Heading the School

Chapter Nine

"You know what's coming up?" Lily said to Sirius one evening at the Auror class.

"Besides James?" Sirius snorted, causing Lily to glare at him. She was so fortunate to have her partner for the next few weeks in Auror Training be Sirius, who wasn't letting up since he found her and James in bed together.

"When are you going to get over that?" she frowned. "I think I liked you better when you didn't like the idea of us together."

"You know, Lily-love, it doesn't help that last night I walked by you two making out," Sirius grinned.

"We were not making out," Lily blushed. "And it's not like we were in public or anything."

"Fine then," Sirius gave her a dry look. "James was searching for your tonsils with his tongue in the far corner of the middle of the stairway that separates the two dormitories, which is two feet wide."

Lily rolled her eyes and read a sentence in the book they were supposed to be learning from silently. They were supposed to be studying technique for a complex spell and the professor was coming around to quiz them.

"Anyways, guess what is coming up? And not James."

"Halloween," Sirius said.

"First Hogsmeade visit of the year," Lily grinned. "It's going to be the weekend before Halloween."

"Yes, and?" Sirius said, nodding.

"And, don't you think that might be a good opportunity to go through with our little ‘plan?'" Lily asked, raising her eyebrow suggestively.

"Lily love, I've got five different plans going right now, you'll have to be more specific."

"The only one I know about," Lily rolled her eyes.

Sirius thought for a moment. "You mean the one concerning...ah, yes, now I understand. Moony and Emmeline." Sirius had come to Lily with an idea to maybe set up the two quiet Auror trainees on a date. They had been bouncing off ideas for possible date times and places, and, as they were partners, they had ample time to plan without looking too suspicious, in-between Sirius' ribbing, of course.

"So, what do you think?" Lily asked. "You're the ‘master of women,' so James says."

Sirius looked for the teacher (he was over with Alice and Kingsley), and then back to Lily.

"I think that you've got an idea there, the only problem is that Moony's a smart boy. He'll figure something out pretty quick, so the plan has to be very...discreet."

"Well, I haven't come up with anything incredible yet," Lily admitted. "Every time I come up with something, I come to a roadblock."

"What's that?" Sirius asked, throwing a glance over to the teacher who was steadily moving closer. He waved his wand around a bit to pretend like he was working hard.

"Well, I'm having difficulties with getting Emmeline to any spot of meeting. Mainly because she'll say no because I'll be there with James and that will be uncomfortable."

"Why is that a roadblock? That's an excellent idea," Sirius grinned. "I'll obviously be off with some girl, and that'll leave her and Moony all alone. They've nothing else to do but be uncomfortable together."

Lily thought about it for a moment. "But, that might not work. They could just find excuses to leave."

"But you won't let them," Sirius said.

"Then how will that get them together?" Lily said, flipping the page of her book back and forth. "Just forcing them to sit next to each other won't do anything, will it?"

"That's when I come in. I'll start ribbing him about sitting next to Emmeline back in the dormitory and pressure him to ask her on a date. I can make him do about anything, you know?"

"Are you sure about that?" Lily said. "Remus may be squeamish in the ‘girl' area."

"Lily, do you trust me?" Sirius asked.

"I suppose," Lily said. "But only because I know you can be relentless in the ribbing area."

"Speaking of which, James-"

"Shut it."

"Lily, I wanted to be alone with you today?" James frowned as they waded their way through the town towards the pub. "Why do Emmeline and Remus have to come with us?"

"Because, James, you get me alone every night, I barely ever get to see them anymore," Lily had been rehearsing this speech for some time, hoping to combat every complaint that James could come up with.

James said nothing else, but followed Lily into the Three Broomsticks, pouting. They found a table and waited. Lily was sure that Emmeline would come, because she had promised, and Remus had as well. It was only a matter of waiting.

"James? Are you and Lily eating here by yourselves?" Lily looked up to see Peter watching them hopefully. James shrugged and scooted over, much to Lily's chagrin. Emmeline came up to the table after Peter had situated himself.

"Hey Lily," she seemed much happier that it wasn't just James and Lily. Lily kept an eye out for Remus, trying to be quiet about it.

"Who're you looking for?" James asked. Lily almost wanted to hit him.

"Nothing," she said, sitting back and playing with the edge of the table.

Emmeline, never one to have much idle conversation, sat quietly next to Lily, who was equally as quiet. James and Peter were recounting some awesome feat of James. Lily turned to listen to them and realized that with someone like Peter around, it was hard not to boast.

