And the wolf fell in love with the Star.

Sirius: Yes.

Remus: -a favor...?

Sirius:

Remus:

Sirius: So you don't want me to-

James: How are you?

Everyone: how?

Remus: watch this

Remus: Hey Sirius, I love you

Sirius: what about I taste yours for a change?

Remus: what

Remus: Fucking shit

“Can you please stop looking at me like that?” Remus begged, still sleepy as he placed the back of his hand over his mouth to muffle a yawn.

“I bring big news for you, moons, that’s what eyes are made for.” Sirius replied with his usual ironic tone, snuggling once again against the other boy, pulling him closer under the blankets and nuzzling on the top of his head.

They had slept on the Shrieking Shack that night. It had been a cold night, but the boys were fine so far. In fact, at one point on that night, Sirius has transformed into Padfoot so Remus could get even warmer and comfortable during his sleep, and the other boy apparently had no clue that even happened.

It was already late, they needed to return to the dorms to change clothes before anyone noticed. Anyone besides Peter, James and Lily.

“We need to go, pads. They must be worried about both of us vanishing at the same time with no explanation.” Remus tangled his fingers on the black mane that was Sirius’ bed hair, fondling it.

“They probably think we’re messing around on a hidden corner.” Sirius mumbled, his voice slurred due to his face buried now on Remus nape.

Finally Remus had some success on taking the other teen away from the improvised bed, and both boys walked attentively under the invisibility cloak until they got to their dorm, where both were received with a flying James throwing them on the ground with his body.

“Where have you two been for Merlin’s sake? And why did you steal my cloak? We were fucking worried about you two!”

“We were on the shack until now, sorry to concern you, mother, and our little brother. We’re terrible children and we bring shame upon this family’s name. We’re not doing it again. Can you please remove your leg and let us get up now, dad?” the words were so soaked in sarcasm they could almost be touched just after leaving Sirius’ mouth, but James indeed got up and the boys did the same on the second after.

“So?” James crossed his arms, waiting for something, apparently.

“He said yes, obviously. No one can resist a Black’s charm.” Sirius bragged while Remus disappeared in few seconds from view, willing to take a shower and finally get dressed.

“’Attaboy!” James patted his best friend’s back energetically, hugging him one armed over the shoulder. “Your mother will be very proud of you.”

“Can you please stop this embarrassing nonsense!” Remus finally said something, actually, yelled from the bathroom.

After the lunch.

“Hey moons, wanna go with me to Hogsmeade? There’s no much we can do until eight.” Sirius asked as the four boys were returning to the common room. “Prongs, wormtail and Lily can go too. It’ll be fun.”

“Okay, let me just take my gloves and we’re ready to go.” and as Remus trailed back to the dormitory, Lily sat on the arm of Sirius’ armchair and leaned closer to whisper something, getting a funny look from James as she did that.

“Is that so?” Sirius muttered back and she nodded positively. “Well, I don’t think there’s a need to say that me too.” he continued. “Even James must have realized it, and he’s really slow y’know?”

“Realized what?” James leaned in, curious. “What were you two whispering? I wanna know too. Tell me.” but Lily got up and said nothing more, only smiling at the very interested on the subject James, and Sirius changed subjects when Remus were coming down the stairs.

“So let’s go.” Peter called and all of them started walking.

“C’mon! Don’t do it! Tell what were you talking about! Was it about me? Stop laughing pads, you arsehole, tell me!” and it continued all the way until they got to arrive on Hogsmeade, where James finally conceded defeat and sat down to drink his foaming hot butterbeer from his mug while all the others did the same. They used to go to the Three Broomsticks and spend as much time as they could chatting and laughing, basically having a good time on weekends.

The cold and snowy weather almost had Sirius to forget about his fresh idea, but before he could bail off, he grabbed Remus’ hand under the table, which caused the boy to choke on his drink and cough a little. After he stopped and turned to face Sirius with the eyes wide open, the black haired boy whispered.

“Wanna go somewhere else?” The smirk on his lips and that slightly dangerous aura combined with those deep blue eyes shining towards him made it very difficult for Remus to even think about declining, so he ended up accepting and excusing their way out of the table, leaving the three teens behind to wonder what they were up to.

