(2) The Butter Beer

Professor Lupin leaned back against his desk, facing his class, a look of complete surprise on his face. In the audience, four young men sat back scowling. Above the group hovered Peeves & standing directly under him was Lily Evans, a rather smug smile on her face.

"Well, this is unexpected," Lupin finally said. "You weren't actually supposed to catch him. I had deemed that impossible. I just wanted to see how well everyone would try. But Miss Evans here has gone above & beyond."

Sirius leaned over to whisper in James's ears. "Still want to bed that girl?" James replied silently with a rather rude finger sign in the shape of a V, which was a worse way in Britain to do the middle finger than the actual Americanized middle finger. "Oh! Nice." Sirius sat straight again as James slid a little lower in his seat.

"She has not just caught Peeves, but in fact befriended him," Lupin went on. "She has also left a very detailed note as to the how of it & I will read it now." He flipped up the card. "To Professor Lupin: I apologize in advance since I do happen to be friends with your son, but he took a few hits for the team this round. I made friends with Peeves by telling him all sorts of ways to attack four rather annoying BOYS who think they are so special. Peeves readily agreed & we have been best friends ever since."

Remus, Sirius & Peter joined James on the down low of sliding into their seats.

Professor Lupin laid the card aside onto his desk. "Miss Evans, where is my three foot long roll?"

"You don't need it from me," Lily quipped. "Obviously. I think my note is rather clear, no?"

"Oh, she did you dirty, Prongs!" Sirius whispered. James told him some rude things to do with a cactus & punched Sirius on the shoulder.

"Well ... I suppose so," Lupin said, surveying the odd pair of friends.

Peeves floated close to Lily & put a hand on her shoulder for a moment. "We have lots of fun, yes. With those silly ones, yes!"

"Not now, Peeves," Lily said. "We're trying to get some points for Gryffindor here."

"Points?" Lupin echoed. "For befriending a Poltergeist?"

"That is correct, Sir," Lily lifted her chin a little, smiling.

The impudence. Lupin stared at her & finally gave up. "Take fifty!"

"YES!" Lily cheered, heading back to her seat with Peeves close behind. She turned in her seat. "Sorry Remus. I couldn't play favourites since I was working for points. You understand, right?" Remus glared at her.

"Ten points for Remus as well," Lupin said, glancing at the card on his desk. "For uh, for taking one for the team."

Remus finally sat straight. He cast another look at Lily as he shook his head before laughing softly under breath.

When class was dismissed, Remus fell away from his three best friends & caught up to Lily. "Thanks for that," he said. "I have been doused with ice water, turned around in a moving hallway, nearly set on fire & a few other things."

"You're welcome, Ray," Lily laughed.

"We both know you did it 'cause you hate Jim."

"Eh," Lily neither confirmed or denied it. "We won though. Sixty whole points for Gryffindor!"

"Uh huh," Remus scoffed. "I better catch up to them. Quidditch practice & Jim's doing the Seeker position now."

"Oh, is Jason still sick?"

"Yeah," Remus nodded. "Care to join me? I got some sandwiches out of the Great Hall earlier."

"Sure," Lily agreed, following him as they hurried to catch up. They hung back a little, letting James, Sirius & Peter go on ahead in their sight. Remus kept his eyes on the back of Sirius's head, thinking over their strange moments together recently. "Are you alright, Ray?" Lily's voice brought him back to the present.

"Hmm? Uh yeah," Remus shrugged. "I'm fine."

"We're halfway across the grounds & you've not said a single word until I spoke to you," Lily pointed out. "I know the next full moon is up in a day or two."

"Yeah, it is," Remus replied automatically.

"Something else wrong?"

"No," Remus opened the door to the stands & they started climbing up to where Peter would be. "No, nothing's wrong. It's just ... well," he stopped climbing, letting Lily bump into him. He turned to face her. "Sirius ... & I ... Sirius & I kissed. Yesterday. We, uh—"

"You did?" Lily asked in surprise. "I mean, I always knew you both were gay..."

"Um, wolves don't quite work like that," Remus said. "We bond with whoever is perfect. It could just as easily have been a woman instead, but yeah, I think it's Sirius."

"Very serious," Lily smiled, earning an eye roll.

"You're incorrigible, you silly girl!"

"Me? I think YOU'RE the one who's incorrigible, you silly wolf!"

Both burst out laughing & by the time they located Peter up in the stands, Lily & Remus were all but tumbling over each other, sobbing hysterically from the stitches in their sides. They attempted to blame each other for it, but this only caused them to laugh harder & Peter move sideways a few seats away from them.

By the time the two idiots had sorted themselves out, practice was nearly over. Remus was first down from the stands to find Sirius & James still pulling off Quidditch gear. Remus caught Sirius's eye & they gazed at each other for a moment before Sirius turned away to help James out of the armour jacket he was currently stuck in.

