"the greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return"

*

Valentine's Day of 1977 was nothing short of historical for the Marauders.

One of them almost lit the Astronomy Tower on fire.

One of them drank a little too much.

One of them lost a bet.

And one of them ended up almost smacking another one.

Sirius woke up around eight in the morning only because James was screeching breakup songs in the shower. A Valentine's Day tradition. He rolled over, intending to get a few extra moments of rest, when he noticed that Remus' bed was empty.

"Pete, where's Moony?" He asked, yawning loudly. Peter shrugged as he rummaged through his trunk for warm clothes, humming Elton John under his breath.

"He was gone before any of us woke up," he answered. "I don't know where he went, but I don't reckon he's coming with us to Hogsmeade."

Sirius' eyes narrowed. "I'll check the map. He's going to work himself to death in the library." He dug under James' bed to find the box that usually housed the Marauders Map, but no parchment was in sight. "He nicked it again! The bloody sneak. Homework's not a top-secret thing."

"Like he's actually doing homework," Peter scoffed. "Remus is smart, but he's not a nerd. We'll have to ask him about it later. We can't find him without it."

"All right, but if he says 'I was at Hagrid's' one more time, I'm marching down to wherever he actually is and dragging him back by the ear."

After all three of them had finally gotten dressed (which took way longer than it should have), the boys tromped through the snow-covered path to Hogsmeade under the cloak, hitting unsuspecting travelers with snowballs to freak them out. Peter kept calling themselves the Lonely Hearts Club every time a couple ran past, and each illustration of PDA warranted snowballs in the face from invisible sources.

Finally, they arrived and began to walk down the bustling streets of Hogsmeade. James pocketed the cloak. "Where to, mates?" Sirius asked with a smile, clapping James on the back. "I want to stop at Zonko's sometime today, but we can do it later."

James pushed his glasses further up his nose with his knuckle. "The Three Broomsticks. If I share enough of my heartbroken woes with Rosmerta, she might take a few galleons off of our drinks."

"In that case, don't be afraid to lay it on thick," Peter advised as he thought of how much money he'd brought, but his expression changed as he spotted something the others didn't. "Oi. Redhead, two o'clock."

The boys spun to see Lily, Eva, and Marlene walking out of Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop and in their direction.

"Get the cloak, we'll cover for you," Sirius whispered. He didn't particularly want everyone's day to be ruined by another Jily explosion. Jily. He really needed to stop thinking of them as that nickname Marlene came up with in between snogs a few years ago on New Year's Eve, but it stuck. "Say Remus is helping you with homework or something. I dunno. I'll make it up as I go."

James shook his head. "No, it's okay."

Eva brightened when she saw them coming and bounded over, shaking the snow off of her hat. "Hi!" She greeted. "You look lonely. Where's Remus?"

"Hagrid's," all three of them supplied in monotone unison. Eva smirked a bit, wondering how such smart boys could be so stupid.

The rest of the girls caught up with Eva a moment later. Lily's eyes widened when she saw James and she tried to escape, but Marlene kept a firm grip on her arm and pulled her back over to the group.

"Hello Lily," James said quietly. Her mouth fell open and she raised her eyebrows at his polite tone but said nothing, too shocked by his lack of sarcasm or disrespect to speak.

"So... where are you lot off to?" Marlene asked, mainly to diffuse the uncomfortable tension.

"The Three Broomsticks," Sirius answered. "Hey, want to join us?" While he addressed the group, he really meant Eva. He hasn't ended up asking her to Hogsmeade for Valentine's Day mainly because James was so depressed about Lily. Either way, he still wanted to be with her.

"I think we'll pass, but we can meet up with you after. We're headed to Honeydukes," Marlene explained.

"Well, have fun!" Peter said, waving enthusiastically. The girls giggled at his happy innocence. Peter really was everyone's younger brother.

Sirius' gaze lingered on Eva as she disappeared back into the crowd, but James quickly pulled him towards the pub.

*

"Where are we going?"

Remus glanced back at Kriss and grinned. "Do you trust me?"

Her lips slowly curved upwards into a smile. Merlin, he loved that mischievous expression on her face, loved the sparkle in the sky blue eyes of the Ravenclaw girl everyone called a goody-two-shoes. He'd been sneaking off to hang out with her for weeks now, and that couldn't be further than the truth.

"Yes."

"Then don't hate me." He pulled a Gryffindor scarf out of his bag and tied it around her eyes.

"Remus!" She exclaimed, protesting softly. He smiled even though she couldn't see. Secretly, he loved it when she said his name. "What are you doing?"

"You said you trusted me," he reminded her before starting for the stairs.

"Um, Remus?" She called hesitantly, still standing with her hands outstretched, waiting for him to lead her.