Sirius took Remus to the Hog’s Head, a pub in the Diagonal Alley that was almost always emptier than the other pubs around. It was a dusty place with a old aspect, not to mention the barkeeper scrubbing the glass with a dirty rag, leaving it probably dirtier than it was before.

Remus’ attention was broken once again when Sirius pulled his hand and leaded him to a table on the back of the place, where they could chat and drink. Even though they were sixteen, the waiter brought Sirius a firewhisky and Remus a hot mug of butterbeer, since he was not such a fan of alcohol.

“I think I found out my favorite drink.” Sirius said after one sip from his drink, now analyzing the content of the cup he held on the eye-level.

“You shouldn’t be drinking, you’re only sixteen.” Remus said, smiling slyly before drinking from his own mug. “Do you want to be drunk before the ball starts?”

Sirius raised a brow and licked his lips, chuckling. “I won’t get drunk, moons. I wanna be very sober when we have our first dance together.” and that was enough to make Remus slide on his chair a little bit and drink again from his mug, killing the content in a few seconds. Sirius laughed at that, but couldn’t help but realize how timid the other became when he made that kind of comment. He was usually quiet and introspective when it came to and to other people, even with the marauders he was obviously the timid one, but when it came to Sirius, he seemed shy, and that made the boy think about what Evans had told him earlier on the common room.

They spent a few hours there, the conversation flowing and eventually stopping when Sirius flirted with Remus shamelessly, but resuming once the boy cursed him for laughing at his expressions.

At some point, Sirius was tipsy from the firewhisky, but not drunk, only woozy enough to dig up some courage from the bottom of his soul to do one thing he felt the need to.

They were sitting side by side, one of Sirius arms was resting on the backrest of the kind of sofa they had sat on, his hand brushing on Remus’ shoulder. The boy slid his arm so it effectively landed on the other’s shoulders, and done that, he squeezed him lightly. Remus was talking about a muggle book Lily had landed him to read when he had free time, and all Sirius could think was how cute he was when he was talking about something he liked so much. 

The boy was slowly closing the distance between his face and Remus’, his arm now sliding back so his hand ended up on the other boy’s nape, his smirk always present on the lips, and that’s when Remus seemed to notice, his voice was fading as he started to tense up, but he didn’t move away.

“There you are!” James voice sounded like glass breaking, waking both boys up from the moment they almost had. Remus stiffened and stood up with a ‘Hey!’ on the most nervous tone, while Sirius felt like he could murder a man barehanded. “It’s late, we need to go or we’ll lose the fun.”

They agreed, paid for the drinks and made their way back to the school, where James didn’t have a clue of how out of nowhere his glasses decided they were going to run away from his face, making the boy follow them for nothing less than ten minutes.

On Hogwarts.

Sirius was now sober and all of the boys were getting ready to the ball.

James picked a plain long black dress robe with an almost imperceptive pattern on the fabric. Sirius chose to go with his long red dress robe, detailed in black and gold. Remus, on the other hand, preferred to go wearing a fancy black smoking, a black waistcoat with silver buttons, a black tie and a white shirt.

“I must say that Black looks really good on you.” Sirius said as he helped the other button up his smoking, and winked at him, spinning on his heels to help James right after that and leaving a blushed Remus behind.

Peter was the fist one to arrive on the Great Hall in his dark blue dress robe, Dorcas had accepted his invitation to go with her. James an Lily joined them, Lily on that long red dress detailed in gold. And last but not least, Sirius and Remus arrived, arms tangled, going down the stairs to join their friends. Sirius had a huge smile on his face, and Remus was slyly biting his lips in nervousness, but he was indeed happy to be there with his friend.

They found Arthur and Molly, Frank and Alice and Marlene with a guy from Ravenclaw they didn’t know the name. Most of them spent the first two hours just talking about the clothes they’ve chosen and how they looked really beautiful on them. Sirius and James were busy finding snacks and Remus decided that the best idea was to talk with Lily and leave them be.

As Sirius and James returned, they shared their plate of snacks with the others, willing to do it or not, but anyway it was for the best to finish eating them as soon as possible, since the first dance would happen in a few minutes. Considering that, a short, dark haired girl from Gryffindor, dressed on a stunning long black dress adorned with rubies, approached Sirius and asked him for the first dance.

