Doesn't Ring a Bell

The next day, as Remus, James, Sirius and Peter all walked into the great hall, nearly everybody put on a blank face, completely devoid of any emotion. The Marauders didn't really notice it until Peter tripped over somebody's bag, causing a jar of frogspawn to smash everywhere, and the person that the bag belonged to didn't look up or even seem to care. That's when James and Peter realized they had made a huge mistake.

"Hey, Lupin," Remus heard a 3^rd year Ravenclaw hiss at him. He looked around, and the boy made kissy faces at him. Something clicked in Remus's brain, and he turned on Sirius. "What did you do?" he asked menacingly.

"Moony- Remus, I swear it wasn't me, I wouldn't do that." Sirius looked alarmed, though he hadn't done it; he had no idea what Remus may do to him if he thought he had.

"Remusitwasn'thimIswearitwasmeandJames!" blurted out Peter.

This took a moment for Remus to figure out what Peter had said, because he had jumbled the words together, but when he had, he rounded on them instead of poor Sirius.

"Alright then, what did you do?" he asked just as menacingly.

"Well, um, you see..." James proceeded to tell Remus all about the previous night...

Flash back

"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!"

"Go on then, Peter, spit it out," James was slightly annoyed at him for interrupting a conversation he had been having with Luccieta, one of the most popular girls in the school, and who had promised to set him up with Lily.

"Er..." Peter didn't really want to say something this important in front of her. James noticed his reluctance and thought that asking Peter to tell him a private conversation he'd overheard in front of Luccieta wasn't the best idea.

He motioned for Peter to follow him out the portrait hole, with Luccieta looking on curiously.

"What do you want, Wormtail? I was having a very important conversation..." He glanced longingly over his shoulder to the portrait hole, where Luccieta was waiting to help him with his Evans troubles.

"James, Moony fancies Emma!"

"Who?" James was as clueless as ever, and he wasn't really paying attention, he just kept looking back at the portrait hole.

"Emma! You know, emotionless Emma? In Evans' dorm, I think..."

"Wait, so Moony fancies this Emma bird, and she is in the same room as Evans... Wormtail, we have to get these two together!"

"W-Why?" Peter was so confused, why would James want Remus to date one of the least popular girls in school?

"Well, if Moony goes out with Emma, she will start hanging around with us, and so I can talk to her about Evans since she is in her dorm, it's the perfect plan!"

"Er...if you say so," Peter said nervously.

"Well, thanks Pete, I have to go back in and talk to Luccieta. Later!"

He turned around, told the Fat lady the password (green tea leaves), climbed though the portrait hole and ran smack bang into Luccieta, who had obviously been trying to hear what they were saying.

"Ouch - Okay, Luce, turns out I don't need your help after all, I've come up with a foolproof plan."

Luccieta looked surprised.

"Oh, and may I ask what this foolproof plan of yours is?" Luccieta asked curiously.

Can't be that foolproof, considering it came one of the biggest fools in Gryffindor... she thought to herself.

"Okay, don't tell anybody, but Remus fancies Emma."

Emma? As in 'Emotionless Emma'? Luccieta wondered.

"...And so I have to get them together so Emma can become one of our friends by association and since she is in Evans' dorm, she can try and get her to go out with me." James finished.

Oh, brilliant plan. Luccieta thought.

"Oh, brilliant plan," she said to him.

"You think?"

"No, I was being sarcastic, now if you'll excuse me I have to go tell the rest of the school who Remus fancies," she said nastily, and walked off, leaving James standing there wondering what would happen the next morning.

End flash back

"Oh, so it really wasn't Sirius. Sorry, mate." Sirius looked relieved that Remus was no longer mad at him.

Instead, Remus was now advancing on James.

"Hey, what about Pete? He's as much at fault as I -"

He was then cut off rather rudely on account of Remus's hands closing around his neck.

"Why would you tell something like this to Luccieta? Are you really that much of a fool?" Remus hissed. Of course, James couldn't answer as Remus was cutting off his air supply. Peter darted around nervously, thankful that Remus had forgotten his part in all this.

"Remus!"

Remus turned around, subsequently dragging James with him, as he still refused to let go of his throat.

"Oh. Hi, Emma," he said pleasantly, his hands still wrapped tightly around James's neck. "Nice day, don't you think?"

"Er, sure, whatever," she replied, looking in concern at James who had now turned an ugly shade of purple. "Don't you think you should let him go now?"

Remus looked at James, noticed that he seemed to be going limp, and quickly dropped him. James lay on the floor, gasping for breath.

"Sorry about that. I just found out he was the one who told Luccieta I fancy you, and she told the rest of the school."

"Oh, yes, so it's true then?" she asked nervously, blushing.

"Oi! Lupin! You and Reed going to get it on over there?" a boy yelled, making movements with his pelvis.

Ah, so her last name is Reed, Remus thought to himself.

"Er, I have to go, I might see you around," he said to Emma.

"Oh, alright then." She looked a bit put out.

As Remus left the hall, Sirius said, "You should probably go after him; his social life has never had this kind of blow before."

"Oh, alright then, but where will he go?" she asked.

"Well, there's this little known bar in Hogsmede, called the Groovy Gillyweed, it's owned by a family of wizards and witches who thought that the 60's were the best time in the world."

"How do I get there?" she asked firmly.

"Well, it involves breaking some rules..."

"Continue."

"Okay, at 8 o'clock there is a passageway straight to the bar right behind that portrait of Gladys the Great on the third floor. It only opens from 8:00 to 8:01 though, so you have to be quick, once you're in, and it's closed, there is only one way to go, and that's straight forward. Good luck." Sirius smiled at her, and then went off to berate Peter for telling James, because they all knew James couldn't keep a secret.

* * * * *

So, at a little before 7:00 that night, Emma snuck down from her dormitory, and saw Remus dart through the portrait hole. Of course, she followed him. Though the corridors, avoiding teachers and Mrs. Norris, all the while making sure Remus didn't notice her. When they finally reached the portrait of Gladys the Great on the third floor, it was two minutes until 8:00. Emma watched as Remus stood patiently, waiting for the time when the passage would open. As the clock stuck 8:00, Gladys darted out of her portrait, and they could hear her running through the other portraits. Where she was going, nobody really cared. Remus carefully moved the portrait aside to reveal a hole in the wall just big enough for him. He crept into the hole, careful not to wake any of the other portraits, and it swung back to cover the hole. Emma followed. She followed him through the passage, careful not to make a sound, or else Remus would know she was there. Finally, she saw Remus crawl through a hole and into a brightly lit, music filled room. After she had clambered through the hole as well, she looked around. The room was filled with witches and wizards, all wearing tie dyed robes and all dancing to the 60's music blaring from a loudspeaker by the wall. She looked around anxiously, trying to find Remus, and noticed him sitting moodily at the bar; he had already downed two glasses of firewhisky, and was starting his third.

I am so sick of being Emotionless Emma, from now on, I'm just...Emma, she thought to herself as she slowly but surely made her way through the throng of people and towards the bar....