Title: Not the straight and narrow
Prompt: #77 - Rocking the boat ( tamingthemuse on livejournal)
Word Count: 3,290 (oh my!)
Warnings: Marauder-era (their 7th year); un-beta'd
Rating: PG-13 to be safe (one swear word towards the end)
Summary: If anyone's going to rock the boat, it's Sirius Black, first ever Gryffindor in his family and co-founder of the Marauders.
Disclaimer: J.K.Rowling owns the characters and (most) of the places mentioned in this, but the plot and one or two places are mine. If you don't recognise something from the books, odds are they're mine, otherwise, all credit goes to Ms. Rowling. Sue me and you'll get a whole heap of rubbish and my laundry. I'm making no money from this fic and it's only reason for existing is for entertainment purposes, nothing more.
Authors Note: I don't like Peter, hence why he's in the predicment that he is and doesn't feature in the rest of this fic.
Meet me outside the Entrance Hall 20 minutes after last class. It's important. Padfoot
Reading the note one more time, James leaned forward over his desk as he realised just what it was that he was supposed to be doing at the same time; having a meeting. With the Headmaster no less. If it had virtually anyone else he'd have been able to get the time changed or just skip the meeting altogether, but not Dumbledore, especially not after the Headmaster had made him the Head Boy. Sighing, he checked that no one was watching him, scribbled a reply at the bottom of the page and surreptitiously passed it over to the original note writer, one Sirius Black, comrade-in-arms and brother in every way but blood.
Got a meeting with Dumbledore, can't miss it. I'll meet you after it asap, k? Sorry bout that Pads. Call me on the mirror if you've gone somewhere else.- Prongs -He didn't have to wait long for a reply. When Professor McGonagall's back was turned Sirius nodded, giving him a thumbs up and mouthing "that's fine".
Waiting until he could catch his friends' eye, Remus Lupin began thinking over what could be so important as to warrant Sirius actually saying that it was. There was only one other time when Sirius had out right said that something was important, and that had been four and a half years ago with James and Peter at his sides. It was also when they had told him that they knew his secret; that Remus was a werewolf and that was why he had to leave every time there was a full moon, and not because his mother was sick.
A couple of minutes later he caught Sirius' eye as he looked over. Mouthing "I'll be there" whilst smiling slightly, he noticed that Sirius seemed to relax, even though he hadn't looked at all tense beforehand. Adding that to his budding list of slightly-off details on what could be so important, Remus returned to the text book they were meant to be studying and attempted to concentrate on it.
'Well that was the easiest part of the plan' Sirius thought to himself, slumping down in to his chair twirling his wand around unconsciously with is left hand. 'Just two and half lessons left to get through and then, it's time to face the music.'
Snapped out of his musings temporarily by a question thrown at him by the Transfiguration Professor, Sirius sat up straight and gave her the answer with a warm grin and a wink.
"And just for you Professor, because you're looking unusually spectacular today, another time when it's best not to use any of the aforementioned human transfiguration spells, would be when the person in question has taken the Polyjuice Potion. That would be because they've already had their appearance altered, so another such magical alteration could end up with them stuck in a permanent transformation, disfigurement or some similar such extremely unhealthy state," he added to the end of his answer.
"Mr. Black, whilst that is a very good observation and one that I had hoped someone else would have mentioned by now," Professor McGonagall said whilst looking around the room at the rest of the students in the room before settling her gaze back on to Sirius, "I would like it if you didn't try to charm your way into my good books after your prank last night. I happened to like that vase." She finished with, the slightest hint of a smile at the back of her eyes.
"Yes ma'am. You're wish is my command and has been duly noted." He replied with a flourish and a small bow from his seated positioning his chair.
"As that may, I still have a lesson to conduct," and with that she went back to questioning the rest of the class on incidents when one should or should not use a transfiguration spell on another human being, magical or not, and Sirius went back to thinking about what was going to happen later on that afternoon.
