Disclaimer: Not mine, pretty much everyone belongs to J.K. Rowling.
Summary: Everyone has a reason to be the way they are and so does James Potter. What if pieces of his mask start slipping and a certain redhead sees beyond?
Behind The Prankster's Mask
Chapter 14
Sirius grumbled and looked at his alarm clock. It was only 8.30 and someone was banging on his front door. Annoyed he considered just crawling under the covers and ignore the banging, but he dismissed the idea and stumbled out of bed through the small apartment to the front door.
When he opened the door he blinked, rubbed his eyes, blinked again and finally realised he was not dreaming. James really was standing in front of his door with his trunk standing next to him on the ground.
'Do I want to know?' Sirius inquired, stifling a yawn.
'Probably not, but I ran away,' James answered.
'Déjà vu,' Sirius muttered and stepped aside to let James in. 'So you ran away and thought to hole up in my place until school starts? What made you go?'
'Well, I did hope you'd left me stay for a bit, yeah. As for why I ran... I got into a fight with my dad again after you left and it kinda resulted in me saying I'd move out, so here I am.'
'So you waited for them to leave for work this morning, packed your stuff and left?' Sirius concluded.
'Not really, by the time my stuff was in my trunk, they'd gone to bed and I left. I just didn't think you'd appreciate me turning up at your home in the middle of the night. I went to London and stayed the night at the Leaky Cauldron.'
'Because 8.30 is a much more acceptable time to drag people from their beds,' Sirius muttered as he turned around to walk into the little kitchen. 'Had breakfast yet?'
'No, I wanted to be away from London before they found out I was gone,' James answered, following his friend into the kitchen.
'You know this is the first place they'll look, right?' Sirius asked, turning to look at James again with a raised eyebrow.
'But here they'll leave me alone,' James shrugged. Sirius rolled his eyes and went back to gathering what he needed to make them some food.
An hour later found the two fed and standing in the small study next to Sirius's bedroom. Sirius had momentarily considered referring James to the couch, but quickly decided he couldn't get it past his conscience. After all, James had helped him when he ran away and though he didn't quite have the same resources as James had had, that didn't mean he didn't have to make an effort.
With a wave of his wand the small desk in the room was cleared of any clutter and another wave transformed it into a single bed. 'Merlin, I love magic,' Sirius smiled at his handy work. It wasn't anything fancy, but one look at James's face told him that his friend knew how to set priorities.
Over the next week Sirius watched his friend try to adjust to his new life. He spend much time thinking and going through the Muggle papers in search of a cheap apartment. Sirius had made it clear James was welcome to stay as long as he needed, but that didn't stop James's search any. When asked about it, he had replied that he sooner he got his own place, the sooner he could prove to his parents that he could perfectly take care of himself.
Sirius saw the flaw in that plan, however, and he was sure James had spotted it too. For right now, James had only the money in his own fault at Gringotts, and though it might be enough to buy him a place of his own, it wouldn't leave enough to support himself with, let alone pay to for his Auror studies and James was too proud to ask anyone for a loan. The carefully planned path James had decided to take after Hogwarts was suddenly looking like an idle dream.
Serena had stopped by a few times during the week. After a long talk with both his friends during the first visit, James usually left the apartment when Serena showed up. The two staying behind didn't know where he was going, but he always came back unharmed, so they didn't worry about it too much.
All too soon the day arrived to return to Hogwarts. The ride there was uneventful and just before the train rolled into Hogsmead station, the trio said their goodbye, knowing the tension between James and Lily would keep them apart again.
At Hogwarts whispers and weird looks followed the two Marauders around. Apparently, the rumour of James Potter moving out after a fight with his parents had already spread through the castle. People had always thought James Potter had everything and why he would walk out on that, no one could comprehend. James just shrugged it off and ignored it all.
A week after the start of term James and Lily were patrolling the halls.
'Why?' Lily asked suddenly. She had noticed a change in the other's behaviour in the past week, a small one, bat a change non the less and it intrigued her. She intended to find out what brought it on.
