A/N: Hello everyone! I would like to assure you that, thought it may have been years since I actually posted anything, I am actually alive and well. For the most part. Welcome to the first full length (i.e. multi-chapter) fic I have ever successfully finished. The story is basically this: Remus is in love with Sirius. So he writes a letter - a letter which he fully believes that no one except himself will ever see. Only, other people do see it. And life gets kind of hectic for a while...

Before we get started, I just have to say that this fic was only completed for the sake of my friend Mollie (also known as molliewobbles), who is just about the awesomest person I know. She is so awesome, in fact, that I have to make up words to describe her awesomeness. Like supertastic. Or amazingful. Oh yeah, and before I forget...

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Duh.

The Dangers of Writing a Love Letter, pt. 1

Remus stared down at the parchment on the table in front of him and stuck his quill dejectedly into his mouth. The opening paragraph of his essay was weak, he thought, and nowhere near Professor McGonagall's standards. There was no way he could even consider turning something of this caliber in to the Transfiguration professor on Monday. Sighing, he pulled another sheet of parchment out of his school bag, yanked the quill out of his mouth, and dipped it into his inkwell.

The common room was mostly empty, so distractions were few and far between. Aside from Remus, the only other people in the room were four third years sitting by the window and a solitary sixth year reading in a chair by the unlit fireplace. School had been in session for about a month and the weather was still fairly nice, so most of the Gryffindors had opted to spend their Sunday outdoors. This pleased Remus; it was nice to be able to sit somewhere other than his room or the library and work on a paper without being terribly distracted.

That was a lie, though. Remus was terribly distracted. His quill hovered over the blank parchment, but the seemingly endless supply of words that normally filled his head had run dry. At this thought, Remus smiled; Sirius liked to joke about how Remus always had something witty or clever to say. Of course, Remus continually pointed out that this wasn't the case – that even Remus Lupin could be left speechless on occasion. Then Sirius would scoff and say something particularly awkward, to which Remus would respond just as wittily as usual. Remus almost wished that Sirius were here now to see him floundering, because then he could finally prove his point. But if Sirius were here, then he would pester Remus for an explanation until he got one. And that brought Remus back to the cause of his distraction in the first place.

Sirius, Remus had decided, was too attractive for his own good. Girls were constantly fawning over Sirius, and staring at him in class, and giggling when he walked by, and daring each other to talk to him and running away before they got within speaking distance. But Remus knew that eventually one of these girls was bound to have a backbone; they would steal Sirius and drag him into the nearest broom closet, and when that happened, Remus wouldn't be able to restrain himself from hexing her all the way into the next week. He hadn't thought he was a jealous person, but he was swiftly starting to discover otherwise.

Over the summer, Remus had come to the conclusion that he was completely, one hundred percent, head-over-heels in love with his best mate. Honestly, he couldn't remember a time when he hadn't been in love with Sirius. He just hadn't realized exactly what was wrong with him. Up until that point, he had assumed that what he was feeling was perfectly normal. Of course all blokes felt like skipping whenever their best mate said something nice about them; all blokes were dying to know what their best mate was thinking or feeling; all blokes fantasized about their best mate on occasion. It wasn't until his stomach began to do somersaults when Sirius looked at him, and the fantasizing started to progress to things Remus hadn't even known were possible, that Remus realized that his feelings might, perhaps, be a little more than chummy.

The real problem lay in two factors: one was Remus's cowardice. There was no way in a million years that he could ever even think of telling Sirius that he loved him. The only way Sirius was going to find out was if Remus somehow got very, very drunk, which, to Remus, seemed about as likely as the sky turning purple: not very likely.

The second factor, and one which caused Remus a good deal of grief, was Sirius's inability to understand the concept of personal space. If Sirius weren't perpetually hanging off of Remus's neck, Remus might have been able to convince himself that his feelings were platonic. But Sirius wasn't only hanging off of Remus's neck – he was throwing himself across Remus's lap, and leaning up against Remus shoulder whenever he could, and ruffling his hair at any convenient occasion. If Remus hadn't known better, he would have said Sirius was consciously trying to drive him insane.

