Teeth and Tears
by
Kelsey
Disclaimer: JKR's, not mine.
Summary: James watches his friends and learns what Remus really means to Sirius.
Rating: PG-13
"Ow!"
Panting, then gentle laughter. "It's your fault," someone said softly.
"I was trying to keep you quiet!"
More laughter. "Please, Moony..." the second voice mimicked, "Oh God, do it now..."
A snort. "I did not sound like that."
"Sure you didn't."
James rolled over and faced the source of the noise. "Knock it off, will you?" He mumbled sleepily.
A little curtain rustling, then quiet. "Sorry, Prongs."
James pulled his own covers up over his head. "Just next time, don't take off the silencing charm until you're done with both the fucking and the talking, huh?"
A light chuckle, some murmured endearments that James tries hard not to hear, and then there is silence in the dorm once more. He nods off again, trying hard not to imagine just what his best friends had gotten up to this time.
It's all too apparent in the morning, though. Peter, as usual, has taken off for breakfast, a meal that only he and James manage to make with any regularity. Remus often stuffs himself once and then merely picks at his food for a few days, and Sirius just can't be bothered to get up early enough to go, usually. But they are both awake when James rolls over and opens his eyes.
Their blurry forms are dressing, and it's not until James pulls on his glasses that he notices Sirius wincing as he pulls on his robes. He briefly considers asking what happened to him, but then they might tell him, so he decides to keep his mouth shut.
As luck would have it, Sirius isn't going to let him remain in blissful ignorance. "Oi, Prongs!" He calls. "I'm gonna have to skiv off practice this afternoon!"
Normally, James would continue keeping his mouth shut and just accept the statement at face value, but this is about Quidditch. He takes a deep breath and opens his mouth. "Sirius, it's second to last practice before the game."
Sirius shrugs. "It's Hufflepuff. Are there really any worries about losing to them?"
"It would be just that much more humiliating to do so!" James retorts. Quidditch and Lily, those are the only things he takes seriously, and his best friend has just brought to the surface some of the only hard-working ethics he has.
Sirius smirks at him, and Remus flushes, apparently in anticipation of what he thinks Sirius is going to say.
"I can't swing a bat today, mate." Sirius grabs the collar of his robes and pulls them away from his neck, baring his right shoulder. It's red and swollen, with a purple bruise making a clear outline of a set of mostly-human teeth. There are four jagged punctures where the canines would be, scabbed over and redder than the rest. A little dried blood still clings to one of the wounds.
James blinks a few times, then looks over at his other friend, who is now a subtle pink and looking away from the Head Boy's curious gaze. "Moony did that?" He asks incredulously.
Sirius's smirk grows. "Sharp teeth on that one." He doesn't seem at all perturbed. James, however, is panicking.
"Sirius, he bit you! We need to get you to the hospital wing, get wolfsbane on that, NOW!"
His best friend shakes his head and puts out a hand in a placating gesture, a concerned expression on his face. "Easy, James." He says. "The curse is only transferable when he's in wolf form."
Breathing a little easier, James sits back down on the bed where he rose from in his panic. "How do you know?" He asks.
"You really think I'd shag a werewolf without checking on my chances of being infected?" Sirius queries. Put that way, it does sound a little dumb, but sometimes Sirius can be more than a little dumb.
"Between the fact that you tend to act first and think later, and the fact that you frequently let your dick do the thinking for you, I think I was right to be concerned!" James huffs a little, then turns to his other best friend. "But I should have known you wouldn't take that risk, Moony. I'm sorry."
Remus meets his eyes shiftily, his cheeks still pink. "No apology necessary," he says. James sees Sirius reach over and take the werewolf's hand, squeezing it gently, and he hopes Remus doesn't sink into another one of his guilty funks.
"Let's get breakfast, huh?" the dark-haired boy says, and Remus follows without question.
Resisting the urge just to climb back into bed and lie there until he's absorbed everything that happened this morning, James heaves himself out of bed and in the direction of the showers, envying the other two their breakfasts. He's not going to have time to eat this morning.
