Happy birthday Amber! I hope you've had a wonderful day! :)

If there was one thing Orion Black had taught his sons, it was that Black men had astounding luck with women.

Sirius could still remember his father's words clearly.

"The thing you need to remember about us Black males, my boys, is that we can have whichever woman we want. It's a gift that runs through our family – the best luck in romantic endeavors. Just put on a bit of charm, and they're putty in your hands."

And he had been right.

Sirius had started noticing it around third year. Girls who would before look at him and the rest of the Marauders with an exasperated look they reserved for when males were acting particularly childish would now giggle and blush every time he looked at them. He had a line of girls desperate to accompany him on Hogsmeade dates and be called his girlfriend.

At first he'd taken complete advantage of the fact – what hormonal teenage boy wouldn't? But as more and more time passed, he started to grow disillusioned with the "luck" he had with women.

He soon found that it was nearly impossible to eat in the Great Hall. Simply smiling or laughing at something his friends said could set the horde off.

The first time it had happened – the memory still gave him shivers.

"…so anyway, to cut a long story short, when Frank found out he was missing the necklace he had bought for Alice, he went insane. Caught hold of Peter, who was the only one us in the Common Room at that moment, and started shaking him, demanding to know where it was. Marlene said that she was pretty sure she was going have to intervene when in walks Alice, wearing the necklace Frank was looking for."

"Wait, so –"

"Frank had forgotten he'd already given Alice the necklace, yeah," Remus snickered.

Sirius burst out into laughter imagining the scene Remus was describing.

He opened his mouth to continue grilling Remus about the incident, but before he could say anything, he was surrounded by a mob of girls.

"Sirius, would you go out with me to the next Hogs –"

"No he's min –"

"Sirius, I lov –"

Thankfully, Professor Dumbledore had made an announcement that anyone who disturbed Sirius during meal-times or lectures would find themselves in month long detention, with a letter being sent to their parents.

However, he still had to live in fear of the crazy girls. He absolutely despised the attention he got, and counted himself lucky that the "charm" only worked on pureblood and half-blood gold diggers (he was starting to suspect that luck had nothing to do with it – it was his huge inheritance that attracted all these women to his side.)

James couldn't understand why Sirius was complaining – as far as he was concerned, Sirius had the best fortune in the world.

But for Sirius, there actually was something like too much good luck.

Especially since he had no interest in any of the girls chasing him – or in any girls, period.

His fascination with Remus had started the morning after the Marauders had first run with Moony in the Forbidden Forest. That had been the first time Sirius had ever seen Remus – shy, private Remus – naked.

At first, he'd been horrified at his reaction to the sight of his best friend's body. Not only was Remus like a brother to him, there was also the fact that Sirius was most emphatically not interested in men. He liked women, and that was that.

But the dreams that followed that first glimpse soon convinced him that no matter how much he liked women, he definitely was interested in his best friend, and no amount of protesting could change that.

Most other people would spend a significant amount of time soul-searching on learning that their sexual orientation had done a u-turn, but Sirius was a Black. Blacks went and got what they wanted, and Sirius wanted Remus.

And Sirius knew exactly how to get him. Ask him in public when he was so shocked that he wouldn't refuse – and once he got his bearings back in private, Sirius could snog the living daylights out of him. There was no way he wouldn't get what – and who – he wanted.

Of course, he hadn't factored in his fan cub into the equation.

The first time Sirius started to ask Remus in the Common Room, all he had managed to say was "So, about next Hogsmeade –" before he was surrounded by girls.

All of them were saying approximately the same thing:

"Sirius will you go with me to –"

"I'd love to go with you to –"

"Sirius I love you and this can be our –"

The same thing happened every time he tried to ask Remus out. It was extremely annoying – he didn't give a damn about these girls! All he wanted was to ask Remus out to Hogsmeade, but there didn't seem to any chance he could manage that with all of the women surrounding him.

The so-called Black luck was aptly named – it was, indeed, black luck.

As far as he could see, there was no way he was going to have an opportunity to speak to Remus alone. Even when they were in their dorm room, it was always all four Marauders together. Actual "alone time" for the two of them was practically non-existent.

Sirius was moping in one of the few abandoned classrooms that his fan club had still not discovered when he heard the voice of the one girl who wasn't interested in him come from above him.

"Rather extreme, isn't it, going into depression just because your fan club can't get the message and leave you alone?" Lily asked, sounding inordinately amused.