So, since Remus couldn't get over Sirius, and since confessing his love was nigh impossible, Remus was going to have to settle for suffering in silence. Thus, in the last several weeks, he had become a paragon of distraction. He longed for the days when he could sit down and write a paper in an hour at most, the days when his Arithmancy homework took him only ten minutes. Now he was lucky if his homework was done before curfew. Remus looked in the mirror in the morning and swore he could see grey hairs. If he didn't do something soon, he might actually find them.

Sighing again, he put his quill to the parchment, only to realize that the ink had dried up. He shook his head, dipped the quill into the inkwell, and began to write.

Sirius,

I just wanted to tell you that I love you. It's all your fault that I can't focus anymore, and I thought you deserved to know. Although you won't actually know, because you won't ever see this letter. But I can imagine that you would feel a strong sense of pride upon reading it. Oh hooray for you! You have caused the great Remus Lupin to be unable to concentrate for more than five minutes at a time! How talented you must feel! I can't ever tell you that you're the reason though, because I know you wouldn't feel the same. For Merlin's sake, you've got girls lining up for a chance just to look at you. Just, for my sake, please attempt not to brag about it too much; I'm trying my hardest not to maim anyone, but I can't guarantee anything.

He paused, his quill hovering over the last word, and took a deep breath.

I adore you. Even when you go on long, pointless tirades about the amazing qualities of hair gel or the importance of brushing your teeth after lunch (I think I've heard that particular one twice, and, in as long as I can remember, you've never once followed that advice). Even when your ego takes over and you insist on everyone calling you King Sirius (which I know has happened at least once – don't argue, because James will back me up). Even when you're depressed and you huddle up next to me with your knees pulled in to your chest, and I have to play with your hair and act like nothing's wrong until you calm down again.

I still adore you.

Running a hand through his sandy blond hair, Remus stared at what he had just admitted – even if he was the only one to ever see it. Then he briskly folded the piece of parchment and shoved it in between his Potions essay and his Charms notes. The action came just in time; not a moment later, there was a rustling near the portrait hole and someone began to shout his name.

"Moony, Moony, Moony!"

A large, solid, and rather heavy object collided with the werewolf at full force, shoving him backwards onto the couch and knocking the inkwell from the table to the floor. From somewhere underneath the mass on top of him, Remus heard it shatter and let out an anguished moan.

"Sirius," he said calmly. "What have I told you about my ink-wells?"

Sirius grinned impishly down at him. "That they aren't mine for the breaking?"

"Precisely," Remus said, sounding remarkably like a professor who was congratulating a student for getting the right answer. "Why, then, is my inkwell now broken?"

"Because I jumped on you?" Sirius said thoughtfully.

"That's right. Now let's put two and two together, shall we: if my inkwells are not yours for the breaking, and my new inkwell has just been broken because you jumped on me, what is the logical conclusion?"

Sirius blinked. "That I am indirectly responsible for the breaking of your inkwell?" he asked, sounding perplexed.

"No," said Remus dryly. "Our conclusion is that jumping on Remus is an incredibly stupid and dangerous thing." He made a feeble attempt at pushing Sirius off of him, but as he had expected, it didn't do anything. "Padfoot?"

"Yes, Moony, darling?"

"I hate to trouble you, but could you possibly get up now?"

"Certainly."

Sirius lifted himself up and then offered a hand to Remus, who took it and stood up as well. The other occupants of the common room didn't pay any attention to the two boys; the odd behavior of the Marauders was commonly accepted by now, and little, every-day things like Sirius jumping on Remus were hardly worth discussing. Retrieving his wand from the table, Remus knelt down and cast a cleaning charm on the floor to remove the ink. The inkwell had broken into several large pieces and was easily spelled back together. The quill had rolled under the couch; Remus retrieved it and placed it back into the now-empty inkwell.

Sirius watched impatiently, his arms crossed over his chest. "Can't you go any faster?" he said at last.

"Why the rush?" Remus asked, straightening up his pile of notes and setting it back on the table.

Sirius groaned, as if Remus had asked a question to which the answer was painfully obvious. "I've been inside for five minutes already! I'm standing here, wasting precious minutes of sunlight, while you tidy up! I can feel my skin cells imploding from lack of sunlight as we speak!"

