REMUS' POV

After finding out about Marlene and Sirius' kiss, James and I almost sprinted up the stairs to the dorm. James feeling he could finally gossip about it, no wonder he tried his hardest to stay away all day. We knew this day was going to happen, joked and planned it ever since second year. So why was Sirius trying his hardest to keep it secret? This is something Sirius would boast about for weeks.

Once getting to the door of the dorm we both struggled to enter. James was athletic and I was heavy due to my height, but no matter how hard we bashed against the door, it wouldn't budge. Magic was involved.

"I heard you girls come giggling up the stairs, I'm not letting you in." Sirius' voice sounded from the opposite side.

"Oh come on mate, we need to let this all out of our system and then we can ignore that it ever happened if you want?" James whined. I looked at him questioningly "of course I'm never gonna let him forget about this moment in his entire life" he whispered, smiling to me.

"I heard that, magic is a wonderful tool to use if you actually have talent, Potter." Sirius hissed behind the wooden frame. I stroked my imaginary beard to James and motioned for him to stay quiet. He looked at me with sparkling eyes, knowing I had something planned.

"We only wanted to come and hear your side of the story. Marlene is down there spilling all sorts of information to Lily. We almost believed it all until she mentioned you were the worst kisser she had ever experienced, then we knew something must be up. You often claim you're the best, right?" I teased through the door. I heard a frustrated laugh and the door swung open, revealing a heated looking Sirius.

"She said what?" He laughed angrily with wild eyes full of disbelief. Both James and I held him back and shoved him into the room, closing the door behind us. Thankfully Sirius caught on that it was a ploy to let us into our own dorm, so we didn't have to convince him not to confront Marlene about damaging his ego. He threw up his hands in defeat.

"Fine! Go on then, one question each. That's it!" He glared.

"How does it feel to be the only member of the marauders who's getting action? Why won't you let us live through your experiences, Pads? That's so selfish." James laughed in a sulky manor. Sirius' hard face broke down into a smirk.

"That's two questions and pretty damn good to be honest. I didn't need this experience to know that I'm better than all of you but it definitely helps" He smiled wide, hands confidently on his hips. Until he met my gaze "You're gonna have a real question aren't you? go on then." He rolled his eyes at me, preparing himself.

I parted my lips, thinking hard on what to say. Knowing if Sirius was serious about this one question rule, there was no way I could mess up trying to answer all of my curiosity with the wrong one.

"Why are you hiding from the fact that you didn't enjoy it?" I slanted my head to one side, trying to read his initial reaction. Defence. His shoulders tensed and his chest puffed out slightly, making his already strong frame look stronger. His face was transparently bewildered by my question.

"Who said I didn't enjoy it?" He almost shouted, frowning deeply at me and taking a large step closer. Trying to intimidate, but I stood my ground.

"If you did, you would have come back and rubbed it so hard in our faces that we felt we were there" I said matter-of-factly. James shuffled in his spot and raised his hand as to try and interject between the two of us having a stand off.

"Unfortunately, I was there" He said, followed by Sirius looking at him through frowned, hooded eyes. James nodded comically and took a step away from the scene, taking it a hint to back off.

"I asked one question, like you asked. Answer it." I said calmly but in a stern tone. Sirius' face still holding its intimidating expression, but his body backing down. He sighed with frustration deeply and turned around so he wasn't facing either of us for a moment.

James looked at me for something to say or do, we knew how to cope and calm Sirius with any situation. Girls weren't usually the situation we had to interfere with though, he seemed to have that down to an art.

"I didn't just enjoy it, I really enjoyed it and it was the first time that someones ever kissed me, without me making the move first. Marlene, never letting me do anything without trying to take control herself, typical really" He laughed.

James took the bait easily, casually making comments about how hopefully him and Lily are the next in the group to get together and how dominating Marlene is that even he would be scared of the situation and apparently that's saying something because of "How desperate he's getting".

I didn't take Sirius' answer as truth though, there was something so rehearsed about it. Something that mimicked the way he'd finally use a pickup line he'd practice in the mirror, to someone passing in the halls. Practiced, the key word there.

Suddenly a banging noise sounded from the bathroom door.

"HELLO?" Peter's voice shouted through the wood. Sirius jumped up from James' bed, where they both were perched on the end of.

