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The Great Lake was hardly private, but Sirius did not have two fucks to give about it. Normally, he preferred some privacy, but the day was too nice, and he was feeling cooped up in the castle anyways. Maybe if he was in Gryffindor in a sodding tower to relax it would be fine, but the dungeons didn't have an excess of fresh air to enjoy. The sun was out, there was a pleasant wind blowing through the courtyard, and everyone was enjoying being so close to the end of the year. Exams were halfway done, and some people were already unloading all the things they had learned during the year.
Reg was finishing up his OWL transfiguration exam with most of the other fifth years, which left Sirius alone to entertain himself by the Lake's shore. Or at least, that's what he thought until James came up to him. Sirius raised an eyebrow, but James was grinning from ear to ear. "Hello?"
"Hi." James sat down next to him, kicking his feet out and leaning back onto his elbows. "Figured you could use the company."
"I suppose. What happened to our ultra secret relationship?" It had been James's idea to keep it quiet, and while it was smarter that way, Sirius didn't care either way. His parents would disown him when they found out, but that was only a matter of time anyways. He hadn't told Regulus, but he undoubtedly knew, the nosy little bugger.
"It's not like I'm sitting on your lap snogging you," James said, then paused. "I could be on your lap snogging you. Ugh, why did I think this was a good idea?"
"Because you like to torture yourself," Sirius said drily. "Relax, it's only another week."
"Yeah," he said slowly. "So erm, how pissed would you be with me if I decided that one week was too long?"
"I'd say that's probably the sunshine going to your head, but don't let me stop you."
"Excellent." James pushed himself up, then put a hand on the side of Sirius's face and kissed him. They were far from the only couple out here, and everyone was so busy enjoying themselves that maybe nobody saw them. It was probably fine.
Remus didn't mean to gawk, but- what the fuck?? James was snogging Black further down the bank of the Great Lake. Black as in Sirius Black. Sirius Black as in the bloody heir to the House of Black, a Slytherin, and sodding untouchable for all of James's pining over the years. At first, James had been insisting it was just physical because Black was gorgeous, and Prongs was so determined to not like Slytherin because they were their main competition for the Quidditch Cup. He swung his head to look at Peter, maybe ask if he knew just when the hell this happened, but Peter was just as dumbstruck as he was.
"What the- when did-" Peter sputtered. "Did you know about this?"
Remus shook his head, then swung it back around to look at the unlikely couple, who were now grinning at each other like loons. When he finally found his voice again, it was to say, "I always thought that when he finally got around to asking Black, he'd be a crying mess for the rest of the day."
Peter nodded numbly. "This is so weird," he muttered.
"Oh my GOD," Lily said, eyes going wide.
Marlene frowned at her, starting to follow her gaze to see what she was staring at. "What are you- holy shit. Am I really seeing this? Is this honestly happening right now?" Because it looked like James was snuggling up to Sirius bloody Black, and Black was not only letting him, but enjoying it. "Dorcas," she said, not taking her eyes off the couple and reaching out blindly to tap repeatedly her arm, "Dorcas, are you looking? Do you see this? Am I hallucinating?"
"Bloody hell, stop that," she said, clamping her hands over Marlene's. "Yes I see it, so unless what you're seeing a tapdancing hippogriff dressed in McGonagall's nightgown, you're not hallucinating."
"Oh Merlin, how is this happening," Marlene said faintly.
"Calm your tits, we all knew this was going to happen eventually," Mary said, barely glancing up.
"Did we?" Marlene asked doubtfully.
"I sure as hell didn't," Lily muttered. "Jesus, is everyone getting laid besides me?"
"I'm not," Mary said.
"You don't count, you're not even trying to date."
"That's what you think," Mary mumbled.
Severus saw it, wrinkled his nose, and pulled his book up higher. It's bad enough that he was outside in the first place, he didn't want to see those two bloody imbeciles snogging each other's face off. Absolutely disgusting.
"Ha!" Benjy said, pointing. "Told you. I will take my winnings in the form of Honeydukes chocolates, preferably nice and milky, but white is also acceptable. Positively nothing dark unless you want to try it again and waste more of your money."
"You're a sore winner, you know that?" Caradoc muttered petulantly, but maybe that's because he was a sore loser just as much as Benjy was about winning.
"Yep," Benjy said happily, beaming at nothing in particular.
Merlin, if they'd just waited another week and kept their bloody hands to themselves, he would've won. So close .
Regulus glanced up, saw Sirius, and started making his way over, reorganizing his bag as he went. How the inside had gotten in such disarray in the past two days, he had no idea. But he should have at least another two quills that he couldn't find, and he was reaching the middling part of his patience, where the urge to dump everything out started to appear but was still a ways off from him acting on it.
It was a long walk from the doors of the castle to where Sirius was sitting, and if they weren't brothers, Regulus wouldn't have recognised him from so far away. He looked up again when he got closer, just to make sure that Sirius hadn't moved. Then he frowned. Was that Potter? And were they- oh, yep, snogging, in front of Merlin and everyone. So much for them sneaking around. Did this mean that Regulus didn't have to pretend not to know anymore? It's not that he couldn't keep a secret, it's that keeping it hidden from Sirius that he knew was a pain in the arse.
Mum and Dad were going to be furious, but Sirius already had a flat picked out and paid for, just waiting for him to graduate so he could move in. They'd throw a fit, but hopefully it wouldn't get physical-- hadn't gotten physical since that time Sirius had threatened to run away and bring Reg with him; it wouldn't have worked as a threat if their parents hadn't known for a fact that Sirius could and would do it if they drove him to it.
It took him another minute to make his way next to them, and he dropped his bag none too gently. "Is this what I'm going to endure for the rest of the school year?"
Sirius rolled his eyes. "It's only a week. I have faith that you'll survive to next term."
"Easy for you to say," he grumbled. He turned a critical eye on James, who's smile got a little less bright.
"Hullo, James Potter, nice to meet you."
"Let's get one thing clear: I don't have a problem with you, but if you grope my brother in front of me, I'm going to get a problem with you."
James cleared his throat, blushing. Or maybe he was getting a bit of a sunburn, it was hard to say. "Consider it clear."
"Good. Now budge over, I just got out of exams and I want to die."
Sirius pat his head. "There, there Reggie."
Regulus huffed and shoved his hand off.
Sirius snickered, leaning into James. "Ah look at the three of us, all getting along. Splendid."
"You're splendid," Regulus muttered, with the same tone he used when insulting someone.
James laughed but didn't say anything.