Valentine's Day, 1976

A cough came from behind Remus.
"Um, hey, Moony?" Sirius glanced over his shoulder quickly. "Do you have a moment? I mean..." He sat down next to him.

Remus wiped his nose, avoiding Sirius' eyes. "Um... yeah... sure..." Shit. Shitshitshitshithshit. I do NOT want Sirius seeing me in my pity parade. "What is it?" Remus asked. "Did you get yelled at by Molly, er something?" he mumbled.

Sirius took a deep breath.
"In a way, yeah, she did. She told me to stop moping around and tell you the truth...Y'see I..." he started. "I-I've ...since third year... I just ...and I've.." Damn it, speak English!
"Here!" He thrust the crumpled paper at Remus. "Just read it... it's for you."

There once was a werewolf named Moony,
With whom I wished I could get spoony.
When Valentine's Day arrived,
My heart, it did cry,
So now I'm saying I love thee!
"Sirius..."
"That last line didn't even rhyme."

Sirius blushed deeply and fiddled with his hair, a nervous habit.
"Y-you don't like it, do you? Shit, I'm terrible at poetry. Anyway, this is the part where we both feel awkward, I assume, and you say we're just friends and walk away and I sit here crying and then tomorrow Prongs'll ask what happened, and we'll pretend nothing happened but it DID happen and what happened was I destroyed the Marauders in one poorly written, bloody little love poem." He pulled his knees up, hiding his face. "You can go now, if you want."

Remus giggled. He actually had the gall to giggle. "Sirius, you are an idiot, you know that right?" Sirius loved him. Sirius actually loved him. Still laughing, he mustered up his Gryffindor courage, and quickly kissed Sirius on the lips.

"Ooorrrr you can do that..." Sirius felt suddenly weak. He frowned, "Wait so... What was that? That wasn't out of pity, was it?" Oh please say it wasn't... He watched Remus' expression closely. The beautiful brown eyes didn't seem to betray any hint of pity. Sirius allowed himself to hope... Just a little.

"Pity?" Remus was still laughing. He couldn't stop. He was just so happy. "No, Sirius. If there's one thing I feel towards you, it's not pity. I love you. I'm in love with you." Remus continued grinning, not caring if he looked like a love-sick idiot.

"YES!" Sirius grinned broadly. "You do! You do! Merlin's pants, yes!" He flew forward, hugging Remus. "I have been waiting for this moment since third year," he breathed. This was officially the best moment of his life.

Remus giggled. Again. Oh, god, he sounds like a second-year Hufflepuff girl.... "It was third year for you two? Merlin, you do realize we could have told each other three years ago?" Remus scooted a bit closer to Sirius. Well, damn. They were in love. He could be as close as he damn pleased.

Sirius burst out laughing. "Wow, I feel like such an idiot for thinking you'd never..."
The song changed again.
Let's all get up and dance to a song
That was a hit before your mother was born...
Sirius stood up, offering Remus his hand. "Shall we? Non-awkwardly, this time?"

Remus blushed, but took Sirius' hand. He laughed, "I still don't know how to dance, though..."

"Here, just let me lead." Sirius smiled as he took Remus' hand. "So, worried about anyone seeing us now?" He loved how the dim candlelight in the Great Hall illuminated Remus' eyes... He tried not to swoon. But he could swoon if he wanted to, now.
He glanced around. On second thought, nevermind.

Remus blushed as he put his hand on Sirius' shoulder. "Worried? Yes. You have hoards of fangirls. They're not going to be happy if they see you dancing with me..." Remus gulped. He'd gotten threatening mail more than once from some of Sirius' scarier fanclub members.

"Erm, yeah. We may have to kill them..." Sirius looked serious (DO NOT JUDGE THE PUN. YOU TRY REPHRASING IT.) but there was a twinkle in his eye. "If they try to hurt you, Ill protect you, Moony." He leaned in closer slightly. Remus was so incredibly attractive...

Remus blushed deeper, if that was possible. "Really...?" He asked. He felt special with Sirius telling him he'd protect him. God, this entire night is just too amazing... I am way too lucky...

(I feel we're going to need Lily soonish...)
"Im sorry, did that sound too weird?". Sirius said, misreading Remus' expression. "I didn't, like, mean you can't protect yourself or-- or anything. I just-- But I do want to be there for you! Not in a stalker way or---" He stared down at his feet, quickly reduced to a mass of red stuttering.

Remus' head shot up immediately. "No, no! I... I sort of.... like it..." he admitted, blushing. He looked at Sirius, and smiled. "So, are we dancing, or not?"

"Oh! Right! Sorry..." Sirius resumed leading Remus in slow circles. "So, um... When are we, erm, going to tell Wormtail and Prongs?" ARE we going to tell them? he wondered. "Or Evans, even?"

(Yeah... we need Lily right about now... I dunno what to say... )

(LILY TO THE RESCUE *superhero music*)

Valentines's Day. Lily truly hated the holiday. Ever since first year, a certain bespectacled raven-haired young Maruader made the day a living hell. Not only did he scare all the blokes off, but he was constantly stalking/asking-out/teasing her and the like. Something the redhead truly didn't appreciate. She hated the attention. She hated the fuss. And she hated Potter in general (or, at least, that's what she told herself. No matter how good his arse looked in the slacks or how vibrant his eyes were or how utterly toned his arms seemed).

That was why Lily chose to skip out on the first half of the dance and patrol the halls instead. She had heard, along the grapevine, that Potter had detention. Still, she didn't want to risk it. She'd rather he be engrossed with some poor Hufflepuff then her. A small voice in the back of her mind popped up. Or would you? Would you really want him paying some other girl attention? Shut up, she spat to it, blushing brightly. You know nothing. Contrary to popular belief, I know everything. I am you.

However, patrolling the halls soon grew boring and she decided to doll herself up and at least show up at the dance. After all, it would be interesting to see the couples and people watch. She would always be a wallflower. And hopefully Potter would be in detention. She definitely did not want to deal with him on today of all days. Back in her dorm, she showered and used a quick drying charm on her hair, pulling it up into a high bun with a few pieces of hair around her face. Make up was applied quickly, a dress of emerald hue pulled on, and she was out the door, tugging on high heels.

With small sigh, she headed down to the Great Hall, alone.

It was then Sirius spotted her, over Remus' shoulder.
"Speak of the devil! It's Evans!"
Probably only came because Prongs wasn't here. Poor girl, being constantly stalked by Jamie and Snivvellus... It's a wonder she's survived.

Remus looked over his shoulder, and blushed. "Oh, hi Lily..." He dropped Sirius arms to stand next to him.

Lily smirked slightly at the pair, raising her eyebrows at Sirius. Well, this was an interesting development. Sure, she had known Remus liked Sirius. It was very obvious to her. She had had her suspicions of Sirius returning the feelings, as well. However, she hadn't expected the fool to act on them. Knowing his family, she had expected him to repress such emotions, especially since Regulus was in the room with his date.

She turned to Remus, giving him a smile, trying to convey silent words through her eyes. I'm happy for you. But, if he hurts you, I'm castrating him.
"Hello Black, 'lo Remus. Lovely night, eh?" her smile slipped back into a smirk.

It was when Lily raised her eyebrows that Sirius realized that he was still holding Remus' waist. He dropped his arms to his side and turned a funny shade of red.
Come to think of it, the floor was rather interesting tonight. "Hello Evans," he said, as if nothing were at all out of the ordinary, and he were actually meeting her gaze like a normal human being.