I was quite worried for tonight, it had been a while since I'd been on a date that had something riding on it. I had been asked out before obviously but the first date had always been boring awkward. This triple date was definitely not going to be boring, although it could end up more awkard than usual.

"Who exactly is Remus bringing to this for me?" I asked for the fifth time. I was nervous about this, it would be nice if I liked the person that they brought for me too.

"He's bringing that tall guy from the party, I know how much you liked him." James smirked at me, briefly turning away from the mirror as he did his hair.

"Funny." I said dryly although I did give a small, genuine laugh, "Did you ever figure out who he was?"

"I literally have no clue, he doesn't even look familiar."

"Well, at least if Remus brought him on the date then we could ask him. There's a silver lining to every creepy cloud." Sirius said, meticulously styling each strand of hair. Even though that would answer the question I'd been thinking about, if I saw him on the date, I would leave.

After a lot of styling and outfit choosing, the three of us actually managed to leave the house, looking damn fabulous. The restaurant was only a short walk away but I was already regretting my decision to wear my new heels. My feet felt like they were being pinched and I could already feel blisters forming on my feet. At least we would be sitting down for most of it.

We turned the corner and the restaurant we would be spending the evening at came into view. It was a large, red brick building with large windows and it look warm and cosy yet fancy inside. The walls were a sort of golden colour and it already looked like a place I couldn't afford. I hoped that maybe Sirius or James would cover me thanks to all my help in their love lives.

"Look, there they are. Oh god, I'm so nervous." James said, running his hands through his hair, destroying the style that he'd spent so long making in the mirror. I was going to tell him but I figured I shouldn't add more nerves than he already had or he might run away out of sheer panic.

My eyes scanned across the three figures who were waiting outside for us. My eyes instantly went to the guy on the end who I presumed was my date. He was short and blonde, definitely a good few inches below me, possibly even smaller than Lily who was quite short anyway. As I walked closer, I noticed that he had a sort of rat like quality to him, he looked jumpy and skittish, his head turning swiftly whenever there was a sound or a slight movement.

"Hey guys!" Sirius said, waving at the three of them. Remus and Lily's faces lit up at the sight of James and Sirius's. Lily wrapped her arms around James's neck and kissed him for long enough for it to be uncomfortable. Remus and Sirius did one of those extended hug things which was quite sweet but at the same time a little uncomfortable.

I turned to my own date who did not look particularly happy to see him. He came up to my nose which was an awkward height anyway and he was staring up at me, his eyes wide open.

"Hi, I'm Dorcas." I said, smiling through the awkwardness which was VERY difficult. It took a few seconds for his to respond although he continued to stare at me intensely when he did which was unnerving, to say in the least.

"I'm Peter, I'm Remus's friend." He held out a hand for me to shake. This was a great start to the evening, so much for finding someone myself. I don't think I could be less attracted to Peter right now if I tried.

"So no hug for me?" I joked, as the other four continued in their extended embraces. I instantly regretted when I looked down at his face which had lit up.

"I mean, you can have a hug if you want." Peter stuttered, reaching forwards. I instinctively stepped back, pushing him away with my arms.

"No, I didn't." I said quickly and his face fell. He looked down slightly, kicking his shoes in the dirt, "Oh, okay, go on then."

He reached out and hugged me and it was the most unpleasant hug I'd had in a while. His hair ended up going up my nose and mouth so I was forced to lift my head up and turn it towards Sirius and Remus. Sirius turned his head around and looked at me, raising his eyebrows at me.

"Okay, that's enough." I said pushing him off me, a little too hard so he stumbled back and almost tripped on the curb, "Let's go inside now, I'm hungry!" I darted away from Peter quickly who looked like he wanted another hug.

As we walked in, I saw Peter trying to move next to me so I sandwiched myself between James and Lily who looked a little irritated but accepted it nonetheless. The six of us sat down with Peter sitting directly opposite me. I kind of hoped that we would talk as a group but since the walk, the two couples had become a lot closer and spoke between themselves.

