Chapter 29: On the Floor

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"Time out!"

The basketball coach's voice could barely be heard over the sound of the crowd, all in an uproar over the obvious foul that wasn't called by the referees. The tall, burly man waved his arms at the Milton Ravens basketball team, calling the five boys back to the bench. James Potter, Sirius Black, Fabian Prewett, Gideon Prewett and Caradoc Dearborn all cleared the gym floor and hurried over to their coach. The boys were dripping with sweat and panting, all a reflection of the scoreboard which showed them losing by fifteen points.

"That was a foul," James panted out, shooting a glare towards the nearest referee. "You saw it, right? The guy practically punched me."

The Coach held his hand up to silence James and gave the boy a nod. "Everyone saw it, that isn't the point. Clearly these guys aren't very unbiased. We need to forget about them, though. Forget about the referees, forget about the Badgers, just get out there and play your game. You are all way better than these guys." He pointed dramatically towards the other team and stared around at the boys. "Alright, Prewett, come out, Rowle, you're in for him."

"Which one?" both Prewett boys asked simultaneously.

"Oh, um...Gideon, take a seat," the Coach answered. "Alright, boys, we have six minutes left in this and we are not out. Hands in."

The whole team gathered around and put there hands into the middle for a team pep cry. "One, two, three. Win this!" the team cried out in unison, then scattered to the bench and back to the floor.

Sirius gave James a pat on the back and pulled him over. "Come on, man. Forget about that jerk. Let's win this damn thing so we can get out of here and get to our dates," he said, shoving James in jest.

"Ugh, don't remind me. Valentine's Day..." James trailed off and rolled his eyes, then waved over at Emmeline, who was sitting on the stands, looking rather bored. "She looks like she's gonna fall asleep," he said, faking a smile towards the girl.

"At least she came," Sirius snapped, a little more bitterly than he intended.

James was about to question the hostility, but the whistle called him to attention and the game resumed. Two minutes in and James took an elbow to the stomach, making him double over and let the ball roll out of the boundary lines on the court. "That was a foul!" he shouted, climbing to his feet and pointing his finger towards the offending player. "You have to call that!"

The referee held his hand up to James and shook his head. "I didn't see it."

James' eyes flashed with anger and in a moment, he was lunging at the referee, fist out. Sirius caught his friend around the waist and managed to stop any physical contact from being made. The boy squirmed in his arms, but he held firm, determined not to let James go.

"Get him out of here!" the referee shouted at Sirius, flailing his hand towards the locker room.

Sirius nodded and dragged James towards the locker room, ignoring the jeers coming from the opposing team. "What is wrong with you? You just tried to take a swing at a ref!" he yelled, shoving James towards the benches in the locker room.

"The guy is a jerk! He saw that foul, he's just favoring those stupid Badgers!" James yelled back. He snapped up a towel and patted it over his face as he dropped onto a bench and pulled open his locker. "You shoulda let me hit the son of a bitch," he muttered as he dug into his gym bag and pulled out a small, orange pill bottle.

"I can't let you do that, you'll get yourself arrested with that shit," Sirius argued, grabbing a towel for himself. "What is that?" he asked, quickly, spotting the other boy toss back several tiny pills.

James held up the bottle as though that were a good enough answer, then tossed it back into his bag. "They're prescription," he said, quietly.

"What is it though?" Sirius asked again as he snatched the bottle out of the other boy's bag. "James, this says to take one every six hours. I just saw you take like three!" He spun around and narrowed his eyes at James, then stared down at the bottle. "How long have you been taking these?"

James wrenched the bottle from Sirius' hand and shoved it down into the bottom of his bag. "They keep me...balanced. It's fine, I don't always take too many, just when things are too hard." He ducked his head and wiped at the back of his neck.

"James, I have to say something to your dad," Sirius said. He dropped onto the bench next to his friend and shook his head. "You know that right?"

"That's why I didn't tell you," James whispered. "I knew you'd try to meddle."

"You were right!" Sirius heaved out a heavy breath and put his hand on James' shoulder. "I only want to help you."

"You should mind your own business."

Muffled cries of upset filled the locker room as the rest of the basketball filed in and scattered around the room. Lockers were banged open and closed, clothes were tossed around, curse words and annoyed utterances were coming from most of the team members and everyone wore the same look of disappointment and anger.

"Shoulda let James pummel the guy!" came one voice.

"Yeah, teach his ass how to call a foul!" came another.

Several mumbled cries of agreement came from most of the players, along with another round of profanities and angry mutterings.

"That's enough!" the Coach yelled as he stepped into the locker room and glanced around at the team. "I don't wanna hear another word about fouls or referees. The refs didn't lose this game, you did. Now I want you to all start taking responsibility for what you did on your own. The ref didn't miss that three point shot," he said, staring hard at one player. "He didn't miss everyone of his free throws," he added, looking down his nose at another boy. "And he sure as hell didn't play defense like a bunch of little girls. Now get yourselves cleaned and out of this damn locker room. We'll discuss this more on Monday." He threw down his clipboard so hard that a small crack split down the center of it, then stormed out of the room to his office.

Silence stayed in the locker room as all of the boys showered and made their way out of the school. Sirius and James lingered behind, James in an effort to stall his Valentine's Day date and Sirius to finish their conversation. The boys headed out of the locker room together and were instantly pounced upon by Emmeline and Remus.

