Love Notes - Fic for LHazzie

Title: Love Notes
Author: fullmoon_dreams 
Rating: PG13
Word count:: 3,500
Genre: Romance
Warnings: A bit of bad language and fluff - also unbeta'd
Summary: Love notes and Sirius Black just don't mix.
Disclaimer: I own nothing that you recognise.

Challenge for lhazzie 
Key Words: Tea Notes Mouse
Dialogue: “What do you think?”

A/N: Sorry, lhazzie, I really tried to go for angst for you this month, but I'm afraid that the fluff crept in.  I'm so sorry.

-

Remus glared at the mouse on the desk in front of him and the annoying creature glared right back at him.

“You’re not flicking properly,” Sirius told him with a frustrated sigh. 

Remus echoed the sigh with one of his own.  He could tell that Sirius was losing patience with him.

“I think the mouse is blocking my spell,” Remus muttered as he tried, yet again, to make the mouse twice as large as normal. 

“It’s a mouse, not a Death Eater,” Sirius pointed out impatiently.

“I don’t understand why I can’t do this one stupid charm,” Remus complained as he threw his wand down onto the desk, sending the mouse scampering away.  “I never have this much trouble in Charms.  It’s one of my best subjects.”

“Maybe you aren’t concentrating properly?” Sirius suggested, earning himself a glare.  “You have been kind of distracted recently.”

Remus shrugged.  He had been distracted, there was no denying it, but he was rather surprised that Sirius had noticed.

“You going to tell me why?” Sirius continued.

Remus raised an eyebrow and folded his arms across his chest.  “No,” he muttered.

“I’ll guess then, shall I?”

“Don’t bother,” Remus replied with a sigh.  “Just help me catch the bloody mouse so I can try the spell again.”

“Maybe you should take a break?”

“If you don’t want to help me, then just say so?” Remus snapped.

“I didn’t say that,” Sirius argued.  “But we’ve been at this for nearly two hours and–”

“Fine, go on back to James!” Remus barked.

“Remus– ”

“Oh, just get out of here,” Remus said, his voice returning to something resembling his normal mild tone.  “I’ll just catch the mouse and maybe grab some food from the kitchens.”

“If you’re sure?” Sirius asked, already halfway to the door.

Remus nodded and walked over to the cupboard the mouse was last seen scampering behind.  When he turned back to the door, Sirius was already gone.

It took nearly half an hour to locate the mouse, and another fifteen minutes to catch the blasted creature.  It would have taken far less time with a couple of spells, but Remus knew, as he had for some time, that his magic was seriously out of whack, and was getting worse by the day.

A quick detour to the kitchens meant that Remus arrived back at Gryffindor Tower nearly an hour after Sirius, and since it was already quite late, he made his way straight to the dormitory.

He could hear Sirius and James talking as he approached the door, which was slightly ajar, and allowed the conversation to travel to his ears with relative ease.

“Well, say something,” Sirius demanded.  “What do you think?”

“I don’t know,” James replied.  “It’s an interesting theory, but this is Moony we’re talking about.”

“Exactly!” Sirius exclaimed with triumph.

Remus edged closer to the door, knowing he should make his presence known, but more than a little curious to hear what they were saying about him. 

“You know that he won’t tell you, even if you do ask him,” James pointed out.

“I’m not going to ask him.  That’s where the plan comes in,” Sirius declared. 

“Ah yes,” James said with a groan.  “The plan.”

“I don’t see you coming up with any better ideas.”

“It’ll never work.”

“It might.”

“You suck at planning anything.”

“What about the prank in greenhouse two?”

“Moony masterminded that one.”

“How about the time I substituted all the teachers’ glasses of mulled wine for Firewhiskey at the end of term feast last year?”

“That was a total bomb,” James reminded him.  “They all spotted the switch right away and your hope of seeing drunken teachers dancing on the tables never happened.”

“That’s not the point.”

“It’s exactly the point,” James argued.  “Your plans are crap.”

Remus was still curious as to what Sirius’s latest plan was, for self-preservation more than anything else, after all, it was clear that it involved him somehow.  Unfortunately, his eavesdropping was brought to an abrupt halt by the sound of the fourth marauder coming up the stairs behind him.

“Hi, Remus,” Peter said as he struggled with the pile of books he was carrying.  “Give us a hand, will you?”

“Sure,” Remus replied, grabbing half the books just seconds before they plummeted to the floor.

He stepped aside and let Peter go into the dormitory first.  He didn’t fail to notice the way that their two friends immediately went quiet and tried to make it look as though they were working hard on their homework.

“Did you catch the mouse?” Sirius asked.

Remus nodded and tossed his bag onto the floor, kicking it out of the way under his bed and throwing himself down onto the covers.  From the corner of his eye he saw Sirius mouth something to James, something that looked suspiciously like ‘tomorrow’. 

