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If not Sirius, James, Remus, and Peter, it was always at least Sirius and James. Everyone around Hogwarts had grown accustomed to this over the last 6 years, so it was really nothing out of the ordinary to see James and Sirius huddled in a secluded area of the courtyard.
“-And she told me this was my one chance to prove myself to her,” James said.
“So, what’d you do? Charm her clothes to sprout flowers from her pockets? Oh! Or did you transfigure all of her jewelry into little baby cupids?
“Actually, I didn’t do anything. I just bought her some roses when I went to pick her up from her dorm.”
“She's changed you, Prongs. I don’t like it.”
“Well, she sure did. She told me it was nice that I was maturing. And anyway, she’s so... peaceful. But also somehow she’s so funny at the same time.”
“Prongs! I think my mind has changed about her. I think I might just steal her from you.”
“Oh! That reminds me, Pads, I’ve been meaning to ask you. Is there anyone you fancy?” Sirius felt his heart stop, but James continued. “I haven’t heard you talk about anyone you've been interested in since McKinnon, and we all know how that ended.” At that particular moment, Marlene and Dorcas happened to be walking past the courtyard in hushed tones, presumably gossiping on their way to their next class.
In their 3rd year, Marlene and Sirius had become close friends, and to all of their friends that meant that they were recklessly in love with each other. Eventually, once they were pressured enough by their friends, they decided that they should start dating. At first, Sirius thought nothing of how the thought of kissing was repulsing (They were just too young to be thinking of all that,) and how whenever they held hands the only thing he could do was wait until it wouldn’t look weird if he let go.
On the day that they first kissed, Sirius almost threw up. Marlene wouldn’t quit, though, and the next day she did it again. And then they were kissing every time they said hello, or goodbye, or just about any time they had two seconds by themselves. Sirius realized that if he imagined he was kissing someone else, it wasn’t as bad. He started imagining he was kissing famous people like David Bowie, which was a muggle musician that Remus had shown to him, and-
Wait. Remus.
Suddenly, kissing wasn’t so bad anymore.
One night, though, Marlene pulled Sirius aside in the common room to tell him that she thought they were better off as friends. Sirius felt no remorse, his body too busy being flooded with some sick sort of relief.
A few days later, when Sirius had asked why she broke things off between them, Marlene simply shrugged and said, “I thought if I kissed you enough, I would start to like it. I didn’t. And girls are way better kissers anyway.” A week later, she and Dorcas started dating.
When Sirius had informed James of this news, he had been devastated. Sirius couldn’t even tell him that he wasn’t upset about it, because then James would think that he was trying to “bottle up his emotions,” and that, “it was ok to feel sad.” (Damn James and his wonderful, nurturing parents.) He couldn’t tell him why he wasn’t upset, because the realization had only just started taking form in his head, so instead he just let James grieve his break up enough for the both of them (Which wasn’t so bad because James had brought him breakfast in bed for an entire month.)
“Hello? Earth to Padfoot?” James said, waving his hand in Sirius’s face.
“Oh, erm. No, I don’t like anyone,” Sirius answered, facing away from James. The reality was that Sirius knew that James would be able to tell he was lying. He always did. Sometimes, though, he was able to circumvent this by simply avoiding eye contact. Sometimes.
“Ha! Nice one, mate. C’mon, I can tell you do. You know I won’t tell anyone,” James attempted to reason. Lily was wrong. James was still the 11-year-old child he had met on the train 5 years ago.
“C’mon, Prongs,” Sirius whined.
“Just tell me, Pads. You know you want to.”
“No, I actually really don’t.”
“Aha! So you do like someone! I knew it.”
“What? No, I never said that.”
“Yeah, you did!”
“Ugh! I’m not telling you.”
“But you tell me everything!”
“But not this.”
“Why no-”
“Just no!”
“Please? Please please please please!” James took hold of Sirius’s shoulders and started shaking him back and forth. “Please please please!”
“Ja-a-a-me-s-s-s, sto-o-o-p,” Sirius said, his voice shaking from the momentum.
“Please please please please please please pl-”
Sirius took hold of James’ hands, which had been resting on his shoulder, “IT’S REMUS!”
“-ease.”
James stopped trying to shake him, eyes widening an impossible amount. He stopped trying to do anything, actually. Sirius wasn’t even sure he was breathing.
“James.”
Nothing.
“James.”
Nothing. If you had asked Sirius to list some of his greatest fears in order, this would have definitely ranked somewhere in the top 3. The prospect of losing James forever because of something like this hurt Sirius more than even his mother could have.
Sirius could feel tears starting to form behind his eyes. “I’m leaving,” he said, getting up from where he was sitting.
Suddenly it was as if James came back into himself. “Wait! Sirius, no, it’s not like that. I was only a bit surprised. You know I don’t care about that stuff. If anything, I guess I’d suspected you liked blokes. Uh, not that it matters! I just wasn’t expecting it to be Remus, specifically.”
Sirius let out a sigh of relief. James kept going, “But if I liked guys, I’d probably like Remus too.” He paused, a mischievous smile forming on his face, “Wait, you do like guys right? Or is it just the werewolf part?”
“James!” Sirius said, shoving the boy in front of him. “This is why I can’t tell you anything,” he said, trying to keep in his laughter.
“Oh, so it is just the werewolf part! Should’ve known you were into that, your animagus being a literal dog and whatnot.”
“Okay, I’m leaving. Next time I see Lily I’ll make sure to mention how you once asked me if it was possible to shit in the shower.”
“You wouldn’t..”
“Wasn’t she in the library? I’ve been needing some books for Charms. Mind coming along with me?”
“I’ll tackle you!”
“You’ll tackle me? James, a 6-year-old could win against you,” Sirius said.
“Exactly. And since you’re not a day past 4, I figure I’ll be fine.”
And it was then that it truly dawned on Sirius that they would be fine.