REMUS' POV

James came jogging over to meet a beaming Sirius halfway. Sirius dragged me along by my arm and I reluctantly let him, knowing he'd find a way to throw me over his shoulder to embarrass me if he had to.

"What do you mean I owe you ten Galleons?" James started wiggling his eyebrows, looking over in my direction. He didn't seem too gutted that he obviously lost the bet they had created. 

Lily had followed over with him and I did not want her hearing the words that I knew Sirius would say so blatantly spit out.

"Remus thinks Arty's hot, pay up!" he stretched his hand out in front of him. Lily's eyes looked as if they were going to bulge out of their sockets and she started smiling widely at me.

"Remus? Admitting to having a thing for someone? This is new! Really new in fact! Unheard of, even!" She teased and playfully pushed my shoulder. I rolled my eyes and took a large gulp of the burning fire whisky.

"You poured this way too strong, Pads" I coughed, glancing down at the green plastic cup in my hand.

"Stop trying to change the subject" James replied, answering for Sirius "I need to know whether or not I'm ten Galleons poorer" He sighed "so fess up, or else" he playfully threatened and I couldn't help but to smirk out of embarrassment.

"Oh merlin, he totally does" Lily squealed and rushed me over to the seating area to sit us down, the boys followed. Lily was almost sharing the one seated chair with me and placed a strong hand on my shoulder.

"When did you realise? Was it straight away? You were- I mean are always quite protective over her!" she smiled so big I swore I could see her back teeth. I shook my head and looked down at the last remaining drops of alcohol in my cup.

"I honestly don't know what's going on?" I said a little bewildered "all I said is that she's cute...like a kitten or something" I shrugged and Sirius shivered.

"Now I know why we don't see eye to eye" Sirius pouted, causing James to giggle like a little girl.

"Dog jokes, I love it" He ruffled Sirius' hair. Both Lily and I rolled our eyes but couldn't contain a tiny laugh that was almost inaudible.Lily turned back to me, with a smaller smile this time.

"Why do you get so defensive about her then, if you don't like her that way?" she asked and I thought to myself for a second. 

I had thought about this before and I had just placed it on the fact that I related to being an outcast too and wanted to help someone fit in, but there were many outcasts all around me that I could in some way help, so why Arty? I shrugged my shoulders.

 "I think it's because she reminds me of Sirius in first year" I played it off cool, honestly believing what I had said. 

"Bro" Sirius said touched. 

She does remind me of Sirius, before Sirius felt confident in who he was or who he was becoming. She shares many of the same qualities as him but with her own kind of softness that perhaps makes her even more vulnerable to situations like school because she was late to the game, I presume. Sirius sadly smiled, like he was reading my mind.

"He's right" he started, mumbling. James and Lily turned to face the boy that had dropped his cheeky smile "There's some similar- uh –qualities there" He awkwardly said. Lily frowned.

"But she's so shy and anxious all the time? you should see the amount of effort she goes through to make sure she's out of the way. It's kind of sad really...she's not as free spirited as you are Siri, perhaps if she got drunk and threw on a leather jacket for attitude like you do and-" Sirius raised his cup in the air and took a mini bow "Oh..." Lily mumbled.

"All just an act baby...at first, at least. If you play a character long enough, you can adopt their mind set. Method acting, I'm gonna be a star." He raised his eyebrows and finished off yet another drink. We all sat in silence for a bit, seeing through the jokes that were covering Sirius feeling awkward and self conscious.

 "We have to get her drunk then? It's not a party without wanting to cry into the curtains, right?" James laughed and we all shook our head at him.

"We're not creating another  functioning alcoholic, Prongs" I motioned towards Sirius, he raised his middle finger up at me.

"I'll get your money now Pads, for fuck sake. Come speak to Peter with me first, let's save that Slytherin girl he's badly flirting with" James laugh-sighed and both James and Sirius walked off together towards Peter and a Slytherin girl from the year below.

Lily seemed to stay put on the arm of the chair that I was sitting in, and rested her legs across mine.

"You should go speak to her" She quietly said and I snapped my head up to look at Lily.

 "Who? Arty?' I asked and she nodded and glanced over in Arty's direction.

She was still all alone, where Peter had left her, before wandering off to the Slytherin's. She was tightly gripping her cup, making it crinkle in the centre slightly. I watched her chest rise and fall rapidly, as if she was struggling to breathe and I noticed how her cheeks looked slightly flushed as if she had been stuck in the school greenhouse on a summers day. I shook my head lightly at Lily.

"It's not worth it" I laughed and placed my empty cup on the floor, removing Lily's legs from my lap, so I could adjust my seated position. Lily placed her legs on mine again once I had made myself comfortable and she started playing with some of the hair on the top of my head, making ringlets with her fingers. 