-o-xXx-o-

“Hi, Remus,” the petite Ravenclaw said as she stepped in front of him on his way out of the Great Hall after breakfast the following morning.

“Hi, Becky,” Remus replied with a friendly smile and a nod. 

“You going to Ancient Runes?” Becky asked.

Remus nodded. 

“Great, I’ll walk with you,” Becky said and she hooked her arm through Remus’s and steered him towards the stairs.

Sirius watched this new development and felt a strange and unfamiliar twisting in his gut.  It was a feeling he didn’t like and hoped passed quickly. 

“Padfoot, I really think you should reconsider this plan of yours,” James said as they finished off their bacon and eggs. 

“Too late,” Sirius replied.  “It’s already done.”

“What?  Already?” James asked, his eyes widening with astonishment.  “How did you get it done so fast?”

“A duplicating spell,” Sirius explained with a shrug.  “I’m telling you, Moony fancies someone and that’s why his magic is all screwed up.  All we have to do is figure out who, get them together and voila.”

“Voila?”

Sirius nodded.  “Moony is happy, Moony’s magic is back to normal, and we can all get back to pranking instead of doing all the extra homework with him.”

“That simple, huh?”

“You say that like you don’t think it’s going to work.”

“It isn’t going to work.”

“Why not?”

“Because your plans never work!”

“This one will,” Sirius insisted.  “I’ve sent notes from Remus to all the girls he hangs out with, telling them the same thing.  That he likes them, but he’s too shy to say anything to their face.  Sooner or later the object of his crush will make a move and Moony will be happy again.”

“And what happens if the object of Remus’s crush doesn’t like him back?” James asked.

“It won’t happen.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because it’s Moony.  Everyone likes him.  Even Evans likes him.”

“You didn’t send one of these stupid notes to Lily, did you?” James asked in horror.

“Of course I did,” Sirius replied.

“What if Lily is the girl Remus fancies?”

“Then you’ll have to step aside and let the better man– ow!”  Sirius rubbed his arm where James had punched him.  “What was that for?”

“If I lose my chance with Lily because of your stupid plan…”

“Forgetting for the moment that you have no chance with her at all, what are the chances of Lily being the girl Remus likes?”

“How many notes did you send out?” James asked curiously.

“A couple of dozen,” Sirius replied evasively.

“That’s enough for all of the girls in our year and more besides.”

Sirius shrugged.  “So?”

“And you’ve sent them all to the girls already?”

“Yeah.”

“That means Moony’s going to have girls hitting on him all day,” James pointed out.  “And sooner or later these girls are going to realise that they all have notes from him.  Girls talk about stuff like this.  His real crush might not believe him if she finds out he’s sent the same note to other girls, too.”

Sirius buried his head in his arms and wailed dramatically.  “You should have warned me this plan was doomed to fail.”

“I did warn you,” James reminded him.  “Several times.”

Sirius wailed again. 

-o-xXx-o-

There was definitely something strange happening, and Remus Lupin was stuck right in the middle of said strangeness.

The classes for the day had begun with Ancient Runes.  That lesson had been an interesting experience, one that he hoped he would never live through again.

Becky had clung to his arm all the way to the classroom, despite his efforts to remove her from the same.  She had then sat down in the seat next to him, much to the annoyance of Peter, who normally had that seat, and two other girls who made it clear that they wanted to sit next to him.

He had tried to concentrate on taking notes and translating the runes in front of him, but had been constantly distracted by the two girls in the seats in front of him, both of whom had repeatedly turned to smile and wink at him throughout the lesson. 

Becky had taken offence to the two girls and an argument had finally broken out ten minutes before the end of the lesson. 

Naturally, he had been blamed for the entire thing and had been harshly reprimanded by the Professor and earned himself a detention with all three of the girls.

The only good thing to come out of the punishment was that none of the three girls were flirting with him after the detentions had been handed out.

He left Ancient Runes and made his way downstairs to Care of Magical Creatures.  He no longer had Becky clinging to his arm, but he didn’t feel the loss because Chloe, who never seemed to draw breath as she chattered away, had taken her place.

He nodded politely and tuned out her talking as he tried to disentangle himself from her arm.

By the time he arrived at Care of Magical Creatures he was sure that while men might have evolved from the apes, girls had to have evolved from some form of octopus. 

James and Sirius were already at the clearing ready for the lesson when Remus joined them.  He looked pleadingly at his two friends.  James looked mildly amused at Remus’s predicament, while Sirius looked vaguely annoyed. 

Professor Kettleburn, who divided the class into groups and thankfully separated them, saved Remus from having Chloe clinging to his arm for the entire lesson. 

