Love Lessons

Chapter Three - Discovery.

"Moony?"

James fiddled awkwardly with his bag. With Sirius off stalking Professor Flint and Peter pigging out in the Great Hall, he thought this would be the best time to confront Remus. He wasn't so sure how things would turn out and he was nervous about what he was about to ask. What if Remus took it the wrong way? He didn't even know if the bloke was actually gay or not.

"Hmm?"

"Can I ask you a quick question?"

"Fire away," Remus muttered, turning the page of his heavy potions textbook. It was lunch time and he had decided to skip eating and go straight into the Library. "But hurry, will you? I still have to finish this damned essay for Slughorn. Can you fucking believe that bastard? He let Sirius and Evans off with their homework because they're in the Slug-Club! I might even go and complain to Dumbledore! Favoring students like that...""

James rolled his hazel eyes and let Remus rant on about Professor Slughorn for a few minutes. Then he held up his hand and coughed loudly, earning himself a sharp look for Madam Pince. "Is the bitching session over?"

"Sorry. What were you going to ask me?"

James took a deep breath, feeling very uncomfortable indeed. With the full moon growing closer, it wasn't a good idea to make Remus angry. But James was very curious to know if Remus did fancy Sirius, so he just decided to spit it out.

"Do you fancy Padfoot?"

Remus froze, then he slowly turned towards James, fury etched into his face. James flinched at the look in his eyes and took a small step backwards. "What did you just say, Potter?"

"Uh..."

The colour of Remus' cheeks changed so quickly it was almost funny. James very nearly grinned, but decided better of it. He looked away from the angry werewolf and cleared his throat. "Well...uh...do you?"

"And what does my love-life have to do with you?"

"I'm just curious! If you don't like Sirius in that way, then fine."

"And what if I do, James?"

"Uh..."

Remus stood up and James moved backwards into a bookshelf. "What if I've fancied him since the day I met him? What if I think he's the most beautiful bloke in the world? What if I can't stand that bastard of a professor because he's standing in the way of me and Sirius being together?"

James gaped at Remus for a moment. "I was actually expecting you to deny it! Now I'm not quite sure what I should say."

Remus turned away and sat back at his desk. He looked up at James through tear-filled brown eyes and whispered, "Please don't tell anyone. I bet Sirius would run a bloody mile if he found out."

"Moony," James sighed and he sat in the chair besides him. "I'm pretty sure Sirius would understand. He'd never throw away one of his best mates over something like this. He'll know it's just a crush."

"But it isn't just a crush, James," Remus whimpered and he buried his face in his hands. "I'm in love with him."

James put an arm around Remus and fell silent for a few seconds. When he spoke, his voice was surprisingly softer than usual. "I won't tell anyone, but I still reckon you should at least let him know."

"I can't! I'd fucking die if he ever found out! Things would never be the same between us again!"

"But what if he feels the same?"

Remus laughed bitterly. "Like that would ever happen. How many people have I dated in the past, James? If we weren't best friends, I bet he'd never look twice at a scrawny bastard like me."

"Don't say stuff like that, Moony."

"But it's true. He's bloody gorgeous and everyone in the school wants him. I wouldn't be surprised if he came onto Flint and actually suceeded in shagging him. Why would he want me when he can have anyone in the school?"

James could see the truth in what Remus was saying. Sirius was very handsome and he had slept with half of the boys in Hufflepuff and Gryffindor. He even had a fan-club of girls that once memorized his time-table and stalked him throughout his fourth year. When Sirius had came out as gay, the club had suddenly broke apart and Sirius was now subjected to many angry glares from the two founding members of the group.

Remus pulled his hands from his face and looked at James, his eyes shining in the afternoon sun that filtered through the window. "It's killing me, James. Watching him make his way through all the blokes in bloody Hogwarts. And now he's got a thing for Professor Flint and if I hear one more damned word about how attractive he is, I swear I'll go crazy."

"I think you already have, Remus," James said, his eyes following Lily Evans as she walked into the Library with Severus Snape. James gritted his teeth; how could Lily still be friends with that bastard after what he called her in their fifth year? Still, Severus had changed his attitude over the summer. He hadn't so much as sent a bad word towards James and he seemed oddly preoccupied.

Lily turned and caught James' eye. He grinned and waved at her, but she just gave him a dirty look before stalking off out the door again, dragging a bemused looking Severus with her.

James sighed. "What is it with that girl?"

- - -

Dinner that evening was a quiet affair. Well, it was for James and Remus. Sirius gabbled on non-stop about his meeting with Professor Flint at lunchtime.

"...I followed him up to his room and actually invited me in! We had some tea and he showed me-"

"I thought you didn't like tea?"

"Well, I'd drink a tankard of piss if he offered it. Anyway, he showed me this creature that we have to look at next lesson. I can't remember what it's called. He did tell me, but I was too busy staring at him to pay much attention..."