"You don't have to wait for me," Remus pointed out. "You-"

"Yes, I do," Sirius cut him off. "I told James I would bring you outside."

"Ah," said Remus. "Now we get to the point."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Moony, can we please hurry up?" he pleaded. "I think I'm going to shrivel."

"You are the most ridiculous person on the face of the earth," said Remus. "And I'm done 'tidying up,' in case you hadn't noticed. I've been done for a while now."

"Are you trying to kill me?!" Sirius screeched. "Why are we just standing here? We could be outside already! The fresh air is calling to me!"

Without further ado, he grabbed Remus by the wrist and proceeded to forcibly drag him out of Gryffindor tower. Remus waved to the third years by the window; they smiled and waved in return.

The sun was, indeed, rather glorious. As soon as they stepped out onto the grounds, its light seemed to envelop Remus, soaking into his pores and warming his skin. Sirius didn't let go of his wrist until they reached the tree where the rest of their company sat. James and Lily were lying in the grass, James's head on Lily's stomach. Peter was leaning against the tree trunk, absently shredding a blade of grass with his fingers.

"Hello, everyone; I have returned!" Sirius announced, collapsing grandly into the grass next to James.

"Took you long enough," James retorted. "Did you decide to play a game of chess or something while you were fetching him?"

"Aww, you missed me?" Sirius cooed. "I know, Prongsie. It's hard to bear even a moment without me. My amazing-ness floors you. My charms astound you. My good looks leave you panting for more, don't they? I simply radiate sexiness; I can't help it that I'm so enthralling."

"More like repulsive," Lily interrupted.

"You too?" Sirius asked, feigning shock. "I had no idea I was so loved! From now on, I promise I'll never leave your side. Even death could not tear me away, such is my devotion!"

"Really, Blackie, I don't think that's necessary," said the redhead, scrunching her nose.

"Just make it a bit quicker next time, Padfoot," James ordered airily.

"Of course, my liege," Sirius drawled. "I shall endeavor to do my best to please you."

"Wait a minute," Remus said indignantly. "Am I just an object to you people – something that you can just drag around at your own leisure without a regard for how I feel?"

Lily, James, and Sirius all looked at each other.

"Yes," said Lily and James simultaneously.

Sirius gasped and clutched at his heart. "How can you say that? This is our darling Moony-kins, here! We raised him from a poor, innocent first year to the man he is today! Hell, we practically made him! Doesn't that mean anything to you? We took his innocence, for Merlin's sake!"

Remus and Lily exchanged half-amused, half-disgusted glances. James shook his head as much as he could, considering that it was resting on Lily's abdomen.

"Pads, that was awful," he said. His voice sounded much like Lily and Remus's glances had looked.

Sirius blinked for a moment, and then a brilliant grin spread over his face. "It was, wasn't it?" he said triumphantly. He promptly leaped up and cupped his hands to his mouth, shouting, "Did you hear that, World? We made Moony a man!"

"Uh, Padfoot?" Peter interjected, speaking for the first time during the conversation. "I think you're scaring the first years."

Remus looked over to where Peter was pointing; a small group of short and rather scrawny eleven-year-olds were trying to scuttle away without being noticed. Lily began to giggle under her breath. Remus was torn between laughing as well and digging a hole to crawl into and die. In the end, he settled for laughing

"Right you are, Wormtail," Sirius said, giving the first years an appraising look. "My apologies!" he called. The first years gave up on being sneaky and ran for all they were worth. This made Remus, James, Lily, and Peter burst into hysteric laughter. Shrugging, Sirius sat down again. "Ah well," he said. "The sooner they're acquainted with the ways of the world, the better."

"So, why was my presence here required, exactly?" Remus asked. "Aside from humiliating me beyond repair, of course."

"I do my best," Sirius said, smirking.

"I don't actually remember, Moons," James admitted. "We were bored, I guess."

"And, naturally, the ultimate cure to all boredom is to call Remus," the blond said dryly.

"Naturally," said James solemnly.

"You have to admit, that was pretty funny," Lily said, still chuckling to herself. "Those poor kids are probably scarred for life now."

"Thank you, thank you," said Sirius. From his sitting position, he bowed until his nose brushed the grass.