Six floors down and on the other side of Hogwarts' grounds, one Peter Pettigrew lay groaning in the Hospital Wing. With the help of a liberal dose of Skele-Gro, he was growing back a bone in his right arm and the bones in his lower legs after a confrontation with a group of Slytherins that morning had taken a sour turn.
"Mr. Pettigrew, I know growing back bones hurts, but if you hadn't joined your friends in yet another disagreement, you wouldn't be stuck here until breakfast tomorrow. Now, if you please, I've got other students to attend to, so could you at least try to keep your groaning to a minimum?" said the school nurse, Madam Pomfrey, to a small rat-ish looking boy in the bed by the North-West looking window, which just happened to be the bed furthest from the door and the furthest from the other students who were in need of healing.
After what felt like an age, the bells' sonorous tones rang out, signalling the end of the lesson and the beginning of the next. Having gathered all of their belongings (though how James' wand ended up under Frank Longbottoms' chair 3 rows in front and to the left of where James had been sitting, was one of those odd mysteries of the life), the three Gryffindors made their way to the last lesson of the day, double Charms.
"So Padfoot my dear furry friend, what's the ever-so-important meeting after class about? Finally found out how I can get Lily to go out with to me?" James asked whilst draping his left arm around Sirius' shoulders in a companionable manner. Turning to look at his best friend with a grin on his face, he was mildly shocked to see a flash of actual seriousness on Sirius' face. Before James could call him on it however, it had been covered up with the usual big grin that reminded the rest of the Marauders of the dog that Sirius could turn into.
"Nah, nothing as impossible as that mate, just, y'know, something," and with that enigmatic reply came a mischievous grin and the continuation of a long standing argument as to just why James should give up on Head Girl Lily Evans and go for another girl which Sirius managed to drag Remus into as well.
When they finally arrived at their next classroom and slid into their usual seats in the back row, Sirius was laughing so hard at James' expression after a particularly disparaging remark about the precious Lily that he had to lean heavily on Remus' shorter frame to keep any semblance of standing up. Remus on the other hand, was sure that he was about to become one with the stone floor of the classroom if Sirius didn't get off of his shoulder right now.
"Padfoot you great lump, get off of me!" Remus wheezed out, trying to tip his now guffawing friend into his seat.
A few moments later Remus succeeded in dumping a now giggling Sirius into his chair. Pulling his robes back into place he apologised to Professor Flitwick for interrupting the beginning of the lesson, slid into his own seat and took out everything that he'd need for this lesson.
"Now, I know that the Christmas holidays are only a few weeks away, so I'm going to give you your project now so that you've got a few weeks to get started before the excitement of Christmas catches up with you and mysteriously makes homework disappear," Professor Flitwick said with a playful twinkle in his eyes. The majority of the students let out varying sounds of disappointment and frustration at the announcement.
"You are to get into pairs with someone not in your own house and pick from the three topics on the board. You will need to have the essay portion finished by the end of the first week back after the holidays and the presentation ready to by done from the Tuesday afterwards. You can spend the last ten minutes of this lesson getting into your pairs. Once you have paired up please sign this sheet of parchment," as he was speaking Professor Flitwick stuck a sheet of parchment to the back of the door using a mild sticking spell, "with both of your names and your houses. When you have decided which of the topics you will be covering, please come and notify me. I highly suggest that you have this sorted out by the end of the week." With that, Professor Flitwick got down from his stool and the students began milling about trying to find their friends from other houses.
"Well that's just not fair at all, none of us can work together now," Sirius pouted.
"Yeah, it's just plain unfair. I mean, I could understand if he'd said that us three couldn't work together – d'ya remember when all four of did our last piece of group work together?! - but this means that I can't even work with Lily," James replied, reminiscing about a homework assignment from third year. Ever since then, the Professors had either not handed out group assignments that would include James Sirius Remus and Peter, or made a stipulation like working with someone from another house or from the opposite gender, in an attempt to stop a repeat of that disaster. The fourth floor classroom windows on the southern side still didn't look the same to this day.
