Sirius tickled the pear to get them into the kitchen; they were met by a polite yet formal elf. "Hey there, can you help me?" Sirius asked.
"Yes sir, it is Trixie's job to help students, what can Trixie so for you sir?" the elf replied.
"Can you tell me if Idgie and Jinco are here?" Sirius whispered.
"Yes, sir they are here. Do you wish to see them?" Trixie answered.
"If you don't mind going to fetch them both for me." Sirius requested. "Yes Sir." And Trixie left returning with the two requested elves that looked terrified. The poor things looked like they thought they had done something wrong.
Lily's heart broke for them thinking of Shelby she quickly knelt down eye level with them looking up politely at Trixie and asking her to go "Hey guys, I'm Lily. Are you two alright?"
The little elves looked at each other shocked, they were rarely spoken to and when they were it was orders being barked at them. "Yes Miss, we are fine. What can we do for you?"
Lily smiled at them "My friend here wishes to speak with you, do you mind talking to him?"
"We shall do as the Mister wishes." The male elf answered.
Sirius scanned the room making sure they were alone with the two elves "Can you do me a favor first. We missed dinner, would you mind getting us something to eat really quick and grab five butter beers too, Please." "Yes Sir." And the pair left. "Look I don't have a lot of time but that's Shelby's brother and sister. They want Masters they don't like it here. Mrs. Prince and I are going to try to get them out of here but I want to make sure they really want to leave first. I don't want another bitter asshole elf." Sirius telling Lily and Remus what he was up to.
"How do you know that?" Lily questioned.
"Shelby told me while you and …..while you were busy!" Sirius trying to fix his mistake of almost letting Snape's name slip. Lily just nodded; she couldn't say anything else as the pair returned with everything asked of them. They sat at a small table in a small room just off the kitchen. The two elves were trying to set the table for them as if they were dining in the main hall.
Lily put her hand on top of the female elf's hand shaking her head no "You don't need to do all of that. We can take care of it from here. Thank you."
Sirius chuckled as the elves looked disappointed and confused "You two come sit down with us. I wish to talk to you. I happen to know your sister."
"Sir it is not proper for elves to sit among Wizards and Witches." The male elf answered.
Sirius arched an eyebrow "But I asked you to."
The elves looked at each other not knowing what to do, they knew it wasn't proper yet neither was defying an order. The male elf spoke "If the Mister wishes us to sit at the table we shall, we don't find it proper but we shall obey."
Sirius winked at Lily. Lily gave him a look of 'stop testing them'. "Alright then, I don't wish to make you uncomfortable, I want you to talk freely to me. What are your names and what is your sister's name?" Sirius asked.
The male elf took the lead again "My name is Jinco and this is my sister Idgie. We have another sister named Shelby, Shelby has a master though. A very good one."
The trio smiled at each other, Sirius knew he had the right elves and they had come from a wealthy home, they knew proper elf manners, things unowned elves wouldn't know "Do you like it here?" He asked.
The elves bowed their heads, knowing they didn't like living there but knew it was ungrateful to talk bad of their home even if it didn't include a proper Master or Madame "We are grateful to have a home Sir."
Sirius shook his head "That's not what I asked, let me ask this a different way. If you could stay here or have a proper Master which would you chose?"
Without hesitation both blurted out "Master" forgetting their manners.
Sirius nodded his head "That's what I thought. So you would happily go to a new Master or Madame if you were offered a home?" "Yes Sir." They both chimed. "I make no promises, but you MIGHT get that opportunity soon. Remember this is not a for sure thing but I may know someone who is looking for elves and you two came at Shelby's recommendation and we love Shelby and trust that you two are a lot like her."
Idgie finally spoke "We used to be, before we lost our Master, we once had a good Master like Shelby does. Our Master passed away with no one left to take us, so we came here so we would have a home. We wish to serve a Master."
Sirius patted her head "Sweetheart I'll see what I can do about finding you one. In the mean time I order you two to take these and go hide somewhere and drink them! No arguing! I'm sure you deserve it." Handing them the two extra bottles of butter beer he had asked for. The elves looked at each other unsure what to do. "Go on. Go have a well deserved break." Sirius said with a wink.