Remus was right beside him, sipping his glass of pumpkin juice. If Sirius asked if it was okay to dance with her, he would probably say that it was fine, and for him not to worry, since he didn’t really like to dance and everything. But then he would regret it bitterly afterwards. He was looking forward to that since Sirius said he was excited to have the first dance with him.

“Although it’s very unlike me to turn down an invitation of such a pretty lady.” Sirius began. “As you can see, I already have dance partner.” and his right arm slid behind Remus’ back and pulled him closer by the waist, leaving not only the girl but Remus himself speechless. “Therefore, I’m sorry, I can’t dance with you.”

Sirius was the only person that could be a blend up of delicate, cruel and unpredictable at the same time, and end up making the girl get embarrassed and apologize for inviting him.

Before Remus could say anything, Sirius took the glass half empty from his hand and placed over one of the tables, leading him next to where James and Lily were. He took one of Remus’ hand and raised it to the air, and the other hand landed on his waist once again, while the other’s free hand fell on his shoulder. There was no time to chicken out now, but Remus was getting really nervous with all the attention they were getting from the other students, and some professors.

“I don’t understand how you can pay attention to them when I’m right here using all my charm to get your full attention.” Sirius said, grinning when Remus finally opened a more relaxed smile and really focused on him. Now everything was easier and lighter.

Sirius leaded him on the dance. His moves were fluid and almost weightless. He was a very good dancer, and Remus was amazed by that, laughing lightly from both surprise and happiness.

When the music ceased and the applause faded, Marlene went straight to them to tell how all of the students were paying more attention to them than to anyone else, and how they seemed so light and natural on the dance floor. Remus thanked and let out a nervous laugh. Once again their friends reunited to talk and drink before the next song, but Sirius and Remus went outside to breathe some cold fresh air on the frozen garden.

They were sitting quietly next to each other on one of the benches. Remus appreciated how they could share a comfortable silent moment with no need to fill it with small talk. They remained like that for a few minutes, when Sirius’ voice finally broke the silence as he looked upwards.

“Hey moons, look, a mistletoe.” He pointed to one of the many arches that existed on that garden, more specifically, the one that was right above them where a small plant with sharp leafs and red little berries attached to it. “You know what this m-” Sirius was grinning as he turned his head towards Remus to tease him, but got interrupted by something pressing his lips. He took a moment to process that the something that was pressing his lips were Remus’ lips. He was being kissed. His first reaction was complete shock, but a second after he raised his hands to Remus face, holding it fondly. There was a pause after that uncertain kiss where the two boys just looked at each other, and then Sirius pulled Remus for another - way deeper - kiss, guiding one hand on the back of his neck and feeling Remus’ hand reach for his own, squeezing it as they lost track of time and place for a few minutes that made the time stop on their heads.

After they broke apart, the foreheads touched and they just stand there, gazing at each other’s faces. Every time they breathed out, vapor emerged from their half parted lips due to the intense cold weather, but regardless of the temperature, both boys were feeling hot. A heat that came from inside and made them feel a warm sensation that spread up their bodies.

Inside the castle, James reached up to Lily, that was placing her wand back inside her dress, observing the scene from behind the big windows. She had to put a hand over James mouth so he wouldn’t break the moment.

“Did you do it?” He seemed really dumbfounded. 

“I’ve helped.” she replied casually, shaking her shoulders and smiling as she took one of the glasses from James’ hands.

“That’s why you sent me to take the punch?”

“No, I was really thirsty.” she raised both brows and sipped the reddish drink from her glass, but James couldn’t tell if she was kidding or not.

“What the actual fuck, Black?”

James Potter angrily whispered to his friend, as he just blew up his plan to invite Lily Evans to the Yule Ball.

“I thought you had already invited her!” Sirius frowned, raising his hands, palms facing the other boy.

“I was getting there… sorta…” he started, but then Lily interrupted.

“We were talking about quidditch just before you came in.” The red haired girl smirked. “And yes. I’ll go with you, Potter.”

“I couldn’t simply drop in and ask you if– wait what? Did you just say yes?” The irritation seemed to vanish from James’ tone as he realized he finally managed to invite Lily to the ball. Or kind of. The girl took a deep breathe and couldn’t help but laugh at the situation, making from that, her cue to leave.

