A/N: Okay, so let me get this out of the way. I know I dropped a HUGE bomb on you with the ending of the last chapter. But don't hate me for a liberal standing on gay couples/gay marriage. I'm not trying to shove it down your throats. I've been planning this almost since I began to write my Songbird series. Cloud being gay should not in any way change how you feel about this series, or at least I hope it won't. I respect all opinions. I can't believe that I'm doing this, but I have to ask that, if you do have a problem with Cloud and Zac being gay, then PM me. If you do write your opinions on the subject in the reviews, I will contact you, and your review will be removed. We can have our discussion in private. Thank you, and I hope you respect me, my work, and each other.

I composed myself and turned to shut and soundproof the door. The whole time, Cloud and Zac were frozen in embarrassed horror. When I turned back to them, I sighed.

"Well, this overshadows everything I was going to talk about." I said with an amused chuckle.

"What did you need to talk about?" Cloud said after clearing his throat.

"Don't change the subject." I said, playfully scolding him.

He rolled his eyes at me. I moved over to the couch and motioned for them to join me. Both men did so, but Cloud sat in an armchair while Zac sat on the opposite side of the couch from me, nearest to Cloud.

"So how long?" I asked pleasantly.

Zac and Cloud looked at each other.

"How long have we known?" Well, I knew that I was from the time I was about six when all I wanted to do was play dress up in me mother's robes and jewelry and make up." Zac said jokingly, his Irish tone pleasant to hear after not seeing him for so long.

"I was questioning around my sixth and seventh years. I tried dating women, but I just couldn't find the same attraction to them as I subconsciously felt for men. Zac helped me realize what it was I was feeling." Cloud said, looking at Zac again.

They locked eyes and smiled fondly at each other. I couldn't help but smile at them. Now that I was over the initial shock, this was actually really adorable. They looked so happy together and, being a good sister, I was happy that he was so happy.

"But how long have you been together?" I asked, a little giddy.

"Well, actually, we've been together only a couple of months. Up until recently, I had been involved with someone else. When that ended, I decided to pick up correspondence with my dear friend Cloud again." Zac joked playfully.

He and Cloud were still looking at each other fondly.

"Before or after he started teaching?" I prodded.

"Shortly before." Cloud said.

His face darkened ever so slightly and Zac's carefree smile sagged and he sighed. I was confused for a moment, but then I remembered something that happened very early this school year. We were learning Occlumency in Cloud's class, and Snape turned and used Legilimency on Cloud. At the time, I couldn't figure out what Snape saw in Cloud's mind that made him so angry. But now that this cat was out of the bag, his anger made perfect sense. My face must have also darkened, because Cloud gave me a look of understanding.

"Snape has obviously been sworn to secrecy. Using Legilimency on a teacher is just as severe as attacking a teacher with a wand. After everything that you've been through with him, I'm really surprised that he hasn't been expelled." Cloud said seriously.

"Snape seems to be acquiring many secrets these days." I muttered glumly.

"What's that mean?" Zac questioned quickly.

"Let's just say that if Snape wanted to blackmail any of us, he probably could with very little effort." I said a little cryptically.

Zac looked at me to go on, but I just shook my head. Zac shrugged and sighed, and we fell into a silence.

"So what did you come to talk about?" Cloud asked after a few moments.

"Oh yeah. You know about the Order right?" I said suddenly. I couldn't believe that I almost forgot about my original purpose.

Cloud nodded by Zac looked confused.

"I'll explain more details later. Basic concept: the Order of the Phoenix is an underground group that is fighting against a clan of crazy blood supremacists. Sky and her friends are part of the movement." Cloud said quickly.

"Well, we had a meeting last night and the issues of numbers came up. Voldemort's forces—"

"Voldemort?" Zac cut across me.

"Think Hitler of the pureblood Nazi movement." Cloud said.

Zac nodded knowingly; being a muggleborn, he understood who Hitler was.

"Like I was saying, Voldemort's forces are growing every day and the Order's numbers have stalled around twenty. We need more members if we are going to have any kind of chance." I said with some fervor.

"I've told Dumbledore once. I'm not going to fight in a suicide war. I'm not joining up with Death Eaters, but I can't take sides at this point." Cloud said, getting a little irritated.

