First

A/N: I know it's been forever, and I could give a lot of excuses, but I wont. I'll just get right back into the story. The original got deleted from my computer so I have to rewrite it, but I still have the outline and I should be done soon enough. There will be about 7 or 8 chapters. Please review, and I will love you forever.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything in the Potterverse.

Chapter 4: First Date


The next morning Remus woke up with a knot in his stomach. He looked around the dorm room and eventually his eyes settled on Sirius. He was convinced the previous night had to have been a dream.

Because there was no way in hell that Sirius Black and he were . . . in a relationship.

He looked behind him out the window and squinted his eyes. “Well, I don’t see any pigs flying. Must have been dreaming.” He got up slowly and shivered as his feet hit the cold wood floors. He made his way over to the bathroom and picked up his toothbrush.

But when he looked up into the mirror, he nearly jumped out of his skin. There was a very incriminating irritated patch of skin on his neck that very much resembled a . . .

“I wasn’t dreaming,” he mused softly, his hand touching the mark tentatively. The night before . . . in the woods . . . that had been real. And he had the tacky love mark to prove it. He smirked at himself and continued with his daily routine. He usually thought that hickeys were tacky and gross looking. But now that he had one, he almost understood the reason girls around the school displayed them like battle scars.

Lupin spat out the remaining toothpaste in his mouth and gargled a glass of water. As he made his way over to the showers, he whistled happily to himself.

“You’re in a merry mood today, Moony,” an amused voice said behind him.

He turned around quickly and met James smirking face. “I suppose I am.”

“Anything you want to tell me?” James asked, feigning naivety and applying toothpaste to his brush.

“Nothing you don’t already know, I’m sure.”

“I see Padfoot left his mark on you. No class, I tell ya. But you don’t seem to mind.”

Lupin stripped off his night clothes confidently and stepped into the shower. “I don’t.”

* * * *

Sirius tried to stop himself from smiling to himself all day long. He didn’t want to look like an idiot, and he worked hard for his reputation. If anyone saw him swooning . . . he’d never hear the end of it. He was getting enough slack from James as it was.

James hadn’t said anything directly, but he didn’t really need to speak in order to poke fun at Sirius anymore. A knowing glance was enough.

However, it didn’t hurt that whenever he glanced at Moony, he had the same goofy smile on his face.
Between silly grins and knowing glances, Wormtail didn’t quite know what to do with himself. When Moony and Padfoot had told him officially, he had been stunned and seriously weirded out. It wasn’t that he had a problem with the idea of two guys dating, but it was Remus and Sirius! Sirius was just about the straightest boy Wormtail had met, and he looked up to him and James both. But learning that one of his idols was now sticking it to one of their friends (who was a boy) . . . it took getting used to.
Sirius had to admit that Wormtail’s discomfort was somewhat amusing to he and James. Lupin was a little unsettled by it, as he and Wormtail had been pretty good friends.

“Hey, what are you guys doing this weekend?” James asked quietly, leaning over the table. He elbowed Wormtail, who was sitting next to him and motioned for him to move in closer as well. “We have a Hogsmede trip coming up. Convenient, eh?”

Sirius looked over at Lupin and raised his eyebrows at the blushing boy. He turned back to James and smirked. “Trying to set us up on a date?”

“Well . . . yeah. I also kind of have a plan.”

“Great,” Sirius said exasperated, but he always enjoyed James’ little schemes. “What is it this time?”

“Well, if the four of us went together, it wouldn’t really feel like much of a date, would it? But if we could get four girls to go with us it would seem like we were all on dates with them and it wouldn’t look too bad if the two of you spent a little extra time together, because people would automatically assume you were with two of the four girls.”

“Sound’s fine, but wouldn’t we have to let these girls know about us?” Remus asked.

“Well, it would have to be girls we trusted, wouldn’t it? Moony, you and Lily are really good friends, aren’t you?”

“Oh, I see where this is going,” but before Lupin could finish James beamed and jumped up suddenly. He seemed to take this response as an agreement, and called over to Lily and her friends.

“Oy, Evans! Come over here for a second . . . please,” James added, when she glared over at him. “Nata, Simone, and Alice, you guys too.”

