swim || remus lupin

down the drain

"I knew you were too confident about this bet," remarked Marlene.

"What bet?" I asked exasperatedly. The three girls shared a look that I didn't particularly like.

"Welllll," chorused Marlene, in a high sort of pitch.

"I knew you fancied him," announced Alice proudly.

"What?"

"Mhm," she smiled. "That day that Theo showed up," she made a vile looking face at his name, which I laughed at before she continued to ramble on, "we were talking about a boy for you, and it just got me thinking a little bit. And then you had that Divination lesson, with the horoscopes?" I nodded. "Right, and I remember you talking about being Remus's partner and then one night you were both set up in the common room to work on it and I had just returned from a walk with Frank and I saw you by the fireplace, and oh," she sighed dreamily. "Well you just looked so perfect! So I ran upstairs quietly so that I wouldn't disturb you and I told Lily and Marlene straight away," she exhaled from the quickness of her speech.

"It's true," Marlene said offhandedly, pulling at the bean plant in front of us. "Then you hooked up with Sirius," she snorted.

"But," Lily joined in. "That's when Remus and Sirius started fighting a lot," I rolled my eyes, remembering their childish arguments. "So I asked James what happened, and he said that Remus had admitted to James that he had feelings for you, but that Sirius flirted with you anyways, which bothered Remus, and then Sirius asked you to Hogsmeade which really made him mad."

"Rightfully so," commented the blonde to my left. "I lost 20 galleons because of that prat," she narrowed her eyes at the unsuspecting black haired boy across the room.

"So what exactly were the terms of this bet?" I asked.

"After Lily told us about Jamesie," Marlene began, "we were sold on the idea of you two," I smiled a little at the thought of there being an 'us two' but quickly threw out the feeling.

"So then it was us and James betting on when," Alice added. "I thought you'd be together around Christmas."

"I had picked the first Hogsmeade weekend, but a certain Mr. Black ruined that for me," Marlene snarled.

"And James and I set on today, because we knew the Veritaserum would be a perfect opportunity," Lily smiled.

"That's so evil!" I exclaimed lightheartedly. Lily shrugged.

"Neither of you would have ever admitted it willingly. You're both too shy and socially awkward," Marlene and Alice nodded.

"You at least could have made it less humiliating for me."

Lily grimaced, "Yeah, you're right. Sorry babe."

"What exactly did you say?" Marlene asked. Lily laughed out loud.

"You should've seen her. It was brilliant!" I buried my head in my hands as the redhead retold my demise.

"There's still one thing I don't get," I said.

We were on our way to Defense Against the Dark Arts and I felt slightly better about the Potions fiasco, though I hadn't actually had to speak to Remus yet.

"How come you didn't embarrass yourself when James asked about your feelings for him?" Lily smiled.

"That's just practice," she said. "We use Veritaserum at parties often. Once you learn how to stay calm with it you can find loopholes in the questions without lying. For example, James asked if I had secret feelings, I said that I wasn't hiding anything. Not technically a lie."