(A/N): We're back with Elaine and Remus, with a conversation heavy chapter. We find out why Elaine picked Remus to go with her, and Remus has a bit of a panic. Several, in fact, the poor dear. Some friendly Remaine, some reference romantic Remaine, and some indirect Eleo. Foreshadowing.

Elaine

I couldn't tell whether Remus was genuinely unaware of the exact reason I'd picked him to accompany me to visit Mia and Dahrya, or if he was just faking a Leo-like level of obliviousness to keep the others from poking fun at him, but as we parted from our friends after breakfast, I quickly got my answer.

"Remus, do you know why I wanted you to come with me?" His eyes flicked sideways to meet mine briefly, and I saw a slight wariness in them, alongside the usual bone-deep weariness. "Other than your being one of my bestest friends, and the only Marauder with more than half a brain, I mean." He shot me a begrudgingly amused look, and as I remembered that Leo wouldn't be around to catch me with his vampire reflexes if I tripped over an uneven stone, I took the opportunity to remind myself to pay attention to where we were going. "Do you know why I only wanted you, is the better question, I guess."

The mildly panicked face he made told me he probably wasn't faking, and I sighed. "Elaine-" I shook my head, and the panic increased. "No, no- No disappointment! What- What do you- What are you-?" He tilted his head in a painfully confused manner that reminded me of a puppy trying to figure out who the other dog in the mirror was. "Elaine!" I don't know if he'd done it on purpose, but his whine of my name reminded me so strongly of Leo that I rolled my eyes, and took pity on him.

"Alright, alright, calm down." He did, albeit a bit reluctantly. "I can't believe that you, of all people, haven't noticed, but... well... boys." His eyebrows furrowed as if he was not only confused now, but slightly offended, too.

"What do you mean, me 'of all people'?" I stopped without warning, and it took him a second to notice; when he did, he turned to face me- to look down at me, as he always had to- and I reached a hand up to tap the end of his nose. "I- Elaine-" He sounded utterly bewildered.

I dropped my hands to the more comfortable position of resting on my hips, and he eyed them warily. "You've lost all your privileges for making fun of me and Leo for being oblivious to each other," I told him, and he blinked as if he hadn't realised he'd had privileges to begin with. Then he blinked a second time, and his brow furrowed again as he clearly must have caught the gist of what I was saying.

"Elaine-" I cut him off, knowing- from experience- that he was probably going to try to deny it, which was something that, frankly, I didn't have the patience to deal with. Especially not today.

"Mia, and Dahrya. Maybe I shouldn't be telling you this- girl code, and because knowing will probably make you act weird around them, but- Well, honestly, I thought you knew already, and were just ignoring it."

By his wide-eyed stare, I knew he most certainly hadn't been aware before now. He took a second to gather his wits, then said, "Elaine," I raised my eyebrows at him, urging him to continue. "What- and I cannot stress this enough- the bloody hell, are you talking about?" Remus typically didn't use that sort of language with me- at me- but I suppose desperate times called for desperate measures.

"Do I really need to spell it out for you?" He held a hand out to me, as if physically ushering the conversation onward. "Merlin... what is it with that dorm room, and being completely blind to crushes?" At that, he looked slightly confused, but more afraid than anything else... for whatever reason. "You, Leo, James; you're all just- ugh, boys." He shot me a look that read like his patience was running out, so I forced myself to push forward. "The only boy in that dorm room with any idea what it looks like when someone has a crush on him is Sirius, and he's- well, Sirius." The name came out rather similar to my earlier declaration of 'boys', and I did my best to ignore Remus's once again panicked expression.

"What- What are you- What was that? About- about Sirius?"

I rolled my eyes, and crossed my arms over my chest. "I know you're not on the best of terms with him right now, but that's not- We're not talking about him, right now; we're talking about you. And the fact that both Mia and Dahrya, seem to have quite the crush on you." He blinked hard, both because he had to adjust to the change of subject- if you could even call it that- and the revelation that not one, but both of the girls we were about to see had a crush on him.

"I'm sorry... what?" I shrugged, then reached out to push his shoulder playfully.

"They think you're cuuuute," I singsonged, and his cheeks turned pink even as he huffed in a very put-upon way. "It makes sense- they always end up seeing you whenever they come to talk to Leo, and you're the nicest- The calmest, too. Besides, I mean..." I hesitated briefly, wondering whether voicing that thought would make things better or worse. "You're- And they're both- I mean, other than Brooke, there isn't really anyone else that-" I cut myself off because even I was self-aware enough to know I wasn't making sense anymore.

Remus cocked his head at me, eyebrows furrowed, then stretched out an arm to press the back of his hand to my forehead- as if he was checking me for a fever. "Elaine, are you okay? Like, really okay?" I rolled my eyes at him again and flicked his hand away.

I glanced around, and upon finding the corridor we were in empty, I leaned in close so I didn't have to worry about being overheard. "You're wolfy, Dahrya's Baby Vamp, and Mia's quarter-veela- it makes sense that they might feel some kind of kinship to you." When I pulled back, I saw the poorly concealed hurt on his face- which simply wouldn't do. "The same kinship they feel for Leo, but he's- well, he is Mia's brother, and he acts like Dahrya's, so there's not really- And that's not to say that's the only reason- As someone who's snogged you more than once, I think I'm uniquely equipped to speak on the matter-" He cut off my rambling.

"Elaine, enough." Yeah. It had probably been 'enough' thirty seconds ago, but I suppose later was better than never. "I get it, you don't have to... It's okay. I don't understand why they'd pick me, over..." He trailed off, but I knew what he meant; James, and Sirius- maybe even Peter, although I don't think he was either of their types, given the appropriate level of caution he displayed around girls with a more aggressive personality, like theirs... or mine. "But I get what you're saying, and I won't- I won't be weird about it. At least, I hope I won't be weird about it. I'll try, not to be weird about it." He paused for a second, then his eyes flew wide. He grabbed me by the shoulders before I could say anything, and with an incredibly panicked look, he whispered, "Elaine... do you think Leo knows that his baby sister has a crush on me?"

(A/N): So, yes. Mia and Dahrya both have crushes on Remus- at least according to Elaine. There was a bit in a scene a while back where Remus was nice to Mia (I think it was on the Hogwarts Express), and when I was writing the scene where Remus checks in on Dahrya at breakfast in the Great Hall, when she read the letter from Leo, for some reason I thought that Remus had comforted Dahrya earlier, rather than Mia, which lead to me having the bright idea that she'd developed a slight crush on him because of it. Of course, I went back to check, and it turned out it was Mia... but rather than change it, I just made it so that both of them are a little bit infatuated with him- fulfilling the heart-throb Remus Lupin of all of our dreams. Speaking of fulfilling dreams...

Also, Remus gets to swear (as a treat), and Elaine is 'uniquely equipped', just like her father before her (ew).