Remus
It was Sunday now. The marauders were nearly done with their stupid bet but… in came the problem of the last person’s participation.
”Pleeeeaaaasee! C’mon Moony! At least try” Sirius begged, the other two stared up at the werewolf with big pleading eyes. But Remus, stubborn as they came was adamantly refusing.
”I’ve never participated in any of your stupid pranks before, what makes you think I’ll start now?”
the pouting faces of his friends only intensified.
“It’s not a prank Moony,” James reassured, “It’s just a bet! All you have to do is hit him with your best moves and ask for one date! That’s all?”
”And if he says yes?” Remus raised an eyebrow. Sirius and James exchanged a brief, doubtful glance, because really if Sniv had rejected both of Hogwarts most eligible bachelors than nobody else really had a chance did they? But neither of them had ever seen Remus flirt with anyone and well, curiosity killed the cat.
The others had been pestering him about it all morning,
”Well… IF Snivellus says yes then you can just tell him that we pressured you to do it or something and then boom! Problem solved!” James replied happily. Remus groaned, running a hand down his face at his friend’s stupidity,
”That solves nothing James! Poor guy already gets enough grief I don’t want to add to it!”
Sirius sighed loudly,
”Well it would either be that or actually going on a date with him.”
James made an exaggerated throwing up motion. Remus rolled his eyes, not believing how childish the others could be. They were seventeen for Merlin’s sake. Although, he did consider what Sirius had actually just said for a moment.
”Fine.” He sighed standing up purposefully. “I’ll do it”
James and Sirius cheered, his still sitting friends throwing their arms around his waist as they hugged him,
”Yes! Let’s go Moony!” Sirius cheered as James made loud woop-ing sounds. As Remus began to march off in search of Sniv Peter suddenly called after him,
”HEY COULD YOU UH- TELL SEVERUS IM SORRY PLEASE?!”
Remus shot a thumbs up back at his friend who was still nursing his black eye. James turned to Wormtail looking very confused,
”’Severus’? Since when were you on first name basis with the snake?”
Sirius snickered,
”Probably since he touched his ass”
Peter’s face exploded with red again as he began to yell at his friends who were now very much laughing at his expense. Peter silently prayed for Remus’s sake that his attempt went at least a little better than his did.
They found Remus about an hour later, lounging in the common room with his nose in a book. He seemed pretty content in his reading but when Sirius and James slid onto the couch next to him he sighed deeply.
”Tell us, was it brutal?” James teased lightheartedly.
”Do you need a shoulder to cry on?” Sirius taunted playfully.
”He uh, said yes” Remus replied. The two of them froze and Peter (who had made himself comfortable on a chair next to the three of them) gaped in disbelief.
“… he what now?” James asked, truly not believing his ears. Surely, surely he’d heard that wrong.
”He agreed.” Remus smirked smugly at them, “Seemed fairly pleased with it too.”
Sirius muttered a quiet “no way” which Remus chuckled at.
”Wow, your hopes for me were so high weren’t they?”
”How?!” Sirius suddenly blurted. “What- what did you even say to him???”
Looking very pleased with himself Remus responded simply,
”I told him that you lot had found out that I was planning to ask him out and you tried to turn it into a prank. He seemed to find it quite funny honestly.”
James’s brow furrowed suddenly,
”Wait so you lied to him?”
”A little white lie never hurt anybody” Remus commented, “Not like you didn’t lie when it was your turn”
”Huh? I didn’t lie!” James protested,
”You kept sending him messages about how nice he looked.” Remus stared at him unimpressed, “And you never think he looks nice.”
James pouted, thinking ‘that’s not true’ when suddenly he caught himself. Wait what? Yes it was. Snivellus never looked nice ever! With his stupid small height that made him look so tiny compared to all of them and his long hair that didn’t even let you see his face half the time, and his stupid pale skin that was so white it looked like porcelain instead of skin (weird) and his eyes that were so dark like black holes that just sucked you in. He was so weird.
James’s thoughts were interrupted by Sirius suddenly asking,
”Okay but like how did you ask him?”
”Simple.” Remus began explaining as if they were children, “I asked him how his day was going, I brought him some potion ingredients I’d overheard him talking to Evans about and I asked him if he’d like to go to Hogsmead with me. Easy”
”Oh come on! No way it was that easy! You just give him something he likes and ask him about his day? Really?! I asked him about his day too! Does the greedy git really need a goddamn offering?!”
”Well for one thing I actually care about how his day is going, and-“ but before Remus could finish Sirius interrupted,
”How the hell would he have known that I didn’t care? I could’ve!”
”You know! I’m not sure!” Remus replied sarcastically, “Maybe the fact that you’ve tormented him for years kind of dissuaded him from thinking that you cared?”
Sirius was shut up by that. The animagus stared at his feet angrily. He felt that surely that couldn’t be it. Surely there was just something special that Remus had done that Sirius didn’t know about.
Before Sirius could start getting too far in his own head Peter suddenly joked,
”Guess not all canines are the same?”
Remus chuckled and… blushed? Was Remus blushing? No way, surely it was just a trick of the light.
”Who knows? Maybe he is a dog person after all?”
James let out a hollow laugh and Sirius pouted, staring at his feet.
”Oh and Pete,” Peter straightened his back, “Sev said he’s willing to consider forgiving you if you pay to replace the clothes you ruined”
Peter winced at the memory of the pumpkin juice spilling all over the Slytherin. He mumbled a quiet “that’s fair”.
James slapped his hands against his legs loudly,
”Well! How are you getting yourself out of this one Moony?”
Remus looked at him, confused.
”What do you mean?”
”What’s your excuse for skipping the ‘date’?” He asked, making quotation marks with his fingers. Remus squinted at him,
”I don’t have one?”
Sirius snorted, “That’s unfortunate. Better get thinking of one”
”No.” Remus breathed deeply at his friends’ misunderstanding, “I’m not skipping the date.”
The other three froze. Peter got up, sensing just how tense the other two had become, leaving with a salute and a “Godspeed to you!” To Remus.
James and Sirius stared.
”Did you just say that you’re actually going on a date with Snivellus?” James asked because surely THIS TIME he’d heard wrong.
”That is correct”
Goddamnit why did he have to have good hearing?
”Why?” Sirius demanded,
”I don’t know,” Remus admitted, shrugging, “Could be fun”
”It’s Sniv. A date with SNIV could be fun?” Sirius asked incredulously.
”Yeah, why not?”
”Because it’s Sniv!”
”So? Also at least until my date’s over with him can you not call him that?”
the awful pit in his stomach had returned to James, Sirius just felt very confused. Remus abruptly stood,
”Anyways I need to go. Evans said she wanted to have a talk with me about me and Severus so wish me luck!” And with that only James and Sirius remained in the common room.
There were a few minutes of silent contemplation before James said,
”What do we do?”
Sirius’s face scrunched in confusion,
”What do you mean?”
”Well we can’t let them go in their date like… unsupervised or whatever right?”
”Why not?” Sirius asked, irritation bleeding into his voice. “I sure as hell don’t want to see those two on a date.” Just the thought made him angry for some reason.
”Because what if they actually fall for each other?”
…
“MERLIN’S STRIPY UNDERPANTS JAMES! WHAT-WHAT DO WE DO?!”
”I DONT KNOW! THIS WAS YOUR IDEA!”
The idea of them going on a date already made them both uncomfortable. The thought of them actually together felt so, SO much worse.
What were they going to do?!