Grumbling half-heartedly about humor at his expense, Remus lay back against the ground and stared up at the sky. It was deep blue and cloudless, and he felt as though he could lie there for hours, just staring, reveling in the inexplicable peacefulness of it. Then something warm on his arm distracted him; he glanced down to see that Sirius had just laid on it, and was now staring at the sky as well. Remus bit back a smile and reminded his heart to behave itself.

The five seventh years stayed there for some time without saying a word. At one point, Remus looked over to see James and Lily holding hands, playing with each other's fingers, both of their eyes closed. He felt momentarily envious, and then returned his gaze to the sky once more. He could feel Sirius breathing softly at his shoulder: in and out, in and out, inhale, exhale, inhale...

"Oh, wait!" James exclaimed suddenly; both Sirius and Remus flinched at the noise. "I forgot! I wanted to borrow your Charms notes!"

"Way to ruin the peace and quiet, Jamie-boy," Sirius reprimanded. He sat up and rolled his neck from side to side, cracking it. His hair was rumpled in the back, and it took Remus a remarkable amount of self-restraint not to fix it. He wanted Sirius to lie down again.

"They're on the table in front of the couch, closest to the boys' staircase," he said, closing his eyes quickly for the purpose of looking too relaxed to be bothered with going to get them himself.

"Thanks, mate," James said. Lily protested when he tried to get up, and, in the end, she followed him back to the castle, leaving Sirius, Remus, and Peter to themselves.

Silence returned. To Remus's covert joy, Sirius resumed his place on the werewolf's arm. The black-haired boy picked up a twig and began to poke at the ground absently. Finally Peter said, "So, um, what did you guys think of that test in Transfiguration?"

Sirius and Remus looked at each other, eyebrows raised. Peter had always been the one of the Marauders who couldn't stand silences unless they were obviously desired.

"It was the same as every other Transfiguration test we've ever had," Sirius said, yawning for effect. "Painfully easy."

Remus gave Sirius a reproachful look. "What did you think of it, Peter?"

"Well, question seventeen was rather tough; I wasn't really sure what she was asking..." Peter trailed off, gazing in the direction of the lake. "Oh, there's Will Laurington! I think I'll go ask him about it!"

"Bye, Pete," Remus called. Then he sat up and cuffed Sirius lightly on the top of the head.

"What was that for?" Sirius groaned, sitting up too and rubbing his head vigorously.

"You know he's been really quiet lately," said Remus. "You could have at least encouraged him to talk, instead of shooting him down without a moment's hesitation."

Sirius actually looked repentant, and Remus's heart began to splutter. "Sorry, Moony. But he could have chosen a more interesting topic. I mean, a test? Come on!"

Remus laughed. "Okay. What would you rather talk about?"

"Oh, I dunno," Sirius shrugged. "Something more interesting than school. The perfection of my character, perhaps?"

"I'm afraid you would bore everyone to death with that subject, Pads," Remus teased.

Sirius gave him an affronted look. "Are you saying my character is flawed?"

"Well, your ego could do with some deflating..." Remus had to duck when Sirius threw a handful of grass at him. "And you could do with demonstrating some friendly compassion once and a while. Oh, and a little less time spent in front of your mirror might do you some good. But aside from that-"

"Moony! You wound me!" gasped Sirius. He fell dramatically back into the grass, closing his eyes and playing dead.

"I'm sorry," Remus said, faking sincerity and fighting the urge to laugh. "That was uncalled for. I apologize."

"Apology accepted."

The two boys lay there, listening to the light breeze rustling the leaves of the trees. Remus closed his eyes and tried to focus on how it felt to have Sirius lying less than a foot away from him. It did happen regularly, but Remus could never seem to memorize the sensation, and it was one of his favorites.

"Prongs and Lily-flower seem happy," Sirius observed, breaking the silence. The sudden shift from mischievous to pensive caught Remus off guard. Almost instinctively, he opened his eyes to glance over at his black-haired companion. Sirius's eyes were still closed, but now he felt calm, thoughtful.

"Yes, they do," agreed Remus.

"I was kind of surprised, actually," said Sirius. "I didn't expect she would ever say yes."

"None of us did," Remus pointed out.