"So... what do you like to do?" I asked awkwardly smiling at Peter.

"Um... I like...to..." He began pausing every few seconds. I honestly could not see why Remus thought I'd be good with Peter, it was a few minutes in and I already hated it.

" - no, I feel exactly the same way about Cauliflower, they're kind of like a poor man's broccoli. I don't really get why people like them." Sirius said, running his hands through his hair nervously.

"Thank you! Someone sees it, it's so odd. Although if you want to talk about a best vegetable, there's peas."

"Peas? Are you mad? Carrots for the win." Sirius said looking genuinely interested by this weird conversation on vegetables. I studied his face carefully to see if I could detect if he was actually interested or just faking enthusiasm but he looked genuinely enthralled. His smile was very genuine and he was looking at Remus in a way that I had never seen before.

"Ha, I guess we're like peas and carrots then." Remus said with a small smile. Sirius looked at him blankly, "Forrest Gump? No?"

"I've never seen it...." Sirius admitted. His eyes gleamed suddenly, "Maybe you should come round to mine and we can watch it sometime..."

"Do you like it?" I heard Peter's voice say suddenly, breaking me out of my eavesdropping.

"Sorry what?" I said, trying to pretend I hadn't been eavesdropping on someone else and ignoring my date.

"Ratatouille."

"The food or the film?..." I said slowly, confused about how the conversation had got here.

"The film, it's my favourite." Peter replied.

"Um... I've never seen it, it's a bit after my time." I said smiling awkwardly.

"There is no time for Ratatouille. It's for everyone." Peter said looking strangely offended.

"Right. Okay. I'll watch it sometime." I replied.

"We could watch it together..." Peter hinted.

"No." I said quickly, making this awkward conversation a billion times worse. Peter looked around uncomfortably before taking a long sip of his tap water. This was the worst set up I'd ever been on for me at least... it was going well for Remus and Sirius.

"... That was when I realised Dorcas was not with me and I'd find out later that she'd tripped over some barrels and got tangled in a fishing net." I heard Sirius say which immediately caught my attention mainly because I was half-eavesdropping anyway and whenever anyone mentions my name, I am there. Sirius laughed but Remus's face remained concerned.

"Wait, so you didn't help her? Or drive James to hospital with his broken wrist?" Remus asked and I saw Sirius looked slightly thrown as he released that the Christmas story was very out of character with the Regulus he'd created.

"...Well, I mean..." He looked over at James for help but he was too busy laughing at something Lily had said, "I would have helped him but by the time I got there someone had already called an ambulance."

"But you said he walked back to your flat on his own and you only saw him the next morning..." Remus said suspiciously.

"He did...  from the hospital." Sirius said, carefully examining Remus's facial expression to see if he was convinced by the lie. Remus was clearly not and Sirius looked over to me pleadingly.

"We were all quite drunk and S...Regulus did actually come back for me but by that time, I'd already been dropped into the water by some drunken moron. It was not a good new years for any of us, I mean I bought 100 bow ties or something from this random man by the dock." I said.

Remus looked between me and Sirius and for a second, I thought he didn't believe but Remus was very easily convinced and his face quickly broke into a smile.

"100 bow ties is a pretty poor investment." He said with a laugh.

"No it's not." Peter said, "I have about that many and they're great!"

I could have said so many things in response but I was too focused on Sirius. He had a strange look on his face of relief and happiness as he stared at Remus that I'd never seen before. I'd seen it on James's face with Lily before when he realised she didn't hate him but I'd never seen it on Sirius's before. The closer I looked, the more I realised he looked almost a little sad and I wondered if the great, unfeeling Sirius Black had finally fallen for a guy who didn't even know it was him. I warned him that the Lone Wolf Scam would have consequences and I sensed that he was starting to feel them.