Truth, Lies and Sirius Black

By Goldfish

Remus Lupin was a young man of about eighteen; a simple young man with sandy brown hair, amber eyes, and simple dreams, like getting a nice job, supporting a family maybe, keeping in touch with his friends from High School, and – above all else – have an absolutely wonderfully fun life.

The second to last stipulation was not too hard to do. As a bit of a loner in High School, he only had one close friend. Lily Evans, contrary to Remus Lupin, was outgoing, a bit quick-tempered, and enjoyed arguing and confrontation as recreational activities. Her flaming red hair was often mirrored in her cheeks as she argued with Remus about nothing important in particular, like the color of the sky and what the newspaper title was.

Quiet, shy, non-confrontational Remus enjoyed the opposition between himself and Lily. He hoped that maybe she would help him out of his shell at University. He wanted to have friends, he was just socially awkward. He had trouble conversing with strangers, and didn't like to talk about himself, which made it rather difficult to make acquaintances. Questions like, "What is your favorite color, Remus?" were met with much mumbling and a severe lack of eye contact. Sometimes Lily suggested that he was a bit mentally impaired. Sometimes Remus thought she was right.

Luckily for Remus, he and Lily were attending the same University, were in the same dorm, and – for the moment – majoring similarly. Lily was wildly enthused at the idea of having a roommate. Remus, for his part, just hoped that this roommate would be able to out up with his nitpicks. He liked folded clothes, thank you very much.

So, on the first day, as Lily and Remus' parents waved goodbye and drove away, Lily leaned over and whispered to him, "Now the real fun begins."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"I heard there's a freshman party tonight," she said. Remus raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Not one of those parties," she said, exasperated. "It's organized by the school. All the freshmen are supposed to go. " Remus sighed. There was no getting out of this. Lily would never let him.

"You're going to make me go, aren't you?" She grinned.

"It's like you know me," she said, grabbing his hand and pulling him into their dorm.

-

Three weeks at University, and Remus was still that kid. The kid he'd been in high school. The one who had one friend, and she dragged him along to places where he didn't fit in and stood in a corner awkwardly by himself. He could see the other students glancing at him and laughing, and he felt a ripple of annoyance. Why wouldn't they try to talk to him maybe?

He had spent all three Fridays at University so far in darkened rooms filled with semi-drunk people who wanted to get a little drunker and have unprotected sex with whoever would take them. He found it a bit… trashy. But Lily, sober as he was, had a fantastic time at every single one of these parties. When they walked back to their dorm, she gleefully told him about all the wonderful people she'd met that night. It irritated him to no end.

Finally, on the fourth Friday, Remus insisted that he had a mountain of homework to do, and he wanted Lily to go without him. She had looked deeply disappointed, but he told her that he would make it up to her. He spent the night in his room with his roommate, Peter Pettigrew, who seemed like a decent enough fellow, despite his rather sloppy way of keeping his things.

Remus was surprised to find that he didn't actually mind a bit of a lived-in place, with some clothes strewn about and books stacked in a disorderly manner. He and Peter got along splendidly, and the fourth Friday of Remus' University life was, without a doubt, the best of the year thus far.

On Saturday morning, Lily knocked loudly on their door, far too early.

"Remus!" she called, and he jerked upward and fell off of his bed.

"Argh!" he said, and Peter sat straight up and shouted, "WHAT?"

"Nothing," moaned Remus, gingerly picking himself up off the floor. "It's just Lily at the door." Peter groaned and fell back onto his pillows.

"She's a bit crazy, you know, mate," he said, and Remus chuckled.

"Yeah, I know. But we've been friends for ages," he said, and hobbled over to the door and opened it. Lily was grinning from ear to ear. "Yes?" he asked.

"Well, I was a bit angry at you last night," she said.

"You don't look like it," he pointed out. She shook her head and put a hand out to stop him.

