A/N: Written for QLFC. Captain of the Wimbourne Wasps. Prompt: Veritaserum.
We'd only been back at Hogwarts for a week, and Sirius was acting strangely. He seemed to be extremely distracted; he hardly wanted to know the rest of us Marauders. Whenever we tried to speak to him, he would shake his head, mutter, and run in the other direction. He was also very distracted in lessons, and had been reprimanded more times than I could count. This wasn't unusual in the fact that it happened, it was unusual that it had happened more than twenty times in the last few days, more than would usually happen in a two week period.
"Prongs, what's up with Sirius?" asked Remus in confusion as we left Charms. Sirius had legged it from the classroom like a Basilisk was on his tail.
"Mate, if I had the answers, I wouldn't be half as worried as I am right now," I replied.
"What do we do?" enquired Peter, as he watched Sirius hightail it down the corridor.
"We'll need to corner him and confront him," muttered Remus.
"Do you think that'll really work?" I said incredulously.
"No, I guess not," mumbled Peter quietly.
The door to the classroom opened, and Professor Flitwick called me in.
"Mr Potter, do you have any idea what could be wrong with Mr Black?"
"To be honest Professor, I have absolutely no idea. He doesn't hang around long enough to even talk to."
Professor Flitwick gave me a skeptical look, and dismissed me.
"What did Flitwick want?" asked Peter quickly.
"To ask me about Padfoot. Obviously, I couldn't tell me him anything, as I have no idea myself."
"Come on, we'd better move or we'll be late for Defence," said Remus.
When we got to Defence, we found Sirius was absent. We three looked at each other worriedly. As much as Sirius horsed around in classes, he would never miss one deliberately. Thinking about it, I hadn't seen Sirius eat anything at lunch either.
We took our seats at the back, but none of us could really concentrate on the lesson.
"Okay, now I'm really worried. I thought maybe Pads might walk in late or something, but so far no sign. Where in the name of Holy Circe is he?" whispered Remus.
All I could do was shake my head, and sit in worried travail.
I was glad when lessons for the day were over. I made straight for Gryffindor tower, as I'd left the map in my trunk.
I tapped the map with my wand. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good," I muttered, and watched all the lines start to interconnect. I tried to locate Sirius on the map, but he was nowhere to be found.
"Any sign?" queried Remus as he walked in to the dormitory.
"No, he isn't anywhere on the map, Moony."
"Could he have used one of the secret passages and gone to Hogsmeade?" Remus asked severely.
"You know Padfoot as well as I do, Moony, he could be anywhere," I muttered distractedly as I scanned the map again.
I felt Remus plop down next me, he too started to scan the map. It was seething with black dots as all the students and Professors moved towards the Great Hall for dinner. Minutes later, Remus spotted Sirius.
"There, look, there!"
"Where?" I asked, scanning furiously.
Remus touched Sirius' dot. He was on the seventh floor. In fact, right down the corridor.
"Did he just...?" I heard Remus mutter.
"What?"
"I think I know where he's been, come on."
Remus was quick to get to his feet. He looked at me expectantly, and I rose.
"Where are we going, Moony?"
"To the Room of Requirement."
I let out a startled breath. That room had always been a myth. The fact that both Remus AND Sirius knew about it was a surprise to me. A small part of me was annoyed, they'd never told me anything about it. I would have words later, but for now I followed Remus out of Gryffindor tower, and down the corridor to a stretch of blank wall.
"Where is he?" I asked as I ran into Remus' back. Remus stumbled, but remained gracefully upright.
"Did you bring the map?"
I gave him a withering look and pulled it out of my robe's inner pocket and spread it out. We eventually found him in the Entrance Hall heading towards the Great Hall for dinner.
"Come on, lets get after him," demanded Remus.
"First, tell me how this works," I said indicating to the blank stretch of wall in front of us.
"Later, Prongs. I need to go see Padfoot."
Remus took off up the corridor like an arrow and disappeared.
I made a slow and thoughtful way down to dinner. Whatever was bothering Sirius must have been bad. He'd never shut himself off like this, in the six years I'd known him, he'd never closed down to this extent. I was so thoughtful, I almost missed an opportunity to chat to one Miss Evans. Almost.
"Hey, Evans."
"What do you want, Potter?" Lily asked with a sigh.
"Just to say, I love... your hair like that," I said, faltering slightly.
I ran a hand through my own hair to mess it up just a little bit more.
Lily gave me a suspicious look and carried on walking. I hated it when she left, but I sure loved to watch her go.
I eventually made my way to the Great Hall, and looked down the Gryffindor table to locate Remus, Sirius, and Peter. I saw Remus and Peter on one side, Sirius was sat opposite them shoveling food into his mouth as fast as he humanly could without choking. Quietly I sat down next to Sirius.