“I think she fancies you,” James commented when Chloe waved at Remus for the third time. 

“Whatever gave you that idea?” Remus asked sarcastically. 

Across the clearing, Sirius was looking daggers at Chloe, who had nearly taken his eye out with her wand with her last wave at Remus.

Unfortunately, Remus was finding that being separated from Chloe only opened up the way for another girl to throw herself at him, this next one being Veronica, a cheery Hufflepuff who quite frankly did nothing to help the House’s lingering reputation for having the dimmest of students. 

When the lesson was over Remus took off at a run for the castle, both Veronica and Chloe chasing after him as best they could.  He raced for the boys’ bathroom, hoping to give them the slip for long enough to sneak down to the kitchens for some lunch.  He had a suspicion that he wouldn’t survive the Great Hall today.  If he didn’t know better, he’d swear that these girls had been dosed with love potions. 

When he finally emerged from the bathroom he found that the corridor was clear and he made a dash for the kitchens, hoping that none of the girls were lingering in the Entrance Hall, which he had to pass through to get there. 

The kitchens were empty apart from a single student, and Remus felt an overwhelming sense of relief when he saw who it was.  At least he didn’t have to worry about Lily Evans throwing herself at him.

“Not sitting with your fan club?” Lily asked with a smirk. 

Remus rolled his eyes and pulled up a stool at one of the kitchen counters.  Lily had been present in both of his classes today, and was clearly quite amused at what had happened.  “Have all the girls in this school gone mad or something?” he asked.

Lily chuckled and there was something in her face that told Remus that she knew something about what had been happening this morning.

“You going to fill me in?” he asked as he helped himself to a bowl of stew and poured himself a cup of much needed tea. 

Lily grinned and reached into her robes, pulling out a small roll of parchment, tied with a red and gold bow.  “I think this might help shed a little light,” she said.  “I’ve seen at least ten other girls with these today.”

Remus took the parchment from her and read the note.  “I didn’t send this,” he told her. 

“I know you didn’t,” Lily replied. 

“You do?”

“You’d never make a move on a girl one of your friends likes, even when that friend has no chance at all.  Besides, unless I’m very much mistaken, I know who your real crush is.”

Remus nearly dropped the parchment in his stew and his face paled. 

“If it’s who I think it is, you may be in with a chance,” Lily told him. 

“Oh?”

“He was looking remarkably jealous when you left the Great Hall with Becky this morning and Chloe is lucky she’s still alive.  Honestly, the looks Black was giving her through Care of Magical Creatures made me wonder whether she’d make it to the end of the lesson at all.  If he hadn’t been forced to divide his attention between her and Veronica, I don’t think she’d have made it.”

Lily smiled at him as she waited for Remus to acknowledge that she had guessed correctly. 

“How did you guess?” he finally asked.

“Woman’s intuition,” Lily replied with a shrug. 

“Maybe your intuition is faulty this time,” Remus suggested.

“You’re saying you don’t fancy Black?”

Remus’s face reddened and he took a sip of his drink to avoid answering right away.  “No, but if Sirius fancied me, why send notes to a dozen or more girls telling them I fancy them?”

“Because he’s an idiot,” Lily replied.  “You’ve not really dated anyone, so he’s not had any reason to be jealous.  Then he pulls this stunt, sees all these girls throwing themselves at you and the jealousy kicks in.  Want to see if I’m right?”

Remus smiled.  “From the look on your face, I’d say you already have some evil plan in mind.”

“Might have,” Lily agreed with a smirk.  “Do you trust me?”

Remus nodded and grinned.  Lily’s instincts were usually spot on, and if she thought Sirius liked him, he could trust her enough to find out for sure.

-o-xXx-o-

“They’re still talking in the corner,” Sirius muttered to James.

“Just talking?”

“Yes.”

“If Remus starts dating Lily, I’m going to kill you!”

“Remus wouldn’t do that to you,” Sirius said, feeling more worried than he wanted to admit that perhaps Lily was Remus’s crush after all. 

“What are they doing now?”

“She’s leaning across the table.”

“And?  Is she leaning into him or away from him?”

“Into him.”

“Is he moving away?”

“He’s… he’s…”  Sirius watched as Lily kissed Remus and all words died in his throat.  The knot in his stomach was suddenly in his throat, choking him and robbing him of his breath. 

“What?” James prompted urgently.

Sirius’s reply was some sort of gurgle and he dropped the cards he was holding, causing a minor explosion.  Everyone in the room turned to see what had happened; at least everyone except Remus and Lily, who were still locked at the lip. 

“Sirius, are you okay?” James asked, finally turning round to see what it was that had caused his best friend’s reaction.  James’s cards dropped to the floor, causing a second explosion.  “Sirius, you’re a dead man,” he hissed as he watched Lily climb onto Remus’s lap. 