"Lily, sorry I'm late," Remus said, coming up to the table. He saw that there were no seats left at the table and stood idly next to her.

"Here mate," James said, pulling up a seat next to him. Peter scooted closer to Emmeline, and she (as discreetly as possible) scooted the other way. Lily realized that all of her plans were completely ruined because Peter was sitting right between Emmeline and Remus.

"So, what is it that you wanted to talk about?" Remus asked her from across the table. Lily opened her mouth and then closed it, shrugging. She hadn't foreseen this, so she didn't have a nice little speech for it.

"I guess I....just wanted to see you outside of class," she said, feeling like a complete fool.

Emmeline stood up. "Well, in that case, I'll just be going-"

"No!" Lily said. "Please stay."

"But we're not talking about anything and you've seen me," she said, plainly. "Come with me if you want to talk with me."

James shrugged and waved her off as he went into conversation with Peter and Remus again. Lily sighed in defeat and followed Emmeline out.

"So, what's going on in your life?" Emmeline asked. "I rarely see you anymore now that you're with James."

"Isn't that the truth?" Lily smiled.

"I've noticed that you have been taking a bit more time in the mornings," she says, delicately. "Dressing and things of that nature."

"Yes, but not too much. James got mad at me when I told him why I was getting all dressed up."

"He did?"

Lily nodded as they walked into a robe shop. She and Emmeline headed towards a side of the store, going through the latest fashions. "He told me that I was beautiful in anything, even a garbage bag."

Emmeline blinked. "He said that?"

She nodded again. "Isn't he just....amazing?"

"I wish I had a boyfriend like that," Emmeline sighed, running her hand along the robe fabric in front of her. Lily suddenly had a spark of inspiration.

"Well, why haven't you found one?" Lily asked.

Emmeline snorted. "Not all of us have perfect blokes chasing after us for three years, Lily."

"He's far from perfect," Lily said. "He's still got an incredible ego, and he doesn't listen well." She picked up a robe and tried it on. It wasn't too far from what she normally wore, but it was a little more low-cut.

"Anyways, there aren't a load of perfect guys out there, Lily."

"What about Remus?" Lily asked, shooting her a look. Emmeline immediately blushed and began picking at the robes.

"He said no."

Lily dropped the robe and spun around on her. "You already asked?"

"I asked him if he wanted to go to Hogsmeade with me the other day, but he told me that he didn't want to."

"Well, that's just because he had a meeting with me-"

"No, he told me that he wasn't the dating kind of guy," Emmeline said. "And that he didn't think that he could give a girl the kind of attention that she deserved."

Lily stared at her. "He said that?"

Emmeline nodded. "But, it's all right. I mean, I don't quite understand it, but I'm going to support that decis-Lily, are you listening?"

Lily's brow was furrowed. She hung up the robe absent-mindedly and said little.

"So, Moony, I saw you sitting with Emmeline today," Sirius said, rubbing a towel in his hair. Remus raised his eyes from his book and stared at Sirius.

"I was sitting at the same table as her, yes," Remus nodded, eyes dropping down again.

"She's a pretty cute girl, you know?" Sirius smiled. Remus sighed and shook his head.

"Don't start that, please, Sirius. "

"Start what?" Sirius said, innocently.

"You know what I'm talking about," Remus gave him a hard look. "It's not going to happen, all right?"

"What if I said that I have information about her?"

"What kind of information?" Remus asked, interested only a minuscule.

"Oh, just that she fancies you a bit," Sirius bounced on the balls of his feet.

"Right, I already knew that," Remus shook his head. "I can tell every time it's close to the full moon." He tapped his nose. "Not only that, but she asked me to go to Hogsmeade with her."

Sirius blinked at him. "And you said no?!"

"First of all, it's not really a fancy, it's more pity. Second of all, people like me...we don't have girlfriends."

"Pity?!" Sirius exclaimed. "Why on Merlin's beard would she pity you?"

"Sirius, there are two kinds of people: the ones that are afraid of werewolves, and the ones that are fascinated by them like some scientific experiment," he said, bitterly.

"So what group do me and James fall into?" Sirius frowned, folding his arms over his bare chest.

"Are you scared of me?" Remus asked. Sirius strode over to Remus in three steps and bopped him on the head.

Hard.

"What the hell is in your head!" Sirius growled.

"That hurt!" Remus moaned. "Why did you do that?!"

