if a guy had kissed another guy, so he could never admit that it had happened).

Remus had left the library shortly after that. He didn't need to hear any more of this conversation. But for days after he'd heard the girls talk, he kept thinking about it. They had said that Sirius was the best kisser ever. The kiss itself had actually been quite good, but then again, Remus had nothing to compare it with. It would probably have been even better had he liked the person he had kissed and wasn't being forced into it...

Students hurried past Remus to get to classes on time, as he made his way down the corridor. He felt someone nudge his shoulder, and then sighed when he realised that it was Sirius, and walked on.

"You're on my team this weekend, right?" Sirius fell in to step with him, grinning.

"What do you mean?" said Remus uninterestedly, and sped up, keen to get to the greenhouses for his first class of Herbology as quickly as possible.

"I'm talking about the Quidditch match! You're supporting Slytherin, aren't you?" Sirius pressed on, with a teasing hint in his voice, and matched Remus' quickened pace.

"No. Why would I be? I'm a Gryffindor," said Remus.

"Aww come on. I'm counting on you!" said Sirius, and nudged his shoulder again.

"Well, don't," said Remus shortly, "and I have to go. I've got class."

"Fine. See you later, love," called Sirius after him, as Remus walked out through the front doors. His cheeks flushed slightly red, as he hurried across the grounds.

xoxoxoxox

"Remus? Hi," called Lily, when he stepped inside the greenhouse. Remus smiled back at her and set his bag down on the seat next to hers.

She too talked incessantly about the Quidditch match while they cut up glowing red Pachiras during class. They had to wear their Dragon-hide gloves as the plants tentacles were poisounus. Remus was more than tired of it all by the time the weekend had finally arrived. He wouldn't even have bothered to go, had Lily not forced him to come with her. (The essay that wasn't due till next Friday was apparently not a good excuse). And, she insisted, it would be fun to watch Slytherin lose, although Remus privately had his doubts that Gryffindor would manage to beat Slytherin.

But it did turn out to be fun. Remus had expected Lily to leave him when they got to the stands, and go off to find her friends instead. But she actually sat with him through the whole game, the two of them cheering and chatting with other students.

"I see you, you know?" said Lily, leaning over with a smug smile.

"What?" said Remus in confusion, and turned to look at her.

"I'm not blind, Remus. I can see you ogling him," she grinned.

"I don't know what you're talking about," returned Remus stubbornly and turned his gaze back to the pitch, but he made the conscious effort to stop following Sirius' every move now. Instead, he watched as one of the GryffindorChasers scored another goal. It was 80-20 to Gryffindor, and their Seeker only needed to catch the snitch now. However, everyone knew that James Potter was the better Seeker - he was very skilled and rarely lost a game.

Remus' eyes slowly turned back to Sirius, who played one of the Beater positions. He was brilliant, Remus couldn't deny that - the graceful way he flew over the pitch, turning quickly with the lightest of touches. Remus wasn't the only one watching him; even some of the Gryffindors seemed to forget to cheer for their own team at times.

When loud yells and cheers could suddenly be heard from the opposite side of the stands, Remus snapped out of his thoughts and looked up at the score board. Gryffindor's Seeker had just made a deep dive to catch the snitch. And he was just about to, when Potter came flying from nowhere and grabbed it from right in front of his outstretched hand.

The cheers that followed afterwards came roaring from Slytherin's stands. Remus sighed in disappointment along with the other Gryffindors. He watched as Potter joined his team in the air, and zoomed arrogantly around the pitch. And Remus could have sworn that Black winked at him from his broom.

Would really help with some feedback ^^ I'll try to start on the next chapter soon.