They should have seen it in your eyes -- August 1975

I walked out of hte green flames and nearly right into James.  "Oi, move," I said, pushing my brother.  "Oh!  Hi, Mr. Lupin," I said, smiling a bit awkwardly.

"Ems, wonderfu lto see you," I said, smiling at her.  "I'll leave you lot alone."  I walked by and squeezed Ember's shoulder as I did.  It was my way of letting her know that her secret was safe with me and that I had a very good feeling about what happened between her and Remus.

"I'll grab some iced tea and lemonade," I said.  James could at least warn Remus that I was there in some way.

Remus and I had just been chilling by the lake, not really talking.  He was reading and I was doodling on some parchment.  I enjoyed hanging out with just him sometimes; it was how it was the first few weeks of HOgwarts before James and sirius adopted him and he made sure to bring me along.  I liked everyone, but Remus was really my first mate.  When I noticed that he perked up, I raised an eyebrow. "Someone here?" I questioned.

I could hear James from down by the lake thanks to my furry little problem.  I looked up when I heard him and looked at Peter.  "Yeah, James is here," I said, getting up.  "I'll let him know we're out here and grab some drinks and snacks."  I figured that Pete could just stay out there for a moment.  It would be fine; he did it all the time.

I nodded.  I walked out and nearly ran right into Remus.  "Just leave Peter out there?" I teased, giving him a quick hug.  He muttered something about snacks and I let him go inside as I went to the beachy area and sat down next to Peter.

"Hey mate!  It's felt like all summer since I've seen you... sorry about that," I added.  Yeah, us boys went on adventures as much as we could, but it was hard once we were with our families.  Sirius was the only one I saw nearly every single day.

I grinned at James.  "Oh, hey, James," I said to him, a bit awkward.  I was always awkward.  It was my curse, I swore it was.  "and no worries... I was helping Mum a lot anyways.  I don't like to leave her too much when it's just me and her at home, you know?"  the guys knew about my family life and not having a dad around that much.

I had heard them come in.  "Yeah, go out and keep him company while I get snacks," I told James.  I wanted to talk to Ember.  I smiled as best I could.  Continuing into the house, I saw Ems pouring glasses of cold drinks.

"Hey," I said to her gently.  She jumped and spilled some of hte lemonade she was pouring.  I grabbed a cloth and started to wipe it up.  "I didn't mean to startle you."

I had jumped when Remus came in.  "No, no," I said to him.  "I'm sorry... I just... James insisted.  I wouldn't have come if it wouldn't have seemed odd.  We want to keep up appearances and whatnot, right?" I felt like I was rambling, but I could not help it.  I only stopped because Remus put a hand on my shoulder.

To get Ems to shut up, I put a hand on her shoulder.  I squeezed it gently and let go.  I did not expect this to be so difficult.  "It's fine.  Ijust wasn't expecting it is all," I explained, tossing the damp cloth into the sink.

I nodded at Peter whiel he spoke.  "Yeah, I understand.  I love being home with Mum and Dad, too," I agreed.  "I just think we should plan our first adventure once we're back at school.  I think that it's time for us to finish the process... we've done all the research we need.  Now... we just need to get our hands on the ingredients and do it.  Remus, I know, is still hesitant about us even trying."

I knew that he would understand; they all would.  "Yea," I said to James.  "I wish sirius were here to really discuss things, though.  Should we wait?"  I wondered if there was any chance that would stop James.  I was really nervous about doing the transfiguration, but I was very willing about helping Remus and them any way I could.

I moistened my suddenly dry lips.  "I can always say something came up," I said.  We were awfully close.  Too close for us to explain to anyone if the boys came in, anyways.  I did not move away from him nor him from me.

I shook my head at Ems.  "You're fine," I said, looking down at my ex-girlfriend.  Her face was a little flushed and I could hear her heartbeat quickening.  I swallowed and looked into her bright eyes.  I could not do this.  I poison everything I touched.  I forced myself to remember what had happened when we first started snogging; I hurt her.  granted, I managed to learn some control, but it still did not change what had happened at first.

I sighed.  "alright, fine.  we'll wait for the train in the morning to talk about animagi.  But that doesn't mean we can't start brewing ideas for our adventures," I pointed out to Peter with a smirk.