"Da, da, da-da," Lily sung the first few notes of the wedding march as she passed.

"Lily! For the love of Merlin, shut up!" Remus yelped.

This caused Lily to sob with laughter once more as she stumbled away & James whip around to try seeing her. Sirius let out a screech before pulling his fingers out of the entangled mess of ties to suck on them.

Needless to say, it was only Peter who arrived back at the castle as a normal person. Lily was still laughing. James was still stuck in the armour jacket that had been enchanted to keep him there (compliments of Lily, through Peeves). Sirius was still nursing red fingers & Remus was blushing furiously.

All in all, just another normal day in the life of the Marauders.

Three professors & a few hours later, James was still trapped in the jacket.

"Do you think they'll ever get him out?" Remus asked, sitting on another hospital bed next to Sirius.

"I hope so," Sirius said. "We need him for the full moon coming up."

Remus leaned forward a little, watching the group with James. "I've been thinking, uh ..." He looked at Sirius. "Um where do we go from here?"

Sirius tentatively took hold of Remus's hand closest to his hip. "We should take it slow," he began.

"Are you able to do that?" Remus asked. "I mean, you're a pretty sexual being."

"If I'm going to be with a wolf, I need to learn how to focus," Sirius said. "But something else is coming."

"This war with Voldemort."

"Well that too," Sirius said. "But a bit sooner than that. We probably shouldn't mate for at least a year."

"A YEAR?!" Remus exclaimed. After glares from the Professors, he lowered his voice. "A year. Why?"

"My stupid birthday," Sirius said. "You're going to be an underage minor to me for a while. Illegal. Once you're all caught up next year, then we can talk about stuff like that."

Remus watched the proceedings with James for a while. "Huh. I honestly didn't think of that."

"It's all I can think about."

"Muggles have a Romeo & Juliet kind of law that lets the law turn a blind eye to such pairings," Remus said. "But I don't think Wizard-kind do."

"No, we don't," Sirius said. "I looked it up." Remus smiled softly. The knowledge Sirius had of the muggle world was almost better than an actual muggle. "I mean we could do things earlier," Sirius went on. "But we could not be open about it except to a select few until we all catch up on our birthdays. My Trace will end in a few months but not yours. I know Animagic is untraceable which is why we can be with you over summer, but everything else has the Trace & I don't know how that affects wolf bonds."

"I don't think it does, but who really knows?"

Sirius pulled the screen part way to block the bed they were on from view. He pulled Remus close, putting a hand through his hair. "Moony, I want this to work. We just have to be careful until we're all of age. For now, some people may still not like us being together."

"Yeah, Papa's going to be one of them," Remus admitted.

"Professor Lupin? Why? He doesn't like same sex or something?"

"Oh no! Not like that!" Remus replied hurriedly. "No, you being a guy is fine. You being a Black, not so much. You know Papa hates your family."

"Werewolf hunters," Sirius sighed. "Well I just found another way to hunt & catch you."

"Padfoot!" Remus cross-rolled his eyes shut, trying hard not to laugh. When he composed himself, he said, "Papa was rather upset with me back in first year when he found out I had befriended two members of the Black family. I tried pointing out that James doesn't count since he is just a distant cousin to you, but Papa didn't care. He's only just getting used to the idea now."

"I see & now," Sirius leaned forward to kiss Remus. "He has to get used to this."

He felt Sirius's lips press against his own. "I like this," Remus murmured. "This is ... nice." They kissed again.

/Moony, can you wait that long? I mean ... our age./

There was no answer. The wolf had to think about it.

"Let's just take it one day at a time," Sirius said, raising a hand to pull back the curtain as both heard excited yelling.

"Finally!" James gasped for air. "I'm free!" He sent a double thumb-up to the Wolfstar team sitting on the bed. He suddenly narrowed his eyes & turned away. "EVANS!" He ran out the hospital door.

Sirius & Remus shared a look before hurrying after. They found the pair arguing in the main hallway. Peter moved to stand beside him. "He's accusing her of the armour jacket."

"It IS her fault that thing held him in," Remus pointed out.

"Watch," said Peter. "It gets better."

"You owe me BIG! Evans!" James snarled. "I was stuck in that thing ALL day. I know it was you. I know it!"

"I don't owe you a damn thing, Potter & you know even less!"

"Was it or was it not your idea to team up with Peeves?" James demanded. "Or was your sweet pink & white card to dear Professor Lupin a lie?"

"No, it was not."

"You & Peeves have had it in for me for a couple of months now," James went on.

"So what?"

"I could barely breathe in that thing!"

"Oops! Clumsy me."

"Oh!" James snarled, hair rising a little.

"Uh oh!" Sirius, Remus & Peter gasped. Prongs was wanting to come out.

James passed a hand through his hair in a show of messing it up. "Butter beer."

"What?"

