Mischief Managed Year One: Mayhem of the Moon

Chapter Fifty-Seven- Toe Rags and Tactics

"What do you mean not whoever?" Lily snapped. James looked at Sirius for help. The Black shrugged his shoulders, smirking at him.

"Fine, you get along with anyone and everyone. Bloody hell, I don't know, Lily! Why do you always have to be so sensitive about this stuff?"

"I'm not sensitive, Potter. You are just a clueless oaf who--"

"What he means, Lily, is you can't get along with me because James is very jealous. He's worried you'll steal me away. You'll have to find your own man to have children with," Sirius cut in, taking pity on his friend and catching Lily off guard just as intended. She went red as a tomato looking between the two of them. James grinned at Sirius, appreciating the rescue.

"Oh, you two are insufferable. Just insufferable! I pity whatever woman ends up with the likes of either of you! Now, where is Remus?"

"Why does having kids make you think about Remus?" James asked, a slight edge to his voice. Lily went pink in reply, which made James glower.

"Who cares about that, James! What do you mean where is he? He said he was going to study with you," Sirius cut in, immediately worried. Lily went back to her normal color and shook her head, twisting her hair around her finger.

"Yes he was supposed to, but he wasn't there. It's not like him to forget. Plus, he seemed a bit sickly at breakfast."

"You stare at him all throughout breakfast?" James muttered. Sirius kicked his chair, giving him a look.

"It's the twentieth," he whispered to James.

"The twentieth? What does that have to do with anything?" she asked, but James was now paying attention instead of sulking.

"Would it kill him just to let us know when he's leaving?" James sighed.

"Leaving? You mean to go see his mother?" Lily asked, but neither James nor Sirius were listening to her at the moment.

"He's worried we'll stop him, obviously," Sirius muttered, wishing he had been given the chance to. He knew it was around the time when Remus disappeared, but he didn't think it would be this early.

"Why would you two stop him?" Lily asked louder, her frustration rising.

"Huh? Oh, you're still here Lily?" Sirius asked, just now realizing she had been paying close attention to their conversation.

"Yes, I'm still here! Now can one of you fools answer me!" she shot back.

Sirius was slightly pleased that Lily seemed to know quite a bit less than any of them. He knew better than to rub it in, if only because then she'd confront Remus who would be mad at him.

"We've been trying to keep track of when exactly Remus leaves," he explained.

Lily raised her eyebrows looking taken aback, "That is...surprisingly a good idea," she admitted reluctantly, with far more shock than Sirius felt was necessary. He and James had brilliant ideas all the time!

"Course it is." James perked up, looking pleased by the recognition. Lily looked amused for a second before she rolled her eyes.

"You're still a bunch of nitwits, though. Now, why wouldn't you let Remus see his mother?"

"Because of his studies obviously."

"Oh please, Potter, you don't care about studies. Which is why I am currently beating you in every last one!" she gloated, not all that subtly. Sirius felt bad knowing James' slight decrease in school was because of how much he had been worried about him and Remus. He shot Lily a dirty look.