"I know. I'm just... surprised, I guess. Yeah. Surprised. They seem really good for each other, y'know?"

"Yeah," said Remus, trying not to let the wistfulness slip into his voice. Sirius went on.

"I always thought there wasn't anything between them. It was just James being obsessed, and they wouldn't ever work. But then they got together, and now– they both seem different. Happier. They just fit. And it makes me wonder..."

"Wonder what?" Remus prompted.

"I don't know," Sirius said. "What if you don't find the right person? Or what if you do find them, and it's right for you but it isn't for them? Or what if it's right and they won't ever believe that it is? What if you pass your whole life with the right person right under your nose and neither of you even realizes it?"

Remus took a deep breath. "Serious thoughts?" he asked, smiling softly.

Sirius smirked. "It is my name, after all."

"Ha. Ha," Remus said sarcastically. A piece of Sirius's hair had fallen into his face again, and this time the blond acted on the compulsion to push it away. "You know, I think you would realize it before it went that far. I think you would know."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I do."

"Good." Sirius smiled and opened his eyes. "How'd you get to be so smart, Moony?"

"I read books," Remus said dryly. "You really ought to try it sometime. It does wonders for one's vocabulary."

"Ah, vocabulary, shmocabulary," Sirius said, interlocking his fingers and stretching his arms over his head. "What do you say we go up to the common room and look for those silly, young lovers? We can't leave them on their own for too long; that would be positively nice of us."

"Sometimes I wonder how you've managed to live this long, as troublesome as you are," Remus said. Sirius responded by sticking out his tongue at him.

They stood up and began to amble slowly towards the castle, enjoying the weather and the afternoon sunlight. Remus found himself wishing that it were still Saturday, and that they had one more day off to look forward too. He still hadn't finished that essay for Transfiguration and...

Horrified, Remus froze in his tracks. He had put his letter to Sirius in the pile with his Charms notes. And he had sent James to retrieve those same, exact Charms notes. Which most likely meant that James had found the letter.

"Uh, Sirius?" he said quickly, making up the lie off the top of his head. "I, um, I just realized that I didn't finish my Potions essay, and you know, it's due tomorrow... do you mind if I run ahead?"

Sirius laughed. "Of course I don't. Go on and be studious. You wouldn't be Moony if you weren't."

Remus mumbled a hasty thank you and sprinted off for the Gryffindor tower as if his life depended on it.

By the time he arrived in the common room, Remus was exhausted, panicky and rather short on air. James was nowhere in sight, but he spotted Lily sitting in one of the chairs and made a beeline for her.

"Where's James?" he said in lieu of a greeting.

Lily frowned, looking up from her book. "What?"

"I said, where's James?" Remus repeated breathlessly.

"What, no 'hello Lily, it's lovely to see your bright, shining face this afternoon'?" she asked.

"Lily, either you know where he is or you don't," he said, fighting to remain calm. "Which is it?"

Lily cocked her head to one side, considering Remus as if he were a lab specimen. Finally she said, "He's in your dorm; where else?"

Remus swore under his breath, turned around, and headed straight for the staircase. The stairs he took three at a time, almost tripping over the last set in his haste. There was still the possibility that somehow he was wrong, that somehow the letter had been in a different pile of notes and that James hadn't seen it. But Remus knew as soon as he entered the dorm that he was hoping for the impossible; James was sitting on his bed, Remus's notes splayed across his lap, reading a single piece of creased parchment.

"James, you-" Remus began, but he didn't need to go any further. The moment James looked up and saw Remus in the doorway, his eyes widened.

"I, um-" he broke off, closed his eyes, adjusted his glasses on the bridge of his nose. "I'm sorry, Remus. I didn't know, and then I thought that maybe it was a part of your notes, so I opened it, and I had no idea, and... shit, I'm so sorry!"

Remus blinked. "You read it," he said blankly.

"Yeah," James nodded.

Swallowing, Remus sank to the ground and stared at the wall, unable to think. Everything felt so surreal, like he was fast asleep and dreaming. If that was the case, he desperately hoped he would wake up soon.

"What is it?" came a female voice from behind him. Both he and James jumped.

"Lily, what are you doing here?" Remus asked, his voice jumping up an octave. His situation seemed to have just gone from bad to worse.

