Lily Evans was many things. She was intelligent, responsible, a little hot-headed at times, and definitely stubborn. The one thing she most definitely was not was a liar. She simply had never been good at fabricating elaborate excuses - not to anyone else and least of all, not to herself. She had given up on trying to convince herself that she hated the very existence of James Potter last year and, though it pained her to admit, she actually had begun to feel rather fond of him.
Of course, he was still James Potter, and even Headboy James Potter - who was on his "best behavior" - had an incredible knack for driving Lily absolutely insane.
He was constantly late, first of all. He'd come waltzing into class ten minutes after the bell had rung, smiling charmingly at the professors in that way that he knew none of them could resist and sure enough, they would pretend to scold him and tell him to take his seat. No detention, no points deducted, nothing.
"Haven't you ever heard of a watch?" Lily would ask, biting the inside of her cheek as she tried to maintain her composure when he would show up to a Prefect meeting at half-passed-whenever-he-damn-well-pleased. He would give her that same, cocky grin and shrug.
"I figured I'd give you time to miss me."
Which she most certainly did not.
Yet, despite his inability to follow a simple schedule, for some reason he always seemed to be in the right place at the right time. While patrolling the corridors on their nightly rounds, whenever a portrait tipped Lily off about any sort of wrong doings going on about the castle, she would always get there seemingly moments too late, only to find that James Potter had already caught the culprit and sent them off to their head of house or given them a write-up himself.
When she thought about it, Remus had always had this sort of luck on his side when they were Prefects together as well. Lily had assumed that Remus' heightened senses and instinct had given him the upper hand when it came to tracking down students who shouldn't be lurking about, but now she was certain that they both had some sort of knowledge of the whereabouts of anyone in the castle if they so chose.
Also, for all of his talk about 'The New and Improved James Potter,' he was still James Bloody Potter.
Sure, he hadn't sent unjustified hexes at unknowing students in recent memory, but despite his claims of being on his best behavior, Lily was one hundred and ten percent sure that he had something to do with the fact that for a whole week in early October, every seventh year Slytherin could only speak if they were praising Gryffindor's superiority. Though, Lily found she couldn't fault James for his continued participation in -admittedly harmless and, though she'd never say it out loud, amusing - pranks, because she knew Remus wasn't nearly as innocent as he looked either. Lily was no hypocrite. And perhaps she did laugh a little the morning everyone walked into the Great Hall for breakfast and found around forty suits of armor had been posed in very compromising positions.
But it was James bloody Potter, for Merlin's sake. Arrogance radiated off of him as he strutted around the school with that stupid, cocky, crooked grin with his tie hanging lose around the collar of his untucked shirt. He always took up the entire sofa in the common room, sprawling across it with his gangly limbs going this way and that and his muddy, worn-out trainers resting on the arm. Honestly, was the boy raised in a barn? He hardly ever could be found studying - unless you considered the quidditch play manuals he was often hunched over - yet his test marks and homework were almost always straight O's. He was loud and entitled, he challenged every single thing Lily said and for the love of Godric, every time he did that stupid thing with his stupid hair Lily wanted to hex every stupid strand off of his stupid head!
The absolute worst part of it all was that Lily suddenly found she liked all of those things.
—-
Sirius personally thought that The New James Potter was a bit of a prat.
Well, he supposed James had always been a bit of a prat, but now he was a boring prat with responsibilities and maturity and meetings and rounds that took up far too much of his time so he didn't have enough to spend goofing off or planning pranks with Sirius. Not to mention how frightfully annoying it was to hear the constant bickering between him and Evans when it was clear to everyone but them that they would rather just be snogging. Sirius, for one, had had enough.
"You're no bloody fun anymore, Prongs," Sirius whined, falling dramatically onto James' bed and looking up at his best friend with the saddest puppy dog eyes he could muster up. "We haven't pranked the Slytherins in ages!"
James, who was polishing his broom handle in preparation for the start of team tryouts, snorted and rolled his eyes. "We slipped that potion in Avery's pumpkin juice two days ago, Padfoot. He's still got steam pouring out every time he opens his mouth."
"Ages!" Sirius repeated, drawing the word out and groaning. "And that wasn't even up to our standards, and you know it. It's almost Halloween and we haven't got anything planned." He rolled onto his stomach and jabbed James in the ribs with his index finger. "You're boring now."
"Ouch! Prat." James flicked the other boy's head hard. "Look, I'm just trying to lay low to show Minnie and Dumbledore they've made the right choice by giving me the job, yeah? So once I've got them believing I've achieved some sort of miracle reformation and I've gone off their radar, we can go back to wreaking havoc upon the school, alright?"
