Lupin's True Love

December 20, 1972

Veronica sighed deeply as she sank onto the bench across from James, Peter, and Sirius as Remus sat next to her. "Are you staying for Christmas, Sirius?"

"Nope. Amazingly my mother wants me to come home for the holidays." Sirius bit into a piece of chicken. "What about you, Remus?"

"Mum and Dad want to go to the Mediterranean. So they need to find a 'safe' place for us." Remus turned to Peter. "How about you, Peter?"

"Heading home. I don't know what Mum wants to do." Peter sipped his pumpkin juice as Emma, Lily, Patricia, and Jessica gathered around them. "What about you, Lily? Are you staying or going home?"

"Going home. I can't wait. Mum and Dad are so proud that I've got some really good friends." Lily started away from the group. "I'm going to finish my work for the holidays. See you guys later." Lily waved as Jessica followed her.

Emma sat beside Veronica while Patricia sat on the other side of Remus. "What about you and James, Veronica? Are you going home?"

"Yeah. To tell you the truth, I'm a little nervous about going to the Potters house." Veronica ate a bit of her chicken.

"Why?" James looked up from his plate.

"I don't know your mom and dad, James. Are they nice or mean? Will they like me?" Veronica gave him a small smile.

"They'll love you." Remus leaned closer to Veronica and placed a small kiss on her cheek.

Sirius snorted into his pumpkin juice. "Why don't you give her a real kiss like we know you can?" He gathered his things as Remus picked up his and Veronica's bags.

Veronica glared at Sirius as they left the Great Hall. "I wish you guys would just get over it. I mean so what if Remus and I like each other."

"That's not it." Sirius grinned like the mischief-maker that he is. "I just want to see you two kiss." He took off like a rabbit down the corridor.

"I'm going to kill you, Black!!!" Veronica took off after him. She almost caught him as he reached the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Mistletoe!!" Sirius shot into the common room with Veronica on his heels. "You really need to let Remus take care of your extra energy, Vee."

"You are so dead!!!" Veronica chased Sirius around the common room as a Prefect walked into the room.

"Hey!" He grabbed Veronica around the waist and held her while Sirius made funny faces at her. "What's going on here?"

"I'm going to kill him, Robert!" Veronica struggled against Robert's arm and tried to kick at Sirius.

"Why?" Robert turned to Remus, Peter, James, Patricia, and Emma as they stepped into the common room. "What did he do?"

"He made the mistake of telling Remus and Veronica to kiss like we ALL know that they can." James took a step away from Remus and dropped his bag as Veronica managed to tear herself from Robert's grip. "It just so happens that I agree with him." It was as if he hadn't been standing beside Remus at all.

"Come here, Potter!!" Remus dropped the bags and chased James around the common room as the other Gryffindors cheered James and Sirius on. "You had better learn to sleep with your eyes open!!"

Veronica chased Sirius one-way around the room as Remus chased James the other way. Peter sank into one of the comfortable chairs and watched with excitement as Robert tried to catch them. Remus grabbed Veronica as she ran into him. James and Sirius stood on the opposite side of the table. Sirius held his side as he pointed at the ceiling. James, Peter, Emma, Robert, Patricia, Jessica, and Lily burst out laughing as Remus and Veronica looked up at the ceiling. There hung a bunch of mistletoe directly above their heads. Veronica blushed as she lowered her gaze to Remus' face. She watched as the anger faded from his eyes.

"I guess they'll get to see us kiss." Remus pulled Veronica closer as the girls in the common room all sighed.

"Gross!" One of the first year boys struggled against Sirius' hand over his mouth.

Remus leaned closer toward Veronica's face. Gently he pressed his lips to hers. They barely heard the shouts from the others in the room as Remus deepened the kiss. Veronica let her body lean into the kiss as Remus tightened his hold on her waist. The flashes of several cameras flickered through her eyelids. Remus pulled away from Veronica slightly and gazed into her passion filled emerald eyes. They ignored the cheers coming from the various places around the common room. Veronica's cheeks reddened slightly as she lowered her eyes from Remus' love filled eyes. Veronica pulled herself from Remus' arms and rushed up the stairs to her dorm room. Remus started after her but Lily stopped him.

