"Remus! Sirius!" James burst panting into the common room. It was a long way to run from the first floor. "I need to speak to you." The two boys looked surprised and just a little worried, but then, James thought, I've been a stupid prat and ignored them for the last four days so they kind of have a reason to be worried about what I might say now. "Upstairs?" he asked, trying to show he came in peace while still attempting to regain his breath. The two boys shared a quick glance before heading towards the staircase to their dorm. James noticed that Sirius was keeping his body firmly between Remus' and his own, clearly trying to shield him just in case. The thought made him want to cry, how had he made his friends this afraid of what he might do?

Reaching the dormitory James shut the door behind them and cast a quick silencing charm on the door. Almost instantly Sirius and Remus' hands travelled to their pockets, gripping their wands defensively. Sirius stepped forward slightly, shielding his boyfriend more fully. He didn't know what James might do but he wouldn't let him do anything to hurt his Remi. Remus gently stepped forward too, while he appreciated what Sirius was trying to do if it came to a fight he wasn't going to take a back seat, this was about him too. Remus reached his hand out, gently taking Sirius' and winding their fingers together. Both boys were ready to hex James if he so much as looked like he might hurt the other.

"Sorry" James apologised, realising his actions had made them more, not less, uncomfortable "I just thought you might want to talk in private, but I can take it down" he turned to remove the silencing spell but stopped when he noticed a slight incline of Sirius' head. No matter what was going on between them right now he could still read his best friend like nobody else could and he knew that that meant he was right. They weren't ready to go public yet.

"What do you want Jamie" Remus burst out, clearly wanting this over with "do you want to yell at us? Tell us we are disgusting and wrong? Go ahead, I've heard it enough times in my life anyway. And just this once I'm sure you're wrong, so have at it." His voice was cold, making James shudder. For once he knew it wasn't true. Did that mean he thought those bastards who had said things like that because he was a werewolf were right? The thought broke his heart and he could tell Sirius felt the same, he had moved closer to his lover, dropping his hand to slide it around Remus' back and rub comforting circles there. But his eyes never left James, daring him to say anything like that to Remus. Ever.

"No! That's not what I was going to say at all! I swear!" James pleaded

"Then what?" Sirius spat "just want remind us to keep away so you don't, how did my delightful brother put it, 'catch something'"

"No! God no! I don't care that you're gay! I'm happy for you" they were both shocked by James' words. They had been prepared for him to scream or rant or even throw hexes, but not this. How dare James deny what he had made oh so clear over the past few days? James could see the confusion melting into anger in Sirius' eyes and realised he would have to explain better. "You lied to me" he nearly whispered. It sounded so childish when he put it like that.

"What!" Sirius nearly roared "you treated us like we had the plague, you made my Remi cry, because we didn't tell you all our secrets! You selfish git! We have the right to tell people when and what we want!" Sirius was still hovering on the border between anger and confusion. On the one hand James had made Remi cry and he had to be punished for that, but on the other he had a feeling there was more to this than James had said. He loosened his grip on his wand just slightly. He was pretty sure James wasn't going to attack them now, and if Sirius was going to hit him it would be with a fist, not a spell.

"It's not just that" James continued, deciding that now he had started he was going have to explain everything, no matter how stupid he was going to sound. "I mean that you didn't tell me stung a bit. But… the scars." He knew his voice had gotten small but he had to get this out "you should have told me you were attacked Sirius, you're meant to be my brother." Comprehension dawned on Remus' face, followed by Sirius a few moments later.

"You saw them when you walked in on us?" James nodded. "You could have just asked about them" Remus pointed out. James nodded again, now that Lilly and Remus had pointed that out it seemed so obvious but somehow before it had never even seemed an option.

"I've been a stupid prick haven't I?" it was Remus' turn to nod silently

"Honestly mate you have" Sirius began, seeming unsure of what he said "but I probably should have told you about that stuff. Are you sure you are ok with me and Remi being together?" James nodded, smiling now.

"Well then" Remus cut in, finishing what Sirius had begun saying (if they were going to become one of those couples James was going to have to have a word) "maybe we should talk this through properly."

"Come sit, it's kind of a long story and I doubt you'll be happy with the short version, nosy bugger" Sirius indicated Remus' bed. They were becoming one of those couples James thought.

The two boys curled up together against the headboard, fitting together as if they were made for one another. Remus was sat behind Sirius, holding him supportively and James could see their fingers tightly intertwined on Sirius' stomach. They looked nervous, especially Sirius.

"You only have to tell me as much as you want to" James began, suddenly realising that this probably wasn't something that was easy for Sirius to talk about.

"No. You were right I guess. You were a knob about it but I should have told you this stuff. Its just…" Sirius paused and Remus nuzzled gently into his shoulder, the action seemed to give him the courage to keep talking, although his voice remained softer than normal. "So I guess I should start at the beginning…"