"Hey, Pads, where have you been all afternoon?" I asked softly.
Sirius gave me a searching look, and resumed eating.
I gave Remus a look, but he just shook his head. I looked at Peter and he just shrugged. I ran a hand over my face and let out a breath.
"Sirius, mate, what the name of Holy Morgana is going on with you? Why aren't you talking to us? Has one of us offended or upset you?"
"Please, Pads, talk to us," Remus said quietly.
I felt Sirius stiffen slightly beside me. He looked briefly at Remus with wild eyes and quickly got up.
"I... I just remembered, I have somewhere to be."
With that he was gone. I sat, and watched him retreat. My mind was reeling a mile a minute. Whatever this was, it had to do with Moony. As to what it was I had no clue.
"We need to sort this out," Remus said as he watched Sirius leave. I saw Peter nod in agreement.
"Marauders meeting later?" I asked.
"I think we'd better, Prongs, this can't go on the way it is. I can't stand it," muttered Remus.
"Where this time?" asked Peter.
"Room of Requirement, Wormy," I said instantly without thinking.
Peter dropped his fork with a clatter and sat gawping at me.
"Wormy do you mind not looking at me like I just broke up with you?"
"I'm sorry, Prongs, I've heard of the RoR, but I thought it was just a fairy-tale."
"No fairy-tale, Wormy."
"Wow... Just... Wow."
"Let's eat, and get up there."
Forty-five minutes later and we were stood in front of the blank stretch of wall on the seventh floor. Remus commanded we stand back and let him do it. Peter and I watched Remus walk up and down three times whilst muttering something that sounded like 'Give me a place to have a Marauders meeting' But nothing happened.
"Well that was anticlimactic," I snorted with derision.
"There must be someone in there," snapped Remus before realisation hit us. Sirius!
"If he's in there, lets get back to the dorm and we can discuss things there," I said hurriedly.
We rushed back to Gryffindor tower. The discussion went on nearly all night. The only thing that stopped us in the end was sheer exhaustion. But we had a plan, the only thing was it took a full Lunar cycle to make. Sirius didn't return to Gryffindor tower that night, nor did he at all.
Finally it was ready. We'd had to steal some ingredients from Slughorn's supply closet. But right now we had no time to feel guilty. Sirius was putting in enough appearances to not arouse suspicion with the teaching staff that there was something wrong. My own patience was starting to wear seriously thin now, and I just wanted answers.
"Well this is it, do we all know what we're doing?"
Both Peter and Remus nodded in ascent. It was time.
We all hid under the invisibility cloak and waited for Sirius to appear, to enter the Room of Requirement. When he came into view, I let off a silent stunning spell which hit him square in the back, and he collapsed forward on the floor. Remus was quickly away and asking the room for a place in which we could question Sirius. A door appeared in the blank wall, I stood in awe for a moment. I felt Peter nudge me in the ribs and we ran forward, and grabbed Sirius by an arm each, and dragged him inside.
I stopped short when I entered. The room looked just like the Gryffindor common room, only quieter and cleaner. I shook myself and helped Peter haul Sirius to the sofa and gently placed him on it. Remus got his wand out and woke Sirius up, and I dropped three drops of Veritaserum on to his tongue.
"I need to see if this worked first," I explained quickly. "Sirius, do you know who I am?"
"You are James Charlus Potter, Gryffindor, Quidditch Captain, otherwise known as Prongs, you are in love with Lily Evans," replied Sirius calmly.
"Sirius, what is going on with you?" I demanded.
"I needed time to think, I was unsure of my sexuality, and my feelings towards Moony."
"What about your feelings towards me?" asked Remus in confusion.
"I'm in love with you, Moony, and I have been for sometime."
Remus looked shocked. Very shocked.
"I love you too, Sirius," Remus expounded quietly as he took Sirius' hand in his own.
I watched as two of my best friends went from friends to lovers. I witnessed an instantaneous shift, and it was beautiful.
I cleared my throat, and everyone jumped. Sirius seemed to suddenly sag.
"What did you do?" Sirius shouted.
"We gave you Veritaserum, Pads, you were driving us crazy, we needed to find out what was going on with you. We were worried," I said calmly.
I watched my best friend in the world crumple, and break down in tears.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," cried Sirius over and over again.
Remus moved from his kneeling position in front of Sirius, and sat on the sofa next to him, and drew him into a hug. I watched Remus soothe Sirius. There was such a look of love in his eyes. I wondered how I'd missed it.
"Pete, come on let's go," I said quietly giving him a small nudge.
We turned and left the room. Right now, we weren't needed or wanted here. Right now, Pads and Moony only needed each other.