"I'll go talk to her." She motioned to James and Sirius who were giving each other high fives. "You go tell them to behave."

"Thank you." Remus moved toward the chairs occupied by James and Sirius.

Lily motioned to Emma and together they climbed the stairs to their dorm room. Veronica lay across her bed as tears coursed down her cheeks. Lily softly closed the door and Emma remained in front of it as a guard. Lily moved to the bed and sank onto it. She stroked Veronica's hair as Veronica continued to cry.

"Why don't you sit up and tell me what's wrong?" Lily tried to get Veronica to sit up.

"No." Veronica's answer was muffled slightly by the pillow over her face.

"Why not?" Emma moved from the door.

"I don't want to." Veronica barely looked at Lily and Emma as she rolled onto her back.

"Does it have anything to do with the kiss?" Lily motioned to Emma as she sank onto the floor beside Veronica's bed. Veronica nodded as Emma glanced up at Lily. "What is it?"

"Nothing."

"It had to be something. Are you upset that James and Sirius tricked you into kissing?"

"Not really. I just wish..."

"You wish what?" Lily flopped onto her stomach as Veronica rolled over onto her stomach again.

"I just wish Remus and I could have had our first real kiss without an audience." Veronica sniffled as Emma stifled a giggle. "That's the second time James has seen us kiss."

"Tell me how you really feel about Remus." Lily moved a lock of Veronica's hair.

"He's my best friend." Veronica sat up and hugged her pillow to her chest.

"And...?" Lily sank onto the floor beside Emma. "Keep going."

"And I love him." Veronica heaved a deep sigh. "How do I know that he feels the same way about me?"

"We're women. We ask." Lily climbed to her feet and pulled Veronica to hers. "Why not go into the boys dorm and ask him how he feels about you? I mean how hard could that be?"

"Really hard. You see what a hard time James and Sirius gives us about liking each other and that was before the kiss." Veronica tried to pull her hands from Lily's. "What kind of torture will that bring upon me?"

"Don't worry about James and Sirius. We'll keep them busy." Lily turned to Emma. "Emma, do you think you can keep Sirius occupied?"

"Do I hate Potions? Don't answer that. Of course I can keep Sirius very busy." Emma moved to her trunk and removed a tube of lip-gloss. "I only need two minutes to sit on him and kiss him senseless."

"Good. I'll get Patricia to do the same to James and Jessica will take care of Peter." Lily turned as they started down the stairs.

"I'll take care of Peter for what?" Jessica stopped on a stair below Veronica, Lily, and Emma as Patricia stopped behind her.

"We need to keep James, Peter, and Sirius busy. Emma is taking out Sirius. Patricia, James is yours. Jessica, you get Peter." Lily placed a hand on Veronica's shoulder. "Veronica needs to talk to Remus for a while and doesn't need any distractions."

"We were on our way up to tell you that Remus was finished yelling at James and Sirius." Jessica crossed her arms. "Remus went up to the dorm room already and I think Robert is still fuming about the chase through the common room. I don't think he's going to let Veronica up into the boys dorm."

"I'll take care of Robert." Lily motioned the girls down the stairs. "Positions, ladies."

Each girl moved down the stairs and intercepted James, Peter, Robert, and Sirius. Lily kept Robert's back to the dormitory stairs as Veronica moved up the stairs. She never heard the shouts as each girl started to kiss their targets. Veronica raised her hand and softly knocked on the door. Remus jerked the door open and stared at Veronica. He grabbed her hand and pulled her into the room. He quickly shut the door behind her. He pushed her onto his bed and pulled the curtains closed.

"What are you doing in the boys dorm?"

"I need to talk to you." Veronica twisted his comforter as she moved her feet under her.