"Leave me alone, Evans," Sirius replied, his heart not in arguing with Lily at the moment.

"Is that the best you can do? Merlin, this is serious, isn't it?"

"There's no need to sound so amazed, you know," Sirius grumbled. "Just because I'm a Marauder doesn't mean I don't know when things are important."

"You know, I don't really like you," Lily started, taking a seat next to Sirius.

"I already know that," Sirius broke in. "If that's all you wanted to tell me, it's unnecessary."

"But I do, however, like Remus," Lily continued on, as though Sirius hadn't said anything. "And this is affecting him too."

"Wait, what –"

"I'm not blind, you know. I know you've got a crush on Remus."

"But –"

"But what I know, and you don't, is that Remus likes you back. Everyone knows that apart from you. Why do you think your little fan club jumps on you every time you start talking to him? They know that if you start dating him, there's no chance you're going to be on the open market again."

"Just –"

"There's a rather easy answer to your problem, you know."

At that, Sirius did a double take. "Wait, what? What are you talking about? Do you know how much I've thought about this? I've pretty much gone over every single situation I can think of that will help me!"

"Yes," Lily replied patiently, "and you've missed the obvious."

"What exactly is that?"

"Well, I don't normally condone this, but have you ever considered just kissing him? It'll get everything though to him and to your fan club."

"Wait, how is that – how did I not –"

"And that, Black," Lily said smugly, "is why I get better grades than you."

Lily got up and moved to walk out of the room. Before she left, she turned to give him a hard stare. "The only reason I told you this is because I think that you actually do have feelings for Remus. But if you break his heart – well, I won't be held responsible for my actions."

Sirius gaped at her as she left the classroom, before returning to his thoughts. She was right – it was simple, just kissing Remus. But – well, what if Remus rejected him? There was no way Sirius would be able to face him every day, which would mean the Marauders would break up.

And yet – Lily had said Remus liked him too, and everyone knew it. He was still doubtful, but as long as he had even the slightest chance, Sirius was going to take it.

Sirius walked into the Common Room slowly, gathering all of the vaunted Gryffindor courage he possessed. He was about to take the biggest risk of his life, and if it didn't work out well, he could lose everything he had.

He walked up to Remus, who had his back to Sirius, and tapped him on the shoulder. "Hey, Remus?"

Remus turned, a smile on his face. "Yeah?"

"I'm really, really sorry about doing this here," Sirius said in a rush.

"Wh -?"

Before Remus could finish his question, Sirius grabbed Remus' face, capturing his lips in a bruising kiss.

Around him, he could faintly hear the horrified yells of girls, and the shocked silence that had descended on the rest of the room, but all he could concentrate on was the feel of Remus' lips on his own, the sensation of his tongue gliding in Remus' mouth, and the fact that Remus was kissing him back.

He never wanted to break away from Remus, but soon, the need for air forced them apart.

Sirius gave Remus a nervous look as they pulled.

"Hey," he said.

Remus smiled at him, a serene, glowing look on his face. "Hey," he replied.

"Was that -?" Sirius started self-consciously. Remus interrupted him.

"Of course it was," he replied.

Sirius finally smiled back at him. "I love you," he murmured, before turning to face the other people in the Common Room.

"Well, I'm guessing you all saw that," he started. Almost immediately, the protests of the girls in the Common Room reached his ears. "That means I'm off the market," he called out, over the female voices that had filled the room.

He could see Lily standing at the back of the room, a small smile on her face as she took in the chaos that had suddenly erupted in the room.

He smiled back to her, his way of thanking her for her help. He then turned to Remus, a sheepish grin on his face. "Did I go too far in saying I'm off the market?" he asked, suddenly worried.

Remus just shook his head, the smile still fixed on his face. "Of course not," he replied. "If you hadn't said that, then you'd have gone too far."

"Anyways," Sirius said, "I guess we need to go and face our best friends now."

"I suppose we do," Remus agreed. "But first –"

He pulled Sirius in for another kiss, though a shorter, gentler one. As they parted, Remus leaned forward to whisper "I love you too," in Sirius' ear.

For:

The If You Dare Challenge, Prompt 242. Proximity

HP Potions Competition, Felix Felicis

Holiday Category Competition, St. Patrick's Day

Colours Competition, Gray (negative)

Fantastic Beasts Challenge, Grindylow