Doesn't Ring a Bell

His dare done, he spat out the underpants, grabbed up his robes and ran spitting out of the great hall. He planned on scrubbing and rinsing his mouth out until next Christmas.

As he turned down the corridor to the closest boys' bathroom, he stopped. He thought he had seen a girl running into the library, and she appeared to be crying. Concerned for this girl, he walked tentatively through the library doors, wary of Madam Pince. The last time he had seen her, she had been throwing things at Sirius and James, and since he was their friend, he worried she might hold a grudge against him. As he didn't see her, he thought it would be safe to look for the girl - but where should he start...?

Well, he thought, I could always start at the beginning.

So he went up to the book shelves closest to him and started searching behind them.

He had just narrowly avoided taking his eye out on the corner of History of the Hippocampus, which somebody had shoved roughly back onto its shelf, when somebody spoke behind him.

"Who are you looking for, then?" said a girl's voice, quietly.

Remus turned around, and saw a girl with light brown hair, which hung limply around her face, shining grey eyes, and the saddest expression he had seen somebody wear for a long time.

"I'm pretty sure I'm looking for you, actually," he admitted.

"Me?" she said, confused. "Why on earth would you be looking for me, I've never even met you before."

"I saw you running into the library, and wanted to check whether you were alright."

"Well, I'm fine. I don't need people to check up on me," she said, and Remus detected a hint of resentment in her tone.

"Hey, why don't you tell me what's up? Come on, I won't bite." He smiled at her, cringing inside as he silently added, unless it's 'that time of the month'.

"Well, okay, but aren't you one of those 'Marauders'?" she asked, frowning. "You aren't just going to run back and tell your friends about how you got 'emotionless Emma' to show you her, well, her emotions to you, are you?"

Ahh, so this is the famous 'emotionless Emma' I have heard so much about from Lily, Remus thought. "No, I swear on my life, I will not repeat a word of this current conversation to my friends," he said solemnly. "If you want, I won't even let them know I talked to you."

"Oh, that would be great, thank you," she gushed. Remus sensed that she had been waiting for somebody to open up to for ages.

They sat down at the nearest table and Remus listened patiently to her talking about how everybody thought she had no emotions, because she didn't like to show them in public; and about how nobody wanted to be her friend because she was so strange and unpopular.

After a few minutes, they heard footsteps near the doors, and somebody called, "Moony, are you in here? I know you probably are, you're not anywhere else and you spend far too much time in here." He realized his friends must be looking for him, and quickly asked, "What year are you in?"

"Same as you," came the reply. Remus was surprised; he had never seen this girl around before. "Well, I'd better get going, my friends are trying to find me - I'll meet you back here same time next week, okay?"

"Okay." She smiled, and pointed at his legs. Remus's heart did a strange kind of back flip in his chest; she had a very pretty smile. Then he realized he was still wearing nothing but leather short shorts and a dog collar.

"Well, goodbye then."

"Later." And Remus went off to meet his friends, who immediately started teasing him about what had happened at breakfast.

* * * * * *

"Okay." Sirius cornered Remus after charms one day. "Why have you been so happy lately?"

"Why, whatever do you mean?" asked Remus innocently.

"You know exactly what I mean; ever since you had to do that dare a few days ago, you've been grinning like an idiot and not even attempting to tell us off for..." He paused to think. "Well, whatever we've done in the past few days - I forget. The point is, you're acting like you enjoyed it or something," Sirius finished, sounding disgusted.

Remus paled. If his friends thought he liked Snape... no... he didn't even want to think about it.

"Are you insane? You must have an incredibly sick mind to think that I would have enjoyed having to do... that." He really didn't want to think about it.

"Well, tell me why you've been so happy then. I swear, I won't tell anybody." Sirius grinned. Remus didn't quite trust Sirius when he grinned like that, but if the other option was having people think he liked Snape...

"Fine, but you have to stick to your promise, okay?"

"Remus, of course I will stick to my promise," said Sirius innocently.

Remus proceeded to tell Sirius what had happened after he left the Great Hall.

"...and then you lot came along, and she had to go," he finished.

"Are you serious? You have a crush on emotionless Emma?" Sirius was shocked.

"I do not have a crush," said Remus, offended. "Remus Lupin does not get crushes. Remus Lupin may fancy somebody, but he is too mature to have silly crushes."

Hmm...maybe it's not a crush I have on Katrina then... Sirius thought.

"So, you admit that you fancy her then?" Sirius had Remus trapped. "Oh, I can't wait to tell James and Peter!"

"Hey!"

"Oh, fine, I won't tell them."