It was Sirius' turn to snort. "Right. It's Minnie and Dumbledore you're trying to impress." He poked him again, harder this time. "You're a shit liar."
A smack to the back of Sirius' head. "What're you on about?"
Sirius sat up, rubbing his head in the spot James had hit him and scowled. He shoved him. "You know exactly what I'm talking about. You're laying it on thick for Evans. Pathetic." Another shove and then Sirius let out a yelp as James spun around and tackled him. The two of them wrestled until James had Sirius pinned down.
"I'm not 'laying it on thick for Evans', you prick! I rather like being Headboy. Maybe I've just matured. You know, you could do well with a little responsibility as well."
Sirius laughed sharply. "Never!" With a grunt, Sirius heaved upwards and managed to knock James off, switching their position and grinning down at him triumphantly. "You've gone all swotty, trying to make Evans think you're the perfect, mature, swot boyfriend!" He chuckled as James struggled to free himself. "Next you'll be joining the Slug Club and studying."
"Would you get off, asshole?" James growled. His glasses had been knocked askew on his face.
Sirius shook his head. "Not 'til you admit it. Admit you're becoming Evans' bitch!"
Then James stopped struggling, his face sobered and he turned his head to the side facing the door to the dormitory. "Oh, hey Moony! Didn't hear you come in!"
Sirius sat up instantly and followed James' gaze toward the door, which was still closed. No Remus in sight. Another loud yelp as James knocked him off, flipping them once again and pinning Sirius' wrists down. "Who's the bitch again?" He smirked and Sirius whined, trying to wriggle out from underneath him.
"Cheater! Get off!"
"Nope. Not until you admit you're Moony's bitch, Padfoot," James mocked, chuckling.
"This isn't about me; it's about you!"
"Say it."
Sirius groaned, aggravated. "Alright, alright! I'm Moony's bitch."
"Are you?"
They both froze and looked towards the door again. This time Remus was there, an amused smile on his face as he crossed to his bed and dropped his bag on it. "Only you appear to Prongs' bitch at the moment, Padfoot." He sat on the edge of his bed and chuckled. "Cheating on me, are you?"
"Help me Moony, he's taking advantage! Aren't you going to protect my virtue?"
"Padfoot, we mustn't lie about having things we don't. And you certainly haven't an ounce of virtue." He smirked when Sirius let out a pitiful whine, then he looked up at James. "However, out of curiosity, is there a reason you've got my boyfriend pinned to your bed, Prongs?"
"He's a prat!"
"Fair enough." Remus shrugged, swinging his legs up onto the bed and leaning back against the headboard, ignoring Sirius' anguished cry of "MOONYYYY!" and pulled his Advanced Defense textbook out of his bag.
Sirius scowled at the werewolf for a moment, then grinned, turned his head and-
"ARGH!" James jumped off, flailing as he fell off the bed with a loud thud. "REMUS YOU'RE STUPID MUTT LICKED ME!"
Remus tutted and shook his head, not looking up from his book. "Now James, I told you when we got the dog that he was going to be partially your responsibility."
James grumbled something and stood up, brushing himself off and straightening his clothes while Sirius cackled and hopped off of James' bed, ducking when the bespectacled boy swung at him.
"Moony, help!" He pleaded, still laughing as James glared at him.
Remus rolled his eyes and patted the spot on his bed beside him. "Padfoot, come here."
Sirius grinned and jumped onto the bed, transforming mid-leap and snuggling into Remus' side, panting happily as one of Remus' hands left his book to scratch his ear.
"Moony can't protect you forever." James huffed. "You just wait, I've half a mind to have you neutered. I hear it greatly improves a dog's behavior."
Padfoot's eyes went large and Remus mock gasped and covered the dog's ears with his hands. "Excuse you, Mr. Prongs, but as irritable as Padfoot might be, could you perhaps threaten him with something that doesn't directly affect me as well?"
James groaned and pretended to vomit, grabbing his books from his nightstand.
"Right. That's my cue to find Pete, then," He grumbled as Sirius changed back and the two of them lost themselves in what was turning into a snogging session, and he stormed from the room.
Once the door was shut, Remus quickly flipped their positions so that he was on top and buried his face in Sirius' neck.
"Want to tell me what that was about?" There was a slight growl to his voice. I don't enjoy seeing someone else on top of you.
Sirius let out a gasp as Remus' tongue swept across the mark on his throat. "Jamies' just been a prat lately, that's all."
