"I'm... straight" challenge
An AU where gay is the social 'norm' and straight is not socially acceptable.
Basically, you will have to write an AU where gay is the social "norm" and straight is not socially acceptable. So a switch around. You must have a female character falling in love with a male character or vice versa.
Because James wouldn't have spent all that time harassing Lily, I thought they might have actually gotten along better with each other.
James knew that for Remus and Sirius, it was only a matter of time before they realised that they were made for each other. Before they realised their feelings for each other and ended up in bed together.
He didn't need to hear what they were doing though.
He had seen the way Sirius' eyes always followed Remus, and had seen the way Remus blushed everytime Sirius glanced his way.
And it had been like that for years.
Watching Sirius finally slip into Remus' bed, smirking at James as he drew the curtain was just too much for James to deal with. He got up from his bed and grabbed Peter, telling Peter to sleep in the Common Room and give the pair some privacy.
James, however, slipped out of the Common Room and decided to go for a walk. He put the cloak over him, and pulled out the map, before heading up to the Astronomy Tower.
...oOo...
James sighed deeply as he stared out of the window. He was so deep in thought that he didn't hear someone walk up to him and he jumped hard when he heard a voice.
"Penny for your thoughts?"
He glanced around and spotted the Head-Girl next to him and tried to offer her a smile.
"My thoughts aren't worth that," he replied, turning back to the window.
She nudged him. "Come on, Potter. I've never seen you look so upset." Another nudge. "You can talk to me. I won't tell anyone."
James ran a hand over his face and through his hair.
"Sirius and Remus got together earlier," he finally offered.
"Oh. You were hoping you and Sirius..."
"No! Gods no, he's like a brother to me," James said, appalled at the thought.
"Oh, so it's Remus that you -"
"No, I'm not interested in either of them that way. They're like family and I'm happy for them..."
"But?" Lily pressed, knowing there was one.
"But... I don't know. Evans. Is there something wrong with me? I'm not been attracted to any of them. I know that there are a lot of good looking blokes in school, but I don't seem to see it in ways other guys do. I mean, look at Lucius Malfoy. He's evil, he's possibly a death eater now... but he's got amazing hair and who can deny that he's gorgeous. Every bloke in their right mind fancies him..."
"But you don't?" Lily guessed. "Have you ever... I mean, you've fancied at least one guy, right?"
"See, I knew you wouldn't get it," James said, turning to leave, but fingers gripped his arm.
"James, wait please," she said, holding tight, and it was her use of his first name that made him stop and listen to her. "It's not just you... I. Marlene is hot, but she tried to kiss me tonight and it just felt... it felt wrong. Maybe I understand more than you realise."
James turned back.
"Maybe you do," he agreed. "What does this mean?"
Lily let out a sigh. "I thought it meant that I was abnormal, but knowing you're going through it too... maybe it's not that strange after all? But what am I going to do about Marly?"
"Just tell her... uh, maybe tell her that you value your friendship too much?" James said. "Or tell her she's like a sister to you."
"Both of those are terrible answers," Lily grumbled.
James gave a small smile and his gaze moved across her face.
"Thought I can see why she tried to kiss you, you do look good," he said.
"I'm surprised no-one's made a move on you, Potter. You look decent enough," she responded, her gaze trailing over his face.
"Frank tried last year," he admitted. "I did what you did and ran away. Sirius thought it was hilarious when I told him."
"Franks a sweet guy, you could have done worse."
"He kissed me," James said. "I tried to kiss him back, I thought maybe a good snog would make all the difference."
"Did it?" Lily asked, curiously.
"When we stopped, I ran."
"Maybe we're just kissing wrong?" Lily said.
James chuckled. "I don't think that's it. Even before Sirius and Remus got together, it was clear that they were made for each other. They didn't need to kiss each other to find out. Shouldn't I just look at a guy and feel something?"
"Before you know it, they'll be entering into a binding ceremony with a female couple and arranging children."
"It always seemed weird to me," James said, thinking about the child arrangement. "I mean, the spellwork that must go into those two women being impregnanted by the two wizards, and then having to give one child to the male couple?"
"It's better than the muggles. Wizards and Witches have spells so the child will look like either both mothers or both fathers, depending on the couple the baby is going to. Muggles don't have that. One thing I've always wondered... how do wizards and witches decide which pair get which child?"
"Oh, that's decided beforehand," James explained. "The gender spells will be done to see what the baby is. If only one is male, it'll go to the male pair, due to the need for a heir. If they are both boys, the male pair get the oldest boy. If they are both female, the female pair get the eldest so their have their own heir."
"That makes sense," Lily replied.
James nodded. "Though life would be simpler if it was just a man and woman together."
Lily let out a giggle. "A straight couple?"
