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Sirius sat on the hospital bed, legs dangling over the side while Madam Pomfrey told him and his friends off.
“This was dangerous, idiotic, absolutely inhumane. You boys are lucky that you were able to remove Mr. Black from the situation before he started spouting off secrets. I would think your group would be most cautious about these things given everything that you keep hidden.”
“Like how Remus is a werewolf,” Sirius said, proving her point.
The spell had been intended for Slughorn, a truth spell that went beyond veritaserum. Unlike the potion, Sirius not only couldn’t lie but had no filter, saying the first thing that came to his mind. Sure they might joke that Sirius never had one but this was different. Sirius had plenty of filters, it only mattered what he cared about.
“Precisely,” Madam Pomfrey said. “The exact reason I would have hoped you boys would be smarter than using a spell like this one.”
“It was James’ idea. He wanted to know if Slughorn actually liked the people he picks for Slug Club or if it really is just status,” Sirius told Poppy. “Didn’t think he’d be ready to block it but maybe that’s simply because he’s dealt with us for six years. I don’t really care why he chooses people for Slug Club. I wanted to ask about secrets about the castle, see if there was anything to use there. I was also hoping he knew about any staff drama. He feels like the one to ask about it. I could just ask. Are you dating anyone? Well you probably won’t answer because you’re not the one who’s been bewitched. But if you were dating someone, I’d have to guess either McGonagall or Sprout. Not sure if you're a lesbian but I think you might be and usually I’m right about that sort of thing.”
“Stop talking, Black,” James said, trying to cut him off. Once his brain caught up with what he’d said he looked mortified and apologized.
Poppy looked at them all disapprovingly but a small bit of amusement still made it to her face. “I anticipate that the spell will wear off in the next half hour or so. Until then Mr. Black will remain in the hospital wing. I don’t think traipsing him through the halls even just to make it back to the dorm is advisable. And I would like someone with him at all times. The last thing anyone needs is him on his own like this.”
The mediwitch left.
“Should we be asking him questions?” James asked with a raised eyebrow.
“It’s Sirius. What do we not know about him already?” Remus countered.
“There are plenty of things that you don’t know. Like when Peter didn’t let me copy his astronomy homework last week, I put jumping boosts on all of his chocolate frogs. He thought he just had rotten luck but really not even a professional seeker would have caught them.” Sirius laughed at the memory in a way that was very obviously Sirius and not the spell on him.
“Are you kidding me? Do you know how many frogs I lost in a row?”
“7.”
“What other pranks have you pulled on us without us knowing?” James asked.
“I’ve been moving your side of the room a tiny bit every day for weeks so I can have more room without you noticing. Merlin, no this isn’t a fair question,” he said with a pout. “At least I didn’t say anything about charming the mirror before your date with Lily next week.” He buried his head in his hands in defeat. “I’m spoiling everything.”
“What the hell, Pads?”
“Nothing to me, then?” Remus asked, growing interested in the conversation.
“No. I was filing down the legs of your desk chair but then you had a bad moon and so I fixed it.”
“How… thoughtful?”
“I think we’ve earned the right to some payback,” James said, thinking for a moment of what he wanted to ask. “What did you think of us when we first met?”
“I thought that you were safe. That I could be myself around you lot.” There was a pause while Sirius once again caught up to what he’d said. His cheeks warmed and he tried to laugh it off. “Merlin, I sound like the girls.”
James took a seat beside him on the bed, pulling him into a hug. “You can always be yourself, Pads.”
“I know.” He shrugged off James. “Ask some more questions. Have fun with this. And then I’ll get veritaserum so I have a chance to get you back. I have questions I want to ask you. But keep them fun. I don’t want to ramble on about my parents. None of us need me talking about -”
“Alright. Kiss, marry, kill. The girls.”
“Sorry I have to kill Lily, feels wrong to kiss or marry her. Kiss Mary. I’ve already done that. And I’ll marry Marls. We can live out our days as beards.”
They all burst out laughing.
“Pete, your turn.”
Peter thought for a moment. “If you could change your animagus to anything, what would you change it to?”
“Something useful. Like a bird or a dragon. But like a small one so I can still sneak around.”
They looked at Remus expectantly. It was obvious he had a question in mind that he didn’t want to ask and instead he went with “What’s something you only pretend to like?”
“Effie’s pumpkin pasties. She's a great cook but there’s something about them I hate," he slapped a hand over his mouth.
James began laughing so hard, tears sprung to his eyes. “She only makes them because you love them.”