The elves started to walk away then Idgie turned around, "Sir, Idgie thinks you are a very kind Wizard and you would make a great Master."
"Thank you Idgie. Off you go." Sirius said smiling at her.
Lily snickered "Trying to find your own Shelby then Master Black?"
"What….. I love that damn elf and she told me she had siblings here…..did you not see how pitiful she looked! Besides, I'm sure they work their asses off here. They deserve a drink." Sirius ranted defending himself while Lily and Remus laughed at him.
"Finish your damn food so we can get out of here." Lily ordered.
The trio hadn't gotten themselves seated well when a fuming McGonagall burst through the portrait door yelling all three of their names.
"Oh shit, he snitched." They rang in unison before standing to march to their very pissed off Headmistress. They followed McGonagall trying to hide snickers and smiles. Neither of them gave a damn if they were expelled or not; truth be told they were almost hoping they would be. McGonagall lead them all the way to Dumbledore's office not saying a word until she barked the password "Taffy".
"This is going to be interesting" Lily whispered.
"Maybe they'll kick us out." Sirius whispered back.
Remus rolled his eyes "You both know that's not going to happen."
They entered Dumbledore's office the boys let the two women take the chairs while they stood between them. Dumbledore appeared to be reading a file and hadn't acknowledged them yet.
McGonagall already being livid refused to be ignored "Albus!"
Dumbledore hid behind the file trying to hide his snickering, he was listening to all four of their thoughts while hiding behind that file and already knew everything that had been said and done. He found it funny and well deserved but had to maintain his Headmaster duties, he coughed to help contain himself, placed the file on the desk looking as stoic as ever "Yes Minerva, what can I help you with."
"These three buffoons! They sent James Potter to the hospital wing and Lily hexed Samantha Clearwater with something unknown to me! I am leaving this matter in your hands."
Sirius fake coughed the word 'snitch'.
McGonagall heard it and was shooting daggers at him "That's quite enough Mr. Black!".
Dumbledore looked down pretending to situate his robes to hide the smile playing on his lips.
"Albus, you have nothing to say about this?" McGonagall barked.
"Yes, Minerva I have quite a bit to say about this matter actually. Remus how is your hand?"
Remus smiled "Good as new, Lily mended it very well."
Dumbledore looked at Lily narrowing his eyes "Miss Evans, you knew better."
Lily pretended to be sorrowful "Yes sir, I did it was rather impulsive, Samantha had nothing to do with it."
Dumbledore looked to Sirius "Mr. Black, I can't believe you stand innocent in all this. This is a first. Congratulations."
"Albus Dumbledore! James Potter had a broken jaw!" McGonagall shrieked.
"Yes, I am aware Minerva. Did you happen to ask him why one of his oldest friends would strike him in such a manner? You act as if Mr. Potter was attacked unprovoked." Dumbledore leaned back in his chair folding his arms across his chest, "I do remember you sitting in that very chair on several occasions defending Mr. Potter's actions toward a certain Slytherin student who is no longer with us, that were far worse than a broken jaw."
McGonagall was livid and speechless, she couldn't deny the words spoken to her because they were true, she stood in defeat "Very well, I will leave this matter solely in your hands then. I shall go talk to Mr. Potter."
"Sit down Minerva. You will hear the truth, from the three who were there. I already know what happened. I don't miss much around here. I believe you need to here this. I will not allow a mistruth to be told." Dumbledore ordered. McGonagall drew a deep breath and sat back into her chair. "Now, please explain the events as they happened to Professor McGonagall."
The three recounted the events that lead up to James's broken jaw and Lily's threat. Lily had no choice but to tell McGonagall about the Langlock she used and admitted Severus had taught it to her but conveniently left out when.
"Mr. Potter doesn't seem so innocent now does he?" Dumbledore asked the slack jawed Minerva.
McGonagall cleared her throat "It appears as if he did get what was deserved but we can not condone violence Albus."
"No we can not, we also cannot condone bigotry either." Dumbledore looked at the three students he knew didn't have an ounce of remorse between them "I'm certain this was a one time event, and that has this matter settled." "Yes sir." The three chimed. "Very well, as punishment you three will move into a separate dorm room from the rest of your classmates. We cannot have such behavior being a problem. Minerva I leave it to you to make whatever changes are needed to give them a room together."