"Shoot! Hold on!" Cursing his stupidity inwardly, he ran back, grabbed her hands, and started to pull her up the winding spiral staircase again. "Sorry."

"It's fine," Kriss said, laughing before she almost tripped up on a step. "Can I know where we're going now?"

"But that would take all the fun out of it!"

"But then I wouldn't trip up the stairs!" She mimicked his voice perfectly, and Remus almost tripped on a step himself.

"You're bloody brilliant, you know that?" He asked, shaking his head.

"And you're nothing like I expected."

"Well, what did you expect?"

She shrugged, holding tighter to his hand as they continued to climb the stairs. "I don't really know. But I think I know who you are now, and it's not the same as my first impressions. You're best friends with Potter and Black. You're incredibly smart but you're always in detention. I kind of thought you were an attractive yet cocky prat. It took me a while to figure you out."

"I could say the same about you," he countered. The air felt colder the higher they journeyed. Both of them felt the chill and simultaneously shivered. "The perfect prefect who's nothing but sweet and helpful to anyone who crosses her golden path."

"Everyone thinks that about me. It's irritating. It's like they think I have the personality of a dictionary or something," she said dismissively, shaking her head, but a thought crossed her mind and she frowned. "Do you think I'm like that?"

Remus didn't just hear the fear in her tone: he recognized it. He heard himself calling his reflection a monster, hating who he was and who he was becoming.

"No. I don't think you're like that at all." Even though she couldn't see it, he smiled, and even though she knew he could see it, so did she.

He finally found the door and pushed it open. A gush of icy wind engulfed the pair, causing Kriss to yelp in surprise and grip Remus' hand tighter.

Just as he hoped, the Astronomy Tower sat unoccupied due to the Hogsmeade trip. In the distance, he could see a few stray students making their way to the village even though the departure time was hours ago.

"Can I take the scarf off?" Kriss ventured. Remus walked over and pulled it off of her eyes, then draped it around her neck. She didn't care that she wore a different House's colors. It was from Remus, and it was warm, and it smelled like chocolate. She turned to him excitedly. "What are we doing up here?"

"I thought we could have a picnic," Remus said with a shy smile. She tried not to seem too eager, but the whole thing was too sweet. With her gloved hand still warm in his, he pulled her over to a spot where they could sit. Then, he dropped his bag. It made a sound much too heavy for its small size.

Kriss instantly recognized the spell. "Undetectable Extension Charm?"

He nodded, proud of himself. As he rummaged through the bag, he realized how much he liked himself when she was around. He felt more confident in his skills, happier with who he was.

From the bag, he pulled out two flasks of pumpkin juice, sandwiches, brownies, and a single log, which he levitated and set on fire to keep them warm.

"You really thought of everything." A smile spread across Kriss' face as she took her flask. "You should have been a Ravenclaw."

"The sorting hat did consider that, actually, but I'm not well-behaved enough to hang out with the smarties full time," he answered, holding up his drink for a toast. They clinked flasks. "Maybe you should have been a Gryffindor. Then I would have gotten to know you before sixth year."

"No, I'm not brave enough to be one of you." She shook her head.

"I disagree with that," Remus said reasonably, like he was discussing a law being passed. "I've known you for what, a month? And you still decide to let - what was it you called me? - to let an attractive yet cocky prat blindfold you and take you somewhere?"

Kriss glanced down bashfully, hoping she could pass off the blush on her cheeks as a reaction to the cold weather. "Even Ravenclaws have lapses in judgement," she teased. "Maybe I got bored of the nerds."

"And what was it you wanted?" He asked mischievously, mostly to distract himself from how close they were sitting, from how their faces were inches apart.

"Someone who saw me." Her heart beat rapidly as she found herself leaning closer to him. "Someone who cared enough to know me."

Once again, she couldn't help admiring the boy inches away from her. She liked everything she saw: the deep brown eyes, the interesting scars, the almost but not quite smile on his lips.

"Do you think you found that?" He whispered, trying not to get his hopes up.

Her voice stuck in her throat, but she eventually found a word. "Yeah."

And like the Gryffindor he was, Remus closed the distance and kissed her.

He held Kriss' face in one of his hands and kept the other holding her own hand. She leaned in, returning his gesture with just as much passion, if not more. They separated after a moment, both slightly breathless, before quickly pressing their lips together again.

Remus couldn't believe he was finally kissing her. She felt right, she felt perfect. So perfect, in fact, that he didn't notice the flaming log drop out of the air due to his lack of focus until it lit his bag on fire.

Kriss shrieked and fell on top of Remus, knocking them both backwards as they reached for their wands.

"Aguamenti!" They cried, letting streams of water out out the fire. Remus bit his lip sheepishly once the flames died.

"Sorry about that."

Kriss shook her head and kissed him again.