"Hmmm…" Remus replied distractedly, focusing on the task of kissing his mate's neck and shoulders. You smell all wrong. His fingers crept to the hem of Sirius' shirt, and he pulled his mouth from the boy's flesh for a moment so he could pull the offending article up over his head, chucking it to the side and following suit with his own shirt. "James is always a prat, Padfoot. I imagine that's why the two of you are so close."
Sirius rolled his eyes, even as he tilted his head to the side in a submissive gesture. Remus hadn't seen him do it, but the following nip to the junction of his neck and shoulder was much sharper than the others, so Sirius supposed Remus had sensed his sass. "Sorry," he muttered, then he gasped when Remus kissed that mark on his neck, making him arch up pleasurably. "You can't say it's not been getting on your nerves too."
"Hmmm?" Remus was sucking a bruise into the pale skin of Sirius' chest. Mine.
Sirius let out a breathy laugh. "Love it when you're possessive, Moons." His hands found their way into Remus' hair, fingers tightening when Remus' kisses trailed down his stomach. "James and Evans, I mean." He continued to explain. "They're pretending to still get on each other's nerves because they won't admit they'd rather just be on, well, each other."
"I assure you, Sirius, one can simultaneously get on one's nerves even while they want to be on each other."
"You wound me, Moony." He pulled Remus back up so that he could kiss him full on the lips. "But I mean it. I don't know how much longer I can take this whole charade they've been putting on for each other." He propped himself up on his elbows and smiled as he watched Remus. "I've been properly re-scented, then?" He joked.
Remus nodded, looking far more content but still quite predatory while his hands roamed up and down Sirius' torso. "Mmmm. Almost." He smirked and bent down to kiss the sensitive bit of skin on Sirius's side and Sirius squirmed.
"Oi! That tickles!"
"I suppose it has been a little tiring," Remus agreed thoughtfully, peppering more open-mouth kisses across his mate's stomach. Sirius sighed and let his head fall back onto the pillow. "I told Lily last year I reckoned she might not hate James as much as she let on, but she's very stubborn." He shrugged dismissively. "Nothing we can do about it. We can't force them to stop being so stubborn and admit their feelings."
Sirius sat up so quickly that he nearly kneed Remus in the ribs. "Can't we?"
Remus frowned in confusion. "Er…what?"
"Can't we force them to admit their feelings?" A grin was spreading across Sirius' face. The sort of grin he usually got when he thought up the perfect prank.
"No," Remus said firmly, giving him a warning look. "No, we cannot. We can't force-"
"No. No, you're right. Force is a strong word… But maybe just, you know, push-"
"Sirius, you cannot meddle in people's love lives."
"James being a prat is meddling in our love life, Moony. Or are we not sitting here, talking about it while you should be snogging me into the mattress?"
Remus sighed. "Merlin, I hate agreeing with you."
"I'm not proposing we go and slip Evans a love potion or anything like that. I'm only saying that I use my persuasive charm to get her to see sense."
Remus snorted. "I'm sorry. You think you can convince Lily to date James?" He shook his head. "Padfoot, she's as likely to say yes for you as she is for him."
Sirius' brow furrowed. "So, you reckon you could do better?"
"Well, considering Lily and I are friends, yes. Yes, I think I could."
"Moony, how dare you doubt my methods of persuasion!" Sirius gasped dramatically, throwing his arm over his forehead and falling back against the pillows again. Remus chuckled and climbed up the length of his body, kissing as he went.
"How about a wager, then?" He whispered as he reached Sirius' ear, which he nipped teasingly.
Sirius quirked an eyebrow and smirked. "Go on…" He urged, sighing into the kiss Remus placed on his lips.
"I bet that I can get Lily to say yes to James before you can."
"And the terms, Messer Moony?"
Remus hummed thoughtfully as his hand traveled down. "We can ask anyone else to assist, but James and Lily can't know what we're doing. No getting caught."
"Magic?"
"Permitted." Remus nodded, kissing Sirius' neck as his free hand grasped blindly around the bed for his wand.
"Moony…" All Sirius could focus on was Remus' hand, getting lower and lower.
"No love spells or potions… Loser has to snog the winner every day for a week whenever and wherever the winner wants."
Sirius laughed and reached to cup Remus' chin. "Merlin, I love you." He pulled to werewolf in for a deep kiss. And Remus, who had found his wand, muttered a silencing charm and flicked his wrist to swiftly shut the curtains to the bed.
Hey guys! Sorry about the day delay but life got in the way, as usual.
I hope you enjoyed this chapters. She's a good one. Love me some slightly spicy Wolfstar.
You can find me on Instagram and Gmail at Via889Fanfiction. Or you can check out my podcast The Marauders (Olivias' Version) on Spotify and Google Podcasts as well as on Instagram.