"Who're you gonna work with then, now that the ever-lusted-after Lily is no longer available?" Sirius asked James. For a second there was a hint of unease in Sirius' face, as if he wasn't sure if he wanted to hear the answer, as if he was worried that James would choose to work with someone that Sirius wanted.
Remus noticed this and added it to the mental list that he'd started in the previous class but didn't call Sirius on it as he hadn't come to any conclusions, or even any fairly substantial suspicions.
"Alice Henley," James replied. Getting a blank look from Sirius he continued with "y'know, Lily's best friend, the one she had an argument with this morning. So, you?"
"Oh, yeah right, her. Dunno. Luke Bell maybe," as he was talking to James, Sirius was looking over at a lightly tanned, brown haired boy in Hufflepuff colours. Turning towards his best friend, James realised that Sirius wasn't just day dreaming or staring into the distance. Rather, Sirius was staring at the guy he'd mentioned a few minutes ago. Slightly perturbed, James put it from his mind and went off to talk to Alice.
The closer it came to the end of the lesson, the paler Sirius became.
'Maybe I should just call it off, tell them it's not important.' Mused Sirius, but looking over at his friends he realised that he couldn't keep putting it off like this. He had to tell them. They had a right to know and he felt like a coward for not telling them before.
The bell had rung for the end of the day and James had left for his meeting with the headmaster only after having re-iterated his promise that he would meet them as soon as he could afterwards. Remus had left for the Gryffindor common room and his bedroom so that he could drop his bag and textbooks off, leaving him free to concentrate on what ever it was that had Sirius so worked up. Sirius on the other hand, was sitting on the stone steps leading down from the Entrance Hall to the grounds outside, his right leg bouncing in agitation.
Having gotten lost in thought, trying to form the words to use to tell his closest friends his biggest secret to date, he didn't notice the time passing, so when Remus tapped him on the shoulder, Sirius nearly jumped out of his skin.
"Holy Mother of Merlin, Remus!! Make some noise when you walk will you?! You scared me half to death!" Sirius exclaimed, voice in a slightly higher than normal pitch.
"If you weren't daydreaming you'd have heard me, Pads." Remus replied. "So, what's the big meeting for?"
"I wasn't so there," Sirius came back with, "and that's gonna have to wait for us all to be here." He finished.
"But Peter's got to stay in the hospital wing til tomorrow, so why do you want to meet now?" Remus asked.
"Yeah, Wormtail, he's…" trailing off and running his hand through is hair, Sirius looked over at Remus and shrugged. "I kinda don't feel like having him know this yet. Think you can keep this from him for me?"
"You know how I am about secrets, it doesn't feel right keeping them from friends. You're sure this won't hurt him?" Seeing Sirius' nod and looking into his eyes and seeing the plea there, he resigned himself to keeping whatever it was that Sirius was going to tell him and James a secret. He never could say no to Sirius, especially not when he gave him the look of a beaten puppy that had come to expect no one to care about them anymore. "Ok then, I promise. Just, don't expect me to keep anything else from him, 'k?" Remus promised.
"Thanks Moony. It means a lot that does. Thanks." Sirius replied, bursting out into the biggest smile that Remus had seen in a long time. Standing up and hugging Remus, they walked over to a cluster of trees with a clear patch of ground in front of it a little way away from Hogwarts great double doors so they'd still be visible to James when he caught up with them but they'd be out of the way and less likely to be overheard by anyone.
Whilst they were waiting for James to join them they got to talking about what to do during the next full moon and from there they went on talking about anything and anything as it hadn't been just the two of them, by themselves, for quite a while. Sirius was re-enacting the prank that they'd pulled last night and Remus was doubled up in laughter, holding his sides when James finally emerged from the castle and made his way over to them.
"Shouldn't laugh at teachers," Remus managed to choke out between laughs "but her nightdress!!!"
"Ah the wondrous memories of the fuchsia silk nightie" James said, sitting down next to his doubled up friend.
"Yeah, she'd have given McGonagall and the Fat Lady a conniption if she'd come any nearer to Gryffindor tower" Sirius replied.