"Albus! Are you seriously going to place a girl with two boys?" McGonagall asked baffled.
Dumbledore rolled his eyes "Minerva dear, did you miss the part were the boys are gay? I think Miss Evans will be safe with them but should you wish you can conjure her some walls and a door."
"Very well, you are the Headmaster, who am I to question your infinite wisdom." Minerva bit as she stood to leave.
The trio sat silent until they heard the door slam then burst into laughter. After a good laugh and a long talk with Dumbledore the trio were making their way back to the common room holding hands and talking.
"This is going to be a long week." Remus groaned knowing the secret was no longer secret, James had probably told anyone who stood still long enough.
Lily leaned into Remus's side "Love you have us, and I got you both a pass to go with me Friday!"
"Yeah that's awesome. Thanks for thinking about taking us Lils." Sirius said excitedly.
"He would want you there, it's his birthday! After what happened today I wouldn't leave you guys out. Next time I'm going alone though." Lily laughed.
"We'll have to sneak to Hogsmeade sometime this week to buy him something though." Remus reminding Sirius.
"Oh, like we haven't done that a million times." Sirius said sarcastically.
"I don't have the map. Do you?" Remus questioned already knowing the answer.
"Shit!" Sirius moaned.
"Exactly!" Remus gloated.
"Guys…. I have Shelby and Eileen. We don't have to worry about leaving grounds." Lily stated in a bored tone, not believing her friends could be so dense.
"Yes you do! This makes things so much easier." Sirius said putting his arm around her shoulder.
"You guys can be so thick sometimes, you really think a private dorm for us three is a punishment?! Morons, he did it to give you two privacy and me a way to call Shelby without being seen!" Lily said sarcastically shaking her head walking up to the fat lady giving the password and grabbing a hold of both of her friends pulling them through. She stopped in the middle of the common room that was packed with almost every Gryffindor student "Does anyone have anything you need to say to either of us? We will not live in this tower with whispers and snide remarks. If you have something to say or ask I suggest you do it now!" Lily nearly yelled.
The room fell silent, most of them had heard what happened in various versions but all of them painted the trio as badasses. "Nothing? Nobody has anything they want to say? This is your chance." Lily said defiant.
Suddenly a beautiful blonde stood and walked over to Lily, standing toe to toe with her, Lily arched an eyebrow and waited; the blonde cleared her throat "I talked to McGonagall, she told me what James said. He deserved it, I don't blame you Remus and if I had friends like you are…. well…. I would hope we all would act as you three have today. I just wanted you to know that I broke our engagement until he genuinely sees the error in his thinking and properly apologizes. I refuse to marry a bigot. Lily, I wish we had remained friends, I have never known friendship like you have. I am a bit jealous and just so you know I did this on my own, even though your threat did scare the shit out of me. Congratulations on finding love, I think you are adorable together. That's all I wanted to say."
Lily had visibly softened toward the girl she had hexed and threatened only hours before "Thank you Samantha, I was rather harsh toward you earlier. I was livid and I thought you should know what an ass he can be."
Samantha smiled "I appreciate the heads up, maybe next time don't hex me though?"
Lily giggled "Sorry about that, my best friend is a Slytherin."
Samantha stuck out her hand looking to Lily; Lily shook her hand and in unison said "Truce."
That truce seemed to change the tone of most of the room, there were still a few holding disgusted looks on their faces but most of the room looked a lot friendlier at them now. Sirius and Remus were Congratulated and praised for their bravery for coming out more times than they could remember. When the mass of people thinned out around them Sirius looked to Remus "I told you it wouldn't be that bad."
Remus gave him a smug look "Oh, shut up. Damn prat."
"I'm your prat though." Sirius smiled.
Lily and Samantha broke their conversation, looked at the pair and together said "For the love of Merlin, just kiss him already!" letting out a giggle.
Somewhere in that day Remus had found some courage, maybe it was defending those he loved, maybe it was watching Lily defend those she loved, or maybe it was the acceptance of the majority of the house, he didn't care where it came from; he just used it and pulled Sirius into a heated kiss in front of the entire house, not giving a single damn about who seen it or cared.