"Oh shit forgot to unlock the door, SORRY MATE!" Sirius screamed back.

*

ARTY'S POV

Lily observed as Marlene made herself comfortable by the fire, wiggling her toes in the direction to the flames. She looked at me and squinted with questioning eyes and suddenly bent down to where Marlene had slumped herself down and removed a brown leaf crumbling in her hair. Marlene snapped her head towards the leaf and ruffled through her mane to double check for anything else.

"We were outside when we kissed." She simply stated, though her face stated she was guilty of something.

"Arty, don't you think it's odd that Marlene has been suspiciously quiet about this whole ordeal? I mean, I know you haven't known her for a long time, but in the time that you have...how would you expect her to react in this situation?" Lily cheekily asked me, with a suspicious tone to her voice, coaxing me to join in her behaviour. I cleared my voice and quickly observed Marlene, frowning cautiously crosslegged on the carpeted rug.

"Like you said Lily, I haven't known Marlene for as long as you have. However, I would have expected a very in-depth review about Sirius' kissing technique. Not something I personally am thrilled to hear about but I do think it's odd we haven't received it yet!" I smirked alongside Lily, she folded her arms and looked down upon Marlene and nodded once to confirm what I had said.

"So Marls, how was it?" Lily blinked innocently at her. Marlene's face grew flushed with either embarrassment or anger, at this point I couldn't tell against the warm hue of the fire. She huffed with frustration.

"Bloody wonderful, actually! We've actually arranged a date." Her voice contradicting what she had said. Lily perked up, dropping the taunting act and almost flung herself on the floor next to Marlene with excitement.

"Marlene? Why didn't you tell me you were interested in Sirius? This could have been set up so much sooner!" Lily fussed, Marlene brushed her off and scooted away slightly.

"I didn't know that's why!" Marlene said and folded her arms like a child trying to refuse green coloured food.

Something didn't seem right, almost as if she wasn't thrilled about the potential of a connection blossoming between them both. I had sensed it before. Marlene and Sirius walking ahead of the group at times, seemingly deep in conversation that didn't involve cheap jokes. How protective she was over Sirius getting in trouble and how Sirius always gave her reassuring nods and cheeky pouts to break down a wall of frustration building to the point of anger. They both seemed to ground each other in strange ways but still something wasn't right.

"Can I ask you something?" I mumbled, my voice small. Not sure exactly where I was going with my thought process. Marlene hummed in response, looking defiant but not declining.

"You say it was wonderful, why does that sound like a bad thing when you say it?" I asked honestly. Marlene's gaze instantly dropped and she swallowed hard, brushing Lily's hand off of her lap.

"I didn't expect it to feel so right, that's all" She said in a dull tone. I didn't press her to answer, again to why that sounded like a negative thing and even if I did, she was already pushing herself off of the floor and making her way upstairs before I could even call out her name.

"She really likes him, huh?" Lily looked at me seeking a second opinion on the confusing signals Marlene gave off. I nodded slowly.

"It seems so, I'm not sure why she seems so down about that though. Perhaps you know?" I asked and Lily widened her eyes at me quickly and shrugged her shoulders.

"Perhaps I should. I don't think she's going to tell me anytime soon though. We may be best friends, Arty, but she's still a mystery to me sometimes" She softly smiled, looking up to the stairs as if she was picturing Marlene's figure stood in the archway like before she left.

"Maybe we should hold off all questions until this 'date' of theirs?" I asked. Lily nodded strongly.

"Good idea, perhaps it's just a weird one time moment we can all laugh about soon. Speaking about dates, hand holding with Remus today? Still platonic?" She beamed up at me from the floor. I shook my hair to cover my face nervously and laughed at her like she was joking. Although I knew she wasn't.

"You really didn't have to drag James away for us to have some alone time!" I laughed, remembering the stupid story of wanting to teach James to skip rocks, in order for Remus and I to be alone. She shrugged.

"It was tedious to be left alone with only James. He's hard work to keep entertained, you've got to tell me pulling him away was worth it?" She laughed and tried searching my hair covered face for a sign of truth within her question. I shook the hair out of my eyes, deciding not to hide behind it, because nothing did happen.