The four girls rolled their eyes at each other and leisurely made their way over to them.

“What do you want, Potter?” Lily asked, her voice cold but her eyes fox-like gleam to them. She seemed to have begun to enjoy this little game of cat and mouse she and James had going on now.

James flashed the girls a charismatic grin which seemed to lower their defenses considerably. “I was wondering if you girls would mind doing us a little favor.”

* * * *

Remus followed Lily into the library quietly. He agreed to talk with her here after this morning. She had taken the news of his relationship with Sirius very well and had been quite supportive. Alice and Simone seemed surprised, but also offered support, and Natasha looked disappointed, but would probably get over it soon. She had agreed to James’ suggestion that the eight of them go to Hogsmede together so she was already making progress.

“So, you and Black, eh?” she asked suddenly and quietly.

“Er . . . yeah, I guess so.”

“I didn’t know you were . . . er . . . inclined that way.”

“I’m not! I mean,” he looked around the library, it was virtually empty and nobody seemed to be paying them any attention. “I’ve never liked a guy before . . . you know.”

“Oh. I see.” She seemed to be deep in thought as her hand lightly brushed over the spines of the books in the stack. “So, Sirius is . . . a special case.”

Lupin laughed at that, “you make him sound like an extra credit project for Transfiguration.”

She blushed at her poor wording. “Sorry, you know what I mean though.”

“Yeah, I guess he’s special. I mean, I dunno what to say really.” He was beginning to feel a little uncomfortable. He had never enjoyed talking about his personal life to anyone. But Lily was doing them a favor, so he felt he owed her an explanation.

“You know I’m okay with . . . you know . . . er . . . homosexuality.”

Remus didn’t really like the sound of that word. He wasn’t a homosexual . . . he didn’t really know what he was.

“I’m not gay . . . I’m just a little bent,” he joked.

Lily laughed at that and he was glad to see she seemed completely okay with this. “I was just trying to be politically correct.”

“Don’t bother; I’m not. Sirius certainly isn’t. He seems to enjoy being called a ‘queer bent bastard’ and all that.”

“Who called him that?!” Lily asked, sounding shocked and a little offended.

“His mother. He couldn’t wait to tell her. I think he was hoping it might be the one that killed her.”

“That’s terrible!” Lily said, trying to suppress her laughter.

“Yeah, she sent him a howler. Damn thing flew in at four in the morning, woke us all up. But it was actually pretty funny. James has made a habit of imitating it whenever he gets a chance. He loves making fun of Mrs. Black, you should see him sometimes.”

Lily’s shoulders shook with laughter at this and she covered her mouth in an endearing manner. “Well, I’ll have to ask him for a demonstration then; on Saturday.”

“You seem to be looking forward to your “date” with James.”

Lily roller her eyes at this, but should couldn’t prevent a small smile from playing on her lips. “Are you looking forward to yours, with Sirius, I mean?”

“Yeah. I really am.”

* * * *

Saturday morning, Remus put some extra thought into what he was going to wear. He pulled on his nicest pair of jeans and brown leather boots. He pulled a long-sleeved cobalt blue shirt on over his head, and took a long-sleeved, yellow button-down to put on over it. The contrast brought out his eyes nicely, he thought. He grabbed his robes and put his wand in the pocket. He threw his Gryffindore scarf around his neck and placed his gloves in his other pocket before making his way down to the common room.

He had to fight the blush that wanted to creep across his face when he saw Sirius standing there, waiting for him. He was wearing his usual, all black ensemble, but underneath the black sweater he was wearing was a hint of a black and white stripped t-shirt and he was wearing his signature black leather jacket. He grinned up at Remus and grabbed his robe and scarf from the back of a chair.

“Stop gawking at him and gawk at me instead,” James said, coming up to Remus and forcing him to tear his gaze away from Sirius. “How do I look?”

James was also one who usually wore black or primarily dark colors, but he liked to add something bright just to mix things up. He was wearing dark blue jeans, a black sweater, with a bright red t-shirt underneath.

“I’m sure Lily will like it just fine. And you didn’t hear this from me, but when I talked to her yesterday she seemed to be looking forward to today.”