"I was curious," the redhead said simply. "What's the big deal? What did James read?"

"Nothing," James said swiftly, stuffing the letter under his pillow.

Lily's eyes narrowed. "Nothing?" she repeated skeptically.

James didn't answer. Lily looked at Remus, who was sitting on the floor in an unmistakable state of shock, and at James, who was trying to position himself in front of his pillow as if to hide the evidence. Remus could see the wheels turning in her mind. He watched in horror, still unable to convince his limbs to move, as she pounced on James and started to tickle him mercilessly. While James was trying to fend her off, he neglected his guard of the letter and Lily was able pull it out. She flung herself to the other side of the room, shoved the letter in front of her nose, and read as fast as she could.

Not ten seconds had passed before she squealed and began to jump up and down on the balls of her feet. James and Remus looked at each other in astonishment.

"YES!" she screamed. "Oh my God, I knew it! I knew it! Yes, yes, YES!"

"You what?" James gasped.

"I knew it!" she crowed again. "I just knew Remus was in lo-"

Both of the boys leaped at her, but James got there first; he threw his hand in front of her mouth, effectively silencing her.

"If it's not too much trouble, can we please try not to announce it to the entire Gryffindor tower?" Remus asked with exasperation. Lily glanced back and forth between the two boys and then nodded. James took his hand back.

"When are you going to tell him?" she asked immediately. Remus cringed.

"I'm not," he said shortly.

"But you have to!" Lily whined.

"No, I do not 'have to,'" said Remus firmly. "I see absolutely no reason why I have to, and I'm not going to. And what was all that about how you 'just knew'?"

Lily ducked her head guiltily. "Sorry. But I did! It was kind of obvious."

"Oh, Merlin," Remus groaned, dropping his head into his hands.

"No, Moony, it's okay," said James quickly. "Sirius hasn't got a clue. Believe me; he's way too dense to suspect anything."

The corner of Remus's mouth twisted up wryly. "I suppose you have a point," he conceded. Lily hid a giggle behind her hand. "So, are you guys okay with this, then?"

"Yeah!" said Lily with feeling.

"Of course we are," added James. "I've been okay with it for years."

"Years?" Remus's brow furrowed, and then he groaned again. "Oh no, not you too! Does everyone know?"

"Well, I'm not sure if Pete's caught on yet," James said helpfully, running a hand through his hair.

"Somehow, I'm not reassured," said Remus. He sank into his own bed, picked up his pillow, and shoved it forcefully over his face. "If someone would be so good as to alert me when I wake up, I'm sure I would be much obliged."

"Oh, come on, Remus! It isn't that bad!" Lily objected, sitting down on the edge of his bed. "You two are, like, made for each other. I honestly can't believe neither of you has done anything about it yet."

"Correction," Remus mumbled from under his pillow. "Neither of us is planning to do anything about it. Sirius doesn't like me. At least, not in the same way that I do him."

Lily tutted. "What makes you so sure?"

"Only the rows and rows of women following him everywhere."

"Just because they follow him, doesn't mean he's interested," Lily said reasonably. Remus decided to ignore her.

"You know, Moons, he hasn't actually gone out with a bird since fifth year," James pointed out.

That was a meaningless remark on James' part. Of course Remus knew; he'd paid absurd attention to every date Sirius had ever gone on and closely analyzed every relationship Sirius had ever had. When the black-haired boy suddenly seemed to have given up on the whole institution, Remus had been particularly attentive, trying to figure out just what was going through Sirius's head. He learned nothing useful, though, and the matter still caused him some annoyance – at least if Sirius were still dating, Remus would have somewhat of an idea about his preferences.

"And just look at the way he treats you!" Lily exclaimed. "He's always showing off whenever you're around, and throwing himself all over you, and-"

"That's only because personal space is a foreign concept to his mind," Remus cut in.

"Yes, but he crosses the line so much more with you than with anyone else!" Lily said. She was sounding more and more enthusiastic with each point that she made. "And he has this cute little smile that I've never seen him use on anyone but you, and he has this weird habit of talking about you whenever you aren't there, and look at this afternoon for crying out loud! He was practically sleeping on you for forty-five minutes! And–"

"Wait! He talks about me?" Remus sat bolt upright, the pillow sliding into his lap. Then he grimaced and threw his hands over his face. "No! What am I saying? I take that back. I didn't say that. I'm not interested."