She was always like this with me, it made James insanely jealous but I knew that it was purely platonic; I was probably the only guy in the group that hadn't attempted to hit on her throughout the years and she stated that she felt completely comfortable with me, like pals. I looked at her whilst she played with my hair, I could see her thinking hard.

"why'd you say that?" she asked and yanked out a strand of my hair, making me pull away from her "Grey." she stated and held the hair in front of my face.

"Stress." I smiled back and blew it out of her grasp. I hesitated to respond to her question and she coughed at me impatient.

"She doesn't want to talk to me, or any of us! I'd just be wasting my time at this point, seems a bit cliché to patch things up over a party, doesn't it?" I said frustratingly.

ARTY'S POV

No one had attempted to come up to talk to me and I felt glued to my spot with nerves. I observed everyone, with my back firmly against the wall.

I saw Marlene jump from person to person, obviously very popular in every house with many friends. I witnessed how Peter, surprisingly due to how giggly and shy he was during lessons, had quite a few girls take interest in him and with each new compliment, slowly he had managed to gain enough confidence to head over to a new group entirely with a small, curly haired Slytherin girl. 

Frank and Alice had disappeared somewhere...and I didn't want to imagine what they'd snuck off to do. I knew I had seen James and Lily with them too but when I glanced over at the dance area, they had disappeared also...That's when I suddenly saw Sirius and James walk past me and over to Peter and the Slytherin's. There was a mixed reaction from them as they saw Sirius, mainly smiling faces though.

I glanced over to the seating area, perhaps I could grab a seat and watch from there, force my legs to move so I didn't look too strange just standing in one spot the entire night.

Suddenly my eyes were drawn to bright orange hair, hovering on the edge of an armchair. Lily smiled at me widely as we briefly made eye contact and I saw the person who she was half sat on, Remus. 

He looked un-phased by the fact her pointy shoes were so close to stabbing into his leg, or the fact that she was completely messing up his hair, with twirling motions. He seemed quite relaxed and she seemed quite content.

"Arty come here!" I could hear her shout from across the room, her voice only sounding like a quiet muffle over the sound of the music.

It took a good minute or two, to unstick my solid legs from my position, as if my brain just didn't want to co-operate.

I finally made my way over to a smiling Lily and an awkward looking Remus who seemed to be trying way too hard on focusing on peoples dancing footwork. I did a small awkward wave with the hand that wasn't holding my empty cup.

"How are you finding the party?" She hummed sweetly and I shrugged my shoulders lightly and chuckled.

"It's...loud" I admitted and I could see Remus trying to contain a small smile, still not looking up towards me. Lily was still playing with his hair and he seemed to be tilting in her direction towards her hand like a little puppy.

Lily laughed loudly and removed her hand from Remus' hair and kicked off her legs from his lap, suddenly putting on a stern face, getting distracted by something or someone behind me.

"Keep my seat warm for me, will you? What dickheads" She mumbled. I glanced behind me and saw Sirius and Marlene holding James upside down to do a butter beer drinking game.

"You guys know how quick that gets James drunk and tearful!" She huffed at Remus and quickly stormed over looking like an angry mother.

Remus didn't look or speak to me, instead watched Lily trying to scramble James down, looking amused at how defiant James was being. I looked down at my feet and shuffled in my spot before deciding this was far more awkward than just standing alone in a corner, so started to slowly leave.

Before I even took more than three steps I heard Remus clear his throat quickly.

"Hey?" He said softly and I turned around shyly to glance in his direction.

"Yeah?" I asked, lightly biting on my bottom lip. 

"Lily's gonna be pissed if she comes back and her spot is cold" he smiled a little, a glisten of mischief in his eye and patted the arm of the chair.

Breathing became a bit hard with nerves and I made my way over to the spot, painfully slow. Hoping that maybe Lily would suddenly return and reclaim her place beside him. 

I sat on the edge of the armchair, looking almost as if I was about to slip off because I was trying to discreetly stay as far away as I could in this particular situation. Remus seemed to notice.

"I don't bite" he snorted "Most of the time" He frowned at himself "Sorry that was... embarrassing" he shook himself off and looked tense in his spot looking as if he wanted the chair to swallow him.

I shifted myself closer to him and lightly rested my arm behind his head to keep me propped up. I kept opening and closing my mouth to find something to say, but nothing other than small airy sounds seemed to make their way out. I gulped hard and felt my entire face burn up, my fingers tingling with deep embarrassment.

"So...you seem pretty comfortable with letting people suffocate your personal space. Are you someone who lets people literally walk all over you? Can't relate." I tried to banter with him but felt myself physically cringe and recoiled my hand that was resting on the back of the chair to place in my lap. Much to my surprise Remus let out a throaty laugh. 