"I know," she said. "Let me finish." He nodded and gestured for her to continue. "Okay, I was angry because I wanted you to meet this guy I've been sort of seeing on a regular basis at parties. He's a bit arrogant, but he's funny and sweet. He hadn't asked me on a date as of last night, but this morning around one-thirty, he did!" She squealed and jumped up and down, clapping her hands together. Remus couldn't help but give her an incredulous look.

"You woke me up at – " he checked the clock – "eight-oh-nine to tell me this?" She sighed.

"Of course, Remus! We're going to lunch, the four of us!"

"Four? Do you mean Pete? Because I don't think he's getting up again until after noon."

"No, Remus! Me, you, James, and one of James' friends!" Lily gave Remus a look as though he were ridiculously thick.

"Ah," he said. "Well, when is lunch?"

"Noon sharp! I'll be at your door at eleven-thirty to make sure you're ready!" She grinned. Remus hadn't seen her this happy in a long time, and he couldn't help but like this James fellow already.

"Well, thanks, but I'm going to go back to sleep now," he said, and made to close the door.

"I'll call you at ten-thirty!" she said as the door shut in her face. "TO MAKE SURE YOU HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO SHOWER!" Remus sighed. Lily was far too exuberant in the morning. Peter let him know as much, as he lay down and tried to get another two hours or so of sleep, which failed miserably.

-

At ten thirty, Remus' cell phone went off with a piercing cry, just as Remus was beginning to fall back asleep. He groaned, and got up, reaching for his phone.

"Yeah?" he said.

"Gotta get up now!" she crooned. "Shower, brush your teeth! This matters a lot to me, so I know my best friend in the whole wide world won't mess this up for me!" Remus groaned at her guilt trip.

"I know, I know," he said, throwing his legs off the edge of his bed. "I'm up. I'll meet you in the lobby at eleven-thirty."

"Yay!" she said. "See you then!" There was a click, and Remus knew she had hung up. He snapped his own phone shut, and yawned hugely. He was meeting Lily's new boyfriend and some friend of his. This was sure to be a very awkward lunch. He knew he would have to look his best though, otherwise Lily would tear him apart for it later.

He spent his hour showering, brushing his teeth, and dressing impeccably. There was no way Lily could be embarrassed by him. He smiled as he thought of how proud she would be of him as he entered the lobby at exactly eleven-thirty.

The look on her face wiped the smile off of his.

"Oh no," she moaned. "Hurry, we have to get back upstairs and change your outfit, it looks ridiculous." Remus looked down at himself. He was wearing a striped navy and white polo and brown plaid pants, with brown sandals.

"What?"

Lily groaned, and pulled him at a run back up the stairs. She quickly threw a bright red polo at him instead and ripped the other shirt up off his head.

"Lily!" he gasped, very uncomfortable. He had a very prominent scar on his shoulder, where a large animal had bitten him at a very young age.

"I've seen it before, Remus," she said, pulling the red shirt out of his hands and trying to put it over his head.

"I can do it myself!" He flailed at her hands, trying to push them away. He grabbed the shirt and put it over his head properly, and grabbed his comb to fix his hair, but she grabbed his wrist.

"Nope, looks better messy," she said, and pulled him back down the steps. "Great. We are so going to be late and James is going to think something ridiculous, and it's all go to hell…"

"It'll be fine," said Remus. "Just tell him that I had trouble getting dressed by myself."

"Are you completely retarded?"

"What?"

"Don't you know what that sounds like?" she said, obviously annoyed, and Remus could sense an argument coming. "It sounds like I'm loose! That I have sex with a bunch of guys at once! Do you think I'm like that, Remus, huh? Because I was under the impression that we are friends, and don't think so lowly of each other! I certainly don't think anything disgustingly trashy like that about you!" Her voice escalated to a shout, but Remus ignored it. He knew she was just being Lily. People began to stare at the red-faced, redheaded girl pulling along a docile-looking young man, and shouting herself hoarse at him, while he had a content smile on his face.

It was just like high school, and he felt a bit more comfortable with the situation when she yelled at him.

Finally, she took a deep breath and let go of his arm.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I'm just projecting my nerves onto you, and I don't mean to." Remus knew Lily had been to anger management several times, and, at last, had learned how to notice when she was being rather ridiculous.

