“Any plans for the weekend, Moony?” James asked pointedly.
Sirius cursed him internally and then cursed himself. Why on earth did he decide to tell Peter ‘Has-Never-Kept-A-Secret-In-His-Life’ Pettigrew about his tiny crush on Remus? James had known about it less than a day later, and several weeks on, James was getting impatient, which was exactly why Sirius hadn’t told him in the first place.
Remus looked at James for a moment, “Not since the last time you asked.” He said with a small frown. “Is this your way of asking me to Hogsmeade?”
“And if it was?” James asked with a grin that Remus didn't like the look of at all.
“Prongs, be serious.”
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” James muttered, and Sirius kicked him under the table. “Ow! Fuck you, Padfoot! I mean, I’m serious! Go to Hogsmeade with me.”
Remus was looking more and more concerned, he looked to Pete and then to Sirius, but they seemed as baffled as he was. “As mates?”
“Sure, if that’s what it takes to get you there.” James shrugged.
“Is this some convoluted attempt to make Lily jealous? Because I can tell you right now, it won’t work.” Sirius wanted to smooth the crease between his eyebrows. “I’d honestly just planned to stay here and read. It’s going to snow.”
“Hogsmeade in the snow is very romantic!” James grinned, “I’ll buy you a hot chocolate.”
Remus rolled his eyes, “I have no idea what you’re trying to do, Prongs, but sure. I’ll go to Hogsmeade for hot chocolate.”
“Wonderful. Does Madam Puddifoots take reservations? I want to make sure we get a good table right by the window so we can watch the snow.”
Sirius choked on his coffee, and Remus instinctively rubbed his back until he could breathe again, without even looking at him. Sirius stood up and left the table without a word.
“Ok, what’s going on?” Remus asked.
“With Padfoot?” James said innocently, “No idea. Maybe he’s jealous because he doesn’t have the balls to ask someone to Hogsmeade.”
Remus sipped his tea. “Oh. Who did he want to ask?”
“Unimportant.” James gestured vaguely towards the doors. “But what is important is our date.”
“I don’t think I agreed to a date,” Remus said.
“Nonsense. Of course, you did.” He looked at Pete, “Didn’t he?”
Pete said nothing, fearing that if he opened his mouth, he’d say something that he’d regret more than he already regretted telling James.
“You’re being weird.” Remus frowned at him. “I’m going to go and see if he’s alright.”
“Fine, abandon your boyfriend!” James said dramatically.
Remus scowled as he got up from the table, “Fuck off.”
“Well, you started strong.” Peter said as they watched him walk away, “But then you fucked it up in a fairly huge way.”
“Ah, the story of my life, Pete.” James went back to his toast as if nothing had happened.
🌙✨🌙✨🌙
Sirius had taken the map and was nowhere to be found before classes. The next time Remus saw him in Charms, he mouthed ‘You okay?’, to which Sirius nodded stiffly before turning away from him. Remus considered that maybe it wasn’t James. Maybe he’d done something wrong. He went back over breakfast and tried to piece together anything that might have made Sirius upset. Sirius had kicked James under the table, but Remus couldn’t remember what James had muttered to prompt that. Maybe James would know.
As they filed out of the classroom, Remus grabbed James’ arm and dragged him into a side corridor. This did not go unnoticed by Sirius, who couldn’t believe his eyes. He pushed past Pete and raced back to the dorm before his feelings started leaking everywhere.
“Moony, we haven’t even been on a date yet!” James teased.
“Why did Sirius kick you earlier?”
James paused, “What?”
“At breakfast, you said something and he kicked you.” He leaned against the wall. “He’s upset about something.”
“Yeah, it’s probably the Hogsmeade thing,” James said nonchalantly. “Like I said, probably jealous.”
“Well, that makes no sense. Pretty much anyone would agree to go with him if he asked.”
“Oh, believe me, Moony. That’s what I’ve been telling him!” James smirked, “I also said ‘If you don’t ask soon, someone might beat you to it!’.”
“Must you be so cryptic?” Remus rubbed his temple. The moon was less than a week away. ‘All the more reason to have a nice weekend planned’, James had said to Sirius a few days ago.
“Ok let’s go through the facts.” James did his best Professor Binns impression, “One, Sirius could get almost anyone to go to Hogsmeade with him if he asked. Two, I told him that if he didn’t ask soon, someone else might. Three, he left the Great Hall in a huff after you agreed to go to Puddifoots with me.”
“I didn’t agree to— wait, what?” Remus froze, “Go back, you think that’s why he left?”
“You are two of the smartest people I know, and this is possibly the most frustrating thing I’ve ever gotten myself involved in,” James said with a smile. “Maybe you should ask him.”
“Ask him why he left or… ask him to Hogsmeade?” Remus said quietly.
“I imagine one will lead to the other.” James shrugged. “Do insist on a table by the window though. It’s not actually any more romantic but when it’s icy, you do get to see more people fall over.”
“You’re something else,” Remus said with a laugh before walking away.
“And just like that, our work here is done!” James said as Pete came round the corner