Sirius wasn’t sure that he even cared.  He was too busy worrying about the revelation he was currently having, and the fact that James’s jealousy was nothing compared to his own.  The only difference was that James wasn’t looking at the result of his own plotting and scheming.  Unlike Sirius, James didn’t have to live with the knowledge that he only had himself to blame for destroying any chance of being with the one - he was only now realising - that he loved.

“Sirius just bolted for the stairs,” Lily whispered into Remus’s ear, adding a girlish giggle for their audience. 

“I should go after him,” Remus whispered back.

“Do you have the note?”

Remus nodded.

“Better go deliver it to your real crush,” Lily advised as she stood up.  “I’ll be waiting right here for you, sweetheart,” she added in a louder voice, especially for the benefit of James.

The last thing Remus heard before he went up the stairs was Lily’s laughter as she turned back to her homework.

Sirius was alone in the dormitory and appeared to be perfectly at ease, reclining on his bed, staring at the ceiling.  If he hadn’t known that he had just ran from the common room, he’d have thought he had been there for hours.

“Remus.”  Sirius sat up and looked at him in surprise.  “What are you doing here?”

Remus sat down on the edge of the bed.  “It’s my dorm, too.”

“I meant why aren’t you downstairs with your new girlfriend?”

“You mean Lily?” Remus asked with a grin.

“Have you been snogging any other girls today?”

“No.”

“I can’t believe you’d do that to Prongs.”

“I can’t believe you’d send love notes from me to every girl in the school,” Remus countered.

“It wasn’t that many,” Sirius argued.  “Only a couple of dozen.”

“And that was a couple of dozen too many,” Remus replied.  “And if you didn’t want me to get together with Lily, you shouldn’t have included her in your little scheme.”

“I didn’t think.”

“Well, there’s something new,” Remus said with a snort of laughter. 

“You don’t have to worry about Prongs,” Sirius muttered.  “He blames me for this, because I sent the notes.”

“I’m not going out with Lily.”

“You aren’t?”

Remus shook his head and pulled the note Sirius had sent Lily out of his pocket.  “It’s a nice note,” he said quietly.  “It says nearly everything that I’ve wanted to tell my crush.”

“It does?”

Remus nodded and smiled.  “Pity that the deliveryman screwed up and didn’t get one to my real crush.”

“You don’t know that,” Sirius replied, ducking his head.  “I doubt all the girls I sent it to have had time to hit on you yet.”

“You didn’t send it to my real crush,” Remus repeated.  “So, I’m just going to have to deliver it myself.”

Sirius nodded slowly, but didn’t look up.  He therefore didn’t see Remus holding out the roll of parchment to him until Remus coughed pointedly.

“Delivery for Mister Sirius Black,” Remus whispered, his hand starting to shake slightly.

Sirius’s head shot up.  “Is this a joke?” he asked quietly.

Remus shook his head.  “No, the joke was pretending to get together with Lily downstairs.  This is me finally finding my courage.”

Sirius smiled and reached out to take the parchment from Remus’s hand.

“Aren’t you going to read it?” Remus asked.

“I know what it says.”

“Do you?”

Sirius frowned and unrolled the parchment, grinning when he saw the amendments Remus had made to the note.  “You love me and you’ve been too cowardly to say anything to my face, and you want me to be your boyfriend,” he read aloud. 

“I’ve also put the correct name on it and signed it properly,” Remus pointed out. 

“It was signed properly before.”

“Sirius, you have many talents, but forging my signature isn’t one of them.”

Sirius chuckled.  “Looking at the way you were snogging Lily downstairs, I’d say you have some hidden talents of your own.”  He put the note on the bedside table and edged closer to Remus.

“Would you like a demonstration?” Remus whispered, his lips barely an inch from Sirius’s. 

“I should do everything I can to help your magic get back to normal,” Sirius whispered back. 

“Or I might fail my exams.”

“And we can’t have that.”

“And this definitely beats all the extra hours of homework.”

“Definitely.”

“Sirius?”

“Yes?”

“Are you going to kiss me?”

“I-” Sirius began, but his words were cut off by Remus closing the distance between them and pressing their mouths together.

Neither boy heard the door to the room opening and James Potter entering. 

They did hear, though ignored completely, the sound of James’s elated cry of “YES!”  They both knew that his joy was less about the sight of seeing two of his best friends kissing, and more about the fact that it meant he still had a chance with Lily. 

“Definitely more fun than extra homework,” Sirius said between kisses.

Remus chuckled.  “I couldn’t agree more.  Now, what are you going to do about all the notes you sent?”

“Er…”

Remus shook his head and laughed.  “Just promise me you won’t send any more love notes.”

“Only from me to you from now on,” Sirius promised.