"It's alright," he assured her. She nodded, and took another deep breath. "Okay, the place is right over there. How do I look?"

Now that the red was fading from her cheeks, she looked much better.

"You look great," he said, grinning. "Now come on, let's meet these guys." Lily grinned. She didn't stop to check her appearance in a passed reflecting door. She knew Remus would tell her the absolute truth, no matter what.

Remus simply followed her as she walked with purpose to a small table in the sun with a large umbrella over it, with two black-haired boys beneath it, grinning. Lily waved, and the black haired boy on the left, with glasses, waved back.

"Remus," said Lily, as they approached the table, "this is James Potter." James held out a hand to him, and Remus gripped it firmly and smiled at him.

"Nice to meet you," he said. "Remus Lupin." James Potter nodded.

"This is, ah, my friend, Sirius Black," said James, gesturing to the other black haired boy with him. Remus looked at this boy for the first time, and he felt his heart stop.

Sirius Black was one of the many people he'd seen laughing at him at parties. He'd only glanced over him and those others then, but as Remus looked at him, he wasn't sure how he'd ever managed to look over this boy.

He was, without a doubt, the most attractive human being Remus had ever seen.

His hair was long for a boy, but not long. It felt perfectly into his eyes, which were a grey, and glinted with mischief. His smile revealed white teeth. All of his features were perfect and angular. The only flaw this boy seemed to have, was the remains of a black eye over his right eye.

"Hey," said Sirius, without reaching out a hand.

"Hi," responded Remus after a moment. Lily hadn't noticed this, luckily for Remus. She had already begun talking to James, until she noticed Remus still standing.

"Remus, sit down!" she said, kicking a chair out for him. He did not reply, but sat almost obediently. He noticed Sirius Black smirk at James, but James did not notice. He was too busy talking to Lily.

Throughout lunch, both Lily and James tried to bring Remus and Sirius into the conversation, but all attempts were futile. Remus tried, for Lily's sake, but the looks that Sirius kept giving him made him feel very uncomfortable, like Sirius was analyzing him where he sat.

Somehow, Lily managed not to notice the elephant in the room. She and Remus left lunch, and she was chattering away about how wonderful the first meeting of friends had been.

"And you and Sirius seemed to get along great!" she said cheerfully. Remus turned to stare at her.

"What planet were you on?" he asked, confounded. "Sirius Black and I didn't exchange words except for polite hellos. He kept giving me this… creepy look, like he was judging me." Lily just laughed.

"James said Sirius does that. He's a bit strange, but James promised me that he's a nice guy."

"Has he done that to you?"

"Worse, really. James says it's worse when he talks to you at first, because that means he doesn't trust you. If he's quiet, it means he wants to get to know you."

"Well, that approach won't get him very far," grumbled Remus. "I know I never want to be stuck in the same room with him again."

"Well, you are, because you're making up for missing last night tonight. James' dorm is throwing a party, and I told him we would both come." Remus suppressed a groan.

A part of him did want to see Sirius Black again. The reason was painfully obvious. The boy was bloody gorgeous, perfect in every respect but manners. He was the ultimate eye candy, arm candy, whatever you wanted to call it. A part of him was very glad that James and Lily were going to be going out, and inviting both of them to functions. That gave Remus his chance to be around, and basically ogle, the most attractive young man he'd ever seen. He felt butterflies flit around in his stomach.

Perhaps Sirius Black would grow on him.

-

A/N: This is the non-magic A.U. I was talking about at the end of Nameless. So, what do you think? Intrigued? I hope so, because this is the first chaptered fic I've tried in a really long-ass time. Don't worry, there's an outline, so I'm not just making it all up as I go. Constructive criticism is welcome! Flames are NOT. Also, this is (eh heh...) a first draft. (Honestly, most of my crap is.) So, if there are spelling or grammar mishaps, please let me know, and I will try to fix them in a timely manner! I just hope it's all understandable. So, reviews persnaps? :P