“See you soon, boys. I need to study a little for tomorrow’s test. And good luck with whatever you need, Sirius.” She waved a hand on her way into the school, leaving the boys alone.

“You’re welcome.” Sirius started, a grin showing up on his lips.

“You’re lucky she said yes.” the other boy replied and adjusted his glasses. “But I was really getting there.”

“I definitely believe in that.” he laughed, and after being poked on the ribs by his friend, that at the same time muttered ‘shut up’ multiple times until he stopped, he finally was able to continue. “I really need your help, though.”

“The thing is…” The black haired boy looked like he was searching for words so he could explain the situation. “Y’know, the thing is that, the Yule Ball is approaching and stuff, and I wanna… y’know? Like…” he was gesturing so much James was almost unable to focus on what he was saying, but that was taking too long, and they certainly did not have all that time.

“You need my help to invite someone, is that it?” James raised a brow, skeptical. “I can’t believe my eyes, Sirius Black needs my help to invite someone, just after he invited my date for me, just to be clear.

“First of all, you’re a jerk. And second, yeah, basically, I need some ideas.” he buried his hands in his pockets.

“Well, fine, can you tell me who is it that you’re so afraid of inviting?” now the boys were making their way to the potions class, almost whispering so people wouldn’t overhear.

“Moons.” he muttered.

“Where?” James started looking for the other friend as Sirius said his name, but the other was quick to drag back his attention.

“No, you arse. I’m inviting him. I’m inviting Remus.” the boy sharply whispered just before sitting down on his chair, trying his best to ignore an awestruck James sitting by his side.

Later that day.

“Okay, so I’ve been thinking about things you can do, since we already know he will be on the common room preparing himself for the tests.” James showed up behind Sirius, dropping his backpack on the table and pushing the other a little bit so he could sit and explain better the things. “The only issue is, that nerd doesn’t like big things and scandal and stuff, and you’re all about that, so we need to find a midterm.” While talking, James started to unfold a big scroll with lots of scribbles and sketches, and so many crossed things he had discarded before even talking to Sirius.

Sirius seemed truly amazed by the effort James was putting on that mission, and heard everything paying double the attention he used to pay on some classes. The teens spent the whole lunch hour discussing which was the best way to do that and almost lost a double defense against the dark arts class. Fortunately, they had a few days to sort things out before the Yule Ball.

A few days later. 

The Yule Ball was going to happen on the following night. Sirius was sitting on his table, holding his face with both hands, eyes fixed on his desk and despair growing significantly as he tried to understand why it was so hard to invite his friend to go to the Ball with him. It was a simple task, right? He could go to him and ask Remus to make him company on the ball so he wouldn’t be alone. They could go as friends, there was no problem, no hard time. Except that there was a problem. He didn’t want to go with him only as friends and simply find themselves some girls to dance with on the Ball. He wanted to invite Remus to be his pair, and he was afraid to be turned down.

Sirius thought about giving up on the whole idea, but James lured him back on it, encouraging his friend to do it, because he knew he would regret if he gave in to his insecurities. Also, Remus had been studying with Lily on the common room all those nights, giving Sirius and James time to think about some new plans. After the classes, the plans they had thought of weren’t as good as they seemed to be, and now both boys were frustrated while eating their dinner.

On certain moment, James overheard the conversation between Lily and Remus.

“I think Dorcas will ask you to go with her to the Yule Ball.” Lily smiled, poking him on the arm with her elbow.

“What? Why do you say that? I have to study for the tests, I can’t afford such a thing as spend the night dancing, and eating, and having fun…” Remus replied, biting the rest of the chicken leg he was holding before placing the bone on his plate.

The conversation continued, but now James leaned in to mutter to Sirius as he finished eating as well.

“Dude, you need to ask him tonight.”

Sirius almost choked on his pumpkin juice. 

“Why this? Why tonight?” He whispered back, and the other boy told him about what he just heard.

“I’ll talk to Lily about this situation to see if she can talk Dorcas out of this. Be cool, I trust her, she’s nice. And you need to make your move.” said that, James stood up and made a subtle gesture to call Lily so she could go have a private conversation with him on their way to Gryffindor’s common room.

Not James, Lily nor Remus could hear from Sirius the rest of the night. He was nowhere to be found. Lily and James started debating if it wasn’t a good idea for them to ask Remus to be Sirius partner on the Ball, but both decided it wouldn’t be effective. They were worried Sirius just bailed off and really had given up on the thing, but James told Lily to leave it be until they could find the missing friend and ask about the whole vanishing thing.