All day, James watches his friends. Since he shares all of his core classes and one elective with each of them, there's plenty of time to do so.
In Care of Magical Creatures with Sirius, while Remus is off at Arithmancy, he tries to talk to his best friend, but Sirius keeps shrugging him off. His friend is mad about something, but James can't figure out what.
He has no more luck with Remus in Muggle Studies, when Sirius is at Ancient Runes. James is often amazed that Sirius has kept at Runes for so long. No one would expect something quite so small and finicky to be Sirius's area of expertise, but the dark-haired boy is actually quite good at it. He has an affinity for puzzles, in general.
That evening in the common room, James watches Sirius move over on the couch to accommodate Peter, who's just walked in, and wince for about the thousandth time. His best friend is good at concealing it, but James has been watching. Tired of not understanding, he marches away from Lily, who watches exasperatedly, and grabs Sirius by his good arm, dragging him out of the tower.
They don't speak until they've reached the passageway behind the one-eyed witch. James closes it carefully behind them, and lights his wand, then looks at Sirius, who is slumped sulkily against the wall several feet away from him.
"What did I do?" James asks, his frustration barely contained.
Sirius shrugs, shoving his hands into the pockets of his muggle jeans, and looks away.
James thumps the brick beside his best friend's head, hard, with the heel of his hand. "What the bloody hell is wrong, Sirius?!"
Sirius looks at him, his gray eyes dark with... something. "You really want to know?" He asks in a tone that implies he is about to share something deadly serious.
James swallows hard, and nods.
"This morning, the bite I have?" Sirius motions to his shoulder, and James nods. "You think it's all just a game, don't you?"
Surprised, James nods slowly. He does, but he isn't sure what about his manner that morning told Sirius that. His policy about his two best friends being involved has always been pretty much 'look away.'
Sirius's eyes are fierce. "You think I'm just shagging Moony until I find someone better to do, a girl, probably?"
James doesn't answer. The idea has crossed his mind, and he's been mildly concerned for Remus about it, but Moony is strong enough to take a broken heart, and besides, often he's wiser than any of the rest of them. He trusts Remus's judgment.
Two large hands fall onto James's shoulders and hold them, hard. Sirius is in his face now, his penetrating eyes teeming with emotion. "It's not a game, Jamie. I'm in bloody-fucking-love with that werewolf, and I want to spend the rest of my life with him." The gray eyes stare him down for a moment, conveying the seriousness of his statement, and then he steps away a few paces, distancing himself.
James has to admit he's a little shocked. Sirius had never been with a boy before Remus that he knew about, and he hasn't really considered that what his friends have might be more than an easy-shagging agreement. He stands still in the silence for a long moment, and then Sirius speaks again.
"Do you hate me now?" There is vulnerability in that voice that James hates to hear, but that he's heard more and more often since Sirius ran away from his family a year and a half ago.
He shakes his head. "Of course not. Why would I?"
"Because now it's really true. Now I'm really a poofter, not just desperate for sex."
He has a point. James has had, since about fourth year, a sneaking suspicion that Remus is gay, but even in the face of Sirius shagging someone male, has continued to consider him straight. But he doesn't hate Remus, either for being gay or for being a werewolf, and of course he doesn't hate Sirius.
James takes the two steps required down the hallway and draws his best friend into his arms. "You're still my best mate," he murmurs, and Sirius relaxes in his arms, drawing in a shaky breath, then pulls away.
"Thanks." His eyes are shiny, but neither of them comment on it. They open the statue again, and walk back to the tower in silence similar to that which they left in, but much more comfortable.
When they step back into the Gryffindor common room, James immediately seeks out Lily, who allows him to wrap an arm around her and pull her close without complaint. He watches with his chin on her beautiful red hair, as Sirius returns to the couch he was sharing with Peter and Remus, then pushes Pete out of the way and lies down, his head in Remus's lap. Remus looks down as he speaks, and then a look of total adoration crosses his face, and he gently brushes a few stray strands of hair from Sirius's face, before looking up and sending a grateful smile at James.
It's so bleeding obvious now, James wonders how he could possibly have missed it for all this time.
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