"I don't know what all of you are searching for? If you had been putting this much attention onto Sirius and Marlene, perhaps we wouldn't have been so shocked at this kiss of theirs!" I laughed and Lily playfully dismissed me with her hand, waving it in front of me casually.

"Oh we all knew Marlene and Sirius had a connection years before you showed up to the scene, any more pressure from us and they might have exploded. Probably a good thing we all backed off a bit and got side tracked." She winked at the hint of me entering the scene offered Marlene and Sirius some alone time to get together. She took in my silence and pressed further.

"So holding hands with Remus, or resting on his hand? what's the difference really? You like him right?" she smirked.

"Honestly, like I said Remus is cute. He's cute because really he's nice but I'm not attracted to him at all!" I protested, laughing at the idea. Although the heat in my face threatened to tell another truth. Hopefully if I struggled to read Marlene's emotions because of the hue of the fire, Lily was struggling with mine and wouldn't see through the blush.

It wasn't exactly a lie. Remus was cute because he was nice to me and that made me feel strange at times, a good strange but I had never experienced genuine nice behaviour that I didn't have to question too hard before.

The reason I felt a little embarrassed around him was because I didn't know how to respond to genuinely nice behaviour, especially from a male. Men had been nothing but authority figures in my life. Stern and demanding. Aggressive with their speech and expectations unachievable.

Remus counteracted all I knew about the male species. The other boys showed me their rowdy behaviour, though not a threat, it wasn't something I hadn't already experienced living with Regulus during a small tantrum away from adult supervision.

Remus made me feel warm and welcome because he was different from what I knew, something I had only read about in novels. A gentle boy. It was just something to adjust to and then I'd feel the same way around him as I do with Lily, Alice or Marlene.

REMUS POV

Slipping out of the dorm, in the heat of a debate about cornish pixies taking over the ministry of magic between Peter and James, I went to walk downstairs to check if Lily was still there. I knew she was upset that James had lied to her earlier about not seeing Marlene and thought it would be the decent thing to do, to reassure her that he meant no harm, he's just dumb.

I started coming towards the end of the stairs, still out of sight at a slight bend when I heard my name mentioned.

"So  holding hands with Remus, or resting on his hand? what's the difference really? You like him right?" Lily's familiar voice chirped sweetly, I could tell she wore a smirk on her face by the way she voiced her comment.

I felt a smile creep onto my face waiting for a reply, curious as to what would be said. Contemplating whether I should walk down only a small amount of steps and interfere with a bit of teasing but I stopped myself.

I knew she was asking Arty, that was obvious and if Arty felt the same way I do, she'd say it was platonic and that's that.

I knew she felt the same. A little flirtatious here and there, but nothing I hadn't already experienced with Lily or Alice (before Frank), I was just being nice? Sure, perhaps there was the difference of the fact I'm more protective over her but that just comes down to her being a year younger and being related to Sirius. If Sirius wont do a good job at looking after his only Gryffindor relative, I will.

Suddenly a small laugh was sounded, after a short minute of what I could hear Lily prodding for an answer.

"Honestly, like I said Remus is cute. He's cute because he's really nice but I'm not attracted to him at all!" Arty laughed. My smile dropped quickly and I backed up a couple of steps. A blunt feeling thumped against my chest.

She was laughing about how she didn't find me attractive. Not that I expected her to, or even wished her to. I just suddenly felt the stupidity of these past two weeks hit me at once. Maybe somewhere at the back of my mind I thought she did? That would only explain why I felt so comfortable with her stares.

The way she gawked at me in the hall during that one lunch, now didn't seem so innocent. She wasn't looking at me because she thought I was nice to look at, like I did her occasionally. She was staring at something, that in the moment I forgot I had.

My scars.

"I'm not attracted to him at all!" her voice repeated in my head, like an echo. So clear, perhaps she said it twice. She protested like the idea repulsed her. I repulsed her. How could I have put her through so many uncomfortable situations, being so close to my face without me trying to hide it in the slightest? So selfish of me.

I had known her for two weeks, how could I believe that she wouldn't be shocked or disgusted by what she sees when I smile at her. She's not Sirius, why have I been treating her that way? She's the one that's been nice. Too nice to show her fear or perhaps I've been to ridiculous to notice it. Perhaps all the running off and ignoring me was because I made her uncomfortable? Certainly wouldn't be the first time, why would it be different now?