"How was your game?" Remus asked, slipping his arm around Sirius' waist.

"Lost," Sirius muttered, throwing James a glance.

Remus pouted out his lip in an apologetic way, then dropped his hand to link with the other boy's. "Sorry, babe. Do you...still wanna go out? We don't have to."

Sirius whipped his attention back to Remus and nodded. "Yeah, I still wanna go out. Let's go." He tugged Remus towards the doors and looked back to wave good-bye to James.

James gave Sirius a weak smile and waved back at him, then threw a tentative look at Emmeline. The girl clung to his arm, eagerly and attempted to pull him along behind the others.

"Wait," James whispered, pulling his arm from Emmeline's hold. "We need to talk."

"What's wrong? Is this about the game? You don't wanna go out because of the game? Right? James, I've had this planned for over a week now, we have reservations and I got this new dress," Emmeline whined, pointing towards her thigh high, strapless, red dress.

James swallowed hard and gave the girl a fake grin. "No, of course not. I still wanna go out. Let's...let's just go. You look really beautiful." He nodded and grabbed onto the girl's hand, then led her from the gym. "What time are those reservations for, anyways? Do you think we have time for a little...personal time?"

Emmeline giggled and squeezed James' hand. "I'd say we do."


Remus and Sirius walked, hand in hand, out of Honeydukes and into the parking lot. They took their time, swinging their arms and grinning, enjoying the cool night air and the quiet that was only being broken by their footsteps. Just as they reached Remus' truck, Sirius pulled the other boy to a stop and spun him around. He stepped against him and knocked him back against the driver's side door. Remus opened his mouth to question the other boy, but he was silenced by Sirius' lips crashing hard against his. He smiled into the kiss and wrapped his arms around Sirius' neck, pulling him closer.

Sirius stepped in closer and bushed his hands up and down the boy's sides. He pushed one hand around the other boy's back and slipped it under his shirt, resting it on his lower back. Their lips moved roughly against each other's for several minutes before the sound of an approaching group broke them apart. Sirius released his hold on the other boy and flashed him a huge grin, then ran around the truck to get into it.

Twenty minutes later, Remus shut off his truck in front of the Potter house and turned his head to face Sirius. "Still kinda early," he said with a grin. He pulled off his seat belt and slid across the truck as Sirius did the same. "I've managed to get tomorrow off, so I could...stay, if you want." He laid his arm over the other boy's shoulder and passed his fingers through his hair, locking his light blue eyes onto Sirius' grey ones.

"If I want? Of course, I want you to stay," Sirius answered, keeping his voice low for no other reason than it seemed the kind of time to speak quietly. "It's like you don't even know me, saying that kinda stuff," he continued with a soft laugh. He laid his hand on Remus' cheek and leaned forward to kiss him. Before their lips could touch, the blinding light of headlights made Sirius jump back and put his hand up. He hissed at the sudden intrusion and watched as the car pulled into the Potter's drive.

"Guess James' date didn't go well," Remus said with a gloating smirk. He licked over his lips and climbed out of the truck when Sirius made a move to do so.

Sirius waited on his side of the truck until Remus came around, then took the boy by the hand and started in James' direction. "You don't look too thrilled," he said, dryly, as James' somber face came into view from the porch light. "Are you bleeding?" he cried out, dropping his boyfriend's hand and grabbing James' face to see it better. He tilted the struggling boy's head to get a better view and pulled a face at seeing dried blood on a split lip. "What did you do?" he asked, no sympathy in his voice as he pushed James away from him.

James stumbled back a bit and touched his lip, his eyes narrowing in anger at Sirius. "I dumped her. I broke it off and she...she was a freaking mad woman. She hit me, I don't mean a little girly slap, either, she balled up her damn fist and just..." He trailed off and shook his head, still seething from the incident. "Bitch," he muttered as he shoved his key into the door and tried to ignore the looks of amusement on both Remus and Sirius' faces.

"Ah, shake it off, Jamesey," Sirius laughed out, shoving the boy in the shoulder.

The sound of Remus' ringing cell phone made the boy excuse himself and step away from the other two. James pushed open the front door and felt around for the light switch. He lit up the entryway and scowled at the switch-plate. "Every damn night. She is supposed to leave this one on, but no," he said with heavy sarcasm. "She's like the worst employee ever and dad's way too nice to fire her. Did you see what she did with the bro-"

"What's wrong?" Sirius interrupted as Remus stepped into the doorway, looking rather upset.

Remus was shaking slightly and his phone was clutched so tightly in his hand, his fist was paling. He reached up and pushed a shaky hand through his hair and darted his eyes between James and Sirius, both of whom were staring at him with concern. "That was Lily's sister on the phone. There's...there's been an accident."


A Note From the Author: Bwahahaha...*dodges flying computer mice* One of my rare cliffhangers. Well, it was pretty straight forward. There's been an accident and it involves Lily. As for what kind and how bad, well...you'll have to wait until the next chapter to see that. Reviews are love, send me some. :D -Jenna

AAR fans, check out my new Poll. :D Also, the story is being Beta checked, so replacement chapters are only being done to correct grammar errors done from rushing.