"You're being moody," Sirius said, plainly. "Emmeline most certainly does not pity you, idiot. And James and me most certainly don't think that you're some scientific experiment!"

Remus said nothing, but looked at his book, frowning.

"Look, mate, would it be so hard to maybe go out on a date with Emmeline?" Sirius asked. "We could sneak you out to Hogsmeade and-"

"Sirius, look. I know that this is hard for you to understand, but I don't need a girl or anyone else. I'm going to be just fine on my own. Besides, I won't be able to give her what she deserves."

"You know what?" Sirius growled, pointing his finger in Remus' face. "You're...you're...you're bloody IMPOSSIBLE!"

"Like hell he'll be all right on his own!" Sirius exclaimed. "He's becoming more and more moody, you know." Sirius and Lily were so mad they were hexing the dummy twice as hard during the class. They had been partnered together for the past two weeks, but the professor was about to switch them around again, and they wouldn't have that much time to plan.

"What's bothering him?" Lily asked. "Em was very upset about being turned down."

Sirius blinked at her. "Can she be upset?"

"Upset for her."

Sirius blew a raspberry and frowned. "Moony's preoccupied with his future, you know? The job market for werewolves isn't that plentiful, you know."

"But, he should have a job being an Auror, right?" Lily said. "And that pays pretty well."

"My question is, what happens when this guy is defeated and all of the extra Aurors are laid off? Crouch was generous to hire him now, but that's only because there's a shortage. When that's over, who knows where he'll be."

Lily nodded and looked over to him worried. "Doesn't he know that he's got friends that would help him?"

Sirius laughed and shook his head. "That's the thing about him, Lil. He's not one to rely on his friends to get him through life. He's so stubborn about it."

"Even if he was starving?"

"He has too much pride to beg for anything," Sirius said.

"I would hire him," Lily said, thoughtfully. "I think a lot of Muggle-borns would hire him, because of the treatment that they get."

Sirius shook his head. "Remus' dad is a Muggle-born, and he can barely stand to be around him."

"What about Muggles? I mean, can't he get a job there? I think he'd be a wonderful teacher."

"There's the simple problem of him getting sick every month. He's stuck either way, Lily. Besides, he was raised a wizard, and he won't want to suddenly live like a Muggle. Imagine how you would feel if you, all of a sudden, had all of this talent as a witch, and then you are forced to live as a Muggle."

Lily frowned and digested this. "I wouldn't wish that on anyone. Least of all Remus."

"I wish that I could just cure him, you know?" Sirius said. "It completely controls his life. I mean, he said that he won't be able to give a girl the attention she deserves. As if girls aren't complete monsters once a month too. He's too scared to take a risk, you know? He's afraid that she's going to really get into his life and realize what he really is and then leave as fast as she can."

"But, she already knows?" Lily said, confused.

"Yeah, well, it's more like a habit now. He doesn't like to get close to anyone."

"He's obviously got a skewed view of humanity." Lily said.

"No, he's got it about right, which is the problem," Sirius shook his head. "I mean, werewolves are considered subhuman in the wizarding world-"

"Stupid purebloods and their lofty definitions," Lily growled.

"No, it's all wizards who think that they're higher than everyone else. They bloody treat House Elves like crap, not that some of them don't deserve it, goblins are barely paid for guarding our treasure, giants are shunned from the population. And then, of course, there is their lofty view of muggles."

"It's all so stupid, you know? Remus is twenty times better than any other wizard-"

Sirius started laughing. "You do realize that you're discriminated against too, right?"

Lily made a defiant face. "Yes, but unlike Remus, I don't sit back and let other people walk all over me."

"No, but you let your boyfriend put his hands all over you!" Sirius dissolved into cackles and looked like he had been waiting all night to make some allusion to James and Lily. Lily stared at him as he used that as a springboard to keep going. "But honestly, are you going to move in with us too? You've been sleeping in our room an awful lot-"

Lily cleared her throat. "I fell asleep last night, sorry. You could have woken me up and sent me away if it bothers you."

"No, no, it doesn't. I guess that James tires you out, doesn't he?"

"You are a bloody pervert."

"Actually, you're the one who assumed that what I said was dirty, ergo, you are the dirty-minded one. And you know what happens when you assume...?"

"You make an ass out of u and me," Lily recited, annoyed.

"No, no, no. You make an emu out of...."

Lily didn't even look at him when she punched him hard in the shoulder.