The Marauders: Year Five #Wattys2017

Don't Forget the Face That Snogs You

Maryrose seemed hesitant.

Lily came down then and slid onto the bench next to Remus.

Maryrose looked over at her. "Lily," she called.

"Yes?" Lily asked.

"Did the boys have a fire breathing steamer trunk in their dormitory last night?" she demanded.

Lily blinked, "Who knows with Potter?" she asked.

"Well James missed our date trying to fix one Peter set to flying about. Thought you might've heard about it if that were true." Maryrose said the name emphatically, remembering James's name preference. She fleetingly wondered why James never corrected Lily Evans on his name.

James's eyes were pleading as he stared at Lily from across the table, behind Maryrose's back.

Lily shrugged, "I was busy with the first years, but I did hear some strange noises upstairs. I dunno what they were up to - nobody ever does. Their dorm is a warzone. You know, they once stuck half the furniture in their dorm to the bloody ceiling? You'd be sitting in the common room and hear a great bang! and Sirius or one of them would be like well, there goes the bloody desk again. Like it was normal to have furniture stuck to the ceiling!" She rolled her eyes.

Bloody hell, I'm surrounded by excellent liars, Sirius thought proudly.

Remus laughed at the memory of the time Sirius really had said that, sitting about the fire when James's desk had fallen off the ceiling in their dorm and scared half the bloody house with the resulting crash. He looked down, his shoulders shaking with the laughter. Sirius kicked him under the table and Remus kicked him back and they started at playing footsie from there as Sirius slid his palm over Remus's thigh discreetly.

Maryrose turned to Peter, "Well, bloody hell Pete, don't go doing things like that, unless you know how! What if James hadn't been there to fix it?" And just like that, she'd gone soft on him again and she came 'round the table and hugged him from behind, kissing the top of his messy haired head. "You're so brave!"

James's eyes met Lily's. Thank you, he mouthed.

She smiled in a way that James thought might mean you owe me Potter, then turned and took a danish and said, "Gotta go," and got up, leaving the breakfast table.

"So very, very brave," Maryrose was saying.

"Get a room," Sirius said.

"Why don't you two get a room?" James asked and he kicked them both under the table, just so they knew he was perfectly aware of what was going on down there.

Remus blushed at the table top and quickly shovelled some of his oatmeal into his mouth, diverting his eyes as Sirius grinned evilly.

Later that day, between Herbology and Care for Magical Creatures, the boys spent their free time out on the lawn, sitting under the tree by the shore of the Black Lake. Remus was standing up on a rock right at the edge - Sirius was in the tree, hanging over the water, upside down by his knees.

"How exactly do you completely forget to go on a date that you organized, exactly?" Sirius snickered, "I mean... I'm forgetful plenty, sure, but-- bloody hell, James, that's snogging you forgot."

"No, it was conversation that I forgot," James replied. He was laying on his back in the grass, engorging a water bug and shrinking it back down as it sped across the surface of the water and stealing crisps from a bag Peter was crunching on beside him. "Conversation's boring. Snogging I would've remembered."

"Conversation isn't boring," Remus said.

James muttered, "Moony, your gay is showing."

"Shut it," Remus said.

Sirius patted Remus's head. "Sorry, Moons, but I gotta go with James on this one."

"Depends what the conversation's about," Peter intoned, though nobody had asked him. "I'd have a grand time having a conversation about some things, and less so about others."

Sirius grinned, "Still. Conversation or no... You don't forget the face that snogs you."

James looked miserable. "I mean, there was just so bloody much going on last night. Between the first years and you two having your fight and all the homework and getting back in the swing of being at school -- you know? I was stupid to try and organize a date for the first day of classes. Should've waited a bit. But it's taken care of - thanks to you, Pete, you're a life saver, you and Evans - we're going to have our date Thursday now."

"Very good," Sirius said. "Just don't forget that one, mate."

"I won't. It cost a dear bit forgetting the first one. Now she reckons I owe her two conversations before a snogfest," James said sadly.

Sirius snickered.

"I think you'll survive a bit of conversation," Remus said, and he chucked a rock across the water, making it skip several times across the surface before it sank. "Nobody's died from it yet."

Sirius said, "Not that we know of."

"Well. Binns has never taught it if they have," Remus said.

"Perhaps it's an undocumented death," Peter suggested.

"Yeah, boring way to go - conversating to death," James said.

"Conversing," Peter corrected.

"Sounds like Binns's class actually," Sirius said.