Wiping the tears of laughter from his face, Remus solemnly added "Poor Trelawny," causing the all of them to crack up with laughter.
When they'd laughed themselves out and had gotten their breath back, James pulled himself up straight and looked intensely at his best friend.
"So what was it you wanted to tell us Pads?" asked James after a few minutes of relative silence.
"Ah, that. Yeah, right, before I tell you, and even if you hate me afterwards, you've gotta swear not to tell anyone k? Remus has already promised, so, Prongs, you swear?" Sirius asked his best friend, looking so much like a lost child for a moment that James found himself promising before he could even think about it. He'd do anything to keep Sirius safe and he knew Sirius'd do the same for him.
"Right, enough beating round the bush. You've promised and that's all that matters. I'm…I'm…shit, this isn't coming out like I meant it to," getting up to pace the ground in front of his audience of two "I'm not sure how it was meant to sound, but not like this, and I'm rambling aren't I?" He continued.
"Uh huh" was all he got from James as Remus was just watching him with the same expression that was usually reserved for the particularly confusing riddles in the Daily Prophet. Falling down to the ground without any of his usual grace, Sirius twirled his wand in his left hand and stared into James' eyes, having found whatever it is he was looking for he went on to Remus and was momentarily startled to see pure unadulterated acceptance in his eyes. Buoyed up by this, he took a deep breath and told them his secret.
"Idon'tjustlikegirls.I'mbisexualandlikeguysaswell" was what came tumbling out of his mouth.
"Umm…I think I caught most of that, but you'll have to repeat it, slower, so I can be sure," Remus said.
"Well I didn't catch any of that, so repeat away," James added.
Taking a couple of deep breaths and staring at the end of his wand, Sirius quietly repeated what he'd said, waiting for the inevitable fallout.
"I don't just like girls. I'm bisexual and like guys as well."
The clearing was filled with silence for a few moments until Remus spoke up.
"Did you think we'd stop being friends with you if you told us? Is that why you made us promise not to tell anyone – even Peter?" He asked in a gentle tone.
"Kinda." Sirius replied.
"I always thought you were smarter than you let on, but that has to be the stupidest thing I've heard you say, and you've said a lot of stupid things over the years!" Came Remus' rejoinder.
"Merlins' beard Sirius, I'm a werewolf," Remus hissed out, "do you really think I'd stop being your friend just because you have a different taste in who to snog than I do?" He asked quietly.
"Yes! I mean no, I mean…gah! You really still wanna be my friend? You don't hate me?" Sirius wondered out loud, hardly daring to believe that it was going this simple. Glancing over at James who had yet to speak since his announcement, Sirius saw confusion give over to realisation and acceptance on his face. Before Remus could do much more than cuff Sirius round the head and smile at him, James looked up and began speaking.
"That's why you wanted to know who I was gonna work with in Charms wasn't it? You didn't want me going off and working with the guy you like." After a few moments of dense quiet he continued "I'm right aren't I? You like that Luke guy."
"That's all you're going to say? No exclamations that I'm joking? No demands to know why I didn't tell you sooner? No disgust or anything, just…just…" Before he could finish speaking, Remus cut in.
"Just acceptance, Padfoot?"
Deflating a little, Sirius nodded.
"Of course we still accept you and wanna be your friends, right Prongs?" Remus said, laying his left hand on Sirius' right shoulder in comfort and looking over at James.
"Sure, I mean, if anyone's gonna do anything to rock the boat or go against everyone's ideas of normal it's gonna be you mate." James reassured his best friend, grinning widely. "Of course, doesn't mean I understand how you can like guys that way, but you're my friend and that's all that matters."
Staring at the hand resting on his shoulder, Sirius shook his head gently, raised his head and moved so that he could look both of his friends in the eye as he spoke.
"What would I do without you guys? You're the best friends I could ever hope for," and with that, he knew that nothing could come between him and his friends. They'd always be there for him and have his back, and he'd be the same for them, come what may.