Almost midnight.

The monitors allowed Remus to remain on the common room studying, as they always did, since everyone knew that he would be actually doing that until he had the urge to sleep: studying.

Someone else also knew he had been awake studying on the common room until late night.

Remus almost let out a scream when someone leaned in from behind, pretending to be interested on what the boy was studying, and wasn’t for that black curly hair, he would probably had punched the person right in the nose. Although it didn’t seem a very bad idea at the moment, too.

“Wh-” he got himself together before retaking the speech. “For Merlin’s sake, what are you doing?” he frowned to the sight of Sirius standing up right next to him, it was late, he was supposed to be in bed. “Aren’t you supposed to be sleeping? Did they let you stay up late to study, too?” Remus asked with a bit of sarcasm in his tone, knowing no one sane enough would believe that excuse coming from Sirius’ mouth.

“Shut up and come with me.” it was the only thing Sirius said, but knowing Remus wouldn’t follow him, he grabbed the other by the wrist and started walking. Just before leaving the common room, he threw the invisibility cloak over their heads. “Don’t make any noise or we’ll be in big trouble.”

Probably being in trouble was the thing keeping Remus from punching him, or complaining, or cursing him to death, but at least it worked, once the boy’s courage was still there.

Both teens made their way to the secret passage that leaded them to the Shrieking Shack, with a lumus spell on Sirius wand they continued the path. Sirius convinced the other boy to be quiet by telling him someone could hear the conversation if they had found a way to that place, which was almost impossible, but Remus decided not to risk.

Once they arrived at the Shrieking Shack, Sirius pulled off the cloak and closed the door behind them. The place now looked like the interior of a tree house where teenagers enjoyed spending time. There were lots of blankets over the floor, tons of maps, plans and prank ideas, among other things they used to distract Remus before the complete full moon and his transformation. That place that was a synonym of sadness was now a place they liked to go to.

“Will you tell me now what we are doing here at this time?” asked Remus, looking kind of anxious for the way he rubbed his hands together shyly just before crossing his arms. Sirius, otherwise, just had bent down to catch some of what looked like tennis balls from the floor with one hand, letting one or another fall during the process, but managing to group them all against his chest. “Sirius, what the hell are you doing?”

“It’s just I finally got the balls.” he answered as if that would explain everything.

Remus looked so confused and at the same time somehow angry, that the other boy didn’t wait for him to ask once more what he was talking about.

“I got the balls to ask you.” said that, he whispered “Nox.” and the light vanished from his wand, but the room was not completely dark, as it was supposed to be due the lack of windows and doors preventing the moonlight to enter.

Instead of complete darkness, there were words floating on the middle of the place, near the back wall, spelling ‘Will you go to the Yule Ball with me?’

Sirius could tell Remus was stunned by his facial expression, but he didn’t say anything for long seconds, so Sirius just broke the silence by nervous talking about the spell and how he learned that from a guy when he was planning some stuff and researching what he could use that glowed in the dark.

“Yes.” Remus finally mumbled, then Sirius interrupted his chatting immediately.

“Did you just accept?” Sirius asked and Remus agreed with a head nod. He couldn’t believe that it worked out.

The boy whispered ‘lumus’ so the place was less dark once again, and the next thing he knew was he had Remus hugging him. 

“Can’t believe you asked me to the Yule Ball with a bad pun.” Remus muttered, his words sounded muffled due to his face pressed against the other’s shoulder.

“I would have taken Peter’s idea, but y’know… it was too cheesy.” and he laughed at his own joke, but he didn’t let Remus turn around to leave as he was hugging him as strongly as he could. He was too damn happy not to enjoy the situation. “James would be proud of me, okay?”

“Did he know?”

“And Lily too.”

“And those darned creatures didn’t tell me a thing when I asked about you. I thought you were avoiding me all these days.” they finally broke apart from the hug.

“I’d never avoid you, moons, I was just too damn focused on planning something nice to ask you out that I probably didn’t realize I was being a lil’ distant.” he explained as he walked towards the corner of the shack, where all the blankets and pillows and cushions were, sitting on top of them. “And they didn’t know about this, or about the cloak I borrowed earlier this night. Actually, let’s leave them wondering about me inviting you or not, I wanna see what will happen until tomorrow night.”