James face brightened up only for a moment before he regained control of his emotions. “Well, of course she is,” he said with not nearly as much confidence as he intended. “Oh there have been a change in plans,” James said as he spotted Simone and Alice making their way towards them. “Wormtail isn’t coming anymore. Frank Longbottom asked Alice to go to Hogsmede with him today and she agreed to it. So, since she was Wormtail’s ‘date’ he didn’t feel like going stag and backed out. Frank is coming with us instead.”

Sirius shrugged and looked Remus up and down appreciatively. “That’s fine by me. Frank is a good guy.”

“But, Frank doesn’t know . . .” Lupin started.

“I hope you don’t mind,” Alice said softly. “He’s really a good guy, I’m sure he would more than understand. You can trust him, I promise.”

“It doesn’t bother me,” Sirius said softly into Lupin’s ear. The feel of his warm breath tickled his ear and he was eased into submission almost instantly.

“Okay,” Remus said, almost incoherent. Maybe going out wasn’t the greatest idea. He considered the option of staying in the castle with Sirius, and using what would soon be the empty common room to their advantage.

“I know that look. Calm yourself, Remus,” a soft, joking voice said to his left.

He looked over at Lily and returned the knowing smile she gave him. “You look nice, Lily,” he said simply.
She was dressed in a long-sleeved emerald green top and was wearing dark blue jeans with black boots. Her red hair was pulled back into a messy bun and there was a simple pair of gold hoops adorning her ears, but for as simply as she was dressed, she looked stunning.

James seemed to notice this and was staring at her, a small blush lining his cheeks.

“Well, let’s get going.

* * * *

Remus was glad that he had ended up going.

Not only had Frank taken the news really well, by stating that he could really care less, but he was a really fun guy to be around. He was only a year older than they were, but the difference between he and the three younger boys was pretty noticeable. He was more mature and had a very mature sense of humor . . . but his mature sense of humor was very humorous. He cracked jokes with ease and confidence, and was a constant source of entertainment for them all.

Usually James and Sirius were the center of attention, but the attention of the two boys was mostly focused on their dates, and they let Frank take over the spotlight with grace.

“So, I say we head on over to the Three Broomsticks; I’m freezing,” Alice said blowing into her mitten covered hands.

“Good idea, drinks on me,” James called out, shooting a glance at Lily to see if she would be pleased by this.

Lily seemed to understand James pretty well. She shot him an accusing, but teasing stare and smirked up at him. “Sounds like a plan. I think I’m going to get the most expensive drink they have.” She met James with a militant stare waiting for him to react.

“Anything for the lady,” James said, sounding only slightly worried. He dug out his bag and began counting the coins inside.

Lily walked up to him and put a gentle hand on his. She smiled up at him teasingly and said, “I’m just kidding. A butterbeer will suffice.”

James tried not to look relieved as he put his bag away. “Well if you’re sure,” he said nonchalantly.

They walked inside of the warm pub and were lucky to spot a large enough table for them in the back. Remus went to sit next to Sirius instinctively, but remembered that Natasha was his “date” for that day. Sirius sat on the very end and nudged the chair across from him out to indicate that Remus sit there. He smiled and took a seat. Simone took her seat next to Sirius and Natasha next to Remus.

It was strange for her to be so silent, but she had barely spoken a word all day. She just kept shooting jealous looks over at Sirius every time he and Remus made any sort of physical or visual contact.

Remus felt a foot brush his lightly and looked away from James (who was doing a hilarious impression of Sirius’ mother for Lily’s amusement) and looked at Sirius. Dark eyes met light and he knew, without Sirius having to say a word, that he was happy right now. Even though they couldn’t be as out as they might like, they could do this at least.

As they made their way back to castle as the sun began to set, Remus felt a hand come into contact with his and fingers entwine with his own. He squeezed back gently and was grateful for the fact that they were surrounded in that moment. He didn’t look directly at him but glanced down at Sirius’ hand and smiled to himself. And as happy as he was and as well as their date had gone, he couldn’t really wait for them to get back to the castle so he and Sirius could have some much needed alone time.

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A/N: I'm well aware of how tame this chapter is compared to previous and future chapters (believe me) but I think it's sweet and normal and . . . the drama and all the good stuff will come later. So I hope you enjoyed the tame fluff, and do review, I beg of you.