Lily grinned. "Oh, I think you are."

"No, I'm not. And regardless, he most certainly isn't, and I refuse to let myself even consider otherwise." Lily opened her mouth, but Remus cut her off before she could speak. "And that is the end of this conversation, because I left Sirius at the front doors and he will most likely be arriving momentarily."

Lily squinted, studying Remus intently. Remus stared, unblinking, back at her. James looked back and forth between the two of them as if he were watching a tennis match. Finally the redhead smacked a slender fist against the palm of her hand, a determined glint in her eye.

"Remus, you aren't going to get anywhere unless you tell Sirius how you feel," she said. "And I'm going to help you do it."

"That really is unnecessary," Remus began to say, but Lily glared at him. He shrank back and fell silent.

"Well," she said. "Now that we're all on the same page, I'm off to the library! Oh, and I'm keeping this letter–" she held up the slightly crinkled piece of parchment in her hand, "–for research purposes. Hope you don't mind."

She disappeared in a swirl of long, red hair, leaving Remus and James to stare after her in bewilderment.

"When it doubt, go to the library," James said at last.

"You know," said Remus. "Under normal circumstances, I would agree with that statement full-heartedly."

James nodded. "What can I say? She's passionate." He smiled, and then glanced at the door to the rest of Gryffindor tower. "So, Moony: if I were you, I think I'd need a minute to myself after what just happened, to relax and think stuff over."

"That would be rather agreeable," Remus said.

"Indeed," said James. "So what's the plan? Shall I distract your laddy love?"

Remus looked at his spectacled friend in mild amusement. "If you wish. I'm sure you can think of something."

"Leave it to me," James smirked, and he departed for the common room. From his place on his bed, Remus could hear the boy shouting "oh Padfoot? Paddy Paddy Padfoot! Where are you?" as loud as he could, and probably garnering much more attention than was really called for. Sighing, Remus leaned back on his bed and stared at the ceiling, wondering how on earth he'd managed to get himself into this mess in the first place – and if there was any way to get himself out of it.

To Remus's immense relief, nothing else terribly out of the ordinary happened for the rest of the day. James kept his promise and kept Sirius busy until long after the sun had set, first proposing a game of Gobstones, then losing spectacularly and challenging him to two rematches – both of which James lost. Remus used the opportunity to work on his Transfiguration essay in peace, and, after several attempts, finally completed it. He had to admit: now that his secret wasn't so secret anymore, he was able to focus a bit more. Still, he went to bed as soon as his essay was finished, eager to avoid seeing James and Sirius when they came upstairs.

The next morning, however, was another story.

It began with Sirius throwing himself unceremoniously on top of Remus's bed, and consequently on top of Remus himself.

"Moony!" he whined. "Moony, make Prongs hurry up! He's hogging the shower!"

Remus moaned and attempted to roll over, but Sirius's weight on top of him made it rather difficult. "Sod off, Padfoot."

"But you have to make Prongs get out of the shower!" Sirius insisted.

"Why do I have to do it?" Remus asked. "Make Wormtail do it. He's probably much more awake than I am, and will probably be able to accomplish a good deal more as such."

"But Wormtail has no authority!" Sirius protested. "Nobody listens to him."

Peter squeaked indignantly from across the room. "Padfoot, that was cold!"

"Sorry, Wormtail; you know it's true!"

"Yes, but you didn't have to say it!"

"Moony, please?" Sirius asked again, returning his attention to the boy underneath him.

"No. I'm truly sorry to disappoint you, but I'm not getting out of this bed. You're a big boy; you can do your own convincing people to get out of showers."

"Aww, Moony!" Sirius wiggled a little, making Remus want to both throw him across the room and snog him senseless. He suppressed both urges, but just barely.

"I said no. Make someone else do your dirty work."

"Or just don't do it at all," came James' voice. The two boys looked up to see that he had just left the bathroom, fully dressed, his wet hair plastered to his forehead. "The shower's free," he announced.

