Ladies' Man

Chapter Three

Still buzzing from the sorting ceremony, Remus, Lily, James and Peter joined almost all of their fellow Hogwarts students in chattering excitedly and nonstop at breakfast. Through a mouthful of buttery toast, James talked incomprehensibly, occasionally stopping to swallow and make bets with Lily and Peter about which of the new students would join the quidditch teams. Smiling, Remus poured milk into his Pygmy Puff-shaped cereal, forgetting almost entirely about Sirius.

He was engaged in deep conversation with Lily about whether they had potions homework due in after breakfast when he walked in, yawning and scratching his head. Typical of a dog, thought Remus, smiling affectionately. Sitting himself down on the bench heavily, Sirius smiled back at him through half-closed eyes, setting his heart rate back off at one hundred miles a minute. Somehow, his deep eye bags and artfully sleep-messed hair made him look even more attractive, so much so that Remus felt an ache in his lungs that was becoming far too familiar for his liking.

"Fucking hell, I'm knackered," declared Sirius, looking around for some food.

"Probably cos you were on your phone till 3am last night, Si," Remus mumbled through a mouthful of toast. Chuckling, Sirius agreed -

"You'll have to start taking it off me before bed." he laughed, tearing apart some bacon and making a crude sandwich with two slices of toast.

"Potions first, right?" he asked, and as Remus replied, Lily interrupted -

"We had homework, didn't we?"

Remus almost choked on his drink.

"Lil, he got about half an hour of sleep last night and barely knows when we have homework at the best of times," he said.

"Actually," Sirius interjected, looking smug, "I do know. The homework was to research Amortentia over the holidays so we'd know how to brew it when we got back." he declared cockily, high-fiving Lily. They laughed and started chatting, but Remus' mind was elsewhere.

No, this can't be happening, he thought - Amortentia? How could he forget? He sat next to Sirius in potions. Briefly contemplating making himself faint and getting sent to the hospital wing to miss out, he settled on the fact he'd have to lie about what he smelled - and deal with the punch in the face it would be to learn that Sirius smelled some girls' perfume, cosmetic powder and hairspray.

"Hey, Re," Sirius asked, "you okay?"

He nodded weakly.

"Wanna walk to potions with me and Lily?"

Another nod. Suck it up, Remus.

"Let's go!" exclaimed Sirius, poking his ginger-haired friend. "Can't wait to hear snivelling Severus going on about your shampoo, Lil.."

She laughed, quickly replaced by a grimace at the thought. James laughed, with vague threats about hexes. Peter laughed, remembering his own short-lived crush on Lily in first year. Sirius laughed, deep and husky and rich and gorgeous. Remus laughed, half-heartedly at best, but nobody noticed. Suck. it. up.