“You’re being cruel.” Remus replied, but couldn’t stop a small laugh.

“You’re not leaving me again, are you?”

The man asked, facing the cave’s exit as he watched the rain fall outside. Remus has been visiting his friend since their reunion last year, bringing him things to eat, to drink, to warm himself and eventually to keep his mind away from the terrible things that he could have been thinking about, like the time he spent on that macabre place, surrounded by nothing besides dementors and the madness and melancholy of the other prisoners.

Lupin regretted suspecting of his best friend. Badly. The remorse almost had him eaten alive since he and Sirius have been reunited. He didn’t want the other to hold a grudge against him, but he couldn’t possibly ask him for forgiveness. He really thought he didn’t deserve much, and if only Sirius could promise him he’d never leave again, he didn’t really need the other to forgive him.

“I don’t really intend to.” He said. “Are you leaving me?” his tone was apprehensive and somehow painfully bitter. He was curled up on that dark, humid cave’s rocky walls. It’s been a year and a half since he had left Azkaban, swimming his way back to land and running away from the dementors, hiding all the time so he wouldn’t get caught again, and this time, murdered by those hideous creatures.

“No. I’m not.” Lupin replied, his voice smooth and his tone was soothing. He turned to Sirius, a little deeper on the cave Buckbeak was nibbling a dead fat mouse, and not that far away from him there was a improvised fire with a teapot suspended over it, heating up water to prepare some hot tea. Remus approached his friend and sat next to him, laying his back against the wall as well. “You’re cold, use the blankets I brought, pads.” He mentioned, but since he knew the other was too stubborn and would groan about being fine, Lupin made it himself, grabbing the blanket that was right there next to them and covering Sirius’ body and his own, too.

Both men ended up drinking some hot, sweet, green tea, although Remus had to hear Sirius complaining about preferring a scotch or a nice glass of vermouth. He knew he was grateful for that tea, and for the blanket, but he also knew that Sirius had a peculiar way of thanking for things since they were kids. Stubborn proud dog.

“I… I am sorry for doubting you. For suspecting you were guilty… It shouldn’t have even crossed my mind…” Lupin muttered, sighing. Sirius was the most loyal person he had the pleasure to meet during all his life. He was the best friend anyone could ask for, James best friend, that would easily die before betraying any of them. “I am truly sorry, pads.”

For a few minutes, the sound of the rain pouring, the trees moving and the wind whistling were the only audible thing inside that cave. Remus had his hands wrapped around his half empty teacup, his eyes fixed on the brownish liquid inside it, still warm. His brown hair was disheveled as he really rushed to find Sirius and get him the necessary things on that place, and his face was the face of someone that was really remorseful, but according to his friends, that was his usual look.

“I am guilty, Remus.” he started but couldn’t get any far due to the face Remus was now throwing him. A combination between anger, frustration and disbelief.

“You’re not guilty.” He affirmed, his tone was of someone finishing an argument with a decisive point. “And I was wrong when I thought otherwise. And I am deeply sorry for doing so.”

“Okay.” Finally Sirius replied. He wasn’t really mad with Lupin, not anymore. “Just… Stay with me tonight, can you do it?” The bright blue eyes focused on his face, the messy long curled hair contrasting with the pale skin.

Lupin’s first impulse was to think about the things he yet had to do. The reports he had to deliver, and everything else. But at that moment he knew his priority.

“Of course I can do it.” he replied, a faint smile on the lips as Sirius smirked back, the same way he used to do when they were still in school. The man found a comfortable position, leaning against Remus shoulder and snuggling up under the blanket as Remus passed an arm around Sirius body.

“The nightmares lately… are getting fucking real. Vivid, y’know?” he said, letting escape a scorn brief laugh that assembled easily to a dog’s bark. “I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to have a good night of sleep again.” He scoffed, but his eyes were already closed, while Remus’ hand was tangled on his dense black hair, stroking it slowly as he waited the other man to fall asleep, agreeing with a nod or a simple ‘hum’ every time he mumbled something or complained about anything.

“Tell me you see that too.”

