James and Sirius were walking to the Common Room after Quidditch practice, talking about this and that. Along the way, their conversation turned to the slim possibility of Lily Evans ever dating James.

"I tell ya, once she becomes my girlfriend," James boasted, "we're gonna want to go on double dates."

"And who would be joining you?" Sirius jokingly asked.

"Why you of course!" James answered with a clap on his best friend's back. "We just need to find you someone."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Yeah. Find me someone who isn't a fangirl."

"That seems hard." James replied. It was well known that roughly half the school wanted to date the bad-boy Sirius Black.

"It is." Sirius dryly replied. "I don't mind the attention, but I want to settle down with someone that I love, and who loves me, not the idea of me, or my reputation. I want a loving relationship formed independent of outside pressures." Sirius sighed, and James comforted him. They both knew full well the pressures the Black family and their allies put on their children to marry fellow pure-bloods, even if they were relatives.

"My parents are pretty fond of each other," Sirius continued, "and plenty of couples in my family and their inner circle have mutual respect and affection for each other, and there are loving relationships, but I dream of love. Not fondness, or learning to love, but actual, real love. Like with Dromy and Cissy."

James nodded. Andromeda and Narcisa Black both had loving romantic relationships that formed completely on their own. Not that they weren't uncommon or discouraged, but both parties had to be approved of. Narcisa had the fortune of falling in love with the rich pure-blood elitist Lucius Malfoy, while her sister had the misfortune of falling in love with the muggle-born Edward "Ted" Tonks.

"Well, I'm sure you'll find love someday." James encouraged.

"Yeah, someday." Sirius rolled his eyes. Then he chuckled, "You know, last night Remus and I were talking about him finding love."

"Really?"

"Yeah. He gave the whole, 'no one will want me' thing, and I told him that was non-sense because, if we want him as a friend, surely someone will want him as a boyfriend. He asked me to name someone who would, and I was going to say Mimi Moon,"

"Oh, he'd be perfect for her!"

"I know! So I was saying her name, when Remus cut me off and asked 'You?'"

"He thought you were talking about yourself?" James couldn't believe it!

"It's true!" Sirius said with his usual liveliness that had suddenly come back, "I was going to correct him, but decided to have fun with it."

"You didn't!" James asked with a boyish glee tinged with concern.

"I did! You should've seen his face!" Sirius replied with a laugh.

James couldn't help but laugh too. But, once he calmed down he somewhat sternly told his friend, "Be sure you don't take things too far. You know how fragile Moony's self-esteem is."

"No worries! It was just a joke. I'm sure he's forgotten about it by now."

"Maybe." James suddenly took on a serious tone, "But, seriously, Remus has almost no self-esteem and a lot of self-hate. This could be dangerous, and not in the fun way."

Sirius pouted. There was James being fatherly again. Then an idea hit him. "I have the perfect idea!"

James, always being up for mischief, asked with a smile, "What?"

"Let's boost up Moony's self-esteem!"

James looked at him weird, "We're already doing that."

"Yes, but what if we take a different approach?"

James was intrigued. "How different?"

"Well, since Remus needs to be shown that people can love him, what if we convince Moon to pursue him!"

James thought about it. "It does seem like a good idea."

"I know!"

"But won't Remus think we're pushing him?"

Sirius got deflated. He had a point. And, who was to say that Mimi would even be interested?

"Although, we could work with it." James mused, "We just have to be careful. Maybe we could dial up our affection towards him? Or subtly convince someone through casual conversation when Remus isn't in earshot?"

"That's even better!" Sirius exclaimed. James truly was a great leader. "We can start when we get to the Common Room. And I think I'll start showing our dear Remus how exactly people can love him."

James took on a look and tone that was both reprimanding and teasing, "Just don't take things too far, you might end up falling for him."

"Me? Falling for Remus Lupin?" Sirius replied in an almost laugh, "Pah-lease, I just see him as a friend. And as a friend, it's my duty to make him feel loved."

"Whatever you say." James answered as they neared the Common Room, hiding the fact that he had for a while thought that the two would make a good couple.

"Oh don't give me that!" Sirius reprimanded, "I'm not gonna do anything that I wouldn't do with you!"

"Uh-huh." A half-convinced James replied. "So what are you going to do?"

"Well, if Remus is sitting in a chair, then I'll share the chair with him. Maybe arrange us so that one of us sits on the other, or we're both sitting on each other. And if he's on a couch, then I could lay on top of him and cuddle."

"Sounds like a plan." James remarked with a cheeky grin, "Nothing you wouldn't do with me?"

"We do that all the time!" Sirius complained as he playfully smacked his best friend's arm.

"I know." James sing-songed. "Just be careful of where you put your mouth."

"I will." Sirius promised as they approached the Fat Lady.