“And I will die with that secret. Your mum does so much for me and I refuse to tell her she’s ever done anything wrong. I really do love your parents and I’m so thankful to them and if someone doesn’t change the topic, I might say a lot of things I don’t want to so please ask fun questions.”
“Opposite of Moony’s, what’s something you only pretend to hate?”
“Wormtail. He’s the only useful animagi we have.”
Peter threw up his arms in victory. There had been a long standing debate in the dorm over who had the worst animagi form.
“He’s lame but useful. I mean what can Prongs even do other than prance around the forest? I guess he’s the fastest but we haven’t needed that. And I don’t really blend in ever but maybe in more muggle areas, I could be more useful.”
They continued around with circles of questions for a while before Peter asked “What memory do you use for your patronus charm?”
Sirius smiled. “You remember the picnic we had for my birthday? The one third year with us and the girls and Reg. It was one of those days that it was cold but the sun still feels warm enough on your skin that it feels better to just wear short sleeves. And we had a whole feast outside courtesy of the house elves. We just goofed around and laughed, telling funny stories about all the pranks we’d pulled and Reggie kept rolling his eyes but it was obvious that he was still having fun. And it was everyone I loved together. It was the perfect day.” Sirius went quiet, his thoughts turning more inward as he thought about the day until he chuckled slightly and began insisting that his friends ask him more questions.
“Skip me,” Remus said when they turned to him for a question despite looking like one question was eating him alive.
“How do you think my date with Lily will go?” James asked, using a comically raised eyebrow to hide his insecurity.
“It’s going to go great. You’ll do something stupid and make a total fool of yourself but unfortunately for Lily, she’ll love it.”
James smiled and laid a head on Sirius’ shoulder. “What about you?”
“What about me?”
“When are you going to go on a date with someone?”
“I need to get the courage to ask him first.”
“Maybe he’ll ask you,” Peter said.
Sirius shook his head. “He’s quiet. Well, not all the time but when he overthinks something, he really overthinks it. He’ll sit with a book in his lap, pretending to reread the same page while his mind runs through problem after problem. He can be loud though but that’s usually when he’s telling me off when I do something dangerous or really stupid. Which is often. Thankfully he is easily bought back with Honeyduke’s chocolate.” Sirius wasn’t subtle as he kept looking to Remus who’s brain looked like it was moving too quickly to catch anything. James and Peter looked at each other, unsure what to do. They didn’t want to ruin this moment but they also didn’t want to force Sirius to keep going on when he didn’t have control over what he was saying.
“Sirius,” James said quietly, trying to shift the conversation.
But Sirius ignored him, continuing on. “I’m fairly certain he likes me back but I’ve always been scared of ruining our friendship. He’s one of the most important people in my life and I can’t stomach the idea of losing him. So I’ve never said anything, even when I leaned over the amortentia potion and couldn’t smell anything but old books and chocolates and my soap that he insists he doesn’t use. I can count on one hand the times I’ve ever been too afraid to do something. Usually I don’t care about the consequences which is why he’s often pissed off at me. But the idea of asking him out is... scary.”
Remus crossed the small space between the chairs and the bed, stopping in front of Sirius’ legs with less confidence than he’d stood up with.
“Maybe I was wrong,” Sirius said quietly. “Maybe he will be the one to ask me out.”
“Maybe you give him courage. And maybe he’s had a first date planned for years,” Remus laughed to himself. “I know you can’t lie and I really want to kiss you but maybe I should wait until the spell’s worn off so we can talk about it properly.” Remus looked like saying those words was killing him.
“The spell wore off ten minutes ago,” Sirius told him with a waggish smile, leaning forward to kiss him.
When they pulled apart, the curtained off room was empty, unsure when James and Peter had stepped out.
“You’re an idiot,” Remus laughed.
“Yeah I know but you like it.”
“What was your plan if I didn’t respond the way you wanted?”
“The veritaserum. Ask me questions and then like I said you’d owe me and I’d ask you. I was fairly certain I was right. It was just a matter of getting you to actually do something about it.”
“You’re a prick. You know that right?”
He shrugged. “Had to make the best out of the situation. So you’ve already got our date planned?”
Remus nodded and took a seat beside Sirius on the hospital bed. “Yep, all you need to do is show up and look pretty.”
“Easy enough. James and Lily’s first date is next week. We could be awful and do it the day before.”
Remus shook his head. “Can’t be a school day, we need the afternoon off for a picnic.”