Remus muttered something that sounded faintly like 'pathetic'. Sirius decided to ignore him.

"...then we walked down to the hall together. I swear, I could have stayed with him all day long. He's so interesting and everything he says is perfect..."

James forced a smile and tried to change the subject. "So...Wormtail. What did you get up to at lunch-time?"

"Stuff."

"What stuff?"

"Eating and stuff."

James rolled his eyes. "What do you have to do for a decent conversation around here?"

Sirius looked mildly offended. "So talking about Maurice isn't good enough for you?"

"So you and Flint are on first-name terms now?" James said with a smirk. "Next you'll be calling him 'honey' and licking his boots."

"Very funny."

Sirius fell silent for a while before launching back into the story about his escapades with Professor Flint at lunch-time. Remus didn't want to listen, but he couldn't bring himself to leave the table. He watched Sirius as he talked, paying attention to his pearly-white teeth and the way his eyes lit up whenever he uttered Flint's name. Remus was so close to Sirius he could have just reached out a few inches to brush his skin. It looked so soft and it screamed to be caressed...

"Remus, what are you doing?"

Jerking from his daydream, Remus noticed that James and Sirius were looking at him with shock etched upon their faces. Even Peter had came up from his apple pie to stare at him. Remus turned beetroot and pulled his hand away from Sirius' jaw.

"You...uh...had something on your face..."

Sirius looked perplexed. "Did I?"

James suddenly pipped up, "Yeah, Remus was just getting it off for you..."

"Oh. Thanks, Moony."

Sirius grinned, but he still looked a little befuddled. He continued talking and Remus, still bright red, gulped down a glass of ice-cold pumpkin juice to try and cool himself down. He decided not to look at Sirius anymore, but he couldn't help his eyes drifting over to gaze at his thick, raven hair and heart-shaped lips.

- - -

Severus paced the Dormitory nervously. The clock on the stone wall ticked by quicker than usual and echoed around the room. He was half expecting Lucius to be late or not arrive at all. Severus could not help hoping Lucius would not show up. It wasn't as if he didn't want to see Lucius, he was just...scared. Lily had been going on all day about how Lucius was just conning him into doing his homework by flirting with him. And she had also promised to chop off Lucius' cock if he dared put it anywhere near Severus.

"Hey, Severus."

"Hey."

Lucius put his books on his bed and sat down on it, pulling his legs up and leaning against his pillows. He raised a thin eyebrow at Severus.

"Are you just going to stand there all night or are you going to help me with this bloody homework?"

Severus blushed and perched awkwardly next to Lucius. He picked up a copy of Animal Transfiguration from the pile on the bed and flicked through the pages, feeling like his heart was about to burst right through his chest. He felt Lucius move around behind him as he took off his shoes and socks. Severus felt Lucius prod him playfully in the back with his toe.

"Do you know what?"

"What?"

"You look rather cute when you study."

Severus didn't quite know how to reply to that. "Um...thanks?"

"No problem."

Lucius sat up besides Severus and listened as he explained the essay. After a while, it was obvious that Lucius was growing bored. He inched slightly closer to Severus and allowed their thighs to brush. Lucius smirked as Severus' voice grew higher and his face pinker.

"You fancy me."

Severus spluttered and almost dropped the book. "Excuse me?"

"You fancy me."

"What gave you that idea?"

"So you don't fancy me?"

"No!"

Lucius smirked wider. "So if I did this," his hand rubbed slowly at Severus' leg. "you wouldn't mind?"

Severus sucked in his breath as Lucius ran his hand over the bulge in his trousers. "Sweet Salazar..."

"Admit you fancy me."

"This is just a plot, isn't it?" Severus replied angrily. "You don't really need help at all! You just got me on my own to see how far you can push me!"

Lucius chuckled lazily and nodded. "I've wanted to do this for so long, Severus..."

And he leaned over and kissed Severus firmly on the mouth. Severus found he couldn't pull away and he let his jaw drop, allowing Lucius to explore his mouth eagerly with his tongue. Within seconds, Lucius had pushed Severus backover onto the bed and had him straddled.

Severus let out a small moan as Lucius trailed wet kisses up his neck and sucked lightly on his skin, still smirking happily. He laughed and pulled away, gazing down into the dark and clouded eyes of the other boy, his locks of blonde hair tumbling gracefully about his face. Severus stared back up at him.

"Is this a joke?" He said croakily. "Or do you really want me?"

Lucius smiled and bent down to kiss Severus again. Their lips met and fireworks seemed to explode above their heads. Lucius looked flushed when he pulled away. "I want you."

Severus snicked against Lucius' lips as he pulled him in for another kiss. "Quidditch season? You have a cheek to call yourself a Slytherin!"