Lily asked as she pointed towards the whomping willow, where a big black dog just easily passed through the motionless branches, carrying what seemed to be a few pieces of clothes inside his mouth.

“I’m not seeing anything besides the most beautiful girl on Hogwarts.” James replied, trying to change subject quickly.

“Then you may need to change your glasses, Potter. I definitely just saw a dog going inside the willow’s trunk. A big one. It’s impossible you saw nothing.” Evans insisted, standing up from the grass and leaving an apprehensive James behind as she stepped forward, aiming the willow.

“It’s dangerous to get close, Evans, what are you doing? Merlin, come back here woman.” The man rushed after her, darting himself in front of her before the girl actually reached the tree. “You’re going to be knocked out by those branches!”

“The dog just passed through it and not a single thing happened to it. Maybe the willow is enchanted? I don’t know, I’m gonna see it by myself.” She passed through him, ignoring the complaining and reaching for her wand on her back pocket.

“Lily c’mon, come back here, it’s almost midnight, we’re gonna get caught.” He begged, trying not to elevate his voice tone. Each step she took forward, James felt the despair grow. “Look, it’s moving, come back!” He had urgency in his tone, but Evans didn’t bother listening to him. She would definitely be thrown away by a punch of the willow’s branches.

On a last daring attempt, he leaped forward and grabbed her by the waist, raising the girl from the floor and walking fast away from the danger.

“What the actual hell, Potter? Leave me be, put me down now! I swear I’ll freaking stupefy you-” she stopped talking when James finally let her down, by falling and unintentionally tossing her on the grass. “What was that for?”

“The whomping willow is moving, can’t you see?” He pointed at the branches swinging gently with the night breeze. The teen fixed his glasses on his face, waiting for her to believe and let that go. But deep inside he knew Evans wouldn’t simply let that go.

“It’s moving now because you slowed me down. I can throw some petrifying spell on that or something, I wanna know what was that, and why the dog was carrying clothes to a hole on a trunk. If you’re not going with me, you can wait for me here.”

What a stubborn determined witch. No wonder James liked her so much. Well, he couldn’t help, the only thing preventing her from being knocked out by a tree was telling the truth. Or coming out with an incredible good lie. Either ways, she stopped midways when something happened.

“Did you rethink your-” James reached her and started the taunt, that died immediately when he saw the reason she stopped. Three figures were now leaving the willow’s hole, and one of that figures simply seemed to come out of nowhere, suddenly, when the other two were already a bit far. Lily seemed really shocked, but James knew that it were Peter turning from his rat form to his real form after Remus and Sirius passed.

“Oh shit.” he whispered. Now definitely there was no other way. The boys were getting closer and it was a matter of seconds until they saw Lily and James there, so he started explaining. “Okay, let’s… let’s sit down and get things clear.”

“The willow won’t attack because there’s a hidden knot you press with a branch or something small, and it makes the whole thing get really pacific. The dog carrying the clothes, well, it was Sirius. He was taking some clothes to Remus down there. The thing is, this is a secret passage that connects to the Shrieking Shack on Hogsmeade, and we’re going there once a month because Remus is a werewolf and gets confined in there so he won’t hurt people. We also found out that the presence of animals during the transformation actually makes the process less painful and stressful, so we all decided to become illegal animagi. Yeah, me too. And Peter, that becomes a rat. He’s the one pressing the knot and appearing out of nowhere, though.” he resumed, the look on Lily’s face was something between complete disbelief and pure amusement. By that time, before she could even say anything, the three boys reached the couple.

“What are you doing here?” asked Sirius, Remus had an arm around his neck as the long haired boy helped him walk. Remus looked really beaten up and weak. The full moon was just over.

“She knows, pads. Everything. I explain to you guys later, but for now can we all just go back inside? Maybe eat something and rest a little.” he sighed. “Tomorrow you all can yell at me for trying to have a romantic night.”

“A romantic night on the garden, next to the whomping willow, on a night after the full moon…” Remus muttered in a snarky tone, but laughed a little after.

“Yeah, fine, judge me.” James retorted, frowning.

“We are.” Lily finally said, a smirk crossing her lips. “I’m not telling anyone about it. Your secret is safe.”

“Thanks Evans. We appreciate.” Sirius replied, smiling back to her, then adjusting Remus over him to keep walking. 

“I just wanted a-”