Chapter Text
James
As much as James Potter enjoyed — no, loved — the attention, Valentine’s Day was nothing special. Just the same soppy cards signed with a heart. As the years come and go, he has not found one that actually caught his eye.
That was until this year.
Although most of the girls he received cards from signed theirs rather obviously, this particular card didn’t. Instead, he was left with a simple “From R.” Yes, from , not “Love,” not “Every time I look at you it brings me comfort to know that you are mine and mine only. From the Ravenclaw common room, to your beautiful and wonderful dorm room, from the bottom of my heart, Bonnie.” (Yes, that had actually happened, and yes, it had been from some fourth year that he had never once met). It was just “From.”
“What about you, Prongs?” The sound of Sirius’s voice from where he, Remus, and Peter were sitting on the field snapped him out of his thoughts.
“Just the usual terrible poems and love stories,” James sighs as he slings his right arm around Sirius shoulders. “You know, how everyone’s in love with me and everything.”
Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Peter mocking him with Remus. Traitors.
“There is this one card though…” James starts.
“Merlin!” Sirius says, jumping up and yanking James with him. “Has someone actually managed to bag the James Potter?” he demands with a mischievous grin.
James just shrugs and says, “Ask me no questions, and I shall tell you no lies, Black.”
“Let me see that!” Peter calls out as he also jumps up. Remus stays seated and rolls his eyes, watching Sirius as he goes to sit next to him. Merlin, just kiss already, he thinks.
He decides to leave them to their own devices when Peter quite rudely snatches said card out of his hands and reads it. “Wow, Potter, you really are pathetic. This just goes on about how much this mystery person hates you.”
“It was unique...” he retorts, feeling like a deer caught in headlights. Both Remus and Sirius were watching him now, trying to stifle their laughter. James and Peter sit down next to them.
“Well, let’s think, who at Hogwarts starts with R and hates the way that you walk?” Peter says with a chuckle as he reads it for what could’ve been the 6th time.
To his right, James notices Sirius looking rather hurt as he turns to look at Moony and ask, “Remus?”
Remus breaks his gaze with Sirius to look at James and say “Er, yeah, sorry mate, I wrote it… thought it’d be funny...”
As much as he loves Moony, he had half been hoping it hadn’t been him. Not that he wasn’t a great mate, he had just been looking forward to figuring out whoever it was.
He shrugs it off and says with a laugh “Wow, Moony, next time just tell me you hate me.”
Remus
It was, in fact, not from Remus, but James didn’t have to know that. All he needed to think was that Remus had thought it was funny to write him a note about how much he hates him.
You see, what had happened is that while Peter was rather harassing James, Remus noticed Regulus tense up when he described the contents of the card. He put two and two together and decided that this was not going to be the way James finds out his best friend’s baby brother had a crush on him.
So, when Sirius assumed that he had wrote it, he went along with it. It’s the least he could do, right?
At dinner, the Great Hall was buzzing with gossip about who wrote what cards to who and whatnot. Remus had never found a particular interest in Valentine’s Day, mainly because he never got any cards, but this year, he had.
It came as quite a shock to him considering nothing had changed between the previous year and now — on his end, at least.
When he sat down next to Lily, the first thing she asked was if he had gotten any cards.
“As a matter of fact, I have,” he says with a grin.
As if on cue, Mary, Marlene, and Lily all looked at him as if he’d just said something in a foreign language.
“It’s true,” Peter confirms from where he was sitting next to Sirius — who was being unusually quiet — across the table.
“Yup,” James adds on, slinging an arm around his shoulder. “Moony’s got a secret lover.” He wiggles his eyebrows.
Remus shrugs him off and says, “Shut up, no I don’t,” but is unable to surpass the smile creeping up on him.
“Who do you reckon wrote it?” Lily chimes in as James looks around absentmindedly.
“Honestly, I have no clue,” he says with a shrug.
“What about that bloke you’ve been hanging around with recently?” Mary asks.
“Oh yeah!” Marlene chirps up, “The tall brunette with the glasses!”
Oh.
“You mean Dan? I guess it could be him.” Remus adds.
“Yeah,” Peter says with a nod, weighing his options. “That makes sense, he was always very fond of you.”
“I mean I—“ Remus started but was quickly interrupted by Sirius standing up and making a half-hearted excuse about needing to use the bathroom.
“What’s his issue?” he asks, grimacing.
The only response he gets is a shrug from Mary. Sirius had been in a mood all day. Remus assumed it was because he had gotten less cards than Prongs this year, but it wouldn’t throw him off that much, would it? Sirius was being rather selfish, if you were to ask him. He should be happy for James rather than sulking on his own accord.
“Shit, I have to go,” Lily’s voice stops his thought process.
“Someone’s in a rush. Got a man on the side, Evans?” Mary had only been joking as she said this — anyone could tell — but Lily seemed to be bothered by this statement, making a last minute excuse of studying with a friend as she hurries off.
The conversation quickly shifted to quidditch, but not even that seemed to get James out of his trance.
“Anyone know where Regulus is?” Ah, so that had been what he was looking for.
“Not sure,” Remus says, with a knowing smirk. “Probably off reading or something — why do you care so much?”
To his surprise, Prongs’ answer was rushed. “Idon’tImjustwonderingIdon’t.” Despite his many talents, James Potter was not a good liar.
When Remus gave him a pointed look, he collected himself a bit. “It’s just… he’s my best friend’s brother, is all. I’m supposed to look out for him...”
Remus gave him a small smile and said “Alright, James.”
He was about to join in on Mary and Marlene’s conversation when all of a sudden, it hit him.
Fuck. Fucking fuck fucking shit fuck.
Sirius fancies Dan.
That had to be it right? Why he left all of a sudden, why his mood had been off. Merlin, why had Remus been so inconsiderate?! It was so obvious now!
“You alright, Moony?” Peter asks, seeming to notice the sudden change in demeanour.
“I have to go,” is the only response he gave before jumping up to find Sirius to make sure he wasn’t mad.
Remus was utterly fucked.