• Chapter Two - The Mystery Deepens

    Following his close encounter of the worst kind with Marlene McKinnon at the Astronomy Tower, Sirius Black found himself to be the most sought after male in all of Hogwarts. Not that he hadn't been greatly admired before, but now they were far more open in their admiration and adoration. Word had somehow spread throughout the witching community - via that secretive and mysterious form of feminine communication that defied description - of his marvelous lips and wonderful kissing abilities, and now they dogged his every step, whenever he step foot outside of Gryffindor Tower - trailing him between classes, and to meals, and they even followed him to quidditch practice, gathering in giggling gaggles on the quidditch field itself, which his teammates found to be quite annoying as well as distracting (and of course not a few of them were jealous that they could not rate such attention from the fair sex themselves). James just laughed if off - caught up as he was in his intense admiration of one Miss Lily Evans, and oblivious to the rest of the female world. Remus bit his lip and said nothing, and often ended up leaving the field in dismay - if he had to watch one more girl touch <i>his</i> Sirius, he wouldn't be able to control the wolf within who wished to do nothing more than claim its mate. And Sirius, even as he tried to be diplomatic and not simply tell the female population of Hogwarts to sod off, watched him go with saddened eyes and a heavy heart.

    As Christmas approached, the focus of the school became the upcoming Yule Ball - what would the theme be and who would go with who? And particularly, which lucky girl would be invited to go by the school's leading Lothario, Sirius Black? A question which interested Sirius not at all, as he had no wish to go with any of them, not to mention that the object of his fancy was out of the question, being not only his best friend but male as well. To his knowledge, there had never been a same sex couple at any of the school's social events - and it didn't look like he and Remus would ever be the first..........Morosely he watched James in his half-hearted half-assed courting of the redheaded Gryffindor, although to him she appeared to be rather disinterested at best. But then again he never pretended to have any great understanding of women. And he was jealous of the time that she was spending with Remus. They were altogether too chummy for his taste. Could she possibly be the lycanthrope's secret admirer? That was a depressing thought indeed.

    It was a few weeks before Christmas hols. The four friends were comfortably ensconced in the Common Room, studying together. Well, they each had their books open. As to how much actual studying was being accomplished is another matter entirely. Peter was actually thinking about sneaking down to the kitchen for a late snack to still the rumbling in his tummy. James was wondering if he risked suffering another turndown from Lily by asking her to the Yule Ball, and worrying that perhaps someone had beaten him to it already. He hadn't heard that to be the case, but that didn't stop him from worrying, all the same. Remus was attempting to memorize the proper ingredients for making doxycide - not that he thought he would ever actually need to know it, it seemed to him to be rather superfluous knowledge. But it was required, and being the studious chap that he was he was determined to learn it. He sat upon the large sofa, flanked by James and Peter, a thought-frown creasing his noble brow. But something was disturbing him; he had the eeriest feeling that he was being watched. Surreptitious glances from the corner of each eye affirmed that neither James nor Peter was glancing in his direction. Which left.....

    .....he looked toward one of the chairs that sat before the fire, the one that had been claimed by the fourth member of the group. But as soon as he looked up, Sirius quickly cast his eyes down upon the book in his lap. Yet he wasn't quite fast enough, for Remus had seen him first - followed the trajectory of his sights - and they had been fixed directly upon him. But why? But before he could open his mouth to ask him, the quiet was broken by the boisterous entrance of one Hestia Jones, who made a beeline for Sirius, like a bee to a blossom, like a moth to a flame - so Remus stayed quiet instead, watching the girl with a jealous heart.

    "Sirius, that was a bril move you made at practice today!" she praised him, clapping him most heartily upon the shoulder in a hail-fellow-well-met sort of way. "We should have no problem kicking Slytherin's arse at the game!"

    "I should think not," Sirius replied in a mumble, paying no attention to her hand upon him. He was used to her forwardness, and tended to treat her as one of the boys, just another teammate.

    "Sirius, you got a date for the Yule Ball yet?" Hestia chattered on, unaware that three heads picked up at that and were listening intently, one perhaps more intently than the others. "Ah, what am I on about? Of course you do. So, who you going with? Who is the lucky witch, eh, mate?" And she began to knowingly elbow him in the side, which he found to be most annoying, as he pulled away from her touch.

    "Don't have one," he mumbled in irritation.

    "Don't have one!" she gasped. "I am totally and completely shocked! Sirius Black dateless for <i>the</i> social event of Hogwarts? Deary me, deary me, we can't have that now, can we?"

    Sirius scowled at her as he became more and more interested in the DADA book upon his lap. He said something rather unintelligible that might have been piss off, but luckily she couldn't understand his growling.

    "Oh!" she said suddenly, "where is my mind? I have something for you Remus," and she began to fumble in her pockets.

    "For me?" Remus blinked in confusion.