"Yeah," James said, a laugh on his own lips. "You don't see many of those... but they can have a child that looks like both of them. No extra bonding ceremonies, no additional couples. Just the pair of them and their child. No spells to change the baby... to look only like the parents it's going to be raised by..."
"Wanna be straight with me?" Lily joked, letting out a laugh which was soon silenced by James' lips suddenly pressed against hers. Her heart shouldn't have started pounding like it did, and after a few seconds James pulled away and stepped back.
"Is this the part where you run away in a panic?" He asked, watching her carefully.
Lily stood frozen, trying to decide what to do. Should she run?
She slowly shook her head. Is this how people felt when they kissed? Was she... was she straight? It just felt good. Enjoyable. She wanted to do it again.
"Are you going to run away?" She asked him.
James shook his head.
"James, why did you kiss me?"
"It's when you laughed. You looked really... pretty. Your lips looked soft, and I don't know, I just needed to touch them - with my own. I really liked it."
There was a long pause.
"Would it scare you if I said I wanted to do it again?" James asked, and this time, it was Lily that pressed against James, allowing their lips to touch.
...oOo...
"You're smiling a lot," Sirius observed. "Been sneaking out a lot too."
"Nothing's up. I've been hanging out with Evans, seems we have a lot in common."
He missed the curious look that his friends shot him.
"And here I was thinking you were having a secret thing with some guy. I was betting on it being a Slytherin. Was hoping it wasn't my brother, then realised that you'd be better for him than Snape."
"I'm not dating your brother," James said.
"What about Barty in Ravenclaw? He's quite cute." The comment received a nudge and a disapproving look from Remus. "Or Kingsley?" Sirius continued. "He's - I think you may find him attractive. I don't because I only find Remus attractive."
Remus rolled his eyes.
"No, I'm not seeing anyone," James said, blushing.
His friends knew that blush. It was what happened when he lied.
...oOo...
James almost ran to the Astronomy Tower. The cloak and map were both missing and he was supposed to meet Lily. His heart pounded at the thought of spending time with her again and he kept to the shadows, making his way to the Astronomy Tower.
He quickly set out the food he had gotten from the kitchen and lit the candles, making them float in the air, and waited.
Lily wasn't far behind him. She walked in, her eyes lighting up at the sight of the room. She jumped as she felt something brush against her elbow, but nothing was there when she turned around.
She let the door close and she walked over to James.
"James, you've... wow," she said.
He took her hand and pulled her down onto the blanket next to him.
"I know it's only been a couple of months," he began nervously.
"Am amazing couple of months," Lily said. James nodded in agreement.
"I'm mad about you," he said. "Who cares that this isn't considered normal? Who cares that we'll be outcasts because of this? I just hate the way other girls look at you when I'm the only one allowed to look at you like that. I hate hiding this. I'm falling in love with you, Lily."
Lily looked slightly annoyed at the comment about the other girls, but that soon disappeared at James' last words.
"I'm falling in love with you, too," she whispered, moving closer and meeting James' lips. Their lips slowly moved together, and James lowered his girlfriend down onto the blanket, covering her body with his own.
"Now, aren't you glad we took the cloak, Moonpie? Otherwise we'd never have found out that our best friend just doesn't trust us?"
James jumped up, his gaze falling on two of the Marauders.
"I..."
"You're straight, and you didn't trust us enough to tell us," Sirius said.
"It's not that I didn't trust you -" James began nervously. His eyes moved to Lily, who looked slightly hurt that he had pulled away from her in the face of his friends.
He stepped towards her, taking her hand.
"You're really in love with a girl?" Remus asked, looking amused.
"Shush Moony, like you haven't fantasised about Lily before," Sirius said.
"I.. no, of course not," Remus blushed and Sirius laughed.
James stared at them, waiting to find out how accepting they were.
"We don't give a crap if you're gay or straight or bisexual or asexual or any other sexual," Sirius began.
"We just thought after everything we've been through together, you'd be... straight with us," Remus added.
"Straight with us," Sirius giggled. "Because he's straight, see?"
"Not the time, Sirius," Remus reprimanded him.
"So, you're okay with it?" James asked, looking relieved.
"You're our best friend. We just want to see you happy. You're also a crap liar... we suspected this for a while, but you weren't getting when we gave you chance after chance to admit the truth. We wouldn't turn our backs on you, James. You're family," Remus said with a smile.
"It explains why Lily and Marlene aren't dating. Two best looking girls in school and all," Sirius said.
"And what if other's find out?" James asked, his eyes flickering between his friends.
"Then you just stay strong. You'll still have Lily and if it's love, what else matters?" Remus replied. "We'll still stand by you, no matter what."
James smiled, looking between his friends, before moving forward and throwing his arms around them both.
"Welcome to the family, love," Sirius said, pulling Lily into the hug too.
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