"A butter beer," James repeated. "That's all I ask. I'll drop this if you just have one butter beer with me."

"Is he really that pathetic?" Peter whispered to the other two.

"You're pathetic!" Lily unwittingly answered Peter's question.

"Oh for God's sake, Evans!" James put his hands up. "It's a butter beer, not a marriage proposal!"

"I might poison yours."

"You do that!"

Remus leaned close to Sirius. "I think if anyone needs to get laid right now, its him. He hasn't done it at all, has he?"

"Neither has she," Sirius scoffed. "What? Women talk. She's still a virgin according to them. They kind of tease her for it now."

"I really did not need that kind of information!" Remus hissed. "It's bad enough I can smell girls on their own times of the month."

"MERLIN'S BEARD, MOONY!" Sirius doubled over in laughter.

"It's blood. What do you expect?" Remus teased. "It's like a bleeding bouquet for me."

"Peter," Sirius looked up from the floor he was kneeling on. "Remind me again why we have a werewolf for a pet?"

"I don't know," Peter shook his head. "Seemed like a good idea at the time."

Sirius moved his eyes to Remus. "I legitimately did not know you could do that."

"Well, now you do."

"I wish I could UN-know that," Peter complained. Remus just laughed as he focused on the battle once more. They had missed some stuff & by now, James & Lily had lowered their voices a little.

"Do this with me & I promise I will never talk to you again," James was saying. He pulled out his wand. "I will even swear on my magic." Break a promise on that & his powers would be broken.

"Don't be absurd," Lily replied. "Put your wand away!"

"I swear on—"

"STOP IT! I'LL GO!" Lily grabbed his wand & wrenched it away before he did something stupid. "God, I hate you!"

"Oh yeah?" James took his wand back & put it away. "Today, the feeling is mutual. Trapping me in the armour jacket. Evans? You could have killed me."

"Excuse me while I shed a tear," Lily shot back waspishly. "I'll see you at the end of the road to Hogsmeade on Saturday. Don't be late so we can get it over with."

"I'll be there," James snapped as Lily walked away.

Sirius, Remus & Peter all shared looks. "Did you?"

"Just?"

"Get a date with her?"

"SHUT UP!" James marched away, face red & fists by his side.

It was fortunate that the next full moon was close. Prongs was needing to come out & bang his antlers on the trees in frustration after the latest showdown with Lily Evans.

The next big event in the life of James Potter was in fact his first so-called date with the girl of his dreams. Both were still angry with each other & glared daggers through most of it.

James bought both butter beers & handed one to her. They went outside & walked down the High Street, sipping their drinks. "Why do we fight so much, Evans?" James suddenly asked.

"We don't belong in each other's circles," Lily said.

James lowered his can for a moment. "I know you're muggleborn. You know I have Black blood, but us Potters don't care as much about pureblood supremacy as our Black cousins do. You're safe with me, you know."

"That's not it," Lily finished her drink before adding, "We just have different mindsets. Different goals. Different friends. Except Remus. I like him just fine."

James finished his own drink. "He told me you know what he is now."

"Yeah, I kind of had to find out, what with him missing Prefect meetings now & then," Lily said. "I'm the only one that knows & cover for him when he has to leave."

"Thank you," James said. "He needs all the support he can get. Did he ... mention anything else?"

"He & Sirius kissed the other day."

"Oh yeah!" James laughed. "About time."

"I guess," Lily shrugged.

"You got a problem with that sort of lifestyle?" James asked slowly.

"No, no," Lily shook her head. "I just was under the impression you would end up with Sirius."

"What?"

"You guys are pretty tight."

"NO!" James groaned. "I'll die a virgin before I'd be with him. Besides, I've always wanted him with Remus."

"That would be my second guess," Lily said. "If it wasn't you, it would be Remus." She stopped walking as they reached the turn off to head back to the castle. A few of her girlfriends were waiting by the carriages. "Well," She held out a hand to James. "I am sorry for trapping you in your Quidditch armour jacket."

James took her hand & they began shaking on it. "I'm sorry for getting overly mad at you about it."

"Ok."

"Ok."

They were still shaking hands.

"Sorry for shipping you with Sirius."

"Yeah," James snorted. "Nah, he's definitely all for Remus."

"Thank you for the butter beer."

"Welcome."

Shake. Shake. Shake.

"Let's not do this ever again," Lily said, finally letting go.

"Right," James nodded, lowering his hands. "Can we at least try to not fight with each other anymore?" He suddenly asked as she had started to turn away. "I mean ... I hate that we fight so much. I'd like that to stop."

"You think I enjoy it?"

"N—don't!" James glared, nearly falling for the bait. "I don't want to fight with you, anymore. Ok?"

"Ok ... " Lily turned away & let Alice help her up into the carriage. James watched the carriage until it went up around a bend before turning & heading to the forest. He bounded about as Prongs for a while to clear his head.