*

"All right James, come on!" Sirius laughed, dragging his very intoxicated friend out of the Three Broomsticks after a few hours of flirting with Madam Rosmerta and telling stories he probably shouldn't have. "Time to head back, mate."

"Head back..." James giggled, tripping on nothing Eva-style. "Nearly Headless Nick almost doesn't have a head!"

"Correct, Prongs," Peter said, grinning. "You're a genius."

James messed up his black curls and did a low bow. "I know I am."

"How many drinks did he have?" Eva asked, eyeing the chaser with amusement. They hadn't even seen her join them, but Marlene and Lily followed close behind, and everyone began the walk back to the castle. "He can barely walk in a straight line!"

"Three. He's a lightweight, that was barely any firewhiskey," Sirius replied, messing James's hair up even more. Frankly, it was more fun to watch James get progressively loopier with each drink than get drunk himself. When James drank alcohol, he had absolutely no filter, which kept Peter and Sirius laughing all afternoon. He also kept a careful eye on him, hoping once again that he wouldn't say something stupid to Lily and ruin their friendship even further.

"What's today?" James asked Peter. He patted his friend on the arm a few more times than he needed to in order to get his attention.

"Saturday. Valentine's Day," he answered.

James surveyed his friends. "No dates. We must all be pathetic, then."

Sirius clapped him on the back. "Very much so, Prongs."

"But that's so stupid! We don't all need to be alone!"

"Oh, really?" Sirius couldn't help laughing. "What do you think we should do about it?"

"Well, for starters, you should stop being an idiot and give Blondie a kiss already."

Sirius froze. He literally couldn't move, and his first instinct was to whack James' head as hard as he possibly could, but he still barely knew how to react. None of them had ever seen him speechless before.

Peter cringed at the bluntness of his friend. Marlene let out a surprised squeak and Lily dropped her shopping bag. Sirius didn't notice any of this, though. He just stared at Eva.

She just stared back, green eyes wide.

"Come on, we all know you've been in love with her since fourth year," James continued, completely oblivious to the scene around him. "That's why you broke up with Marlene and stopped being loose, mate. Remember that time you went after those guys who made fun of her at that one Quidditch game? You got a week's worth of detentions and you didn't care. Remember?"

"James," Peter said under his breath, since Sirius was still petrified, "shut up."

"No! And he freaked out when I started hanging out with her a lot and he hated himself after missing Slughorn's party and he told me she's the prettiest girl he's ever gonna meet. Ever." James shrugged, back to laughing uncontrollably. "Not all of us need to be pathetic today."

Sirius finally looked back up at Eva, who took a tentative step towards him. No one else dared to speak. "Is all of that... is it all true?"

The boy swallowed and slowly nodded.

Without warning, Eva walked right up to Sirius and kissed him. He almost stumbled backward in shock but quickly got ahold of himself and deepened the kiss, the pair swaying at the spot.

Shaking his head, Peter handed a smirking Marlene five sickles, although he really wasn't sad about losing the bet. They all knew this was coming sooner or later. James started a slow, dramatic clap. No one joined in, but that didn't stop him from clapping anyway.

"I'm a matchmaker," James proclaimed, wiping away the fake tears. "Moony missed it!"

Lily grinned and grabbed his arm. "Come on, let's head back up to the castle." The four hurried away, leaving their friends standing in the middle of the path.

They finally broke away, and with their noses inches apart, Eva giggled, giddy with happiness.

"You've liked me since fourth year?" She asked softly, a contagious smile on her face.

He nodded, never looking away. Sirius wanted to memorize the moment, every detail of it. Students kept walking around them. She wore the leather jacket he gave her and one of her signature beanies. Her lips tasted like pink coconut ice, her favorite candy. And she smiled at him like he was everything.

"I'm sorry. I never even realized." She blushed deeper than Gryffindor scarlet. "I've liked you for a little while, but I was too afraid to mess up our friendship. I had no idea you felt that way for so long."

"Don't apologize. We're here now, aren't we?" He winked. "I'd say it was worth the wait."

"I'm kind of glad James got drunk now," she admitted. "I never would have done that if he hadn't said that."

"And here I was ready to slap him into next week," said Sirius, shaking his head before he came up with an idea. "We still have an hour or two before we need to be back at the castle. We could walk around some more... if you can stand spending your Valentine's Day with me, that is." He winked, the mischief in his eyes somehow making him more handsome than ever.

"I think I can stand it." Eva grinned and held out her hand. Their fingers entwined, and excited butterflies burst in her heart. They spent the rest of the afternoon wandering the streets of Hogsmeade, never letting go of each other.

I wrote most of this at 2 A.M. last night, but I'm still way too excited about this chapter.

Vote, comment!

Xo, stay safe :)