"Why did you run away from me?" Remus wrapped his arms around her.

"I was embarrassed because you kissed me in front of the whole common room."

"So was I. I really wish that we could have caught James and Sirius and really hurt them."

Veronica giggled as Remus pulled her closer to him. "You have no idea how much they are going to wish that they had never done that."

"Huh?"

"Patricia is kissing James, Jessica is kissing Peter, Emma is kissing Sirius, and Lily is kissing Robert."

"I want pictures of this." Remus started to leave the bed.

"No. It was Lily's plan so that I could talk to you." Veronica pulled Remus back onto the bed. "Besides the same ones that took our picture will most likely be taking theirs."

"Was your embarrassment the only thing that was bothering you?"

"No. I need to tell you something." Veronica heaved a sigh as Remus wrapped his arms around her again.

"What?"

"I love you."

Remus pulled away from her slightly. "Say that again."

"I love you."

"And I love you." Remus kissed her forehead. "I don't suppose that we could redo our first real kiss at a later date. I mean what happened in the common room shouldn't count because we were made to kiss because of the mistletoe."

"Let's wait a few months before we kiss again." Veronica wrapped her arms around Remus' waist.

"Okay. We should go down to the common room and check on the others." Remus helped Veronica up from his bed and led her to the stairs.

Together they made their way down the stairs. Remus and Veronica stepped into the common room to utter chaos. James was staring bug eyed at Emma who was still sitting on Sirius' lap and kissing him deeply. Patricia was wiping the lip-gloss from James' lips as Peter stoked Jessica's short blond hair. Robert twirled a strand of Lily's auburn hair around his finger while she traced the line of his cheek. Remus and Veronica looked at each other and broke into laughter. Emma pulled away from Sirius as Patricia turned from James. Jessica jumped from Peter's lap and Lily moved away from Robert.

"Sorry, guys, but you're not our types." Lily rushed up the girls' stairs as Patricia, Jessica, and Emma followed her.

James watched as Robert sank into a chair near them. "What was that all about?"
"Isn't payback fun, Remus?" Veronica held onto Remus as she laughed.

"It sure is." Remus tightened his hold on Veronica as James, Peter, Robert, and Sirius glared at them.

"Peter, you should have stopped James and Sirius." Veronica smiled as she and Remus made their way to the fireplace. "Robert, you shouldn't have tried to stop us from killing them."

"And we should never have made the comments that we did even if it was funny." Sirius stared toward the girls' stairs. "One question."

"Sure." Veronica leaned against Remus.

"How does Emma feel about me?" Sirius glanced up at Veronica's laughing face.

"You'll have to find out for yourself." Veronica turned to Remus. "I'm heading to bed. See you in the morning." Veronica stood on her toes and kissed Remus' cheek. "Good night."

"Good night." Remus watched as Veronica climbed the stairs.

Veronica entered her dorm room and had to duck to avoid getting hit with a pillow. Lily was sitting on her bed brushing her hair while Emma was dancing around the room with her pillow. Patricia was laying face down on her bed as Jessica drew hearts on a piece of parchment. They looked up as Veronica closed the door.

"Well?" Lily laid down her brush.

"We came to an agreement." Veronica moved to her trunk. "I want to know what it was like to kiss James, Peter, Robert, and Sirius."

"Robert was wonderful." Lily pulled her hair into a ponytail.

"Peter squeaked when I sat on his lap." Jessica sighed as she continued to draw her hearts.

"James jumped about three feet because I took him by surprise." Patricia rolled over and stared at the ceiling. "I'm so happy."

"Emma?" Veronica turned to Emma who was still dancing around the room.

"I'm in love." She twirled around the room once more before sinking onto her bed.

"With Sirius?" Veronica laughed as Emma nodded. "I know that he is wondering how you feel about him."

"Really?" Emma stared at Veronica.

"Yeah. I told him that he had to find out for himself." Veronica pulled her nightgown over her head. "Good night, ladies." She closed the curtains around her bed and drifted off to sleep.