"I'm not asking you to. I know you said that you wouldn't. I'm asking you for the contact information for anyone you know that might be willing to join. And even if they don't, awareness needs to be raised. The Ministry is covering up disappearances and attacks on muggles as coincidences and anti-muggle pranking. This is getting worse, and people won't be able to remain neutral for long." I said, my irritation level rising to meet his.

Cloud sighed and played with the gold ring on his right hand. "I'm not going to put any of my friends in danger." Cloud said.

I sighed angrily and slammed my feet on the floor. "I'm not asking you to. People need to know the truth, and then they can do what they want from there." I said, raising my voice a little.

"I'm not saying you don't have honorable intentions. But I can't, in good conscious—"

"More like guilty conscious—"

"give you the names of the people that I correspond with."

"I'm not asking for everyone, just—"

"if you want to increase membership in your little club—"

"Little club? That's what you think—"

"go knocking door to door—"

"Because that'll be effective—"

"that'll be just as effective as what you're asking me to do."

"That's not what I'm doing."

"ENOUGH."

Cloud and I talked over each other, our volume slowly rising with each time we had to cut across each other. It finally ended with him shouting at me. I was about to respond, but when he shouted, my mouth snapped closed. I glared at him and he returned the look with just as much intensity.

"If this was the only thing you needed to talk to me about, then I think that our time together has come to a close for today." Cloud said coldly.

"Fine." I said.

I stood up suddenly and walked to the door. I unsealed it but then turned back to Cloud.

"One last thing. Was there any particular reason you didn't tell me sooner? And who am I allowed to tell?" I asked, my voice a little harsh.

Cloud sighed. "You obviously have enough on your plate right now. My dirty laundry wouldn't have helped you. And tell as few as people as possible." Cloud said with a forced smile. He still wasn't happy with me, but he was trying.

"So like James, Lily, and maybe Sirius?" I asked.

"Sure." Cloud said a little dismissively.

I sighed and walked out of his office.

When I reached the tower, I found that Lily and James were sitting at the table, working on something together. They were sitting really close to each other and often blushed when they looked at each other. I had to smile. I looked around the room and found that Sirius was reading on the couch, stretched over the entire length. I walked over and moved his legs so I could sit down.

"You know there are other seats right?" he asked. He would have sounded irritated, but he was smirking at me, which sort of ruined the effect.

"You're right. You should move." I said, smirking back.

"You two are talking?" Lily asked suddenly.

I looked back at her and she was staring wide eyed at Sirius and me.

"I think he's suffered for long enough. A three month silent treatment should teach him." I said, talking about him like he wasn't in the room.

He chuckled but moved so that he was sitting on his end of the couch. I stretched out so that my feet were in his lap. He sighed and looked down at my feet.

"You do remember that I know exactly where you are ticklish, right?" he asked a little exasperated.

I quickly retracted my feet and half glared at him.

"Oh come here. You used to do this all the time." Sirius said, grabbing my arm softly.

I allowed him to pull me over to him. He gently guided me until I was laying with my head resting on his thigh. He put one arm on the arm of the couch and held his book with the other.

"Better?" he asked.

I shrugged; I was able to fully stretch out now, and I always found that Sirius's thighs were rather comfortable despite being made of solid muscle. He went back to reading his book and I sighed.

"Where are Moony and Wormtail?" I asked after a moment.

"Out getting books or something for their Order training projects." James replied sort of off handedly.

"Can you guys come over here so I don't have to shout this across the room?" I asked in as casual of a tone as possible.

I heard them sigh but then I heard the chairs scraping along the floor. Lily and James walked over to where Sirius and I were sitting. Lily sat in a chair while James sat on the coffee table.

"So I went and saw Cloud just now." I started off.

"This is what you didn't want to shout?" Lily laughed.

"I'm getting there. Like I was saying, I went to see Cloud but he wasn't alone." I said, getting a little cryptic.

"Who was with him? What were they talking about?" James said, excitedly.

I couldn't tell if it was genuine or if he was mocking me. I chose to ignore it.

"You remember Zac?" I asked, returning to my casual tone.

"Keeper of the Gryffindor Quidditch team for our 5th year? Captain of the team? Overlord to our underling-ness? Yeah, sure." James said.