    "Yus," she replied, as she pulled out a sealed envelope with Remus' name carefully written upon it. "I got it from someone who got it from someone else who got it......I dunno, you get the idea, but it's for you," as she handed it to him. Sirius blanched at the sight of that evil looking missive - what else could it be but another one of <i>those</i> letters? The ones that were losing him any chance of being with Remus Lupin.

    "Here you go," she said, holding it out to the boy, only to have it intercepted by a suddenly alert James Potter. No difference to her, her work here was done. "Well, I'm off to the library, I think Marlene is meeting me there for some studying. Sirius, I've not been asked to the Ball yet either. And yes, that's a hint," she grinned at him, even as she ruffled his hair, to his great annoyance, although her words failed to connect as by now all his attention was centered on Remus, and on the letter in James' hand.

    "James, please give me that," an irate Remus was attempting to wrest control of it from James. But puppet Peter had added himself to the equation and playfully held his friend's hands so that he could not grab for it. Of course Remus was stronger than either one of them, but that was something he didn't dare openly show before others, and they were not alone in the Common Room, after all. So all he could do was to fume and stew as James opened the parchment and began to read:

    <i>Dear Remus, I know this is rather bold, as you don't really know who I am, but I would love to go the Yule Ball with you. Perhaps we could meet there? I know you won't know which one I am, but I will certainly know you, as you are the handsomest boy at Hogwarts.

    (signed) Your Secret Admirer XOXO

    "Here, what does xoxo spell?" James looked up, baffled, "I don't know any word like that, do you? How would you pronounce that even?"

    Remus took advantage of his friend's confusion to snatch the letter from James' hand, at the same moment that Lily Evans chose to enter the Common Room, a graceful vision indeed, her arms piled with books, and a bemused expression upon her face. She took in the current situation at a glance, having apparently heard James' last words and seeing what lay in Remus' grasp. "It's not a word," she laughed, "it's how some people say hugs and kisses at the end of a letter. Sort of like an abbreviation or shorthand, you know?"

    No, obviously neither boy knew. Nor did Sirius. And he was far from pleased at receiving this information.

    "Got a new letter, eh Rem?" Lily asked, taking a chair, and setting her books within reach about her, as she glanced at the boy inquisitively. Sirius burned inside at her sudden familiarity with <i>his</i> boyfriend. All right, maybe not. But, still..... "What does this make, three now? Someone seems rather serious about you."

    "Yeah, and it's not even Sirius," Peter joked, making an oft-repeated pun on their friend's name. James and Lily obligingly laughed, but not so much as a chortle from Remus or Sirius.

    "Well, looks like Remus is all set for the Yule Ball," James commented significantly, darting a glance at a certain redhead. "That leaves just me and Sirius unaccounted for, apparently." As Peter had managed to squeak out a request to a fourth year Puff that had been happily accepted. "What about you, Miss Evans?"

    "What about me?" Lily asked, rather coyly, Sirius thought. He glanced at her sharply. Her attention seemed to be far too focussed on Remus for his taste.

    "Have you procured a date for the big event?" James asked, hanging on the girl's response, Peter's attention having wandered back to his stomach.

    "That remains to be seen," she gave an enigmatic reply, opening a textbook as if the subject of discussion were of no great interest to her. But it only fed Sirius' suspicions and served to darken his mood. Slamming shut the DADA book, accidentally enclosing his thumb in the process, which only served to exacerbate his anger and caused him to yelp in pain, Sirius jumped up as if he'd been scalded, and proceeded to sweep out of the room in a huff. They could hear the Fat Lady giggling at his hasty exit, calling after him, "Ooh, it's the sexy one, woohoo!" but if he made any reply, it was unintelligible to them.

    Remus heaved an internal sigh, wondering if perhaps Sirius was behaving erratically because he fancied Lily, and he wanted to take her to the Yule Ball, and was concerned about James' possible reaction. If only.......if only........if only Remus had the nerve to tell Sirius how he felt, to make his declaration of love, to ask him to go out with him, to have a relationship with him. But no, Remus was a coward, and he was certainly not good enough by far for the reigning sex god of Hogwarts. He returned to his book reluctantly. Some of the pages had flipped on him, and he found himself staring at a love potion, one involving frozen ashwinder eggs. And he blushed profusely at the very idea, even as he wished he had the nerve, as his fingers hastily sought and found his proper place once more.

    "You know my offer still stands," James said mysteriously, rising from his position on the couch and nonchalantly stretching.

    "I suspected as much," Lily replied in a most noncommittal manner, not bothering to look up.

    "Come on, Pete, let's you and me get some food," James declared loudly. Up jumped Peter eagerly, excited at the prospect of not only eating but spending time with his hero, and the two boys exited the Common Room, in a more decorous manner than their colleague before them, James running a casual hand through his thick hair for good effect. Which was not lost on Lily Evans, although she did not show it. Once they had gone, she glanced at Remus, watching his struggles to study, when he was obviously perturbed by what was going on. But she kept her counsel to herself and waited to see how the story would unfold...