Chapter 14: A Fight
Remus' birthday came and went; he was like Peter and Marlene, unsure who Nymphadora Anna Tonks was. Sirius thought the last name sounded familiar, but couldn't place it. It was several days after Remus' birthday when he brought up the topic of Sirius' tattoo again. They were alone in the boy's dorm, Peter was in detention and James was helping Lily and Marlene with Transfiguration homework.
"Has your soulmate had their birthday yet, Padfoot?"
"Huh? Oh yeah, they've had their birthday." He flipped a page in the muggle motorcycle magazine he had been reading.
"You're not their soulmate?"
"Nope, definitely not. Knew that before though." Sirius curled the cover of the magazine back, trying to focus in on the article discussing new thrust capacitors.
"Sorry," Remus told him.
"It's fine," Sirius shook it off.
"Do you want to tell me who it is?"
"You are the last person I would want to tell Moony." He admitted without thinking.
"What do you mean I'm the last person you would tell?"
"I mean what I said. I won't ever tell you who it is."
"So you would tell Prongs or Wormtail and you wouldn't tell me?"
"That's right."
"Why the hell would you do that? I thought I was one of your best friends Padfoot."
"I'm not saying you aren't, I know that you would never understand."
"And Lily does? She's not even one of our close friends." Remus yelled.
"I'm gay Remus," Sirius shocked him by forgoing their nicknames for each other. "My soulmate is a man and he is straight. How the hell do you think you'd feel? The others understand that concept a little easier than you ever have. I'm sorry, but I won't tell you who my soulmate is."
"Sirius," Remus reached out of his arm.
"I'm going to go." He shrugged away from the werewolf and walked down into the common room. Lily looked up.
"Sirius are you okay?" She pushed up from the floor. He shook his head, staring at her. "James I'm going to take a break."
"Do you want me there to mate?" James stood quicker than Lily.
"Sure," he shrugged.
"I'll watch your things." Marlene offered.
Lily gently took Sirius' hand and pulled him out of the common room. James followed closely behind them as they headed to occupy the nearest empty classroom. The one that they had stolen desks from. The classroom where Sirius had fully confessed his love for Remus. Lily pushed Sirius into a sitting position on one of the student desks, sitting on the Teacher's and gesturing for James to join her.
"Moony and I had a fight."
"What about?" James asked, his leg was knocking against Lily's and despite the situation, she felt a rush of emotion for him.
"My tattoo." He lifted his shirt so James could see it for the first time. The dog was wagging its tail excitedly, sitting next to Remus' full name.
"He saw the tattoo?" Lily asked, bracing herself against the desk.
"No, he didn't see it. He asked me about it because he told me to wait until after my soulmate's birthday to be sure that they weren't my soulmate."
"And he has this Nymphadora girl."
"Exactly, I told him that my soulmate had their birthday and that it was as I expected. He asked me if I wanted to talk about it with him and I kind of told him that he was the last person I wanted to talk to." James and Lily winced. James now realized how damaging the situation was to Sirius since the reveal of his tattoo. "He got mad at me because I trusted Lily with the information, but refused to tell him. So I told him that I was gay and that my soulmate was straight."
"I'm sorry to be part of the reason that you fought with Remus," Lily reached out and rubbed Sirius' arm. He hugged her; James tried his best not to feel jealous—especially after his best friend had come out as not being the slightest bit interested in women.
"It's not your fault Lily. I didn't feel like I could tell any of my closer friends about how I felt. Although Prongs might kill me if I keep hugging you." The three of them laughed quietly.
"There's a Hogsmeade weekend on Saturday, want to spend the day with me?" She offered.
"Yeah, it'll be my treat for anything you want though, because you're so supportive."
"I can't let you do that."
"You can and you will. We're friends Lily." Sirius smiled at her.
"What are you going to do about Moony, Padfoot?"
"I don't know. I'm still pissed at him. You know why I can't tell him. He seemed hurt when I shook him off though—he's never understood homosexual relationships. You remember what happened in third year."
"Yeah I remember," James crossed his arms.
"Do I want to know?" Lily asked.
"Not really." James shook his head. "Padfoot is lucky that you and I are as open as we are. I think Wormtail will be, but Moony has always been tricky."
"You want to snog James to make up for Remus being a jerk?" Lily offered.
"I mean, if you're okay with it." Sirius wiggled his eyebrows at James. James' eyes were the size of dinner plates.
"It'd be pretty hot I think," she teased.
"I am not snogging you Padfoot, no matter how much I love you."
"Damn."