At that point I knew that he was joking. I smiled at James. He always loved Zac as a captain; that's where he learned how to be an evil dictator.

"Well, that's who was with Cloud. And they really weren't talking, to say the least." I said, chuckling ironically.

"What do you mean?" Sirius asked, slightly confused.

"Their mouths were a little too busy doing something else." I said, once again being a little cryptic.

Lily sighed, agitated. "Stop beating around the bush. What were they doing?" she said, her voice as agitated as her sigh.

I smirked again. Lily always hated when we talked in circles.

"They were too busy making out to say anything." I said slowly and clearly.

There was silence for a moment before Lily gasped, looking at me with wide eyes.

"Are you saying…" she started, trailing off.

I nodded slowly. She gasped again and started chuckling.

"Wait? Are you saying that they were having some kind of foursome in his office?" James said, lowering his voice to an intense whisper.

I shook my head.

"It was just the two of them?" he said.

I nodded.

"Making out?" James said.

Well, he didn't really say it; he more or less mouthed it because his voice went into the range that only dogs could hear. Lily was giggling like a little school girl and James was still trying to put the pieces together. Sirius was looking down at me, clearly confused.

"Do I have to spell it for you, Pads? Cloud, my brother, and Zac, his best friend, were making out in his office." I said, very slowly, pausing to make sure that he got it.

"Somehow, I knew it. I knew something was different, but I couldn't put my finger on it. But now it makes sense." Lily said, still giggling.

"What do you mean, you knew it? There were no indications for this. Cloud is one of the most manly people I know. He knows how to sword fight, for Merlin's sake! And Zac has always been such a bad ass. There's no way. You have to be mistaken." James said, getting a little heated.

Now it was my turn to giggle. I didn't realize that this revelation would change James's world view so radically.

"No, I'm not mistaken. And you'd be surprised to learn that "bad ass" you like so much actually knew he was gay since he was about six. Not all gay people are effeminate and talk with a lisp." I said, still laughing a little.

James stood up and pushed his bangs away from his forehead. He walked over to the mantle and stood there leaning against it with one hand, messing up his hair with the other.

"I just can't believe it." James said.

He looked flabbergasted at the fire. I turned and looked at Sirius. He still looked like he was trying to process it.

"Knut for your thoughts, Padfoot?" I asked hesitantly.

"I'm just trying to think if there were any signs over the years." Sirius said softly.

"Trust me; there haven't been. I would have been the first to pick them up and I was just as surprised to learn this." I said, my chuckles turning ironic now.

"Well, there was the fact that he really never dated. I mean there was the one girl in his fifth year, but other than that, he was pretty much single. And the fact that he always seemed happier with his guy friends than with any girls that he hung out with, excluding you, Sky. But you don't really count, considering that you're his sister." Lily said, listing this off as if it was just matter-of-fact and obvious.

"That is true. And now that I think about it, there was that incident with Snape in Defense earlier this year. I almost forgot about it, what with everything that's been going on. Snape probably saw some rather compromising memories of Cloud's when he turned and used Legilimency on Cloud." Sirius said, remembering the same thing I did.

"Cloud said that he's been sworn to secrecy, probably under pain of expulsion." I said, my voice getting a little darker.

"Then why would he go and start those rumors?" Sirius said, almost to himself.

I sat up and looked at him, slightly confused. And then I remembered: the rumors that Snape started at the Slug Club Christmas Party were about me and Cloud allegedly sleeping together. Everyone sort of looked at him and thought about it. But then I had a thought that made a lot of sense.

"Isn't it obvious?" I said softly.

Sirius looked down at me questioningly.

"To make you do something irrational. He knows how easy it is to piss you off, especially when it came to me. He was probably trying to call you out and make you do something to him that could get you expelled. It sort of misfired, of course." I explained, a little matter-of-factly.

"When it comes to you." Sirius said softly.

I looked at him, confused.

"Hey James. Are you hungry?" Lily asked suddenly.

We all looked at her and she was giving James a look.

"Yeah, sure. Let's go get some food." James said quickly.

He and Lily jumped up and headed out the door.

"But we're going to dinner soon." I called after them.

It was useless because they had already left.