Moony: Year 3

Saturday
15 December 1973

Remus stared at himself in the mirror in the dorm room. When he had agreed to go with Lily to this party he had not really considered this to be one of his problems but now he wished he had. When packing for school one did not think to bring any sort of dress robes.

The young wizard frowned at his reflection as he picked out everything wrong with it. His hair was too long and hung in half-ringlets in front of his eyes, the bowtie he had stolen was tied terribly, he was wearing his school shirt since he had nothing else, and his nicest jumper suddenly looked like it had seen better days. This was not counting everything he could find wrong with his physical attributes that could never be changed like the scars that crossed over his pale face.

Remus was so stuck in the land of self-loathing that the teen practically jumped out of his skin when the door opened. He turned around fast with his hand over his heart as he tried to keep it from racing.

Sirius stood in the doorway, mid-chew of the apple that he had probably pilfered from the kitchens. The Black heir's eyes looked over Remus and then he made a face of confusion. As he slowly began to chew the food again he moved towards the werewolf and walked around him without a word.

"Is this really what you are wearing?" Were the first words out of Sirius' mouth before he took another bite from the apple.

Remus stared at the other boy confused and shifted uncomfortable. His lanky arms crossed over his chest and he looked down at his worn-out school shoes.

"Yes?" he supplied cautiously.

The werewolf found the apple pressed in his hand no sooner had the answer left his mouth. He looked up to find Sirius already across the round room and going through his trunk. The aristocrat was throwing out clothes onto the floor and seemed to slowly sink into the wooden trunk. Remus thought he was going to have to pull Sirius back out by his ankles soon if the teen did not stop.

It thankfully did not come to that. Sirius came back up with his hand bunched around a black clothing article. The teen walked right back over to his friend and traded the red apple with it.

"Put this on," he instructed.

"What?"

Sirius took another bite of the stolen apple and waved at the clothing with the fruit. "Put it on. We don't got a lot of time to tailor it so you better hurry. Don't want to be late for your first date."

Remus looked down at the clothes and then quickly understood. He turned on his heels and left the room to change.

The stiff clothing in his hands had obviously not seen the light of day in a long time. The teenager wondered in the back of his mind as he entered the bathroom if Sirius had had this at the bottom of his trunk since first year. It seemed to like something the boy would have hidden away and a useless thing his family would make him bring to school. Kind of sad that the obviously expensive dress robe had been sitting at the bottom of a school boy's trunk for so long.

Remus switched out the clothing and awkwardly carried the thrown together outfit back into their room. Sirius did not waste any time once Remus reentered the space. The boy took the pile of clothing from his arms and tossed them aside; careful grey eyes looking over the boy.

"Still a little loose in some places," he hummed and tied the tie around Remus' neck. "But it all should be an easy fix but your hair. Always hiding behind it Moony and suddenly it is the problem."

"I like my hair at this length," Remus defended it lamely. He had no idea what to do with the shaggy locks and it was obviously showing.

"I know you do but if you are going to keep it that long you have to take care of it."

Sirius smiled and turned away to dig through his trunk again. Remus took a step back when the boy came back out with scissors and a wide grin that just screamed 'crazy'.

"I am not letting you near my head with sharp objects," the werewolf said quickly.

Sirius just rolled his eyes.

"I won't be cutting your ear off, silly," he said in an exasperated tone. "I am going to use the magic I know to get your hair all nice. Got to impress the lady."

Remus eyes the scissors nervously.

"Are those necessary?"

Sirius' smile dropped and his face became grave.

"Very necessary."

The teenager looked at the door as if debating just running off before he sighed and sat down on a bed.

"Just don't make me bald, Black."

Lily Evans paced in the Gryffindor common room. The young witch had thought she would be the one to take the most time getting ready for this party. The simple dress she wore was highlighted with the necklace Remus had gotten her. Her red hair done up in a pin she had borrowed from one of her dormmates.

The girl had almost made up her mind to go up there and fetch Remus herself when, finally, someone walked down the stairs.

The snarky remark the teenager was about to give died on her lips as Remus appeared at the bottom of the stairs. The boy's shaggy fringe had been cut away from his face but the rest had been nicely tied back. The robes looked very expensive and had a faint green to the dark black they were colored.

The teenager looked away awkwardly at the stares and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Um," he said nervously, "I'm sorry I don't get you a flower or nothing. I wasn't sure-."

"It's fine, Remus," Lily chuckled and walked towards him. Her heart beat fast in her chest; he was not sure if it was fear or something else.

The young wizard laughed awkwardly and glanced back at the stairs once more before he offered his arm to the young witch.

"Shall we then, Miss Evans?"

Lily smiled and took his offered arm.

"We shall, Mr. Lupin."

They smiled at each other and left the Gryffindor common room together; being watched by grey eyes that belonged to a boy that was munching on an apple core.

A/N: this chapter is short, I know this so don't bother pointing it out. But here I am once again after FOREVER to give you some updates along with it.

1) This story is continuing slowly. I want to at least get past this party and I have started to plan out 4th year.

2) ALL OF MOONY IS BEING REWRITTEN. Not too much but I am making it better now that I have more experience with writing. This version is not going to change but over on Ao3 it is begin rewritten. When that story catches up with this the chapters will be posted simultaneously. You can find it by looking for Moony: Curse of the Full Moon on that website (as I am working through that to jog my memory of where I was going). I am under the same writing name there.

3) Lastly, consistent updates are not coming back for awhile. I am moving to my university soon and I barely remember where I was going because I did not write it down way back at the start of Junior Year. Silly me. Until I get through reading and revising Moony: CotFM, do not expect much once this little Slughorn party arc is done. I am sorry but until I catch up with past me it is going to be that way.

Thank you to those that have stuck around to read this. I love you all. ~A