Their laughter died down, leaving them in a comfortable silence for a long while. Lily played with Sirius' shoulder length hair, braiding small strands of it.
"You want to show me your tattoo Lils? Make me feel better?"
"I'm not sure how that will possibly cheer you up." She argued.
"Marlene told me that you showed her."
"She is such a traitor."
"Come on Evans, you can show him." James tried to convince her.
"I can't, I want to know if my soulmate has me before I tell anyone and they haven't had a birthday yet." Lily rolled her eyes. "I do love my soulmate though, so I'm expecting Sirius to pick me up if it's unrequited."
"You can count on it."
-oOo-
The fight continued through the rest of the week. On Saturday, Lily, Marlene, and Sirius met in the Great Hall to head down to Hogsmeade. James had been dragged into going with Peter and Remus, effectively splitting their group. Remus was even angrier that Sirius had told James who was involved with his tattoo and poor Marlene had been berated because she was friends with Lily. The six were at odds with one another. For Remus, it was no longer about Sirius being gay, he had no current issue with it, but his anger lasted because he felt like Sirius couldn't trust him.
"Butterbeer sound good?" Sirius suggested.
"Sure, after I need to get James a birthday present." Marlene replied.
Lily followed behind the pair who were laughing brightly in the warm March sunlight. They didn't normally have good weather this time of year. They saw Remus, Peter, and James on a glance as they walked to the Three Broomsticks. The three were arguing, but Sirius ignored them and strutted into the bar. Lily and Marlene shared a look, rolling their eyes, before following him.
The pair claimed a table near the window where they could watch the street and easily alert James and his group that they were in the pub. Sirius found them moments later with three butterbeers in his hands.
"What are you planning on getting Prongs, Marls?" Sirius asked. He took a long drink from his glass.
"I'm not sure. What did you buy him Lily?"
"A book, two of them. One is on Transfiguration which James likes and the other is a pocket edition of the rules for Quidditch. I suppose he might already have the second one, though." Her face fell.
"He doesn't." Sirius reassured her. "He always lugs around the big one."
"Good," Lily smiled. Sirius made a mental note to tell James to throw out his pocket edition of the book later. He needed a new one anyway.
"Still don't know what to get him." Marlene distracted herself with the warm drink.
"Why don't you buy him something simple?" Lily offered.
"That's not an idea Lils." She protested.
"Get him a journal." Sirius thought out loud.
"I'm sorry, what?" Marlene dropped her glass to the table, spilling a bit of it over the rim. Her upper lip was coated with foam, but she couldn't believe Sirius Black had told her to buy James Potter a journal.
"James likes drawing from time to time, you could get him a blank journal and a new quill and ink as a gift. I'm sure he'd like it."
"He is always doodling in the margins of his essays and text books." Lily noted, placing a hand on her chin in thought. "I never put two and two together before."
"Alright, two new quills, a bottle of ink, and a blank journal. Now we know where we're going."
"Scrivenshaft's." Lily grinned. She loved going there; the different types of quills fascinated her. Marlene loved going there because they sold inks with sweet perfumes to spice up your essays. Sirius hated going there. He sighed.
-oOo-
James, Peter, and Remus were walking back through the streets from the Hogshead. After they had spotted Sirius, Lily, and Marlene in the window, they quickly decided on attending the pub for a drink instead. Lily had smiled apologetically at James as he passed, Sirius had ignored them—or he'd been distracted by the fight that had broken out at the bar. He wasn't sure. They decided that Zonko's would be the next on the list for their shopping experience, even if they didn't buy anything. James was planning on politely ignoring his friends and feigning interest in random objects. If they wanted to purchase anything. He didn't want to spoil his birthday presents.
Their plans immediately changed when they were walking past Scrivenshaft's, a store that Remus loved to visit because of the multi-colored inks and fine parchment. Sirius hated going there; he only went when he needed the bare minimum of supplies to finish his schoolwork. Yet there he was, inside the shop, laughing with Lily and Marlene as they modeled different types of quills. Remus' jaw tightened and his mitten covered hands flexed.
"Moony," James put a hand on his shoulder.
"I fucking hate Padfoot." He growled, storming up the road. James looked at Peter.
"I still have no clue what's going on, I missed a lot when I was studying for my Arithmancy test, didn't I?" James patted him on the shoulder.
"Let's talk about it later Wormtail."
"Thanks." He grinned up at his friend. "We should probably go find Moony, before he hurts himself."
"Run." James decided. They would catch Remus faster if they moved quicker than him. He could never move well in the snow.