'Why what?' James replied.
'Why did you fight with your parents? I can't imagine any argument being bad enough to bring that on.'
'No, I imagine you can't,' James bit back. Then sighed and glanced over to her before admitting. 'Really, it's not so surprising. Remus said he'd been waiting for something like this to happen for a while now.'
'But..' she started as they rounded a corner, but abruptly stopped. Lily stared at the scene in front of her with wide eyes, her mouth open with astonishment. 'Serena,' she stammered. 'Why… why are you kissing him?'
Sirius could feel the thunderclouds gathering and instinctively drew Serena closer to him as if that could protect her from the coming argument. Serena's hands tightened on his robes, seeming to try and draw strength from him. This was going to be ugly. Lily was bound to be relentless.
'Serena, you know he's a player! He and Potter have been with over half the female population of this school! You know he will dump you the moment he's got what he wants from you! How could you ever fall for his lies!' Lily raged. At first Serena seemed to shy away from the verbal attack, but then she drew herself up and pulled away from Sirius to meet her friend head on.
Sirius shared a quick look with James. Both felt they needed to defuse the situation, but quickly changed their minds. Better the girls forgetting about them for the moment then getting in the middle of a catfight. They'd learned that lesson the hard way.
'You don't know him at all!' Serena thundered back. 'If that's what you think of him and James, you are not as smart as you think you are or as good at reading people! Sirius won't leave me when, as you put it, "he gets what he wants", because he's already got it and he's still with me!'
'I never thought you were like those cheap whores every other girl in school seems to be,' Lily snapped, hurt and betrayal shining in her eyes. 'Now I understand why you were always defending them and using their first names. You're like a mindless drone like everyone else!'
'You can call me all kinds of names if you want, but not a cheap whore!' Serena hissed. 'If you want to know the truth, we hooked up during the summer vacation and we only just now started sleeping together! And I call James by his first name because I've known him since forever and he's like a brother to me. I would have told you this, but I knew you would react this way. James willingly took a step back from our friendship so my friendship with you wouldn't be effected by that fact. If you truly value our friendship, you will let me be with whom I want to be and actually be happy for me.'
'I would be, but I can't if you're dating a Marauder,' Lily answered stubbornly.
'Fine, come talk to me when you've found your brain,' Serena snapped. She caught hold of Sirius's wrist and stormed off.
James gave Lily a 'now look was you have done' glare, before he quickly took off after them. Patrolling be damned, he needed to do some damage control.
In the common room Serena chose the stairs to the boys' dorms and only when the door had slammed shut behind them did she let go of Sirius's wrist and broke down crying.
The other Marauders were in the room and looked inquisitively at Sirius who shrugged helplessly. 'Lily found out about us and they had a fight,' he explained.
'What about us?' Remus asked, his face draining of all colour. At that moment James walked in and signalled him to wait as he wrapped Serena in his arms. Sirius watched them tensely, unsure of what to do, but relaxed when James gave him a slight smile, indicating he would handle it.
'Not "us", Remus, but "them",' he said calmly. 'Sirius and Serena have been secretly dating since the summer and Lily just found them out.'
'She hates me!' Serena wailed.
'No, she doesn't,' James contradicted. 'She could never hate you, she's just upset you're dating the best friend of her least favourite person in all the world. Don't worry, I promise everything will be alright.'
'I don't dare to share a dorm with her right now. I can't stand her glaring at me,' Serena admitted softly.
'Take my bed, I'll sleep on the floor,' James told her. 'I'll make sure Dumbledore will personally give permission for this exception.'
'How? No one is ever going to allow it,' Remus pointed out. Sirius nodded miserably in agreement. He felt bad for being the cause of this.
'Just leave it to me. He will allow this case,' James assured. 'You can borrow a shirt to sleep in and tomorrow during lunch you will get your stuff and I'll have the permission you need. Trust me.'
A/N: Hope you liked it. Finally this story is on a roll again. Reviews fuel the mind that writes the chapters, so please review so I can bring you more chapters.