"Hooray!" Sirius cheered, promptly jumping off Remus and running in the direction of the now-empty bathroom. James stared after him until the bathroom door slammed shut. Then he raised his eyebrows suggestively at the werewolf, who groaned, rolled over (this time successfully), and shoved his head under his pillow.

"Don't. Say. Anything," he said, his voice slightly muffled.

"I wasn't going to," replied James, his voice too innocent for Remus to believe him.

"Say anything about what?" Peter asked.

James didn't answer. "I think I'm going down to breakfast," he said instead, stretching luxuriously. "Want to come?"

"Yeah, sure," Peter conceded. "What about you, Moony?"

"I'll be there in a minute. Just let me get dressed first."

"Alright."

James walked over to his bed, which was conveniently next to Remus's, to get his book bag; as he leaned down to grab it, he whispered in Remus's ear, "you know you're only staying because you want to see Sirius when he gets out of the shower."

Remus hit him.

After James and Peter left, Remus crawled out of bed and dressed himself. He had actually planned on waiting for Sirius, but now that he knew to expect harassment from James, he wanted to get down to the Great Hall as fast as he could. As a result, he dressed and packed his school things in near-record time.

"Hey, Padfoot!" he called. "We're going to breakfast!"

"'Kay!" Sirius called back. Remus slung his bag over his shoulder and made his way to the Great Hall. It took every once of willpower he had not to think about his grey-eyed friend back in their dorm. Every time he did, he wanted to bang his head against a wall.

Luckily, the hallways were mostly empty. The only person Remus met on his way was Xenophilius Lovegood, who was attempting to sell copies of his self-created school newspaper; Remus turned him down politely. When he arrived at the Great Hall, the sky shining through the ceiling was just as vibrant and blue as it had been the day before. Remus thought about walking right back out again and skipping breakfast in favor of spending the small amount of time before class started in the sun, but he decided against it. He wasn't sure if he could make it through the morning without at least a small meal.

The Hall was full of noisy, chattering students, but upon reaching the Gryffindor table, Remus discovered that one was conspicuously missing.

"Have you seen Lily?" James asked immediately as Remus sat down.

"No. Is she not here?"

"We haven't seen her," Peter said dryly. Obviously James had not been too calm about the absence of his girlfriend. Remus choked back laughter.

"Do you think she's sick?" James asked anxiously, peering around the Great Hall as if Lily would mysteriously pop out from behind the pitcher of orange juice on the Hufflepuff table if he looked hard enough.

"She probably just slept in," Remus told him, buttering a piece of toast. He was actually somewhat thankful that Lily wasn't there. At this rate, it seemed as if James would be too distracted to tease Remus at all.

Unfortunately, Remus's hopes were too high.

"So, Moony," said James significantly. "How was Padfoot when you left him?"

There were no walls nearby. Perhaps Remus would have to resort to banging his head against a table instead.

"I'm not sure, really," he said as serenely as he could manage. "I'm assuming that he's fine; I haven't actually spoken to him since you did."

"Oh." James looked rather put out, most likely because Remus hadn't blushed or stuttered or anything else of the sort. Peter looked confusedly between the two of them.

"And I believe I'm going to head to class now," said Remus, standing up. He had to think of a lie to explain his departure, and quickly. "I, um… I have to talk to Professor Vector before class starts; I had some questions about our last homework assignment."

"Alright." James had given up on tormenting Remus and was now searching for Lily again.

"Bye, Moony!" said Peter.

"See you, Wormtail," Remus replied. Poor Peter; he was always out of the loop. But that didn't mean that Remus was going to enlighten him. He walked away from the Gryffindor table at a brisk trot.

As soon as he was outside of the Great Hall, Remus leaned against the wall and took several deep breaths. He was getting the feeling that today was going to be extremely difficult, and he wasn't looking forward to it. Unfortunately, there wasn't much he could do about it, and if he just stood here worrying, Sirius was bound to show up and start to question him. Slightly annoyed, and even more apprehensive, Remus walked in the direction of his first class.

A/N 2: Well, that was part one. There are three parts total, and I will probably post the next two within a few days of each other. Please feel free to point out any errors that you may notice (spelling, grammar, whatever), and I will correct them as soon as is humanly possible. Don't forget: reviews make the world go round!