"That's better," Remus said sulkily.

"But seriously, why her? You could do so much better, mate." Sirius was very confused.

"Well, maybe I think she's a really nice person, and quite pretty to boot, has that ever crossed your mind?"

"No," came the reply.

"Well, obviously you wouldn't think of that, you just think of girls as playthings," Remus said nastily.

Sirius was stung. He turned away to walk back to the Gryffindor common room. "Sirius, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it, I just got mad that you were teasing me about fancying Emma."

Sirius kept on walking; he was going to prove to Remus that he didn't just think of girls as 'playthings.' He just had absolutely no idea how. He heard Remus trying to follow him and apologize, and broke into a run - he was faster than Remus, and lost him when he turned into the next corridor. He hid in a secret closet behind a tapestry of Doris the Dainty, and tried not to make a sound as he heard Remus passing him.

"Black!" somebody hissed loudly behind him. He turned around, and as he couldn't see who was there, he just put his hand over where he thought their mouth would be. He listened intently. No sound of Remus. "Mmmpphhh!" Sirius took his hand off the person's mouth, whoever they were. Okay, let me just see if it's a girl or a guy...

Sirius started feeling around the shoulder area, but as he was moving around to the chest, the person grabbed his wrists. Hmm...feminine hands, so it's either a girl, or Snape.

"Don't even think about it, Black, not if you like your testicles on your body." Okay, so I guess it's a girl, and what girls threaten me other than... oh, right. But still, her voice sounds familiar.

Sirius flushed as the realization hit him. Thankfully, it was way too dark to see it. I can't believe I'm in a closet with the girl I've liked since my 2^nd year...

"What are you doing barging into the very closet I am hiding in, Black?" Katrina asked.

"Well, why are you hiding in the first place?" Sirius countered smoothly.

"None of your business. Besides, I asked first."

"Oh wow, I haven't heard 'I asked first' since about first year." Sirius was having fun taunting her. He had no idea how to act around a girl he really liked.

"Doesn't matter - the point is, we're both in a closet, and Remus is right outside the door. I know you're hiding from him." How does she do that... oh, never mind.

"How can you be certain he's out there?"

"Listen."

So he did. And when he listened closely, he could hear breathing trying to be stifled, ever so quietly. Damn.

"Well, I guess I'm stuck in here, what about you?" Sirius was determined to find out why she was in there.

"Okay, well, I'm actually hiding from your little brother."

"Regulus? Why, what's he done now?"

"Oh, he just keeps hitting on me; I needed a break."

"Fair enough." After this short exchange of friendly(ish) words, silence ensued.

Suddenly, Sirius had the sudden urge to grab Katrina and snog her till neither of them could breathe. Better quell that urge... oh, shit.

Any male would have had the same reaction to this situation: trapped in a small closet with a hot girl, thinking about snogging, and... well, yes. That didn't make it any less embarrassing, though...

"Black..." Unfortunately for Sirius, they were in close confines in that closet.

"Umm... it's just a quill in my pocket, I swear." He cringed, 'I've got a quill in my pocket'? You couldn't come up with anything better than that?

"Pretty big quill." Katrina was smiling, though Sirius couldn't see it. Sirius blushed - was she making fun of him?

I so want to snog him, but I'm not sure how he'd react... oh, screw it, Katrina thought, and pressed her lips against his. She started to pull away as she realized he was just standing there, but then he wrapped his arms around her and started kissing her back with gusto. After this had gone on for about 40 seconds they both needed some air, and broke apart from each other, gasping. "...wow," said Sirius breathlessly.

"Yeah...wow," echoed Katrina.

"You think Remus is still out there? Cause I think we need to find a better place to do this, where I don't have a broom poking me in the arse."

"Oh, who cares if he is, let's get out of here."

They came tumbling out of the broom closet, straight into the arms of Professor Dumbledore. He eyed their tousled hair and robes with interest. "Erm... Professor, it's not what it looks like, I mean, we can explain," said Sirius nervously, looking at Katrina to see what her reaction to this new development was.

"Yeah, we weren't performing illegal jinxes or stealing the brooms, we were just making out," she told Dumbledore. What a woman... Sirius thought admiringly.

Dumbledore winked. "Well, off you go then Miss Collins, I trust you are looking for somewhere more comfortable to, er, make out."

We will leave them now. Nothing more happened than snogging and maybe a bit of groping, I assure you.

Meanwhile, in another part of the school:

"James, James," gasped Peter, having run halfway across the school to find his friend. "You'll never believe what I just heard Moony telling Padfoot!"