You Shouldn't Kiss Me Like This

I've got a funny feeling

The moment that your lips touched mine

Something shot right through me

My heart skipped a beat in time

Sirius was checking his reflection in the mirror of the boys' dormitory when Remus entered the room.

He laughed. "Calm down. You look fine."

"Fine, huh? Just fine?" Sirius grinned.

Remus sat down on the first bed in the room, Peter Pettigrew's. He watched as Sirius tugged at the sleeves of his solid white dress robes. He could not help but laugh inwardly: Sirius would do anything to denounce his name--even dress in all white robes, stupid as he may look. His admiration for Sirius had been so since fifth year, but he would not admit for the life of himself that it was infatuation.

"Moony?" said Sirius.

Remus realized he was staring. He felt heat creep up his neck and into his cheeks. "Sorry," he mumbled, turning away.

He could almost hear Sirius's grin. Sirius joined Remus on the bed, still struggling with a crease in his robes. Remus watched uninterestedly, wondering why Sirius was sitting on Peter Pettigrew's bed with him, in white robes, before the start of the dance to end all dances. He was about to ask him this, when Sirius looked up at him.

"Found a date?" he murmured. Remus was sure there was something in his eyes, but could not quite decipher what.

Remus looked up at him, shaking his head. It was true, Remus had not found anyone to go to the ball with. He could have, but he did not want to come out sounding too much like James, so he did not say so. For a split second, Remus thought he had purposely left himself free to go to the ball with Sirius.

"We'd...mm...better go to Prongs..." said Sirius uncertainly.

You shouldn't kiss me like this

Unless you mean it like that

Cause I'll just close my eyes

And I won't know where I'm at

We'll get lost on this dance floor

Spinnin' around

And around, and around, and around

Sirius and Remus found James downstairs in the common room, "showing" Lily Evans just how great her dress robes looked on her. It was all Remus could do to stifle a laugh, and he saw out of the corner of his eye that Sirius was finding it quite trying as well. Remus thought the two of them should just sneak on off to the ball, leaving Lily and James to their own business, but Sirius had other plans.

He promptly walked up to James. "We're ready, you know," he said loudly.

James broke away with obvious reluctance. "Really?" he breathed, catching his breath.

Sirius screwed up his face. "James, your lips, mouth, nose, cheeks, and chin are covered in Sassy Strawberry Snow..."

"Oh." James took the sleeve of his robes and rubbed it around his face. "Better?"

"Uhh...yeah." Sirius's eyebrows were raised: the lipstick was evermore evident.

"So..." said James slowly, "who are you going with?"

Sirius's eyes lingered briefly on Remus, who offered him a weak smile. "Well... I couldn't get a date..."

"And Remus couldn't either, right?" said James excitedly.

"Um, no... no, Remus couldn't..."

"Great! Lily, did you hear that? Haha! Remus and Sirius are going to the ball together. If you'll excuse us, I need to go set up arrangements with the gentlemen, here..."

They're all watchin' us now

They think we're falling in love

They'd never believe

We're just friends

When you kiss me like this

I think you mean it like that

If you do maybe kiss me again

Remus was a complete mess by the time that he, Sirius, James, Lily, Peter, and Peter's date, Andromeda Black (Who had been kind enough to go with Peter, despite the fact that he was thick. Remus suspected it was only out of pity for her best cousin's friend.) were standing outside the Great Hall. Not everyone knew of his sexual orientation, so what would this do? And Sirius... poor Sirius; everyone knew he was straight. What had James done? Sure, it was all in good fun, but this could ruin everything Sirius had going for him. And that included heaps of women pining after him.

While Remus was musing the future declination of his and Sirius's reputations, the doors opened in front of them. He was positive his stomach would leap out through his mouth as he felt Sirius's arm link his.

Remus knew all eyes were on him and Sirius; they were, without a doubt, two of the most popular seventh years in Hogwarts. Remus had a feeling he was only known because his best friends were James Potter and Sirius Black. He could hear murmuring as Sirius escorted him toward the center of the floor. His stomach flipped over as he stopped him and the music began to play.

Everybody swears we make the perfect pair

But dancing is as far as it goes

Girl you've never moved me quite

The way you moved me tonight

I just wanted you to know

I just wanted you to know

"This isn't so bad, Rem," said Sirius, waltzing Remus around the room.

"Yeah..." Remus agreed nervously. He did not share Sirius's eagerness.

"Mhm..." Sirius muttered off-handedly, seemingly distracted.

"What's on your mind, Padfoot?" Remus whispered quietly into Sirius's ear.

"James..."

"James?" he asked, following his friend's gaze towards James and Lily, who were dancing zealously.

"Yes." Sirius frowned, turning back to Remus.

"I see. What's going on with James?"

"Well... there's a...er...another part to this bet," said Sirius tensely.

"Another part?" Remus raised his thin brown eyebrows.

Sirius looked around anxiously. He then leaned in and kissed Remus more passionately than Remus could say he had ever been kissed.

You shouldn't kiss me like this
Unless you mean it like that
Cause I'll just close my eyes
And I won't know where I'm at
We'll get lost on this dance floor
Spinnin' around
And around, and around, and around

Sirius broke away, his lips lingering for a minute on Remus's.

"I..." Remus tried, to no avail, to tell Sirius how wonderful his kisses were.

"Remus, don't. Please, don't. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have..." Sirius's words came out in a jumbled mess. "Sirius. It's okay. I... I liked it..." he said, torn between a smile and a frown. He was vaguely aware of all of the people in the Hall who had stopped dancing, staring between the two, thunderstruck.

"Oh." Sirius looked puzzled.

"Umm..." Remus said, confused, "maybe we should...go...to bed...or something."

Sirius gulped, but he nodded nonetheless. He removed his hands from Remus's waist.

"Sirius?" Remus asked as they exited, all eyes on them.

"Yuh?" Sirius said thickly.

"Umm... please don't do that again. I mean... not like that. I might think you might mean it. I don't... I don't want that to happen... It might ruin everything between the four of us. I don't want that."

Again, Sirius moved his head up and down in agreement.

They're all watchin' us now
They think we're falling in love
They'd never believe we're just friends
When you kiss me like this
I think you mean it like that
If you do baby kiss me again
Kiss me again

Remus stayed in the common room, waiting for James and Lily to show up. He knew it would take a while, so he told Sirius to go on up to bed, knowing he had had an extremely rough night. Remus had brought down a book, waiting for the twosome to come in from their snogfest by the lake.

"James!" he yelled as a face topped with untidy black hair popped past the open portrait door.

"Hiya, Moony," James slurred. Lily, who entered behind him, giggled.

Remus frowned. "James, are you drunk?"

"Umm... I dunno..." he said, laughing.

Remus shook his head at his friend. "I need to talk to you about something."

"You and Sirius?" said James, suddenly very sober.

Remus put on a quizzical look, then nodded.

"What about, then?" James persisted, taking a seat next to Remus, Lily following in suite.

"I just wanted to know..." he said lightly, but then figured that James did not deserve his kindness. "How could you do that to Sirius? He's supposed to be your best friend, James! How -- why -- did you tell him to kiss me? Do you know what you've done to his reputation, James? He'll never date another female for as long as he lives!"

Remus had never yelled at James; he had never planned to. Until now. He could feel his cheeks burning -- rather from anger or embarrassment as Lily and James looked strangely at him.

"Remus, what the hell are you on about?" said James in the most perplexed tone Remus had ever heard.

"You told Sirius to kiss me! Why didn't you tell me about that part of the bet?"

James raised his eyebrows at Remus. "That wasn't part of the bet."

-Fin-