Out of the closet
Lily’s head was scrambled (Runes definitely did not help with that) and in these moments there was only one person Lily needed.
Remus. She needed to find Remus.
Trouble was the boy seemed to be nowhere. Lily couldn’t find him anywhere. She had checked all his usual hideouts – the prefect quarters were empty, the quiet hidden alcove in the common room he frequented only highlighted his absence with the presence of his books, even the library did not feature his tall frame. Lily was at a loss. Of course, there was a chance he had landed himself in detention…Lily decided she would swing past McGonagall’s office just in case.
While she walked along the deserted upper floor corridor towards the teachers’ area, she was distracted by…noises. As a prefect, Lily, sadly, was used to hearing these types of noises – Remus and herself were not unused to finding a couple or two on their nightly rounds. Strangely, most people would not dare to attempt the supply cupboard in broad daylight, but Lily had known a rumour or two.
She approached the cupboard, unsure whether she could really be bothered kicking them out, when she heard a familiar voice.
“Wait- Sirius…”
And another familiar voice reply.
“Remus…please.”
Remus and Sirius?!
Together?
Lily was at a loss with what to do…clearly her friends were wanting to keep whatever they were doing, between the two of them, but at her core, Lily was a nosy bitch, and she was arrogant – she knew there had been something going on.
So, she opened the door, one hand ready to cover her eyes – just in case. As soon as she did, she heard a variety of shrieks and shouts of surprise. However, it was Sirius who came to first.
“Evans? What the hell?”
“Lily?” Remus asked, slowly removing his hand from Sirius’ hair – wow that boy really had something for his hair – and attempting to put some kind of space between them.
“We are circling back to whatever this” she waved a hand in front of her “is, but I need your help. Remus please.”
“I’m- what?” was Remus’ response to Lily telling him her current predicament.
“Exactly.” She replied. “I have no clue where this will go but…I am kind of intrigued. And Dora is never wrong.”
“Lily, you can’t be serious. That’s– it’s mad! And it’s not fair on Prongs. He is still my friend Lils.”
Lily sighed inwardly. She had hoped Remus would tell her to go with it, she was already halfway there, all she needed was his push, but she would be playing with Potter’s feelings, and that wasn’t fair, despite how she felt about him.
“Okay, Remus I–”
“If I may – Evans, Moony – personally I think you should go for it.” Sirius interrupted, revealing himself from the corner he had hidden himself in. “Not that I was eavesdropping or anything.” Remus gave him a look. “Okay I was! But I’m as sick as you, Evans, of his bloody crush. Plus, wouldn’t it be funny, Moony?” Sirius turned his eyes to Remus, who immediately started to soften.
Remus tried a different tactic. “Your brother?”
Sirius’ resolved wavered, as if he had forgotten that aspect of the situation; focused solely on embarrassing his best friend. “I…Regulus will be fine!” Sirius’ voice was tight. He was hiding something. “I’d like to see them both get humiliated.” He tried again.
Sensing a lost cause, Remus ran his hand through his curls, “Fine! But leave me out of it. A’right?”
Sirius turned to Lily, a smirk growing on his face. “Okay Evans, what’s our plan?”
Wanting the attention away from herself for a moment Lily decided she couldn’t contain her curiosity a second further. “First, I am circling back. Spill.”
Both boys had the decency to look embarrassed. They looked at one another, before Remus sighed.
“It’s only been going on for a little while…” he said finally.
Sirius snorted.
“Okay since the end of last term.”
“That was months ago! Remus, I saw you over the summer.”
“Hey, it was new, we were figuring things out.” Sirius said with a lewd raise of his eyebrows.
“Yeah, I bet you did a lot of ‘figuring things out’.” She muttered before continuing. “At least I won’t have to watch any more of Remus’ pining eyes.”
“‘Pining eyes’? You pined for me to Evans, Moony?”
“I did not.”
“That’s alright; I pined for you to James.” Remus’ cheeks flamed in response.
“Okay this is getting sickening.” Lily decided.
“You’re just jealous.” Sirius joked, sticking out his tongue.
Lily would only admit it to herself; she was jealous. Not specifically of Remus (though her 13-year-old self was crushed) but of the idea of having a someone. And now she was about to fake date her way into…what? She wasn’t sure what the end goal of her and Dora’s double dating scheme was.
“Anyways, speaking of James. The tosser.” Sirius said.
Oh yes, that was the end goal. Of course.
“Yes. James.” Lily conceded.