"Only mates apparently. Wouldn't let some random sit this close to me" He said, but continued to watch his friends in the distance. A smile was permanently plastered on his face and I couldn't tell whether it was because he was laughing at me or his friends.

"I'm not some random then?" I awkwardly laughed, knowing I had been ignoring his entire existence for days now and him mimicking my behaviour.

"Only if you want to be" He looked up at me as if he was seeking an answer.

His eyes were big and brown, so dark despite the green that pooled in the middle, that I could almost see my own reflection in them. He was nibbling a little on his bottom lip, and I noticed that he had reopened the scar on his lip from chewing on it. Without thinking my thumb glided over his bottom lip, wiping the small speckles of blood away before it could start running and I wiped it down on my jeans.

I suddenly realised what I had done and my mouth gaped open with shock. Remus seemed to stay completely still, his mouth still slightly parted.

"Do you want to be?" He questioned me, a softness in his voice and I patted myself down and almost fell off the chair by abruptly standing.

"I-I'm sorry I shouldn't have done that" I panicked and tried scratching off the remaining blood that was drying on my thumb. Remus didn't respond, instead was intensely looking at me.

"Have I done something wrong?" He asked, licking over the cut on his lip as blood threatened to still make an appearance.

"What do you mean?" I puffed out, feeling as if my lungs were going to give up on me and as if the temperature of the room had just been massively increased. Remus' eyes darted around the room awkwardly and then landed on his finger nails, which he was picking skin away from.

"You just stopped speaking to me, was it because I didn't respect your boundaries after your fight with Sirius? Cause if so I'm really sorry" He asked, peeling a loose piece of skin away from his finger, making it bleed. I grabbed his hand.

"Don't do that" I mumbled and sat on the edge of the chair again, feeling guilty.

"Actually you've been the most thoughtful person to me during this entire experience, in my opinion" I admitted and his eyes flashed with reassurance and then was immediately replaced by confusion.

"So why ignore me? Why...Snape?" He pulled a face.

"I didn't want to get you involved in all the Sirius verses me drama because you were so nice to me and no one else really showed me much reason to stick around, other than pitiful looks" I shrugged my shoulders stupidly "also I wanted to give Severus another chance, he apologised to me the day you tried to sabotage his hair cut" Remus started laughing a little at the memory.

"and I wanted friends" I said softly. Remus stopped laughing and placed his hand lightly on my knee.

"You had friends" he sighed "You have friends" he repeated and pointed to himself and I smiled a little.

"I know it seems silly but I really just don't think I can be friends with you. You're so lovely that I worry that you'll be worrying about me all the time, the slightest time I'm a bit uncomfortable...which has proven to be quite frequent" I laughed lightly and sadly smiled at him. He nodded slowly as if he was agreeing.

"But that's what friends do, they look out for each other. Check that each other's alright. I don't mind worrying about you, Arty" He moved closer to me, sitting up straighter so eyes were almost level.

My heart thumped in my chest and he seemed to move in slightly more. His tongue flicked over a small scab that was forming on his damaged lip and I watched him as his eyes wavered between my mouth and eyes.

"Quick Moony, James is crying over Quidditch and Lily again" Peter came stumbling over with pink and puffy looking James.

"Mr.Moony, I need a hug from you only! You warm son of a bitch" James sobbed. Remus opened up his arms wide, still sat on the chair.

"bring it in brother" He laughed and James practically leapt onto his lap "Go get us another drink" Remus winked at me, whilst rubbing James' back hard.

I made it half way to the bar when a hand grabbed my shoulder, I turned around and saw Sirius.

"Do you smoke?" He asked and I shook my head.

"No" I mumbled. He nodded understandingly and before he decided to leave he looked at me hopeful again.

"Do you want to? Please?" His eyes almost begged. Something rebellious inside me wanted to say yes but I didn't want to say yes to him.

"I don't think that's a good idea" I said truthfully.

"I just want to talk, you don't have to smoke" He requested. I thought about it for a split second.

 "I'll smoke" I said nervously and Sirius smiled and guided us up the dorm stairs and to the window in the hall that joined the boys and girls dorms together, opening it wide.

"Markleroot or tobacco?" He stated, rolling himself a mossy green looking cigarette, that suddenly I clicked was Markleroot.

 "Isn't that..." I started.

 "Illegal? In most place's yeah" He laughed. He finished rolling "So what is it then?" He asked again.

"Markleroot." I laughed at my own bravery.

"Good choice Miss. Black" He smirked.

(A/N am not glamorising drugs but in my mind the marauders are little teenage rebels and all secretly stoners ((at parties at least)))